Lion Exhibit at Madrid Zoo Aquarium, 26/05/11

Home to Barbary Lions and resplendent with the typical Madrid concrete tiers.

The concrete looks still not great, but a wonderful lion-enclosure

Madrid Zoo is famous for having a wealth of concrete in many of the older, outdated exhibits, but I've heard that it is tremendously expensive and time-consuming to chisel/bulldoze cement into oblivion. Has the zoo attempted to plant vines and other green plants to hang down and obscure the unnatural appearance of some of the enclosures, or has there been an attempt to modernize a few of the oldest exhibits? There is certainly a stark contrast between the zoo in Madrid and the African extravaganza (complete with mowed lawns) in Valencia.

Interesting, if rather archaic, enclosure design. One of the Lions(female) from here went to Port Lympne a year or so ago. I believe the Madrid Lions are an 'offshoot' of the Rabat Strain- related to them but a slightly seperate line.

I feel like this is a case of "it's functional so let's not spend the money."

@tigris115 I was back at Madrid last week and these enclosures are still fundamentally unchanged, though this Is home to Asian Lions now.

I mean, I would like to replace some of the concrete floors with dirt and put some logs in, but overall, it's not terrible.