Dear Friends,
What an amazing few months it has been!
We recently welcomed an important – and tall – addition to Reid Park Zoo – a reticulated giraffe calf. This is the second offspring born to mom Penny and father Jasiri who have a breeding recommendation from the Species Survival Plan – a program in accredited zoos to help ensure healthy populations of this endangered animal. Both mom and calf are doing great.
Pathway to Asia
In other news, Pathway to Asia is now 80% complete and making rapid progress daily. We have been fortunate to have mild winter weather that has favored a robust construction schedule as crews get this exciting new area into shape and ready to open in late 2026.
Within Pathway to Asia’s Robert Hamilton Tropical Discovery Center, the Komodo dragon habitat is a lair fit for the king of lizards. This habitat is being equipped with all the creature comforts the world’s largest lizard species and apex predator requires. Dragons love basking in the sun and soaking up its warmth.
Indoors, the temperature-controlled habitat includes a domed glass ceiling that will let the light shine in for toasty sunbathing, warming rocks that make for the perfect and comfortable lounging spot, and tiered climbing structures for the dragon to prowl. Outdoors, lush vegetation and a series of climbing ledges and heated boulders will provide the dragon with vantage points to survey his kingdom, reminiscent of the native jungle-like ecosystem in the Komodo dragon’s native environment in the Indonesian islands. These islands are the only place in the world where these impressive reptiles are found in the wild today.
Across from the Tropical Discovery Center, a state-of-the art Malayan tiger habitat will be an expansive space for these big cats to roam complete with flowing waterfalls and pools for them to swim and play. Underwater viewing windows will enable guests to see the tigers up-close, many for the first time, to gain an appreciation for these beautiful animals, important ambassadors for their wild cousins. A field research station will allow guests to explore how scientists study this vanishing species in the wild and conservation programs that exist to help sustain their species.
Malayan tigers are critically endangered with fewer than 250-340 individuals estimated to remain in the wild. Native only to Malay peninsula, the tigers are facing rapid extinction due to habitat loss, massive deforestation, and poaching for illegal wildlife trafficking. Reid Park Zoo is proud to participate in the Species Survival Program for the tigers and to become a breeding and conservation center for the tigers which are a keystone species, maintaining balance in their jungle ecosystem and helping ensure forest health. The Zoo currently supports global tiger initiatives, including the Tiger Conservation Campaign, which protects habitat and fights poaching. The Zoo also helps educate and inspire guests on the use of sustainable palm oil to reduce deforestation and preserve habitat for these majestic big cats.
Most of us will never have the opportunity to travel to Asia, let alone see amazing tigers, Komodo dragons, red pandas, gibbons and other species of Asia in such close proximity. As guests wind their way through Pathway to Asia, they will be transported half a world away on an amazing journey of discovery expanding their horizons.
Around the Zoo
Elsewhere around the Zoo, our maintenance and grounds teams continue to spruce up habitats and fix old or outdated infrastructure from upgrading outdated electrical to installing more shade structures to repainting and repairing fences and buildings as we continue to make your Zoo the very best it can be.
Thank you
Important improvements and exciting new features are a direct result of our community’s support of the Zoo through voters’ generous passing of the 2017 one-tenth-of-one percent sales tax initiative which has provided essential support for the Zoo to maintain groundbreaking animal care and wellness, provide quality educational programs, including free field trips for area schoolchildren, and to positively impact global conservation programs to save wild animals and wild places starting right here in our own backyard.
Thank you for your love of wild animals and your support of the Zoo – you are making a difference!