San Diego Zoo New Map!

The map... is great! Still hate the new area names with every fiber of my being. (Over-dramatic maybe?)
 
I really like the map, although with such a vast zoo as San Diego the map is not as specific as it could possibly be. That can be forgiven due to the sheer volume of enclosures that are at the park, and therefore not all of the animals can be illustrated on the new map. What cannot be forgiven are the names such as "Asian Passage" (with African wild dogs), "Urban Jungle" (50% off of jeans next month) and "Africa Rocks" (why not "Africa Kicks Ass"?:)).
 
The map looks more like the map of a theme park rather than a zoo... very confusing and in my opinion the map is representative of how the San Diego Zoo is going down hill. Less of the classic San Diego Zoo and much more cheesy theme-park like ugh. I also hate the names too, and I'm glad I got to see the zoo before it underwent such drastic changes for the worse.
 
Very nice - I like it a lot. Since I am a member and am familiar with the layout, I usually do not pick up a map anymore so I might have missed this.

I noticed they picture the black jaguar in Elephant Odyssey, so I wonder if this is a permanent switch? They originally had the yellow jaguar there and the black one where he has always been in Cat Canyon (or whatever they call it now). That actually made more sense, because the Cat Canyon is a densely planted enclosure reminiscent of the rainforest home of melanistic jaguars and Elephant Odyssey represents early California, which up until fairly recently had a few yellow jaguars (but never black). But at some point they switched the two and I am not sure why. When it first happened, I heard that they were going to switch them back and forth occasionally for enrichment and that still may be the case.
 
BlackRhino said:
The map looks more like the map of a theme park rather than a zoo... very confusing and in my opinion the map is representative of how the San Diego Zoo is going down hill. Less of the classic San Diego Zoo and much more cheesy theme-park like ugh. I also hate the names too, and I'm glad I got to see the zoo before it underwent such drastic changes for the worse.
Click to expand...

What were all these drastic changes for the worse? And how is it becoming like a theme park?
 
I think it's nice too, for a huge and complex collection like San Diego it will always be impossible to have a general map that shows the location of every single species but you can get a pretty good idea from this map.

The images of the animals are attractive and friendly looking for kids whilst remaining accurate and life-like which I like very much.

I also hate the names...
 
I second the hating of the names, I will still call it Monkey Trails, Gorilla Tropics, Ituri Forest, etc. Though I think I wouldn't mind the names if the animals actually matched the locations.
 
There's now a newER map thats much more animated. Same link as before but here it is again: San Diego Zoo: Zoo Map

Thoughts? In my opinion, its kinda odd looking in some areas but I love the vector animals in place of just icons. They seem really cool.
 
UrMumzAGoat said:
Could someone explain why the AFRICAN Wild Dogs are in "Asian Passage"
Click to expand...

For the same reason that central Chinese Goral are in "Africa Rocks." The zoo has employed a marketing firm (as I understand it) to help figure out new ways to increase tourist attendance. Their idea is to make these catchy hip new road names which may or may not have anything to do with the animals that live there. (This has been brought up before and is a sore point for most of us ZooChatters).

The alternative possibility, although I doubt it, is that the zoo has a master plan to realign their collection more geographically to match these new names. If they do, they have not said anything about it publicly.
 
Arizona Docent said:
For the same reason that central Chinese Goral are in "Africa Rocks." The zoo has employed a marketing firm (as I understand it) to help figure out new ways to increase tourist attendance. Their idea is to make these catchy hip new road names which may or may not have anything to do with the animals that live there. (This has been brought up before and is a sore point for most of us ZooChatters).

The alternative possibility, although I doubt it, is that the zoo has a master plan to realign their collection more geographically to match these new names. If they do, they have not said anything about it publicly.
Click to expand...

Oh, ok. Thanks for the response
 
I was looking at the map and it appears as though the Francois' Langurs are no longer being exhibited next to the Orangutans and instead there are now Wolf's Guenons. The Francois' Langurs have been moved to the ugly little cages by the Bear grottoes according to the map. Also, it looks as thought the Wolf's Guenons were removed from the Pygmy Hippo exhibit and instead there are now Colobus Monkeys.

Also, I don't know if it has been mentioned, but I recently saw a photo of a cheetah in the previous Baird's Tapir/Capybara exhibit in Elephant Mesa. The exhibit had tall mesh both in front and in the back. If you look at the map, you could see the mesh on the exhibit. I wonder if this will be a permanent exhibit or just for the "Backstage Pass" cheetahs.
 
Except for the giraffe and rhino, all of the old Elephant Mesa is now ambassador animals - mostly those used in the backstage show but I've also seen some from Hunte Amphitheater and the cheetahs which appear at the Sea Lion show. In addition to the cheetahs, the large yard where the tapirs and capybara were rotates the arctic and timber wolves along with their dog pals.
 
Otter Lord said:
I second the hating of the names, I will still call it Monkey Trails, Gorilla Tropics, Ituri Forest, etc. Though I think I wouldn't mind the names if the animals actually matched the locations.
Click to expand...

So do I. It is a wast of money, those new names.

And to the map: I also agree with the opinion, that it looks now more like a map of a roller-coaster-icecream-Funpark.
I still prefer the animal names in letters than even good graphics to sign an exhibit in a map. Its easier to exchange. Some pathways are hard to identify. Also the exhibit sizes in the new map are confusing (to me) in some cases. E.g. It looks as if the hippo exhibit has the same size as the new rhino (and former elephant) exhibit (Or am I wrong and those exhibits are indeed equal?).
 
mstickmanp said:
I was looking at the map and it appears as though the Francois' Langurs are no longer being exhibited next to the Orangutans and instead there are now Wolf's Guenons. The Francois' Langurs have been moved to the ugly little cages by the Bear grottoes according to the map. Also, it looks as thought the Wolf's Guenons were removed from the Pygmy Hippo exhibit and instead there are now Colobus Monkeys.

Also, I don't know if it has been mentioned, but I recently saw a photo of a cheetah in the previous Baird's Tapir/Capybara exhibit in Elephant Mesa. The exhibit had tall mesh both in front and in the back. If you look at the map, you could see the mesh on the exhibit. I wonder if this will be a permanent exhibit or just for the "Backstage Pass" cheetahs.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I noticed the seemingly out of place monkeys, does anyone know if this is for sure how it is in the zoo and not a mistake on the map?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top