Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Spatial77 »

iamjacobm wrote:Elephants go on display tomorrow! I am sure the crowds will be massive.
Stay far far away on Sunday... partly sunny with a high near 71! I-80 will be backed up to Gretna!
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Omaha_corn_burner »

MTO wrote:
Omaha_corn_burner wrote:
MTO wrote:I'd hate to be behind that trailer.
Seems like an odd thing to say. Are you scared of the parasites floating out of the garbage bags? If you're worried about smell, cattle dung smells much worse than elephant dung.
Oh I had no idea I don't go around smelling animals shít. Anyway the elephants go on display tomorrow.
Maybe if you spent time with the animals you would learn about them.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

Spatial77 wrote:
iamjacobm wrote:Elephants go on display tomorrow! I am sure the crowds will be massive.
Stay far far away on Sunday... partly sunny with a high near 71! I-80 will be backed up to Gretna!
It was backed up on I-80 for 1/2 mile this past Sunday when it was 85. Hopefully someday soon, they will fix 10th st near the zoo. I know they had a story on it not too long ago, but that street is an embarrassment leading into the state's #1 attraction.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by GRANDPASMUCKER »

Going and seeing 7 or 8 elephants standing around doing nothing just does not do it for me after going to Ringling Brothers circus in the old days and seeing 25 elephants run around the arena doing tricks and dressed up in costumes. I even rode an elephant once for 9 or 10 bucks. Back in the late 80s I saw the circus at the Civic Auditorium. They had 25 elephants running around the auditorium all dressed up in costumes with a synchronized light show and music. Wow, now that was an elephant show.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by jessep28 »

skinzfan23 wrote:
Spatial77 wrote:
iamjacobm wrote:Elephants go on display tomorrow! I am sure the crowds will be massive.
Stay far far away on Sunday... partly sunny with a high near 71! I-80 will be backed up to Gretna!
It was backed up on I-80 for 1/2 mile this past Sunday when it was 85. Hopefully someday soon, they will fix 10th st near the zoo. I know they had a story on it not too long ago, but that street is an embarrassment leading into the state's #1 attraction.
Most people probably don't think to go a little out of their way and approach the zoo from the North on 10th St. They could take Kennedy to say Martha, turn South on 10th and then park in the old Rosenblatt parking lot along Bob GIbson Blvd that nobody uses.
Last edited by jessep28 on Wed Apr 06, 2016 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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skinzfan23
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

I am not sure if 10th st is reopened yet, but yes, that does make more sense. They are working on the parking lots at the zoo and a few months ago, when I was there last, 10th St. was still closed.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Brad »

skinzfan23 wrote:I am not sure if 10th st is reopened yet, but yes, that does make more sense. They are working on the parking lots at the zoo and a few months ago, when I was there last, 10th St. was still closed.
It was still closed on Sunday.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by mj3141 »

MTO wrote:
Omaha_corn_burner wrote:
MTO wrote:I'd hate to be behind that trailer.
Seems like an odd thing to say. Are you scared of the parasites floating out of the garbage bags? If you're worried about smell, cattle dung smells much worse than elephant dung.
Oh I had no idea I don't go around smelling animals shít.
:lol:
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

Killer whale sculptures installed at zoo's Alaskan Adventure splash park
The exhibit, which is expected to open in June, will act as a splash-ground play area and a water feature for the zoo. It will be free with zoo admission and include more than 75 bronze sculptures, many of which will have built-in water features that mimic actions that the animals make in the wild.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Brad »

Really cool addition to the zoo!
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by RNcyanide »

Are there 2 blue whales, or did one blue whale have his spine mangled?
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Spatial77 »

RNcyanide wrote:Are there 2 blue whales, or did one blue whale have his spine mangled?
Although the whales are blue in color they are humpback whales. One is breaching and the tail is one that is diving. No brokeback whales here.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

The zoo had attendance of approx 23,000 for Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. I would be surprised if, with the opening of the African Grasslands, the zoo doesn't break the all-time attendance mark this year.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

Wow, the zoo is really on a roll the past 2-3 years:

Latest Omaha zoo project breaks ground
The Conservation Academy and Adventure Trails, a new headquarters for the zoo’s education program and a hub for young kids, will open in summer 2017.

Recently, construction crews fenced off two sites just north of the Desert Dome and began infrastructure work on the project.
The zoo has hung a diagram of the project on the fence. It shows a glass-sided education building overlooking a treehouse. There are canopy trails, a stream, wetlands with skiff crossing, a budgie aviary, gardens, a meadow and exhibits for prairie dogs and goats, plus a comfort station for adults. There will also be an amphitheater.
This is photo of the rendering:
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Brad
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Brad »

Took a whole bunch of photos at the Zoo today. The place is going to be spectacular when all the construction is finished. The new projects coming online this year are going to take it to a whole other level, and the place is just looking so polished now with all the new paths and landscaping.

Photo Update:
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

Great pictures. I love what the zoo is doing, taking a great thing and making it better. I also like that they are still updating and adding little features to some of the older exhibits like the jungle.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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skinzfan23 wrote:Great pictures. I love what the zoo is doing, taking a great thing and making it better. I also like that they are still updating and adding little features to some of the older exhibits like the jungle.
Thanks! What are they doing in the Jungle?

Instead of the Jungle and Desert, we went to the IMAX. They are showing a National Parks show right now and it's AWESOME! Can't beat the National Parks.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

I just noticed that they drained some of the area where you walk over the fish and rays on the lower level. It looked to be a little more extensive than just cleaning. Also in the past few years they have added the area where the bats fly around. There are a few exhibits in the jungle that could use some updating, but I think the place looks great for being almost 25 years old. I know some people complain that it looks like animal areas aren't kept up, but I have been to a few other zoos where things are broken everywhere and the animals are in tiny cages.

Henry Doorly has done a great job at trying to replicate the animals actual real-world surroundings and they continue to get better.

I know that the lions are supposed to move to the African Grasslands exhibit, but I was wondering if they are still going to use the cat complex, or will that be torn out and replaced with a better exhibit?
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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skinzfan23 wrote:I know that the lions are supposed to move to the African Grasslands exhibit, but I was wondering if they are still going to use the cat complex, or will that be torn out and replaced with a better exhibit?
Originally the other cats were going to move to the Andean Foothills , but someone posted saying that project was dead? So who knows, they need to live somewhere.

At one time they had Cats in the Jungle and Desert, but last time I was in there, they didn't have cats in either place.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Spatial77 »

Brad wrote:
skinzfan23 wrote:I know that the lions are supposed to move to the African Grasslands exhibit, but I was wondering if they are still going to use the cat complex, or will that be torn out and replaced with a better exhibit?
Originally the other cats were going to move to the Andean Foothills , but someone posted saying that project was dead? So who knows, they need to live somewhere.

At one time they had Cats in the Jungle and Desert, but last time I was in there, they didn't have cats in either place.

The Cat Complex will be one of the last exhibits to be demolished and replaced by a few exhibits representing Equatorial Africa. The lions go into the new African Grasslands exhibit this year. The tigers and snow leopards go into the Asian Highlands exhibit that will be built in an undeveloped area of the zoo. The jaguars were to go in the Andean Foothills, but that exhibit is scrapped as development costs were too high due to underground utilities that would have to be moved in that area. The Zoo told me that the South American exhibit would be addressed in the NEXT master plan (so they are already thinking past what is in the current Master Plan). Fund raising for the projects in the current Master Plan have been going much faster than expected.

I believe the nest master plan will address areas that are outside the current zoo fence. The Omaha Zoo Foundation has been slowly acquiring lands northeast and south of the zoo. They have been acquiring from willing sellers. They have about 15 acres of lands so far.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

That is good to hear that they are attempting to expand the acres that the zoo already offers. They are land locked, but if they were able to acquire some more land, you have to think that would open up even more development and larger areas for the animals to roam.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Bomaha »

I've always had the dream of them buying everything to the east and almost everything to the south a couple blocks.

- South of the Rosenblatt site, that would be a new veterinary campus with partnership of University of Nebraska with dorms, etc.
- Plot of land to the east of Bancroft elementary and turn that into veterinary magnet high school
- Everything to the east of the zoo would be for future exhibit expansion.
- The parking lot where the Nebraska Visitor's bureau building was would be a large parking garage with theming, etc....

I know these are dreams that will probably never happen or will come to partial fruition, but I love to envision things and I also ramble when I am really really hangry.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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Great pictures as always Brad. I like that you got some from the back side of the new exhibits. Those are really sharp images taken from a moving train. I am surprised that you didn't get any aerials that you are so good at. What... you couldn't "lower" your standards by going on Skyfari. Not quite the thrill of flying "doors off" at a thousand feet.

Looking at your pics I am not sure that everything will be done in Africa by Memorial Day. Still looks like the area on the old Pachyderm Hill site still has a long way to go before lions or people can occupy it. I noticed on the Zoo website that the Cat Complex has been removed from the exhibit page. This may be an indication that they are starting to deemphasize this area. Can probably expect a long slow decline for this building as cats are moved to new exhibits being developed, or transferred to other zoos.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Brad »

Here are a couple maps of the land they own.
North:
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South:
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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Spatial77 wrote:Great pictures as always Brad. I like that you got some from the back side of the new exhibits. Those are really sharp images taken from a moving train. I am surprised that you didn't get any aerials that you are so good at. What... you couldn't "lower" your standards by going on Skyfari. Not quite the thrill of flying "doors off" at a thousand feet.
Thanks, the "moving train" is way slower than a moving helicopter... I do want to ride the skyfari some day, just never been a priority on my visits.
Spatial77 wrote:Looking at your pics I am not sure that everything will be done in Africa by Memorial Day. Still looks like the area on the old Pachyderm Hill site still has a long way to go before lions or people can occupy it. I noticed on the Zoo website that the Cat Complex has been removed from the exhibit page. This may be an indication that they are starting to deemphasize this area. Can probably expect a long slow decline for this building as cats are moved to new exhibits being developed, or transferred to other zoos.
I think originally it was 2 phases, everything east of the lagoon being the second phase. While that part is way ahead of schedule, I don't think that part is included in the areas that will be done by Memorial Day.

That said, it would be surprised if the outdoor giraffe and rhino area is done by memorial day either. The elephant area looks more complete than any of them.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Spatial77 »

The lands in green are under ownership of the City of Omaha, or the Omaha Zoo Foundation (formerly Omaha Zoological Society).
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

I forgot that they owned those lots to the south, but now I remember that they acquired those while the CWS was still at Rosenblatt. During that time, they used them for parking for zoo visitors.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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Tenth Street and Bob Gibson open again. Here is the link to the HDZ announcement http://omahazoo.com/about/zoo-news/details.aspx?ID=294
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Spatial77 »

HDZ will be moving the prairie dogs to Lee Simmons Wildlife Safarie Park. This will open up the area where the new polar bear exhibit and Asian Highlands are slated to go. http://www.omahazoofoundation.org/event ... -pastures/
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by skinzfan23 »

The official opening date for the splash ground is June 3.

Also the African Grasslands opening is on May 27th as previously mentioned, but there is going to be a ribbon cutting ceremony @ 10:30 am.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Brad »

I saw in the OWH paper earlier this week that the Elephants got names. They are Warren, Omma, Claire, Lolly, Kiki and Jayei.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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HDZ posted lots of photos of the new Africa exhibit on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OmahaZoo/
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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Spatial77 wrote:HDZ posted lots of photos of the new Africa exhibit on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OmahaZoo/
So did KETV:

KETV granted look at new African Grasslands Exhibit
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Spatial77 »

Coyote wrote:
Spatial77 wrote:HDZ posted lots of photos of the new Africa exhibit on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OmahaZoo/
So did KETV:

KETV granted look at new African Grasslands Exhibit
If you watch the Facebook post by their weather guy the Zoo CEO, Dennis Pate, mentions that they will be installing a large solar array behind the overnight camp, and that he expects it will make the exhibit a zero sum energy user. Pretty cool if it works as advertised.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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I saw a newer plan for Asian Highlands when I went to the zoo last Friday. It was by the prairie dog town. The animal exhibits it shows are Rhino, Sloth Bear, Takin, Komodo Dragon, Tiger, Snow Leopard, and a Red Panda/Muntjac Crane exhibit. The Komodo Dragon exhibit will be released first in 2018 while the rest of it will be released 2019. This plan will probably change later though. If you want to see the poster yourself go down the road between the aviary and expedition Madagascar and it should be straight ahead.
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

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TourismLover wrote:IMG_1706.JPG
Check your PM, and welcome!
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Greg S »

Does the new African exhibit that is being opened and completed include the part of up the Skyfari landing where the lions are going to go?

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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Brad »

Greg S wrote:Does the new African exhibit that is being opened and completed include the part of up the Skyfari landing where the lions are going to go?
I know a volunteer down there and she said they were hoping to have all of it open by this weekend. However she said there was still a lot of work to be done.

Watching some of the news articles, it sounds like even if its open, there will still be plenty of finishing touches to complete after its open.

I've said it before, but here it is again, this zoo is looking so good now! Just so polished looking!
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Brad »

Speaking of the zoo...

Intro to Africa
http://dataomaha.com/bigstory/living/into-africa
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Re: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium

Post by Spatial77 »

Applications for Certificate of Occupancy put in today for Meerkat Kopje, Life Support Building (pump-house for elephant pool), Elephant Viewing, Giraffe Feeding, Lion Viewing, Cabin HQ and Restroom, and Lion Building. Most slated for inspections the day before the grand opening. COO with most of the inspections completed but still pending: Goat Kraal, Cheetah Building, Sable Building. Alaskan Adventure pump-house inspections are all done, but the COO has yet to be issued. Per the Omaha Planning Department - Permits and Inspections site.

Better hope the inspectors don't find any problems, and that they have worked out an agreement with the Planning Department to get these expedited!
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