This is my concept for a future development at the Woodland Park Zoo. The idea is to expand upon the gorillas by developing a tropical Africa section of the zoo. It would be connected by a new path with the Savannah section to further emphasize geographic accuracy.
The purple exhibit is labeled mandrill but could just as easily house Black Crested Mangabeys or another African primate. The Okapi would be housed in relatively affordable and simple paddocks relying upon good planting to provide immersion, they could also be mixed with Duiker as is common in many zoos. The exhibits labeled in red are already existing exhibits. The aqua marine colored area is an expanded playground featuring the existing gorilla statues.
Overall I think this would be a relatively affordable expansion to the zoo which would serve to bring the zoo into the 21st century by introducing the public to the amazing diversity of life in the Congo River Basin, and by placing a greater emphasis on geographic accuracy by separating the gorillas from the Amazon Rainforest complex.
@Great Argus We basically have the same temperate climate as Germany and England so its not a huge issue. The Gorillas and Colobus monkeys are already outside year round here, they both have heated sheltered areas near the viewing windows which I envisage being incorporated into the new Mandrill exhibit. I also imagine a covered viewing shelter between the two Okapi enclosures which could be extended to provide cover and heating for the inhabitants.
This is a very interesting idea, and one I would love to see you continue. I’ve never been to Woodland Park Zoo, so it’s neat to see what someone who has that as their home zoo would change.
@Loxodonta Cobra Thank you, I do plan on continue this as a series for each area of the zoo and how it could be updated or expanded. Some will be very minor suggestions and two will be entirely new developments.
Overall I am very fortunate in that the Woodland Park Zoo were pioneers in naturalistic zoo exhibit design and thus have a very solid core of exhibits built in the latter 20th century which have held up over time. It is for this reason that rather than demolishing existing exhibits the majority of my suggestions will be to recommend projects for underdeveloped areas of the zoo or areas in which existing infrastructure could be better optimized.
Unfortunately the zoo has not released a public masterplan since the mid 70s, however it is very interesting to look at where the zoo followed this plan and where it strayed from it or didnt follow through. I did take some cues from it however in particular I agree with the original plan for the undeveloped northwest corner of the zoo to be developed into an Asian Highlands complex, and I agree that the giraffe complex should be expanded to the size in the original plan.
