Who's Coming to the Zoo?

The incoming mammal list contains the following species:

Three Red Wolves from the Henson Robinson Zoo in Illinois
Two female Bison from The Wilds inn Ohio
Four female Fringe-eared Oryx, also from The Wilds;

The Zoo will also welcome eight new snakes and one lizard.

Curator of Mammals Terry Webb brought the three wolves in at the direction of experts serving on the Association of Zoos & Aquariums  Red Wolf Species Survival Plan. The N.C. Zoo has worked with this group since 1993, both to breed this highly endangered species and to help the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reintroduce the birth pups into the wild.

The only existing population of wild Red Wolves, which contains about 120 animals, occurs in  a five-county area near North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The heart of the population lives in and around Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

The new Bison and Oryx will increase the sizes of the herds living on the North American Prairie and African Plains exhibits respectively. This  will be the first time that Fringed-eared Oryx have been exhibited here.

Oryx are large antelope-like creatures with straight horns, The species ranges through  arid savannas in eastern Africa. The animals' name draws attention to the long tufts of black hairs that grow from the tops of their ears.
      
John Groves, curator of reptiles and amphibians, arranged for the Zoo to receive the nine new reptiles, which sort out into five different species:

Black-necked Garter Snake
Western Hognose snake
Banded Rock Rattlesnake
Tiger Rattlesnakes
Banded Gecko

All are slated for exhibit in the Zoo’s Sonora Desert exhibit. The animals come to us from  the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, AZ., and a private collector in New Mexico.

Visitors will need to wait at least a month to see the new animals. All animals arriving at the Zoo go through a mandatory 30-day quarantine before being placed on exhibit.