My Speculative Plan for Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

RandomZooVisitorYT said:
Looking at the size I would say give the polar bears the space where the aviary is now and give the gaur yard, land directly next to the meadowlark theatre and all but the splash pad to the grizzlies, sea otters, moose, eagles, and bobcat. I know giving that much space to the polar bears seems excessive but I carry a lot of pride in Henry Doorly as do you as a local. Also note that the aviary is roughly 1.7 acres so larger than Columbus but smaller than Detroit. So in short save the gaur space for the grizzlies and the rest for the others and if you think so what about tossing the meadowlark theatre and the land across the path for a wolf exhibit.
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That's a pretty good idea, however I have one question (sorry to keep interrogating you, I just find your thoughts interesting as well) what is your motivation for tearing down the Simmons Aviary?
 
First off, never be scared to ask these kinds of questions. Second- I have no gripe with the aviary it's a similar situation with WKP not in the case that it is uninteresting but rather that there is a lot of potential for the space.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
First off, never be scared to ask these kinds of questions. Second- I have no gripe with the aviary it's a similar situation with WKP not in the case that it is uninteresting but rather that there is a lot of potential for the space.
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Fair. Where would you put most of the birds? I feel like the general zoo is lacking in avifauna, it’d be nice to see smaller aviaries in the African, Asian, and hypothetical North American areas (bald eagles?)
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Fair. Where would you put most of the birds? I feel like the general zoo is lacking in avifauna, it’d be nice to see smaller aviaries in the African, Asian, and hypothetical North American areas (bald eagles?)
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Eagles in the Coastal Shores is a YES, as for most of the other birds, I don't see a reason why they couldn't fit in the Lied Jungle, Desert Dome, Gorilla Valley, Savanna Yard (unless they haven't been deflighted), as for the flamingos put them in the lagoon maybe build them an island.Also minus the aviary they have a lot of birds.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
Eagles in the Coastal Shores is a YES, as for most of the other birds, I don't see a reason why they couldn't fit in the Lied Jungle, Desert Dome, Gorilla Valley, Savanna Yard (unless they haven't been deflighted), as for the flamingos put them in the lagoon maybe build them an island.Also minus the aviary they have a lot of birds.
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Maybe so, but almost all are free flight and rarely seen. A few smaller aviaries could be nice

also

What about snowy owls?
 
Also, reminder that bobcats etc are already held at the safari park, and tbh my goal would be to not have any overlap between the two - that’s why IMO arctic wolves would probably be the best.
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Also, reminder that bobcats etc are already held at the safari park, and tbh my goal would be to not have any overlap between the two - that’s why IMO arctic wolves would probably be the best.
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I'll be honest, I see no issue with overlapping species so for wolf species probably gray wolf but I was thinking how do you feel about having black bears rather than wolves.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
I'll be honest, I see no issue with overlapping species so for wolf species probably gray wolf but I was thinking how do you feel about having black bears rather than wolves.
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At the zoo, or at the safari park? I’m not sure we need another similar looking bear if we already have spectacled and sloth, and we already have them at the safari park. Tbh I feel like Arctic or gray wolves would be a much more unique choice.
 
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Brayden Delashmutt said:
At the zoo, or at the safari park? I’m not sure we need another similar looking bear if we already have spectacled and sloth, and we already have them at the safari park. Tbh I feel like Arctic or gray wolves would be a much more unique choice.
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I have to disagree on disfavoring species by similarity to one another. For example, what if I said not to have African wildcats because they look like house cats. I'm not trying to argue with you it's just my opinion.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
I have to disagree on disfavoring species by similarity to one another. For example, what if I said not to have African wildcats because they look like house cats. I'm not trying to argue with you it's just my opinion.
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It’s fine lol, that’s not what I meant to say. I meant to say, if we already have several species that look very similar to that one, it would probably be a better idea to use a species that is more distinct from others in the collection in its place. Sorry if I sounded hostile lol
 
Alright, quick edit to my plans here, or just an expansion on them.

- Move the orangutan complex up near the Asian Highlands. Turn the orangutan areas into ones for chimpanzees, and combine that into the Equatorial Africa area.

- Chop up the plaza around Asia and the gorillas a bit to make the zoo feel more spacious and make it slightly more geographically accurate. Add a path from the bridge over the koi pond that leads to the gorillas and lemurs, instead of the path next to Asia. Instead of the current one, a path would go from the end of the Iions up to the stingray beach and Asian Highlands

- Move Amur Leopards into an exhibit adjacent to the snow leopards.

- Add eld's deer into the camel exhibit

- Honestly, I'm not so sure there's enough room for Caribou/Moose down by glacier bay. I would definitely keep the wolves and bears tho.
 
After looking over my plans a bit, I’ve decided to make a few changes, and make it resemble the 2010 masterplan a bit more. While I’d love to add large NA and Australian exhibits, I think that exhibits like andean foothills and the polar bears, as well as finished what was supposed to be done on current exhibits (i.e. wild dogs, hippos, Gaur) might be more worthwhile getting accomplished first. For this reason, I’ve decided I would delay making newer large, species rich exhibits for a few years.

First off, I do think the zoo should consider shrinking glacier bay a bit. It takes up valuable land and offers virtually nothing to the animal collection.

I’d tear this down, and complete the old andean foothills plans here. Then, I’d add African wild dogs to the African grasslands and move the rhinos to the current cheetah area to make them more visible, but I wouldn’t do what the old masterplan did and move the cheetahs by the elephants-I’d add them as a replacement for the pygmy goats and some of the old rhino area, but with sufficient viewing. I love predator prey illusions, and the indoor exhibits have a few-why not add them to the outdoor ones? The hippos would take over the bongo area (they’d be moved), and the crocodiles would take the old, vacant, pelican exhibit.

I’d keep my plans for equatorial Africa the same, though I’m not sure if my plan for chimpanzees was realistic. If not I’d just use the current African bird/Duiker area as an extra yard for the gorillas

Also, imma get rid of the whole idea of moving the orangs. It’s clear that’s never going to happen, since they’re spending millions on refurbishing the current habitat.

As far as Asian Highlands goes, I don’t think Omaha will ever get pandas, but I’d still like to add sun bears. I’d be fine keeping the sloth bears, but if necessary I’d move the sun bears there. Ik this isn’t likely, so it’s just a distant hope of mine. Keep the plans for gaurs and camels in the Asian Highlands, as well as my comments about immersion (though I’m a bit split if they should keep the current montane one to avoid crossing over with the foothills, so I’d definitely like to see your thoughts on it)

The polar bears could be integrated into a North American exhibit, but I see them happening as a more one-off exhibit. The zoo is pretty desperate to get them, so I see this being the most realistic part of my masterplan to be fullfilled

Anyways, not a huge update, but figured I’d say where I’m at with those ideas
 
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RandomZooVisitorYT said:
Personally I would not add camels but outside of that, it’s a pretty solid idea.
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Thanks! Camels are a pretty popular hoofstock species and one that is found in the wild Asian highlands, however I DO think that they might work better by the desert dome or children’s zoo-I just don’t think there’d be room

I’d also like to move the sun bears by the orangs for better geographical accuracy, but I also don’t think there’s room.

Also, I just remembered something-the original plan was for the wild dogs to occupy what is now part of the lion habitat, and the lions to be housed in a predator-prey exhibit with the sable antelope-I wouldn’t move the whole lion habitat, but I don’t necessarily think the old idea can’t be applied. Do you think that building an additional lion habitat next to the sable antelope would be a good idea? The current lion habitat rotates the males and lionesses, but the lionesses never come into viewing, so I figure that an additional habitat can be made for them

I’m not opposed to keeping the current lion habitat as I like its naturalistic vibe, but the lions are almost never visible to the public unless you know the EXACT right time and place to look. Even if I didn’t tear it down, I’d definitely give it more viewing areas and make it more level so that almost half of the habitat isn’t entirely obscured by the landscape.
 
What if we edited our old idea to have the crocodiles where the pelicans are and have a 2nd lion and a hippo exhibit where the sable antelope are now but the lioness do come to the viewing.
 
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