What if your zoo had Giant Pandas?

I hate the way they limit your time at San Diego. When they were in LA you could visit as long as you pleased and that seemed so much better than at SD.
I think in the next 10-20 years they will be much more commonplace and thats a good thing.
 
Daktari JG said:
I hate the way they limit your time at San Diego. When they were in LA you could visit as long as you pleased and that seemed so much better than at SD.
I think in the next 10-20 years they will be much more commonplace and thats a good thing.
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I agree, the time limit is annoying. Hey but now that they have the sky bridge, you can go on that and look down at the giant pandas as long as you want. Here is what it looks like from on the bridge: (sorry for the low quality)
A0IlNZKeVa91MuWQK64LeyCCq9FBbDxjUxMuPHy6JorraaIJRfU2fy5tIb7ye02mtgV131w9GMqyGPE-tYO0xJk91smIsplu6H_CIAg6IzpDDgc9j_XzVWAK8Se9a3IzkdC9KFm-

It isn't ideal but it works if, like me, you hate lines
 
Kakapo said:
I only will say one thing - the zoos where I saw pandas are the best zoos that I've been in. San Diego, Berlin zoo and Pairi Daiza, and also Madrid zoo that is not at the same level but still a good zoos. Pandas are not what make them excellent zoos, but if a zoo have enough money for support the political panda issue, then it will have money for have diversity of interesting species and nice enclosures.
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I'll be able to judge Madrid for myself in a few days :)

Zoo Berlin is indeed one of the best zoos I have been to - beaten only by Tierpark Berlin and Prague Zoo in my opinion.

Edinburgh Zoo was great.... until it got the Giant Pandas.
 
Only two of the five best zoos I've been to keep pandas; these being San Diego and Berlin with Bronx, Prague, and Chester all being without the fluffy sleepsacks. In total I have seen pandas at five zoos so far: Berlin, Edinburgh, Madrid, San Diego, and Smithsonian. Of these, Smithsonian has the best exhibit for them, with only Berlin coming close. As @TeaLovingDave already mentioned, I'd argue that the presence of pandas has actively worsened the quality and collection at Edinburgh.

~Thylo
 
Yep - I've been to a few Chinese zoos with terrible standards elsewhere but pandas elsewhere. However, zoos abroad need to dish out a million for a breeding pair, so must be good, so generally non Chinese zoos with pandas can be assumed to be good.
eg. Beauval, Edinburgh, San Diego, Madrid, Berlin ...
 
The Idea of Pandas in Africa is far fetched and unrealistic but here we are:

Pretoria Zoo:

I believe the lazy bears would fit in perfectly in the Kodiak Bear Exhibit (The bear past away last year) It has high mock rock walls, A rather large Waterfall and many pools which I think some of will be filled up the Exhibit has a really neat modern climbing structure in the middle of the Exhibit and if you were to copy that all over the Exhibit it would surely look stunning, concerning a indoor Exhibit i think it would be off-Display but If it were to have one they would probably convert the South American fur Seal Exhibit into a Indoor Exhibit and turn the underwater viewing are into a actual viewing area making it a steep but nice Exhibit with a Waterfall a little cave shelter were you can get nose-to-nose with the black and whit fluffs

Bear Exhibit
369480-ac6f04ac9037e87cb88428edc1da7c29.jpg

Credit to @Kudu21 for the photo
 
I'd tell them to kindly stop wasting finite economic resources and time, to send the animals back to China immediately and strongly recommend them to get a grip / gain some perspective on priorities and what is important.
 
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Omaha actually did try to acquire them in 2004. The current elevator in the Hubbard orangutan forest was built as a preparation for them. However, Omaha gave up the idea after political malfunctions (China asked Nebraska to block a trade deal with Taiwan). In the long run, I'm glad we didn't get them. I feel like if they did, all the awesome newer projects (African Grasslands, Asian Highlands, Sea Lion Shores) would be nonexistent due to all that money being spent on pandas, plus I don't like the idea of crowded that whole area would be.

As for Blank Park, how on Earth would they acquire them? They barely even scratched the surface of their "master plan."
 
I believe that any of my local zoos would be unable to acquire pandas. In this theoretical world where they are easy to acquire, however, I'd suggest:
Capron Park Zoo: ideally drain the pond to build a new complex with the pandas and other animals, but if that's not possible than put the pandas in the current goat yard (renovated of course)
Roger Williams: place them in the moon bear exhibit, with some minor modifications
Buttonwood: instead of building the proposed cat exhibits, build a panda complex where the horses currently are.
Franklin Park: utilize the empty space behind the bird house for an Asian section, perhaps the most realistic of these five proposals (yet still not really realistic)
Stone Zoo: The only possible option I can think of is cutting into the wolf exhibit with a panda complex.
 
This was fun the first time I did it so I'm doing it again!

Monte Casino Bird Gardens:

Monte Casino Bird gardens is owned by Tsogo Sun, the 9th richest company in South Africa, So obviously it would be very fancy and high-budget
The current Sandhill Crane Exhibit will work well for pandas, of course the ducks which live in the pond will be moved out. The Meerkat Exhibit could work as a Indoor Exhibit.
Meerkat Exhibit:upload_2021-6-5_18-25-21.png
The two panda Exhibits (current Sandhill Crane) upload_2021-6-5_18-27-40.png
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I'm not pretending the Bronx Zoo wants giant pandas. They clearly don't want them. I know about the congresswoman who tried to bring pandas to NYC.

That being said, had not the dholes been placed in the former polar bear exhibit, a decent panda exhibit, with a slight renovation of the next-door grizzly bear exhibit in the interest of creating a rotational exhibit, could have worked. It would complement the nearby Himalayan Highlands exhibit and the Asia region as a whole. Otherwise, putting them where the elephants are could work. It would be a nice incentive for the monorail to operate year-round. Maybe half of the animals there can be displayed in cold or even snow anyway (Przewalski's horses, markhor, gaur, red panda)

A more "out there" of mine would be where the white rhinos are at Zoo Center. I'm not certain, however, if the indoor section would be up to snuff for pandas.

If Central Park Zoo got them, I'd put them where the current bear exhibit is, but even that would be a HUUUUUUUGE stretch.

None of the other zoos in NYC have even a tiny chance of being even subpar panda zoos.
 
I'd utter a silent scream of despair. They are horribly expensive, of no conservation value, and no longer the attraction they used to be.
 
iluvwhales said:
I'm not pretending the Bronx Zoo wants giant pandas. They clearly don't want them. I know about the congresswoman who tried to bring pandas to NYC.

That being said, had not the dholes been placed in the former polar bear exhibit, a decent panda exhibit, with a slight renovation of the next-door grizzly bear exhibit in the interest of creating a rotational exhibit, could have worked. It would complement the nearby Himalayan Highlands exhibit and the Asia region as a whole. Otherwise, putting them where the elephants are could work. It would be a nice incentive for the monorail to operate year-round. Maybe half of the animals there can be displayed in cold or even snow anyway (Przewalski's horses, markhor, gaur, red panda)

A more "out there" of mine would be where the white rhinos are at Zoo Center. I'm not certain, however, if the indoor section would be up to snuff for pandas.

If Central Park Zoo got them, I'd put them where the current bear exhibit is, but even that would be a HUUUUUUUGE stretch.

None of the other zoos in NYC have even a tiny chance of being even subpar panda zoos.
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The Bronx Zoo's monorail doesn't run during the winter due to safety concerns with the tracks icing over, not because not enough animals are cold tolerant (most of the species are, in fact).

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
The Bronx Zoo's monorail doesn't run during the winter due to safety concerns with the tracks icing over, not because not enough animals are cold tolerant (most of the species are, in fact).

~Thylo
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I had a feeling I'd encounter disagreement about the animal-climate thing, but the icing issue is news to me. Thank you for telling me that.
 
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