The original plan--and occupants--were Clouded leopards. They were never visible and were replaced shortly after the exhibit opened with black leopards (from Poland I believe, don't know if they were "pedigreed" or generic).
The first two exhibits in the building were designed to house Komodo dragons. You can still see the painted murals there that reflected a volcanic island habitat. No Komodos ever lived there, but for a time there were Mugger crocs and Water monitors. For several years now those exhibits have housed binturongs and tree kangaroos, though I've heard the small-clawed otters that used to live in the Mangrove Swamp habitat (originally with Proboscis monkeys), have now been moved to the former binturong habitat, following the "murder" of a young langur by the otter pack (check it out on Youtube--quite gruesome).
Got all that?!!
Still one of the very best tropical habitats in any zoo anywhere
Oh I forgot about the crocs and the water monitors! They were moved because of all the coins tossed (well hurled) at them and the effects on the water quality. There was quite a discussion at the time (1989 or so) about whether the binturongs were too fragrant to be the first thing visitors got to.
Oh, I see.... but please do share some of the stuff that you can, whenever you have the time, Zooplantman. I believe there are many here at ZooChat who love to look at zoo-related building plans, "landscape plans" (don´t know the proper English word) etc.
There was a similar copy of the map on a newspaper ( can't recall which paper ) during the grand opening. Didn't really pay much attention to it. This is the first indoor rainforest I ever visited. I think I took it for granted the first time I was there. Didn't really think too much of it. As time goes by, I find out how extraordinary this exhibit really is, especially I visited other zoos since.
