Reimagining the Bronx Zoo

tigris115 said:
Maybe it can be turned into one of those halls u have weddings or parties in?
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The area sits between Wild Asia and the main parking lot. It could be many things but it makes sense to take advantage of its direct adjacency to the parking lot. It could be a special after hours space, education space, B.O.H. / breeding center, move some zoo services out of the center of the zoo to this space. Endless possibilities although additional public exhibit makes the least sense.
 
Came here just to flex an alternative master plan I came up with that I like to think is more feasible. Taken directly from the thread Changes You Would Make To Your Zoo:

  • Children's Zoo
    • Replace the Asian small-clawed otters in the children's zoo. There will still be ASCOs in Jungleworld, and since the North American river otters would also fit an American theme and be better suited for the Northeastern climate, I see this as an absolute win.
    • In keeping with moving out the wild animals that are not native to the New World, I would replace the fennec fox with a pair of black-footed ferrets.
  • Move the grizzly bears to a new habitat constructed across from the bison and near the Bronx River Entrance. To better fit an Asian theme, my dream would be to replace them with Asiatic black bears. (Considering how Metro Richmond Zoo seems to still be breeding the species successfully, and have sent them to other AZA facilities like Jackson before, this may not be as far as far-fetched as you might think.) But if not, sloth bears would work just fine as an alternative.
  • Speaking of the Bison Range, I would like if the zoo at least entertained the idea of adding elk and/or pronghorn to the habitat.
  • Move the Amur leopard from Jungleworld over to Tiger Mountain and make the necessary adjustments to the habitat barriers so they can rotate with the Amur tigers. Retime the area to something like "Great Cats of the Far East".
  • Speaking of the Amur leopard, give its now-vacant habitat in Jungleworld to a clouded leopard or two.
  • Renovate the majority of the nocturnal room in Madagascar! to become an aye-aye habitat. This famously bizarre prosimian feels like the only thing missing from this incredible indoor attraction.
  • Replace the Nature Trek or whatever it's called at the bottom of African Plains with a brand-new cheetah habitat. If there's still room left over, add meerkats, bat-eared foxes, ground hornbills, vultures, and maybe a few other birds and small mammals.
  • The big new area I'd like the zoo to add would be a Latin America complex, taking the place of the current Treetop Adventure by the Bronx River entrance. Focusing on larger mammals, jaguars would be the star attraction here, but I'd also like to add capybaras, tapirs, giant otters, cougars and Andean bears. And yes, I know Queens Zoo already breeds the last species, but what's better than one WCS park with Andean bears? How about two WCS parks with Andean bears? Additionally, a few new bird species would arrive; I'd love to see harpy eagles if it was feasible, and I think greater rheas and crested screamers would fit well, too.
 
I love the Children's Zoo idea of focusing on New World Species

I'm keeping grizzlies in their place but redoing the dhole and WoD to showcase American predators like wolverines and Mexican wolves. Then convert that white tent area to a place for presentations and pow wows (def wanna showcase indigenous culture).

As for the bison, I'd love to incorporate pronghorn in that habitat. As well, I wanna redo the viewing area to be 1 continuous path that tells the story of the bison and their role in indigenous cultures and their recovery.

For the leopards, I'd like to create a new habitat for them but definitely within the vicinity of Tiger Mountain. And having them rotate is genius.

Aye aye are something that'd be great for Madagascar

I not sure how big the Nature Trek is for cheetahs. Ideally, I'd like the yard to be big enough to do a daily cheetah run on. Maybe the former 4D theater space can be used for smaller African species. Overall, I'd like to redo some aspects of African plains, especially the lions.

For Latin America, I'd prefer to use the Rare Animal Range area (where they put the Dinosaur Safari). Tons of unused real estate that I think is perfect for both large animals as well as a big indoor jungle.
 
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evilmonkey239 said:
Came here just to flex an alternative master plan I came up with that I like to think is more feasible. Taken directly from the thread Changes You Would Make To Your Zoo:

  • Children's Zoo
    • Replace the Asian small-clawed otters in the children's zoo. There will still be ASCOs in Jungleworld, and since the North American river otters would also fit an American theme and be better suited for the Northeastern climate, I see this as an absolute win.
    • In keeping with moving out the wild animals that are not native to the New World, I would replace the fennec fox with a pair of black-footed ferrets.
  • Move the grizzly bears to a new habitat constructed across from the bison and near the Bronx River Entrance. To better fit an Asian theme, my dream would be to replace them with Asiatic black bears. (Considering how Metro Richmond Zoo seems to still be breeding the species successfully, and have sent them to other AZA facilities like Jackson before, this may not be as far as far-fetched as you might think.) But if not, sloth bears would work just fine as an alternative.
  • Speaking of the Bison Range, I would like if the zoo at least entertained the idea of adding elk and/or pronghorn to the habitat.
  • Move the Amur leopard from Jungleworld over to Tiger Mountain and make the necessary adjustments to the habitat barriers so they can rotate with the Amur tigers. Retime the area to something like "Great Cats of the Far East".
  • Speaking of the Amur leopard, give its now-vacant habitat in Jungleworld to a clouded leopard or two.
  • Renovate the majority of the nocturnal room in Madagascar! to become an aye-aye habitat. This famously bizarre prosimian feels like the only thing missing from this incredible indoor attraction.
  • Replace the Nature Trek or whatever it's called at the bottom of African Plains with a brand-new cheetah habitat. If there's still room left over, add meerkats, bat-eared foxes, ground hornbills, vultures, and maybe a few other birds and small mammals.
  • The big new area I'd like the zoo to add would be a Latin America complex, taking the place of the current Treetop Adventure by the Bronx River entrance. Focusing on larger mammals, jaguars would be the star attraction here, but I'd also like to add capybaras, tapirs, giant otters, cougars and Andean bears. And yes, I know Queens Zoo already breeds the last species, but what's better than one WCS park with Andean bears? How about two WCS parks with Andean bears? Additionally, a few new bird species would arrive; I'd love to see harpy eagles if it was feasible, and I think greater rheas and crested screamers would fit well, too.
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I think this is a lot more reasonable, though I have some comments:

Across from the bison is basically a big rocky hill as well as WoB at the top of said hill so a new bear habitat would be difficult.

There are two yards in Tiger Mountain you don't really need to rotate anything but bear in mind they already move around Amur Tigers and Malayan Tigers between there and the monorail.

I don't really think there's room for Aye-Aye without a major redesign of the nocturnal room.

Nothing is going where Treetop Adventure is. It's outside the main portion of the zoo and it's a super steep rocky fully forested hillface. The Zipline obstacle course was honestly a genius move on the zoo's part imo. The former RAR is a better option for such a new exhibit.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I think this is a lot more reasonable, though I have some comments:

Across from the bison is basically a big rocky hill as well as WoB at the top of said hill so a new bear habitat would be difficult.

There are two yards in Tiger Mountain you don't really need to rotate anything but bear in mind they already move around Amur Tigers and Malayan Tigers between there and the monorail.

I don't really think there's room for Aye-Aye without a major redesign of the nocturnal room.

Nothing is going where Treetop Adventure is. It's outside the main portion of the zoo and it's a super steep rocky fully forested hillface. The Zipline obstacle course was honestly a genius move on the zoo's part imo. The former RAR is a better option for such a new exhibit.

~Thylo
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My concept for the aye-aye habitat would involve an overall of the room, replacing most of the existing exhibits with the single habitat.

After thinking about it a bit, I agree that the former site of RAR makes more sense for Latin America.
 
Is there a way that I can edit my original post? Because aspects of my masterplan have changed quite a bit.
 
Ok, here's a link to the document again

Bronx Zoo Master Plan

There's a lot in there but some of the highlights are getting white rhinos into an improved African Plains, using the Asia lot to make an amazing elephant complex, making the WoD/Bear Den area about North American carnivores, making the former RAR a SA complex, etc.

Btw, I wish this damned forum would let you edit stuff even after a while
 
tigris115 said:
Ok, here's a link to the document again

Bronx Zoo Master Plan

There's a lot in there but some of the highlights are getting white rhinos into an improved African Plains, using the Asia lot to make an amazing elephant complex, making the WoD/Bear Den area about North American carnivores, making the former RAR a SA complex, etc.

Btw, I wish this damned forum would let you edit stuff even after a while
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Being able to completely change your OP would make everything on the last 4 pages pointless and confusing.
 
tigris115 said:
Btw, I wish this damned forum would let you edit stuff even after a while
Click to expand...
I agree it can be annoying, especially when you notice a minor typo after you post, but there's a reason the window for edits is so short. If there wasn't a limit on how long you could edit, members could abuse this and completely change what they initially said which would lead to many issues.

Premium members have a much longer timeframe to make edits to their posts, 24 hours I believe.
 
Alright so I'm headed to the zoo this Saturday. I'm gonna bring a notebook and pencil with me so that I can take notes on anything that may add to my master plan. I'll also be asking any staff members I see for possible input. If anyone wants to tag along, be my guest.
 
Sry for necromancing this thread but I thought of some extra stuff

So I highlighted these bits in Google Maps.

The blue is obviously where I plan to put a new complex for elephants
The red area is some unused area including the space around the Himalayan Highlands

For this space, I'm thinking that, since it's quite hilly, the best use would be as a sorta "Asian Highlands" exhibit for sloth bears, Amur leopards, takin, and tufted deer.

This would add another bear to the zoo, get the leopards into a much nicer home, and put the tufted deer somewhere more visible (quite tricky to spot on the monorail compared to the other animals).
 

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I've added a handful of extra details such as...

Demolishing the camel barn/viewing area and making all that an orangutan space. It comes to 2000m2 in total so there should be enough room.As well, I added the possibility of giving them access to the Javan lutung exhibit.

A plan B for elephants where, instead of using the parking lot, I'd simply expand the monorail space to about 3 acres and have it be home to a bachelor herd.

Rejuvenating the monorail itself with weather proofing and some more implied storytelling elements in certain yards.

I'd also like to extend an open invite to any frequent Bronx Zoo visitors or experts to chat about this. I currently have the help of @StoppableSan but it never hurts to have an extra opinion.
 
Ok here's a handy little visual of what I'd do if I could place elephants where the Asia lot is now


Yard 3 is mostly going to be a forest yard that they'll have access to depending on the weather and how regrowth is doing ala Cheyenne Mountain and Seoul
ElephantPlanARender.png
 
tigris115 said:
Ok here's a handy little visual of what I'd do if I could place elephants where the Asia lot is now


Yard 3 is mostly going to be a forest yard that they'll have access to depending on the weather and how regrowth is doing ala Cheyenne Mountain and Seoul
ElephantPlanARender.png
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Cat-Man said:
Sadly I am unable to view the attached photograph.
Click to expand...

Some sites block attempts to embed images into 3rd party sites, which is what may be happening here. @tigris115 you could try downloading the image to your computer and then uploading to ZooChat as an attachment to your post.
 
OK, so THIS is the Asia Lot plan. This is what I'd do if I could convince donors of my genius.

Yard 3 is a forest yard ala. Seoul and Cheyenne Mountain. I've been told by many that this plan is too ambitious and logistically burdensome so I came up with a plan to keep elephants on the monorail but to really up their QoL as well as more regular viewing

full
 
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