North America: Part 1
In the area currently occupied by the African area, a new North American exhibit would be created. It’s pretty funny how me and Animalman0341 had such similar ideas especially since I came up with mine about a week ago. At the entrance to North America there would be signs with information about North America’s wildlife and habitats.
As a transition area between North and South America there would be a large building divided into two unconnected sections. The first section would be home to tropical North American species. Outside the entrance there would be three exhibits for ocelots, scarlet macaws, and tayras. For those of you who don’t know, Central America is part of North America. Visitors would enter the building through a large room home to more Central American and Caribbean species. The main purpose of this room is that it would be used as a captive breeding centre for endangered reptiles and amphibians. The largest exhibit in the centre of the room would be home to Grand Cayman blue iguanas. Their exhibit would resemble a dry forest with plants and a small pool. Surrounding their exhibit would be smaller habitats for Puerto Rican crested toads, Panamanian golden frogs, lemur leaf frogs, axolotls, and multiple enclosures for a variety of coqui frog species. I know that many species of coquis are on AZA’s phase in list and I would like to acquire as many of them as possible for my zoo. All of the amphibian exhibits would be nice and lush except for the axolotl exhibit which would just be a big pool. Two other exhibits would be home to leaf cutter ants and Antilles pink toe tarantulas. The ants would have a large exhibit built into the wall.
After exiting the Central American/Caribbean room, people would enter the main part of the building home to Everglades species. The largest exhibit in this area would have American alligators. They would have a large swamp habitat with lots of information about how they’re a keystone species. Other exhibits in this region would be home to Everglades rat snakes, eastern indigo snakes, cottonmouths, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, Florida gars, and Florida box turtles. There would also be glass viewing areas for two outdoor exhibits home to North American river otters and Northern raccoons. Both exhibits would show resemble a Florida swamp. They would both have large pools and the raccoons would have trees to climb on. They would only be visible from inside the pavilion. Free flying around the building would be a variety of wetland birds such as purple gallinules, white ibises, little blue herons, and wood ducks.
The other section of the building would be entered through a separate entrance. It would be home to species from the southwestern deserts of North America. Outside the pavilion would be an exhibit for collared peccaries. It would have a realistic desert theme with a sandy floor, rocks, and small plants. Inside, the building would be an exact replica of a small desert canyon with free flying bird species such as gila woodpeckers, greater roadrunners, and thick billed parrots. A large indoor peccary exhibit would be used when the weather gets too cold for them. Other exhibits around this section of the building would be home to reptiles and invertebrates. Species would include sidewinder rattlesnakes, desert tortoises, gila monsters, collared lizards, chuckwallas, tarantulas, hairy scorpions, giant centipedes, black widow spiders, and whiptail lizards Back outside, there would be two more desert exhibits. The first would be home to a herd of bighorn sheep. Their exhibit would include a giant mountain that would look like it was in the desert. I would want to get desert bighorn sheep but if I can’t acquire them, the Rocky Mountain subspecies will do. The other exhibit would resemble a small woodland area and be home to a pack of endangered Mexican grey wolves. Signs around the exhibit would explain the zoo’s conservation work with this species.
