Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Cleveland Zoo Elephant Crossing Review

Loxodonta4491 said:
And one MAJOR point I want to bring up: The first large animal exhibit in North America to be LEED certified. Regardless of the issues i have with the exhibit, this is an incredible feat for any zoo. Building a whole new exhibit with that kind of green efficiency? Go Cleveland! Let it be known that Cleveland was the first to do this.
Click to expand...

Of course a GREAT deal of their LEED points came simply from re-using the old building.
 
The Elephant Crossing wasn't worth getting rid of the Hippos, Malayan Tapirs and warthogs. All of those animals could have been moved to other parts of the zoo but no just get rid of a verity of animals, that doesn't make scene. Bring in two new animals but get rid of three? I think its time to find someone new to run the zoo! i really thought the Elephant Crossing was really lame and so did the people i went with!
 
Loxodonta4491 said:
As a devoted Cleveland zoo fan and elephant connoisseur, I'm personally divided.
Click to expand...
You bring up some good points and have us thinking that we too are a bit divided on Elephant Crossing.Perhaps we have been a bit harsh in our review.EC certainly has some really interesting features and is very enriching for the elephants.It's just that we are a bit harder on Cleveland than we are other zoo's,we love our zoo and therefore have very high expectations for it.

@Deech We have not been happy about the phasing out of species of the old Pachyderm Building from the start.At the very least they could have included pygmy hippos and warthogs.But money was the deciding factor.

Team Tapir
 
I know money is the deciding factor but I totally thought from all the talk etc. that it would have been something really cool to see or at least better then it was but it was a let down. I went on mothers day and i had to park on some side street that i would never walk on in the dark. I was more excited to get back to my car and find it not up on blocks. What made me unhappy was i seen a whole two elephants out side the whole time, other then that just some empty cages and a couple waterfalls. I thought there was going to be a good number of elephants but i guess i was wrong. I would have liked to seen the meerkats but they were not there, so that leads me to ask why have a grand opening when not everything is even there? I would have much rather the zoo get penguin back!
 
If the Hippos and warthogs were worked into the Elephant Crossing it would have been a lot better! I might be wrong but i think we are the zoo in ohio not to have hippos?
 
Deech said:
If the Hippos and warthogs were worked into the Elephant Crossing it would have been a lot better! I might be wrong but i think we are the zoo in ohio not to have hippos?
Click to expand...

If the hippos and warthogs were included in Elephant Crossing the elephant area would be even smaller, the cost seriously higher, and the landscaped areas reduced.
 
Zooplantman said:
If the hippos and warthogs were included in Elephant Crossing the elephant area would be even smaller, the cost seriously higher, and the landscaped areas reduced.
Click to expand...

Agreed that the cost would be much higher,but as far as space we cannot agree as CMZ has not made good use of the room that they have.They could have expanded further back into a large area which is currently an ampitheater, someone very involved with the project recently mentioned this to me but to no avail.It should also be mentioned that it had been over 9 years since a major project had been built here.Which for a zoo which annually brings in over a million visitors per year they should be doing a better job raising money.

Team Tapir
 
Last edited:
I think this looks like a solid exhibit and is an upgrade to the zoo. However, zoos spending tons of money to improve their elephant exhibit at the expense of animals like hippos, rhinos, and giraffes is not a good use of money imo. When a zoo is taking away animals like that they are really cutting into the potential upside of the upgrade. In fact, I bet a lot of common visitors would prefer elephants in a mediocre exhibit along with seeing the other animals.

BTW, I'm of course not solely speaking of the Cleveland Zoo here.
 
Last edited:
team tapir said:
Agreed that the cost would be much higher,but as far as space we cannot agree as CMZ has not made good use of the room that they have.They could have expanded further back into a large area which is currently an ampitheater, someone very involved with the project recently mentioned this to me but to no avail.It should also be mentioned that it had been over 9 years since a major project had been built here.Which for a zoo which annually brings in over a million visitors per year they should be doing a better job raising money.

Team Tapir
Click to expand...

Now if you add in the cost of demolition of the amphitheater as well as cost of expanding the exhibit you have REALLY priced this thing out of existence.
 
mweb08 said:
I think this looks like a solid exhibit and is an upgrade to the zoo. However, zoos spending tons of money to improve their elephant exhibit at the expense of animals like hippos, rhinos, and giraffes is not a good use of money imo. When a zoo is taking away animals like that they are really cutting into the potential upside of the upgrade. In fact, I bet a lot of common visitors would prefer elephants in a mediocre exhibit along with seeing the other animals.

BTW, I'm of course not solely of the Cleveland Zoo here.
Click to expand...

One consideration for any zoo when adding new, complex exhibits like EC is the increased operating costs (staff, supplies, energy) that typically stem from the expansion. Often the only way to make the numbers work is to eliminate other existing exhibits/collections. I would not be surprised if this was a factor in Cleveland's decision to focus on elephants and not replace the other species mentioned.
 
After visiting the exhibit two days in a row all i can say is wow.. Cleveland really did a fantastic job with this one. I will admit I was a little disappointed when i saw the photos posted on here, but after seeing it in person I guarantee you its an amazing experience. The only complaint I have is aesthetics as barriers arent really disguised but given how cold this spring has been its understandable so over summer i expect a lot of plants/trees to grow in. But really the exhibit is awesome. The designers really considered the activities elephants do and you really appreciate the size of them as the get close opportunities are fantastic. Both days I went the elephants were extremely active swimming, digging mudholes, running across the yards trumpeting, ripping apart trees in the mopani range etc. They are probably the most active group of elephants I have seen. The conservation messages are also fantastic as well as the graphics. Overall one of the best exhibits ive seen, and personally I like it better than Giants of the Savanna. It does a much better job of engaging the public with elephants (the whole purpose of displaying them) rather than gazing at them far away. Cleveland does this while still giving the elephants plenty of space. Seriously though this should give you all a reason to come to Cleveland. Even today in the pouring rain the zoo had tons of visitors even first thing this morning!
 
Last edited:
sorry about spelling.. this was from my phone as I don't have a computer with me. I just wanted to fill you in on my opinion of the exhibit.
 
Some great reviews of this exhibit here. I'm interested in visiting CMZ to form my own opinion about this exhibit but I don't think I can get out there any time soon. So I'm curious if anyone knows what species are in the aviary here. CMZ was lacking in bird species when I last visited so I'm wondering what they've chosen to bring back to the zoo.
 
Speckled Pigeon,Taveta Golden Weaver,White Headed Buffalo Weaver,Black Cheeked Love Bird,Kenya Crested Guineafowl,Black Crake,Violet Backed Starling,Lady Ross Turaco and Green Woodhoopoes

Team Tapir
 
The Meerkats went on exhibit today for the first time.The zoos pair of Meerkats a female named Nora and a male who is in need of a name both seemed to enjoy their new exhibit.The zoo is hoping for the pair to breed.

In other news we have heard from multiple sources at the zoo that acquiring Tamani from Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa is no longer going to happen at least not any time soon.It sounds like zoo staff is content with the elephants they currently have.

Team Tapir
 
As an engineer one of my favorite aspects of going to a zoo is just looking at the exhibits and how they are designed and setup, how the park is organized, etc. The new Elephant Crossing exhibit employs an interesting and unique gimmick but appears to have a serious design flaw. The elephant yards are broken up into two semi-circular areas, a Savannah on one side and a more wooded area on the other. There is a path for visitors leading to the the center of the circle where the indoor elephant viewing is located. There are gates on either side of this passage way that swing open and let the elephants pass from one yard to the other. A neat idea but when the gates are open it prevents visitors from entering or exiting the inner circle of the exhibit. There are no restrooms in the inner circle. The pathway may be only blocked for fifteen minutes but it does cause a bit of an annoyance. I think it would have served just as well to have used a bridge or a tunnel for the elephants. Even when the elephants are crossing, you can't see them that well and don't get all that much closer to them either. Overall, an interesting and unique concept that maybe could have been executed better.
 
Amnesiac said:
As an engineer.... I think it would have served just as well to have used a bridge or a tunnel for the elephants.
Click to expand...

How ever would you fit a suitable bridge or tunnel in that space? For humans, the ADA requirement would stretch a bridge (or tunnel) out to the ticket booths. For the elephants, a bridge or tunnel would take up a huge amount of potential exhibit, I think
 
I don't think it would take up that much space. I guess I was specifically thinking of something along the lines of the elephant exhibit at Busch Gardens Tampa where the Rhino Rally safari jeep ride has a bridge and a tunnel through the elephant's yard. I have attached an aerial image of the exhibit.
 

Attachments

  • ele1.jpg
    ele1.jpg
    146.2 KB · Views: 23
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top