Pittsburgh Zoo: 2015

My trip this week was predicated completely on a visit to the Pittsburgh Zoo.  The Zoo has been promoting a new area of exhibitions called "The Islands" which feature a group of 5 endangered species from various tropical island ecosystems.  I love the idea.  The promotion promised something really special.  But first, most of the rest of the zoo.  A zoo I have visited before.  

 My visit begins with the African Lion, Panthera leo.  This picture seems to be of a single male, but ....

 ...a different angle proves it to be a pair of males.

 Oh, the lazy, cuddly joys of summer....  Eh?

 A pair of the half dozen or so of American Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber.  So beautiful.

 Another large cat (which was the theme of the visit in the end), Amur Tiger, Panthera tigris altaica.  It was a damp, overcast day around 75˚ with the same humidity level.  Not hot, but clearly lazy hazy!

 A highlight were the Amur Leopards, Panthera pardus orientalis.  A pair of siblings that were so happy to play chase for visitors.  (These are Asian animals, but the Pittsburgh Zoo website places them among their African savannah animals--I should have been suspicious....)

 Beautiful cats.

 The male Dama Gazelle, Nanger dama, was pretty frisky and occupied by being stalwart and aggressive.

 He and his mate were joined by a little herd of Springbok, Antidorcus marsupialis.

 This one little Springbok reamained a way off from the others.  His twisted horn an obvious difference from the rest of the herd.

 The Pittsburgh Zoo is home to 3 African Elephants, Loxodanta africana.

 Two of the four Plains Zebras, Equus quagga.

 The Pittsburgh Zoo is also home to 2 Masai Giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi.  Most zoos keep Somali or Reticulated Giraffes.

 One of the creations that the Pittsburgh Zoo publicizes is their Tropical Forest exhibition of Primates.  Their website displays 16 primates in their collection.  The Primate house on this visit only had 5.  Four were lesser monkey species: The White-faced Gibbon, the Blue Monkey, the Howler Monkey and the Capuchin Monkey.  The other inhabitant was a single Orangutan.  The space looks lovely, but it screams abuse of the larger primates.  I felt so sorry for the Orangutan--held in a sterile, faux natural, but made of concrete cell with dimmed lighting and no vegetation in sight.  The poor animal was just sitting in a corner lifeless.  I cried.

 Here a White-faced Gibbon, Lars gibbons, is enchanted by a maintenance worker.

 Four Cheetahs, Acinonyx jubatus, wasting away the day!

 This is the introduction to the new (million dollar) "The Islands" exhibition.  The reason for my trip...  I have never been more disappointed.

 The female of the pair of Philippine Crocodiles, Crocodylus mindorensis, the rarest of all crocodiles.  Native to a tropical jungle, now relegated to a sterile concrete pen without even the possibility of natural shade.  Why?

Next exhibit was a pair of Galapagos Tortoises, Geochelone nigra.  Their pen was like a 4-H project with plywood and bamboo reeds!  I was flabbergasted by any claim of special or unique.

The worst of all was the pen that housed the Visayan Warty Pigs, Sus cebifrons.  These are animals that live in thick under brush in tropical jungles.  Now they are here with mulch and dead trees and concrete.  It was disgraceful.

The final exclosure features a pair of Clouded Leopards, Neofelis nebulosa.  At least, they seemed curious and engaged in their "home."

 One of the animals that the zoo still champions on their outdated website is the bear.  The zoo is one of America's oldest, and during the Great Depression, it was the recipient of CCC work efforts.  The Conservation Corp constructed a series of four beautiful enclosures for bears.  Well, friends, they are NO MORE.  They are filled in with dirt and allowed to grow over with weeds.  What a disappointment.  False advertising even...

Another major construction and exhibition is called, "The Water's Edge".  This is the home of Polar Bears, Sea Otters, Penquins...BUT NOT on the day I visited.  Nothing.  Nada.  No animals en casa...

On the whole, for a trip all the way from DC, this was a HUGE disappointment as zoos go.