How many indoor hippo exhibits are able to be viewed by the public in North America? When in Europe last summer I saw approximately a dozen Common Hippo exhibits (in 4 nations) and easily more than half of them had both indoor and outdoor viewing. However, in North American zoos it is a rarity to see Common Hippos indoors and so Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has done a terrific job with this new complex. It reminds me a little of Calgary Zoo's setup for the same species, with a sort of 'industrial' appearance.
Here are two photos (taken at Calgary Zoo) that illustrate what I'm talking about:
Toledo, Milwaukee and Topeka all feature indoor viewing for hippos. However, all of the exhibits are extremely ugly and small and Cheyenne Mountain is extraordinarily better than all of them. Its almost insulting to compare them. It surprises me just how scarce indoor viewing of hippos is. One would think zoos with colder temps would want to exhibit them year round considering their popularity.
As an aside, thank you @Echobeast for your slew of photos of Waters Edge: Africa. The complex, as expected, looks truly brilliant!
@snowleopard There is a bit of history with the Topeka Zoo's hippo pool, the reason for its design to have curves and slopes was so they didn't have to use bars (that was the only exhibit until the 2000s when the outdoor compound was built), and for a time the pool had sea lions while their enclosure was being refurbished! With that said a new filtration system should be in place rather than the dump and fill system that is currently there. With that said, Cheyenne Mountain's exhibit absolutely trumps the rest of the indoor hippo exhibits (what few there are) in the United States. I do wish they went with underwater viewing but I also understand costs along with prioritizing animal welfare. If it means more grazing area and breeding hippos left and right (along with putting the lemurs in a purpose-built Madagascar zone and replacing them with guenons or vervet monkeys), I'm all for this incredibly unique concept!
