Could a "Hall of Extinction" Make a Good Attraction?

Van Beal

Van Beal

Well-Known Member
I don't necessarily know why, but this idea for a "Hall of Extinction" kinda came to my mind while I was working on my fictional zoo, so I wanted opinions on whether or not this could make a good attraction for a zoo.

And for this I don't mean like dinosaurs and Pleistocene creatures, I mean creatures that have gone extinct within the last like 500 years or so, stuff like the dodo, quagga, great auk, passenger pigeon, etc. kinda displayed in a diorama of their pre-extinction lives, the last specimen, and even like a "Modern World for Extinct Life" section showing how they'd live in our world today.
 
Van Beal said:
I don't necessarily know why, but this idea for a "Hall of Extinction" kinda came to my mind while I was working on my fictional zoo, so I wanted opinions on whether or not this could make a good attraction for a zoo.

And for this I don't mean like dinosaurs and Pleistocene creatures, I mean creatures that have gone extinct within the last like 500 years or so, stuff like the dodo, quagga, great auk, passenger pigeon, etc. kinda displayed in a diorama of their pre-extinction lives, the last specimen, and even like a "Modern World for Extinct Life" section showing how they'd live in our world today.
Click to expand...

I think a good idea would be having current, living species represent those extinct species, similar to what San Diego has done with elephant odyssey.
 
Several years ago, London Zoo converted a room in the disused Parrot House into an 'Extinction' exhibit, which included various stuffed animals. Perhaps zoos could incorporate specimens of extinct animals alongside their closest living relatives e.g. a dodo with a Nicobar pigeon. The exhibit could detail causes of extinction and how zoos are helping conserve species in situ and ex situ.
 
Several zoos do this, and plenty of museums, nature centers, etc have (usually small) features.

There aren't specimens of most extinct species to use, though, if you're wanting dioramas with actual animals and not statues/models or reproductions. There are lots of passenger pigeons, and a few carolina parakeets, of course. There's only 7 known quagga skeletons and 25 or so mounts / skins. The thylacine has a sizeable amount of pieces around, including 100 or so mounts and ~300 skulls, but most of those belonging to the same few institutions. Around 80 great auks.There's 413 ivory-billed woodpeckers, but only four of those are extended-wing specimens. With the exception of 2 or 3 specimens, every dodo artefact in a museum is a fossil; there's only one preserved soft tissue specimen, in the UK. There are no feathers, mounts, etc.
 
Among others Vogelpark Avifauna and Faunapark Flakkee ( both the Netherlands have ( had ? ) a graveyard on which graves with extinct species are ( where ? ) displayed. In their galleries you can find some pictures of it.
 
I can't recall if it's still there, but for a long time there was a life-size model of the Rodrigues giant day gecko Phelsuma gigas in a small alcove inside Chester Zoo's Dragons in Danger (formerly Islands in Danger). I'm pretty sure the moa statue is still outside the same exhibit.
 
TinoPup said:
Several zoos do this, and plenty of museums, nature centers, etc have (usually small) features.

There aren't specimens of most extinct species to use, though, if you're wanting dioramas with actual animals and not statues/models or reproductions. There are lots of passenger pigeons, and a few carolina parakeets, of course. There's only 7 known quagga skeletons and 25 or so mounts / skins. The thylacine has a sizeable amount of pieces around, including 100 or so mounts and ~300 skulls, but most of those belonging to the same few institutions. Around 80 great auks.There's 413 ivory-billed woodpeckers, but only four of those are extended-wing specimens. With the exception of 2 or 3 specimens, every dodo artefact in a museum is a fossil; there's only one preserved soft tissue specimen, in the UK. There are no feathers, mounts, etc.
Click to expand...
And Passenger Pigeon specimens are so common that in the Midwest (where they were once extremely abundant), it isn't too uncommon to find them in people's attics.
 
Zoopark Chomutov has an outdoor cemetary of extinct species. Some of them are just headstones with info, some incorporate sculptures of said species.
 
I love the idea of like a Cenozoic extinction exhibit. I have a shirt with art of Cenozoic animals like the passenger pigeon, titanoboa, etc. On it that I freaking treasure
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top