Making African Sections More Unique

Neil chace said:
Zoos don't need to "try" to make giraffes look like the tallest land animal. They ARE the tallest land animal, regardless of how zoos exhibit them. I can understand the desire for some more foliage in giraffe exhibits, but this is a problem for two reasons: 1. Giraffes will eat it. Not necessarily a deal breaker, but something that needs to be considered in the planning process.
2. Giraffes are large, flighty, potentially fractious animals. Generally speaking, adding too many obstacles and tripping hazards to a giraffe exhibit is likely to do far more harm than good. A few trees here and there are fine, but it wouldn't make sense to go overboard.

And reason number one giraffes aren't exhibited in "heavily forested areas": giraffes don't live in heavily forested areas of the world, but in the African Savanna. Their exhibits usually recognize this and are designed so that the giraffes can behave like they would in the wild.
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Yes, but giraffes usually hang around in dense thickets within savannas. So they do hang around in smaller but still densely forested areas.
 
If you want to see giraffes in an exhibit with several very large trees, I'd recommend looking up White Oak - I wouldn't call their yard heavily wooded, but definitely more so than your usual giraffe exhibit

white-oak-conservation-featured.jpg
 
Emanuel Theodorus said:
Also, I totally would love to see Egyptian mythology themed area, filled with animals that represents the deities, such as Nile Crocodile for Sobek, Black Backed Jackal for Anubis, and Lanner Falcon for Horus. A carving similiar to the pleistocene animals of California in Elephant Odyssey would help the visitors tell what deity they are supposed to represent.
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Someone tell memphis zoo to do this, they already got an egyptian temple to start with.
 
Corangurilla said:
I can’t think of a single modern US African exhibit that keeps all 4 giants in the same general area. Memphis and Cheyenne Mountain are close, but their hippos are in their own areas. Fort Worth has 3 but has Asian Elephants. Typically, most zoos just don’t have the space for quality habitats for all 4 giants. Usually, the elephant or hippo is left out due to elephants taking up the most space and hippos requiring water and land.
Agree on the buffalo. I think Denver is the only non-Safari park to keep them in the US (might be wrong, probably wrong). It’s just that they require similar space to rhinos, and at that point, why not just have a rhino? I also suspect their temperament is holding them back, too.
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Birmingham did until their Hippo died of old age.
 
Miombo woodland might be a good idea? You can have these species for this theme:
- African Bush Elephant
- Masai Giraffe
- Eastern Black Rhino
- Sable Antelope
- Greater Kudu
- Kirk's dik-dik
- Impala
- African Lion
- African Leopard (if available)
- African Wild Dog
- Bateleur

Another idea might be the Nile River Valley, where you can have these species:
- River Hippo
- Nile Crocodile
- Spotted-necked Otter
- Olive Baboon
- Nile Lechwe
- Sitatunga
- Waterbuck
- Saddle-bill Stork
- Shoebill (insufficient in captivity, but just a fantasy)
- Lesser Flamingo
- Grey-crowned Crane
- Egyptian Goose
- African Pygmy Goose
- Pink-backed Pelican
- African Spoonbill
- Sacred Ibis
- some other waterbirds or waders

Madagascar is a very common African theme, and many Zoo's Madagascar exhibits cover not only Madagascar but also other African Islands like Seychelles and Rodrigues Islands.
Could that be a good idea that has a section focusing on just a particular part of Madagascar? Like the Masoala Rainforest of Zurich Zoo. The challenge is, many Madagascar species only distribute in certain regions so you have to get rid of many species if you choose only one region as theme. For example,
Andranofasika Dry Forest:
- Coquerel's Sifaka
- Common Brown Lemur
- Mongoose Lemur
- Fossa
Plus a pavilion that displays Tailless Tenrec, Western Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur, Grey Mouse Lemur, Crested Cuoas, Madagascar Crested Ibis, Hamerkop, Grey-headed Lovebird, Greater Vasa Parrot, Madagascar Bighead Turtle, Flat-backed Spider Tortoise, Madagascar Tree and Ground Boas, what else? Wait, a Madagascar theme without Ring-tailed Lemur, could visitors other than zoochatters feel weird?
Aardwolf said:
Canids have historically been pretty poorly represented in zoos compared to felids. Even today many zoos have at least a few species of large cat. Few have more than one large dog.
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Like Toronto Zoo, which has only one Canid species now (Arctic Wolf), so sad that they are not able to maintain Dholes and Arctic Foxes.
 
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StellarChaser said:
Miombo woodland might be a good idea? You can have these species for this theme:
- African Bush Elephant
- Masai Giraffe
- Eastern Black Rhino
- Sable Antelope
- Greater Kudu
- Kirk's dik-dik
- Impala
- African Lion
- African Leopard (if available)
- African Wild Dog
- Bateleur

Another idea might be the Nile River Valley, where you can have these species:
- River Hippo
- Nile Crocodile
- Spotted-necked Otter
- Olive Baboon
- Nile Lechwe
- Sitatunga
- Waterbuck
- Saddle-bill Stork
- Shoebill (insufficient in captivity, but just a fantasy)
- Lesser Flamingo
- Grey-crowned Crane
- Egyptian Goose
- African Pygmy Goose
- Pink-backed Pelican
- African Spoonbill
- Sacred Ibis
- some other waterbirds or waders

Madagascar is a very common African theme, and many Zoo's Madagascar exhibits cover not only Madagascar but also other African Islands like Seychelles and Rodrigues Islands.
Could that be a good idea that has a section focusing on just a particular part of Madagascar? Like the Masoala Rainforest of Zurich Zoo. The challenge is, many Madagascar species only distribute in certain regions so you have to get rid of many species if you choose only one region as theme. For example,
Andranofasika Dry Forest:
- Coquerel's Sifaka
- Common Brown Lemur
- Mongoose Lemur
- Fossa
Plus a pavilion that displays Tailless Tenrec, Western Fat-tailed Dwarf Lemur, Grey Mouse Lemur, Crested Cuoas, Madagascar Crested Ibis, Hamerkop, Grey-headed Lovebird, Greater Vasa Parrot, Madagascar Bighead Turtle, Flat-backed Spider Tortoise, Madagascar Tree and Ground Boas, what else? Wait, a Madagascar theme without Ring-tailed Lemur, could visitors other than zoochatters feel weird?

Like Toronto Zoo, which has only one Canid species now (Arctic Wolf), so sad that they are not able to maintain Dholes and Arctic Foxes.
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How about a Zambezi exhibit with elephants, buffalo, hippos, Nile crocodiles, and bull sharks? Not mixed of course.
 
I think another way of making African sections in zoos more unique is by basing them off of national parks for example a Tsavo National Park-inspired section for Elephant, Eastern Black Rhino, Masai Giraffe, Lion, Spotted Hyenas, African Wild dogs, Hippo, and variety of hoofstock, small mammal, bird and reptile species.
 
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Pantheraman said:
I think one way to make African sections more unique is by showing off less charismatic species like pangolins, striped hyenas, etc.
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The population of Pangolins is insufficient in captivity, due to the difficulty of husbandry and the low fertility rate.
 
Pangolins are awesome, one of the animals I found most fascinating as a child

They are very seriously endangered though and they are trafficked for scales and meat
 
Mr.Ivory said:
I think another way of making African sections in zoos more unique is by basing them off of national parks for example a Tsavo National Park-inspired section for Elephant, Eastern Black Rhino, Masai Giraffe, Lion, Spotted Hyenas, African Wild dogs, Hippo, and variety of hoofstock, small mammal, bird and reptile species.
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In the old days of the fantasy zoos I did a national park challenge. There could be some interesting national park themed exhibits from around the world. An Etosha National Park one would be interesting as well.
 
I've got several ideas that I may develop in the Speculative Zoo sub-forum.
Basically it's a matter of sub-regions, with overlooked parts of the continent like the Maghreb/Sahara.
I think also about a "river safari" and/or a night exhibit complex.
 
Mr.Ivory said:
I think another way of making African sections in zoos more unique is by basing them off of national parks for example a Tsavo National Park-inspired section for Elephant, Eastern Black Rhino, Masai Giraffe, Lion, Spotted Hyenas, African Wild dogs, Hippo, and variety of hoofstock, small mammal, bird and reptile species.
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Tsavo is still savanna-based environment, most people here try to get ideas of African exhibits other than savanna theme. Miombo woodland might be more creative, but which national park is well-known in miombo woodland? Hwange National Park？
 
Tiger said:
I think that when developing an African section, a zoo could concentrate on a particular (national) park, as is often done with Asian sections, such as Kaziranga Forest Trail at Dublin Zoo, inspired by the Kaziranga National Park in India.
If zoos concentrate on only one section rather than whole Africa, fewer large species remain and consequently more small species. There are numerous national parks in Africa on which zoos can base their sections, not only on the world-famous parks such as Kruger National Park or Virunga National Park, but also on others such as Serengeti National Park, where "the great migration" takes place, something that can interest visitors. Virunga National Park, as mentioned earlier, also has many different small animal species (although this focuses on the rainforest).
I could go on and on, but I have mainly focused on the larger national parks to give everyone an idea of what I mean, but there are countless other national parks that could be used in a zoo section.
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The problem with concentrating on a particular national park rather than the entire Africa is that you may have to abandon many species. For example, if I gonna make the Etosha section instead of Africa Desert section, then I can't have those Sahara faunas such as Addax, Scimitar Oryx, Fennec Fox, Hamadryas baboon. Those small animal species of Virunga may not be obtainable by North American zoos. Many rodent species collected by Plzen don't appear in almost any North American public zoos.
 
StellarChaser said:
The problem with concentrating on a particular national park rather than the entire Africa is that you may have to abandon many species. For example, if I gonna make the Etosha section instead of Africa Desert section, then I can't have those Sahara faunas such as Addax, Scimitar Oryx, Fennec Fox, Hamadryas baboon. Those small animal species of Virunga may not be obtainable by North American zoos. Many rodent species collected by Plzen don't appear in almost any North American public zoos.
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Who's to say an exhibit dedicated to multiple deserts couldn't work?
 
DesertRhino150 said:
- The archaic and Old Kingdom periods were when long-maned lions, rhinoceroses, giraffes, wild camels, eland, kob, Nile lechwe and gerenuk disappeared
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The idea is amazing, but the challenge is that the most accurate giraffe subspecies for the Egypt theme would be the Nubian Giraffe, but they seem to be extremely rare in captivity, how many institutions have Nubian Giraffe?
 
StellarChaser said:
The idea is amazing, but the challenge is that the most accurate giraffe subspecies for the Egypt theme would be the Nubian Giraffe, but they seem to be extremely rare in captivity, how many institutions have Nubian Giraffe?
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I guess it does depend somewhat on the taxonomy being followed - quite a few taxonomists seem to place the Rothschild's giraffe (the most common purebred giraffes in European zoos) within the Nubian giraffe subspecies.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
I guess it does depend somewhat on the taxonomy being followed - quite a few taxonomists seem to place the Rothschild's giraffe (the most common purebred giraffes in European zoos) within the Nubian giraffe subspecies.
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African Golden Wolf also seems to be absent in captivity, which species might be the best substitute?
 
Haliaeetus said:
A Jackal species, or the African Painted Dog.
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African Painted Dog would be displayed in the "prehistoric or Ancient Egypt" part, while Golden Wolf still exists in Egypt today so belongs to another section. I just find that the Arabian Wildlife Centre in UAE has Golden Wolves, some zoos in Egypt probably also have them, but I don't know whether those institutions in Middle East have frequent species exchanges with European counterparts.
 
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