Small Zoo Theming

[HTZ]

Zoos that don't have the space or money for elephants, big cats, apes, or bears tend to focus on specific themes for their collections of small animals. I remember the central park zoo having the theme of temperate and tropical habitats, and the Bermuda zoo I visited last summer had a theme of island species (Madagascar, Carribean, Australasia). Plenty of small zoos in the area (Bergen County, Beardsley, Queens, etc.) are themed around North and South America. Any other small zoos that adapt to their situation by making their entire animal body themed around a specific environment?

 

[DavidBrown]

In California there are a couple of very small AZA zoos.

The Charles Paddock Zoo in Atascadero on the California coast is organized around five biodiversity hotspots, including California and Madagascar. They also have an extensive turtle conservation program.

The Sequoia Park Zoo is organized around a few biomes - the redwood forest (it is literally in this biome), South American pampas, and Asian highlands.

Other small Californian zoos like the Folsom City Zoo and the Applegate Park Zoo in Merced are focused on rescued animals, mainly native species.

 

[15399]

New Zoos that don't have the space or money for elephants, big cats, apes, or bears tend to focus on specific themes for their collections of small animals

Not sure I agree with this assessment. A lot of the zoos I've been to are smaller, and have very few (if any) of the species you've mentioned. However, with the exception of a few zoos that focus on native species, I've found most tend to have minimal theming overall, and oftentimes a rather random layout. For the small zoos I've visited:
Capron Park Zoo- no apparent theming
Buttonwood Park Zoo- formerly themed around solely native species, however more exotic species have been added in recent years
Elmwood Park Zoo- one section, Trail of the Jaguar, is a highly themed exhibit, the rest of the zoo has minimal to no theming.
The Wild Animal Park- no apparent theming, an unaccredited zoo with a collection heavy on cats.
Bergen County Zoo- primarily species from the Americas.
Prospect Park Zoo- no apparent theming, except for a focus on children's education and on smaller species
Central Park Zoo- split into three biome-based sections (Polar, Temperate, Tropic), plus a Children's Zoo
Queens Zoo- entirely species from the Americas.
Staten Island Zoo- no over-arching theme, however the main building is separated into themed "wings" (Reptiles, Africa, and Tropics)
Seneca Park Zoo- split into themed areas, each of which is focused on ABC species, with more megafauna than a zoo of its size probably should have: River's Edge (North American river otter, etc.), Cold Asia (snow leopard, Amur tiger, red panda, etc.), Rocky Coasts (polar bear, California sea lion, etc.), and Africa (Masai giraffe, African elephant, African lion, etc.)
Belize Zoo- entirely species native to Belize, many of whom are rescues.
Erie Zoo- some sections of the zoo have loose themes, namely the "Wild Asia" exhibit, but other parts are not themed.

 

[NNM.]

Stone Zoo, a zoo so small that if you move quickly you can complete in 30 minutes, does this sort of half-and-half.

On one hand, there are areas like Yukon Creek, Treasures of the Sierra Madre, and Himalayan Highlands. These areas are centered around specific environments, and as such each of them commits heavily to their theme. I don’t like Yukon Creek very much, but I do like the little touches, such as an old outhouse and a map of the “land.” Sierra Madre does this well too with a desert theme, and Himalayan Highlands is less theme-heavy, but there’s still a clear through line.

Meanwhile, there are parts of the zoo that feel rather random. Windows to the Wild is full of a very odd batch of animals that mostly are from very different parts of the world. The wolf exhibit is right next to Himalayan Highlands, causing a stupid 9-year-old me thought that there was a population of gray wolves running around in Asia.

That said, regardless of where they can be found on the land, the zoo seems to lean towards animals from the Americas in its overall collection, as multiple exhibits (wolves, Yukon Creek, Sierra Madre, Caribbean Coast, cranes, some of Windows to the Wild) center around North or South American creatures, with a dash of Asia (Himalayan Highlands.) It’s actually kind of refreshing, and a nice parallel to how Franklin Park Zoo leans mostly towards Africa, with touches of South America and Australia.

I think my point is that a small zoo is fully capable of focusing very narrowly on this type of theming, but it’s not an obligatory trait of small zoos.

 

[15399]

causing a stupid 9-year-old me thought that there was a population of gray wolves running around in Asia.

FYI, this is Wikipedia's range map for grey wolf:

 

[NNM.]

FYI, this is Wikipedia's range map for grey wolf:

Ah, I should’ve specified. It made me think there were somehow Mexican gray wolves in Asia, even though that doesn’t make sense if they’re specifically Mexican.

I was a stupid kid, see.

 

[Cassidy Casuar]

New Zealand's tiny Ngā Manu zoo now almost exclusively holds native animals that are found in the wild in NZ's North Island; specifically animals from freshwater and forest habitats. In the recent past Ngā Manu held some invasive mammal species (including the nationally uncommon Rattus exulans) and a few non-native birds, but all were gone by early 2020.