Why is part strikethroughed? I don't remember it being so ...
Theoretical walkthroughs
- Thread starter Mr Gharial
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- walk-in exhibits
Would love to see impala or gazelles in large exhibits with no barrier from the visitor path.
I imagine a very large park-like exhibit, divided into half by a visitor path. On the left side would be a rocky dip, separating giraffes. Mhorr gazelles or impala would be albe to run both on their own right side, and cross to the giraffe side. perhaps some other animals like rock hyrax, bat-eared foxes, helmeted guineafowl and spurred tortoises could be added. This would be nearest thing to walking on an African savanna.
I imagine a very large park-like exhibit, divided into half by a visitor path. On the left side would be a rocky dip, separating giraffes. Mhorr gazelles or impala would be albe to run both on their own right side, and cross to the giraffe side. perhaps some other animals like rock hyrax, bat-eared foxes, helmeted guineafowl and spurred tortoises could be added. This would be nearest thing to walking on an African savanna.
I really like this concept! Though I would advice against mixing bat-eared foxes with guineafowl or hyraxes. Mhorr gazelles and Impala might be a little too large for a walkthrough habitat, at least as a breeding group.
Smaller antilope like Thomson's / Persian / Dorcas gazelle or Springbok should be fine. Kirk's dikdik is a smaller antelope that is held in some walkthroughs, duikers could also be an option.
A bachelorette group of antelope would be another option, this way you could hold Impalas or Red lechwes.
Another suggestion I would make for this to work is a bridge where the Gazelles can get under the visitor path, so that they won't have to cross the pathway, which would be difficult and stressful on busier days.
If you want a suggested species list for this:
- Giraffe (specific species unimportant)
- Common ostrich
- Impala (female only group)
- Red lechwe (female only group)
- Kirk's dikdik
- Thomson's gazelle
- Vulturine guineafowl
- Cape rock hyrax
Some other notes you should keep in mind:
- Giraffes and antelopes need separate stables, so you could have the giraffe stables on the giraffe side and the antelope stables on the visitor side.
- Making the visitor / antelope half of the exhibit forested would make the antelopes feel safer in their environment, even if it doesn't completely give the African savannah feel (I suggest looking through pictures of Beekse Bergen, a Dutch zoo who create some of the most amazing savanna exhibits using Scots pines to resemble acacia trees).
- If you create areas with large rocks on the visitor side (and the separation area), the hyraxes will see this as a safe area, and won't venture onto the giraffe plains, where they could get trampled. At least, if you make the Giraffe area mostly open.
Something like this:
- A special rock separation prevents the giraffes from being able to reach the visitors, and Ostriches from going into the tunnel.
- the bridge and slope allow the antelopes to have a less difficult time getting between the halves of the exhibit.
- A mound behind the visitor bridge hides the opening to the antelope tunnel, as well as creating a safe environment for the hyraxes.
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Bat-eared foxes should be entirely insectivorous, never say never but I doubt they would pose a danger to either guineafowl or hyraxes.
Even then, I'd still put them in trampling risk with the giraffes
Elephant probably no, but i can see antelope works. Sitatunga is one that have been done in zoos before, and a lot of deers have been in walkthrough too (Sikas and fallow deers for example), so small to mid size antelope should be fine, not something like giant eland though 
Crowned cranes and vultures would make for a really great addition, but to have them pinioned is really not great for animal welfare reasons. And Jurung bird park sized aviary sort of ruins the immersion of a giant open savannah
True, but you’d run the same risk with hyraxes (to a lesser degree) and guineafowl (similar degree) and apparently that’s a risk you do consider okay.
Crowned cranes and vultures are both species that perch in trees, and the vultures normally breed high up as well. Pinioning them is taking away the option for them to display such behavior to a high degree. Flamingoes breed far worse in open-topped exhibits, and on this side of the pond zoos have steered towards aviaries for that and other reasons. I’d make it one big aviary, depicting a shrubland-type savannah with a waterhole and just add even more bird species. A group of small antelopes like impala or sitatunga should fit in there.
I feel like Hyraxes won't venture out into the open savannah, and stick to the forested or rocky areas. But fair enough
I’d imagine hyraxes to be more agile as well than either the foxes and the guineafowl making the risk of getting trampled lower, but I think they will definitively explore the entire enclosure every once in a while. Maybe even more so than the foxes, based on what behavior of them I have seen.
I appreciate your visions. I thought of a very level exhibit with just minimally lowered, stony ditch to separate the giraffe, and few heaps of rock for the hyrax. To create an illusion of one uniform space shared by people and animals. The area would be large, ca 1.3 ha (at least this number came from Google maps of a park where I visualized it to be).
Egyptian Geese can be very aggressive with other birds. I wouldn’t risk them with flamingos
Even an all female flock of Egyptian geese?
Interesting. I thought I had seen Egyptian geese in the aviary in Omaha. Who knows if that's still the case or my memory is off.
On my 2021 visit they were kept in their own enclosure near but outside of the aviary.
Aardwolf
Well-Known Member
I've kept Egyptian geese with muntjac before with no issue. It was a fairly large enclosure, to be fair. My observations have been that, while it can occur, a lot of aggression problems with certain waterfowl species are pretty exaggerated. I was originally told that Andean geese were the most savage waterfowl ever, couldn't be kept with anything else, always picking fights, etc - my experience with them was that they were actually very docile, and if anything were a bit bullied by the other birds they were kept with. A lot of it comes down to facility size and design
They are actually kept in the walk-through okapi aviary at Doué-la-fontaine, though it might be pinioned individuals. I’ve also been relatively close (<10 m) to wild pairs with chicks and never had any issues. They even tried to flee, instead of being aggressive.
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