I’ll do my quick one for Hamerton before I head to bed, and tomorrow I’ll see about getting my notes for London together but BASICALLY it’s a general clean up, with a reduction in the collection’s domestics and more common species (Bennet’s wallabies, ring-tailed lemur and so forth).
My most drastic change would be moving the zebra herd from where they’re practically off-show in the carpark into the actual zoo itself - specifically a half-acre paddock where the current goose and Bennet’s wallabies are. The free standing lemur and coati cages would be torn down and their inhabitants relocated (I believe the coati’s have already gone?) I’d be looking at rehousing the inhabitants of the two hexagonal aviaries (either ruffed lemurs or gibbons, can’t remember exactly which) with a view to building a new zebra stable on the site.
The next biggest change would be finding a new purpose for the old tiger enclosure. Pure pragmatics tells me it should be given over to one of the two white tigers as (I believe) they currently can’t be housed together, but that’s very much the boring option. I’d much sooner see the exhibit remodelled for a bear species - preferably sun bears OR divided up a new primate section on either side of the path. This would feature a larger open-topped gibbon enclosure, with climbing frames to give them some much needed height, and a similar but perhaps more modest set up for the howler monkeys. I’d possibly refit covered section of the former tiger enclosure for indoor housing. Across the path I’d be looking into consolidating the zoos lemur collection into a new breeding centre, possibly with a walkthrough component housing non-reproductive animals (surplus male ring-tailed and such).
Given that baring a miracle import of some kind the zoos days of keeping southern aardwolf are numbered I’ll plan for an empty exhibit. Here I’d like to divide up the enclosure diagonally with a guest path running to the area behind it through the copse of trees which would lead round to the back of the flamingo pond, where the current cassowary enclosure is. Since the zoo seems to be working on new cassowary accommodation up by the Outback Aviary and the swamp wallabies I’m going to assume I’m working with an empty paddock here as well. In the empty cassowary paddock I’d like to rehouse the Chilean pudu in this dense thicket, with a new enclosure for the tayra nearby, incorporating the natural trees (I’m imagining a similar set up to Twycross’ marten exhibit). In the former aardwolf enclosure that the new path cuts through I’d like to rehouse the grison. Finally, (and here it becomes a little speculative as I’m now heading into off-show territory) I’d like to continue the path I’ve laid here to loop round the back of the anteater enclosure to emerge near where (I believe) the nocturnal house (holding sloths and Sheba’s bats) is going to be, tying together this new little South American loop.
Having vacated the howler monkeys, grisons, and ruffed lemurs from their old exhibits near the Outback Aviary I should now have ample room to move the scrub-turkeys and potoroos into rough geographic proximity with the tiger quolls and wombats, along with the bettongs, ringtail possums and barking owls (though I confess I’m a little muddy on where some of those species are currently held). I’d take that oppotunity to improve some of these older enclosures and introduce some better interpretation focusing on the diversity of Australasian wildlife on display and the environments they inhabit - not just the outback.
As a knock-on effect of having freed up the scrub-turkey and potoroo enclosures I’d consider combining and raising the ceiling of these aviaries to incorporate the macaws into the South American loop.
And that’s about it off the top of my head.
