Like the title says, what is your personal highlight of the year from a zoo visit and from general zoo news. Visit - finally seeing the musk oxen arrive at the HWP, after so many years of delays, it was good to see them finally arrive. zoo news - the news of tarsiers at RSCC. your turn.
Probably interacting with a chimp through the glass at Edinburgh zoo budongo trail. Well that or Trotter's junior keeper experience ; grooming tapirs, feeding meerkats, andthen getting about a dozen lemurs climbing on me. Zoo wise this has probably been my best year.
Visit - my first ever visit to the Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre. Particularly the parrot aviary and the bird shows - nothing this year could beat the sight of the Green-winged Macaws flying above the tree tops. News - learning that the Welsh Mountain Zoo has added Military Macaws to its flying displays. I hope to see them next year.
Visit- Finally visiting the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and seeing Giant Pandas, Sumatran Tigers, Sri Lankan Elephants, Japanese Giant Salamanders, and- well- you get the idea News- Learning that Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo will soon be housing Amur Leopards and opening finally begin an expansion (South America with phase 1 being Pampas Plains- will have species like Chacoan Peccaries, Greater Rhea, Maned Wolves, Giant Anteaters, and some other undecided species). ~Thylo
I'm torn between two visits: my annual birthday trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park was my first with a semi high end camera and after getting icky zoomed in pictures for the past few years I was finally able to get some AMAZING quality zoomed in pics. It was like I was in the enclosures! And of course seeing the Amur leopard at the San Diego zoo last week.... only one was out and he was hiding on top of the rocks in the back grooming so it wasn't much of a show but it was still awesome to actually see an Amur leopard.
2012 was a good year for fondling echidnas I got to meet the Bruijn's Echidna (Zaglossus bruijni) at Moscow Zoo, and a New Guinea Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus lawesii) at Terarium-Praha. So many other highlights....seeing a Black-faced Spoonbill behind the scenes at Walsrode; meeting the Bornean 'pygmy' Elephant at Oregon Zoo; and finally - after decades of zoo-visiting - getting to see a Fisher (Martes pennanti)!
My visit was: Yorkshire Wildlife Park in November. Was finally great to see the Amur Leopard exhibit. My best news: I tricky one really, the arrival of the Iberian Wolves at Blackpool Zoo.
I think that would be my highlight too.... Visit- not very many but seeing Noah's Ark firsthand was interesting, it was as peculiar a set-up as I imagined it might be.
Visit: Nothing in 2012 got my heart racing as much as the Angelshark in Hastings when it started swimming around the tank for me. EDIT: There were too many other highlights; including the Lear's macaws in Loro Parque (which laid some minor demons to rest), Cosmocaixa Barcelona's impressive indoor rainforest, lots of luck with clouded leopards, a private viewing of Europe's largest private aquarium... News: Probably the opening of a number of large collections around the world (inc. South Korean aquaria, Singapore's Oceanarium, and part of River Safari). Great to hear about a lot of things though.
I see that people are doing this so....... visit: a lot for me, seeing the angel-sharks at deep sea world was good.Edinburgh zoo was great, too many things about edinburgh to note. The overall highlight was Germany, wilhelma was brilliant, especially life on the rocks, nocturnal house and amazon house.basel is without a doubt the best zoo i've ever been to, and the etosha house best exhibit. news: hard to decide bad news:Trotters give away the canadian lynxes (again) disappointing visit:konstanz sea life.
Not as good as MikeG's lot, but my highlight was certainly seeing my first EVER echidna at Paignton - it may be a no. ssp status short-beaked, but my it was worth it. Living Coasts was also a highlight, and I'm sure with time I could list the top 10-20 life ticks of 2012
I'll re-post mine then since it got deleted... Highlights were visiting Living Coasts after previous failed visits, West Midlands getting dholes and Birmingham Nature Centre consistently improving and getting the chance to view their off-show facilities! (Thanks ZG!) (Think that was it all?)
feeding C. suchus and mindorensis at a private facility in florida. does that count? BTS at LAIR at LA Zoo. feeding the A. davidianus, with waders on was a real treat. holding B. fasciatus, was another highlight. didn't get a chance to see the whole zoo, but did meet Betty White, Slash and... nevermind, would like to keep that experience to myself. Finally seeing Sichuan Takin at RWPZ, and not having to travel to see them is a nice treat.
Visits: visited Sòstò Zoo in Hungary, was allowed to cuddle the Asian elephants*) there. Was in their outdoor enclosure twice, when I was there the 2nd time cuddling Motki, Yasmin, the matriarch, stopped eating, came to us, rumbled at me and wanted to be cuddled too, although they didn't get any treats from me. That was a very special experience. At Györ Zoo, Hungary, visitors are allowed to feed ringtailed Lemurs (for free!). The lemurs know that they should not climb onto the visitors. Well, when I was there feeding them, guess what they did. Of course, they did climb onto me, sat on my shoulders, played with my hair and hold my hand while munching the treats. I didn't know before how fluffy lemurs are and how gentle they can be. News: Giant pandas Yang Yang and Long Hui will stay another period of 10 (!) years at Vienna *) African eles: protected contact; Asian eles: hands-on
Wow, there were lots of highlights of 2012... Visit(s): Seeing the first Chacoan Peccary piglet to be born in Northeast at Beardsley Zoo, Seeing my first Cheetahs at Busch Gardens and watched them for more than an hour, Seeing my first Honey Badgers at Naples, Seeing Beeze the Bobcat before his public debut at Beardsley, My first RWPZ visit, and of course, my annual visit to the Bronx. I'm sorry, I really couldn't narrow it down. Best News: Learning about Beardsley's next two projects (Amur Leopards and Pampas Plains). Elephant calf at Lowry Park was also cool, and Minnesota Zoo masterplan. Disappointing Visit: A good portion of the Bronx was closed after damage from Hurricane Sandy. Also, didn't see the Short-Beaked Echidnas at Busch Gardens. Disappointing News: Probably that the Gray Wolves at Beardsley died. Really personal for me.
Zoo visit - two very definite highlights - the glorious langurs of the Primate Centre at Cuc Phuong and the off-show small mammal and bird rooms at Pilsen. Two big wishes ticked off there! News - I'm probably with Kiang on the tarsiers - though Chester's Islands getting planning approval is good news, meaning as it does that we might actually get some serious development of the eternally-debated Natural Vision now!
Paignton highlights: the births of the first Hartmann's Mountain zebras for 10 years. Their father, Blesk, died in December 2011 after a difficult year at the zoo, but rumour had it that both mares were pregnant. I spent many visits looking for signs, wondering whether they looked larger than last time or if they were behaving differently. Finally, after what seemed like the longest pregnancies in history, 2 male foals were born. I actually shouted 'Hurray' after seeing the first one
