Giant Anteater at DAK

[cigar95]

Entering AK this morning, I discovered that our favorite animals, the South American giant Anteaters, were not in their habitat, and the sign in front of the enclosure was covered up. There is no clear construction taking place in the enclosure.

There have been rumors of the anteaters' departure, but I would not have expected anything this soon.

Anyone have any real information on what the status of the anteaters is? Perhaps the noise from the Pandora construction was disturbing? (The anteaters are easily disturbed, I know.)

Most importantly, have these fabulous creatures been relocated, temporarily removed, or are they just plain gone from the park?

I can speculate with the best of 'em - I'm wondering if anyone out there has some real information. (I will spare you the saga of why I couldn't get to guest relations to ask this question, and yes I do have the email address, as well as a direct phone number to a guest services cast member.)

Thanks for any hard info on this one.

 

[BenandMorgsMom]

Hi...I noticed the Anteaters were gone 4th of July...I mentioned it to my DH. I used to love to stop and look at the exhibit.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Absolutely no hard info.

Speculatively, I have never seen a more neurotic animal than the giant anteater at DAK. Seriously, worse than any polar bear (which are traditionally the most zoo-neurotic animals). They probably needed more room.

 

[cigar95]

What?

 

[Robo]

They probably ran out of giant ants for him to eat.

 

[Robo]

 

[disnut8]

Hi...I noticed the Anteaters were gone 4th of July...I mentioned it to my DH. I used to love to stop and look at the exhibit.

Were the signs covered up or you just didn't see him?

 

[disnut8]

Entering AK this morning, I discovered that our favorite animals, the South American giant Anteaters, were not in their habitat, and the sign in front of the enclosure was covered up. There is no clear construction taking place in the enclosure.

That concerns me. We always have to look in to see if the guy is there since the only times we see him is with our son (decidedly scarce now that the kid is a father of his own and living 500 miles away).

 

[cigar95]

OK, here's more of the story. I spoke on Sunday with a CM with some knowledge of the situation.

Most people don't know that the enclosure included both a male and a female anteater, since the two didn't get along well and the male was rarely in view.

Some time in the past few months, the female "left us". (I suspect I know what that means.) At that point, the male's attitude took a turn for the worse. As a result, the anteater environment had the appearance of an empty enclosure, as the male was never visible.

So the male has been taken off stage unless and until his attitude improves. (Sounds just like dealing with a teenager.) But he is still on property. At the same time, management is trying to secure one or two new anteaters in an attempt to re-establish the habitat for guests to see these really cool animals. But there is no timeline.

I suppose this is "good news/bad news" for anteater fans. But at least there's the good news part.

On a separate matter, I also learned that the Komodo dragon in Asia has been taken off stage for now because the construction process nearby has raised his/her stress level. This suggests no dragon until at least next spring, when the Rivers of Light construction is complete. (Note that this is a new dragon, as the previous one died a couple years ago. Sorry I can't remember the precise timeline.)

 

[BebopBaloo]

Anteaters sound a lot like humans. They don't know what they've got till it's gone. Sorry to hear about the loss of the female anteater. Hopefully, things will pan out with the current male and some new friends.