Not all of those are free-flying in the Lied Jungle, though. Kingdoms of the Night has most of those species including a giant display with hundreds of Seba's.
America's 100 Must See Exhibits
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True, though more than half are the Egyptian Fruit Bats and it's impressive regardless just in numbers.
Indeed Omaha probably has more bats than any other zoo on the continent (perhaps the world?), although 1,700 would surprise me just a little. Students from the University of Nebraska helped the zoo narrow down just how many are in the building and they estimated 750 including both the Egyptian fruit bats and flying foxes, although again that is just an estimation and there are likely quite a bit more. For those interested in seeing the bats in action, they are most active after 4:00 PM and it is quite a sight to behold.
NRT counting bats at zoo | National Science Foundation National Research Traineeship (NRT) Program | Nebraska
This is a solid analysis. Zurich and Burgers are a pair of zoos with tremendous tropical houses, although as you point out there's a distinct lack of megafauna. They are both hot, sweaty, realistic jungles, where finding animals is a bit tricky at times...especially mammals. Omaha's 1992 Lied Jungle, and the 1985 exhibit that we are not naming, are both excellent but in my opinion I'd choose Omaha any day of the week. There is value to seeing a great quantity of animals amongst the foliage and the bats there are worth the price of admission.
Europe has far more major zoos and in general far more overall quality, therefore it's not a huge surprise to see the era of rainforest buildings continue on that continent. I felt that Emmen was a hit-and-miss zoo, but I think that 'Jungola' was the best thing there. With Leipzig (2010), Emmen (2016) and Beauval (2020), those are three fairly recent rainforest buildings that have opened at great expense.
Here are the 'Big 5' tropical houses in Europe in terms of size:
Wildlands Adventure Zoo Emmen's Jungola - 18,000 square metres (23 metres high)
Leipzig Zoo's Gondwanaland - 16,500 square metres (34 metres high)
Burgers' Zoo's Bush - 15,000 square metres (20 metres high)
Zurich Zoo's Masoala - 11,000 square metres (30 metres high)
Beauval Zoo's Tropical Dome - 8,000 square metres (38 metres high)
One project that could surpass them all is the gargantuan South American tropical structure that's going to be built at Pairi Daiza and it's costing at least 100 million Euros. That Amazonian behemoth is going to be around 4 hectares/10 acres in size, although not all that space will be for animal exhibits.
Where are the North American equivalents? Is there anything in the pipeline?
Slight segue, but I'd be cautiously sceptical about any mega-projects that are not already funded going ahead for the next little while. Money isn't nearly as cheap or obtainable as it was even a year ago.
Yes, the $121 million new Tropics Complex at the Seneca Park Zoo is slated to open in 2025. Ground should be broken soon if it hasn't already, and once opened will break Omaha's record for the largest US zoo rainforest building.
Info from zoo website: Tropics Complex | Seneca Park Zoo
Article: Bello proposes $121 million expansion of the Seneca Park Zoo
Short News Clip: https://www.whec.com/archive/monroe...eptual-renderings-of-seneca-park-zoo-project/
This count is several years old.
Pleistocene891
Well-Known Member
How does the zoo even take care of that many bats? Sounds like an impossible task.
63. Lied Jungle
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, NE
Opened: 1992
Size: 123,000 Square Feet (11,430 Square Meters)
Inhabitants: Roughly 70 species including White-cheeked Gibbon, Francois' Langur, Malayan Tapir, Pygmy Hippo, Egyptian Fruit Bat, >20 bird species and a range of other mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish.
Director Lee G. Simmons had an ambitious vision to make the once little known Henry Doorly Zoo a trailblazer in the zoological world, and constructing America’s largest rainforest house was the first step towards realizing that vision. Arnhem had already created an immersive rainforest environment a few years prior, but something of that scale had never been done before in the states. With over 2,000 live plants in an expansive 1.2 acre atrium, the rainforest was seen as so realistic that it initially triggered Vietnam war veterans to have flashbacks. It’s a truly iconic exhibit, although its flaws become more glaring upon closer inspection. The amount of things included under one roof means that the rainforest atmosphere is never able to truly dominate and there are a lot of visible pipes and obvious concrete walls with washed out murals. Keeping tapirs and pygmy hippos indoors 24/7 is rather unfortunate even if the conditions have been marginally improved, plus the primate islands really aren’t anything special if you strictly judge the area they can access and not the surrounding vegetation. With that said, there are some truly amazing sights to see here. The water moats surrounding the primate islands are stocked with impressive larger fish like arapaima and Mekong giant catfish. Hundreds of birds are in free flight and there are also an estimated 750 fruit bats with full range of the building. The lower level of the building has a bit less going on so the attempt at immersion better succeeds, with a barrierless Amazon stingray pool being a highlight. The furnishings are stunning and although it doesn't always follow through on providing the perfect rainforest recreation, the Lied Jungle is still one of the most awe-inspiring zoo buildings of all time.
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Similar Exhibits: You'll find out at a later time.
I am not sure where you got the size estimate from, as the Lied Jungle is not even half the size you give here given measurements based on satellite images...
Omaha themselves claim it, though it seems to mostly stem from their older website.
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
Guinness World Records lists this size as well as a runner up for "world's largest indoor rainforest." No idea on the validity.
Zoo websites are worth nothing when it comes to size claims. They will often overstate sizes and make stuff look more unique than it actually is. For my own list I always used www.mapsdirections.info and calculated size manually.
It's worth noting that some animals, including bats, are normally managed at the colonial level, not the individual level. While it still is likely a lot of work to manage these animals, know that the zoo is likely doing much of the management at the level of colony, not individual bats. For bats specifically, a lot of the AZA recommendations for breeding are also at the colonial level, so genetically the individual bats aren't being given breeding recommendations either, but moreso it's the colony given recommendations.
For the more notable exhibits I've usually just done a simple google search, but when that isn't available I use the Daft Logic google maps area calculator which has proven to be accurate. According to the google maps calculator, the Lied Jungle is actually only 1.25 acres or 55,000 square feet (5,100 square meters). I'm going to have to double check those statistics from here on out and I should've known better considering Omaha has claimed that the Lied Jungle was the world's largest rainforest house in the past.
That's very interesting and means that the 'big 5' European tropical houses I listed would all be much larger than Omaha's Lied Jungle. There are two zoos in North America with upcoming expensive new tropical house additions/expansions, but both Cleveland and Seneca Park will include outdoor exhibits and therefore the size of the actual buildings won't be up there with the European examples. Cleveland Zoo is promoting its tropical house expansion as having 140,000 square feet, which equates to 13,000 square meters, but it appears that the quoted figure includes outdoor areas. Even so, the complex still won't be as large as Emmen, Leipzig or Burgers. It's fascinating to note that when one is visiting a big tropical house at any zoo in the world, it's often very difficult to gauge the size of the structure when you are inside it. Perhaps someone should use the Google Maps calculator to find out exact, authentic numbers for all these zoo buildings.
These numbers won't be 100% accurate, but based on the exteriors visible from google maps (Figures rounded):
Jungola (Emmen): 17,040 Square meters (183390 sq ft)
Gondwanaland: 16,550 Square meters (178,160 sq ft)
Burger's Bush: 13,720 Square meters (147,690 sq ft)
Masoala: 11,170 Square meters (120,225 sq ft)
Equatorial Dome (Beauval): 7,770 Square meters (83,635 sq ft)
Lied Jungle: 4,653 Square meters (50100 sq ft)
Rainforest Pyramid (Moody Gardens): 3,990 Square meters (42,910 sq ft)
For comparison:
Tropic World: 5,580 Square meters (60,110 sq ft)
Desert Dome (Omaha): 3,965 Square meters (42,690 sq ft)
Orinoco Rainforest and Mundo Maya (DWA): 2,335 Square meters (25,130 sq ft)
Jungola (Emmen): 17,040 Square meters (183390 sq ft)
Gondwanaland: 16,550 Square meters (178,160 sq ft)
Burger's Bush: 13,720 Square meters (147,690 sq ft)
Masoala: 11,170 Square meters (120,225 sq ft)
Equatorial Dome (Beauval): 7,770 Square meters (83,635 sq ft)
Lied Jungle: 4,653 Square meters (50100 sq ft)
Rainforest Pyramid (Moody Gardens): 3,990 Square meters (42,910 sq ft)
For comparison:
Tropic World: 5,580 Square meters (60,110 sq ft)
Desert Dome (Omaha): 3,965 Square meters (42,690 sq ft)
Orinoco Rainforest and Mundo Maya (DWA): 2,335 Square meters (25,130 sq ft)
ericnielsenkc
Member
From stats I have seen over the years in various documents, including the link below, The Lied Jungle is 123,000 square feet, which includes over 61,000 square feet of planted exhibit area with and upper and a lower trails that each contain several exhibits unique to each path, 35,000 square feet of display management areas for off exhibit holding, breeding and support on 2 levels and 11,000 square feet of education space. I know that they added onto the Treetops Restaurant and overlook spaces after it was completed , which might not be included in that number, but I don't know if you wish to include that in gross square footage. I was lucky enough to tour the project (front and back of house) several times during it's development and completion and it's still breathtaking. It didn't convey the same vastness of Burger's Bush but spectacular nonetheless, especially at the time.....sort of like crossing Burgers with Tropic World in my opinion . Landscape Architect
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That's wild considering how massive Tropic World seems. If you're visiting for the first time, the sheer size of the building might be the most interesting thing about it. This European buildings make it look undersized.
64. Predator Ridge
Denver Zoo, CO
Opened: 2004
Size: 1.5 Acres (0.6 Hectares)
Inhabitants: African Lion, Spotted Hyena, and a few reptiles.
Serving as a perfect transition after the zoo's African themed entry pavilion, Denver earned itself nationwide recognition for this trio of superb African carnivore habitats. As has been discussed earlier, the zoo has fully embraced the concept of rotational enclosures which is a direct result of the success of this complex. The scents of the animals previously in the exhibit help to stimulate the inhabitants and constantly provide different environments. Two of the yards are attractive savanna enclosures that nicely flow between one another thanks to hidden moats and well placed vegetation, while the third enclosure is a much smaller glass fronted habitat resembling a kopje. All three exhibits are rotated between two prides of lions as well as spotted hyenas. Painted dogs were also part of the rotation before being shifted to another part of the zoo somewhat recently to make space for the additional lion pride. When the exhibit first opened there was also a nice showcase of odd smaller predators such as banded mongoose and cape porcupine, although these enclosures were unfortunately removed when the zoo's penguins had to be relocated. Not all of the extra diversity has been lost however, with a variety of African reptiles on display within spacious terrariums inside the viewing building.
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Similar Exhibits: Busch Gardens Tampa also has a pair of rotational enclosures for lions and hyenas that are both great for the inhabitants, although it lacks the detail of Denver's display and isn't as impressive from a visitor standpoint. The scenery is still very nice however.
@Mr.Weasel
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Denver Zoo, CO
Opened: 2004
Size: 1.5 Acres (0.6 Hectares)
Inhabitants: African Lion, Spotted Hyena, and a few reptiles.
Serving as a perfect transition after the zoo's African themed entry pavilion, Denver earned itself nationwide recognition for this trio of superb African carnivore habitats. As has been discussed earlier, the zoo has fully embraced the concept of rotational enclosures which is a direct result of the success of this complex. The scents of the animals previously in the exhibit help to stimulate the inhabitants and constantly provide different environments. Two of the yards are attractive savanna enclosures that nicely flow between one another thanks to hidden moats and well placed vegetation, while the third enclosure is a much smaller glass fronted habitat resembling a kopje. All three exhibits are rotated between two prides of lions as well as spotted hyenas. Painted dogs were also part of the rotation before being shifted to another part of the zoo somewhat recently to make space for the additional lion pride. When the exhibit first opened there was also a nice showcase of odd smaller predators such as banded mongoose and cape porcupine, although these enclosures were unfortunately removed when the zoo's penguins had to be relocated. Not all of the extra diversity has been lost however, with a variety of African reptiles on display within spacious terrariums inside the viewing building.
@geomorph
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@MGolka
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Similar Exhibits: Busch Gardens Tampa also has a pair of rotational enclosures for lions and hyenas that are both great for the inhabitants, although it lacks the detail of Denver's display and isn't as impressive from a visitor standpoint. The scenery is still very nice however.
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Adding on to this, the biggest in North America is apparently still the Tropics Trail at the Minnesota Zoo, which opened in 1978. The Tropics Trail building by itself covers a ground area of 7,200 square meters (80,000 square feet/1.8 acres). This excludes the other parts of the main building, which are all an interconnected indoor structure that covers more than twice that area.
As implied by @ericnielsenkc, some of the exaggerated measurements for places like the Lied Jungle and Cleveland's RainForest are because they apparently count upper and lower levels separately.
It's nice that Predator Ridge doesn't convey the "lawn" effect that a lot of places seem to wind up with.64. Predator Ridge
Denver Zoo, CO
Opened: 2004
Size: 1.5 Acres (0.6 Hectares)
Inhabitants: African Lion, Spotted Hyena, and a few reptiles.
Serving as a perfect transition after the zoo's African themed entry pavilion, Denver earned itself nationwide recognition for this trio of superb African carnivore habitats. As has been discussed earlier, the zoo has fully embraced the concept of rotational enclosures which is a direct result of the success of this complex. The scents of the animals previously in the exhibit help to stimulate the inhabitants and constantly provide different environments. Two of the yards are attractive savanna enclosures that nicely flow between one another thanks to hidden moats and well placed vegetation, while the third enclosure is a much smaller glass fronted habitat resembling a kopje. All three exhibits are rotated between two prides of lions as well as spotted hyenas. Painted dogs were also part of the rotation before being shifted to another part of the zoo somewhat recently to make space for the additional lion pride. When the exhibit first opened there was also a nice showcase of odd smaller predators such as banded mongoose and cape porcupine, although these enclosures were unfortunately removed when the zoo's penguins had to be relocated. Not all of the extra diversity has been lost however, with a variety of African reptiles on display within spacious terrariums inside the viewing building.
@geomorph
@Echobeast
@MGolka
@MGolka
Similar Exhibits: Busch Gardens Tampa also has a pair of rotational enclosures for lions and hyenas that are both great for the inhabitants, although it lacks the detail of Denver's display and isn't as impressive from a visitor standpoint. The scenery is still very nice however.
@Mr.Weasel
@Mr.Weasel