The Zoo has a new female Masai Giraffe, Rafiki, from the Phoenix Zoo. Randall and Bingwa have been moved to the Philadelphia Zoo.
Does this mean Philadelphia has Masai Giraffes now? Well if it's true it was designed for more terrestrial primates then it was never appropriately built for chimps either But as far as baboons or macaques go the AZA is only interested in Hamadryas and Japanese so Tampa's options are limited, particularly given their climate. ~Thylo
ZooTampa’s two remaining generic giraffe bulls did NOT go to Philadelphia, despite what the zoo’s social media team’s response to a comment on Instagram might say. Philadelphia didn’t have adequate space for the one bull they did have (thus shipping him out in the fall), so they certainly don’t have space for two! The two boys, instead, have moved to the Pittsburgh Zoo.
Here is an article about the zoo's new interactive app: Attractions.io | new guest app for ZooTampa | blooloop
I hope it is better than their paper map. The old paper maps they had were really good at one time, the current ones were pretty terrible, IMO.
Not sure if this is new news but the zoo has just tweeted about a new Shoebill enclosure: ZooTampa at Lowry Park on Twitter: "ZooTampa became the first wildlife institution in North America to hatch shoebill storks outside of their native range. Their new habitat is located in the Africa realm of the zoo and will provide guests their first glimpse of these incredible animals in more than a decade. https://t.co/lFSYHhETAy" / Twitter The wording of 'first glimpse of these incredible animals in more than a decade' caught my eye, as they were very definitely on show in October 2013.
The big walk-through in which they were kept previously was demolished in 2017, so at most they have been off-show for just over three years.
I had the same thought when I saw the post The zoo also had a secondary aviary for them that exhibited additional animals in 2013. It was probably demolished before the massive one but I don't know either way. ~Thylo
I wish that they had posted pictures of the enclosure. I am going to go there in a couple of weeks, I will get some pictures.
There was a Shoebill in the Ituri Forest aviary when I visited in January 2017. Here is an update from the news with footage of the new Shoebill habitat. It looks like they have only one shoebill named Lady and seems that the zoo got rid of Clouded Leopards and replaced them with Binturongs.
Yeah, their post about it being off exhibit for so long wasn't really correct. It's too bad that the large aviary in that area was demolished/built poorly, it was a really interesting habitat. I wish the video had some context on where this exhibit is located in the section. I am sure it is in the same general area as it used to be, but still.... I wonder if the Clouded Leopards are gone or just off exhibit. They used to cycle animals in and out of that enclosure at different times, with the Persian Leopards going on and off.
This article states that the zoo "is home to three of only four shoebill storks in the United States". There is also mention of the zoo's trio of binturongs going on exhibit soon, as well as 'Expedition Wild Africa' (a safari truck ride) and a new mascot ('Manny T the Florida Manatee'): ZooTampa to open new exhibits, experiences this spring
That must mean DWA is the only other one left to hold them as I've heard the San Diego ones have passed away.
That sort of blows. It's a grater shame that there isn't even a specialized bird park like Sylvan Heights willing to try to breed these birds (I know that it's probably because they rather try to preserve what they can but still, shoebills need more attention imo).
