Elephant & Rhino Construction:
Big things are coming in Spring 2008!
The Zoo is expanding its elephant and rhinoceros exhibits, improving their off-exhibit holding facilities and creating a new multi-exhibit complex called the Watani Grasslands Reserve. When completed in Spring 2008, the complex will give the Zoo some of the largest and most technologically advanced facilities in the zoo world for the exhibit and care of elephants and rhinoceros.
The changes will give both species separate off-exhibit holding facilities along with larger and more interesting habitats. By enriching the animals’ lives, the renovations will also make a Zoo visit more interesting and educational.
Currently, the Zoo’s three African elephants share an off-exhibit holding barn with the three resident Southern white rhinos and six new ones that arrived in May. The barn is being altered and improved to house only rhinos and a new 12,500-square-foot elephant barn is being constructed nearby. Plans also call for the existing 3.5-acre elephant exhibit to be combined with the adjacent 3.5-acre rhino exhibit to create a 7-acre habitat just for elephants. The rhinos will be combined into one herd, then mixed with antelope in an improved 37-acre African Plains exhibit next door to the elephants. Elephants, rhinos and antelope will be on exhibit during the summer of 2007 with construction continuing into 2008.
The $8.5 million project will enable the Zoo to increase the number of African elephants and Southern white rhinoceros it exhibits to 10 animals of each species. Visitors will also benefit from a new immersion walkway, also available to visitors by the Memorial Day Weekend, that will bring them even closer to these terrestrial giants. The N.C. Zoo Society, the Zoo’s private, non-profit, support organization, is raising over $7 million to fund the project through contributions from corporations, foundations and individuals. The remainder is being provided by the state.
The Zoo staff also hopes that these improvements will result in some elephant and rhino births and contribute to nationwide efforts to maintain healthy, vibrant populations of these species. In the wild, African elephants are endangered and Southern white rhinos are threatened. To add to the problem, North American zoos have not been very successful in breeding either species. But within a decade, the Watani Grasslands project could place the N.C. Zoo among a handful of U.S. zoos with large elephant collections and greatly improve its ability to breed these highly social pachyderms for future generations to enjoy.
Big things are coming in Spring 2008!
The Zoo is expanding its elephant and rhinoceros exhibits, improving their off-exhibit holding facilities and creating a new multi-exhibit complex called the Watani Grasslands Reserve. When completed in Spring 2008, the complex will give the Zoo some of the largest and most technologically advanced facilities in the zoo world for the exhibit and care of elephants and rhinoceros.
The changes will give both species separate off-exhibit holding facilities along with larger and more interesting habitats. By enriching the animals’ lives, the renovations will also make a Zoo visit more interesting and educational.
Currently, the Zoo’s three African elephants share an off-exhibit holding barn with the three resident Southern white rhinos and six new ones that arrived in May. The barn is being altered and improved to house only rhinos and a new 12,500-square-foot elephant barn is being constructed nearby. Plans also call for the existing 3.5-acre elephant exhibit to be combined with the adjacent 3.5-acre rhino exhibit to create a 7-acre habitat just for elephants. The rhinos will be combined into one herd, then mixed with antelope in an improved 37-acre African Plains exhibit next door to the elephants. Elephants, rhinos and antelope will be on exhibit during the summer of 2007 with construction continuing into 2008.
The $8.5 million project will enable the Zoo to increase the number of African elephants and Southern white rhinoceros it exhibits to 10 animals of each species. Visitors will also benefit from a new immersion walkway, also available to visitors by the Memorial Day Weekend, that will bring them even closer to these terrestrial giants. The N.C. Zoo Society, the Zoo’s private, non-profit, support organization, is raising over $7 million to fund the project through contributions from corporations, foundations and individuals. The remainder is being provided by the state.
The Zoo staff also hopes that these improvements will result in some elephant and rhino births and contribute to nationwide efforts to maintain healthy, vibrant populations of these species. In the wild, African elephants are endangered and Southern white rhinos are threatened. To add to the problem, North American zoos have not been very successful in breeding either species. But within a decade, the Watani Grasslands project could place the N.C. Zoo among a handful of U.S. zoos with large elephant collections and greatly improve its ability to breed these highly social pachyderms for future generations to enjoy.
