The Indianapolis Zoo is going crazy for orangutans and in 2014 they’ll prove it with a new $20 million International Orangutan Center.

According to world renowned orangutan expert Robert Shumaker the new exhibit will be unparalleled when compared to other orangutan exhibits. As Shumaker puts it:

“It will quite simply be the best zoo habitat for orangutans anywhere in the world.”

Zoo officials say they are not attempting to simply “awe” visitors, but also to raise conservation efforts and preserve a “natural habitat” environment for the animals.

Indianapolis zookeepers have been housing eight orangutans since 2010 in a large private facility that is not currently open to zoo visitors and two others who will be introduced to the exhibit are being held at another private facility.

The $20 million exhibit is fully funded through $30 million in donations the zoo has recently received, the rest of the money will fund a Tiger Forest opening in early 2012 along with renovations to the zoo entrance, improvements to the African lion habitat and the Flights of Fancy: A Brilliance of Birds exhibit that is expected to open in Spring 2012.

According to zoo officials the exhibit will be built directly at the heart of the 64-acre property with construction beginning in the summer of 2012. When completed orangutans on the property will receive 4-acres of space to explore with a large atrium ceiling that is 90 feet off the ground.

Throw in various jungle gym style platforms and zoo officials say the exhibit will allow the orangutans to explore, place and move about like they have before been able to do in captivity.

Would you be interested in visiting the orangutan exhibit at the Indianapolis Zoo.

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Indianapolis Zoo Announces $20 Million Orangutan Exhibit is a post from: The Inquisitr

A white rhino, one of the world’s most endangered species which was being housed at a Czech Republic Zoo died this week, the rhino was nearly 40 years old.

According to a spokesperson for the zoo, Nesari died in her sleep on May 26, while they added that the rhino’s death is an “irretrievable loss.”

After the death the zoo is left with just one white rhino named Nabire who is already 30 years old.

Found mostly in middle and southern African countries there are two types of white rhino’s left the “Southern White Rhino” and the Northern White Rhino. Nesari was a North White Rhino, the more rare of the two species.

Researchers were only able to find four White Rhinos in the wild five years ago, however they have since lost track of those animals, leading some to assume that the animals are now extinct in the wild, a consideration that has led to emergency breeding programs in captivity to help save the species.

Two white rhino’s can currently be observed at the San Diego Zoo.

White Rhino Dies in Captivity, Lived Nearly 40 Years is a post from: The Inquisitr

Christina Spicuzza was enjoying the wonders of San Francisco Zoo recently, when a little boy dropped his Nintendo DSi XL in the gorilla enclosure. Curious, the adult gorilla in the picture picked the system up for a peek, held it to his face, and pressed the speakers against his ears.

Typically, somebody got impatient waiting for a go:

Damn kids. The system was finally retrieved in working condition (though “a little beaten up and slobbered”) when a member of staff offered an apple in return. Excellently, somebody managed to capture footage of the gorilla with the console IN HIS MOUTH. I heart this:

[Christina Spicuzza, via the totally awesome Tiny Cartridge]

[VIDEO] Cuuuute: Donkey Kong plays Donkey Kong! is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hippos are notoriously bad-tempered and aggressive creatures, having killed hundreds of humans down the years, and will attack other animals they deem a threat. They also possess a bite so powerful it can break small boats in two. So did this zebra pay for its action by losing its head?

Fortunately, no. The zebra was actually cleaning the hippo’s teeth, which is just about the most adorable (if slightly gross) thing I’ve read this week. Apparently the zebra spent fifteen minutes on this task, before trotting off unharmed to be with its calf.

[Via BBC]

Amazing shot: Zebra puts head in hippo’s mouth is a post from: The Inquisitr

Fame and fortune await Nonja as she discovers the joy of photography and Facebook. Now you might be wondering why those two things suggest any kind of fame considering that just about everyone in the world it seems has a Facebook page loaded up with photographs.

Well that might be the case but none of those photographs are being taken by a 33 year old orangutan at the Schönbrunn Zoo in Austria.

Using a specially-adapted Samsung ST 1000 digital camera, Nonja is rewarded with a raisin that drops out of the equipment each time she takes a snap.

The Vienna Tiergarten zoo set up the project to help keep Nonja and her three hairy ape friends entertained in their enclosure.

‘Of course the apes don’t care about the pictures, they are just an accidental side product,’ zoo spokesman Gerhard Kasbauer said.

‘They just know that when they press the button, a raisin pops out.’

Source: Daily Mail Online

Nonja currently has 43,000 fans on Facebook

The world from the lens of an Orangutan is a post from: The Inquisitr

In yet another case of suing just because we can a Chicago zoo is finding itself being sued because their dolphins were; in the words of the woman doing the suing - “recklessly and willfully trained and encouraged their dolphins to throw water at the spectators”.

Well duh! What do you expect when you go to a dolphin show at a zoo? Of course you are going to get wet. Of course there is going to be water all over the place.

However this woman feels that just because there were no signs or protective mats the zoo deserves to be sued for $50,000.

Edwards is demanding more than $50,000 for lost wages, medical expenses and emotional trauma from the Chicago Zoological Society and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, which operate the zoo in Chicago’s southwest suburbs.

Source: Reuters UK :: Woman sues U.S. zoo over splashing dolphins

I don’t know about you but I would think that any normally sane person would have the brain power to realize that all the water thrown around by dolphins in a show might be just a tad slippery and that maybe one should be careful when walking about. Are we becoming that brain-dead that we can’t move or do anything without having warning signs shoved in our faces?

The really sad part about this is that the zoo will probably settle because it’s cheaper than fighting this kind of stupidity in court.

A Chicago zoo sued over dolphins splashing is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the advantages, or disadvantages, of becoming famous famous is that everyone what wants to start naming things after you. From airports, to roadways, to children and even zoo animals. However in some cases as the zoo in Dresden, Germany, found out there are some animals that shouldn’t be named after famous people – especially if that person is President Obama.

While I am sure its intentions were good the idea of naming a baby Mandrill monkey after the freshly inaugurated President of the United States it turned out that naming the monkey Obama set off a bit of a firestorm among German blacks.

“It’s a catastrophe,” director of the Initiative for Black Germans (ISD) Tahir Della said. “Black people continue to be confronted by associations with the animal kingdom and primitivity.”

The baby mandrill, which belongs to a species closely related to the baboon, was born on March 23, Manuela Collmar, zookeeper at the zoo’s “Afrika Haus,” said. Each year the zoo names all newborn animals beginning with the same letter.

“This year they all begin with ‘O,’ and one of the zookeepers chose ‘Obama’ – it was meant to be positive and an honour in light of his visit to Dresden in June,” Collmar said, adding that neither she nor her colleagues were aware of the history of using monkeys to caricature and ethnically stereotype black people.

Source: The Local :: Zoo forced to rename primate called ‘Obama’

Following up on the public pressure to change the name the zoo finally relented and its cute baby Mandrill monkey is now known as Okeke – which apparently means ‘he who was born on a marked day’.

Naming a baby monkey Obama not the smartest PR move is a post from: The Inquisitr

So, you think that all those monkeys and chimps you see cavorting around at the local zoo are all cute and stuff huh?

Well think again because if they are anything like Santino, a chimp at Sweden’s Furuvik Zoo they could be planning their attack to take over the world – or at least the zoo. According to the staff at the zoo they have caught Santino chipping at concrete to create discs to throw at visitors. As well he even made weapons at night to throw at visitors when the zoo opens in the morning.

It is this kind of behavior that has been impressing scientists who believe that this is the first evidence that a non-human animal is capable of making plans for the future

“It implies that they have a highly developed consciousness, including life-like mental simulations of potential events,” said Mathias Osvath, a scientist who studied Santino for over a decade. “They most probably have an ‘inner world’ like we have when reviewing past episodes of our lives or thinking of days to come. I would guess that they plan much of their everyday behaviour.”

Source: Planet Save

I don’t know about you but the idea of having to wear Kevlar the next time I go to the zoo isn’t exactly my idea of a fun afternoon out.

Update: After it was pointed out by a reader that the previous picture was actually one of a gorilla rather than a chimp I at first responded with some humor about him being picky. I also pointed out that that was the same picture that Planet Save had used in their post to Kambiz Kamrani reply in the comments

Just because someone else made the mistake, Steve, doesn’t mean it is okay to perpetuate it. If anything, as the title of this blog indicates, one should be inquisitive and critical — not just an echo chamber of misinformation.

To this I would have to agree and as a result have corrected my error with a proper picture of a chimp. Thanks Kambiz for keeping me honest – thanks

Zoo chimp discovered to be planning attacks on visitors is a post from: The Inquisitr