Welcome, Hiiro
What’s better than a celebrity couple? A royal couple! We’re thrilled to welcome our female red-crowned crane ‘Ruby’ back to zoo grounds along with her new habitat-mate, male ‘Hiiro’. In August, Ruby…
Read MoreThe Garden Gallery in the ENMAX Conservatory will be closed from Monday, November 11th, through to Thursday, November 14th, to accommodate setup for ZOOLIGHTS, presented by Olympia Trust Company. Thank you for your understanding.
Land of Lemurs Walkthrough & Outdoor Gorilla Amphitheatre: The two outdoor animal viewing areas will close for the season beginning on October 15. Lemurs and gorillas will be viewable in their indoor habitats.
PETRONAS Gateway to Asia: The building will have adjusted viewing from September 23 until mid-November while we complete mechanical upgrades to the Malayan tapir habitat. Komodo dragons will remain viewable indoors. Malayan tapirs and red-crowned cranes will be viewable in their outdoor habitats (weather permitting). White-handed gibbons will not be viewable for the duration of the project.
African Savannah Yard: Our Hartmann’s mountain zebras and ostriches will be off-view until the end of the year while we complete exciting upgrades in the African Savannah Yard, including the construction of a new Savannah Barn for the animals. Our giraffe tower will continue to be viewable throughout the project.
Thank you for your understanding.
Bite-Sized
1 August 2023 – It is with heavy hearts that we share that our beloved 12-year-old African lion, ‘Aslan’ passed away yesterday.
Our Animal Care, Health & Welfare team noted a change in Aslan’s behaviour on Sunday. Like many elderly big cats, he had been previously diagnosed with kidney and cardiac disease and had been under close observation by his dedicated care team and veterinary staff since that time. Due to concerns about the rapid onset of his symptoms, our Animal Care, Health & Welfare team conducted a veterinary exam, under anesthesia, yesterday to determine the cause of these changes. Although the anesthesia and examination went smoothly, initial diagnostics determined that his kidney disease had significantly worsened since his last exam and sadly he died during recovery. We won’t know his cause of death firmly until a necropsy is completed, and we’ll share more information when we know it.
Aslan, and his brother ‘Baruti’, came to the Wilder Institute/Calgary Zoo from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in July 2012 when they were both two years old. They’ve lived with us since this time and were joined in 2019 by our lionesses, ‘Mali’ and ‘Sabi’. The median life expectancy for lions in human care is 16.9 years.
Saying goodbye to the animals we love and care for is never easy, but it is especially heartbreaking when the loss is unexpected. Lions are a social species and our Animal Care, Health & Welfare Team will be carefully monitoring Baruti, Mali and Sabi, following the sudden loss of a member of their pride.
We know that our community will be as saddened by this news as we are. Aslan will be greatly missed by staff, volunteers, visitors, and our online community. Please keep our Animal Care, Health & Welfare team in your thoughts during this difficult time.