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One of the Zoo’s most recognizable bird species, the Chilean flamingo is a robust bird species native to the southern Andes Mountains. The flamingo’s famous pink color comes from the beta carotene in its diet.

These birds, like all species of hornbill, have distinctively large, down-curved bills that they use to grab small animals from among the grasses and shrubs of their habitats. They can fly, but spend most of their time on the ground. Males and females differ in size and coloration, with females displaying bright-blue throat patches. The southern ground hornbill’s low-pitched booming sound is a simple territorial announcement.

African lions are unique among cats in that they live in social groups called prides. Prides hunt together to bring down moderate to large-sized prey, which is shared with all members of the group according to strict social rules.

These strikingly-patterned monkeys have very long tails that help them balance as they move quickly through trees. They feed primarily on leaves in a variety of forest types and live in social groups made up of a single dominant male and multiple females.

These medium-sized mammals may weigh sometimes up to 50 pounds. They use their prehensile tails and specialized wrists and ankles to maneuver about rainforest trees in search of fruits, bird eggs or small animals.

Kookaburras are the largest members of the kingfisher family. Made famous by the Australian folk song “Kookaburra” by Marion Sinclair, kookaburras perch in trees and vocalize loudly. The birds’ loud, raucous call has been used in hundreds of “jungle” movies set in Asia, Africa and the Americans, although the birds are found only in Australia.

The word “orangutan” comes from “Orang Hutan,” meaning “Person of the Forest.” They are unique among the great apes in that they do not live in social groups. Adults typically forage on their own, but mothers care for their offspring for years. Orangutans have complex cognitive and spatial skills, meaning that they have good memories and are outstanding problem-solvers. Orangutans are highly endangered as a result of habitat loss and black market trade for infants as pets. There are three species of orangutans: Bornean, Sumatran, Tapanuli (recently discovered, Tapanuliensis). Morphologically, the Tapanuli species has differing skull and teeth structure. ...

Kori bustards are very large, ground-dwelling birds that that eat a variety of insects, small animals and some plants. The males are among the heaviest of all flying birds. Recent threats from large-scale agriculture and the bushmeat trade have resulted in sudden declines in this species.

Like all vultures and condors, these large birds are scavengers on carcasses. They soar over large areas searching for food using vision and scent, and when a carcass is found, many individuals may congregate upon it. After centuries of suffering relatively few conservation challenges, vultures in many areas are facing sudden and dramatic declines as a result of new threats caused by human activities.

This is one of the larger owls in the world, and they prey on virtually any small to medium-sized animal. They generally hunt at night, and long-term pairs produce usually two eggs per year, often with only one surviving to fledge.