At Tama Zoo, following the construction of the new Asian Elephant enclosure, construction has begun in various locations, mainly in the area from the slope leading to the insectarium to African Zone beyond. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to our visitors.

Those who have visited recently may have noticed a small "anomaly." One of the features of Tama Zoological Park is its "Tama Zoo exhibits," which means that the exhibit areas are composed according to the animals' natural habitats, such as Asian Zone, African Zone, and Australian Zone. However, recently, animals from African Zone have been moving into Asian Zone.

As we previously reported, on April 19th of this year (2017), we moved the ostriches to an animal enclosure near "Sakura Picnic Area," where we previously exhibited Przewalski's Horse. Following this, on May 24th, we added two Grevy's Zebra, and on May 31st, we added one male Scimitar-horned Oryx oryx.

At Tama Zoo, in addition to the rebuilding of Lion Bus (announcement), they are also planning to make Giraffe enclosure earthquake-resistant. As preparation for this, they are moving the animals.

When transporting animals in and out of the park, or moving them around within the park, we often arrange for specialized companies to handle large animals. However, this time it's a medium-sized animal, and it's only being moved a short distance within the park for a short time, so animal keeper are handling everything themselves.


Relocation of Grevy's Zebra
Although it's a short distance and time, just like with normal transport, the process involves getting the animals used to the box beforehand, placing them in the box, transporting them, and safely removing them from the box. It sounds simple when written down, but even for medium-sized animals, the weight of the box adds up to several hundred kilograms, so there are significant dangers for both the animals and animal keeper throughout the entire process, making it an extremely tense task. Moreover, since this work is only done on days when the zoo is closed, on busy days we move two animals a day. Performing this series of tasks continuously is incomparably more difficult than normal transport.

Both heat and cold restrict animal movement, so the "relocation" will continue for a while longer, with the end of the rainy season being one of the guidelines. Ultimately, only Giraffe and pelicans will remain in the current Eurasian Moorhen, and the female Scimitar-horned Oryx 's deer enclosure, behind Japanese Serow.

[Tama Zoo North Garden Animal Care and Exhibition Staff]

(June 7, 2017)