7 new things to check out at John Ball Zoo
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — John Ball Zoo welcomed visitors back Friday with several new additions.
In its 133rd year, there are several upgrades and new animals for visitors to check out.
“I’m excited for … people to see the upgrades,” senior zoo keeper Bonnie Wilburn said. “There’s some really cool stuff going on at the zoo right now. We’re always working on new things.”
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1. IMMERSIVE GORILLA EXPERIENCE
You will be transported to Rwanda this year at John Ball Zoo thanks to its new Wild Explorer experience.
A new virtual reality adventure awaits guests, with primatologist Dr. Tara Stoinski giving them a one-of-a-kind view inside a family of silverback gorillas. The setup immerses you in the gorillas’ environment with a VR headset, moving seat and surround sound speakers.
“You’re able to get closer to an animal than you ever would be able to, especially gorillas. We don’t have any here at the zoo, we have the chimps, but this is a lot more close up and you get to see a wild group of gorillas and how they interact with each other out in the wild,” Allyson Hicks, an assistant admissions and experiences manager at the zoo, explained.
The Wild Explorer experience seats eight individuals at one time. It costs an extra $8 in addition to admission, or $7 for guests who are zoo members.
2. UPDATED PETTING CORAL
Crews upgraded the zoo’s petting corral, redoing the fencing and making the entrance vestibule bigger. The space of Pumpkin, the zoo’s cow, was about doubled.
The hobby farm is a favorite among the zoo’s youngest visitors.
“Usually when I’m walking around the zoo and people ask me for directions, they’re like, ‘Where’s the petting corral?'” Wilburn, the senior zoo keeper, said. “It’s a fun experience. People don’t really often get to reach out and touch the animals around here and this is one experience where you can reach out and touch the animals if they come up to you, and it’s just a really good experience for your kids to have.”
Crews also added a new climbing structure for the goats and sheep. Wilburn said the animals weren’t sure about the new climbing structure at first, but now they use it frequently. The goats like it more than the sheep, she added.
3. NEW GOATS
The team has added three San Clemente Island goats to the group, bringing the hobby farm’s headcount up to 10 goats and four sheep. The farm has a vegetable and herb naming theme, so the goats were all named after tomatoes: Lambert, a male, and Stellar and Royal Anne, both female.
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The three additions are still getting used to people, Wilburn said.
“If you come and see them, don’t be surprised that they don’t come right up to you,” she said. “We’re still working on that. They’re not quite as friendly as the others yet, but they’re definitely going to get there, especially with opening season and people coming by and visiting them.”
All three are very athletic and jump around a lot, making it difficult to get good photo of them, she said.
“They’re fun and they’re a young crew,” she said. “They’re still growing and (are) going to get bigger.”
4. TITAN THE TIGER
Zoo visitors may already be familiar with the zoo’s new Amur tiger, Titan, who was previously at John Ball Zoo before moving. He has returned from the Toledo Zoo with the hope that there may be tiger cubs in the future with one of the zoo’s female tigers.
“We’ll have our fingers crossed for that,” McIntyre said.
The move was a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which helps the organization work with other zoos and aquariums.
“We manage all these tigers or all these chimpanzees as one population,” McIntyre explained. “What we’re trying to do is maximize the gene diversity. So we don’t want to get any particular trait. We want the most diverse group and healthy group of animals we can get.”
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There’s no guarantee the new pairing will lead to cubs. Zookeepers will help create good conditions and will introduce Titan to his new potential mate at the right time, but “after that, it’s kind of up to them,” McIntyre said.
5. ZUHURA THE CHIMPANZEE
This season zookeepers have added a new member to the chimpanzee troop, Zuhura. The 10-year-old comes from the Detroit Zoo. Her name means “morning star,” and her nickname is Zu.
The move was another recommendation from the AZA. Zu’s addition is expected to help both her social needs and the needs of the existing troop.
She’s still getting acclimated to the troop, John Ball Zoo COO Andy McIntyre said.
6. CHAOCAN PECCARIES
Four other new residents at the zoo are four male Chacoan peccaries, pig-like animals. The endangered animal is native to the Gran Chaco, a Paraguay plain.
The four Chacoan peccaries came to the zoo from three different institutions that are part of the AZA.
Visitors can check them out at the South American boardwalk.
7. OTHER FUN EXPIERIENCES
Zoo staff are bringing back the Grand Rapids Lantern Festival after debuting it last year. Visitors who stop by during the opening weekend will see crews already starting to set it up.
“It’s going to be amazing once again,” McIntyre said. “Really 95% of those sculptures will be different than the last year. So it will feel — to anyone who’s coming again — like a very different experience, new and fresh. So we’re looking forward to that.”
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There are several other events planned for this year, like Dino Adventures, which will transform part of the zoo into a Jurassic Forest with animatronic dinosaurs.
Visitors can also check out the zoo’s redone face painting area.
Looking further ahead, the zoo is in the design phase of a variety of projects, like a new habitat for its otters. McIntyre said people may start seeing signs of construction for that project in the next offseason.
He said his team is excited to welcome the community back to John Ball Zoo.
“The zoo is really a community organization focused on conservation, a place where people can connect with wildlife,” he said. “It’s really these experiences that we create here that allow people to forge a connection and then hopefully take those messages home of what they can do to help save wildlife and wild places.”
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