Design a Zoo

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ThylacineAlive said:
It's not dead, it's just gone dormant. I'm still working on my zoo but just haven't had the time to finish American Great Plains and when I've had time I had no drive to complete it. I'll have another exhibit for you guys soon, I promise!

~Thylo:cool:
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That's my story as well!
 
Now, I would like to start "building" (or in this case, imagining) a new zoo that would be built in Orlando, Florida, but I would like to take this zoo much more seriously than I did with my last zoo, the "Anaheim" Zoo. The trouble is that I'm not really sure at all where to start. I don't know which exhibit to work on first, whether it be a small entry/side exhibit or a massive exhibit complex, nor do I know which themes I would be going for.

I thought of brainstorming possible areas to build an exhibit around (I happen to like geographically-themed exhibits the most), but I want to do something more unusual, such as an Indonesian area or another lesser-known/less-represented area, and I'm not where to begin. Yes, I plan on designing African exhibits, South American exhibits, etc., etc. (the typical exhibits), but I would like to start with something a little more unique.

As you can see, my zoo is just hatching out, so I'm not sure when I'll have another exhibit plan ready....
 
I don't really take part in these threads as I don't really get as much time as I'd like to make up a wish list and concept for an exhibit area... But lately I keep getting ideas for a section called Asian Carnivores and it would consist of hyaena, dhole, 3 ssp each of tiger and leopard (leopards to be decided), lion, sun, Syrian and Himalayan black bear, maybe Indian wolves and snow and clouded leopards. It would then be fleshed out with various mustelids, herseptids, vivverids and smaller representatives of cats and canines.
I have a long list of species and a few good exhibition ideas but have no time to try and put them into words, just basic sketches and doodles occasionally.
I'm really keen to get this idea of the ground as it'd be a perfect mix of zoo-geographic and taxonomic placement, a great mix of two tried and tested arrangements. I quite like a good taxonomic collection and I know that geographic theming comes highly recomended on this forum! ;)
If anybody else would like to run with this idea then feel free, I'll let you know if it's along the same lines I was thinking. If no-one does then one day my idea may be put into practice on here... :D
If anyone has any opinions on my basic plans then feel free to comment and maybe you'll all inspire me to actually put that effort in! :D
 
AnaheimZoo said:
Now, I would like to start "building" (or in this case, imagining) a new zoo that would be built in Orlando, Florida, but I would like to take this zoo much more seriously than I did with my last zoo, the "Anaheim" Zoo. The trouble is that I'm not really sure at all where to start. I don't know which exhibit to work on first, whether it be a small entry/side exhibit or a massive exhibit complex, nor do I know which themes I would be going for.

I thought of brainstorming possible areas to build an exhibit around (I happen to like geographically-themed exhibits the most), but I want to do something more unusual, such as an Indonesian area or another lesser-known/less-represented area, and I'm not where to begin. Yes, I plan on designing African exhibits, South American exhibits, etc., etc. (the typical exhibits), but I would like to start with something a little more unique.

As you can see, my zoo is just hatching out, so I'm not sure when I'll have another exhibit plan ready....
Click to expand...

Start with an Everglades exhibit.
 
AnaheimZoo said:
Now, I would like to start "building" (or in this case, imagining) a new zoo that would be built in Orlando, Florida, but I would like to take this zoo much more seriously than I did with my last zoo, the "Anaheim" Zoo. The trouble is that I'm not really sure at all where to start. I don't know which exhibit to work on first, whether it be a small entry/side exhibit or a massive exhibit complex, nor do I know which themes I would be going for.

I thought of brainstorming possible areas to build an exhibit around (I happen to like geographically-themed exhibits the most), but I want to do something more unusual, such as an Indonesian area or another lesser-known/less-represented area, and I'm not where to begin. Yes, I plan on designing African exhibits, South American exhibits, etc., etc. (the typical exhibits), but I would like to start with something a little more unique.

As you can see, my zoo is just hatching out, so I'm not sure when I'll have another exhibit plan ready....
Click to expand...
A few under-represented areas that I'd reccomend;
Sulawesi
Horn of Africa
Mexico
Andes
Pakistan
Sumatra
Everglades (as elefante said)
New Guinea
Or the wonderful state of Connecticut!:D
 
My top candidates for my "first" exhibit are the Atlas Mountains, Madagascar (getting more common in zoos, but I have my own spin on it), some habitat in Australia (not sure which would be best - I just know that I'm not having a cheap walk-through kangaroo exhibit), or India, particularly Assam.

If I do decide to go through with the Australia exhibit, which habitat would you recommend? I was thinking of doing something with the Deserts, but the rainforests would be good, as well. I honestly have no idea where I want to go with this. :o

And elefante, about the Everglades exhibit, I had an idea for one before, but I don't know... Guess I'm not feeling it. Is that a good excuse? :D
 
AnaheimZoo said:
My top candidates for my "first" exhibit are the Atlas Mountains, Madagascar (getting more common in zoos, but I have my own spin on it), some habitat in Australia (not sure which would be best - I just know that I'm not having a cheap walk-through kangaroo exhibit), or India, particularly Assam.

If I do decide to go through with the Australia exhibit, which habitat would you recommend? I was thinking of doing something with the Deserts, but the rainforests would be good, as well. I honestly have no idea where I want to go with this. :o

And elefante, about the Everglades exhibit, I had an idea for one before, but I don't know... Guess I'm not feeling it. Is that a good excuse? :D
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Do Tasmania.
Madagascar is a good one to do. What about my Oceania islands exhibit? Did you not like that?

~Thylo:cool:
 
BeardsleyZooFan said:
A few under-represented areas that I'd reccomend;
Sulawesi
Horn of Africa
Mexico
Andes
Pakistan
Sumatra
Everglades (as elefante said)
New Guinea
Or the wonderful state of Connecticut!:D
Click to expand...

This post came up once I posted mine, so I didn't notice it until now.

I had a HoA exhibit planned, with Ethiopia, Somalia, and the other nearby countries being represented. It focused on the Somali bushlands and the highlands of Ethiopia, and had geladas, gerenuks, Grevy's zebras, gazelles (wow, a lot of g's in there :p). But because I also featured a lot of endemics that would be extremely hard to obtain, I scratched the idea.

I also briefly worked on an Andes idea that was like an exhibit trail, where guests would start in Northern SA and gradually work their way "south," passing through the various habitats along the mountains, such as the cloud forests, then the Altiplanos, the Atacama desert, and finally the Valdivian temperate forests with pudu and kodkods, as well as the Patagonian coasts which would feature penguins, terns, cormorants, etc. I might go back to that idea. :)

@ThylacineAlive - not that I didn't like it, but I feel like I've had these few designs on my mind for a while and I'm itching to do something with them but just can't decide which one to go more in-depth with. I would love doing an Oceania exhibit, but I feel like these areas in particular are begging to be used. :D It's strange in a way... :p
 
AnaheimZoo said:
My top candidates for my "first" exhibit are the Atlas Mountains, Madagascar (getting more common in zoos, but I have my own spin on it), some habitat in Australia (not sure which would be best - I just know that I'm not having a cheap walk-through kangaroo exhibit), or India, particularly Assam.

If I do decide to go through with the Australia exhibit, which habitat would you recommend? I was thinking of doing something with the Deserts, but the rainforests would be good, as well. I honestly have no idea where I want to go with this. :o

And elefante, about the Everglades exhibit, I had an idea for one before, but I don't know... Guess I'm not feeling it. Is that a good excuse? :D
Click to expand...

I did an Assam exhibit in my Austin drive-through zoo (although I won't be offended if you do one as well :) ). As far as not feeling the Everglades I can understand. I haven't been feeling the walk-through section of my Austin drive-through.
 
elefante said:
I did an Assam exhibit in my Austin drive-through zoo (although I won't be offended if you do one as well :) ). As far as not feeling the Everglades I can understand. I haven't been feeling the walk-through section of my Austin drive-through.
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Wait, the Austin Zoo design was posted on here, wasn't it? If so, do you know which page? I might revisit it. What species did you use in it?

Yeah, with some exhibits, you sort of have this disinterest in them at certain points. I mean, like the Oceania exhibit, I would love to hash an Everglades section out, but at this point my mind is elsewhere, which is sort of distracting when I try to think of other possible areas to design exhibits for. But I might just go along with the ideas I told you guys about - those seem to be my most promising ones. :)
 
AnaheimZoo said:
Wait, the Austin Zoo design was posted on here, wasn't it? If so, do you know which page? I might revisit it. What species did you use in it?

Yeah, with some exhibits, you sort of have this disinterest in them at certain points. I mean, like the Oceania exhibit, I would love to hash an Everglades section out, but at this point my mind is elsewhere, which is sort of distracting when I try to think of other possible areas to design exhibits for. But I might just go along with the ideas I told you guys about - those seem to be my most promising ones. :)
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Here is the Assam exhibit. I'm not sure how many of these are actually available in the US, but this was my plan:
Anyway, the next section of the drive-through preserve is an Indian grasslands exhibit, called Treasures of Assam. Several streams and marshes are scattered throughout the exhibit. In a separate wetland area not approachable to the vehicle, are bull Asian elephants. These animals are able to see each other but each has his own separate enclosure to protect against fighting. In another separate area Indian rhinos are visible to the vehicle but are unable to approach. Animals that are able to approach the vehicle include nilgai, blackbucks, water buffalo, chinkara,and barasingha. This section leads into an Indian forest exhibit.
 
It's basically like my design, with the biggest difference being that it wasn't a drive-through exhibit. My design basically was going to be a cul-de-sac of some sort of wetland/marsh exhibits encircling a large Indian elephant exhibit. (That's at its simplest.)

ThylacineAlive (or anyone else who wants to jump in) - For a Tasmania exhibit, I was thinking of, rather than creating a whole exhibit for Tasmanian wildlife, adding a small little loop trail (or possibly an exhibit house) into my Australia exhibit just for Tasmanian endemics. Would 13-14 endemic species be suitable for a little Tasmania section? Of course I could add some mainland Australia species, but....

And it's all extremely ambitious. On one of these threads, some members were talking about how in order to get platypus from AUS, the US would have to probably pay millions of dollars, even just for a loan. So I know that on top of limited availability, Tasmania's endemics would be unbelievably pricey.

Anyway, the Tasmanian species would be:
- Tasmanian Devil
- Southern Bettong
- Tasmanian Pademelon
- Long-tailed Mouse
- Tasmanian Native-hen
- Green Rosella
- Forty-spotted Pardalote
- Tasmanian Scrubwren
- Scrubtit
- Yellow Wattlebird
- Yellow-throated Honeyeater
- Strong-billed Honeyeater
- Black-headed Honeyeater
- Black Currawong
 
I like it but it's mostly birds so if you'd like it to be relatively large then you should have maybe species found both on the mainland and on Tasmania but the Tasmanian subspecies like with the Tiger Quoll and Common Wombat.

~Thylo:cool:
 
ThylacineAlive said:
I like it but it's mostly birds so if you'd like it to be relatively large then you should have maybe species found both on the mainland and on Tasmania but the Tasmanian subspecies like with the Tiger Quoll and Common Wombat.

~Thylo:cool:
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When it comes to putting species that live in more than one place, I get very frustrated. I can never tell which I should put in the Australia exhibit or which should go in the Tasmania section. Similar to how jaguars can be found in South America as well as Central America, or how saltwater crocodiles could be placed in an Indian exhibit, Indonesian exhibit, or Australian exhibit. I usually just place a species in an exhibit based on its nominate subspecies distribution, but I guess in this case I would have to use mainland species no matter where they're from in order to increase the diversity in the Tasmania section.
 
AnaheimZoo said:
This post came up once I posted mine, so I didn't notice it until now.

I had a HoA exhibit planned, with Ethiopia, Somalia, and the other nearby countries being represented. It focused on the Somali bushlands and the highlands of Ethiopia, and had geladas, gerenuks, Grevy's zebras, gazelles (wow, a lot of g's in there :p). But because I also featured a lot of endemics that would be extremely hard to obtain, I scratched the idea.
Click to expand...

I remember... it was a challenge on the thread that was not as successful as I hoped, Create an Exhibit.:o
I'm currently working on a Japanese exhibit design, but due to a busy schedule, a fair amount of research, plus my natural laziness, it's moving at a slow rate.
 
AnaheimZoo said:
When it comes to putting species that live in more than one place, I get very frustrated. I can never tell which I should put in the Australia exhibit or which should go in the Tasmania section. Similar to how jaguars can be found in South America as well as Central America, or how saltwater crocodiles could be placed in an Indian exhibit, Indonesian exhibit, or Australian exhibit. I usually just place a species in an exhibit based on its nominate subspecies distribution, but I guess in this case I would have to use mainland species no matter where they're from in order to increase the diversity in the Tasmania section.
Click to expand...

I agree that it is pretty tough to place an animal that is found in more than one place. I find that frustrating.
 
Oh, BeardsleyZooFan, I hope you never took the whole rant about me not liking exhibit-creating contest threads personally! :o I, too, occasionally try to create blockbuster threads, but it's very disheartening when they die out within days of creation...

Elefante, I'm right with you. It's even worse with widespread animals, such as an animal species that can be found in Asia, Africa, and North America. Then you really have no clue where to put them! :D I guess it's just a matter of finding the right fit for the animal, for example which exhibit is lacking in diversity, which exhibit would benefit more from having the species, how well it fits with the other animals in the collection/theme, etc. Of course when it's only in your imagination it's much harder for some reason!
 
AnaheimZoo said:
Oh, BeardsleyZooFan, I hope you never took the whole rant about me not liking exhibit-creating contest threads personally! :o I, too, occasionally try to create blockbuster threads, but it's very disheartening when they die out within days of creation...
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Don't worry, I never took it personally. It's all good.:)
On a side note, I am mostly a fan of geographically-themed exhibits, but after my Japanese exhibit design, I plan on doing 2 exhibits not ordered by geography or taxonomy, but I'd rather not share what they are now.
 
elefante said:
I agree that it is pretty tough to place an animal that is found in more than one place. I find that frustrating.
Click to expand...

What I find even more frustrating is when a specific habitat can be found in more than one place. For example in the zoo that I'm currently working on I couldn't decide if I should place an Arctic area in the European, North American, or Asian region. I eventually decided to put it in Europe because I needed more animals in that section but it was a really tough decision.
 
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