The Seneca Park Zoo has the first new animal species to arrive for the upcoming “Animals of the Savanna” expansion slated to open this summer.
That according to Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo and zoo officials who says the female “rock hyrax” will live in the main zoo building until the expansion is completed.
The project will include over a dozen new species and the rock hyrax is a small mammal native to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Zoo officials say one of their closest living relatives is the elephant, surprisingly, even though the hyrax doesn’t bear much of a resemblance to that animal.
The female rock hyrax was born last year at the Bronx Zoo. Later this spring she will be joined by a male partner.
