Not even the giraffe house smell? That's the best one!
Europe's 100 must see exhibits
- Thread starter lintworm
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Not even the giraffe house smell? That's the best one!
And I thought Maned Wolf with some fragrances of African hunting dog, skunk and predigested rats puked out by big Bitis vipers was the best...
I once had a pair of trousers soiled with giant anteater diarrhoea. Despite washing them several times, I had to throw them away in the end, as I couldn't get rid of the smell. And don't get me started on carcasses...
And I thought Maned Wolf with some fragrances of African hunting dog, skunk and predigested rats puked out by big Bitis vipers was the best...
Maned Wolf another excellent choice, of course.
Yeah, primates are usually the worst (I think some of them a bit close to 'human' smells, so we're particularly conditioned to them - some of Twycross' older ape houses were really bad for it. Not unclean, just full of primate sweat scent...).
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Giraffe scent is pretty okay, as is penguin. Those are nostalgic to me. Little primates like tamarins and marmosets are the worst, those are the exhibits I often skip if you can smell them.
Not a choice I would make. The building is far too small for big cats and barely acceptable for small cats. If it is about the smell of big cats, then most cat exhibits smell.
Once I was in Frankfurt and walked at night on the streets round the closed Frankfurt zoo. I could tell every exhibit behind the fence by smell. It must have been 10 or 12 distinct smells, which I did not know before I could name. Notorious maned wolves could be smelled over a city block away from the zoo. How the local citizens tolerate them? The sweet smell of digested fruits in ape urine, rather sweet smell of giraffe, the smell of bird droppings and wet feathers from the bird house, the technical smell of the aquarium which was perhaps ozone, and the smell of big cats.
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I do really like this building, with its architectural style and artwork and interesting cages. I think that for a few smaller cat species, especially arboreal ones it could still work fine, species like margay, rusty-spotted cat and the like. But for leopards it is too small and even the caracals didn't really fit in. I did not include this exhibit for the smell, but smell as a form of "erlebnis" is something that I thought was a worthwhile thing to highlight, especially with all those clean new buildings where animals and visitors are carefully separated.
That is a very nice anecdote!
There was a paper I read a long time ago (https://www.researchgate.net/public...ted_giraffe_Giraffa_camelopardalis_reticulata) which analysed the scent of Giraffes and found the two main chemical components were indole which occurs naturally in flowers such as orange blossom and jasmine, and 3-methylindole (skatole) which smells like faeces. The way human noses react to the smell can go in either direction - they either find it pleasant or revolting.
Strix
Well-Known Member
Very interesting, I thought everyone was joking when they said they liked it!
I agree this is the most likely future of this building after the current bunch of leopards dies. But small cats will look very underwhelming in this monumental, tall building, and hide most of the time.
I imagined an use of this building which would fit the architecture. One was to change the artwork and turn it into diverse small mammals or parrots. Another was to fill the cages with models of saber-toothed cats, Thylacoleos, Javan tigers etc. and turn in into an education about evolution and extinction.
48. Tirolerhof
Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria
Opened: 1994
Size: ±4500 square metres
Inhabitants: Diverse array of endangered, mostly Austrian, domestic breeds
William Conway proposed that every animal species can be made interesting as a zoo exhibit and that would extend to domestic breeds. If well displayed they can be a great (educational) addition. The most logical way is to take the farm to the zoo, something that was taken quite literally in Vienna. An original Tiroler farm from 1722 was taken apart piece by piece and reconstructed at the highest point of the Tiergarten. It wasn’t even the first zoo farm to be erected here, but the 1802 original building at this spot was broken down in the 1980s. The current farm and its adjacent paddocks house a wide array of domestic breeds from Austria and some like the Turopolje pig from other parts in Central/Eastern Europe. While zoos have an important role in conserving wild species, in a setting like this, zoos also have a clear role in protecting local cultural heritage. If displayed well and when thought is given to the species collection, domestic species do have a role in zoos.
@Arizona Docent
Unfortunately there are no other proper pictures of this area, so none of the series of paddocks adjacent to the house.
Similar exhibits: From Ljubljana to Amsterdam, there are many zoos that have a children's zoo with local breeds, but none in such an authentic setting. It is also worth highlighting the German zoo Arche Warder, which focuses solely on (rare) domestic breeds.
Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria
Opened: 1994
Size: ±4500 square metres
Inhabitants: Diverse array of endangered, mostly Austrian, domestic breeds
William Conway proposed that every animal species can be made interesting as a zoo exhibit and that would extend to domestic breeds. If well displayed they can be a great (educational) addition. The most logical way is to take the farm to the zoo, something that was taken quite literally in Vienna. An original Tiroler farm from 1722 was taken apart piece by piece and reconstructed at the highest point of the Tiergarten. It wasn’t even the first zoo farm to be erected here, but the 1802 original building at this spot was broken down in the 1980s. The current farm and its adjacent paddocks house a wide array of domestic breeds from Austria and some like the Turopolje pig from other parts in Central/Eastern Europe. While zoos have an important role in conserving wild species, in a setting like this, zoos also have a clear role in protecting local cultural heritage. If displayed well and when thought is given to the species collection, domestic species do have a role in zoos.
@Arizona Docent
Unfortunately there are no other proper pictures of this area, so none of the series of paddocks adjacent to the house.
Similar exhibits: From Ljubljana to Amsterdam, there are many zoos that have a children's zoo with local breeds, but none in such an authentic setting. It is also worth highlighting the German zoo Arche Warder, which focuses solely on (rare) domestic breeds.
You mean apart from Alpenzoo Innsbruck, which unlike Tiergarten Schönbrunn is actually *in* the Tirol?
can't get more authentic than that!Serves you right for making a giant anteater wear trousers.
You mean apart from Alpenzoo Innsbruck, which unlike Tiergarten Schönbrunn is actually *in* the Tirol?
It is no authentic farm at all, it is just a simple stable + paddocks with local breeds, it might be an authentic location, but that's it.
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It was her plan all along. Never contradict a latina diva when it comes to fashion. Especially when she has huge claws.
Firstly, you said authentic setting - not "original building"
a new building of the sort you'd find in a farm (and yes, a "stable with paddocks and local breeds" is a pretty good description of a farm building) which is actually *in* the original Tyrolean setting is more authentic in that regard than an old farm building no longer in the Tirol.Secondly, I'd argue in any case that the Vienna example isn't an authentic farm given the fact it is not being operated *as* a farm, no more than the Alpenzoo example is; if containing original farm structures makes something a farm, then half the rural zoos in the UK fit the bill.
48. Tirolerhof
Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria
Opened: 1994
Size: ±4500 square metres
Inhabitants: Diverse array of endangered, mostly Austrian, domestic breeds
William Conway proposed that every animal species can be made interesting as a zoo exhibit and that would extend to domestic breeds. If well displayed they can be a great (educational) addition. The most logical way is to take the farm to the zoo, something that was taken quite literally in Vienna. An original Tiroler farm from 1722 was taken apart piece by piece and reconstructed at the highest point of the Tiergarten. It wasn’t even the first zoo farm to be erected here, but the 1802 original building at this spot was broken down in the 1980s. The current farm and its adjacent paddocks house a wide array of domestic breeds from Austria and some like the Turopolje pig from other parts in Central/Eastern Europe. While zoos have an important role in conserving wild species, in a setting like this, zoos also have a clear role in protecting local cultural heritage. If displayed well and when thought is given to the species collection, domestic species do have a role in zoos.
@Arizona Docent
Unfortunately there are no other proper pictures of this area, so none of the series of paddocks adjacent to the house.
Similar exhibits: From Ljubljana to Amsterdam, there are many zoos that have a children's zoo with local breeds, but none in such an authentic setting. It is also worth highlighting the German zoo Arche Warder, which focuses solely on (rare) domestic breeds.
Don’t know if this a “must-see”, but it’s definately nice. Makes me think of the local farm area in Hannover, isn’t that similar in that it’s also an older local farm that has been moved into the zoo? I really like that part of Hannover and thought about including it in my list…
Firstly, you said authentic setting - not "original building"
I know you like to be pedantic just for the sake of it, but setting does not necessarily equate to geographical location. A dictionary tells me that setting means "the surroundings or place in which something is put". So an authentic monumental farm building means an authentic setting to me, much more than holding some animals at a specific geographic location
Given the prominent role local domestic animals have in zoos and the unique story they tell, I feel that including one exhibit focusing on them is more than fair. I never realized that the whole farm area in Hannover consisted of original buildings, the landscaping is so kitsch.... But given that information, it should certainly have been included as "similar exhibit". Especially given the focus on rare German breeds.
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