Wellington zoo: circa 2010

Malaysian sun bear exhibit

Is the current sun bear exhibit ( http://www.zoochat.com/15/sun-bear-enclosure-november-2015-a-432314/ ) just a renovation of this exhibit?

PAT said:

Is the current sun bear exhibit ( http://www.zoochat.com/15/sun-bear-enclosure-november-2015-a-432314/ ) just a renovation of this exhibit?

Click to expand...

no it is a completely new enclosure. The old enclosure (in the 2010 photo above) has stood empty since then, but is planned to be renovated for snow leopards.

the enclosure in the photo above as it looked originally (this photo from the 1930s): Polar bear enclosure – Zoos and aquariums – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand

I did have a photo in the gallery as it looked in 1988, with an American black bear, but it seems to have vanished now. So the following one is from 2002:




And then in 2008:

Chlidonias said:

no it is a completely new enclosure. The old enclosure (in the 2010 photo above) has stood empty since then, but is planned to be renovated for snow leopards.

Click to expand...

Woah! Snow leopards?! That's awesome!!!
Where will they come from? An Australian zoo?

JigerofLemuria said:

Woah! Snow leopards?! That's awesome!!!
Where will they come from? An Australian zoo?

Click to expand...

no idea. Will need to wait and see if it even happens. I don't know how far past the "trying to gather the funds for it" phase they are.

But see this thread: http://www.zoochat.com/17/snow-leopards-2016-a-413030/

Chlidonias said:

no it is a completely new enclosure. The old enclosure (in the 2010 photo above) has stood empty since then, but is planned to be renovated for snow leopards.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. If they do it well this could become a really nice snow leopard exhibit. Something along the lines of Zurich Zoo's Himalayan exhibit.