Located in Denver, Colorado, this beautiful indoor facility features aquarium exhibits from around the world, as well as a habitat for Sumatran Tigers. There is also a Downtown Aquarium in Houston, Texas, owned by the same company.
1. This place is in the US
2. Zooman is in Australia
3. English weather is unpredictable but it can be nice enough for tropical animals to be outside in any month; I've seen okapis and gorillas happily outside in November. They have the choice to do what they want most of the time.
4. Denver Zoo is not far away from this place and presumably has many animals with the facility to go outside if they want
5. Everyone in California looks like the cast of The OC.
Thank you for having a sense of humor. I completely agree that having access to the outside is preferable where possible, but I do wonder why so many seem to think this is important for "big" animals (however one defines that), and less so for "smaller" species? Huge indoor rainforest environments like Masoala and (at least for gibbons) Jungleworld seem to me to be better both for the animals and for the guest experience than having standard outdoor cages attached to heated indoor quarters, which is the alternative in cold climate zoos. There ARE variations in light, temperature and humidity in these big indoor forests, closer to the natural variations found the outdoors in rainforests than the huge swings in those parameters that would face the animals outdoors in a temperate climate. With UV-transmissible skylights and internal "rainshowers," much of the natural conditions these species area adapted to can be recreated.
That said, these tigers would certainly be better off with an outdoor "penthouse" overlooking downtown and the river for those warm Denver summer evenings....
I completely agree that having access to the outside is preferable where possible, but I do wonder why so many seem to think this is important for "big" animals (however one defines that), and less so for "smaller" species? Huge indoor rainforest environments like Masoala and (at least for gibbons) Jungleworld seem to me to be better both for the animals and for the guest experience than having standard outdoor cages attached to heated indoor quarters, which is the alternative in cold climate zoos. There ARE variations in light, temperature and humidity in these big indoor forests, closer to the natural variations found the outdoors in rainforests than the huge swings in those parameters that would face the animals outdoors in a temperate climate. With UV-transmissible skylights and internal "rainshowers," much of the natural conditions these species area adapted to can be recreated.
That said, these tigers would certainly be better off with an outdoor "penthouse" overlooking downtown and the river for those warm Denver summer evenings....
The rest of this, though, is probably true enough. I think the only reason to justify the large animals vs. small animals difference is that it's much more likely that an indoor exhibit for a smaller animal will fit into a given building without the animal being cramped!
It's not that it is more important for large animals to be outside, but that it is difficult and expensive to provide the space needed completely indoors. I agree with your comments about large rainforest houses meeting the needs of smaller creatures such as gibbons etc, but do you think such an totally indoor environment such as that could be provided for elephants or gorillas?
If you have seen the Downtown Aquarium tiger enclosure then perhaps you could make some informed comments about how successful you think it is.
PS Temperature this week Berkeley 19-20 C, London 22-24 C. You sound like you have a great sense of humour so don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
it looks a nice enclosure, but i would like to see outdoor yards, but im not agenst indoor enclosure completely. but this may change when me, CZ Jimmy, Marwell Dalek, ZooMania, Riziki and Dragon Ele Nerd are the only ones left of the current Zoochatters, when we are like 71
it looks a nice enclosure, but i would like to see outdoor yards, but im not agenst indoor enclosure completely. but this may change when me, CZ Jimmy, Marwell Dalek, ZooMania, Riziki and Dragon Ele Nerd are the only ones left of the current Zoochatters, when we are like 71
