The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Connecticut’s zoos, aquariums have new residents
Connecticut’s zoos and aquariums have seen some new furry and scaly residents during 2022 and 2023.
Over the past few months, Bridgeport’s Beardsley Zoo has welcomed a couple of spider monkeys and a rare wolf. Aside from the land-loving animals, both the Mystic Aquarium and Maritime Aquarium have given their seals — who originated from other states — new habitats to swim through.
From seals to snakes, here are some of the state’s newest zoo and aquarium animals.
Bridgeport’s Beardsley Zoo welcomes endangered red wolf
In February, the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport announced it’s the new home of an endangered red wolf named Taylor.
Taylor is an 8-year-old female wolf that came from the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, N.C.
Riverside Reptiles Education Center expands its amphibians exhibit
Riverside Reptiles Education Center has expanded its amphibian exhibit over the past two years. According to manager Brian Kleinam, the exhibit is around halfway done.
The new amphibian faces include Vietnamese mossy frogs, golden dart frogs, solomon island leaf frogs, marine toads, barred tiger salamanders, axolotls and a rare green frog that has blue skin.
“This is a blue, green frog. There is usually one out of every 20,000 of them. A friend of mine found this one in his swimming pool when it was just a little guy,” Kleinam said.
Babies born at Action Wildlife Foundation
The Action Wildlife Foundation in Goshen was the birthplace of a few new furry faces recently.
On Feb. 4, a baby goat was born, according to the foundation’s Facebook page. October 2022 saw the birth of a new baby alpaca. In July 2022, the center announced that it gained a red deer fawn.
Bridgeport’s Beardsley Zoo adds spider monkeys
Beardsley Zoo gained two spider monkeys in July 2022.
Bertha, 30, and Janet, 16 joined two monkeys already living at the enclosure.
“Trying to find monkeys is not as easy out there because you have to do some legwork and get animals that are compatible to our group age wise, and make sure they’re not related,” Beardsley zoo director Gregg Dancho said in July.
Maritime Aquarium welcomes two new blind seals from New Mexico
The Maritime Aquarium welcomed a couple of new flippered friends to its Pinniped Cove exhibit early this year.
The new Harbor seals, Feisty (a 33-year-old male) and Gracie (a 20-year-old female), came to the Maritime Aquarium from ABQ BioPark in Albuquerque, N.M.
Rescued gray seal given home at Mystic Aquarium
Echo, a juvenile grey seal, was given a permanent home at Mystic Aquarium’s Pacific Northwest exhibit in February this year. She suffers from a congenital heart defect and cannot be re-released into the wild, according to the aquarium’s website.
“Any time a marine animal rescue team responds to a call of a stranded or injured animal, the goal is to return that animal to the ocean. But sometimes, animals are too sick or injured to survive if released. In those cases, the animal must find a permanent home at a suitable facility that can provide long-term care. For Echo, that forever home became Mystic Aquarium,” the aquarium’s website stated. Echo was rescued from
Ship Bottom in New Jersey in March 2022.
Guinea hog piglets born at Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport
Five Guinea hog piglets were born on April 9, 2022 at the Connecticut Beardsley Zoo. While most have been moved to other farms, one piglet remains at the zoo, according to Beardsley Zoo spokeswoman Lisa Clair.
Riverside Reptiles Education Center has electrifying new additions
The Riverside Reptiles Education Center recently added an exhibit with an electric catfish named Franklin.
Riverside Reptiles Education Center scales up its reptile collection
The zoo scaled up its reptile collection over the past year with the addition of a Caledonia giant gecko as well as a Nile monitor.
The center will be opening a new exhibit featuring a death adder, a species of venomous snake, on June 1.