no, the elephants enclosure has been extended and will meet the needs of the elephant herd and i guess, any calves, for the life of the master-plan.
the elephant enclosure is long and backs on to the african savannah. the barn is at the rear of the enclosure and open on to a yard and then the two enclosures.
the bull area is a circular type exhibit, opposite the orangs and gibbons, set within a rainforest and reached by a boardwalk. it has a waterfall and pool, is nice and big and sandy with plenty of deadfall and upright tree trunks for enrichment. the exhibit, now used exclusively for the bull, used to house all 4 animals, which is where the extension comes into play. its about the size (roughly) of melbournes bull paddock.
the extended exhibit is for the 3 females. it has two viewing areas under pitched roofed asian style pagodas and these are reached along a jungle trail. it isnt quite as immersion as taonga or melbournes and it certainly isnt as convincing as the african savannah but it functions from the elephants point of view. as i said in an earlier post, none of these animals steretyped once over two visits and i watched them both times for hours.
this exhibit is a little smaller than melbourne's biggest. again, the main substrateis sand and it has been designed to encourage walking-its a longish exhibit. at one end theres a waterfall and huge pond, plus sand mounds and vegetation.
the area im wondering about is at the end of this exhibit. theres plenty of fig trees and jungle plants there, but its not going to be an orang exhibit or from what i can see in the masterplan, anything in particular. maybe its a tapir exhibit (a renewed focus of australian zoos we wish), or even a chital deer enclosure with a post fence for access to the elephant enclosure. i dont know, which is why ive emailed the zoo
