My pick would be mountain lions and leopards. Best case scenario, they're in exhibits that are roughly 5,000 square feet and have some decent climbing opportunities. But most of the time, I see them in wired cages that are probably 2,000-3,000 square feet that don't let them move around. This is probably due to the fact that mountain lions and leopards are amazing jumpers and climbers which makes escaping easy for them.
Leopards and mountain lions, along with snow leopards, are a strong contender for this thread. There are some very good examples of zoos having great habitats for them, such as those habitats at Roger Williams Park Zoo (snow leopard), Stone Zoo (snow leopard), Rosamond Gifford Zoo (amur leopard), among others. However, there are a lot more examples of zoos that need to do a much better job in keeping these incredible cats. That being said, I think there are a few animals that tend to receive worst exhibits:
- Lions. Even in the AZA, it seems most lion exhibits I've seen are on the small side, which is a shame as they are often one of the zoo's top crowd-pleasing animals. It'd be great to see more zoos focus on giving larger, spacious areas for their lions, and exhibiting them in larger groups as well (lion prides in the wild are often much larger than the three lions that seem most common in zoos). One lion exhibit I saw recently that was incredible, especially coming from a smaller zoo, was the exhibit at the Utica Zoo, however I've seen many more examples for exhibits that are behind the times.
- Giraffes. Giraffes are a staple for non-AZA and roadside zoos, and as a result there are many horrible giraffe exhibits out there. However, even within the AZA I've found some zoos with giraffe exhibits that are too small for the number of animals in them. Most notably, I've recently visited two zoos where I'd pinpoint the giraffe exhibit as the absolute worst exhibit in the zoo- Buffalo Zoo and Philadelphia Zoo. Ideally, we'd see more zoos focus on exhibiting their giraffes in larger exhibits with natural substrate, and ideally in a mixed-species setting as well. Giraffes are a hugely popular zoo animal, and it's a shame more zoos don't take advantage of the fact that they can mix rather easily in large savanna exhibits. If a species is popular, that means zoos should put more effort into proper exhibits, not less!
- Orangutans. Way too often, zoos exhibit orangutans in a horizontally-oriented fashion, when ideally an orangutan exhibit should be much taller than it is wide. In the wild, orangutans seldom if ever reach the ground, so it's truly a shame how most often in US Zoos it seems as though the orangutans are sitting on the ground. The only zoo I've ever seen orangutans off the ground at was the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and while their exhibit is by no means perfect, they are clearly doing something right (either through means of feeding, enrichment, enclosure design, or something else entirely) since on my visit four of the five orangutans spent at least some of the time (for two of the orangutans all the time) above the ground, hanging on the various ropes and ledges in the exhibit. It was truly a sight to see! More zoos should be focusing on designing vertically-oriented exhibits, and it's a shame that so many orangutan exhibits don't encourage them to display natural behaviors.
And lastly:
- Macaws/Parrots. Parrot-on-the-stick exhibits. For some reason, these are still a common practice in many zoos (even AZA ones), and it boggles my mind why. While I understand many zoos have already pinioned parrots, it's a shame they won't put any effort into building exhibits that allow the macaws to locomote. Some macaw/parrot species tend to be more climbing-based species rather than flight-based species, so a good exhibit can still be made even if a parrot is pinioned (however I don't think that pinioning should be practiced going forward). But to do an exhibit correctly, zoos should be designing them in a way that allows the parrots to locomote easily, and still get proper exercise and enrichment.
