My Speculative Plan For The Topeka Zoo

RandomZooVisitorYT

RandomZooVisitorYT

Well-Known Member
Asia- Go forward with one of the zoos old Master plans to add a new tiger space where the Japanese garden is today and add a gibbon and otter in the former giraffe space. As for the former gorilla (now sun bears space) after Hoho passes, put clouded leopards on the larger half and binturongs on the other. Add netting to the tops of both exhibits and fill in the moat for the moat for the bubturong exhibit. Expand orangutan exhibit to a part of the empty giraffe exhibit.

Camp Cowabunga- Keep everything the same except expand lion exhibit to take over the painted dog exhibit and use the space occupied by the children's zoo and hippo exhibit to make new spaces for hippos wild dogs and black and white ruffled lemurs. Go through with the zoos plan to use the current elephant and tiger space to make a rhino yard the connects to the giraffe exhibit. As for the giraffe exhibit move the outdoor feeding deck to the pavilion and add a log wall so you can't see the private yards for the hoofstock.

Tropical Rainforest- Apply natural rock on the inside add flamingo exhibit on the outside where garden. Add marmoset exhibit on the inside of the dome, Replace concrete barriers with faux log walls. Add dart frogs and iguanas to walk though. Put bird identification board elsewhere and in that space of former (empty for at least 12 years) exhibit (no clue what it had but possibly iguana, boa, or macaw) and make a proper boa or tegu terrarium.

North America- Expand Cougar exhibit and keep Hills Black Bear Woods the same. Replace the eagle owls with great horned owls that are in a cage near the former giraffe yard. Add new skunk, hawk, and screech owl exhibits and demolish the old cages that they had. Go forward with their Shores plan to add grizzly bears and sea lions and go forward with one of their old master plans to convert one of the ponds into an alligator exhibit and move otters to a new exhibit nearby.

Husk of Animals and Man- Give half of giraffe indoor space to hippos and other half to rhinos. Add cafe in former lemur spaces and keep the bug zoo intact. Give African theme to the building.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
North America- Expand Cougar exhibit and keep Hills Black Bear Woods the same. Replace the eagle owls with great horned owls that are in a cage near the former giraffe yard. Add new skunk, hawk, and screech owl exhibits and demolish the old cages that they had. Go forward with their Shores plan to add grizzly bears and sea lions and go forward with one of their old master plans to convert one of the ponds into an alligator exhibit and move otters to a new exhibit nearby.

Husk of Animals and Man- Give half of giraffe indoor space to hippos and other half to rhinos. Add cafe in former lemur spaces and keep the bug zoo intact. Give African theme to the building.
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Not sure why the zoo is fully phasing out elephants, tbh. Yes the habitat is pretty inadequate rn, but with the giraffes being absent, it’d be relatively easy to just combine the two habitats and move the rhinoceros into where the current children’s zoo is. If you know more, please fill me in lol
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Not sure why the zoo is fully phasing out elephants, tbh. Yes the habitat is pretty inadequate rn, but with the giraffes being absent, it’d be relatively easy to just combine the two habitats and move the rhinoceros into where the current children’s zoo is. If you know more, please fill me in lol
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The problem is that If you combined those spaces and the hippo exhibit it would only be an acre and a half which is not horrendous but considering Oklahoma's elephant exhibit progress, by 2025 Oklahoma will have 2 of the largest elephant habitats in the country. Also yes the plan does phase out hippos but seeing the current plan and the childrens zoo is about 2/3 acre it would make a lot more sense to combine the elephant, hippo, and tiger spaces to the giraffe habitat to add rhinos and for the childrens zoo space to house hippos as Memphis (Best Hippo exhibit ive seen) is only a fourth and acre and they could use half of that for a great exhibit. So in theory you could also add flamingos or crocodiles if one felt like it. As for plans of a new childrens zoo, i think they should renovate the education center but keep the giraffe space for the gibbon and otter exhibit they originally planned and orangutan expansion.
 
  • Add an actual entrance plaza, and make a large flamingo exhibit here. Maybe a few smaller aviaries and a garden would be work here (a lot of the smaller animals from the current wire cages could be moved here)
  • Add the butterfly garden intended in the original masterplan here.


Tropical Rainforest


  • Rework the walls, and get rid of the ugly concrete exhibits. Make it a free flight aviary, with some reptile exhibits on the side.

North America


  • Get rid of Kansas Carnivores, and use said area to make an exhibit for Mexican/Red wolves. Tbh I think Mexican would work better, as they’re growing in popularity and are a beautiful species

  • As for the “coastal shores” area, expand Hill’s Black Bear Woods and turn it into a coastal Grizzly Bear habitat. Add an exhibit for bald eagles in between the Grizzly Bear and wolf exhibits.

Tigers


  • Move the tigers to the current Japanese Garden area. This could be one of the best tiger habitats in the nation, and if possible could have several separate yards. Beings that they already have Sumatran and have had lots of breeding success with them in the past, I’m pretty sure that’s the subspecies they’ll stick with - but I’m partial to Siberian, and I think they could hypothetically work here too.
  • Move the gift shop somewhere near here.

Animals and Man (Indoor Species Not Listed)


  • The current Animals and Man building is pretty bad as far as animal welfare goes, but I do like the older style. I disagree with the zoos plan to phase out elephants, and I think they allowing their current elephants access to the old giraffe yard and current hippo yard could help quite a bit. A breeding herd might not work, but a bachelor herd or a few rescues would be perfect. Make the exhibit visible from Camp Cowabunga and from the entry plaza.
  • Add white rhinoceros in the old tiger areas. Allow them limited access to the current giraffe yards.

Liana’s Forest


  • Adding Gorillas back to the zoo could hypothetically work, even if it meant phasing out the orangutan - though I’m not sure that’d be worth it. Either way, imma just throw out the idea here

Children’s Zoo


  • Make it more unique, but don’t make it take up large portion of the zoo. Add a playground themed around different natural environments, a splash park, and a diner that overlooks the scenic area nearby
  • Some sort of building like the WKP would be nice here, though not completely necessary. Maybe move the education center here?

Camp Cowabunga


  • Expand the lion and painted dog yards to allow them more space.

  • Make a Zambezi delta themed area, featuring crocodiles and spreading into the African Elephant area

  • Add plains zebras to giraffe and friends, and focus much more on immersion.

  • Redo the layout of the area to allow for the more immersive exhibits and a more effective layout, circling back around to the elephants, and doing what Gary Clarke actually intended
 
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First off, the elephants done have access to the old elephant yard as they tore the barriers down.
Tropical Rainforest- Your idea but also merge the larger chevrotain and tortoise exhibits as one and update barrier and move the bird sign elsewhere and use the very old and abandoned iguana exhibit for dart frogs and boas or something. Keep caiman and move tegus, armadillos, and other tropical species over from education center.

North America- Use Kansas Carnivores, Coastal shores, and swan area for new wolf, otter, cougar, and (pinniped or grizzly) exhibits as well as the skunks, great horned, and screech owls.

Animals and man- Use northern part of My World as a new hippo, crocodile, and lemur exhibit
Note the only indoor species are the bug zoo and black and white ruffed lemurs (porcupine moved to cowabunga) Demolish building and add a new painted dog exhibit. Combine former elephant space to giraffe and friends as intended.

Camp Cowabunga- Make new exhibit using lion and wild dog exhibits.
Add smaller exhibit to Camp cowabunga or giraffe plaza such as tortoises, meerkats, dwarf mongooses, etc. Add a more natural barrier to Giraffe and Friends.

Liana's Forest- Larger half of sun bear exhibit into a clouded leopard space and the smaller one for binturongs (add netting). Turn Japanese garden into tiger exhibit(s). Use the southern part of My World (keep idea for new entry plaza) for orangutan expansion, gibbon/otters, and sloth bears.

Children's Zoo- Merge idea for a children's zoo with the new entry plaza with slight expansion with the education center. Keep goats in the area from the education center to the plaza. As for the plaza add some new species- Coatis? Capybaras? Flamingos? Macaws? Suggestions.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
First off, the elephants done have access to the old elephant as they tore the barriers down.
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Wait, then where are they keeping them?

RandomZooVisitorYT said:
North America- Use Kansas Carnivores, Coastal shores, and swan area for new wolf, otter, cougar, and (pinniped or grizzly) exhibits as well as the skunks, great horned, and screech owls.
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I forgot about pinnipeds, what species do you think would work best?

RandomZooVisitorYT said:
Liana's Forest- Larger half of sun bear exhibit into a clouded leopard space and the smaller one for binturongs (add netting). Turn Japanese garden into tiger exhibit(s). Use the southern part of My World (keep idea for new entry plaza) for orangutan expansion, gibbon/otters, and sloth bears.
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Does the zoo plan to keep sun bears? Also, maybe, if possible, an entire Asian section can be made here that’s adjacent to camp cowabunga. Red pandas, babirusa, etc would work

RandomZooVisitorYT said:
Children's Zoo- Merge idea for a children's zoo with the new entry plaza with slight expansion with the education center. Keep goats in the area from the education center to the plaza. As for the plaza add some new species- Coatis? Capybaras? Flamingos? Macaws? Suggestions.
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I mean, I think meerkats would work pretty well in addition to the aforementioned animals. Maybe some sort of small prosimian or tamarin too?

Anyways, good ideas, it would be nice to see more appreciation across zoochat for this zoo!
 
Brayden Delashmutt said:
Wait, then where are they keeping them?



I forgot about pinnipeds, what species do you think would work best?



Does the zoo plan to keep sun bears? Also, maybe, if possible, an entire Asian section can be made here that’s adjacent to camp cowabunga. Red pandas, babirusa, etc would work



I mean, I think meerkats would work pretty well in addition to the aforementioned animals. Maybe some sort of small prosimian or tamarin too?

Anyways, good ideas, it would be nice to see more appreciation across zoochat for this zoo!
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I meant they tore down the old giraffe exhibit barriers and is currently an event lawn, I imagine that sea lions and harbor seals would be included for pinnipeds, As for a new Asian Section it could be cool to use the middle and lower portion for something like that rather than for wild dogs. I agree that small prosimians or another tamarin could be cool for this purpose in mind.
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
I meant they tore down the old giraffe exhibit barriers and is currently an event lawn, I imagine that sea lions and harbor seals would be included for pinnipeds, As for a new Asian Section it could be cool to use the middle and lower portion for something like that rather than for wild dogs. I agree that small prosimians or another tamarin could be cool for this purpose in mind.
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That’s fair. I haven’t visited the zoo since the giraffe yards were torn down, has it been remodeled?
 
RandomZooVisitorYT said:
Pretty much depends on if you want better landscaping or not. But seeing as how they made a tortoise yard out of the back corner of Lana's forest using the guest fence as the main barrier. I would expect them to not do much with it
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True, however I think it's possible (tho not probable)

Also, do you think Grizzly bears could be worked in any way?
 
For my new ideas for the masterplan, I’ve decided that I’d split the zoo up into three regions - Africa, Asia, and North America


Asia


  • Add asian small clawed otters next to the entrance. This habitat would be the first of many in the Asian exhibit.

  • The current Liana Forest would receive major renovations, and include several other primate species. I’d add San Diego style aviary mesh on the orang/other primate exhibits to get rid of the moats and allow them more room.

  • Area for Asian elephants would take over the hippo, old giraffe, and current elephant yard with major renovations. The elephant habitat would go from the east side of the animals and man building to the river, and allow the elephants to be viewed from multiple different points.

  • Make the current tiger habitats a combined habitat for snow leopards. Add Siberian tigers nearby, possibly in addition to or replacing the current Sumatran.

  • Add jaguars near the tropical rainforest.

Africa


  • Keep the painted dog and lion habitats with major renovations. Add a guinea baboon exhibit nearby as planned. Allow the lions and painted dogs viewing into the savannah.

  • Keep the new giraffe habitat, also with major renovations to make it more naturalistic. Move white rhinoceros into a yard near them.

  • Move hippopotamus and nile crocodiles into river exhibits adjacent to the Savannah.

  • Turn the Japanese garden into an area for gorillas.

North America


  • The current children’s zoo would be destroyed, and a more “wild” themed area like part of what is currently planned would replace it. The area would exhibit some smaller native animals like prairie dogs, as well as native plants.

  • Bactrian camels would work well near the new children’s zoo. Petting and riding could be allowed. They would also be visible from Asia.

  • Turn the kansas carnivores exhibits into a combined exhibit for grizzly bears. Move the birds of prey into aviaries near here.

  • As for hills black bear woods, with the new tiger area encroaching on it, I’d turn it into a large forest for red wolves. They’re a species I think would work perfectly for Topeka, and would absolutely love to see
 
Here’s my version of the masterplan, with a map.

Also, has the zoo ever kept red pandas? I feel like they’d be a species that the zoo would keep
 
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Nile Hippo Expert said:
I highly doubt elephants are not coming back to the zoo once the current two pass. I also think gorillas will never return. Hippos are also a phase-out species for the zoo according to their master plan.
Zoo Master Plan - Topeka Zoo & Conservation Center
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Oh I agree that elephants aren’t coming back, but I don’t think that they should leave. Or hippos. There’s enough room, but Topeka is being lazy and cutting back their entire animal collection.
 
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