Toronto Zoo Toronto Zoo Discussion thread 2022

@bisonemu Nah the gaur left in like 2017 I think and there's no plans to bring them back

 

@bisonemu, the gaur had to go in order to make room for the orangs new outdoor exhibit. Dont worry about them though. They went from our sad, pathetic, small, ancient exhibit to Parc Safari where they are part of their large drive thru section which is from photos lush and diverse. They also get to live with a much larger herd than just the three of them. It's a great home for them. There are no plans for the species to make a return because the zoo just doesnt have space for them and they are not part of an SSP program so the space for them really isnt needed as much as for other species.

 

Oh that's nice to hear! Parc Safari definitely has the space for them. Too bad to see them go from the TZ but I'm glad they're in a more suitable exhibit now.

 

Always wondered where the gaur went... like @bisonemu I'm glad to hear that they've been sent to a location that better satisfies their needs.

 

Visited the zoo today. Most of the birds, as expected, are off display due to the avian influenza outbreak. I did manage to see a few species in some of the areas; Crowned pigeons in the Australasia pavilion (which has once again been modified to skip the aviary aand tree kangaroo areas), spectacled owls and plush-crested jays (six of them) in the Americas pavilion, grey crowned crane in the African Rainforest pavilion, and red-tailed hawk, marabou stork and Harris's hawk in the Kid's Zoo. The last three were a bit of a surprise due to the fact that all of their aviaries were outdoors.

 

Just had my annual zoo visit yesterday! I arrived later than I'd hoped, there were some negatives, and the whole time I was fretting about my still-not-in-the-best-condition legs, but overall it was a good day. I'm currently typing up an area-by-area summary of the trip, and I'll post it in this thread soon! :3

 

Did not remember the plush-crested jays were a part of the zoo to be honest

 

Here it is, my full zoo trip report! :3

The journey begins, stepping into the Welcome Plaza
I arrived at about 12:20pm, over half an hour later than I'd planned, due to traffic problems, namely moments of slowdown on none other than the 401. After getting my ticket and readying my camera, I started my zoo day with a hefty serving of poutine that had super-big, delightfully squeaky cheese curds and the most delicious, peppery gravy ever. Smoke's never fails to satisfy!

Kids Zoo
I got to see Shriek for the first time, but was disappointed by the overall lack of animals on display. Most of the birds missing, empty guinea pig and skunk homes, second year in a row not spotting Big Chungus, and no sign of the alpaca. I saw goats though. Goat was there.

Polar Patio
A brief stop near the Tundra Trek was made for lunch, a delicious packed meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, chocolate milk and homemade chocolate chip cookies. I packed a banana too, but didn't eat it--I'd expected it to have ripened by then, but nope, still hard and green. I also took a moment to examine the new polar bear sculpture and reflect on how low-key horrific it is that the entire thing was made using trash pulled out of the water.

Australasia Pavilion
I started this part of the journey by looking like an idiot for a full minute trying to open the doors we usually enter through. Once I figured out we're to enter through what's normally the exit, I did so and checked out the reef aquarium, noticing the lionfish haven't made a return yet and having a bit of fun directing everyone's attention to the ceiling to catch the hammerhead sculpture. Making my way by the frogs and skink, I then had a good gander at the Komodo dragon before going into the little section where the bearded dragon, redclaw, giant spiny stick, pig-nosed turtle and MacLay's spectre are found. I also noticed that the scarlet ibises have been temporarily moved to the turtle's home. I followed this up by observing the red-bellied short-necked turtles, each and every snake, and the Fiji banded iguana. I looked for Annie but, as usual, couldn't spot her. After leaving the building, I saw a wombat, and then checked for the kangaroos, but only saw a single wallaby.

Eurasia
Before going into the trail proper, I made a detour to see the tiger family, who were all having a nap. Going through the trail, I saw a red panda in a tree, spotted the yaks from across the river again, and admired the camels, some of whom came closer to the fence than ever, which meant I got some A+ photos! The sea eagles and snow leopard were apparently off display, so I went right on ahead to the tur and watched them for a bit. Sadly, I didn't spot the zoo's last remaining chamois, and at this rate, I might never see him before he passes on.

Tundra Trek, part 1
After getting a frozen lemonade, I opted out of the Zoomobile because the wait was 40 minutes, meaning the ride is longer than I thought, and I was already running behind schedule. I got to see a polar bear real close up, then got a picture of a couple of wolves resting in the shade before moving on to the caribou and internally giggling at people who thought they were looking at males.

Mayan Temple Ruins
This turned out to be a pointless detour. No parrots, no flamingoes, no capybaras, no monkeys, and Luca wasn't visible when I got to his enclosure, but then, wouldn't you know it, cheering kids indicated he'd come back out once I was too far away to bother turning back. Got some nice pics of the waterfall area though.

Tundra Trek, part 2
Due to a lack of any other animals, I mostly marvelled at the sheer size of the wolf pack. I then went to the Caribou Cafe/Polar Patio area and took a washroom break before moving on.

Americas Pavilion
After going through the empty aviary, I witnessed the plush jays being fed, during which they were very active, vocal and fun to watch. After some photo taking in this area, I moved on to the monkeys, getting some especially good pics of my favourite, the golden lion tamarins, and sharing trivia about the sloth with other visitors. Sadly, there was no sign of the octopus, strawberry anemone or axolotls, and I was disappointed to see the alligator and American insect section closed off, but I saw a baby Blanding's turtle and a BIG bunch of varied poison dart frogs and got to see the otters being cute, so that made up for it. This visit also kept up the tradition of me being unable to get a clear beaver photo. I also shared a good laugh with some visitors when one of their group joked about pronouncing gila monster as "jee-la monster" so that it's as infuriatingly wrong as possible. On the way out, I stopped and checked out the thermal camera, which really went to show how hot I get in that building.

Savannah
After a tough trek up the Core Woods trail with a brief sitdown break and bit of people-watching, I got some pics of the cattle, then made my way to the penguins, happy to see them back after the immense sadness of not seeing them last year. I wish they'd been outside, but it was still great to see them and get pictures of them and their cormorant buddy anyway. One of the hyenas was out and close up to the glass as usual, not sure whether it was Echo or not. Got a couple good borderline cinematic eland shots, then discovered the new fan they've set up and blissfully cooled off in front of it for a good couple minutes. For the first time ever, I didn't see the lions out at all. Got some zebra pics shortly after. Naturally there were no southern ground hornbills or ostriches on display, so I moved right along to the baboons and got a great look at one grooming another right up at the glass. No sign of the kittens when I got to the cheetah exhibit, sadly. Made my way up to the rhinos and took pics of them and a young kudu, then saw the hippo sisters resting in a far corner of their home. No sign of the warthogs, and only one giraffe out when I got to that section.

African Rainforest Pavilion
I was immediately greeted by the sight of a grey crowned crane doing some preening, then had a look at the snakes and tortoises. Following this, I got a great view of Dotty swimming, then saw the pygmy hippos napping in mud and the ring-tailed lemur family all cuddled together for a nap of their own. The meerkats were scurrying about and seeming cautious about something. I got an awesome photo of the lungfish, saw my precious naked mole rats, took awhile to spot the chameleon, and took the obligatory photo of the big fish tank. I finally saw the dwarf crocodile, who crawled out of the water, took like five steps, then decided that was enough effort for the day and plopped down to rest. One of the male gorillas, not sure if it was Charles or someone else, appeared to be playing a bit of a chasing game with a younger gorilla, at one point seemingly getting a little frustrated and smacking a wall. After getting pics of the tomato frog and African clawed frog, I made my way through the final stretch, trying and failing to capture a photo of another male gorilla near-perfectly recreating the Donkey Kong "You may spank it, once" meme.

African Restaurant and picnic area
I had a wonderful lunch of more poutine, a pepperoni pizza slice with cheddar jalapeno dipping sauce and a bottle of Barq's, plus a Coke I brought along and some of the food left over from lunch. I fed some seagulls that had taken interest in me in particular, then once I'd had my fill of deliciousness, I packed my leftovers up, placed my tray in the return and made my way down the hill. I and a couple other visitors got to speak with a zoo staff member about Charles, who was chilling in the outdoor part of the gorilla home. I then stopped to see if the red river hogs were out, but they weren't, and so I went on ahead to Indo-Malaya.

Indo-Malaya
I went down the boardwalk and saw one tiger sleeping, but the other one who usually paces around up close to her fence wasn't out. Due to most of the pavilion being blocked off, there wasn't as much to see in there. I got some very good pics of the hornbill, who seemed to be aware of what I was doing and struck poses for me. I searched twice for the crocodile newt and couldn't spot it, but did find the crocodile lizard on the second try, and I got pics of the various snakes as well. I saw no gibbons, but maybe that's because of my poor eyesight. I did, however, see baby Wali, who was with his mom, and I perfectly caught a photo of Wali giving her a kiss. It's fascinating just how much like people orangutans can be. After this, I went down to see the Indian rhinos and babirusa, then headed towards the Welcome Plaza to take care of the last things I needed to do before leaving.

Back to the Welcome Plaza
I went to the Zootique, buying my annual rock candy and postcards. I also bought a new friend for Slurpy, the anteater plushie I bought last year, from the same line of plushies of animals the zoo doesn't have that he came from--I spotted a badger first, but it quickly came down to a pillbug, binturong or pangolin, then I remembered I'd said more than once before that I've always wanted a binturong plushie, so I got that. I later decided on the way home that his name is Orville, as in Orville Redenbacher. After chilling out on a bench for a bit, I got up to check out Greenhouse Gifts, only to find it no longer exists. I then got the thing I always finish my visit with, a hot chocolate and donut from Peacock Cafe (the donut this time was a new strawberry vanilla one), before having another washroom break, taking a final panorama photo set of the main plaza and leaving the zoo, taking some more parting pics on the way to the parking lot. It was about 5:50pm when I caught a bus just in time and rode out, leaving the zoo behind for another year and feeling happy and sad at the same time.

 

Not sure if this belongs here just a speculation...On the Zoo's latest video of them making treats for the orangs they show Budi and another orangutan at the very beginning and another orang but on the other orangs lips are captured. I dont think it's Puppe, Sekali or Wali. My only logical guess is Ramai but she has an overall dark face. So I do wonder who this other Orang was? Maybe they are doing a male and male mix with kembali but I doubt it. Surely someone knows more about them and can help identify who this other orangutan was.

 

@Akula, it should be Ramai if the video is recent. They are back together for breeding currently. Based on his cheek pad development I would guess the video is recent. Fingers crossed this time works and we have a spring baby for the new exhibit. If not we can still enjoy Wali discovering his new home.

 

Just curious what bird species would typically be found in Australasia’s free-flight section (aside from the kookaburra) and if the zoo ever housed tawny frogmouths?

 

I can answer your second question. The zoo currently has at least obe tawny frogmouth named Erkle.

 

Okay now to expand on the second question. Is Erkle housed in the free-flight section normally or is he elsewhere.

 

I think he was in a separate aviary. Hard to say because of how long the walk-through aviary has been closed.

 

The zoo has shown that Erkle is in the free flight section. He poses no threat to the other birds. His predecessor, Makepeace was in the free flight area as well.

Unless something has changed other birds in the aviary include crested pigeons, pied imperial pigeons (males only), Victoria crowned pigeons, green winged doves, and there is some sort of small parrot which I dont remember what its called. They were also expecting spotted whistling ducks but I havent heard if they did arrive. I could be missing some.

 

I'm pretty sure the parrot is a scarlet-chested parrot. I got a photo of the individual in question in February, before the avian influenze outbreak began.

 

So I was wrong thinking zebra doves were held in australasia? Alright. Kinda makes me wonder if zebra doves are held at all in Toronto.

 

@TheGerenuk, that sounds about right.

@Van Beal, I think the zoo is out of zebra doves. Prior to the pandemic I think they were down to just one elderly one in the Woods. I could be wrong, especially if that one is still alive, but they are probably phased out. Someone else could probably correct me if I am mistaken.

 

Thanks for that information. Vaguely remembered them being in a free-flight section, just didn’t remember which. Also think I mis-identified the pied imperial pigeon as a zebra dove by mistake.

 

@Van Beal those two species are very different. More likely you saw the crested pigeons and thought they might be zebra doves.