Snow leopards, Sichuan takins and the return of the red pandas — those are among the species of animals visitors to the Wilder Institute Calgary Zoo will be able to enjoy watching after the opening of the Zoo’s new Asian Highlands exhibit Wednesday morning.
The exhibit is the first of three expansions to the Zoo’s Imagine Asia area.
“The habitats of the Himalayas are some of the most remote but some of the most important in the world for biodiversity, and the animals that live there are incredibly adapted to these high-mountain cold environments,” said Kyle Burks, CEO of the Wilder Institute, Calgary Zoo.
“So the species we’re highlighting actually will really thrive here in Calgary (and) we get to bring some animals and awareness about the conservation issues for these species right here at home in our city,” Burks added.
Both the red pandas and the snow leopards have called the zoo home before.
But during construction of the Asian Highlands exhibit, the snow leopards were temporarily moved to a different zoo and the red pandas were moved to a different part of the Calgary Zoo.
Snow leopards are the smallest of the big cats native to China, Nepal, Mongolia, Russia and other mountainous countries of southeast Asia.
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“These new habitats are more expansive — they’re designed to give the animals more choice, more control of their environments,” Burks said.
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“And for the Sishuan takins, we’ve created a habitat that really mimics the high-altitude slopes that they would live on.”
Sichuan takins, look like a peculiar goat-antelope that is native to the steep, forested mountains of central and western China.
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The animals, which were moved into their new habitats on Friday, have spent the last few days settling in before the viewing areas were opened to the public.
The zoo plans to add two more exhibits to Imagine Asia by the time it celebrates its 100th birthday in 2029.
But when asked what species might be included in those exhibits, Burks responded by saying, “I hate to be cagey about it, but got to save some secrets.”
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