Another year, another annual update from the zoo community
Brevard Zoo opened its new lion habitat in Expedition Africa. The zoo continues to work on developing its planned sister facility, an aquarium to be located in Port Canaveral.
Brookfield Zoo continues to work on its outdoor expansion of Tropic World, but while visitors wait for that to open, there's plenty of new sights in Chicago. The bottle-nosed dolphins are back from their sojourn at the Minnesota Zoo. A new North American prairie aviary has opened, featuring sandhill cranes and prairie chickens, as well as a new North American turtle exhibit. Koalas have joined the collection for the first time, and can be seen in the Children's Zoo. The big news, however, was the unveiling of a very ambitious new masterplan which, among other exciting developments, calls for the return to elephants and hippos to the zoo.
Chattanooga Zoo plans to add a series of exhibits for smaller African species - warthog, serval, and Cape porcupine - as well as an expanded giraffe habitat.
Cincinnati Zoo opened it's expansive new habitat for Asian elephants, with satellite exhibits for some smaller Asian species in the works. The zoo is also at work on new habitats for black bears and sea otters, replacing the old bear grottos.
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has shuttered its iconic Rainforest building. It will reopen - heavily modified, and complete with outdoor habitats - as Primate Forest, featuring the gorillas that were located elsewhere in the zoo.
Columbus Zoo is hard at work renovating its North American area. The zoo also expanded its Asian elephant habitat, and as a result no longer houses rhinos.
Denver Zoo's new kangaroo exhibit has opened.
Fort Wayne Children's Zoo has rebranded itself as the Fort Wayne Zoo. The zoo, long famous for its Tasmanian devils, which had been absent from the facility in recent years, was part of a new import of the species, along with Toledo and Columbus, and more on the way.
Greensboro Science Center's rainforest dome will hopefully open in 2026, according to estimates from the facility.
Indianapolis Zoo has announced plans to add new habitats for Aldabra and Galapagos tortoises in the new year. The zoo opened its new chimpanzee habitat earlier this year (after my visit, before my review was written). It's designed in the style of its existing (in)famous orangutan exhibit.
Milwaukee County Zoo unveiled (just this week!) a new exhibit for their Humboldt penguins, with triple the space as the old habitat. The new exhibit is located at the zoo's entrance and features a waterfowl, underwater viewing, and improved water quality systems.
North Carolina's Asia area is still under construction - tigers, gibbons, and Komodo dragons, are among the species slated to be added, with some of the animals already present at the zoo. The zoo also no longer exhibits seals; the former seal habitat will become a penguin exhibit.
Philadelphia Zoo has recently sent out its sloth bears and Andean bears in preparation for a renovated Bear Country. The Humboldt penguins, which also live in that portion of the zoo, have also been sent out while construction takes place, but will return!
Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, having rejoined the AZA, is launching a new masterplan, with new habitats for giraffe and orangutan being highlights.
Potawatomi Zoo's Andean bear exhibit is completed (the zoo had received its first Andean bear last year, but it was living in the old lion exhibit while construction was carried out). The new habitat is adjacent to a new indoor dining area.
Between when I visited and when I posted the review, Seattle Aquarium has opened its exciting new Ocean Pavilion, a significant deviation for a facility which had almost exclusively focused on species native to the Puget Sound region.
The first steps of Shedd Aquarium's renovations are complete. The iconic Caribbean reef display in the rotunda has been replaced with twin habitats, one depicting freshwater ecosystems and one depicting saltwater.
Sylvan Heights Bird Park announced plans for a new African penguin exhibit, which, like almost everything else at Sylvan Heights, will also include waterfowl. In non-exhibit news, the facility mourned the passing of its co-founder and director, the legendary British-born aviculturist Mike Lubbock.
And finally, as previously mentioned, the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo will be reopening its famous World of Darkness. Bronx has some of the finest exhibits in the country, but is not a zoo that's prone to make big changes very often, so this is very exciting indeed. I'd seen the old building shortly before it closed, and it definitely was a bit dated and tired looking. I'm very excited to see the zoo's fresh take on this display and what animals it will feature.
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