Most unique/creative immersive elements seen in zoos?

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Tapirus Lar

Well-Known Member
What are the most unique and immersive elements you've seen from zoos? From the most creative way to disguise a fence-to the best executed cultural theming-to the best fake baobab trees- what are the best and most creative ones which you have seen or heard of?
 
This is probably not as unique and immersive as other building like this, but I really like the exterior design of the Microworld in Zagreb Zoo, I think it really fits the vibe/theme of the building.
I visited it in January 2023, but I don't have image of it, instead I found it here on zoochat.
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Lobry said:
This is probably not as unique and immersive as other building like this, but I really like the exterior design of the Microworld in Zagreb Zoo, I think it really fits the vibe/theme of the building.
I visited it in January 2023, but I don't have image of it, instead I found it here on zoochat.
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Do you know who took the picture in your post? It is important to credit people on zoochat for their media.
 
A perhaps atypical example, but I adore how San Antonio Zoo actually has a full-on exhibit for a chupacabra statue and props it up with cultural information about the cryptid.
 
The Minnesota Zoo has a "tiger research outpost" as part of one of their tiger exhibit spaces. You walk out on a bridge to this little outcropping, all suspended over a large tiger enclosure below. Within the little outcrop is a "research outpost". It's pretty outdated now- it felt a little old when I was a kid- but it's got examples of tracking tools, lots of information on how tigers are monitored in the wild, etc etc. It's got some binoculars mounted as well.

The enclosure is really heavily planted, far more "wild" looking than the other tiger enclosure. I think it encourages the visitor to really look hard for the animals- to scan the landscape and try to pick out the well-hidden tiger within the grass and trees. It puts you in the shoes of the naturalists tracking tigers in the wild.
 
Gotta say Columbus' Heart of Africa. The entire region is remarkably immersive, but the separation between the Lions/Watering Hole and the actual Savannah exhibit is almost seamless. As someone who has seen the exhibits from behind, they do a great job of hiding fencing in plain sight (even the seperate giraffe yards feel connected)
 
May be a controversial- and oft repeated opinion, but Anandapur at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is one of my favorite animal exhibit complexes at any zoo, simply because of the attention-to-detail that defines Disney, and the seamlessly well-integrated animal habitats into the town. My personal favorite exhibit in the complex is a strange one; the flying fox aviary is by far the best I’ve ever seen.
 
Cheating a bit here, but the most inmersive ones I´ve seen are in the Xcaret Park in Mexico. It has actually real Mayan ruins from the ancient city of Polé, and both natural and man-made Cenotes (exposed cavities with groundwater). So a couple of meters away from the Mayan ruins, you can find the Baird´s Tapir enclosure fenced with similar material/local rocks the ruins were made from. And and enclosure of deer (idk the specific species) is also partially inside Cenote. It gives it and extremely nice touch.
 
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