Zookeeper's Lounge

well not quite yet but the columbus zoos asian elephant phoebe is expecting captive elephant births are fairly rare so this is a big thing for the zoo the baby (expected to be female) should be born any day now as its mother is nearing the end of her 22 month gestation they even had a baby shower for phoebe on saturday (im not sure if this is the first asian elephant birth at the zoo (theyve had africans)) but it is phoebes first and possibly cocos (the asian bull) first time being a father

the cincinnati zoo also has an expectant sumatran rhino a few years ago the same female had the first captive birth in over 100 years for a sumatran rhino and she will soon have a second

Awww, what great news! Love to hear things like that. Always brings a little smile both on my face and in my heart.

The Fort Wayne Zoo has been doing quite well with their breeding animals, wonderful news. But, yeah, that's great to hear, Okapi!

Cool elephants! And they're endangered! Great!

well still no baby yet but any time now

im going to the zoo today and if anyone wants to see them ill post some pics of the zoo

I like seeing pictures of unusual things.

ok the first section of the zoo is North America
you start out at the mexican wolves they are pretty shy and dont come near the windows if their are a lot of people Mexican Wolves
Next are the prairie dogs, they are always fun to watch. Heres a Prairie dog sentry wi some pronghorns behind him
Prairie Dog
next is the moose exhibit here are two young cows and the bull moose Moose
Heres a closeup of the two young twin cows they were orphaned when their mother was killed and brought to the zoo only a few months ago
Moose twins
Next is the zoo's grizzley she has been pretty depressed lately after her mate died Grizzley
Next is the gray wolves here's the male showing why ZT needs wolf climbing rocks Gray Wolf
After that is the wolverirne cabin heres the wolverine resting in a hollow log
Wolverine
Heres the bobcats resting at the back of their exhibitBobcats
Next is the NA aviary here are some ducks and turtles in the aviary pondDucks
Turtles
After that is the Bald eagles here is the male guarding the nest (the female is inside sitting on some eggs )
Eagle
Then the otter exhibit heres one of the otters resting in the den (the other was outside but as i tried to take the picture it went inside too )
Otter
then the bison and Pronghorn
Bison and Pronghorn
Heres a closeup of the male bison
Bison
and finally the trumpeter swans
Trumpeter Swans
there are also cougars and Black bears but i dont have good pics of them
I'll continue with the "tour" later

It look likes you have a pretty good zoo there Okapi. Those pictures are great. It's nice to see the moose have a nice lake in their exhibit.

The moose exhibit is really cool it actually has another pond in the back too (so the moose don't have to be bothered by guests if they want to take a dip) and a boardwalk goes right over the front pond it looks neat in summer when the water is covered with lillypads and full of bullfrogs and ducks

heres the Herbivore/Carnivore section of the zoo its the oldest part of the zoo (the original idea was to have large carnivores overlooking mixed hoofstock exhibits of their prey but it has changed a bit over the years)
here are the rhinos baby Klyde and his motherRhinos
heres elephants Phoebe(who is going to have a baby) and Connie
elephants
Heres Akere the white tiger (on loan to replace Taj who died a couple months ago )
Akere
Heres a Kudu and her calf who is investigating a gerenuk
Kudu and Gerenuk
heres the bongo
Bongo
Heres the Giraffe/Zebra exhibit (all the female and young giraffes were inside and the viewing windows were covered for some reason)
Zebra/Giraffe
there are also asian(sika deer, blackbucks, and nilgias(sp?) and South american(giant anteater, rheas) but the animals were all inside

Yes, those pictures are great. It is interesting to see the ponds in the moose exhibit. It is also interesting to see so much green in a number of exhibits.

I'm surpised there is so much animal activity. In the wild, mammals are normally more active at dusk and dawn, resting during the day to minimize the affects of the heat. That usually is true in zoos as well. For example, I think all the wolves I've seen in zoos have always been sleeping.

I'm also surprised at seeing inside the otter den. All the zoos I've been too, you can't see inside the den. (And the otters always seem to be inside it.)

There are so many good pictures, but I probably like the pronghorns behind the prarie dog the best. It shows off their interesting coloration very well.

Wonderful job at taking the pictures, Okapi! Thanks.

Here are a few pics from the Shores region
the first is one of the manatees sleeping on the bottom of the tank while some fish clean algea from its back(notice the turtle swimming by)
Manatee
the next is the humbolt penguins helping each other one-by-one up the steps to a ledge above the waterPenguins
next is a red-bellied short-necked turtle in the Australian exhibit in the aquarium (it is a rainforest river exhibit with lungfish, rainbows, turtles, and a scrub python in the jungle above the water)
Turtle
the last is a panamanian golden frog in the amphibian section of the aquarium(the exhibit is one of the largest even though it houses the tiny frogs because there are over 30)
golden frog

Well It's a Boy! He was born yesterday at 3:30 AM and seems to be doing fine (but is still off exhibit) this is a first for the Columbus Zoo and a first for Coco, the father (one of only about 25 male Asian elephants in the US). He hasn't yet been named.

I visited the zoo today (I was already in Columbus going to OSU to take a tour of the vet school) and the zoo also has many more new things (just since last week!) first of all a baby female gorilla was born at 12:03 AM today and was on exhibit with here mom, Nia and the rest of her family. Nkosi is believed to be her father (wont know for sure until genetic tests are done).

The zoo has a few new animals too. Last week was my first time seeing the new baby okapi. The zoo also has a few more babys including a bonobo, and a colobus monkey, and two baby lions (from another zoo not the Columbus Zoo's lions I don't believe. The zoo also added some Siamangs to their gibbon exhibit in the SE Asian area (I also notice that Tara(the orang) doesn't seem to be afraid of her mate, Willie anymore (so maybe a baby soon?))

I see there are other newer pictures in addition to the baby okapi. I like not only the pictures, but the descriptions also, such as the meanings of "Colobus" and "Colo" as well as how small the male Asian Elephant population is in zoos. Thanks again!

Denver Zoo had an okapi birth back in I believe January. Maybe I'll get to see it this summer.

Okapi, these are great pictures!!! The Columbus Zoo looks very neat. Thank you for sharing with us.