The zoo's newest babies are an African crested porcupette and a bongo calf. Babies Big and Small Born at the Zoo
The zoo has a baby Victoria crowned pigeon on display. Baby Victoria crowned pigeon now on exhibit at Virginia Zoo
I finally made it down to the zoo on wednesday. My plan had been for tuesday, but my old dog wasn't feeling well, so I pushed it back a day. Of course I didn't recheck their event calendar...... don't go on wednesdays!!! It's pre-school/kindergarten day, as well as the day they try to do school trips, especially for younger grades. I got there 15 minutes before opening and by 10, there were little kids as far as I could see. I'm nearly positive I was the only adult there without a child that day. For the most part, kids were well behaved, but they're so loud all the time. Africa: I went straight to the back and was able to do Africa all on my own, since everyone starts up front. Enclosures all seem quite roomy and fit for their species. The reptile and bird set-ups, however, are terrible from a viewer perspective. The aviaries in both africa and asia are that firm black mesh, and between that and the sun, it's nearly impossible to make out anything inside.The couple of reptiles in Africa have nice big exhibits but with the sun reflecting, you can only see a little bit in. -The baby bongos are adorable The older ones are nearly adult size already, but the one month old was curled up in the pile of hay the mom was munching on. -The giraffes were indoors. I only saw two, not sure where the other female was. -I never saw the duikers, or any signage for duikers... -The rock hyraxes weren't out, and there were two garter snakes inside instead, along with a few lizards. Australia: Walkabout is only open on weekends, apparently. There was one emu at the far end of the enclosure. North America: Didn't see the bald eagle. There were 2 prairie dogs. Seeing a bison with horns was neat! Hers are huge. Asia: Such a well-designed place, other than the aforementioned small bird aviary. The yards are all very large, the orangutans in particular have a massive amount of space. -I didn't find the baby orang but I heard she was outside; it was such a large area that I couldn't find them. -I never saw red pandas. -I did see the binturong moving about, which is a very rare sight according to the nearby moms. -Only just made out one of the tigers, didn't see the other two. -The two asian otters share a giant exhibit with the white-cheeked gibbons. -The siamangs have their own island. Zoofarm: Really cute, well kept area. Didn't see the porcupines, they were refusing to come out, even with keepers coaxing them World of Reptiles: FANTASTIC. I spent well over an hour in there! Though a lot of that was due to changing camera lenses, and waiting for big groups of kids to pass by (their loud voices bounce off the walls..). The hallways aren't anything special, but they have a nice variety of species including ones rarely kept in this area, and each exhibit was nicely sized. There's a couple of different sections: the main one, the aquarium, reptile giants, tree monitors, and then where the mammals and birds are/are going. The website has a good species list, but here's everything they had, mostly in order (some parts had exhibits on both sides of the hall): King cobra (shedding skin), Fiji banded iguana, beaded lizard, Smallwoods anole (several), green tree python, red bamboo racer (the only one I didn't spot!), Angolan python, speckled rattlesnake & banded rock rattlesnake, goliath birdeater, splendid tree frog (5+), Madagascar hissing cockroaches, New Caledonian giant gecko, arboreal alligator lizard, jeweled lacerta & Hermann's tortoise, frilled dragon (3), monkey-tailed skink, plumed basilisk, Henkel's leaf-tailed gecko (a bunch), emerald tree boa (2) & red-eyed tree frog, annulated boa & green and black dart frogs, Utila Island iguana, mangrove snake, red pygmy rattlesnake (2), Aruba Island rattlesnake (2), Tokay gecko & McCord's box turtle, eyelash viper, cantil viper, --baby room--, gila monster, Timor python, cottonmouth & canebrake rattlesnake, black tailed cribo, Ethiopian mountain adder, rhinoceros viper, --frog room--, Siamese crocodile, Caiman lizard & mata mata (2), Roti Island snake-necked turtle & sailfin lizard, bog turtles, --aquarium--, --giants--, tree monitors--. --Baby room: 2 Angolan pythons born Aug 2017, 2 Angolan pythons born January 2017, 2 tanks of bog turtles born Summer 2017/2018, frilled dragons born on christmas 2018, 6 frilleds born Feb 2019, 5 frilleds born March 2019. 2 tubs of eggs in a fridge that aren't readable. Also Solomon Island leaf frogs, Williams dwarf gecko, 2 tanks of Indo-Pacific geckos, and turquoise dwarf gecko. --Frog room: golden mantella, green mantella, lemur leaf frog, Anthony's dart frog, strawberry dart frogs, golden poison dart frogs, mint dart frog, and several unlabeled tanks, including one with eggs. --Aquarium: lined seahorses, caecilian, Iranian newts (tons of them), Surinam toad, alligator snapping turtle, tentacled snake (2). --Giants: Peruvian boa (2), crocodile monitor, Baron's green monitor, Egyptian tortoise, African bullfrog (biggest frog I've ever seen, wow), eastern kingsnake, Mexican red knee tarantula, giant horned lizard, Jamaican iguana, reticulated python (2), Chinese water dragon & Chinese crocodile lizard. --Tree Monitors: Gray's monitor, blue tree monitor, green tree monitor, black tree monitor, yellow tree monitor.
It really is. I tried coaxing out the binturong, it didn't really work. I yelled at it in Vietnamese, telling it to come my way, it did, but I'm pretty sure it was just by chance...
He was fussing about on a log when I walked over, then got up, walked all along the log parallel to the walkway, up the next bit, then turned around, went back, and went to the furthest part possible to go back to sleep I hopefully got 2 film photos of him walking, it was a little difficult to set my camera up while being pushed about by children.
Two red river hog sows, Mrembo and Tikiti, have arrived at the zoo in May. Virginia Zoo welcomes red river hogs
Back in June, San Antonio gave Virginia a Ringtail. In other news, there is some sort of pigeon in the Asian aviaries. The orioles appear to have gone. There is a baby screamer. No news on conservatory. Looks like it won't be ready for a while.
Thinking of visiting this zoo in the coming weeks. How long should it take to tour this zoo? Thinking of combining it with a day of birding on the coast.
For shorebirds, Kiptopeke State Park and Fisherman's Island Wildlife Refuge. Ospreys, pelicans, and terns are commonly seen on the Chesapeake bridge. I have seen a lot of birds on trails by the Living museum and the Mariner's museum. The Great Dismal Swamp is known to be a great birding spot.
Red panda triplets were born at the zoo. Masu the Red Panda gives birth to triplets at The Virginia Zoo!
