Changes You Would Make to Your Zoo

[bigfoot410]

So what would you suggest for the Bronx Zoo changes? I 100% agree with you that the Monkey House and other historic buildings need to remain. Australia and Amazon have been done almost everywhere; so what would be maybe an original idea for those empty buildings?
I think regarding the elephants- the only really large area that could be developed is the Rare Animal Range- I don't think any land alongside the Bronx River could be used for any further large developments due to fear of further polluting the river.

 

[jaxbilly]

Jacksonville Zoo
Add more exhibits to Asia so Africa can be renovated;expand African elephant yard and add 2 or 3 females hopefully for breeding. Florida part too can be up graded like tear down small bobcat enclosure. totally rebuild Austraila section too. just getting started but let me think so more about it.

 

[Gforrestersmith]

Ok heres what Id do for the Oregon Zoo and the National Zoo.

Oregon Zoo:
1. Replace the current polar bear and sun bear exhibits with a larger polar bear exhibit as well as a habitat for arctic foxes.
2. Replace the wild pigs with Przewalski horses.
3. Move the hippos to another zoo and change the area from the rhino habitat to the giraffe habitat into a large mixed savannah with rhinos, giraffes, bonteboks and other current savannah residents in it as well as such new animals as gemsboks, wildebeests, ostriches and Kori bustards.
4. The indoor penguin house would be replace with an outdoor penguin beach exhibit similar to that at the Woodland Park Zoo.
5. The Amazon exhibit and current chimp and mandrill habitats will be replaced by bigger and better habitats for chimpanzees and mandrills.
6. Red River Hogs would be put into the swamp and colobus monkeys habitat.
7. The Tigers, Leopards and all the animals in Stellar Cove will be replaced by a South American area with Jaguars, Bush Dogs, Peccaries, Guanacos, Marsh Deer, Tamarins, Sloths, Anteaters, Capybaras, Rheas, Macaws, Harpy Eagles, Caiman, other Reptiles and fish.

National Zoo:
1. The current bison habitat will be replaced with a new habitat for Okapis and Yellow Backed Duikers.
2. If the pandas leave for China and never came back, add Amur Leopards and Asian Black Bears to the current panda habitat.
3. Add a pathway from Giant Anteaters to Spectacled Bears and also add two new habitats- one for Bush Dogs and one for the return of Maned Wolves and Capybaras.
4. Move the Ravens into the Bald Eagle habitat where the two birds can share and also add Crested Caracaras to the current Raven habitat.
5. Replace the Great Ape House with a visitor center, move the Gorillas to another zoo, demolish the O Line and change Think Tank into a larger Orangutan exhibit.
6. Build a breeding center for Komodo Dragons in the site of the old invertebrates house.
7. Change Cheetah Conservation Station and the nearby parking lot into a new African area. The area where cheetah conservation station is will be a mixed habitat of the following animals in one habitat- Black Rhino, Grevys Zebra, Rothschild Giraffe, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Scimitar Horned Oryx, Dama Gazelle, Ostrich, Marabou Stork and Kori Bustard. The area where the parking lot is will be new habitats for Hippos, Cheetahs, Wild Dogs and Red River Hogs.
8. Move the Golden Lion Tamarins to Amazonia.
9. Change parking lot C into a parking garage.

 

[ZooElephantMan]

For the National Zoo, I would've kept the pandas, gotten rid of big cat hill, and moved the tigers to cheetah conservation station where I would expand asia into siberia or indonesia. If it was siberia there would be siberian tigers, amur leopards or snow leopards, and a exhibit mixing takin and markhor and whatnot. If it was indonesia I would have sumatran or malayan tigers, orangutans, tapirs, and other less attractive supporting cast members.

Then turn big cat hill and the farm into Africa. All the african residents of Cheetah Conservation Station would move to a new africa complex by big cat hill.

Also expand Elephant Trails to everywhere where it was supposed to reach to (Like the old hippo exhibit), but was limited by budget.

 

[dcpandafan]

Ok heres what Id do for the Oregon Zoo and the National Zoo.
National Zoo:
1. The current bison habitat will be replaced with a new habitat for Okapis and Yellow Backed Duikers.
2. If the pandas leave for China and never came back, add Amur Leopards and Asian Black Bears to the current panda habitat.
3. Add a pathway from Giant Anteaters to Spectacled Bears and also add two new habitats- one for Bush Dogs and one for the return of Maned Wolves and Capybaras.
4. Move the Ravens into the Bald Eagle habitat where the two birds can share and also add Crested Caracaras to the current Raven habitat.
5. Replace the Great Ape House with a visitor center, move the Gorillas to another zoo, demolish the O Line and change Think Tank into a larger Orangutan exhibit.
6. Build a breeding center for Komodo Dragons in the site of the old invertebrates house.
7. Change Cheetah Conservation Station and the nearby parking lot into a new African area. The area where cheetah conservation station is will be a mixed habitat of the following animals in one habitat- Black Rhino, Grevys Zebra, Rothschild Giraffe, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Scimitar Horned Oryx, Dama Gazelle, Ostrich, Marabou Stork and Kori Bustard. The area where the parking lot is will be new habitats for Hippos, Cheetahs, Wild Dogs and Red River Hogs.
8. Move the Golden Lion Tamarins to Amazonia.
9. Change parking lot C into a parking garage.

1. Where would the Bison go? They only opened the exhibit in 2014 {okay they didn't open it they renovated it that exhibit has been there for ages} and the reason they brought them back was because it was the zoos 125th anniversary and they were the first species they had.

2. I doubt the zoo has any plans to get rid of the pandas I mean they are the literal face of the zoo.

3. Could be possible to add a pathway but no need to make two new exhibits because the anteater exhibit is already attached to the old bear grottos and with a little renovation this could be done. * is a picture.

4. How big is a Crested Caracara? The exhibit isn't that big but It probably wouldn't be that bad in any other way but then again i'm not a bird expert.

5. Why does the zoo need another visitor center? The great ape house does need a renovation but why get rid of the Gorillas? Most people that don't know as much about the zoo as say a person on here would be upset that the zoo got rid of them. The Orangutans were supposed to only live at the think tank and the O-line was never supposed to happen but the think tank is a historic landmark so they couldn't do that hence why the O-line happened.

6. Not a bad Idea and I actually kinda like it but where would they build the outdoor exhibit?

7. I'm pretty sure this is the zoos plans. Obviously I don't know the species that would included but the zoo has said they have a plan to bring back Giraffes and Rhinos and in the 08 plans that area was one of the renovated regions so I've always assumed this is their plan. Would they get rid of the Hornbills? You didn't include them and the Kudu {but they only have one so understandable} and the Sitatungas. Pretty sure the zoo is gonna get Wild Dogs soon since the Maned Wolvies died.

8. Always thought they should and now that they only have four it makes sense.

9. This has been their plan forever and their 2013-2018 strategic plan mentioned a central parking facility so i'm sure this is what they're gonna do.

Some things I would do/change.

1. The zoo really should get rid of the "zoo in your backyard" exhibit and move the Prairie Dogs there and the playground I guess since it would be right next to the Bison and they used to do this but then the Bison left.

2. I don't know what the zoo plans to do with the old Hippo pool and if they never use it for the Elephants then I would make it an exhibit for some species of Hyrax. They are the closing living relatives to Elephants and I guess an indoor area would be a problem but otherwise they could make a nice exhibit for them there.

3. I've always thought that the zoo should move the Bobcats to the american trail and it probably wouldn't be that hard. The terrain is perfect I think and not much needs to be changed except making it safe for the Cats and adding some enrichment and some logs and stuff. The only real reason to raise money for it would be to build a fence and an indoor area for them.

4. Only a few years ago the zoo said they would move their Takin at SCBI to the zoo but needed to build a new exhibit for them on asia trail and I think I know where they could go. When going from the sloth bears to basically everything else there's a hill {okay what am I saying the whole zoo is a hill} there and they could build a nice exhibit for them there and add a nice littler viewing area for zoo visitors.

5. Replace the kids farm with a south american style exhibit area for Anteaters, Maned Wolves, Bush dogs, Capybara and maybe some species of Bird.

6. For a short term plan why not add Capybara to the old Peccary exhibit? All they really need to do is add a pool and maybe make the fence a bit stronger but other than that it's not that bad.

7. Just renovate the outdoor exhibits behind the small mammal house there is no reason for them to still be the way they are.

8. Make the area the Caracals are in more visible and since the Bobcats would have moved add a small cat species from asia to so there would be 2 african and 2 asian cats. Make the area just like the rest of the great cats exhibit like change the signs and stuff like that.

9. Make the visitor experience better I guess. The top complaint I always hear people say or they put in reviews is you never see any animals and to be honest it's kinda true.

10. Upgrade the whole website not just half of it and stop.

* Screenshot by Lightshot

Let me know what you think.

 

[AmbikaFan]

Ok heres what Id do for the Oregon Zoo and the National Zoo.

Oregon Zoo:
1. Replace the current polar bear and sun bear exhibits with a larger polar bear exhibit as well as a habitat for arctic foxes.
3. Move the hippos to another zoo and change the area from the rhino habitat to the giraffe habitat into a large mixed savannah with rhinos, giraffes, bonteboks and other current savannah residents in it as well as such new animals as gemsboks, wildebeests, ostriches and Kori bustards.
4. The indoor penguin house would be replace with an outdoor penguin beach exhibit similar to that at the Woodland Park Zoo.


National Zoo:

3. Add a pathway from Giant Anteaters to Spectacled Bears and also add two new habitats- one for Bush Dogs and one for the return of Maned Wolves and Capybaras.
5. Replace the Great Ape House with a visitor center, move the Gorillas to another zoo, demolish the O Line and change Think Tank into a larger Orangutan exhibit.
9. Change parking lot C into a parking garage

6. Build a breeding center for Komodo Dragons in the site of the old invertebrates house.
7. Change Cheetah Conservation Station and the nearby parking lot into a new African area. The area where cheetah conservation station is will be a mixed habitat of the following animals in one habitat- Black Rhino, Grevys Zebra, Rothschild Giraffe, Blue Wildebeest, Impala, Scimitar Horned Oryx, Dama Gazelle, Ostrich, Marabou Stork and Kori Bustard. The area where the parking lot is will be new habitats for Hippos, Cheetahs, Wild Dogs and Red River Hogs.

Oregon:

Isn't there a new penguin beach currently under construction right around the corner from the giant otters? I love the resurgence of interest in polar bears all over and would love to see this one expanded. Am fairly sure that your proposal 3. is already in the works to happen.

NZP:

3.I love this idea! This entire path has been somewhat lost to the world for a long time, and this would tie in some South American exhibits with Amazonia directly below. Or put the maned wolves back on the hillside next to Amazonia and use the bear grottoes for the spectacled bears and capybaras. It's great to see people longing again to see their immense rodents and ridiculously-smelly wolves!

5. These plans are in the works already. The huge retaining wall has been built around parking lot C, which will become some kind of combination parking garage and general-services building. The Great Ape House will be demolished for a visitor's center and a mid-park aerial tram station. They never mentioned in the long-range plans, however, what would happen to the species currently contained there. I like your idea of using Think Tank for the actual exhibit as well, but I believe the building's lack of usable/coded space may not allow for much. The gorilla exhibit has been so poor for so long--and there have been unexpected deaths leading to entire changes in breeding--that I don't know if I'd personally miss them.

6.This SHOULD happen. They even have those individual indoor/outdoor enclosures outside the building that were intended for komodo dragons. I think part of what made the invertebrates expensive was using a basement that probably needed more and more changes to be brought up to code. Breeding dragons would be really exciting and could probably be done largely outside the basement space

7. Put the gorillas in here somewhere, and you've sold me! This is more hoof-stock than I've ever seen in one exhibit! They could probably use the hillsides down toward the apartment buildings too! (But where would the lions go?)

 

[AmbikaFan]

Some things I would do/change.

1. The zoo really should get rid of the "zoo in your backyard" exhibit and move the Prairie Dogs there and the playground I guess since it would be right next to the Bison and they used to do this but then the Bison left.

2. I don't know what the zoo plans to do with the old Hippo pool and if they never use it for the Elephants then I would make it an exhibit for some species of Hyrax. They are the closing living relatives to Elephants and I guess an indoor area would be a problem but otherwise they could make a nice exhibit for them there.

3. I've always thought that the zoo should move the Bobcats to the american trail and it probably wouldn't be that hard. The terrain is perfect I think and not much needs to be changed except making it safe for the Cats and adding some enrichment and some logs and stuff. The only real reason to raise money for it would be to build a fence and an indoor area for them.

9. Make the visitor experience better I guess. The top complaint I always hear people say or they put in reviews is you never see any animals and to be honest it's kinda true.

10. Upgrade the whole website not just half of it and stop.

* Screenshot by Lightshot

Let me know what you think.

1. Elilminate the Zoo in Your Backyard and the Farm. Enough already. Space is so limited, and square footage is needed to maintain captive populations of endangered species.
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2. The old hippo pool actually has part of the ECC right behind it; it's a couple of stalls/rooms next to the old Kandula suite called "the annex," so there is already an indoor space attached to this small yard. Hyrax is a cool idea, but depending on the success of an elephant breeding program, it might be useful to have this annex available for a visiting or juvenile male elephant.

3. It would be great to see bobcat on that hillside.

If your idea of turning the Cheetah Conservation Station and surrounding parking lots into an additional Asian area were to happen, there could be some really cool additions--like the Asiatic black bears you mention, Amur leopards, plus a lot of hoofstock. Then the lions and cheetahs could be merged into the Great Cats exhibit, and the surrounding hillside and farm could be utilized for giraffes, hippos, even a rhino exhibt, plus more hoofstock. This would effectively consolidate animals into continental groupings as has been the trend for decades, and it would also bring about the demolition of several poor structures.

9. Seeing animals is often a problem. I'm almost hopeful that this new change in hours might address this a bit. If the animal houses are going to be open an hour earlier in the morning while everyone is still active in their morning routine, we might see more going on. The other real answer is to have many more keeper demonstrations all over throughout the day. In 10 years, i feel as if I've never seen more than one non-panda or non-elephant Asian animal on the entire Asia Trail at one time. They can't always be sleeping or behind the scenes. Keeper demonstrations would bring the animals themselves to the forefront of their enclosures to be seen.

10. AMEN to a revamping of the website! With organizations like the SD Zoo and the Elephant Sanctuary providing expert examples of how to connect people with their animals, there's no excuse for the national zoo to make such half-hearted efforts. So many other places make viewers feel the connection even when there are not newborns; NZP is so far in the dust in this regard that they seem almost oblivious to the interests of guests/viewers. Dcpandafan could be the one to coordinate keepers in all departments to provide weekly blog updates on some item of interest in their area.

 

[dcpandafan]

2. The old hippo pool actually has part of the ECC right behind it; it's a couple of stalls/rooms next to the old Kandula suite called "the annex," so there is already an indoor space attached to this small yard. Hyrax is a cool idea, but depending on the success of an elephant breeding program, it might be useful to have this annex available for a visiting or juvenile male elephant.

I said if they don't use it for elephants but obviously this way they would use it for elephants.

 

[dcpandafan]

If your idea of turning the Cheetah Conservation Station and surrounding parking lots into an additional Asian area were to happen, there could be some really cool additions--like the Asiatic black bears you mention, Amur leopards, plus a lot of hoofstock. Then the lions and cheetahs could be merged into the Great Cats exhibit, and the surrounding hillside and farm could be utilized for giraffes, hippos, even a rhino exhibt, plus more hoofstock. This would effectively consolidate animals into continental groupings as has been the trend for decades, and it would also bring about the demolition of several poor structures.

9. Seeing animals is often a problem. I'm almost hopeful that this new change in hours might address this a bit. If the animal houses are going to be open an hour earlier in the morning while everyone is still active in their morning routine, we might see more going on. The other real answer is to have many more keeper demonstrations all over throughout the day. In 10 years, i feel as if I've never seen more than one non-panda or non-elephant Asian animal on the entire Asia Trail at one time. They can't always be sleeping or behind the scenes. Keeper demonstrations would bring the animals themselves to the forefront of their enclosures to be seen.

10. AMEN to a revamping of the website! With organizations like the SD Zoo and the Elephant Sanctuary providing expert examples of how to connect people with their animals, there's no excuse for the national zoo to make such half-hearted efforts. So many other places make viewers feel the connection even when there are not newborns; NZP is so far in the dust in this regard that they seem almost oblivious to the interests of guests/viewers. Dcpandafan could be the one to coordinate keepers in all departments to provide weekly blog updates on some item of interest in their area.

Turning the Cheetah Conservation Station into an Asian area wasn't my idea by the way.

9. The hours should help and to be honest i'm almost certain this is one of the main reasons they made this change.

10. Well by the time I could get a job like that at the zoo I would hope this problem would be fixed.

 

[Trowaman]

Houston Zoo:
Nothing that ain't already in the master plan. We are in solid shape!
-Sea Lion refresh, add penguins
-Bull Elephant yard refresh
-Hippos, crocodiles, and further expansion of African Forest
-Cheetah and Wild Dog do-over and relocation as African Forest expands.

I would want the South American exhibit to be relocated as AF will take it's areas eventually and I love the multi-species Capybara, Anteater, Maned Wolf exhibit.


San Antonio:
Money. Zoo needs money. Get everything up to code like getting rid of the wired monkey cages and having a bright reptile house and aquarium, etc then we can talk. It's better, but they need more investments first before anything else can be considered. With current structure, get some dense plant life into the Okapi exhibit, less horse barn, more forest.

Dallas Zoo:
-Get the monorail working. Seems to always be broken. Give it a featured exhibit so it's worthwhile.
-Get hippos and bears
-Reopen the Hill as something new. South America has been suggested, a good hoof range works as well.

Fort Worth:
-Redo elephants and Hippos
-Ditch the white tigers and merge the two tiger exhibits into one of an okay size instead of 2 tiny ones.
-Get the ape house interior updated, no more concrete
-Expand size of all Texas Wild! yards.
The lesson of Fort Worth really is, most yards are too small.

 

[ZooElephantMan]

@AmbikaFan, turning Cheetah Conservation Station into an expanded asian area was my idea. I think that it would just all be asia trail, just a larger asia trail, rather than having two asian sections. I would demolish the O line and instead of it going from Think Tank to the Great Ape House, I would have it go from the think tank to a new orangutan exhibit in the expanded asia trail, and I don't know what I would do with the great ape house, but just do something and move the gorillas. Back to the topic of the bigger asia trail. there could also be exhibits for animals like greater one horned rhinos, and tiger would move there. Asiatic Black Bears are phase outs so they can't happen. But there could be amur leopards and snow leopards, tapirs, and birds.

Africa could be one of two things. If there is enough space, it could cover the savannah and the jungle, jungle would be where gorillas move. There could also be bongo, okapi, red river hogs, pygmy hippo. The other part is the savannah, with all the normal stuff. Zebras, Giraffes, Lions, hoof stock, cheetahs, etc. And a cheetah run display too. They wouldn't actually need hippos OR rhinos in the savannah, since pygmy hippos are in the jungle and indian rhinos could go in asia trail, but it wouldn't hurt. But if there is only enough space there for one of the two african exhibits, I think savannah would win over, even though the jungle would be more unique. I don't know if there is enough room for both, since I haven't been to SNZ in a while, and when I did go it was winter and there was lots of construction, but I am going to go again in a few weeks.

 

[SamMetz]

Akron Zoo - Its a pretty small zoo compared to the other in Ohio so I was able to just show everyone what I would like to see done. My biggest thing is using the wasted space the zoo isn't utilizing and give the animals larger exhibits and have large areas to start breeding efforts.

 

[Chimpangeek]

San Francisco Zoo:

1. Build a new Gorilla exhibit near the existing one.
2. renovate the old Gorilla Exhibit, adding more plants and trees and move the Colobus and Mandrills there. Bring in a few new species.
OR move the Chimps there. When the current group of chimps dies out, acquire Bonobos
3.Renovate/rebuild the Primate discovery Center and feature mostly Asia species.
4. move squirrel Monkeys to Rainforest building or adjacent area.
5. Acquire more Capybara for Puente Exhibit. Bring in Harpy Eagles for the Netted exhibit
6. Renovate Bear Grottos, adding more vegetation and acquire Maned Wolves, Bush and/or Raccoon Dogs and Black bears for Bear Grotto Exhibits. Rotate Bear species in Grizzly gulch exhibit. Expand Grizzly Gulch up the hill surrounding it.
7. Build a North AMerican Plains exhibit where the old Blackbuck/muntjac and Nyala Fieldfield used used to be. Add an artifical mountain somewhere and acquire Pronghorn, Bighorns, Bison, Elk and Moose.
8. Cleanup the Eagle Island lake, and somehow make it into a Beaver Exhibit.
9. Create an Asia Plains Exhibit Along the Path leading from Grizzlies to Hippo. Move Indian Rhino there and acquire more. Add Nilgai, Blackbuck and other species.
10. Himilyan Exhibit near where old entrance was, leading to Feline conservation center. Acquire Yak, Markhor and other Himalayan hoofstock.
Add Asiatic black bears.
11. Reopen Feline Conservation center for Snow Leopards, Fishing Cats and other asiatic species. Build large Sumatran Tiger Exhibit along the path.
12. Merge Hippo Exhibit with Rhino Exhibit, creating a river in teh Moat. Expand current pool outward and dig up the ground and move put in a glass window for underwater viewing.
Move black Rhinos to current Bongo Yard. Move Bongo closer to Gorillas
13. Old Giraffe Yard Should be turned into a Cheetah or Hyeana Exhibit.
14. Add Vervet monkeys and more Patas to Patas Monkey Exhibit. Some smaller Antelope species should also be added.
15. After Mandrills are moved to Gorilla WOrld (or near it) add tall trees and play structure and throw a big net over it and put the Siamangs there.
16. Get rid of Kudu from Savannah Exhibit and add Thompsons Gazelle, and/or Springbok and/or Gernuk and/or Wildebeest and/or Nyala and/or some other iconic African hoofstock species. Also, acquire some species of Vulture.
17. Renovate aviary near the Cafe into a Kiwi Exhibit.
18. Move Australian Birds to olf Lorikeet landing Exhibit.
19. Komodo Dragon to a permanent exhibit in the Pachyderm building
20. Add more trees and climbing structures to Koala Exhibit and get Tree Kanagaroos (or build tree Kangaroo exhibit along the way to the Walkabout exhibit)
21. Turn part of Billibong closest to Walkabout, into a (partially enclosed) Croc Exhibit.
22. Old Monkey Island Exhibit area should be turned into a huge enclosed aviary for Andean Condors.
23. Asian Rhino Exhibit, and adjacent unused yards should be renovated and walls knocked down for either species of Camel
24. Big Cat Yard walls should be knocked down except for one closest to the enclosed yard where the snow leopard currently is. Only Lions will be Exhibited, except for enclosed area, which will be for Caracals or Servals.
25. Move Wolerines to North America section

 

[savetherhino]

Milwaukee County Zoo:
African Elephants will be getting a new 5 acre or so exhibit in 2018 that replaces the current Wolf Woods, Moose and Brown Bear exhibits. The lone wolf and brown bear are old and will probably die soon. The 3 moose are middle age so:
1. Move the Moose into the current Elk yard and get rid of Elk.
2. Move the Red River Hogs to a new exhibit somewhere else in the zoo.
3. Expand the Hippo exhibit with underwater viewing to take over the Red River Hog and now empty Elephant exhibit.
4. Add Ostriches into the African Savanna exhibit that currently has Greater Kudu, Damara Zebra... etc
5. With the North American River Otters getting a new exhibit by the new west entrance, add Asian Small Clawed Otters into the now empty River Otter exhibit in the small mammal building.
6. Renovate the indoor exhibits in Primates of the Word for Orangutan, Black-and-White Colobus Monkey, Siamang and former Diana Monkey.
7. Move the Ring Tailed Lemurs from Small Mammals to the former Diana Monkey exhibit.
8. Merge the two lemur exhibits in small mammals and make it one bigger exhibit for Red Ruffed Lemurs.
9. Put Tayras back on exhibit in small mammals.
10. when the Asiatic Black Bear dies, change the exhibit for Fishing Cats.
11. Add an outdoor exhibit in Australia for Matschie's Tree Kangaroo
12. Eventually change the Small Mammals building into a nocturnal only building and expand the Primates of the World and move the rest of the monkeys there. The Meerkats and Dwarf Mongoose get outdoor exhibits

http://media.jrn.com/images/29785739-cni-wnt_zoomap_1206.jpg

 

[jayjds2]

Dallas Zoo:
Move the tiger behind the scenes pens to somewhere else.
Expand tiger trail to the right (so you can go to right and left, when entering from Australia) to have things from Indonesia.
Take out the blue cranes (move to monorail, Wilds of Africa, or somewhere else) and replace with cassowary to better fit the theme.
Combine Tiger Trail and the Outback in a nocturnal house called The Burrow.
Take out the kookaburra exhibit from Outback and make that an entrance to the Burrow.
Inside the Burrow will be things that burrow from Australia. End it with tuatara. Exit into the unused Hill area (five acres).
You will exit the building into an immersive New Zealand exhibit- if enough animals can be sourced. I can only think of North Island Kiwi, Little Blue Penguin, and Kea to be gotten easily.
Move on through exhibits from places like Fiji, the Philippines, and Japan.
Fiji: perhaps an aquarium, as well as banded iguanas, collared lories (import or captive bred from San Diego, if they are bred). If an aquarium is made, it must be impressive to make up for the defecit of land animals that can be sourced.
Philippines: Philippine croc, import deer species, sail fin lizards, wooly necked stork, cotton Pygmy goose, Palawan peacock pheasants, sarus crane, gray's monitors, Panay cloudrunner, and maybe a bit more.
Marianas are optional, but only a few animals are easily found.
Japan: move the red crowned cranes here, get snow monkeys, Japanese serow, and maybe some other stuff.

 

[jayjds2]

Dallas Zoo:
Move the tiger behind the scenes pens to somewhere else.
Expand tiger trail to the right (so you can go to right and left, when entering from Australia) to have things from Indonesia.
Take out the blue cranes (move to monorail, Wilds of Africa, or somewhere else) and replace with cassowary to better fit the theme.
Combine Tiger Trail and the Outback in a nocturnal house called The Burrow.
Take out the kookaburra exhibit from Outback and make that an entrance to the Burrow.
Inside the Burrow will be things that burrow from Australia. End it with tuatara. Exit into the unused Hill area (five acres).
You will exit the building into an immersive New Zealand exhibit- if enough animals can be sourced. I can only think of North Island Kiwi, Little Blue Penguin, and Kea to be gotten easily.
Move on through exhibits from places like Fiji, the Philippines, and Japan.
Fiji: perhaps an aquarium, as well as banded iguanas, collared lories (import or captive bred from San Diego, if they are bred). If an aquarium is made, it must be impressive to make up for the defecit of land animals that can be sourced.
Philippines: Philippine croc, import deer species, sail fin lizards, wooly necked stork, cotton Pygmy goose, Palawan peacock pheasants, sarus crane, gray's monitors, Panay cloudrunner, and maybe a bit more.
Marianas are optional, but only a few animals are easily found.
Japan: move the red crowned cranes here, get snow monkeys, Japanese serow, and maybe some other stuff.

 

[pachyderm pro]

Brookfield zoo
1.Tear down the boring hoofed animal exhibits and make a new elephant exhibit along with that Okapi yard that can be used for bongos
2.Now that the aardvarks are gone have Tasmanian devils in there exhibit
3.move the zebras and bring in wildabeast to live with the giraffes.
4.move one of the sea lion groups and a walrus or 2 can live in their exhibit
5.Build a new aquatic bird building and add flamingoes to the formal pool
6.send away some goats and bring in sheep
7.Turn the bear grottos into cheetah and hyeana and turn the beer garden into a cheetah run track
8.build a new komodo dragon terrarium in the reptile and bird house.
9.Turn the baboon island into a new alpine exhibit with hymandrayas baboons and ibex
10. Build improved exhibits for the big cats and move lions to elephant plains as well as moving the wild horses and camels to this exhibit with musk deer and takin.
11.net off a area by the Australia building for koalas

 

[arafan]

So I've seen Antons ideas, and I must say I allready had similar ideas, so it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who think that there could be changed some things in Zurich.

Spectacled bears and Coatis are an great combination, but I think that there also could be held another species, I would try it with Red howlers, build an small indoor exhibit next to the future Austalian complex, so you will also have the change to see the animals in the winter and add some species of the cloud forest, like Andean-cock of the rock, or some colibri species.
What I really miss is some Himalayan hofstock, takin, thar, markhor, species that would be great to see in the actual "Andean exhibit".
I also had the idea to build an additional Madagascar building, there simply aren't any information about the predators of Madagascar, and it also seems like the rainforest in Masoala is the only ecosystem on the island. That should be changed, fossas, ring-tailed mongoose, and some nocturnal species like Aye-aye or mouse lemur would be good to see.
In "Selenga" I would like to see the flamigoes, together with some other sort of South american species like the scarlet-ibis, the roseate spoonbill but also some bigger groups of macaws, not to forget duck species. A little house would be needed to build, in the best case you could enter this one. The aviary near the entry would have some tamarin or macaw species in them. So in the "Pantanal" wouldn't be any birds, but there is space for an other monkey species on the squirrel-monkey island, some sakis would be nice. In the flamingo exhibit I would like to see maned wolves or an netted exhibit for smaller cats.
The actual outdoor penguin exhibit would be a house for cold penguin species, with an roof that could be opened at the winter. The humboldt penguins would be changed out with African, and would live near the future African savanna, in a complex with fur seals.
In the Elephant complex I also was hoping to see monkeys, gibbons would be good because Zurich keeps a lot of them, but I also was thinking about some langurs, and there definitley should be more smaller exhibits or aviaries, hornbills, squirrels and a lot of other smaller species would give the hall some more rainforest flair, I really miss the sounds in this "forest", free rainging bird but even some butterflies (in this case I would take native ones because they could come easily out) would give it more life.
For the new African rainforest, I really hope that there will be an aviary, a lot of visitors are missing the shoebills, some other species would easily be integrated.
For the savanna coplex, I'm hoping that they really will get species that live in Lewa, like Beisa, impala, kudu or even gerenuk. For the aviary I hope that there will be some middle-sized species, like vultures or cranes.

 

[antonmuster]

[reposted from http://www.zoochat.com/2/ways-your-zoo-could-improve-461158/#post986822 upon moderator request]

Zurich zoo

In general: more small to mid sized enclosures interspersed between the large habitats. More (large) aviaries. More integration of wild local fauna into the park landscape (as has been magnificently done with the stork's nests), e.g. butterflies, bees, snails (!), birds (a swift colony in the Africa section!), squirrels, bats, etc. All information bilingual (German, English). Information on plant species.

Specifically (things that aren't already planned): a larger or an additional vivarium building. A butterfly house/dome. Termite mound, ant colony, and beehive exhibits. A section of the zoo dedicated to local fauna (the zoo is surrounded by forest on three sides, so the opportunity would be there to create naturalistic enclosures with comparatively low costs); this I consider of particular importance, since the zoo has given itself conservation as its main mission, and when dedicating oneself to conservation one should imho think global but start local first - it's not as if wildlife weren't under tremendous pressure in Switzerland (and has been for centuries). Additional small to mid sized enclosures for Masoalan species outside the main hall, esp. to represent predators of said ecosystem which, of course, cannot be integrated into the main hall; and/or an annex building to Masoala in the style of Bronx's Madagascar to showcase other Madagascan ecosystems. "Wild" termites in Masoala (plus a matching insectivore to keep them in check). One or two additional free-range phelsuma species in Masoala. A large shoebill aviary. Some enclosures for felidae outside panthera (only panthera species in zoo at present). Free ranging birds and possibly primates (gibbons!) in Kaeng Krachan indoors. Primates in Sangay (spectacled bear and coati). Enclosure for caprinae species behind snow leopard enclosure for Hagenbeckian panorama. Pangolin enclosure in Kaeng Krachan. Selenga (the zoo's "duck pond") as aviary. Pantanal as aviary (!) (or eco-dome, style Masoala) - at the very least an aviary for the macaws, having seen them fly in pairs in the wild, I have to say it's a crime to not let them fly, these magnificent animals completely loose their magic. A renovated penguin enclosure (or two).

I realize that quite a few of my suggestions will not be feasible due to economic, husbandry, or other constraints. But if they were...

 

[GraysonDP]

these are the changes I would make to the San Diego Zoo:

I would Demolish Elephant odyssey and Polar bear plunge and rebuild Horn and Hoof Mesa

I would Demolish the African Kopje so I could extend Goat and Sheep Canyon

I would Demolish Sun Bear Forest so I could extend Bear Canyon

I would Demolish Panda trek so I could rebuild the historic seal and sea lion pools

I would Demolish Monkey Trails, Absolutely apes, and Gorilla tropics so I could rebuild Bird and Primate Mesa

I would Demolish the Childrens Zoo so i could extend Reptile Mesa

I would change Urban Jungle back to Elephant Mesa

I would open the off exhibit Hoofstock yards (viewable from Skyfari), so I could bring back species like Moose, Red goral, Marsh deer, Cretan wild goat, Philippine brown deer, European roe deer, Vaal rhebok and many many others !!!

I would Demolish Tiger River and Ituri Forest so I could bring back Cascade Canyon and whatever else was in that spot prior to those exhibits

Now for the San Diego Wild Animal park:

I would bring back the Wgasa Bushline Monorail to travel around the Field Exhibits

I would add more species to the Asian Plains exhibit like Saiga, Javan rusa and Altai wapiti

I would add more species to the East African field exhibit

I Would change African Forest back to Asian Waterhole and add more species like Indian muntjac and European bison

I would Reopen Mountain Habitat and bring back species like Himalayan tahr and European mouflon and maybe add Spanish ibex

I would add more Animals to the South African and North African Field exhibits like Jacksons hartebeest and maybe Cape mountain zebra if I can get some

I would add a North American Field Exhibit and a South American Field Exhibit add species like Wood bison and Guanaco

I would add more hillide exhibits along the monorail route and add species to them like Central Chinese Goral and Japanese serow

I would take out the zipline and Rebuild the Australian Forest and add species like Southern cassowary and Grizzled tree kangaroo

I would Bring Bonobos to the Island exhibit, and build an Island for Mandrills and an Island for orangutans

I would Add more Aviaries and Small Ungulate Paddocks, Primate Cages, Animal Grottos to Nairobi Village

As for the changes to San Diego, you must be joking right?