Here is my edited draft so far.
The first thing I would do is replace the entrance building with a two-story building. The first floor would have several enclosures I’ll explain soon, a ticket booth, gift shops, restrooms, and a new cafe (accessible to non zoo-guests too). The second floor would have space for animal ambassador holdings, offices, and education rooms. After passing the ticket booths, there would be a terrarium housing two Attleboro natives,
Eastern Garter Snake and
Eastern Painted Turtle. In the new cafe, there would be a fish tank housing
Banggai Cardinalfish, Goldtail Demoiselle, and
Tapestry Turban Snail. These species would hopefully be pet rescues or they could be sourced from other AZA facilities. After exiting the entrance building, there is an indoor enclosure to your left side that’s connected to the building. It’s home to a species held behind-the-scenes at New England Aquarium,
Atlantic Puffin On the second floor of the entrance building, there would be holdings for the animal ambassadors which would include species currently kept at the zoo, and some new, easily attainable species which is noted in the species list.
Entrance Building Species List (new species in
bold)
- Eastern Garter Snake, Eastern Painted Turtle - T. sirtalis, C. picta
- Banggai Cardinalfish, Goldtail Demoiselle, Tapestry Turban Snail - P. kauderni, C. parasema, T. petholatus
- Atlantic Puffin - F. arctica
Animal Ambassadors List (new species for the zoo in
bold)
- Sugar Glider - P. breviceps
- Hoffmann's Two-Toed Sloth - C. hoffmanni
- Nine-Banded Armadillo - D. novemcinctus
- Domestic Chinchilla - C. lanigera f. domestica
- Palawan Porcupine - H. pumila
- Eastern Screech Owl - M. asio
- Turquoise-Fronted Amazon - A. aestiva
- Eastern Box Turtle - T. carolina
- Eastern Glass Lizard - O. ventralis
- Desert Rosy Boa - L. trivirgata
- Australian Green Tree Frog - (R. caerulea)
- Giant African Millipede - A. gigas
- Chinese Mantis (T. sinenis)
The popular Splash pad will be expanded slightly. For the circular island that used to house Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur, I would have the smaller
Collared Brown Lemurs which are more cold-tolerant. For the square island (current red ruffed lemur enclosure), I would have
Crowned Lemurs. These species are more likely to be able to be outside during wintertime. In the former space of the Southern Screamer enclosure, there would be an aviary for
Hadada Ibis, Madagascar Teal, and
Red Fody, which are birds from the forests and wetlands of Madagascar. I would also construct an enclosure between the pond and the maintenance building, being home to
Madagascar Miniature Zebu, a species revered in Madagascar.
Lemur Islands Species List (new species in
bold)
- Collared Brown Lemur (E. collaris)
- Crowned Lemur (E. coronatus)
- Hadada Ibis, Madagascar Teal, Red Fody - B. hagedash, A. bernieri, F. madagascariensis
- Madagascar Miniature Zebu - B. indicus
There would be a 3 acre expansion into the forest surrounding Capron Park. This area would become the
Boreal Forest area.
The main headliner of this exhibit is
American Black Bears with bears returning back to the zoo, after a year or two. There would also be
Fisher, Great Grey Owl, Moose and
Harbor Seals (coastal animal). All of these species would be seen year round. This area would be accessed by a path between Lemur Islands and the Lion Area. This exhibit won't be competing with Stone Zoo's Yukon Forest for a reason I'll talk about when we get to that zoo.
Boreal Foreast Species List (new species in
bold)
- Harbor Seal (P. vitulina)
- Great Grey Owl (S. nebulosa)
- Moose (A. alces americana)
- American Black Bear (U. americanus)
- Fisher (P. pennanti)
In the current lion, sloth bear, and domestic area, I would retheme it to be
Inside Africa. I would expand the existing lion enclosure into the former sloth bear enclosure. With the remaining land, there would be a walkthrough aviary with
Blue-Bellied Roller,
Kenya Crested Guineafowl,
Speckled Pigeon,
Superb Starling, and
Taveata Weaver. In the domestics area, there would be a savanna with
Abyssinian Ground Hornbill,
Impala, and
Thomson's Gazelle.
Inside Africa Species List (new species in
bold)
- Lion (P. leo)
- Blue-Bellied Roller, Kenya Crested Guineafowl, Speckled Pigeon, Superb Starling, Taveta Weaver - C. cyanogaster, G. pucherani pucherani, C. guinea, L. superbus, P. castaneiceps
- Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Impala, Thomson's Gazelle - B. abyssinicus, A. melampus, E thomsonii
I'm going back to the entrance area, and there is a medium-sized enclosure there. Currently, it's home to African Spurred Tortoise, Emu, and Red Kangaroo but they only have a couple individuals left. I would add some rocky outcrops, and hills as it used to be an Aoudad enclosure. This new enclosure would house
Transcaspian Urial.
Transcapian Urial Area Species List (new species in
bold)
- Transcaspian Urial (O. vignei arkal)
