Hi Christian, Great questions! At the Phoenix Zoo we have and follow a collection plan. There are many reasons for holding the species we do have. We want to focus on holding species that contribute to our mission (help achieve population sustainability, conservation, etc.) and that do well here in the Arizona heat. But, in some cases, there are also reasons we don’t hold specific species. Resources (like space and money) are always limited, but water is an extremely limited resource in Arizona too. Hippos require a large amount of water, which we do not have. We want to live by our mission and be environmentally/ecologically responsible. Over twenty years ago, the Phoenix Zoo was home to African elephants. We decided to focus our resources on Asian elephants in the late ‘90s, which aligns with the Tropics Trail where the elephant habitat is located.
Yes elephants no hippo
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