The okapis will have a new home in 2009, since my next project will be to have a very large building for hoofed animals made, it would be a combination of antwerp zoo's egiptian temple and the giraffe house of berlin zoo, but totally different and unique, i just love the egiptian decor, i have already started drawing the plans for the building, i was thinking of having in one area, giraffes together with gazelles, in the opposite section, the okapis, next to a yet to be determined large antelope species ( i plan on having a couple of giant elands made next year), another section would be for camels and their relatives, llamas, alpacas, vicunas, etc........this building will be really spectacular, and the animals would have their outdoor enclosures all around the building, and their indoor area as well.
Sounds good, very European...Okapi are solitary, you may want to have at least two seperate enclosures. Id be very interested in seeing a concept of the building.
Exactly Okapi, that is the theme of my zoological park, it has gone thru many changes in the original concept, not that i do not love and admire the great zoos of our country, but the problem with the diorama is this, to be able to replicate a zoo like san diego for example, i picked san diego because it is my favorite and number one zoo in the us, i would need an area in the scale that i'm working close to a football field, sadly , i know this is impossible even by my standars (i refused to belive anything is impossible, it just depends on how bad you want it), the next problem is accesories, i already have some 4000 different plants and trees for my project ( many more to come) still to duplicate a large american zoo it would take many times this number, my budget for the zoo is different year to year, but in the range of 15 000 usd a year, not enough to get enough items in a reasonable amount of time ( already being planing, buying and creating for 6 years) so it was clear that my zoological park would be very reduced in space ( still larger than any museum quality zoo diorama that exists today i believe), but the issue is that i'm a dreamer and i would not compromise the initial idea of having a world class animal collection and botanical as well, that is when i started really looking into the european zoos that have limited space but outstanding collections, examples like antwerp and Berlin, this last one is not so small, but it feels very cramp, and i know you get the idea of my point, this is what i have in mind, to make a layout that has about 10 to 14 very large monumental buildings, and an impressive amount of smaller exihbits and landscape here and there amongs the buildings.
So far the only one of this large buildings that i will soon have is the primate house, it has been under construction since november no counting all the initial drawing and planing. Now i have a question for you, months before the construction of this building even started i was completely undecided if i should house here only monkeys, or if should include apes as well, i pay attention to detail a little too much, and i have noticed that not many zoos that come to mind house their apes and monkeys together, it would save me a great deal of money and space if i could use this buildings for this amazing creatures as well, what do you think? the building is square with only two enclosures in the front, and 3 others on each of the remaining sides. I have more species that i have room for them, even taking into consideration that many enclosures would be mixed species. Let me know what you recomend please?
You have 6,000 miniature animals as well as 4,000 plants? Wow, that's a lot to pack into a zoo diorama! I applaud your vision, and it must have cost you a small fortune to assemble everything. When do you expect the final version of the zoo to be unveiled? A couple more years?
The question is if you really like primates or not. If someone were designing a zoo and they really liked primates, I would assume that they would try to mix in primates throughout the zoo along with a major exhibit area or building for primates. Apes do require a different type of facility than other primates, primarily due to their large size, social structures, public appeal, husbandry and training. Otherwise a simple primate house with a diverse collection of primates should suffice (ie lemur, new world monkey, tamarin/marmoset, guenon/managbey, baboon, langur, ape)
It appears that your primate house is rather small in comparison to other primate buildings in major zoos. If you are big on diversity, go ahead and place an ape species in one of those enclosure. I know Orangs have been well mixed with gibbons and Gorillas with colobus or guenons.
My zoo also includes a primate house. One side of the building will be Orangs and a gibbon species with 1st and 2nd story indoor viewing. Their outdoor enclosures will be a series of enclosures with various climbing structures and ropes between the them that cross overhead visitor pathways. I will also have 2-3 more gibbon enclosures throughout the zoo's property...just to make the atmosphere that much louder and possibly study gibbon communication. This will be the extent of my ape collection.
I have yet to determine the collection for the rest of the house. I would like to house 10 species of primate apart from the orang and gibbons. There would be three outdoor enclosures adjacent to the primate house and the other species would have outdoor enclosures in other parts of the zoo. Those primates would be transferred to the primate house in the cold seasons, where the indoor primate exhibits will only be viewable to the public during the colder months. In the summer, the public area of the primate house will be used for education programs and displays and/or a temporary exhibit gallery.
That is a great perspective okapi, and i share your vision, i have thought about including additional primate species in other sections of the zoo, (future design) as far as the primate building being smaller than your average zoo, you will be surpriced when you look at the size of it, the scale of my figures is very large the average human is 4 inches tall, so this creates a problem for the scale of the buildings, this primate building is 50 inches each way, and very tall since the middle of the structure is elevated, it is truly a work of art, and the enclosures are rather large, i wanted it to look realistic, so the enclosures pop out of the building, conservatory style, for a 180 angle view, all around, if i would have had it my way i think the building would have been even bigger, but this was just not possible because of shipping regulations, that is why for my next project (hoofed egiptian style building) it will be devided into two sections, that i will put together here in miami. The enclosures of the primate building will be extremely detailed, i have already started working on the wall murals, as well as creating vines, miniature rockwork, etc for very naturalistic views. Also the building will have a lot of room inside, but sadly this project does not come with electric wires, so it would be a challenge to create the illumination inside. If you were to compare my primate building in size to the bronx zoo's primate house, mine would be much bigger, and compared to the berlin zoo's much more impressive, when you see it you will know right away what building i designed the front wall and doors after, i have a feeling you will just know......(hint is not a primate house) the original concept of the building was supposed to be a reptile house, but after a much better idea for the reptile house, i went with a primate building, the reptile house will come eventually but i will need to raise a large amount of money for this, since it will really be one of the worlds greatest works of art, ( i have that much faith in the artist, his is all the credit), but i will go with your idea, for the time being i will mixed species, and tried to make it as realistic as possible, as time goes on and i built other zoo sections, species will move out and in.
Okapi when you talk about your zoo, are you planing a diorama model as well? or is your zoo plan a large detailed drawing, sounds very promising, i really wished you lived in miami, we could become very good allies.
snowleopard: i must tell you i enjoy your posts very much, i have read by now all of your zoos reviews, they are excellent, some i read 3 times, especially the zoos i have yet to visit. To answer your question, i will start working on the base for the heart of the zoo in early 2009, as soon as i receive my primate building, can you believe that i have all this items, but other than testing here and there, i have never worked on the diorama yet, there is allways something else to buy or improve. But yes this year the miniature zoo will open, i wanted to set up the first section on earth day to celebrate the achievment, and for good luck, then after that it will take much time to add everything that i have in mind, so far i can tell you about the small fortune part that i feel ashamed at times, since i'm not a rish individual, but i have put so much money into this thing, sometimes working 3 jobs, i would say over 80 000 us dollars in 6 years, most of it well invested, but my mistakes here and there, and i will need 3 times this amount to be able to have the zoo looking like i dreamed of it, the core animal and plant collection i already have, now i just need to get significant trees, and the massive buildings, but just to give you an example the banyan that i uploaded the pic of, costed me close to 1000 dollars, and i have ordered from the same artist a massive baobab tree that will cost another 1000, so it really takes a toll, if i had the money, i would have built a miniature wonder of this world, but because of this economic crisis i have to get there slowly, so it would be many years before the final work is ready, and yet, like real life zoos, i'm sure i will allways want to improve old things, and create new ones, what can i tell you is the passion of my life.
cheers
Danny
53 inches!!!! It sounds like you will need something bigger than a garage to complete your zoo in. I sure did under estimate your scale. I doubt you will have any problem filling your new primate house.
As for my zoos plan, they are all drawn out on paper, so I have tried to create on computer programs. But there was one model I created for a college class that is from one of my drawings and it is on a similar scale to yours. It was not quite as detailed, but built of scrap wood, clay, and other naturalistic items one can find at a craft store. It was for an aquatic Appalachian environment showcasing the Hellbender. I even had all the plumbing with filters and pumps.
But the big thing with my zoo plan is that there are several maps detailing each year of the zoo's existence from the grand opening (a small incomplete zoo with privately collected animals from private owners, sanctuaries, and zoo surplus) to a 30 year mature zoo with years of public/private funding and community support. Because to me its not able what the zoo ultimately looks like, but how it got there and the evolution that the zoo took. Along with designed plans, I have business documents detailing how the zoo is to be run, husbandry manuals, contracts with other facilties and public organizations, conservation, education, and research programs. I watch TAG and SSP documents closely to allow my zoo to become an active member of the zoo community.
I have family in Miami and I usually make it down there 1-2 times a year. I'll be sure to let you know the next time I'm down. And if you ever make it up to Jax, let me know...
That sounds faboulous okapi, excellent ideas, i was happy before i found this site, after finding you i'm even happier, also snowleopard seems to be a great mind of the zoo design world, please let me know when you are in miami again, i would love to meet you in person and share ideas, and yes the garage part being too small is a sad reality, but what can i do, one has to set the limits within reason, so the tripple garage will have to do, and it will take a miracle, just like antwerp. Wait until you here what the buildings i want to have made in the future.
