North Carolina Zoo North Carolina Zoo - New Exhibits

Well, living so close to the Zoo, it's been really neat watching it grow over the years. I remember years ago they had a touch-and-feel center or something like it sponsored by Hardee's close to the swamp area. Now, it's been replaced by a new touch-and-feel center. I saw the construction of the Wasambi (sp?) center that will become the new Elephant and Rhino exhibit, and everything looked awesome. It will really be nice when it is done. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the construction. But, you can see my pictures of the animals at flickr (just search for brofkand; I'm unaware of the link rules on this forum).

The Zoo has really evolved from a sparse walkway with a few exhibits here and there to nearly endless exhibits. I am especially fond of the Aviary and the Rainforest exhibit (the one that looks like a big white tent).
 
Ok, 7 acres is a phenomenal improvement over most zoological exhibits, but is it really that big? If we were not comparing this exhibit to those at other facilities would we still consider it to be more than adequate?

The North Carolina Zoo has over 1,200 acres at its disposal. They could build a much larger exhibit without significantly harming their ability to house other animals. Most of the money for their new exhibit would have been allocated towards that monstrous indoor barn, visitor pathways, and animal barriers. I doubt it would have cost that much more to double the size of the elephant enclosure - even if they had to cut down a bunch of trees to do so.

The new exhibit might eventually hold 10 elephants, which will significantly increase the pressure on the grass and substrate compared to the old exhibit with fewer animals!
It is also still too little space to support vegetation, other than grass, for the elephants to forage on.
 
The seven acres is divided into two pens. North Carolina did spend most of the money on the barns, visitor path, and a new pool in the old rhino pen-now elephant pen. They did double the size of elephant space. I visited the zoo a few years back in November (before construction began on the exhibits) and there was plenty of grass and other vegetation in the pen - im sure there would be more vegetation in the spring and summer. That was 3.5 acres for 3 elephants. They now have 7 acres for 7 elephants. Disney's Animal Kingdom has more elephants on similar acreage with plenty of grass in the pen - dont worry North Carolina's elephant will do just fine.
 
I think that on one hand it is perfectly valid to criticize the North Carolina Zoo for its new elephant exhibit, but the flip side of the coin is that it will still be one of the three largest elephant exhibits in any North American zoo. If the enclosure was 20 acres instead of 7 acres then there would be the problem of visibility for zoo visitors, while with 7 acres the pachyderms will still be in close proximity to viewers. I'm more impressed with the massive rhino/antelope savannah, which will have more acreage than the entire London Zoo. These are the exhibit sizes that should be normal in order to advance the future of great zoos.
 
Maybe brofkand can snap some photos of the new elephant/rhino enclosures? With 7 african elephants and 9 southern white rhinos now in the newly opened exhibits, it will be intriguing to see what happens with North Carolina's attendance figures this year. Baby elephants in the future will naturally cause visitor numbers to skyrocket.
 
Zoo Society continues to target growth | Philanthropy Journal

After the expansion to 9 southern white rhinos, 7 african elephants and 150 antelope there is now talk of a polar bear breeding center. Maybe the bears will love the North Carolina climate! It will be interesting to see if this already large zoo can receive additional funding and continue to expand.
 
Wow, the article also mentions the removal of the African Pavilion. This is a huge building that was built in the 1980s and it has given the zoo a lot of problems with upkeep. They already spent several million dollars in renovation a few year ago, this downsized the collection in a big way and the pavilion became a hodge-podge of African animals...which is still cool but took away from the original transition of forest to savanna/scrub. Their new plans sound very exciting.
 
Wow thanks for the heads up! I'm going!

I've never been, but now you've sealed it. I am in Tennessee-- so this is "next door" so to speak, though actually 568 miles away. About a 12 hour drive with time for stops, etc.

The Sylvan Heights Waterfowl collection is in Scotland Neck, NC.. I wonder how close that is to Asheboro? The Sylvan Heights website:

Sylvan Heights Waterfowl

And then of course there is the Duke Lemur Center:

Duke Lemur Center (DLC)

Road trip, road trip....
 
Last edited:
Here is another new exhibit due to open next year of an animal that effects our most important of industries - agriculture.

"N.C. Zoo Breaks Ground on Honey Bee Exhibit
Too often, our hardest working allies don’t get the credit they deserve. The N.C. Zoo Society and N.C. Zoo are hoping to remedy this soon for one of the busiest friends we humans ever had – the honey bee. Not only is the honey bee the North Carolina State insect, but honey bees pollinate about one-third of the food we eat. The work they do is worth millions of dollars a year to our state.

Yet U.S. bee populations have been steadily declining for the past few years. Recently, beekeepers reported even higher than normal losses as a result of what scientists have dubbed “Colony Collapse Disorder.” The causes and potential costs of these threats are currently under study.

To help raise awareness about the importance of protecting this fragile resource, the N.C. Zoo broke ground in December on a new honey bee exhibit. The exhibit, scheduled to open in spring 2009, will introduce visitors to the vital role bees play in the ecosystem, the economy, and our daily lives. Visitors will explore a bee garden with flowers and common food plants that flourish because of pollination by bees. In the Bee Courtyard, children can step out the honey bee “dance” and view a giant model of a honey bee. Visitors can stroll through a “human-sized” honeycomb and don bee glasses for a bee’s-eye view of the world. The exhibit will also feature a working bee hive maintained by volunteers.

Funding for the $160,000 exhibit was provided by private donations through the Zoo Society. Members of 32 Beekeeper Chapters from across the State raised $120,000 and 39 chapters of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Federation contributed more than $42,000."

Taken from the zoo's website.
 
$160,000 honeybee exhibit? A member of ZooBeat who has been to over 50 zoos in North America told me that the North Carolina Zoo would probably be in his top 5 for overall quality. Road trip indeed....and before the polar bears arrive!
 
They already have polar bears. They will probably just expand their holding area to allow for offspring and materinty dens. It's a nice exhibit, not really big. But it has varied terrain, good topography, a nice pool, and most important real substrate...grass, dirt, rocks, the good stuff. When I get my scanner up, I will have to post my pictures of the North Carolina Zoo.
 
@okapikpr: Thanks, I was just checking out the website and noticed the polar bear exhibit. Do they only have African and North American animals, as if I'm not mistaken they shut down their Australiasia section a year or so ago...
 
Yeah, they only have the Africa and North American sections, there were other continents planned but funding never got that far. I'm expecting a copy of their old masterplan within the next few weeks, I'll fill you in on the juicy details of the plans.

As for the Austrailian section, it was only a temporary exhibition that took over the children's area across from the polar bears for a few years. This held raise attendance and funding to get Watani off the ground. It was a nice exhibit for being temporary and so cheap (I think $200,000).
 
okapikpr said:
They already have polar bears. They will probably just expand their holding area to allow for offspring and materinty dens. It's a nice exhibit, not really big. But it has varied terrain, good topography, a nice pool, and most important real substrate...grass, dirt, rocks, the good stuff. When I get my scanner up, I will have to post my pictures of the North Carolina Zoo.
Click to expand...

I expect you're right. There's not enough of a budget to do a new space for polar bears.
 
kifaru said:
Wow thanks for the heads up! I'm going!

I've never been, but now you've sealed it. I am in Tennessee-- so this is "next door" so to speak, though actually 568 miles away. About a 12 hour drive with time for stops, etc.

The Sylvan Heights Waterfowl collection is in Scotland Neck, NC.. I wonder how close that is to Asheboro? The Sylvan Heights website:

Sylvan Heights Waterfowl

And then of course there is the Duke Lemur Center:

Duke Lemur Center (DLC)

Road trip, road trip....
Click to expand...

There is also a raptor center in NC that is not far from Charlotte.
 
Off-site Amphibian Conservation Center

Taken from the zoological society's website:

Support the Zoo's Amphibian Breeding, Research and Conservation Center
The Zoo is preparing to build an off-exhibit breeding and research center to protect rare and endangered frogs from the southeastern United States. The Zoo Society is calling on its members and donors to help fund this important facility. Donate $5 or more to the Center on line and we will send big virtual frog kiss to your e-mail address as our way of saying thank you.
Click to expand...
 
Charlotte Local News | Charlotte Observer

After reading about the brand-new, massive new exhibits for white rhinos and african elephants, plus all of the upcoming plans for future developments, this article shatters some of those illusions and paints a bleaker portrait of the zoo. There is only the one elderly polar bear left in an exhibit that is outdated and contains a leaky pool. The African Pavilion is only 24 years old but is being torn down, and can the zoo really raise another $30 million to build a new one? There are many exciting projects on the horizon, but I worry about the finances and infrastructure of this institution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top