My Speculative Plan for Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

I love the Omaha Zoo and there is little I would change about it.

Congo Trek- Keep Hubbard Gorilla forest as is but then extend the gorilla exhibit to take over the orangutan space. Add the okapi, river hogs, bongo, to where Madagascar is now. Move aye ayes, mouse lemurs, and giant jumping rats to KOTN and put the lemurs on the island (refurbish it some) near the bridge.

Coastal Chores- go through with the master plan to add grizzly bears, sea otters, and wolves. but put it where glacier bay and simmons aviary is now and replace lynx with bobcats from desert dome. Keep pinniped complex the same. Keep splash pad.

Desert Dome Changes- Either A. make an overhead tunnel (themed like a minecart track) connecting the ocelot and now empty bobcat exhibit to give the ocelot more space. Or B. Replace the Wild Kingdom Pavilion with a large cougar exhibit connected via overhead pass to the ocelot space and make a new ocelot exhibit near the lied jungle where the okapis were. Then connect the former rock wallaby ledge to the ground and make the australian portion a bennet's wallaby walkthrough area with maybe a side space for the tammar wallabies and echidna and put a wombat or kiwi in their former space. Remove mambas and puff adders to give other species more room. In general terrarium expansion.

Andean Foothills- Go through with the plan and make the proposed cougar and ocelot spaces part of it if option B is selected. and also use the space used up by the Durham lodge and insect pavilion. Add andean condors in place of flamingos.

African Grasslands- Use sable antelope space for hippos and crocodiles and bongo space for wild dogs or hyenas. Also add black mamba and puff adder terrariums in the plaza.

Asian Highlands- Keep same but remove event center, stingray beach and tanuki garden for new amur leopard, gaur, and new orangutan complex. Label this as Asian Forest or keep same.

I know this is nit picky but this is my opinion
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
I love the Omaha Zoo and there is little I would change about it.

Congo Trek- Keep Hubbard Gorilla forest as is but then extend the gorilla exhibit to take over the orangutan space. Add the okapi, river hogs, bongo, to where Madagascar is now. Move aye ayes, mouse lemurs, and giant jumping rats to KOTN and put the lemurs on the island (refurbish it some) near the bridge.

Coastal Chores- go through with the master plan to add grizzly bears, sea otters, and wolves. but put it where glacier bay and simmons aviary is now and replace lynx with bobcats from desert dome. Keep pinniped complex the same. Keep splash pad.

Desert Dome Changes- Either A. make an overhead tunnel (themed like a minecart track) connecting the ocelot and now empty bobcat exhibit to give the ocelot more space. Or B. Replace the Wild Kingdom Pavilion with a large cougar exhibit connected via overhead pass to the ocelot space and make a new ocelot exhibit near the lied jungle where the okapis were. Then connect the former rock wallaby ledge to the ground and make the australian portion a bennet's wallaby walkthrough area with maybe a side space for the tammar wallabies and echidna and put a wombat or kiwi in their former space. Remove mambas and puff adders to give other species more room. In general terrarium expansion.

Andean Foothills- Go through with the plan and make the proposed cougar and ocelot spaces part of it if option B is selected. and also use the space used up by the Durham lodge and insect pavilion. Add andean condors in place of flamingos.

African Grasslands- Use sable antelope space for hippos and crocodiles and bongo space for wild dogs or hyenas. Also add black mamba and puff adder terrariums in the plaza.

Asian Highlands- Keep same but remove event center, stingray beach and tanuki garden for new amur leopard, gaur, and new orangutan complex. Label this as Asian Forest or keep same.

I know this is nit picky but this is my opinion
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This is awesome! Instead of getting rid of WKP tho, why not just put the pumas next to it, or just allow them more space in the dome? If they got access to the current peccary area they might have a decent bit of room. Also, do you think it'd be possible to get the rock wallabies back?

Edit: Also, I think the tanuki garden might be a bit important to the zoo to just get rid of. Maybe the zoo could add those to the Asian Highlands, and bring tanukis into one of the current exhibits (maybe Tufted deer/old Red panda)
 
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Brayden Delashmutt said:
This is awesome! Instead of getting rid of WKP tho, why not just put the pumas next to it, or just allow them more space in the dome? If they got access to the current peccary area they might have a decent bit of room. Also, do you think it'd be possible to get the rock wallabies back?
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The removal of WKP won't just be for the cougars and also I don't like keeping large cats indoors (I know they are not big cats) as for wallabies I said bennets which are a common walkthrough species rather than rock wallabies.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
Looks rather small for the bobcat space. As for the current species in there maybe move the archerfish and tropical species into the lied jungle lower level. As for the rest, I donr know many worth hanging onto.
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Then why not just expand the bobcat space? I do think it'd be a cool idea to add Lynx to the Coastal Shores, would you also add Moose given the chance? I feel like they'd be perfect for that environment
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Then why not just expand the bobcat space? I do think it'd be a cool idea to add Lynx to the Coastal Shores, would you also add Moose given the chance? I feel like they'd be perfect for that environment
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I don't see much room for expansion butnI thought maybe jackrabbits or something as for the WKP species maybe put them in the children's zoo as you said it needed more exotic species.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
I don't see much room for expansion butnI thought maybe jackrabbits or something as for the WKP species maybe put them in the children's zoo as you said it needed more exotic species.
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True, however I don’t see a reason for deleting the WKP. Maybe the previous lagamorphs that were held in the desert dome can just go back where they used to be? Maybe move the moose into the old Gaur yard? Those are good ideas tho, I do like the idea of adding leopards to the Asian Highlands

Also, do you plan to bring the polar bears back?
 
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Brayden Delashmutt said:
True, however I don’t see a reason for deleting the WKP. Maybe the previous lagamorphs that were held in the desert dome can just go back where they used to be? Maybe move the moose into the old Gaur yard? Those are good ideas tho, I do like the idea of adding leopards to the Asian Highlands

Also, do you plan to bring the polar bears back?
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That's a tricky thing, I think to have polar bears you'd have to give the entire space that is the Simmons aviary and move flamingos to the lagoon. As for the WKP it isn't outdated per say but it's arguably the least interesting part of the zoo and there is a lot of potential with the space. Also the previous jackrabbit were in what is now the turkey vulture exhibit which could really go south.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
That's a tricky thing, I think to have polar bears you'd have to give the entire space that is the Simmons aviary and move flamingos to the lagoon. As for the WKP it isn't outdated per say but it's arguably the least interesting part of the zoo and there is a lot of potential with the space. Also the previous jackrabbit were in what is now the turkey vulture exhibit which could really go south.
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Fair, but I think they could get along. If not, just let them roam around the Sonoran area. What would you do with the old Gaur yards? I would have polar bears use them, but that’s your choice.
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Fair, but I think they could get along. If not, just let them roam around the Sonoran area. What would you do with the old Gaur yards? I would have polar bears use them, but that’s your choice.
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Where were the guar yards exactly. Also would there be harm in the entire north American section being a walk through jackrabbit space if not, what else could mix with them. Speaking of walk through why not add sulcata tortoises to the namib section as a walk through species. If jackrabbit were to be free roaming I was thinking get another swift fox for that space and then put a ring tail or a cacomistle in the former swift fox space. As for the wildcats currently in there connect the rotation exhibit adjacent to the klipspringers to the former hyrax ledges and put mesh in them.
 
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RandomZooVisitorYT said:
Where were the guar yards exactly. Also would there be harm in the entire north American section being a walk through jackrabbit space if not, what else could mix with them. Speaking of walk through why not add sulcata tortoises to the namib section as a walk through species. If jackrabbit were to be free roaming I was thinking get another swift fox for that space and then put a ring tail or a cacomistle in the former swift fox space. As for the wildcats currently in there connect the rotation exhibit adjacent to the klipspringers to the former hyrax ledges and put mesh in them.
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Oh, good idea. The Gaur yards are still unused, and are near the Asian Highlands and Glacier Bay.
 

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Looking at the size I would say give the polar bears the space where the aviary is now and give the gaur yard, land directly next to the meadowlark theatre and all but the splash pad to the grizzlies, sea otters, moose, eagles, and bobcat. I know giving that much space to the polar bears seems excessive but I carry a lot of pride in Henry Doorly as do you as a local. Also note that the aviary is roughly 1.7 acres so larger than Columbus but smaller than Detroit. So in short save the gaur space for the grizzlies and the rest for the others and if you think so what about tossing the meadowlark theatre and the land across the path for a wolf exhibit.
 
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