I think of lush exhibits with rock work, and a good amount of vertical space. The best I've seen is at the Philadelphia Zoo. Although the look of it maybe more realistic for the Amur Leopard it shares its exhibit with, but the exhibit gives them plenty of horizontal and vertical space.
This was originally a lion exhibit, NOT a tiger exhibit (unless it held tigers in the 1970's or 80's, which is possible). And it used to be half the current size. It was way too small for lions. They then doubled it to what you see here (though you cannot see much of the left side, which is the original half). Still a bit small for lions, but then they built a new lion exhibit (which is far better but by no means massive) and put snow leopards here.
The only two really great snow leopard exhibits I have seen, based on ZooChat photos, are at Kolmarden Wildlife Park (Sweden) and Zurich Zoo (Switzerland). By great I mean actually looking like their wild habitat, with lots of space and no barriers to viewing. Search through the ZooChat galleries for the two above mentioned facilities and you will be blown away by what you see.
This was originally a lion exhibit, NOT a tiger exhibit (unless it held tigers in the 1970's or 80's, which is possible). And it used to be half the current size. It was way too small for lions. They then doubled it to what you see here (though you cannot see much of the left side, which is the original half). Still a bit small for lions, but then they built a new lion exhibit (which is far better but by no means massive) and put snow leopards here.
When I first saw it was in the 1980s, but you may be right that it was the lion exhibit...that would mean that the current Amur leopard exhibit was the tiger exhibit. That would make more sense as the Amur leopard exhibit has a pond in it, which would make more sense for tigers than lions. In any case the new lion exhibit is much better and the current snow leopard exhibit is...adequate.
The only two really great snow leopard exhibits I have seen, based on ZooChat photos, are at Kolmarden Wildlife Park (Sweden) and Zurich Zoo (Switzerland). By great I mean actually looking like their wild habitat, with lots of space and no barriers to viewing. Search through the ZooChat galleries for the two above mentioned facilities and you will be blown away by what you see.
Having seen the two before-mentioned I must insist on throwing the exhibit in Norden's Ark (Sweden) into that bunch. It may be slightly more wooded but it is situated on an actual mountain slope and offers loads of space and places to hide for the snow leopards.
