Pittsburgh Zoo: The Back End

 Leaving the Aquarium leaves you with three additional areas to explore.

1) The Water's Edge is home to Polar Bears, Sea Otters, and species of Seals.  In five visits, I have NEVER SEEN a Polar Bear, a Sea Otter, and only once Seals.  The design of the space is integrated, well-maintained, and engaging with lots of extra educational displays.  It's also one of the most disappointing aspects of any zoo I have ever visited on multiple occasions.

2) There is a final set of areas "Kid's Kingdom and Worlds of Discovery" designed for the entertainment of children.  I have never visited either.  They appear to encompass interactive domesticated animals and displays.  They are always chucked full of moms with children and prams everywhere.  It's a great space for the visitors it's intended to serve; however, it doesn't offer any enticements for someone like me.

Pittsburgh Zoo: The Aquarium

 It is called the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, after all...  And the aquarium is a consistently lovely experience.  It's the one place where the animals are always out to be seen.  From my first visit I was delighted by most of the experiences provided.  My only exception is the habitat where the penguins are housed.  I've never liked penguin habitats that are entirely enclosed in the interior of a building.  I just feel like the little guys deserve to experience the sun, and the sounds of the outdoors.  It's possible that they have an off-public exterior place.  

An otter sculpture in the exterior gardens of the Aquarium.

The entrance.

BROOK TROUT

Salvelinus fontinalis

Less flashy than their Rainbow Trout cousins, the Brook Trout was once found in bountiful numbers in every freshwater stream and river in eastern North America.  Today it's absent altogether in many, yet remains resilient in sufficient places to be considered Least Concerned on the endangered species roster.  Such stunning beautiful fish.

PHANTOM GLASS CATFISH

Kryptopterus vitreolus

One of many multi-species freshwater habitats with foliage consistent with the environment it represents.

Their colony consists of Gentoo Penguins with a couple of Rockhoppers.

GENTOO PENGUIN

Pygoscelis papua

Freshwater tanks give way to many large wonderfully designed salt water tanks.

TESSELLATE MORAY EEL

Gymnothorax favagineus 

The crowned jewel of the Aquarium is a multi-story representation of the Amazon River and Jungle.  It looks before you when you enter.  When you complete the tour of the many tanks and Penguin Habitat, you end up on the second floor overlooking the habitat.  To get to the main floor, you traverse an ADA accessible ramp that wraps around the "island" with alcoves highlighting various tanks and flora.

The view from the second floor.

Looking over the balcony at the large Amazon River Tank.

Amazon River Stingrays

My father taught me how important it is to look when you're in the woods.  It's a lesson that I cherish and apply whenever I have the chance to explore the living world.

The view from the entrance foyer.

Pittsburgh Zoo: Jungle Walk

 The Jungle Walk area is the latest addition to the zoo's themed areas.  It is not a jungle.  It is a walk!  The pathways are lushly planted with a wide range of beautiful trees and shrubs and perennials.  As the grow to create a canopy and create shaded pathways, it will become more jungle-esque; so it's a work in progress.  

With the hot sun bearing down and the brightness of the light, most of the handful of animals were shade seeking.  I did get to see a Two-toed Sloth and an Ocelot that were not in a space to be photographed, and then was able to get a couple of photos of the Giant Anteater and the Pygmy Hippopotamus.  The collection has no geographical logic.  Perhaps a better name for the area might be "Jungle Hodge Podge".  

GIANT ANTEATER

Myrmecophaga tridactyla

This little guy was nestled in some cool mud under a bush in the far corner of his habitat and honestly if I did not know it is a Pygmy Hippopotamus, I might think I was looking at a seal!

PYGMY HIPPOPOTAMUS

Choeropsis liberiensis

Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium: The Islands

 The most recent additions, or re-imagining, of the Pittsburgh Zoo have occurred on the north end of the property.  "The Islands" is a curious confabulation of species that have some sort of connection to living on, well... "islands."  Some are super obvious, like their Galapagos Tortoise; others, not so much.  It's not that the animals in this area aren't amazing or worthy of being part of the zoo, it's just that their connection to one other in order to have some sort of "theme" is just one of the most nonsensical collections I've ever encountered.  

On this day, most of the animals in this area were in less than optimal visual mode.  A.k.a. not really available for observation, and not in a space photographable.  The largest single habitat in the group features Siamang, these amazing and charismatic large monkeys similar to White-handed Gibbons.  

The list of species that call The Islands home.

The spacious well designed Siamang habitat.

SIAMANG

Symphalangus syndactylus

Imagine my joy after discovering most of the animals absent to come to discover this gorgeous Clouded Leopard posing right up against the glass.  Normally a very reserved animals, this fellow was quite accommodating.

Such a beautiful coat of fur.  They live in the jungle and forested areas of Thailand, western Malaysia, Myanmar, eastern India and Bhutan--but not on islands...

CLOUDED LEOPARD

Neofelis nebulosa

Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium: Tropical Forest

 At the top of the ridge with the African Savanna habitats is a structure called the Tropical Forest.  This is an interesting title since the inhabitants are all primates.  The first time I visited, I remember feeling disappointed by the place; however, they've done up-grades which have created much better viewing throughout the structure.  The habitats are built around the center of the structure and surrounded by tropical foliage.  On the far side near the exit on the outside of the building is a pair of large multi-level habitats with massive faux tree trunks and apparatus to climb and swing on.  These are the interior habitats for the troop of Lowland Mountain Gorillas.  A large exterior space abuts this side of the Tropical Forest for their outside use.  

I ironically, on my first visit, while I was less than impressed by the monkeys' habitats, I did have a wonderful experience with the Gorilla troop in their outside space.  This trip, the space was clearly set up with snacks for their arrival, they were not yet out, and I ended up not seeing them.  

The way the building is shrouded in vegetation, it conceals the actual size of the structure creating a slight sense of magic when you enter and see the space inside.

The space held habitats for four species of monkey, both Old World and New.

WHITE-FACED SAKI

Pithecia pithecia

This is the male.  Females don't have the cream colored face.  Theirs is mottled brown and gray.  Native to Bolivia, I love these beautiful monkeys.

WHITE-HANDED GIBBON

Hylobates lar

Another beautiful primate, White-handed Gibbons call Thailand, western Malaysia, northern Sumatra in Indonesia, as well as, adjoining regions of Laos, Myanmar, and China.

ANGOLAN BLACK-AND-WHITE COLOBUS 

Colobus angolensis

There are a handful of sub-species of Colobus monkeys.  All are native to Africa.  A couple are resident in AZA zoos.  Most common are the Mantled Black-and-White Colobus, Colobus guereza.  The Pittsburgh Zoo is home to Angolian Black-and-White Colobus, which makes the opportunity to experience them somewhat more special.

BLUE MONKEY

Cercopithecus mitis

There are nine sub-species of Blue Monkeys.  They are native to sub-Saharan central Africa, most notably Kenya and Tanzania.

Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium: African Savanna

 The large "Heart" of the zoo is dedicated to animals from the African Savannas.  Most of the Habitats are designed to give the animals privacy while asking guests to look through tree framed gaps along the path.  It's a very effective design to create a naturalistic experience.  This is coupled with areas where the habitats are more open to larger spaces along the trail.  On this visit some animals were not very visible like the antelopes, ostriches, zebras and cheetahs, and neither the Black Rhinoceros nor the African Lions were out at all; and I even slipped back around at the end of my visit in hopes of a midday arrival.  But, no. 

The African elephants, and their bull Masai Giraffe were out and about and very visible.  I've never had such good Elephant time in my previous visits.  It's all part of the chance you take when you visit a good zoo where animals have autonomy over where they want to spend their time; even as it can also be disappointing.

NYALA

Tragelaphus angasii

Nyala are members of the genus Tragelaphus which is a reference to their spiral-twisting horns.  As such they are "cousins" to other Antelopes often seen in zoos like: Lesser Kudus, Sitatungas, Eastern Mountain Bongos and Common Elands.

I believe from what I could discover that there are five female African Elephants resident at the Pittsburgh Zoo.  On this wonderful morning, I was able to enjoy the presence of three of them.

AFRICAN BUSH ELEPHANT

Loxodontra africana

I also visited the Public area of the Elephant Barn and discovered a series of interactive displays to further engage and educate the visitor.  I don't recall taking advantage of this in previous trips, or it wasn't open to the public at the times I visited.

The jawbones of elephants.

The impression of an adult Elephant's footprint.  Guests could step inside of it to compare their foot with that of an Elephant.

Lewis is the Zoo's resident Bull Masai Giraffe.  His companion female, Sox, passed into Ancestry back in January.  Both animals were in the upper end of life expectancy.  You can read Lewis' wisdom in the wrinkles he's earned across his expressive face.  

MASAI GIRAFFE

Giraffa tippelskrichi

The Pittsburgh Zoo's latest Master Plan coupled with a recent $10 million dollar gift from an anonymous benefactor has spurred on the groundbreaking for a new, larger Giraffe Barn with state-of-the-art breeding capacity.  Ground breaking is set to occur at the end of the summer.  Very exciting development for the zoo.