I'm not. I think they're an underrated species.
Changes You Would Make to Your Zoo
- Thread starter MountainBongo
- Start date
I'm not. I think they're an underrated species.
SafariKid2
Member
That's good to know. I think they are, too.
BRONX ZOO
These are the changes I would make to the Bronx Zoo. In my two visits I have yet to see the Mouse House, World of Reptiles, World of Birds, the Bison Range, the Children's Zoo and the Aquatic Bird House. So if anyone is familiar with those areas, I would be more than happy to discuss these ideas and how feasible they would be. Also, I am proposing these ideas with little regard for money, and am also willing to discuss how the zoo could go forward in a more financially sensible manner. Without further ado, here are the changes.
African Plains
These are the changes I would make to the Bronx Zoo. In my two visits I have yet to see the Mouse House, World of Reptiles, World of Birds, the Bison Range, the Children's Zoo and the Aquatic Bird House. So if anyone is familiar with those areas, I would be more than happy to discuss these ideas and how feasible they would be. Also, I am proposing these ideas with little regard for money, and am also willing to discuss how the zoo could go forward in a more financially sensible manner. Without further ado, here are the changes.
African Plains
- Demolishing the Nature Trek at the start of the exhibit and replacing that with several habitats that fit the woodland theme (nyalas leading to lions), such as a netted over habitat for caracals, an aviary for lovebirds, boulder-chats, barbets, starlings, etc., open-topped reptile exhibits for ocellated flat lizard among other African reptiles, etc.
- The nyala exhibit is perfect to me, and the view into the neighboring lion habitat is still superb, aging like a fine wine.
- The lion habitat would be somewhat expanded into the Thomson's gazelle habitat, with a glass viewing area and perhaps a keeper demonstration area. (Maybe a tug-of-war rope?)
- The giraffes' outdoor habitat is absolutely stellar, though I would maybe phase out generic giraffes in favor of Masai or West African imports.
- The Carter Giraffe Building's dayroom would be expanded, and more enrichment opportunities would be added. Aardvarks are fine and the mongoose/hornbill are fine.
- The painted dog habitat is fine, although I would probably add a running stream as well as an opportunity to rotate with the neighboring spotted hyena habitat.
- The zebra habitat is fine, although I would add interpretive graphics about thermoregulation and other aspects of a zebra's physiology.
- The gazelle habitat is fine, though I would probably mix the gazelles with the giraffes and maybe bring the cheetahs back on exhibit in this area, basically cloning the African painted dog habitat's viewing area and allowing the cheetahs to look into the zebra habitat.
- All species inside (save for the little blue penguins) would be moved to World of Birds, and this would become a designated aquarium, perhaps this would be a good exit exhibit from the Latin American zone, a journey from Venezuela to the Peruvian coast, and all the animals that are contained. The raptor aviaries nearby would be maintained though.
- In general, this zone would have a cohesive theme tying everything together, perhaps an "Indo-Pacific Islands" theme, with California sea lions of course being a staple habitat. (Perhaps underwater viewing could be added much like Lincoln Park's seal pool.
- The Monkey House would be reconfigured as a "New Guinea" house for tree kangaroos, dusky pademelons and other marsupials/animals native to that region.
- Aside from an import of more geladas either from Ethiopia or from other zoos with a glut in their population, this exhibit still works beautifully. Maybe bringing back cape teal?
- Maybe the addition of a glass viewing area for the grizzly bears?
- Maybe a possible mix with elk?
- Maybe a more cohesive theme in general rather than throwaway animals and a typical barnyard, maybe some interpretives about community gardens in urban areas like Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez proposes?
- Other than replanting the gorilla habitat every now and then, allowing some stands of bamboo (perhaps Indocalamus tesselatus or any more representatives of African bamboo species) to grow, and updating the signage or adding some more monkey species in with the gorillas (can you say DeBrazza's guenon?) I would say that this exhibit is impeccable. Maybe sprucing up the colobus, okapi, mandrill/red river hog exhibits a tad by adding some windmill palms in choice locations, but other than that, the exhibit as is (especially the Treasures of the Congo area).
- The addition of another species in order to provide more continuity between Bears and this zone, possibly takin along with Tibetan or Himalayan wolf and more pheasant species.
- In general, signage would be updated in order to keep with the current species list.
- In the Scrub Forest habitat, tree kangaroos would be moved elsewhere in the zoo and replaced with juvenile komodo dragons. The Asian small clawed otters would be moved back to the Mangrove Forest habitat, and replaced with bali mynahs or another charismatic species from a Scrub Forest environment.
- In the Mangrove Forest habitat, PROBOSCIS MONKEYS WOULD BE BROUGHT BACK.
- In the Lowland Evergreen Rain Forest, clouded leopards would be brought in and the exhibit would be retrofitted for the benefit of visitor and animal alike (more spots for privacy, perhaps the installation of one-way glass). The tapir habitat would stay as is.
- In the Lower Montane Rain Forest, nothing really needs to be changed. Gharials have an objectively amazing pool.
- No significant changes, although the ballroom area could be made smaller in favor of a nocturnal exhibit for aye-ayes, jumping rats, etc.
- Didn't see in person, seems nice enough based on photos.
- No significant changes.
- This zone would become the planned Latin America exhibit, perhaps emulating Venezuela or the Pantanal. Whatever species the zoo goes with (I don't know if they will bring jaguars back to the zoo as Queens apparently planned on having jaguars), if it mirrors Congo or even newer developments like the Komodo dragon habitat or Madagascar, it's bound to be excellent.
- Giving the habitats back their original names, like Kanha Meadow for Axis deer, blackbuck and muntjac, Angkor Forest for gaur, Tiger Machan for the tigers, Khao Yai for the elephants, Chitwan Valley for the rhinos, Rajasthan Uplands for the nilgai, etc. (though with the Przewalski's horses and the markhor, that would not be possible.) Speaking of elephants...
- MAINTAINING ELEPHANTS. Elephants are probably the only reason people go on this ride to begin with, as people can see white rhinos elsewhere in the zoo and there are also standalone habitats for tigers and red pandas in Tiger Mountain and Himalayan Highlands respectively. I would probably expand the elephant habitat behind the scenes, phasing out babirusa or perhaps moving babirusa to another portion of the monorail. After Patty and Happy pass on, a new multigenerational herd of elephants would be brought in from another zoo. Their current habitat would remain, perhaps being expanded into the babirusa habitat among other possible locations. A second stop would be added as per the original plan, and maybe the concept of a second stop would be expanded upon with an overlook into several different habitats (elephants, rhinos, hoofstock) and maybe some side exhibits for Bengal monitor, lion-tailed macaque, etc. Indoor viewing of the elephants for winter would be added.
- Didn't see, seems fantastic enough to keep as is.
- FINALLY BRINGING BACK WORLD OF DARKNESS. Also retrofitting the building to have net-zero energy emissions and meeting LEED standards, bringing back rare species like leopard cats and caimans, etc.
- Aside from moving the larger crocodilians to outdoor exhibits or feasibly expanding the indoor exhibits, this area seems fine as is.
- White rhinos would either be moved to African Plains or out of the zoo altogether, and the zoo would embrace the "Komodo Island" theme, maybe placing Asian water buffalo and crab-eating macaques in the former elephant habitat. Water buffaloes could have the section with the pool and the unobstructed viewing closest to Astor Court and the northern side of Zoo Center, and crab-eating macaques would have a netted over habitat much like the mandrill habitat in Congo Gorilla Forest, and maybe buffaloes could have access to that area as well through an access vestibule/airlock.
That's probably a definitive list of all the changes that you would make to the Bronx Zoo.
OREGON ZOO
These are the changes I would make to the Oregon Zoo based on how much I know about the facilities. My vision may not be 100% conducive to the realities present such as monetary costs or amount of available space, and I haven't visited the zoo myself, but I am familiar with the methodology behind the design choices they made and even talked to staff about the design of certain exhibits, Elephant Lands in particular. With that said, here goes.
Great Northwest
These are the changes I would make to the Oregon Zoo based on how much I know about the facilities. My vision may not be 100% conducive to the realities present such as monetary costs or amount of available space, and I haven't visited the zoo myself, but I am familiar with the methodology behind the design choices they made and even talked to staff about the design of certain exhibits, Elephant Lands in particular. With that said, here goes.
Great Northwest
- Mountain goat exhibit stays as is, maybe the addition of marmots and pikas could work and create a dynamic mixed-species habitat.
- Some sightlines with the black bear exhibit could be altered but otherwise the exhibit seems really nice especially considering the hilly terrain.
- Bobcat exhibit is fine as is.
- Eagle Canyon is perfect, although the mesh could be painted a non-obtrusive color.
- Cascade Stream and Canyon is fine as is, perhaps a more modern interior design with the habitats themselves being maintained?
- Cougar Crossing is fine as is.
- Condors of the Columbia's rockwork (or lack thereof) is modified to be more naturalistic and blend in with the surrounding forest/exhibits.
- Family Farm is fine, the Catio appears to be an ingenious exhibit.
- Wherever possible, add a moat to one of the habitats to provide unobstructed viewing of the bears and to provide consistency with the rest of the habitats in the zoo (black bears have unobstructed viewing as do lions *over a high glass fence* and tigers, and even chimps but we'll get to those).
- If this idea hasn't been considered already, perhaps an ability to stock one of the pools with trout for the bears to hunt?
- Bring back Steller's sea lions. It's called *Steller* Cove for a reason.
- Perhaps tying Steller Cove in with the rest of the Great Northwest a bit better with some visual connectivity? It comes across little disjointed from the rest of the Great Northwest
- Would a dedicated penguin encounter outdoors be feasible? Other than that and possibly adding natural substrate in such a way that it doesn't damage the filtration system in place (e.g. pebbles or sand) inside, seems fine as is, maybe the roof could be changed to be an ETFE dome?
- Expand the tiger exhibit into the current red panda exhibit, and build a dedicated red panda facility, perhaps some cranes nearby? (And of course reabsorbing this area into the "Pacific Shores" region)
- Paint all support beams for the netted enclosures black to provide visual connectivity and perhaps some light theming, perhaps a University research station for chimps and orangutans not unlike those at Kyoto University or Yerkes National Primate Center?
- Heavily planting the exhibits in such a way that is evocative of their natural environment, using as many native plants (and choice exotics like Indocalamus tessellatus, Trachycarpus fortunei or Musa basjoo) as possible.
- Keep the moated enclosure. That enclosure was funded by Jane Goodall herself, and should be kept as is as a testament to the Oregon Zoo's relationship with her and chimpanzee research. It is also a familiar home for the four chimps currently present, and with some modifications can be more beneficial for keepers to work in.
- Change the look of the "enrichment tree" to be more evocative of a ficus or a banyan tree, using casts and scale-accurate models.
- Adding an "observation tower" so the orangutans and gibbons can see about the entire zoo.
- Plant the outskirts of the exhibit heavily to be evocative of an Asian rainforest.
- Allow the growth of grass in the habitats (which appears to already be the case).
- Possible introduction of new members to the herd, perhaps some females from another facility? If the zoo wants to continue to breed, that is.
- *if there is space* the addition of other Asian species, such as Eld's deer in the main paddocks, or even the reintroduction of Visayan warty pigs in a nearby habitat or even sun bears (extremely wishful thinking on my part for the latter two)
- Open the Rhino Ridge habitat, and possibly mix the rhinos in with sacred ibis.
- Bring back zebras, and maybe add a transfer chute so sometimes the zebras can enter the rhino habitat...?
- Convert the two savanna habitats into a "megasavanna", adding wildebeest, eland and maybe impala along with the aforementioned zebra and the giraffes nearby. Birds could include guineafowl, white-faced whistling ducks and Egyptian geese.
- Move the lemurs out. They are not predators and they most certainly do not live in the Serengeti. Of course caracals would be brought back, and the tunnel system once used by the mongoose would be reopened once more. Perhaps the old tree kangaroo habitat near the road could be retrofitted to house the lemurs? Or they could be implemented in another phase of Primate Forest?
- In general getting rid of the neotropical species present in this building as well as in the Africa Rainforest se, or rather building a dedicated "Tropical House" elsewhere in the Zoo if there is space that is in the same vein as the original Amazon Flooded Forest.
- Other than heavily replanting the current lion and painted dog habitats, and planting bamboo towards the back of the cheetah habitat to hide the firs in the background, this exhibit is fine as is.
- Other than adding more crocodiles in the Bamba Du Jon Swamp habitat, adding natural substrate to the fruit bat exhibit, heavily planting the colobus/Allen's swamp monkey habitat and ditto for the flamingo aviary, and maybe adding a massive aviary for DeBrazza's monkeys in with bongos and perhaps red river hogs (again, if there is space), I would say this exhibit is fine as is.
I did these changes two years ago to the Capron Park Zoo, but since my views have matured and my knowledge has increased I will do it again.
1. The Nocturnal exhibit is very outdated. I would make it a diurnal Deserts Building and hold to following-
Fennec Fox in their current exhibit
Rosy Boa in corn snake Exhibit
Slender-tailed Meerkat in Sloth exhibit
Sand Cat in Bettong exhibit
Burrowing Owls in Agouti exhibit
Blue-bellied Rollers, Spotted Dikkop, and Northern Carmine Beeaters in the former Loris exhibit.
A new Exhibit in the center of the pathway for naked mole rats
2. The Sadler Building has to go. The Exhibits in it are very outdated and soon will be too small for anything significant. Instead of renovating it, I would take down the building and instead use the space for a new Sloth Bear Exhibit, so that the zoo can breed bears again. Since sloth bears would not need the whole space, half of it will become an Exhibit for dholes.
3. The kangaroo exhibit is also ready for an update. I believe it was a better Exhibit back when there were aoudad instead, so will rebuild the hilly part like it used to be and house Transcapian urials.
4. Even though the Rainforest is the best building in the zoo, the species list could use some updating. For side exhibits, I would move the Tree Python in with the other snakes and replace its Exhibit with poison Dart Frogs. I would also remove the Kookaburra to house Pied tamarins in the tree stump Exhibit. For the main exhibit, I would make the lineup Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth, Rodrigues Fruit Bat, Greater Malayan Chevrotain, Red-footed Tortoise, Red-crested Turaco, African Pygmy Goose, Green-naped Pheasant Pigeon, Crested Wood Partridge, Emerald Starling, Violet-backed Starling, Crested Coua, Plush-crested Jay, Spangled Cotinga, Beautiful Fruit Dove, Black-naped Fruit Dove, Green Woodhoopoe, Raggiana Bird of Paradise, Sunbittern, Black Crake, and Hooded Pitta.
5. The current entrance and administration building is in very bad shape. When replacing it, I would put all the staff only parts on a second floor so there is more room for visitor areas. A new year-round sitdown Restauraunt called the Capron Park Cafe would be included, that has an entrance from inside and outside the zoo. Attached to the building will be an indoor sea birds Walk-through with little Blue Penguins, inca terns, grey gulls, horned puffin, tufted puffin, common murre, and common eider.
6. The current lion and otter buildings would at this time both be torn down to make room for new Exhibits. A new building with house various coldweather tolerant animals, with outdoor exhibits for Klipspringer Klipspringer Rock hyrax, north american river otter, red Panda and Himalayan Monal, and gelada (or japanese macaques if this isn't possible).
7. This building above will also include an indoor section for Australian animals, featuring a woma python, Queensland koalas, Matschie's tree kangaroos, and an aviary with masked Lapwing, australian crested doves, and Blue-faced honeyeater.
8. Since this zoo would no longer have big cats at this point, there would also be a new amur Leopard Exhibit built as part of this Lion Building replacement, and it would be on top of the current bear Exhibit and tent area.
9. Across from the new Australia building, I would build an Aviary for keas.
10. The Splashpad would be updated to better fit the themes of the zoo.
11. The pond ends up wasting a lot of space that could be used to house more animal Exhibits. I would drain the pond to build a few large animal Exhibits-
1. Bring back polar bears to New England if possible. If not, build a Grizzly exhibit.
2. Next to the bear exhibit, build a seal pool with both grey and harbor seals.
3. A large Aviary across from the seals will house steller's Sea Eagle.
4. Two large habitats between the aviary and Splashpad will house amur tigers.
5. A small yard will house Arctic fox.
6. Behind the polar bear exhibit in the field currently across from the goat yard will be a Red-crowned crane and Reeve's Muntjac exhibit
Last edited:
I was going to give my own changes, but these are by far the best suggestions.
But I’ll still throw in a few suggestions.
Bring back the Nile hippo to the pachyderm house, add Chimps to the Gorilla House, and add more farm animals to the new Children Zoo.
Hello, this is my first post on this forum. If I could make changes to my local zoo this is what I would do.
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
These are some ideas I have after many dozens of visits to the park.
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
These are some ideas I have after many dozens of visits to the park.
- As mentioned previously by others, add a slightly closed off section for African Bush Elephants that is accessible by foot for viewing.
- In the main plains area, have open sections for direct viewing of the plains without having to go on the train ride.
- Add Arabian Oryx, Dromedary Camel, and Addax to the Egypt or Morocco areas.
- Move the Asian Elephants to near Jungala and put some other species in its current habitat, possibly the Black Rhinoceros.
- Add Koalas and Wombats to the Bird Gardens area.
- Rehaul Jungala to add more Asiatic species, such as the aforementioned Asian Elephants, Asiatic Black Bear, Gaur/Indian Bison, Axis Deer, etc, as well as some smaller mammals such as Binturongs, Crab-eating Macaques, Red Pandas, and Raccoon Dogs.
- Add African Leopards and African Wild Dogs to the Edge of Africa habitat.
- Move Bongos to an area near the Myombe Reserve, and also add Red River Hogs there.
- Add some American species such as American Bison, Elk, Gray Wolves, etc throughout the park.
- Create a new section of the zoo dedicated to Neotropical wildlife, such as an Amazonian flooded forest, American Crocodiles, Capybara, Jaguars, New World Monkeys, etc.
I'm not sure that gray wolves or elk would do well in the muggy Florida climate.
There are some wolves (red wolves in particular) that live in a preserve in the Florida Panhandle, as well as wolf subspecies that live in more tropical places (I'm thinking Indian or Mexican wolves), and I think if there are climate-controlled shelters and an overall wooded and misty habitat, elk could fare somewhat decently.
Late reply, but I also agree with these changes.
It’s astonishing how there have been no attempt to bring back chimps to Brookfield. It’s a no brained when Lincoln Park has both great apes easily.
I’ve love to see the old walrus return to the zoo. Too bad captive walruses are hard to come by for US zoos these days.
Great Bear Wilderness is in need of an expansion. There’s potential for more seldom seen American species. Especially moose and the formerly planned bighorn sheep.
If only China were not so stingy, a panda exhibit would be perfect. Even some zoos like San Diego no longer have them anymore after a successful breeding period.
Strix
Well-Known Member
Please note these changes are not entirely realistic as I am not taking money or animal availability into account.
COTSWOLD WILDLIFE PARK:
COTSWOLD WILDLIFE PARK:
- Move the ostriches into the rhino paddock.
- Get philippine spotted deer and house them in the ostrich enclosure, planting more trees in it.
- Expand the giraffe exhibit outwards and move in the zebras.
- Add cheetah in the zebra exhibit, modifying the barrier if necessary.
- Replace llamas with addax, and have a large portion of sand in the enclosure.
- Extend the clouded leopard exhibit westwards and extend the path around it.
- Cut off the eastern half of the camel enclosure and expand the lion exhibit into it. Extend the camel enclosure further westwards.
- Remove the barrier underneath the path so that the wolves now have both their’s and the white-naped crane’s enclosures.
- Replace the white storks with the displaced cranes.
- Add rarer waterfowl such as baer’s pochard into the flamingo lake.
- The former warty pig enclosure is now part of the cassowary exhibit.
- The former wallaby enclosure now contains pudus.
- A chunk of the empty area in front of the manor is now an arena for animal demonstrations.
- The invertebrate house now contains a few freshwater aquariums. Some of the rarer invertebrates can be moved into the reptile house.
- Create a medium-sized outdoor enclosure for the gibbons, attached to the south of their current indoor enclosure.
- Replace emus with zebra duikers, cover enclosure with more foliage.
- Make the large aviary in the walled garden walkthrough again, and make it beach themed, increasing the amount of water, removing the scarlet ibis and replacing them with avocets, oystercatchers and eider ducks.
- Completely replace the butterfly paradise with a himalayan musk deer enclosure.
- Replace dwarf mongoose in Land of the Lions with indian gray mongoose.
- Bring back malayan tapir and house them in the former vicuña exhibit.
- Move otters from their current home next to Rainforest Life into Animal Adventure.
- Bring back bornean bearded pig and replace the camels with them.
- Turn gibbon exhibit into an aviary for steller’s sea eagles.
- Get rid of red river hogs and move the warthogs into their enclosure.
- Take a chunk off of the outback exhibit and make it into a wombat enclosure.
- Add gharials, more snakes and more turtles to the new reptile house.
- Demolish old aquarium building for an orangutan exhibit.
- Extend african wild dogs into the warthog enclosure.
- Remove barrier between giraffes and zebra enclosure.
- Replace ring-tailed lemurs with white-fronted and blue-eyes black lemurs.
- Extend Rainforest Life. Add a couple more bird species (tanagers, tinamou).
- Completely demolish meerkat and otter exhibits in favour of a takin enclosure.
- Instead of making snowdon aviary a new colobus exhibit, use it to house the white-cheeked gibbons and new silvery and müller’s gibbons.
- Combine aviary rows into larger, taller aviaries for birds of prey.
- Add sifakas to lemur exhibit
- Between penguin exhibit and lookout lodge, create new enclosure for common cranes and great bustards.
- Create new african wild dog and bongo enclosures adjacent to the oryxes.
- Use area of former african wild dog and bongo enclosures to create a new gorilla exhibit.
- Move indian swamp deer to passage through asia and use their former exhibit for water chevrotains.
- Add defassa waterbuck to white rhino enclosure.
- Create new brown hyena exhibit adjacent to zebras.
- Create honey badger exhibit next to giraffes.
- Make passage through asia accessible to walkers.
- Add markhor to passage through asia, make a rocky section.
- Make javan langur enclosure next to sloth bears.
- Make former sea lion exhibit a komodo dragon exhibit, also containing other asian species in terrariums.
- Extend squirrel monkey exhibit and replace them with howler monkeys.
- Build aviary row adjacent to red panda enclosure and fill them with tropical birds such as parrots, pigeons, pheasants and turacos.
- Replace dwarf crocodile with cuvier’s caiman.
I'm npt going to say anything for Los Angeles because they have way to many problems and they already have solutions.
San Diego
First I would demolish Elephant Odessey, the zoo doesn't need Elephants and it doesn't have space. I would replace it with two exhibits: An Andes Mountain exhibit (Andean Bears, Andean Condors, Mountain Tapir, Llama) and an African Savvanah exhibit. I would renovate the old exhibits in Northern Frontier to hold Grizzly Bears, California Condors, and Pronghorns. All three of these new editions would mostly free up the Urban Jungle and Asian Passage space where they could build some sort of Asian exhibit but I'm going for max efficiency for this. I would get rid of the off exhibits holding areas above Panda Trek to become a Mountains of Asia area. The zoo could include sun bears, sloth bears, langurs, binturongs, rhinos, snow leopards, and they could bring back some of their rarer Asian species like Chinese gorals. Now, this frees up Urban Jungle and Asian Passage for whatever exhibits they want, they could expand the Lost Forest and have a South American Jungle. They could build a larger Australia section with kangaroos and maybe bring back their kiwis.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Not much here I would just improve some of the Asian Savvanah exhibits and give them a proper walkthrough or caravan safari. I would try to include their Chinese dholes, Przewalski's horse, and Onagers (I think they have Onagers I'm not sure). Really this would just help show off their great Asian collection. I would also rebuild the trail that went from the end of Tiger Trail to the Elephant exhibit. I would also make the bonobos visible to the public.
San Diego
First I would demolish Elephant Odessey, the zoo doesn't need Elephants and it doesn't have space. I would replace it with two exhibits: An Andes Mountain exhibit (Andean Bears, Andean Condors, Mountain Tapir, Llama) and an African Savvanah exhibit. I would renovate the old exhibits in Northern Frontier to hold Grizzly Bears, California Condors, and Pronghorns. All three of these new editions would mostly free up the Urban Jungle and Asian Passage space where they could build some sort of Asian exhibit but I'm going for max efficiency for this. I would get rid of the off exhibits holding areas above Panda Trek to become a Mountains of Asia area. The zoo could include sun bears, sloth bears, langurs, binturongs, rhinos, snow leopards, and they could bring back some of their rarer Asian species like Chinese gorals. Now, this frees up Urban Jungle and Asian Passage for whatever exhibits they want, they could expand the Lost Forest and have a South American Jungle. They could build a larger Australia section with kangaroos and maybe bring back their kiwis.
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Not much here I would just improve some of the Asian Savvanah exhibits and give them a proper walkthrough or caravan safari. I would try to include their Chinese dholes, Przewalski's horse, and Onagers (I think they have Onagers I'm not sure). Really this would just help show off their great Asian collection. I would also rebuild the trail that went from the end of Tiger Trail to the Elephant exhibit. I would also make the bonobos visible to the public.
San Diego Zoo
- I disagree with demolishing Elephant Odyssey, as it's proven to be a veritable home for geriatric elephants for more than a decade. I think it should stay a home for geriatric elephants or perhaps a bachelor herd from the Safari Park. Also, the zoo doesn't have the capacity to do a full savanna exhibit, and savannas have been done to death in zoos throughout the United States. An Andean Foothills exhibit is interesting, and could take up a good portion of Asian Passage...
- Urban Jungle I do agree is a massive missed opportunity, and the idea of "high-end animal encounters" comes across as pretentious and alienating to the average zoo-goer. I would make this the most amazing Sahel-themed exhibit for giraffes and rare African desert hoofstock, maybe even keeping cheetahs and/or adding African painted dogs.
- I like the direction you want to take the Asian Savanna, and would go a step further and do a "transitional hub" between Southeast Asia and Central Asia, with yurts looking into the dhole exhibit and the Przewalski's horse/onager fields, and just a general "Asian" vibe.
- AFAIK only the Zoo has bonobos, and the Safari Park has two gibbons last I saw on one of their Instagram stories. I think they could move the gibbons to Tiger Trail, and use this space for Guinea baboons, with a new viewing area and maybe some more vistas into the African fields.
Last edited:
I have thought about using the urban jungle as an African area I just never understood how you would lay out the path because of the areas weird spacing but I agree they should try to bring back the wild dogs or hyenas.
Ya, that would be cool so you could go into different realms or areas like India, Mongolia, Indonesia, China, and the Himalayas. The layout would be a bit strange but that would be a great way to explain the geographic diversity.
The original concept art did include binturongs so I'm sure they could put gibbons, that would really help the Jungle vibe of the area.
Also Something I forgot to add is that they need to put something in the arbor way behind Tiger trail. It could be an extension of Tiger Trail or Condor Ridge it doesn't matter they just need to put something there.
I think they should move the giraffes to the central exhibit (currently home to Indian rhinos), and maybe have side exhibits for scimitar horned oryx, dama gazelle, dorcas gazelle, cheetahs and African wild dogs. Maybe even some migratory birds and a nearby exhibit for lions going down a bit into Asian Passage? (Using West African lions as a gap representing Asiatic lions and African lions...?)
The exhibits would definitely need to be refurbished and redone. They are very old and wouldn't fit the needs of wild dogs or scimitar-horned oryx. The big problem with the layout of the area is the size of the paths, they are unnecessarily large, right now the exhibits wouldn't be big enough for wild dogs. I do like the idea of a hillside lion exhibit that could represent Asian Passage, Africa Rocks, and this Sahel area. It would also be right next to the Huamei cafe which could look right out onto the exhibit.
The recent news of an Outdoor gorilla exhibit on the way has got me thinking about the Franklin Park Zoo, and the changes I'd make to it. Here is the list of changes I'd like to make-
1. Build a north american River Otter habitat on the field area across from the restrooms at the back of Nature's Neighborhood- I think the zoo's biggest flaw is its shortage of animals, and this would be a popular small addition that wouldn't need a super expensive exhibit.
2. Re-work the African Savanna Exhibit. I like the plan from a few years ago build a watering hole area in that Exhibit, and would add nyala to add diversity to this large exhibit, along with the mountain zebra, wildebeest, and ostrich.
3. The lion exhibit is in my opinion the worst Exhibit in the zoo. I would expand the Lion exhibit into the current most area to give them more room.
4. When the tigers die, replace them with Malayan tigers.
5. Re-open the old hoofstock Yards and Exhibit numerous cold weather tolerant species, including Chinese Goral, Transcapian Urial, Bactrian Camel, Gunaco, and various Crane Species.
6. The area behind the bird house is another easy location for expansion, and I would turn this area into a polar Bear Exhibit, along with arctic fox and snowy owl.
7. Update the Kangaroo area to feature a large group of Western Grey kangaroos in a Walk-through exhibit. This would decrease the emptiness in the center of the zoo
8. Add white rhinos to the Giraffe habitat.
9. Give the Pygmy hippos permanent access to the old Capybara Exhibit.
10. Renovate the Condor Aviary to house freeflight birds again.
11. Rework the bird house to have a more impressive collection. Ideally Raggiana bird of Paradise would live in the second exhibit, and the third exhibit would house Carmine beaters, blue-bellied rollers, and White-headed buffalo weavers. The gouldian finches would be phased out and the turacos would move into the swamp exhibit.
1. Build a north american River Otter habitat on the field area across from the restrooms at the back of Nature's Neighborhood- I think the zoo's biggest flaw is its shortage of animals, and this would be a popular small addition that wouldn't need a super expensive exhibit.
2. Re-work the African Savanna Exhibit. I like the plan from a few years ago build a watering hole area in that Exhibit, and would add nyala to add diversity to this large exhibit, along with the mountain zebra, wildebeest, and ostrich.
3. The lion exhibit is in my opinion the worst Exhibit in the zoo. I would expand the Lion exhibit into the current most area to give them more room.
4. When the tigers die, replace them with Malayan tigers.
5. Re-open the old hoofstock Yards and Exhibit numerous cold weather tolerant species, including Chinese Goral, Transcapian Urial, Bactrian Camel, Gunaco, and various Crane Species.
6. The area behind the bird house is another easy location for expansion, and I would turn this area into a polar Bear Exhibit, along with arctic fox and snowy owl.
7. Update the Kangaroo area to feature a large group of Western Grey kangaroos in a Walk-through exhibit. This would decrease the emptiness in the center of the zoo
8. Add white rhinos to the Giraffe habitat.
9. Give the Pygmy hippos permanent access to the old Capybara Exhibit.
10. Renovate the Condor Aviary to house freeflight birds again.
11. Rework the bird house to have a more impressive collection. Ideally Raggiana bird of Paradise would live in the second exhibit, and the third exhibit would house Carmine beaters, blue-bellied rollers, and White-headed buffalo weavers. The gouldian finches would be phased out and the turacos would move into the swamp exhibit.