Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
Do you know of exhibits that have been demolished and replaced with inferior ones
Replacement exhibits
- Thread starter Strathmorezoo
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Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
I can't remember the old Antelope House ,I was only a toddler then but I do remember the Cattle Sheds.I think that this thread may not be popular with some member's because older exhibits could be regarded as bad in some way
Europe on the Edge at Chester? When the aviary was demolished to make way for the Madagascar area most of the birds ended up in the former condor aviary which is quite smaller (though still very large). The viewing of the current aviary doesn't allow for the great views the old one had.
Charles
Well-Known Member
Bristol zoo when they replaced the okapi paddock with a wallaby walkthrough then tree kangaroo
the space for okapi was starting to seem too small however the walkthrough wasn’t very well thought out then the tree kangaroo enclosure took up very little space but left alot of unusable empty space
the space for okapi was starting to seem too small however the walkthrough wasn’t very well thought out then the tree kangaroo enclosure took up very little space but left alot of unusable empty space
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
Could you tell me was the European aviary built on the site of the old polar bear enclosure? .If it was ,I thought that it was a cracking aviary. I haven't been to Chester for a while now and I'm trying to get my bearings
Yes that was the one.
I remember going to Glasgow Zoo Park in 1998 and seeing a sign saying something along the lines of "our polar bears have now gone and will be soon replaced by Pygmy marmosets".
Not sure that ever happened, I never went again and the zoo closed in 2003. Also the only primate species they seemed to have between the late 90s and early 00s were capuchins and cotton topped tamarins
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Although it was always very flawed as an aviary (lack of indoor heating and the geometric shape of it restricting flight space), I much preferred when Snowdon Aviary at London Zoo held birds to the colobus of today. The zoo already had three primate walkthroughs (squirrel monkeys, lemurs and a selection of callitrichids and larger primates in Rainforest Life), and while 'Monkey Valley' is far larger and better than any of them (at least as far as the primates are concerned), it does feel somewhat repetitive in a way that birds didn't; yes, the zoo has other bird walkthroughs as well, but they are either very small ('Meet the Neighbours') or radically different (Blackburn Pavilion), so Snowdon was very different. And while I accept that the aviary had flaws, as mentioned above, from a visitor perspective the issues have become far greater since the colobus arrive. For the first time since I have started visiting, there are serious queues to enter an exhibit at London Zoo, often up to ten minutes long, and occasional malfunctions with the automatic doors and inactivity of the primates means that, at times, the walkthrough is either closed entirely, or offers no view whatsoever of the animals.
I am sure that I would be much kinder if the North Bank Aviaries were still open, as they were closed for the construction of Monkey Valley, and that further reduced the bird collection. Hopefully, when (or if) they ever do reopen, they will be greater than ever, which, given the extensive work which the birds department has seen over the past year or so in other areas of the zo, is very likely.
I am sure that I would be much kinder if the North Bank Aviaries were still open, as they were closed for the construction of Monkey Valley, and that further reduced the bird collection. Hopefully, when (or if) they ever do reopen, they will be greater than ever, which, given the extensive work which the birds department has seen over the past year or so in other areas of the zo, is very likely.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
I have this vision of either huge marmosets or tiny polar bears
I remember the Glasgow Zoo's old polar bear exhibit; like most polar bear accommodation of that era, it was an uninspiring, sterile, concrete enclosure.
I never saw it used for pygmy marmosets but I remember being very impressed by the imaginative way it was transformed into a fine, attractively planted, enclosure for ocelots.
Haliaeetus
Well-Known Member
I think to the Mappin Terraces in London, where there were Sloth Bears and Hanuman Langurs (I was impressed by both species that I didn't know when I visited this zoo in 2001), then replaced by a dull "bush" with common species (Emu, Red Kangaroo, Red-necked Wallaby) that can be seen everywhere.
Otherwise the former Elephant plateaus in Vincennes was repurposed for common species like Ankole Cattle and Capybaras in the very last pre-closure years of the zoo.
Indeed it wasn't a "good" exhibit, but this conversion was really disappointing even for people who weren't fond of elephant keeping in this place.
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The primate enclosure in Marwell's Into Africa being converted into a lemur walkthrough.
The last occupants prior to the conversion were king colobuses. It was a decent enough enclosure for mid sized primates but not big enough to be a walkthrough. The paths mean a large proportion of the enclosure is dead space that can't have climbing/enrichment opportunities for the lemurs. To make matters worse it hasn't re-opened as a walkthrough since the pandemic, meaning the paths are even more a waste of space.
The last occupants prior to the conversion were king colobuses. It was a decent enough enclosure for mid sized primates but not big enough to be a walkthrough. The paths mean a large proportion of the enclosure is dead space that can't have climbing/enrichment opportunities for the lemurs. To make matters worse it hasn't re-opened as a walkthrough since the pandemic, meaning the paths are even more a waste of space.
Strathmorezoo
Well-Known Member
I quite agree with you on the Mappin Terraces comment
Any idea roughly what % of the time they are active, or at least visible.
That was awful! I couldn't believe it when they announced that such an iconic space would be used for such a boring exhibit. Granted the Sloth Bears were not the most showy species, but if you did see them there would be a sense of genuine excitement! Nothing particularly against wallabies and the like, but it was a really uninspired use of the space.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Around half the time, I would guess, although admittedly I haven’t spent long enough in that area of the zoo to make an informed judgement.
I have seen the Snowdon Aviary many times since it was converted into a walk-through colobus monkey enclosure. When the monkeys are active, it is a superb exhibit; watching the monkeys leaping great distances is a wonderful experience. Inevitably, though, the monkeys are not always active and there are times when they choose to remain out of sight in their indoor accommodation. I agree with "Kalaw" and estimate the colobus monkeys are active about 50% of the time.
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