MN Zoo

[mellowtigger]

The weather at 9:30am today was still at 0F/-18C (subzero windchill) but clear skies.  I hadn't been to the zoo in a long while, so I decided to make a long trip to the south metro area to visit the meerkats.  Usually, in cold weather, humans don't bother leaving the main complex.  The meerkats had their own little winter building, so I could sit in there for an hour (me looking at them, them looking at me) without ever being bothered with the clamor of other humans.

It's been so long since I've been to the zoo that I didn't even know the meerkats had been taken off of exhibition in September!  The zoo is building them a new home that should open in 2012.  *sigh*  On the plus side, though, earlier construction was now completed and they had an excellent place for viewing coyotes and river otters.  Both animals seem to tolerate the Minnesota cold and snow pretty well.  They even had an American bald eagle there.  The dolphins are also not on exhibition, because they're trying to raise (breed) a larger pod.   Even the sharks were conspicuously missing from the salt tank next to the dolphins.

The only animal I've seen at the MN Zoo that ever seemed to be unhappy in its surroundings has been the Fishing Cat.  Consistently, over many years, it is always pacing in its enclosure when I see it.  :(  I have written the zoo before now to let them know.

I'm not great at photography.  Some unlikely photos (like the night shot of the ever-pacing Fishing Cat) turned out well, while others in full daylight didn't work at all.  I ran out of spare memory on this old camera really fast too, but here's the best of what I shot.

Coyote	North American River Otter		Asian Small-clawed otter
Clouded Leopard	Fishing Cat	Greater Indian Fruit Bats	Leopard Shark
Visayan Warty Pigs	Red Ruffed Lemur	Cotton-Top Tamarin	Chilean Pudu

Click images for bigger versions (and click again for original size photo).  Click the names to read the zoo's webpage about the animal.

Comments

[jpeace.livejournal.com]

Bebbeh otters! So cute.

Fishing Cat and Clouded leopard

[(Anonymous)]

I was at the zoo today and it looked as though the fishing cat and clouded leopard exhibits were gone! Have you heard anything about a remodel in this area? The signs posted didn't really say anything about what was going on and no one seemed to have an answer.

Re: Fishing Cat and Clouded leopard

[mellowtigger]

No, this is the first I've heard of the change. I see that they've also removed the webpage for the fishing cat. I hope they found it a home in a different zoo with more appropriate space for it. I'll try to remember to ask a volunteer the next time that I'm there.
http://mnzoo.org/animals/tropics_trail/fcat_1.asp

The clouded leopard page is still there, though. Perhaps it'll be getting a new exhibit space.
http://mnzoo.org/animals/tropics_trail/cleo_1.asp

Re: Fishing Cat and Clouded leopard

[(Anonymous)]

I always thought this part of the zoo needed some work. I think the New York zoo has something like 15 fishing cats, so there probably was some space there.

The clouded was my wife's favorite so she would like to see it return in a more hospitable environment.