My own thread musing about desert houses in zoos has inspired me to play around with a little imaginary concept for a desert house. Granted, building and maintaining it would still come with a certain price tag, especially in a colder country, but I thought about something reasonable that would fit into a zoo like Rheine, Jihlava or Bern. For the zoo with a bit deeper pockets and more forthcoming bureaucracy, I'll add some *fancy* additions.
Right at the entrance, a well-kept pond holds Cyprinodon macularius during the warm summer season.
The exterior of the plain, solid, energy-efficiently built building is painted in a light, sandy color and includes a large skylight.
The visitor entering the building will at first be greeted with general information about deserts, a few noteworthy international examples and the challenges faced by a life in a desert. The first enclosure containing live animals is a large tank with fat sand rats.
*At best, the fat sand rat exhibit should be sponsored by a pharmaceutical company that provides dietitian and anti - diabetic products.
*
Passing through a curtain, the visitor now enters the brightly lit walkthrough area below the skylight, with sand and rockwork on both sides. On the left, saguaro and other cacti, on the right desert euphoria and desert flowers. *The botanical centerpiece would be an older Welwitschia specimen, with a graphic illustrating its age. Other botanical highlights would include a rose of Jericho and peyote cacti.*
Free-ranging animal inhabitants of this area include Gould's finches, Gambel's quails, *Trumpeter finches* and Inca doves as well as Common agama.
At the end of the walkthrough, a small spring highlights the importance of water and the beauty of an oasis, with a crocodile skull for the visitors to touch and get introduced to Africa's famous desert crocodiles.
An aquarium near the spring houses a group of red garra (as a little after-work spa option for the zoo staff ^^).
The visitor can now either sit down and enjoy the scenery, or continue to the desert terraria (staff access to them behind the scenes), displaying the following species:
- Gila monsters & Colorado River toads
- An Uromastyx species
- Saharan horned viper / *McMahon's viper*
- Sidewinder rattlesnake
- *Inland taipan*
- Parabuthus villosus (with scorpion exuviae in a glass bubble next to the tank to shine blacklight upon)
- Asbolus verrucosus
- Sicarius sp.
- Aphonopelma chalcodes
- Acanthoplus discoidalis
The visitor now enters the nocturnal part of the building. While the long tank housing lesser Egyptian jerboas is rather traditional, the other exhibit is dedicated to fans of the "Disneysque" design: imitating an Ancient Egyptian tomb full of hieroglyphics and fake pharaoh treasures, this dimly lit enclosure is home to a bachelor group of Egyptian fruit bats and connected to the main walkthrough hall, so that the little batmen can fly around there as well at night, adding an extra feature to zoonight events.
The next section houses the separate indoor enclosures of fennec foxes and caracals *as well as Etosha lions*, connected to separate outdoor enclosures.
*The closeby Moroccan restaurant allows for lovely desserts (sic) and a nice view of the* exhibits surrounding the building, housing addax / *Arabian oryx* & dorcas gazelles as well as, separately, onager & Bactrian camels.
A red kangaroo exhibit is accompanied by a standard walkthrough budgie exhibit. The closeby children playground includes, among others, plenty of sand, full of hidden "treasures" ^^ , a pyramid maze and a slide in the form of a rattlesnake as well as an operating Tex Mex food truck.
The daily bird of prey show features performances of Harris hawks, Turkey vultures, Burrowing owls, Lanner falcons and Egyptian vultures *as well as Lappet-faced vultures*.
Right at the entrance, a well-kept pond holds Cyprinodon macularius during the warm summer season.
The exterior of the plain, solid, energy-efficiently built building is painted in a light, sandy color and includes a large skylight.
The visitor entering the building will at first be greeted with general information about deserts, a few noteworthy international examples and the challenges faced by a life in a desert. The first enclosure containing live animals is a large tank with fat sand rats.
*At best, the fat sand rat exhibit should be sponsored by a pharmaceutical company that provides dietitian and anti - diabetic products.
*Passing through a curtain, the visitor now enters the brightly lit walkthrough area below the skylight, with sand and rockwork on both sides. On the left, saguaro and other cacti, on the right desert euphoria and desert flowers. *The botanical centerpiece would be an older Welwitschia specimen, with a graphic illustrating its age. Other botanical highlights would include a rose of Jericho and peyote cacti.*
Free-ranging animal inhabitants of this area include Gould's finches, Gambel's quails, *Trumpeter finches* and Inca doves as well as Common agama.
At the end of the walkthrough, a small spring highlights the importance of water and the beauty of an oasis, with a crocodile skull for the visitors to touch and get introduced to Africa's famous desert crocodiles.
An aquarium near the spring houses a group of red garra (as a little after-work spa option for the zoo staff ^^).
The visitor can now either sit down and enjoy the scenery, or continue to the desert terraria (staff access to them behind the scenes), displaying the following species:
- Gila monsters & Colorado River toads
- An Uromastyx species
- Saharan horned viper / *McMahon's viper*
- Sidewinder rattlesnake
- *Inland taipan*
- Parabuthus villosus (with scorpion exuviae in a glass bubble next to the tank to shine blacklight upon)
- Asbolus verrucosus
- Sicarius sp.
- Aphonopelma chalcodes
- Acanthoplus discoidalis
The visitor now enters the nocturnal part of the building. While the long tank housing lesser Egyptian jerboas is rather traditional, the other exhibit is dedicated to fans of the "Disneysque" design: imitating an Ancient Egyptian tomb full of hieroglyphics and fake pharaoh treasures, this dimly lit enclosure is home to a bachelor group of Egyptian fruit bats and connected to the main walkthrough hall, so that the little batmen can fly around there as well at night, adding an extra feature to zoonight events.
The next section houses the separate indoor enclosures of fennec foxes and caracals *as well as Etosha lions*, connected to separate outdoor enclosures.
*The closeby Moroccan restaurant allows for lovely desserts (sic) and a nice view of the* exhibits surrounding the building, housing addax / *Arabian oryx* & dorcas gazelles as well as, separately, onager & Bactrian camels.
A red kangaroo exhibit is accompanied by a standard walkthrough budgie exhibit. The closeby children playground includes, among others, plenty of sand, full of hidden "treasures" ^^ , a pyramid maze and a slide in the form of a rattlesnake as well as an operating Tex Mex food truck.
The daily bird of prey show features performances of Harris hawks, Turkey vultures, Burrowing owls, Lanner falcons and Egyptian vultures *as well as Lappet-faced vultures*.
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