Making African Sections More Unique

Swampy said:
okay, weird choice to name an exhibit after one of the most unique and threatened ecosystems in Africa though, and then house 2 species in it that aren't found in that habitat...

A greenhouse full of a diversity of gorgeous Proteas, succulents and more from the Cape Floristic Region though, with scattered exhibits for herps and maybe a few choice small free-flying birds and possibly a very small felid, an aviary nearby for blue cranes and cape vultures, and then enclosures for mountain zebra, bontebok, leopard and brown hyena... okay i'm slipping further into the realms of fantasy here, but I'd love to see fynbos or renosterveld introduced properly to a wider audience through a zoo exhibit, not just tacked onto the name of a fairly unrelated penguin exhibit.
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Well, that’s somewhat embarrassing….
At least they didn’t put a Honey Badger in Madagascar. Oh right…
 
Tiger said:
I think that when developing an African section, a zoo could concentrate on a particular (national) park, as is often done with Asian sections, such as Kaziranga Forest Trail at Dublin Zoo, inspired by the Kaziranga National Park in India.
If zoos concentrate on only one section rather than whole Africa, fewer large species remain and consequently more small species. There are numerous national parks in Africa on which zoos can base their sections, not only on the world-famous parks such as Kruger National Park or Virunga National Park, but also on others such as Serengeti National Park, where "the great migration" takes place, something that can interest visitors. Virunga National Park, as mentioned earlier, also has many different small animal species (although this focuses on the rainforest).
I could go on and on, but I have mainly focused on the larger national parks to give everyone an idea of what I mean, but there are countless other national parks that could be used in a zoo section.
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I think the only US zoo with an African section like that is Boise with their Gorongosa National Park exhibit (which has Striped Hyenas instead of Spotted, but what can you do about it?).
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
Do you have some examples of what species are most likely to become less common or to disappear?
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There's been a general decline in antelope, to name the clearest example, with many species no longer present in AZA and found only in the private sector, or not being found at all. I've noticed a similar decline in African monkeys. In the case of both taxa, there's a few favored species - typically visually striking ones that make good exhibit animals and breed reliably - that are becoming very common, while other forms are fading out.
 
Tiger said:
I think that when developing an African section, a zoo could concentrate on a particular (national) park, as is often done with Asian sections, such as Kaziranga Forest Trail at Dublin Zoo, inspired by the Kaziranga National Park in India.
If zoos concentrate on only one section rather than whole Africa, fewer large species remain and consequently more small species. There are numerous national parks in Africa on which zoos can base their sections, not only on the world-famous parks such as Kruger National Park or Virunga National Park, but also on others such as Serengeti National Park, where "the great migration" takes place, something that can interest visitors. Virunga National Park, as mentioned earlier, also has many different small animal species (although this focuses on the rainforest).
I could go on and on, but I have mainly focused on the larger national parks to give everyone an idea of what I mean, but there are countless other national parks that could be used in a zoo section.
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Columbus's "Ajabu National Park" (section within "Heart of Africa" region) is based on the Serengeti. Aardvark and vervet monkey are a couple smaller animals they have in that part (along with the standard large animals)
 
If a zoo were so inclined, someone could potentially do a North African exhibit instead of the more familiar savanna and rainforest. Potential ungulates could include the three classic Sahelo-Saharan antelopes most often seen in zoos - addax, addra, and SHO - as well as wild ass, Grevy's zebra, ibex, and aoudad. Striped hyena would be the most appropriate large carnivore, though lion, cheetah, and leopard (Amur substitution) could also work, as well as sand cat and fennec fox. Hamadryas baboon would fill the monkey niche, since Barbary macaques are now essential extinct in North American collections. There are plenty of bird and herp possibilities - marbled teal, northern bald ibis, and a really good quality sulcata exhibit. There could be good conservation messaging on desertification, dating back to the time of the Romans. If you were feeling puckish and creative, you could always toss add a brown bear as a stand-in for the Atlas bear.
 
Aardwolf said:
If a zoo were so inclined, someone could potentially do a North African exhibit instead of the more familiar savanna and rainforest. Potential ungulates could include the three classic Sahelo-Saharan antelopes most often seen in zoos - addax, addra, and SHO - as well as wild ass, Grevy's zebra, ibex, and aoudad. Striped hyena would be the most appropriate large carnivore, though lion, cheetah, and leopard (Amur substitution) could also work, as well as sand cat and fennec fox. Hamadryas baboon would fill the monkey niche, since Barbary macaques are now essential extinct in North American collections. There are plenty of bird and herp possibilities - marbled teal, northern bald ibis, and a really good quality sulcata exhibit. There could be good conservation messaging on desertification, dating back to the time of the Romans. If you were feeling puckish and creative, you could always toss add a brown bear as a stand-in for the Atlas bear.
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A lot of the classic African species used to occur in Palearctic Africa but no longer do - elephants, hippos, Sacred Ibis, ect.
 
birdsandbats said:
A lot of the classic African species used to occur in Palearctic Africa but no longer do - elephants, hippos, Sacred Ibis, ect.
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I suppose you could say that Turtle Back Zoo makes a slight nod to this in their recent lion and spotted hyena exhibits, where the habitats are built around the ruins of a Roman fort in North Africa, but that's as far as that goes, really. I've always felt that there could have been a lot more messaging on that - get people thinking about where all those lions that died in the Coliseum really came from...
 
Swampy said:
okay, weird choice to name an exhibit after one of the most unique and threatened ecosystems in Africa though, and then house 2 species in it that aren't found in that habitat...

A greenhouse full of a diversity of gorgeous Proteas, succulents and more from the Cape Floristic Region though, with scattered exhibits for herps and maybe a few choice small free-flying birds and possibly a very small felid, an aviary nearby for blue cranes and cape vultures, and then enclosures for mountain zebra, bontebok, leopard and brown hyena... okay i'm slipping further into the realms of fantasy here, but I'd love to see fynbos or renosterveld introduced properly to a wider audience through a zoo exhibit, not just tacked onto the name of a fairly unrelated penguin exhibit.
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That is not completely fair as 2 mainland African penguin colonies are located in the Fynbos biome and as such are a better representation than for example the brown hyena, which doesn't occur in the Fynbos at all. San Diego is quite renowned for its botanical department, so I would be surprised if all the succulents and plants around the penguin exhibit aren't S-African endemics.

That said, I do completely agree with you and have been musing myself about a Fynbos/Karoo region, which could work perfectly in any Mediterranean area and probably even outside. The problem is most typical smaller land birds (except Cape weavers) are pretty much absent from zoos. But I would love to see a penguin aviary (as many zoos now have for Humboldt penguins + brown pelicans + inca terns) for African penguin, where you move from the boulder strewn shores higher up into the Fynbos shrub.
 
I'd like to see more mixed-species enclosures than the bog-standard savannah collection. E.g., a rainforest exhibit with okapi, bushpigs, forest buffalo, maybe some African forest elephants, and the bird species to match. Plenty of trees and foliage in the enclosure.

Or Sahara exhibits. One for the relevant gazelle and antelope species, combined with desert warblers and pale crag martins. Plus, a section dedicated to showcasing the various desert rodent species - the exhibits wouldn't take up much space, and they'd have the 'cute factor' to bring visitors their way.
 
Swampy said:
okay, weird choice to name an exhibit after one of the most unique and threatened ecosystems in Africa though, and then house 2 species in it that aren't found in that habitat...

A greenhouse full of a diversity of gorgeous Proteas, succulents and more from the Cape Floristic Region though, with scattered exhibits for herps and maybe a few choice small free-flying birds and possibly a very small felid, an aviary nearby for blue cranes and cape vultures, and then enclosures for mountain zebra, bontebok, leopard and brown hyena... okay i'm slipping further into the realms of fantasy here, but I'd love to see fynbos or renosterveld introduced properly to a wider audience through a zoo exhibit, not just tacked onto the name of a fairly unrelated penguin exhibit.
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Ditto! I had the pleasure of visiting the Cape Fynbos while in South Africa last April, and it was absolutely gorgeous! It's a real shame this unique and stunning biome is almost completely absent from most zoo exhibits :(.
 
Van Beal said:
Ok just curious, do you know the whole list of species that San Diego's African Rocks contains? I'd like to learn about it and what kind of things they did differently from other African sections.
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Corangurilla said:
I don’t know every species, but here are the main ones and what areas they are in:
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We have two species lists from this year on the forum for San Diego Zoo - both searchable by typing in "san diego zoo species list" into the search bar.
 
I would definitely say we could stand to see more African deserts and highlands - animals from both habitats are extant in facilities but never used in 'themed' areas. Addax, camels and oryx tend to be treated as hoofstock filler in terms of presentation. This is part of why I made the Underrepresented Habitat thread. :)

The lack of small animals alongside the megafauna is a good point as well, though it applies outside the African Savannah. A lot of themed exhibits can feel a bit lacking without a predator, an herbivore, a small mammal, a reptile, a bird, or so forth. Small mammals lately get the end of the stick there.
 
JVM said:
The lack of small animals alongside the megafauna is a good point as well, though it applies outside the African Savannah. A lot of themed exhibits can feel a bit lacking without a predator, an herbivore, a small mammal, a reptile, a bird, or so forth. Small mammals lately get the end of the stick there.
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Yeah honestly I agree that we need more small African desert mammals and birds, such as a rock hyrax or a sandgrouse.
 
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Why are jackals so rare in US zoos? Seems like they're more in private hands and roadside zoos than AZA zoos.
 
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