Time to continue my plan for Taman Safari Bogor.
Asian forest tortoise
This exhibit is part of the Reptile Tunnel which have a group of Asian forest tortoises, as well as even a pair of young saltwater crocodiles in 2021.
I used to consider demolishing the entire exhibit to make way for a entire complex with smaller turtle and tortoise exhibits. But I feel like that wouldn't end well as the turtles and tortoises got smaller exhibits instead at the cost of having "rarer" species, which is a downgrade. I ended up thinking of turning the exhibit instead to house a group of
Aldabra giant tortoises as well as the four
radiated tortoises that are already present in the park, turning the exhibit into a
Indian Ocean island-themed exhibit. If possible, adding
Angonoka tortoise might be great as well, as the species have had history in the Indonesian pet trade and in some cases had been confiscated by the Indonesian Quarantine Agency.
Meerkat-Mandrill-Proboscis monkey-Japanese macaque complex
This area and the next one with the Kalimantan house and Japanese macaques are included as part of the Primate Centre by the park. These exhibits aren't old, as I'm aware this entire complex was a thing only by the late 90's and the 2000's. Of course, the inhabitants barely changed at all, but I will add some stuffs.
For the Meerkat-Mandrill complex, which I will rename into
African Jungle, will have new species and exhibits.
- There are a second meerkat exhibit that only have like a two to three meerkats, so I feel like this specific exhibit are for quarantine. In my version, this exhibit will house a group of banded mongoose, which are already available in private farms. This would make two very interesting mongoose complex.
- There are two resting shelter that are honestly unappeasing and looks very dirty, with the only interesting thing there is an stuffed warthog (Which could be the park's former inhabitant?). In my pitch, these two shelter are fully revamped into two exhibits, complete with heat lighting and scaping to house reptiles. One exhibit will house savannah monitor, while the second will have the mix of leopard tortoise, Sudan played lizard, and Jackson's chameleon.
- I was thinking of adding red river hog to the mandrill exhibit until I realized that the exhibit is to small for that mix. The exhibit is already very good for a small family of mandrill, so I will leave it as it is.
- In the indoor viewing area for the mandrill, we can add a medium-sized terrarium that will house an Gaboon viper. This species, though not common, are available commercialy in Indonesian trade. If TSI are able to acquire an shingleback and some North American ratsnakes, I don't think they wouldn't have any problem in acquiring and learning to care for this large viper species.
The proboscis monkey exhibit or the Kalimantan Pavilion was built in 2002 in cooperation with the provincial government of South Kalimantan. So, replacing the cultural exhibition inside the Pavilion for some exhibits would be a reputational disaster. Instead, we'll work with the already present proboscis monkey exhibit into a Kalimantan-themed mixed species exhibit, which already have a small underwater view.
- A family of proboscis monkey
- A group of Malayan porcupines
- An Malaysian giant turtle
- An red arowana
- Three datnoides microlepis
- A group of barbonymus schwanenfeldii
- A group of bala sharks
- A group of clown loaches
The only thing I change about the Japanese macaques exhibit is not the species, but the exhibit itself. It was already small for the macaques with limited land area. So instead, it will be turned into a glassed exhibit similar to the macaque exhibit in River Wonders. The kois that are already present in the moat of the current exhibit will inhabit the underwater view. The already pretty Japanese decoration of the exhibit will stay to make it more stand out as its own exhibit.
This should be all for my idea of this complex, which of course aren't big. I'll try to make a bigger pitch and idea regarding the Bird Aviary and the Baby Zoo around next week.