Unique Indoor Habitats

[JVM]

A lot of discussion about habitats on zoochat often comes down to discussing the best, largest and most naturalistic outdoor habitats for megafauna - which makes sense as these exhibits provide some of the best welfare and ideally encourage a wide range of behaviors to provide ideal viewing. That said, I've always had a fondness for indoor habitats - coming from the midwest where many animals need dayrooms in the winter, being in Chicago where indoor exhibits are often more immersive than outdoor exhibits, and seeing that even the worst indoor exhibits still tend to be interesting from a construction standpoint. Even the most awful indoor exhibits can be fascinating while still being disappointing!

What indoor habitats (individual animal habitats, not complexes) have other zoochatters found particularly curious, interesting or unique? I'm sure I have only seen a small chunk here.

Milwaukee County Zoo 2003 - Inside the Australia House

• Baldur
• 17 Mar 2010
• 2

May 2003

Inside the Australia House.

For one I've experienced firsthand, I always found Milwaukee County Zoo's Australia House fascinating. While it's not uncommon to keep tree kangaroo indoors (this is my only experience with that species so far) it seems relatively rare to see a dayroom for kangaroo!

Galapagos Exhibit in the old Reptile House (1938)

• pachyderm pro
• 20 Dec 2021
• 8

The Galapagos Tortoise habitat Brookfield was one of my favorites during my single visit to the old Reptile House as a child. There are no modern photos of it in the gallery, but it can be seen here looking much as it did when I was a child. Seeing crocodilians and tortoises in the same habitat left a big impression on me at the time.

Aquatics- indoor harbor seal & California sea lion exhibit.

• Dhole dude
• 22 Aug 2020
• 2

Como has this indoor habitat for seals and sea lions. Most facilities I have visited hold these animals outdoor years round even if underwater viewing is underwater. There is an indoor only exhibit at the Shedd, but still, I found this habitat very unique.

Malayan Sun Bear Exhibit - indoor viewing

• snowleopard
• 22 Aug 2019

August 12th, 2019

This exhibit at the Allwetter Zoo Munster in Germany has lived rent-free in my head for a couple years. I've never seen a dayroom for a bear before which makes it endlessly fascinating to me to think about. It's also a very arboreal exhibit.

 

[Kalaw]

The best indoor enclosure that I have seen is the Jaguar habitat at Chester, which is several times larger than many zoo's outdoor exhibits for the species, beautifully decorated, has undulating terrain, and is heated, with an extensive offshow area as well. The photo below shows roughly half of it.

@gulogulogulo

Edinburgh's chimpanzee enclosure (Bundongo Trails) is renowned for many things, but perhaps my favourite feature is the research unit, where visitors can watch as the chimpanzees interact with puzzles, screens and images (it is entirely voluntary, with the chimps being able to enter and leave the unit at any time of the day), while keepers are observing and note-taking, but also using technology, such as eye-trackers, to help with the observations. It is very interesting to watch.

@MagpieGoose

Tierpark Hagenbeck has many onshow indoor areas for species that are rarely displayed in such a way, which offers interesting insights to how such animals are cared for indoors in zoos around the world. Sometimes, the reality is unfortunate. For example, their indoor area for ibis, herons and teals is pictured below, and I am led to believe that the majority of zoos that house the species offer similar indoor areas, with the only difference being that they are offshow. Similar to the enclosure shown in the opening post, Hagenbeck also has an onshow day room for Red Kangaroos, and luckily, this one is nowhere near as unpleasant as the waterfowl one!

@Daniel Sörensen

Although it was drained on some days (and the terrible, peeling wallpaper of the old Sobell Pavilion drastically hurt the aesthetic appeal of the enclosure), I always liked how London offered its Sulawesi Crested Macaques with a pool. Now that the macaques have moved into the old colobus enclosure, and the Diana Monkeys, who are much less fond of water, into this one, I doubt it will be used as much.

@MagpieGoose

In general, I disapprove of all-indoor penguin enclosures, and the small, dark enclosure at Antwerp shouldn't be an exception. However, the phenomenally deep pool, which King Penguins were happily using on my visit, diving and porpoising at absurd speeds for prolonged periods, is something that not enough penguin enclosures offer, and makes this one stand out. The pool goes more than twice as deep as the underwater viewing, which made photography difficult, but the views made up for it.

@KevinB

Arguably illegible for this thread, but Colchester's indoor Komodo Dragon enclosure is notable for the fact that, on warmer days, the roof opens up, transforming it into an outdoor enclosure. And, it is clearly working, as the zoo is the most successful breeder of Komodos in the country and among the most successful in Europe. Another good example is the Orangutan Dome at Hagenbeck, home to Asiatic Short-clawed Otters and Sumatran Orangutans, half of which is able to open in the summer.

@MagpieGoose

However, easily my favourite example of an indoor exhibit is Zurich's elephant house. Enormous, brilliantly lit, cleverly designed with many hidden feeders encouraging the elephants to move around, excellently decorated and even equipped with underwater viewing!

@Kalaw

 

[15399]

@Kalaw that jaguar habitat seems awesome! I wasn't aware of it before, but it looks really great.

From a US perspective, if you want to see impressive and unique indoor habitats, I could not more highly recommend the Bronx Zoo. Madagascar! is simply phenomenal, while the indoor habitats for monitor lizards in Zoo Center also really impressed me:

Photo By: @Dhole dude

Photo By: @Dhole dude

Photo By: @Dhole dude

Photo By: @TinoPup

Another zoo with excellent indoor exhibits is the Detroit Zoo. The Polk Penguin Conservation Center is simply phenomenal, as is the National Amphibian Conservation Center. Both exhibits have exhibits that are simply world-class, and are amongst the largest I've seen for the respective species:

Photo By: @Neil chace

Photo By: @pachyderm pro

Photo By: @pachyderm pro

Photo By: @ZooNerd1234

Indoor Rainforest exhibits are certainly a common sight in zoos, but some of the larger ones can be truly impressive! My two favorites I've seen are at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Franklin Park Zoo, and each displays a wide variety of species in (mostly) top-notch exhibits, and are very immersive experiences:

Photo By: @Moebelle

Photo By: @Moebelle

Photo By: @Moebelle

Photo By: @TinoPup

Photo By: @TinoPup

Photo By: @TinoPup

For a smaller take on a rainforest, Buffalo Zoo's Rainforest Falls is also excellent, and focuses on providing naturalistic, immersive exhibits for neotropical species (albeit swan geese are an odd one out- they moved here during Avian Flu and made themselves at home). This building features two great primate habitats, a spacious anteater exhibit, and the best anaconda exhibit I've ever seen:

Photo By: @snowleopard (this no longer holds piranhas, but instead a green anaconda and a few yellow-headed amazon river turtles)

Photo By: @Neil chace

Photo By: @snowleopard

Lastly, it'd be impossible for me not to mention my favorite indoor exhibit I've seen, the ProMedica Museum of Natural History at Toledo Zoo. From the venomous snake collection upstairs (featuring an incredible mixed-species rattlesnake exhibit), to a sturgeon touch tank, to a walk-through poison dart frog exhibit, there are impressive exhibits for all sorts of underappreciated animals all throughout this building:

Photo By: @TinoPup

Photo By: @Neil chace

Photo By: @TinoPup

 

[Fallax]

Spirit of the Jaguar really is fantastic, I think it's honestly a contender for the best jaguar enclosure in a zoo worldwide (at least from what I have seen). Fruit Bat Forest also at Chester is just as fantastic.

 

[Kalaw]

@Kalaw that jaguar habitat seems awesome! I wasn't aware of it before, but it looks really great.

From a US perspective, if you want to see impressive and unique indoor habitats, I could not more highly recommend the Bronx Zoo. Madagascar! is simply phenomenal, while the indoor habitats for monitor lizards in Zoo Center also really impressed me:

Photo By: @Dhole dude

Photo By: @Dhole dude

Photo By: @Dhole dude

Photo By: @TinoPup

Another zoo with excellent indoor exhibits is the Detroit Zoo. The Polk Penguin Conservation Center is simply phenomenal, as is the National Amphibian Conservation Center. Both exhibits have exhibits that are simply world-class, and are amongst the largest I've seen for the respective species:

Photo By: @Neil chace

Photo By: @pachyderm pro

Photo By: @pachyderm pro

Photo By: @ZooNerd1234

Indoor Rainforest exhibits are certainly a common sight in zoos, but some of the larger ones can be truly impressive! My two favorites I've seen are at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Franklin Park Zoo, and each displays a wide variety of species in (mostly) top-notch exhibits, and are very immersive experiences:

Photo By: @Moebelle

Photo By: @Moebelle

Photo By: @Moebelle

Photo By: @TinoPup

Photo By: @TinoPup

Photo By: @TinoPup

For a smaller take on a rainforest, Buffalo Zoo's Rainforest Falls is also excellent, and focuses on providing naturalistic, immersive exhibits for neotropical species (albeit swan geese are an odd one out- they moved here during Avian Flu and made themselves at home). This building features two great primate habitats, a spacious anteater exhibit, and the best anaconda exhibit I've ever seen:

Photo By: @snowleopard (this no longer holds piranhas, but instead a green anaconda and a few yellow-headed amazon river turtles)

Photo By: @Neil chace

Photo By: @snowleopard

Lastly, it'd be impossible for me not to mention my favorite indoor exhibit I've seen, the ProMedica Museum of Natural History at Toledo Zoo. From the venomous snake collection upstairs (featuring an incredible mixed-species rattlesnake exhibit), to a sturgeon touch tank, to a walk-through poison dart frog exhibit, there are impressive exhibits for all sorts of underappreciated animals all throughout this building:

Photo By: @TinoPup

Photo By: @Neil chace

Photo By: @TinoPup

Spirit of the Jaguar is indeed spectacular. Off-topic for this thread, as it is not an individual exhibit, but the complex as a whole is great too, with an excellent Amazonian aquarium, Lake Titicaca Frogs, Leafcutter Ants, and a secondary carnivore enclosure, which offers separation options for the Bush Dogs and Spectacled Bears kept elsewhere in the zoo. The outdoor enclosure is equally as excellent as the indoor one, as well.

Detroit’s penguin habitat looks incredible, with the depth provided putting the one at Antwerp that I praised to shame. I do wish more zoos would offer more depth to their penguins, despite the added expense, as it is the best way to encourage the natural diving and porpoising behaviours, but the only zoos that I have seen to cater for it are Antwerp, Edinburgh and Zurich, unfortunately.

 

[Fallax]

Spirit of the Jaguar is indeed spectacular. Off-topic for this thread, as it is not an individual exhibit, but the complex as a whole is great too, with an excellent Amazonian aquarium, Lake Titicaca Frogs, Leafcutter Ants, and a secondary carnivore enclosure, which offers separation options for the Bush Dogs and Spectacled Bears kept elsewhere in the zoo. The outdoor enclosure is equally as excellent as the indoor one, as well.

The leafcutter ants have been gone for a while sadly (the enclosure is still there but empty). There is also a small terrarium for tarantulas, and there is sloths in the section above the aquarium (linked to an outdoor enclosure accessible by a pair of ropes which also houses Azara's agoutis).

I'm not sure what the current situation is with the secondary carnivore enclosure. It was originally also meant for jaguars but the indoors has been used by bush dogs for a few years while the outdoors has rotated between tigers, sun bears and spectacled bears over the last decade (I think it has a spectacled bear currently).

Also, as I've already gone on to mention everything else I should point out that in the small cafe next to the building there is a window into an enclosure for southern pudu which aren't viewable elsewhere.

 

[Kalaw]

The leafcutter ants have been gone for a while sadly (the enclosure is still there but empty). There is also a small terrarium for tarantulas, and there is sloths in the section above the aquarium (linked to an outdoor enclosure accessible by a pair of ropes which also houses Azara's agoutis).

I'm not sure what the current situation is with the secondary carnivore enclosure. It was originally also meant for jaguars but the indoors has been used by bush dogs for a few years while the outdoors has rotated between tigers, sun bears and spectacled bears over the last decade (I think it has a spectacled bear currently).

Also, as I've already gone on to mention everything else I should point out that in the small cafe next to the building there is a window into an enclosure for southern pudu which aren't viewable elsewhere.

How did I forget about the sloths?! The most active individuals that I have ever seen, and where else gives them access to a live tree? A wonderful enclosure, but I will refrain from going further off-topic.

 

[Pleistocene891]

Bronx's World of Birds. It has to be my favorite exhibit I've ever seen. Many of the exhibits are extremely naturalistic with excellent planting and rock work. The murals in the background only add to the aesthetic look to make the exhibits seem somewhat "immersive". Bronx was one of the first few zoos to use a lighting technique where the main guest area was dark so the birds don't escape their exhibits. That's why some of the exhibits have no barriers at all. The house has two levels with the 2nd one containing large walkthrough aviaries. On top of all of that, there's many interactive displays to further educate the visitors on existing and extinct birds. Every time I went through this exhibit on my 2 visits, it felt like walking through a museum.

@AnaheimZoo

@ThylacineAlive

@ThylacineAlive

@ThylacineAlive

@ThylacineAlive

@ThylacineAlive

@ThylacineAlive