Fake baobabs in zoos

Mr Gharial

Mr Gharial

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
New thread to discuss fake baobabs in zoos around the world, and seeing which ones are the ugliest, and which ones are the prettiest!

Also includes real baobabs, if there are any in botanical gardens

It's prefered if you post about baobab's you've seen in person (though the picture doesn't have to be your own)
 
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I'll start us off with the large baobab viewing platform in Diergaarde Blijdorp (Rotterdam zoo in zoochat, for reason)

Baobab.jpg

It seconds as an inside area for the spotted hyenas and has fake animals inside. There's a viewing platform on the path level, as well as one on top

I think it looks pretty realistic, as well as being very impressive in size, I'd say 10/10

Giraffe/Greater Kudu Exhibit - walkway - ZooChat
 

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Now that we've set a high bar, one must also set a low bar. Because despite Blijdorp's impressive baobab, they also have a less impressive baobab...

Baobab.jpg

Here we have the fake baobab in the new lemur walkthrough, it's tiny, ugly, and worst of all: new!

New might not seem like a bad thing, but it's not one of those ancient decorations that simply aged badly, this was purposely planned next to all the zoo's other decorations and it's very dissapointing

2/10, only getting the bonus point because it's at least climbable for lemurs, which isn't always true with baobabs in lemur enclosures (looking at you, Omaha's henry)
 

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Disney's Animal Kingdom (note, there are young, live Baobabs on grounds but I don't have any photos of them)
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Brevard Zoo
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Oregon Zoo
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Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium
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Phoenix Zoo has a couple young live ones.

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Here's another live one from Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge
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No zoo can show a live old baobab for obvious reasons - they take centuries to grow.

Blijdorp made a mistake very common in zoos - the theming does not fit its background. The view from the baobab is a busy Dutch railway with very loud train brakes. The zoo even built an elevated path on the eye level with trains, which pass ca 30 m from the baobab.
 
Personally in my opinion, for out of all of the images posted here on the thread so far. My favorite trees have to be the ones at Zurich, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and maybe or may not the ones at either Oregon or Brevard.
 
@Austin the Sengi: I share your opinion (while the example from London Zoo is disappointing). Aren't there any other good examples at Columbus, Beauval FRA (in the Hippo enclosure), Fuengirola SP and Kronberg GER?
 
Austin the Sengi said:
Personally in my opinion, for out of all of the images posted here on the thread so far. My favorite trees have to be the ones at Zurich, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and maybe or may not the ones at either Oregon or Brevard.
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Disneys Animal Kingdom has very impressive rockwork and fake trees in their exhibits because they have an extremely dedicated crew of designers, architects, and artists called Imagineers who build these. They are very meticulous about their work giving them a large advantage above other zoos theming.
 
Warsaw Zoo indoors - I could not find an unobstructed image.
This one has better crown than average - they might be real tree branches embedded in concrete.

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When I last visited Blijdorp in 2015 they had a small baobab bonsai near the fake one with the giraffes, that's the only real baobab I've seen in a zoo.
 
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