I have a book 'Zoological gardens yesterday-today-tomorrow' by Karol Lukaszewicz, the former director of Cracov zoo, from 1970. In one chapter, he imagines an Ice Age themed zoo with herds of reindeer, musk oxen, bison, saiga, Przewalski horses, hyenas and lions.
Anyone have any high concept exhibit ideas?
- Thread starter TheMightyOrca
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I have a book 'Zoological gardens yesterday-today-tomorrow' by Karol Lukaszewicz, the former director of Cracov zoo, from 1970. In one chapter, he imagines an Ice Age themed zoo with herds of reindeer, musk oxen, bison, saiga, Przewalski horses, hyenas and lions.
Wouldn’t that be something to see?
Looking over my post I can see my Pacific Rim idea looks very much like the Minnesota Zoo’s Grizzly Coast/Northern Trail concept. I think with a slightly different theme it’d work very well in Alaska.
I’m envisioning a one-of-a-kind zoo pavilion focused on human evolution. The main attraction would be bonobos—gentler than chimpanzees, living in female-dominated societies, and behaviorally very close to humans.
For a unique twist, I’m considering including the Amami spiny rat as a secondary species. The idea is to introduce visitors to Dr. Jennifer Graves’ “Y chromosome disappearance theory” and challenge them with the thought-provoking question: “Where is humanity headed?” By learning about the sex-determination system of the Amami spiny rat—one of the very few mammals that has completely lost its Y chromosome—visitors can explore the validity of the “male extinction in mammals” hypothesis. Luckily, thanks to JAZA’s breeding program, captive numbers of Amami spiny rats have increased significantly, making their display very feasible. In fact, exhibiting bonobos might be the more difficult task.
Of course, simply displaying the spiny rats isn’t enough—they might just seem like “rats with a different name” to visitors. Careful signage, interpretive panels, and a thoughtfully designed habitat would be essential to present them as “living specimens” and provide a museum-like learning experience.
I’m also considering species like treeshrews or naked mole-rats. If anyone can suggest other mammals that could fit into themes of human evolution, social behavior, or sex-determination, I’d love to hear ideas.
For the bonobo enclosure, I’m imagining a mix of forest and grassland to reflect our ancestors’ move from forests to the savannah. Any other educational ideas connected to human evolution would be very welcome as well.
For a unique twist, I’m considering including the Amami spiny rat as a secondary species. The idea is to introduce visitors to Dr. Jennifer Graves’ “Y chromosome disappearance theory” and challenge them with the thought-provoking question: “Where is humanity headed?” By learning about the sex-determination system of the Amami spiny rat—one of the very few mammals that has completely lost its Y chromosome—visitors can explore the validity of the “male extinction in mammals” hypothesis. Luckily, thanks to JAZA’s breeding program, captive numbers of Amami spiny rats have increased significantly, making their display very feasible. In fact, exhibiting bonobos might be the more difficult task.
Of course, simply displaying the spiny rats isn’t enough—they might just seem like “rats with a different name” to visitors. Careful signage, interpretive panels, and a thoughtfully designed habitat would be essential to present them as “living specimens” and provide a museum-like learning experience.
I’m also considering species like treeshrews or naked mole-rats. If anyone can suggest other mammals that could fit into themes of human evolution, social behavior, or sex-determination, I’d love to hear ideas.
For the bonobo enclosure, I’m imagining a mix of forest and grassland to reflect our ancestors’ move from forests to the savannah. Any other educational ideas connected to human evolution would be very welcome as well.
Not a mammal, but the New Mexico whiptail is an all-female lizard species who, for obvious reasons, can only pass on X chromosomes
Persephone
Well-Known Member
I’ve had a few ideas, some of which may eventually make it into my design thread. One that I’ve come back to a few times is based on the book No Beast So Fierce by Dane Huckelbridge. It’s the story of Jim Corbett’s search for the Champawat tiger and the world that made both hunters.
It would start through the POV of a wounded hunter stalking the Indian highlands. Potentially beginning with a projector scene in a small hut with blurry video of a gunshot and a shattered tooth. Now a predator, with POV text scrawled on signs in paint somewhere between orange and blood red, surveys her territory. The first half is mostly herbivores with signage explaining why they are not suitable for a wounded hunter. Gaur, boar, etc can fight back. Smaller prey such as monkeys, birds, and blackbuck aren’t enough to keep the narrator alive for long. The half ends with a step inside a hut to face a mirror. The painted text reads: “There. That will do.”
The break point has some props for an Indian village with posters advertising a bounty for a killer tiger (this is mildly ahistorical, but necessary for the narrative). You are now the hunter following the tiger through her territory, occasionally finding props showing her trail of destruction. This focuses more on other predators such as sloth bears and leopards, potentially with some information on how they, too, can come into conflict with humans in a crowded subcontinent.
The area ends first with an exhibit of a healthy tiger highlighting how they live, then with either a crude dark ride or a walkthrough depicting a moonlit forest with rustling bushes and glowing eyes that disappear after a moment, culminating in a dark room confronting the Champawat tiger through a screen effect before there’s a bang. and a flash of light. The room opens into a small museum on the actual Jim Corbett and the Champawat tiger, including Corbett’s later drive to establish protected spaces and how these parks can reduce animal-human conflict. Maybe a few smaller species and domestics such as goats can round out the complex after the climax.
I’m not sure how effective this would be. It does have some true crime type appeal and ties together an exhibit complex with a narrative, but it comes at the cost of child-friendliness. Maybe I’ll flesh this out with the full text of the narration at some point.
It would start through the POV of a wounded hunter stalking the Indian highlands. Potentially beginning with a projector scene in a small hut with blurry video of a gunshot and a shattered tooth. Now a predator, with POV text scrawled on signs in paint somewhere between orange and blood red, surveys her territory. The first half is mostly herbivores with signage explaining why they are not suitable for a wounded hunter. Gaur, boar, etc can fight back. Smaller prey such as monkeys, birds, and blackbuck aren’t enough to keep the narrator alive for long. The half ends with a step inside a hut to face a mirror. The painted text reads: “There. That will do.”
The break point has some props for an Indian village with posters advertising a bounty for a killer tiger (this is mildly ahistorical, but necessary for the narrative). You are now the hunter following the tiger through her territory, occasionally finding props showing her trail of destruction. This focuses more on other predators such as sloth bears and leopards, potentially with some information on how they, too, can come into conflict with humans in a crowded subcontinent.
The area ends first with an exhibit of a healthy tiger highlighting how they live, then with either a crude dark ride or a walkthrough depicting a moonlit forest with rustling bushes and glowing eyes that disappear after a moment, culminating in a dark room confronting the Champawat tiger through a screen effect before there’s a bang. and a flash of light. The room opens into a small museum on the actual Jim Corbett and the Champawat tiger, including Corbett’s later drive to establish protected spaces and how these parks can reduce animal-human conflict. Maybe a few smaller species and domestics such as goats can round out the complex after the climax.
I’m not sure how effective this would be. It does have some true crime type appeal and ties together an exhibit complex with a narrative, but it comes at the cost of child-friendliness. Maybe I’ll flesh this out with the full text of the narration at some point.
Why, yes! I do have quite a high-concept exhibit idea.
In a large greenhouse, a group of climbing towers for a Canopy route, with giant, cylindrical terrariums holding various invertebrates such as cockroaches, stick insects and grasshoppers. With a spiral staircase you'd be able to see the full thing from top to bottom and see which animals prefer to stay down below and which ones prefer the canopy.
In a large greenhouse, a group of climbing towers for a Canopy route, with giant, cylindrical terrariums holding various invertebrates such as cockroaches, stick insects and grasshoppers. With a spiral staircase you'd be able to see the full thing from top to bottom and see which animals prefer to stay down below and which ones prefer the canopy.
AndyJ08
Well-Known Member
A fun idea I’ve had for a while- not exactly “unreasonable” but definitely “out there”; the Wallace Line Cafe. The building itself would be a circular restaurant with a long mural wrapping around the top of the building’s walls- split down the middle into two sides. To the left are murals of Asian fauna such as tigers, elephants, leopards, and the like, and to the right of the line, tree kangaroos, cassowaries, and other marsupials. To make this idea even more interesting, a large viewing window on the restaurant’s left side that opens up to a large outdoor exhibit for orangutans, and another window on the restaurant’s right side of the building opening up onto an outdoor exhibit for cassowaries! A golden-tiled line would physically run along the floor of the cafe, further showcasing the “split nature” of the establishment, running further up the wall and splitting the murals in two.