Talk:Toronto Zoo

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BetacommandBot 19:03, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

births
I'm trimming down the list of births, etc.; it's just not notable. I've copied the info here in case anyone thinks some of it is worth re-introducing. I will re-work some pieces back into the text in prose form.

2001
 * The Toronto Zoo rescues two female Polar Bear cubs, later named Aurora & Nikita

2003
 * 3 Sumatran Tigers were born at the zoo to parents Brytne and Rengat. They were the first of their kind to be born in Canada.  This subspecies of tiger is critically endangered, with an estimated 400–500 remaining in the wild.
 * 1 Komodo Dragon was hatched for the first time in Canada.
 * The Toronto Zoo rescued a male Polar Bear cub, later named Inukshuk.

2004
 * 2 female West African Dwarf Crocodiles successfully hatched on October 1.

2005
 * 1 male Gorilla was born March 7, later named Sadiki.

2006
 * 1 male Sumatran Orangutan was born January 18th. It was named Budi which means "The Wise One" in the Indonesian language.
 * 1 Two-Toed Sloth was born. This was the first birth of this species at the zoo.
 * 18 Vancouver Island Marmot pups were born. The Toronto Zoo was the first zoo to establish a captive-breeding program for these animals with the goal of releasing them back into their wild habitat.
 * 2 more Sumatran Tigers were born to the same parents as the 2003 litter. They were later named Kali and Indah which mean "River" and "Beautiful" in the Indonesian language.
 * 5 African Cheetah cubs were born.
 * 4 Golden Lion Tamarins were born.
 * 1 Matschie's Tree Kangaroo one of three born in North America in 2006.(New York Bronx Zoo, St. Louis Zoo and Toronto Zoo.)
 * 1 Grevy's Zebra foal, the first born following a 14 breeding hiatus.

2007
 * 2 rare Snow Leopards were born on June 5th. This is the first birth in 13 years.
 * 2 Przewalski's Horse one male and female who was born on June 22. This is the first birth in 15 years.
 * 1 male and 1 female Siberian Tiger, were born at the Toronto Zoo on July 13.
 * 1 Masai Giraffe.
 * 3 Golden Lion Tamarins were born.
 * 19 Black-footed Ferrets
 * 2 European Reindeer
 * 4 American Flamingos
 * 5 Mandarin Ducks

2008
 * 3 Golden Lion Tamarins were born.
 * 6 Axolotl
 * 3 American Flamingos
 * 4 Barbary Sheep
 * 3 Central Bearded Dragons
 * 1 Gaur
 * 2 Sacred Ibis
 * 1 Common Barn Owl
 * 1 Chinese water dragon
 * 8 Brownbanded bamboo sharks
 * 1 Grevy's Zebra foal
 * 3 African Cheetah cubs, one did not survive
 * 3 Przewalski's Horses
 * 2 Marabou Storks
 * 7 European Reindeer
 * 1 Olive Baboon
 * 1 Greater Kudu
 * 1 Bactrian Camel
 * 4 Common Marmosets
 * In 2006 the Matschie's Tree Kangaroo born at the Toronto Zoo, later named Noru, and was sent to the Lincoln Zoo. It was paired with a mate named Milla who gave birth to two twins - a first for this species. This will help zoos across the world in conservation of the species.
 * 1 female Mandrill

2009
 * 1 Bactrian Camel
 * 1 Olive Baboon
 * 1 Sable Antalope

Matt Deres (talk) 22:15, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

How many animals?
The article summary says there are 5000 animals but the infobox says 16000. Which is correct? Here is the revision that changed the infobox # from 5000 to 16000: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toronto_Zoo&diff=269625992&oldid=267750468 Hypertall (talk) 01:55, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm going to change it to 5000+ animals and 500+ species, as its website states: http://www.torontozoo.com/AboutTheZoo/ Hypertall (talk) 02:00, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Names Of The Giant Pandas
The names of Giant Pandas that were at the Zoo in 1985 were: Quinn Quinn and QUANN QUANN (pronunced "Shawn Shawn") NOT Shayan as stated in the article. I have an old brochure from the Zoo back then which states this. Just a minor error in an otherwise well-written article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cairnben (talk • contribs) 17:16, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Addition of Elephant Death Section
this section was added at the end of the history as it is an extremely noteworthy series of events, in particular as the eyes of the international elephant advocacy movement have now focused on the Toronto Zoo. Having posted it yesterday only to see it vanish completely with all traces gone as well and no notes, I hope this will not happen again. Yjemo (talk) 20:17, 3 December 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree with you that the removal was incorrect. I have added references for (I think) all the claims made and the number of references should illustrate that the deaths are indeed noteworthy. The removal was not based on policy, but in general you'll find that properly cited additions are more likely to be kept. See Template:Cite news for examples of how it's done or come ask on my talk page. Matt Deres (talk) 02:04, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Largest zoo
I have changed the statement from "third largest in the world" to "largest in Canada" as it is unsourced about it being third largest and I don't think it sounds right at all (I can think of about a dozen other zoos that are much larger than this one, such as the San Diego Zoo). But it IS well known to be the largest in Canada however. trainfan01 20:49, August 6, 2010 (UTC)


 * Just to kill a myth, since I've seen this statement several times in the last few months, at 107 acres the San Diego Zoo is NOT "larger" that the Toronto zoo (at 750 acres). Among others, Zoo Miami and the Bronx Zoo are both "larger" than the San Diego Zoo. At 1800 acres, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (a different venue) is larger than the Toronto zoo. The San Diego Zoo has the largest membership in the world (or so they claim). I have no idea off hand how zoos rank in terms of number of species or number of animals. Note that I have just listed four separate criteria which can be "larger" (I'm sure there are others), I hope illustrating the need to be very careful when using relative terms, particularly since they can change over time, not to mention are we talking about "developed acres" or "total acres" (see the ZooMiami article). I'm not going to change this for now, but generally I try to avoid "bragging" statements as they are subjective and subject to change. Donlammers (talk) 13:25, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

It depends on what kind of "large" you are talking about. In space, the Toronto Zoo certainly is larger than the San Diego Zoo, but in diversity of species, I'd say the San Diego Zoo is larger —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.36.153.163 (talk) 00:57, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Deletion of Elephants in list of African Savanna species
Just so you all know, I have deleted the word "elephants" from the description of the African Savanna exhibit, since the remaining three elephants in the zoo were sent to a sanctuary and the enclosure was shut down. I do not wish to see it changed back. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.36.153.163 (talk) 01:05, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, I actually misunderstood the article, the elephants are apparently still on display, so go ahead and change it back. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.36.153.163 (talk) 03:55, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Largest
Claims of largest need to be substantiated (and "large", for that matter, since it's subjective). There are currently 9 instances of the word "largest" in the article. When stating largest, we should say how -- most land area? largest number of animals? heaviest? What is the criteria, and who says so? Don Lammers (talk) 01:13, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

I am reverting the "third largest" claim back to "largest in Canada", but leaving the citation needed. Who says it's the largest in Canada? remember, in Wikipedia, "common knowledge" does not count. It needs to be verifiable. Support for removing the "third largest" claim are the following 6 larger zoos (this is undoubtedly not an exhaustive list -- it's just what I could find in 15 minutes or so. The Toronto zoo is listed in this article as 710 acres:


 * Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (3200 acres)
 * The Elephant Sanctuary (2,700 acres)
 * San Diego Wild Animal Park (1800 acres)
 * North Carolina Zoo (1,371 acres)
 * The Wild Animal Sanctuary, Keenesburgh, Colorado (720 acres)
 * Arignar Anna Zoological Park, India (1,490 acres)

Please do not try to add claims like this back without proper citation. Don Lammers (talk) 14:39, 11 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Animal sanctuaries (in particular ones devoted as free range habitat for a single animal) are not zoos per se. I think most North Americans tend to compare San Diego and Toronto as "largest" simply due to local bias however if you intend to count stuff like park areas (Arignar) I would note you would need to include the Rouge Valley itself into the Toronto Zoo's footprint so as to compare apples to apples. Kav2001c (talk) 20:18, 10 January 2022 (UTC)kav2001c

Disambiguation
WHO EVER DID THIS ARTICLE WASN'T SPECIFIC ENOUGH SOMEONE SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zhand38 (talk • contribs) 20:44, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

And, it looks like you already started. The process of making things more specific is called disambiguation, and may be required because the editor didn't know that there was a more specific article, or the article may not yet have existed when it was written. In either case, it doesn't help to yell at other editors, all of which are volunteers and most of which have life outside WikiPedia. Between all of us, we gradually make the articles better. Don Lammers (talk) 13:28, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Maglev
Should we mention the proposed maglev operation at the Toronto Zoo? Here is a reliable source: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/04/10/toronto-zoo-eyes-monorail-after-edmonton-firms-proposal.html Johnny Au  (talk/contributions) 02:42, 7 May 2016 (UTC)
 * It has been mentioned in the Toronto Zoo Domain Ride instead. Johnny Au  (talk/contributions) 02:32, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I have mentioned it in the main article as well. Johnny Au  (talk/contributions) 02:03, 21 May 2016 (UTC)

Indomalayan Pavilion
I have edited the "since opening" section changing the date previously listed for Indomalayan Pavilion from 1993 to 1983. Although I can not say for 100% certainity this is correct date I feel it can reasonably be predicted based off official Toronto Zoo documents (see link). In 1977 Zoo Map there clearly is no pavilion. In 1983 Map there clearly is a pavilion. I do not know the precise date it opened, but am making an educated guess on two factors. 1- previous Wiki poster said "1993" which could easily be a typo of "1983". 2- as this was the year the Zoo revised their maps it seems likely this could also be the year that new buildings and areas were added. Toronto Zoo official Twitter post with graphics here https://twitter.com/thetorontozoo/status/1162006011089227776 Kav2001c (talk) 20:09, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

Renaming / Refreshing
Another bone of contention is the claim the Mayan Temple opened in 1987. This structure clearly exists as far back as 1977 on Zoo Maps. I think some editors are claiming whenever the Zoo renovates / refreshes an area it is a "new" area which is patently false. I have erased all mention of it "opening" as it has been there since Day 1 and re-worded it as a refresh which is more accurate. Kav2001c (talk) 20:32, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

Some animals are gone
The jaguars and komodo dragons were recently removed from the Toronto zoo and are now being kept in the article. The last remaning Komodo Dragon, died. The Jaguars were moved. So I think that they should edit the article. DINOSAUR5804 (talk) 23:06, 9 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Much of the article is unsourced. It would also be good to add reliable sources, especially from official press releases by the zoo themselves. Johnny Au (talk/contributions) 00:32, 10 June 2024 (UTC)