What. In an exhibit that recreates the natural geology/ecosystem of Amur tigers, management went and built... THIS? This looks more in line with Six Flags, not a legitimate educational facility! Who greenlit this?
@Wyman I completely agree. The exhibit also received a new waterfall that is shaped like a tigers paw, and looks really out of place. This entire renovation was pointless and ruined a fantastic exhibit, and wasted a ton of my money that could have gone to much more needed renovations (cough Japanese macaque exhibit cough). At least we still have tiger base camp.
@Dhole dude the "paw-shaped" waterfall looks more like a miniature Giant's Causeway, it doesn't look as bad though I could be wrong. I'd have to see the exhibit for myself (and bring a jackhammer... *joke*)
@Wyman the renovation is not all though, a large portion of land behind the tropics trail will soon be a new, animatronic dinosaur exhibit . The zoo is making some questionable financial decisions right now. Why,why make a new Dino attraction when the site it used to be hosted at was perfect for it. I HATE animatronic dinosaur attractions, as they take up to mush space that could be used for animals(same with ropes courses).But hey at least it brings in some more revenue for the zoo.
@Dhole dude The zoo seems like it needs a new capital campaign, and yesterday! Maybe revisiting the idea of bringing orangutans to the Zoo (Como could phase out orangutans in favor of something smaller like colobus monkeys or something like that), and maybe bringing snow leopards to the zoo, a new space for the red pandas (Basically bringing back the Tropics Trail redux/Temperate Asia ideas from the Ehmke-era Master Plan).
@Wyman I’ve said this before but the zoo desperately needs new direction. They haven’t given us anything good since monk seals where brought to Minnesota in 2015. This exhibit does the opposite of what the zoo is striving for. This brings people out of nature. Same with that stupid animatronic dinosaur exhibit. AND the don’t think they need any new animal exhibits(wich they definitely do) the Minnesota zoo thinks it’s a theme park or something, but it’s not. It’s a zoo. It always has been. It always will be. And they don’t understand that. They’re going to probably stick with this plan for the next 10-20 years, and where gonna have to deal with garbage like this. At least the treetops trail looks promising, and bringing the nocturnal trail back would be great. But other than that. This plan is one or the worst zoo plans in a while.
@Gg3 it’s seems you’ve posted roughly the same thing twice. If you want to change a post, there is an edit button, and a delete button, the edit button gos away after an hour or so.