Europe's 100 must see exhibits

6. Desert House
Tiergarten Nürnberg, Germany
Opened: 2018
Size: 500 square metres
Inhabitants: Dung beetle, elephant shrew, fat sand rat, Egyptian tortoise, several passerine and lizard species and Libyan striped weasel (outdoor enclosure)


What to do with a former hippo house with floor heating? Try to breed dung beetles off-course…. After a complete renovation the result is a small walkthrough with a range of (mostly) Northern African smaller desert species. The stars are the large number of dung beetles going about their business. This is one of those places where it pays off to get down on your knees and wait and look. Despite the house being a relatively open space, locating many inhabitants can be hard and patience is rewarded here. If the lizards are hiding though, there is always some fantastic beetle behaviour to be seen somewhere in the house. This is one of the most inventive invertebrate displays out there and one could only wish more zoos copy exhibits that make the smallest species attractive. To round off such a small gem, the former hippo outdoor enclosure is now home to a pair of Libyan striped weasels, though the weasels being nocturnal that means a lot of luck is required, fortunately the zoo opens at 8 am…

Similar exhibits: none really

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@Maguari

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@Maguari

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@lintworm

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@Maguari

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@twilighter
 
@MRJ and @lintworm I might add that if well displayed, the Vipera berus are quite popular among visitors at WdG - as they are the only local venomous species in Central and Northern Europe.
 
lintworm said:
6. Desert House
Tiergarten Nürnberg, Germany
Opened: 2018
Size: 500 square metres
Inhabitants: Dung beetle, elephant shrew, fat sand rat, Egyptian tortoise, several passerine and lizard species and Libyan striped weasel (outdoor enclosure)


What to do with a former hippo house with floor heating? Try to breed dung beetles off-course…. After a complete renovation the result is a small walkthrough with a range of (mostly) Northern African smaller desert species. The stars are the large number of dung beetles going about their business. This is one of those places where it pays off to get down on your knees and wait and look. Despite the house being a relatively open space, locating many inhabitants can be hard and patience is rewarded here. If the lizards are hiding though, there is always some fantastic beetle behaviour to be seen somewhere in the house. This is one of the most inventive invertebrate displays out there and one could only wish more zoos copy exhibits that make the smallest species attractive. To round off such a small gem, the former hippo outdoor enclosure is now home to a pair of Libyan striped weasels, though the weasels being nocturnal that means a lot of luck is required, fortunately the zoo opens at 8 am…

Similar exhibits: none really

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@Maguari

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@Maguari

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@lintworm

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@Maguari

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@twilighter
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Some questions:
1) Is it a walkthrough? As in all the species can walk on the path?
2) Are all the species in there mixed together? If yes, wouldn't the dung beetle be prey for the lizard or passerines?
 
aardvark250 said:
Some questions:
1) Is it a walkthrough? As in all the species can walk on the path?
2) Are all the species in there mixed together? If yes, wouldn't the dung beetle be prey for the lizard or passerines?
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The small metal barrier ensures that the beetles don't go on the path, all other species should be able to go on the path though.

The passerines are too small to eat a dung beetle (and are mostly seedeaters), some lizards might eat a beetle from time to time, but the selected species are either small or mostly vegetarian. With hundreds of beetles that is also not a big problem.
 
lintworm said:
The small metal barrier ensures that the beetles don't go on the path, all other species should be able to go on the path though.

The passerines are too small to eat a dung beetle (and are mostly seedeaters), some lizards might eat a beetle from time to time, but the selected species are either small or mostly vegetarian. With hundreds of beetles that is also not a big problem.
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Plus, they taste like crap.
 
lintworm said:
6. Desert House
Tiergarten Nürnberg, Germany
Opened: 2018
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A more than justified inclusion on this list - one of the best new exhibits I've seen in the last decade and making excellent use of one of the zoo's historical buildings as well. A nice mix of species with emphasis on displaying overlooked species in a memorable way and unlike some attempts at this it really does succeed in this. And it's a work of science, with carefully controlled temperature and moisture gradients under the sand. Very hard to fault it.
 
lintworm said:
6. Desert House
Tiergarten Nürnberg, Germany
Opened: 2018
Size: 500 square metres
Inhabitants: Dung beetle, elephant shrew, fat sand rat, Egyptian tortoise, several passerine and lizard species and Libyan striped weasel (outdoor enclosure)
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Another exhibit I got within a week of seeing in March 2020, and which is a fairly high priority for seeing ASAP :)
 
Maguari said:
A more than justified inclusion on this list - one of the best new exhibits I've seen in the last decade and making excellent use of one of the zoo's historical buildings as well. A nice mix of species with emphasis on displaying overlooked species in a memorable way and unlike some attempts at this it really does succeed in this. And it's a work of science, with carefully controlled temperature and moisture gradients under the sand. Very hard to fault it.
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It is indeed one of the rare real gems of zoobuilding in the past 10 years or so. There are very few new exhibits that are conceptually as strong and equally well executed. I can think of two, both of which will appear here in due course...

TeaLovingDave said:
Another exhibit I got within a week of seeing in March 2020, and which is a fairly high priority for seeing ASAP :)
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You will get there, I was literally 3 days away from visiting Georgia Aquarium and 25 other American zoos in March 2020. That has been postponed indefinetely...

Antoine said:
This is one of the most interesting exhibit I saw but there is a major issue wirh it : it does not work for the dung bettles and the zoo was (and I suppose still) importing continuously animals to compensate for losses :confused:

I hope that @lintworm (who I thank for this wonderfull thread) will include the other Nuremberg's small gem in the list ;)
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I thought they have had the first breeding success, but I cannot find the reference just now. But indeed if they do not crack the nut, it will remain a sink....

This is naturally not the only Nuremberg inclusion, but it remains to be seen if we talk about the same gem :p
 
lintworm said:
I thought they have had the first breeding success, but I cannot find the reference just now. But indeed if they do not crack the nut, it will remain a sink....
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I'm fairly sure I remember reading that too, over on Zoofreunde!
 
amur leopard said:
Sorry to hear that - out of interest which zoos were planned?
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Among others: both San Diego's, Monterey Bay Aquarium, St. Louis, Nashville and several more in Tennessee, Texas, California and Arizona...

Antoine said:
Well, if we are not speaking about the giraffe house I go out :D
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You know that "must-see" is code for "exhibits Libyan striped weasel", so yes ;)

TeaLovingDave said:
I'm fairly sure I remember reading that too, over on Zoofreunde!
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@Antoine I found it now. Two batches hatched Autumn 2021, with more breeding holes noted back then.
 
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@lintworm Thank you for this very good news. But breeding does not mean the zoo does not need to import some animals (it depens of the scale). Hope the zoo will arrive soon to breed enough ;)
 
I'm curious on this history here, when did this building stop housing hippos? It certainly does not look very big for them, especially considering the replacement species...

This exhibit looks fantastic though, a very creative walkthrough!
 
7. Gorillarium
Howletts Wild Animal Park, Bekesbourne, UK
Opened: first cages approx. 1970
Size: Four cages 600-700 square metres each
Inhabitants: Western lowland gorilla

Most zoo exhibits are a trade-off between what is attractive for visitors and what works for the animals. The gorilla enclosures at Howletts only focus on what works for the gorillas and do so very successfully. They are highly unattractive cages without any attempt at creating a natural looking enclosure. The gorillas couldn't care less. There are closed roofs representing a rainforest canopy, so no issues of too much sunlight (which in England wouldn’t be a big problem anyway…). The cages offer a lot of vertical climbing space and the floor is covered in straw, to stimulate active foraging. The result is one of two zoos to revolutionise the keeping and breeding of gorillas in the 1970s and multiple troops of extremely active gorillas. The success of Howletts should be a reminder that what looks good is not always good for the animals. There are still too many zoos with gorillas on grassy lawns with mock rock, where lessons should be taken on how to transform them into something that also works for gorillas.

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@MagpieGoose

A picture from 1981(!)
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@gentle lemur , a thank you to him for finding the most likely opening date

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@Chris79


Similar exhibits: Port lympne (naturally) and Ouwehands Dierenpark, Netherlands, which has a bachelor group from the Aspinall parks. This is a somewhat more modern interpretation of the Aspinall vision:

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@lintworm

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@Ned

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@lintworm
 
lintworm said:
7. Gorillarium
Howletts Wild Animal Park, Bekesbourne, UK
Opened: first cages approx. 1970
Size: Four cages 600-700 square metres each
Inhabitants: Western lowland gorilla

Most zoo exhibits are a trade-off between what is attractive for visitors and what works for the animals. The gorilla enclosures at Howletts only focus on what works for the gorillas and do so very successfully. They are highly unattractive cages without any attempt at creating a natural looking enclosure. The gorillas couldn't care less. There are closed roofs representing a rainforest canopy, so no issues of too much sunlight (which in England wouldn’t be a big problem anyway…). The cages offer a lot of vertical climbing space and the floor is covered in straw, to stimulate active foraging. The result is one of two zoos to revolutionise the keeping and breeding of gorillas in the 1970s and multiple troops of extremely active gorillas. The success of Howletts should be a reminder that what looks good is not always good for the animals. There are still too many zoos with gorillas on grassy lawns with mock rock, where lessons should be taken on how to transform them into something that also works for gorillas.

full

@MagpieGoose

A picture from 1981(!)
full

@gentle lemur , a thank you to him for finding the most likely opening date

full

@Chris79


Similar exhibits: Port lympne (naturally) and Ouwehands Dierenpark, Netherlands, which has a bachelor group from the Aspinall parks. This is a somewhat more modern interpretation of the Aspinall vision:

full

@lintworm

full

@Ned

full

@lintworm
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That exhibit looks really nice, it reminds of Columbus' exhibit. Of course I am now sure Columbus' exhibit was inspired by this one. Very cool!
 
lintworm said:
What to do with a former hippo house with floor heating? Try to breed dung beetles off-course…. After a complete renovation the result is a small walkthrough with a range of (mostly) Northern African smaller desert species. The stars are the large number of dung beetles going about their business.
Click to expand...

A *very* cool retooling for an ecologically important animal few people would normally show interest in... though I have to wonder what visitors think about the smell generated from those small piles of manure left for the beetles in that photo there :p

lintworm said:
fortunately the zoo opens at 8 am…
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The long opening hours at European zoos never ceases to amaze me; I can't name a single American zoo that opens at 8 am, and it seems many zoos over there have much later closing times in the summer than ours do.

lintworm said:
Ouwehands Dierenpark, Netherlands, which has a bachelor group from the Aspinall parks. This is a somewhat more modern interpretation of the Aspinall vision
Click to expand...

I'm glad you posted this comparison, because while I agree that the Howletts cages are an eyesore (despite being great for the gorillas), the Ouwehands interpretation actually looks very cool and seems easier for getting decent views of the animals.

Really enjoying this thread so far; the first post (Prague's Sichuan aviary) is still my favorite so far, but with 93 more to go I imagine there's still plenty of competition to go!
 
Coelacanth18 said:
though I have to wonder what visitors think about the smell generated from those small piles of manure left for the beetles in that photo there :p
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I'd imagine it's no worse than any given giraffe or elephant house, and probably somewhat better!
 
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