{"id":781767,"date":"2026-07-05T12:31:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T12:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/781767\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T12:31:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T12:31:56","slug":"edmonton-valley-zoos-nocturnal-wing-reopens-after-renovations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/781767\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Valley Zoo\u2019s nocturnal wing reopens after renovations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A colony of 92 <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/jamaican-fruit-bats\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Jamaican fruit bats;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Jamaican fruit bats&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Jamaican fruit bats<\/a> are back in their renovated nocturnal wing at the Edmonton Valley Zoo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe installed a new back wall there, so it\u2019s like a replica cave and what it does is it allows the entire back wall of that exhibit to be usable space for them,\u201d Trevor Hickey explained, animal care crew lead at the zoo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThe other major upgrade we did for them is the misting system. The original one was pretty loud and clanky and was due for an upgrade, so now they have one that\u2019s fairly quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">There\u2019s also upgraded lighting which makes the bats easier to see and doesn\u2019t interfere with their natural circadian rhythms.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Renovated nocturnal wing at the Edmonton Valley Zoo.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"720\" height=\"410\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/a0b07d6bec8c8c0bff37ae7d12fe9519.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Renovated nocturnal wing at the Edmonton Valley Zoo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The bats were relocated in February when the renovations started.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They\u2019re a big colony \u2014 and staff don\u2019t often get hands on them for check-ups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cEach one got caught \u2014 the vets gave it a quick inspection, they looked at their teeth, listened to their hearts,\u201d Hickey explained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The zoo\u2019s Jamaican fruit bat colony arrived from the Vancouver Aquarium in 2009.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cSuper cool species,\u201d Hickey said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThey\u2019re just little guys. They weigh maybe 20-25 grams and they\u2019re pollinators and they\u2019re seed dispersers so super important for the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The refreshed nocturnal wing reopens to the public on July 4.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cBats are a much-maligned species, so being able to see them in a safe, more controlled environment allows people to get over those fears and maybe learn something about them,\u201d Hickey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A colony of 92 Jamaican fruit bats are back in their renovated nocturnal wing at the Edmonton Valley&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752,218203,77679,276703],"class_list":["post-781767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-valley-zoo","tag-fruit-bats","tag-trevor-hickey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}