randuwa: Philadelphia Zoo redux #2

The last time I visited, this was the newest facility at the zoo. The Rare Animal Conservation Center was designed to not only house some of the endangered species that the zoo conserves, but to be a state of the art habitat with facilities where the zoo's long history of breeding rare animals could continue to be highlighted. This is end, one of the enclosures belongs to a Red-shanked Douc Langur native to Viet Nam, endangered and the only one currently in North America. She is also about to give birth--so not on display today. The Philadelphia Zoo has hosted the first successful births of many species over the years (although this won't be one of them, it is perhaps more significant than some of the others given the animals status as a species). Among there noted first births in North America are Cheetahs, Orangutans and Chimpanzees (a species no longer kept at this zoo). The species that call this facility home include: Bolivian Gray Titi Monkeys, Geoffrey's Marmoset, Golden Lion Tamarin, Pied Tamarin and a lone Red-capped Mangabey named Storm. Also you will find Rodrigues Fruit Bats, Black & Rufous Giant Elephant Shrews, Naked Mole Rats, and Pygmy Mongoose.

From off of the roof of the building a sort of primate "habitrail" connects to some of the larger primates habitats and in temperate weather conditions, they are allowed to use these to leave the building and explore an impressive range of the larger zoo. It's a concept that the zoo also extends to a second and more massive overhead trail of walkways that are made available at various times to the zoo's Western-lowland Gorillas, North American Pumas, Amur Leopards, and Orangutans. It's a habitat concept that I've never seen used like this in any other zoo and it's really fascinating. There is a similar terran creation for the Meerkats. I personally think that this sort of thing is wonderful for the animals and for zoos with limited space. You'll see more of this in later posts