Non-creative exhibit names at your hometown zoo

Moebelle

Moebelle

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Mine is the Cincinnati Zoo. Some of them aren't very good mainly because they are old.

-Elephant Reserve
-Rhino Reserve
-Crane Island
-Cockatoo Island
-Monkey Island
-Gibbon Islands
-Lorikeet Landing
-Reptile House
-Children's Zoo
-Wolf Woods
-Gorilla World
-Cat Canyon
-Africa
 
Personally I don't pay attention to exhibit names. If you look at exhibits at many zoos, similar exhibits usually have similar (or even the exact same) names anyway.
 
I like exhibits with those kind of names. It is simple, tells what the exhibit is, and doesn't make you guess what is in it.
 
KCZooFan said:
I like exhibits with those kind of names. It is simple, tells what the exhibit is, and doesn't make you guess what is in it.
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I agree, but they are just getting old. Anyways.

To continue on to other zoos....
-African Forest, (Animal) Forest, Rainforest, etc.
-Australian Outback
-Anything named after a continent.
-African Savannah
-Little Rock: Great Apes, Lorikeet Landing, Lemur Island, Spider Monkey Island, Siamang Island
-San Francisco: Bear Country
-Denver zoo: Bear Mountain, Monkey Island
-Zoo Atlanta: African Plain
 
May I suggest a fun game would be to list all of the exhibits with the same name.
How many "Heart of Africa" can you name?
 
Zooplantman said:
May I suggest a fun game would be to list all of the exhibits with the same name.
How many "Heart of Africa" can you name?
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Off the top of my head I can think of two, San Diego Wild Animal Park, and Columbus Zoo.

How about "Stingray Bay" or "Wallaby Walkabout"? :D
 
Always thought that 'World of ...' was pretty daft. I have seen it with birds, but any large group of animals is a likely fail.
 
While those are fairly common names, at least they are a tiny bit creative - and as such aren't as bad as Wellington Zoo's "Asian Precinct" - which holds their Sumatran Tigers and Sun Bears.

While there are probably hundreds of similarly named exhibit complexes, coming up with something original (e.g. Te Wao Nui, Ituri Forest, even Gondwanaland) isn't that hard, and can be a major drawcard for visitors and ideal for marketing people. Linking to a specific location is great, especially if you can create links with local people or groups carrying out conservation effort there - as long as the zoo's animals actually come from there!
 
Chester didn't fall into the Heart of Africa trap, because they didn't get the money to build it. But the zoo has a very silly policy of double names: two Realms (Tropical R and R of the Red Ape), two Forests (Fruit Bat F and Elephants of the Asian F) and next year Islands in Danger will be joined by the new section with the refreshingly plain name of Islands. Unfortunately this doesn't indicate an outbreak of good taste as the largest new exhibit will be a third Forest (Monsoon F). But the worst names are still Europe on the Edge (an aviary in case you couldn't guess) and the Spirit of the Jaguar :p

Alan
 
gentle lemur said:
Chester didn't fall into the Heart of Africa trap, because they didn't get the money to build it. But the zoo has a very silly policy of double names: two Realms (Tropical R and R of the Red Ape), two Forests (Fruit Bat F and Elephants of the Asian F) and next year Islands in Danger will be joined by the new section with the refreshingly plain name of Islands. Unfortunately this doesn't indicate an outbreak of good taste as the largest new exhibit will be a third Forest (Monsoon F). But the worst names are still Europe on the Edge (an aviary in case you couldn't guess) and the Spirit of the Jaguar :p

Alan
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I always had to take a deep breath before contemplating Chester's prairie dog enclosure: Marmot Mania. Mania?
 
CLR had a good track record with its African Exhibits - Giants of the Savannah/Trails of Africa. Then you pull out the Birmingham Master Plan (which CLR did) - and you have African Forest, Asian Forest and Coastal Shores.
 
zooboy28 said:
While those are fairly common names, at least they are a tiny bit creative - and as such aren't as bad as Wellington Zoo's "Asian Precinct" - which holds their Sumatran Tigers and Sun Bears.
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Precinct is an odd term, seemingly only used by Americans and further a field, those zoos that have been influenced by American staff. The Orang building at Perth Zoo when first built was known as the Great Ape Precinct (it also previously housed Chimps and possibly had grandiose ideas of Gorillas which never eventuated).
 
I'd say Wolf Woods has got to be one of the most common zoo exhibit names., as well as virtually anything with 'Africa' in the title. I can forgive old exhibits named, say, 'X House', but *newer* stuff should be more creative than that.

I've often mistakenly called (even here on ZooChat, as one member noted) Brookfield Zoo's 31st Street Yards as the 'Antelope-Zebra Area', the uncreative name of an exhibit at Lincoln Park Zoo. I'd call that an improvement over '31st Street Yards'.
 
tetrapod said:
Precinct is an odd term, seemingly only used by Americans and further a field, those zoos that have been influenced by American staff. The Orang building at Perth Zoo when first built was known as the Great Ape Precinct (it also previously housed Chimps and possibly had grandiose ideas of Gorillas which never eventuated).
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I cannot think of one 'precinct' in a zoo exhibit name in the US or Canada. I've only seen it used in Australasia.
 
I would think 'Childrens Zoo' must be the most common non-creative name for an area at many zoos!
 
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