New Arrivals

Our Victoria crowned pigeon pair welcomed their second hatchling on December 13. Victoria crowned pigeons are the largest species of pigeon in the world!

Tiger cubs Zuzaan and Coba (pronounced ‘Sova’) are now viewable to the public. Visitors will be able to see the cubs and their mother Zeya in their exhibit on the Wildlife Trail, weather permitting.

Click here to read the full press release!

We acquired 24 guineafowl chicks that our animal care specialists raised in the Domestic Animals Barn. The flock was moved to the Bactrian camel exhibit early this summer. Our guineafowl flock has access to zoo grounds and may be seen on the zoo’s trails and walkways. 

A female Inca tern chick, named Ceviche, hatched in the Diversity of Birds exhibit on March 14. Ceviche hatched as a part of our participation in The Association of Zoos and Aquariums Inca tern Species Survival Plan. Juvenile Inca terns are all gray with a very small gray “mustache”. This coloring will make her easier to identify from the monomorphic adults – meaning the males and females look the same.

A female red wolf, Evie, arrived from the Point Defiance Zoo on December 5. With only 200 red wolves in human care and an estimated 10-20 remaining in the wild, the species is the most endangered canine on earth.

When we first announced the pregnancy of Asian elephant Mali, we assumed our herd of six Asian elephants would become seven. That’s not quite what happened… because we not only welcomed the seventh member of our Asian elephant herd – but our eighth. Mali had twins! For the past two weeks, the elephant care team has been monitoring the twins around the clock to ensure both are thriving. Elephant twins comprise less than 1% of elephant births worldwide. To date, there has never been a recorded case of surviving elephant twins in the United States. The few successful twin births have only taken place in their range countries in Asia and Africa and nowhere else in the world.

Click here to read the full press release!

An adorable female cub was born to seven-year-old red panda mother Simone and ten-year-old father Ketu on July 31, 2022 as part of a program to save the endangered species.

Read the full news release about the new cub HERE!

Introducing Ducky and Littlefoot, the slender-tailed meerkats! Even in very small groups, one meerkat will usually be on sentry duty keeping watch for predators. Come visit the two newest members of our zoo family in the Social Animals Building!

Introducing Violet, the Chinese muntjac! Chinese muntjac are one of the smallest species of deer, standing only about a foot tall at full height. This little girl was born on June 19 to our adult pair Alfred and Rosalyn, and her two big brothers are Campbell and Mustard! She just started going on exhibit with her family in the red panda exhibit on the Wildlife Trail, come say hello!

We have some teeny tiny new arrivals – 25 yellow-spotted Amazon River turtles hatched at the zoo on June 11! While smaller than our Giant Amazon River turtles, these guys can grow up to 2 feet long. Did you know that scientists believe the gender of a hatchling turtle is dependent upon the temperature in which the egg is incubated? The warmer the nest, the more female hatchlings!

Introducing Fergus, the Scottish highland cattle calf who came to us in May! Highland cattle are a conservation success story. In 2019, they graduated from the Livestock Conservancy’s Conservation Priority list, meaning they are no longer endangered. Come visit Fergus in the Domestic Animal Barn!

The newest resident in our USS Antiquities Cave/Aquarium isn't a fish, amphibian, or reptile... It's a little tree shrew named Turmeric! Northern tree shrews are native to the rainforests of Southeast Asia and resemble long-nosed squirrels, although they are not rodents.

Baby patas monkey Iniko was born at the zoo on June 8, 2020, and unfortunately her mother, Becca, did not survive the birth. Iniko is the first baby patas monkey in North America to be hand-reared, in the care of our General Curator, Dan Meates and his wife, Zookeeper Leisje Meates, with help from our animal care team. Her name means “Born during troubled times” to reflect her birth in a pandemic and the loss of her mother.

Learn more about Iniko’s story at justgiving.com/campaign/Iniko-appeal.

On April 20, African Cape porcupine mama Holley gave birth to two more porcupettes, making Fennel and Nettle big siblings! Come visit the growing family in the Social Animals Building.

Amur tiger Thimbu arrived at the zoo in late December 2019 and went on exhibit in January 2020. Thimbu was one of quadruplet cubs born at the Denver Zoo in 2010. He came to us at age 9 to be paired with a female (see Zeya, above) as part of the Species Survival Plan for Amur tigers, which are critically endangered in their native Far East Russia.

See the MyZoo Magazine story about Thimbu’s trip to Syracuse from Colorado HERE.

A new female Giant Pacific Octopus, Tellaro, went on exhibit on World Octopus Day – October 8 – 2020. She came to us from Canada after our old GPO, Ollie, passed away of old age in the spring. Tellaro is named for a tiny seaside town in Italy that has a special legend about an octopus that saved the town from invasion by pirates.

Learn more about the legend at www.thatsliguria.com/en/tellaro-the-town-of-the-giant-octopus.

Amur tiger Zeya came to us in October 2020 from Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo, where she was born on November 25, 2017. She is to be introduced to our male Amur tiger, Thimbu, as part of the Species Survival Plan for this critically endangered species. Introductions are commencing in hopes for tiger cubs in our future!

Four Turkmenian markhor females came to us from the Columbus Zoo to expand our herd of these endangered mountain goats native to Central Asia. They are known as the Golden Girls and their names are, of course, Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sophia.

Six young Chilean flamingos joined our seven older birds at the zoo on March 25, 2021, thanks to our zoo volunteers who raised the money to increase our flamingo flock – called a flamboyance. The zoo acquired the new birds from the Fort Worth Zoo in hopes of boosting the chance for flamingo chicks in the future. They are all age 2 or under, so they still have their gray juvenile feathers on their necks and heads.

See the MyZoo Magazine cover story about the volunteer-led Fund for Flamingo Flamboyance to bring these birds to Syracuse HERE.

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo’s newest arrival is 4 years old, weighs 250 pounds and is 6 feet tall when he stands on hind legs.

Bjorn is an Andean bear who was born at the Queens Zoo in 2016 and has lived at Smithsonian’s National Zoo and the St. Louis Zoo. Zoo Director Ted Fox said the Rosamond Gifford Zoo is thrilled to welcome Bjorn to reside in its Andean Bear Exhibit, which has been unused since the second of its elderly Andean bear brothers passed away in July 2020. Bjorn is young, agile and energetic.

Read the news release about him HERE!

We’re happy to announce that two more Humboldt penguin chicks have hatched at the zoo! 6 Days apart, these little ones hatched on March 14 and March 20. Humboldt penguins are native to Peru and Chile, whose climate is similar ours. 

Spring came in like a lamb as we welcomed 5 new Black Welsh Mountain Sheep to our zoo family! Male Mokah and sister Biscotti were born on February 22. Female Blackberry was born on March 11. Male Twigs and sister Sunrise were born on April 5. Come visit these adorable new arrivals in our Domestic Animal Barn! 

On January 1, the first chick to hatch from an egg cared for by a pair of male penguins hatched at the zoo! The foster parents, Elmer and Lima, are two adult male Humboldt penguins who formed a pair bond for the current breeding season. The pair did a great job of taking turns incubating the egg until it hatched and have been brooding (warming) and feeding the chick since. 

Read the full news release about the new chick HERE!

African Cape porcupines Bristle and Holley were successfully introduced on July 17, and on December 3 they became first-time parents! The pair produced two porcupettes – female Fennel and male Nettle – the first births of this species at the zoo. Porcupettes are born with soft quills that harden after a few days. Cape porcupine pairs are monogamous and both parents care for the young. The new family is on exhibit in the Social Animals Building.

Snow leopard cub Marcy was born May 18, 2020, to our female snow leopard, Daania, and her mate, Senge, as part of the Species Survival Plan for critically endangered snow leopards. Marcy’s name was selected via a public naming vote, and she is an apt namesake for New York State’s highest mountain. At 3 weeks old she was diagnosed with Swimmer Syndrome, a condition affecting her hind legs that would have prevented her from walking if not treated successfully.

See the MyZoo Magazine story of how our animal care team helped Marcy overcome this challenge HERE

Over the summer, three sets of male-female Turkmenian markhor twins were born at the zoo! All six received flavorful names per our zookeepers’ “herbs and spices” naming theme for 2021 zooborns. Poppy Seed and Wasabi were born to female markhor Dorothy on June 6, Clove and Sesame were born to her herd-mate Rose on June 13, and Cayenne and Saffron were born to a third Golden Girl, Blanche, on September 7. All three sets of twins were fathered by our male markhor, Thor.

When you visit Penguin Coast, keep an eye out for our two newest additions to the Humboldt penguin colony, our 2021 chicks Opal and Inti.

Female chick Opal hatched on February 4 and male chick Inti hatched on March 19. The zoo held online voting to choose the names for both chicks.

After being raised by their penguin parents – or, in Opal’s case, foster parents – the chicks received indoor swimming practice supervised by our penguin care team and learned to be hand-fed by zookeepers who keep close track of the eating habits of every bird in the 27-member colony.

Opal and Inti joined the colony on exhibit this summer and love swimming and diving in the big pool at Penguin Coast. They both have juvenile markings, so look for the birds with all-white chests. (They won’t gain the black arcing stripe across their chests until their first molt next year.) You can tell them apart because male penguins wear their ID bracelet on their right wing, females on the left. Opal and Inti’s bands are yellow.

Humboldt penguin chick Cuatro hatched at the zoo on May 22, 2020, to parents Hugo and Malia and went on exhibit at Penguin Coast in August. She is the youngest chick in the colony of 31 birds and can be easily spotted as the only penguin with juvenile plumage – her chest is all white and she will not gain the wide black band across it until her first molt takes place sometime in 2021.

Cuatro catching her first snowflakes, December 2020