Gomphothere's Zoo Design Thread

Cat-Man said:
Another great exhibit and nice to see something new from you! I really like the inclusion of the falklands into South America, while the sheer variety in species in that Chilean wetland zone would have some members in here drooling as they went in for their first visit.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Next week come the large animals, guanacos, rheas, pumas, etc. And the week after that will come the Aquarium, which will include a lot of the birds native to the Falklands/Malvinas. Several of the continental species have subspecies endemic to the Falklands, so it makes zoogeographic sense to include them with South America. One of the time consuming but very rewarding parts of working on this area was getting to know a whole long list of species of which I'd never heard. There are a lot of cool ducks and geese down there (not to mention the Black-necked and Coscoroba Swans), and some are simply beautiful. I really never realized how many different species of grebes there are. And then along comes the Many-colored Rush Tyrant that just dazzles. I've seen Steamer Ducks just once in captivity, in Berlin, so it was cool to be able to include all four species in this area. (Only the flying steamer ducks are in the Wetlands, the three flightless species are in the Aquarium exhibits.) And if you think this species list is a good one, just wait . . . .
 
Here are the Central Exhibits for Temperate South America: the large animals (guanacos, rheas, pumas, cervids, zorros and condors) and a small number of species (mammals, birds of prey and amphibians) that are wide ranging in the region and didn't seem appropriate for one of the other more specific habitat oriented areas. You may have noticed that for this region I switched to leading with Latin names--this is for the simple reason that there are a fair number of species (mostly lizards) with no common name. Since I had to use Latin names for those species, I decided to be consistent throughout the region. Attached are the color schematic with key numbers, basically an aerial view, one cross-section also with key numbers, the key, and the visitor experience description.
 

Attachments

Gomphothere said:
Here are the Central Exhibits for Temperate South America: the large animals (guanacos, rheas, pumas, cervids, zorros and condors) and a small number of species (mammals, birds of prey and amphibians) that are wide ranging in the region and didn't seem appropriate for one of the other more specific habitat oriented areas. You may have noticed that for this region I switched to leading with Latin names--this is for the simple reason that there are a fair number of species (mostly lizards) with no common name. Since I had to use Latin names for those species, I decided to be consistent throughout the region. Attached are the color schematic with key numbers, basically an aerial view, one cross-section also with key numbers, the key, and the visitor experience description.
Click to expand...

Amazing, but why is the puma exhibit so thin out of interest?
 
amur leopard said:
Amazing, but why is the puma exhibit so thin out of interest?
Click to expand...
Thanks, and fair question. Each of the three pumas has a home yard located on the visitors' walkway that's about 40-50 feet by about 25 feet (~1000 square feet/100 square meters) and a secondary area that's an enlarged corner area along the walkways. The walkways between these are only about ten feet/three meters wide to help keep the animals visible since those areas will be viewed from a distance. Each of the pumas has over 200 feet/60 meters of walkway, so the total area for each individual puma exhibit is over 3,000 square feet/300 square meters, which is more than double the GFAS standard for a pair of 1200 square feet/111 square meters. When the door is opened between the male's enclosure and one of the female's yards (at a time), the pair will have over 6,000 square feet/600 square meters.
 
Gomphothere said:
Thanks, and fair question. Each of the three pumas has a home yard located on the visitors' walkway that's about 40-50 feet by about 25 feet (~1000 square feet/100 square meters) and a secondary area that's an enlarged corner area along the walkways. The walkways between these are only about ten feet/three meters wide to help keep the animals visible since those areas will be viewed from a distance. Each of the pumas has over 200 feet/60 meters of walkway, so the total area for each individual puma exhibit is over 3,000 square feet/300 square meters, which is more than double the GFAS standard for a pair of 1200 square feet/111 square meters. When the door is opened between the male's enclosure and one of the female's yards (at a time), the pair will have over 6,000 square feet/600 square meters.
Click to expand...

Very interesting idea! I guess it also means the pumas can walk further than they would be able to in a more compact exhibit. :)
 
Here is the Temperate South American Aquarium, displaying fish, aquatic invertebrates, marine mammals, and sea and shore birds of the region, including both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and four offshore island groups, the Falklands/Malvinas, Tristan de Cunha/Gough Islands, the Juan Fernandez and the Desventuradas Islands. Also displayed here are a number of endemic species of land birds from the island groups. The key lists the mammals and birds by species name, four species and twenty specimens of the former, and eighty-six species and 543 specimens of the latter. The overall schematic plan is attached here, and the rest in following messages because of data limits.
 

Attachments

Here is Part II of the Visitor Experience, the Master Plan showing the location in the
 

Attachments

Now comes the portion of Temperate South America with the largest animal census: the Lowlands, with 227 species and over 600 specimens, not counting fish and invertebrates. Almost half of those 600+ animals exhibited here (and more than half the species--125) are reptiles, the majority from just two genera, Liolaemus and Phymaturus. Lizard lovers, especially lovers of little lizards, will be in heaven. But don't miss some very handsome birds of prey, a collection of nine snake species little known outside the region, and aviaries full of birds largely unfamiliar to most of us. Attached here are the overall schematic for Temperate South American showing the location of the Lowlands exhibits (#13), the key, and the exterior schematic.
 

Attachments

Here are the interior schematics and the second floor diagram. The Visitors Experience needed to be split into three to get past the limits on attachments, so there are three more posts.
 

Attachments

Sorry I haven’t been able to contribute to this over the last two weeks, but I am loving these original ideas so far. I’ve been waiting for the South America zone since you completed your last one.

The research for the snake exhibits on the above must have taken you ages; how do you do your research?
 
Cat-Man said:
Sorry I haven’t been able to contribute to this over the last two weeks, but I am loving these original ideas so far. I’ve been waiting for the South America zone since you completed your last one.

The research for the snake exhibits on the above must have taken you ages; how do you do your research?
Click to expand...

The snakes were relatively easy. There aren't that many native to temperate South America, and both Chile and Argentina have lists of native snakes available. I just needed to sort through to find the minority with a temperate distribution (especially in Argentina, most species are native to the subtropical and tropical areas). After that I'd do searches using both the common and Latin names. It was the lizards that were time consuming. My basic tool was the Reptile Database list of species for each genus and then did searches using the Latin names. It was a struggle for some species. A lot of times the only information available on the species was the article naming the new species. Also, the IUCN Red List has a lot of useful information on distribution and habitat for many of the lizard species that helped me decide how to exhibit each.
 
And now for the companion to the Lowlands, you guessed it, the Highlands. This area displays 161 species and 440 specimens. These are the South American temperate species with their main distributions beginning at about a mile high and ranging up past the tree line to the snow line in the Andes. As with the Lowlands, there is a surprising number of lizards but don't miss the also surprising number of amphibians at these altitudes and a fascinating diversity of birds inhabiting a diversity of habitats.
 

Attachments

You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top