Speculative Burger's zoo project

[Mr Gharial]

Burgers Woods 3


Here we can see the caves underneath the Alpine heights. There's indoor viewing to the bear cave, as well as the entrance to the alpine region, you exit it at the other side (Next to the wolves). It also holds a neighbouring cave with small mammals and a European fire ant colony, with tunnels going through the walls similar to Dierenpark Amersfoort and Ecomare
Leafcutter ant-enclosure - ZooChat
Red ant enclosure - ZooChat

Though more natural and embedded into the rock walls


After the caves, there's a colossal walkthrough aviary with European species, as well as two side aviaries with Western Capercaillies, Hazel grouse, Greater bustards and Common quails. (The side aviaries are similar to the aviaries in Eagle canyon in Zoo Berlin)


The smaller birds are able to fly into the side aviaries as they please

The aviary is styled into different regions, the first path part (until the turn after the Capercaillies) is styled after a Norwegian rock forest, the middle a mix of Dutch park and French broadleaf forests, and the final region with the bustards are based on Mediterranean plains

 

[Mr Gharial]

Burgers woods IV


The final region for Burgers Woods is a bit more elaborate. It has a beaver dam with underwater viewing to the beavers and otters, as well as indoor housing for the beavers, as well as a large Owl castle. Which also holds European wild cats and Eurasian lynx.

The large square in the top left corner has a staff room as well as a meeting centre with a large window to the reindeer (Which isn't visible from outside the enclosure)

The owl castle is similar to the one in Zoo Wroclow
Former bear castle, now owls - ZooChat

Which, unlike the North sea aquarium being similar to Ecomare, is completely on accident

The Lynx enclosure may seem small, but it's actually two-tiered and the top part alone is bigger than the bobcat enclosure in Desert.

The owl aviary is walkthrough, the raven aviary is not, there's also a bottom floor with some other enclosures.

You can also see an inside area for the owls from the pathway before the ravens


The stoats have a fully indoor enclosure inside the largest tower



The black rat enclosure is styled after a dungeon, and the bat enclosure after a wine cellar

The black rats are able to walk under the visitor path, which has glass tunnels running between some of the large stone bricks

The lynx enclosure is visible from three different points

You can see them from the top floor of owl castle, from the bottom floor of owl castle, or from the outside next to the birds of prey aviaries (With luck you'll also see them from the bottom floor at the top)


The path goes down after the wild cat viewing (The real thing looks a lot less like a prison)

The birds of prey aviaries all have bird watching huts on the inside to be able to see them properly, these have open slots where the eagles can't escape from but allow for great pictures

The red squirrel enclosure has two parts, with small tunnels over the visitor's heads where they can climb from one side to the other.

The fallow deers and the Eurasian forest reindeer have similar viewing huts, with benches in the back

Also: forgot to mention that both the Fallow deer and the Wisent have a forest area in the back, so the viewing hut isn't visible from the veluwe side of the enclosure

 

[Mr Gharial]

The otter and beaver enclosures are hugely oversized, and I think the aviary as well


^ Enclosure sized throughout the zoo

I want to redesign it a bit, but I can't figure out how, so can anyone help me with that?

 

[Mr Gharial]

Burgers Woods 3
View attachment 478111

Here we can see the caves underneath the Alpine heights. There's indoor viewing to the bear cave, as well as the entrance to the alpine region, you exit it at the other side (Next to the wolves). It also holds a neighbouring cave with small mammals and a European fire ant colony, with tunnels going through the walls similar to Dierenpark Amersfoort and Ecomare
Leafcutter ant-enclosure - ZooChat
Red ant enclosure - ZooChat

Though more natural and embedded into the rock walls


After the caves, there's a colossal walkthrough aviary with European species, as well as two side aviaries with Western Capercaillies, Hazel grouse, Greater bustards and Common quails. (The side aviaries are similar to the aviaries in Eagle canyon in Zoo Berlin)
View attachment 478112

The smaller birds are able to fly into the side aviaries as they please

The aviary is styled into different regions, the first path part (until the turn after the Capercaillies) is styled after a Norwegian rock forest, the middle a mix of Dutch park and French broadleaf forests, and the final region with the bustards are based on Mediterranean plains

Damnit, I forgot the image version and it's too late to edit it

 

[Cat-Man]

Really enjoying this and for what it’s worth I wouldn’t hold back in terms of ambition - it’s your zoo and in the fantasy world you can do as you please.

 

[Mr Gharial]

Really enjoying this and for what it’s worth I wouldn’t hold back in terms of ambition - it’s your zoo and in the fantasy world you can do as you please.

I'm glad to hear it! But I still want to know feedback about some animals. Unsafe walkthroughs, animals that can't go together, or animals that aren't available (Like the kakas earlier in this thread). it's actually gone under a lot of changes since it first began. There was a very long thread to work out the biggest kinks.

Some examples: removal of Gerenuk, warthog and Bat-eared fox enclosure in Safari (Enclosure was too small and gerenuk/warthog was too risky), Complete flipping of the Australia hall (it was on top at first and clashed with the Open Air Museum that neighbours Burgers Zoo), Removal of Drills from Congo (Enclosures were undersized), Complete overhaul of night houses (The original African night house was were the current South American Night house was and went under the path, it was all a bit wacky), Removal of many Seychelles and Galapagos birds (All unavailable)

The Arctic hall and Woods region were actually the only ones that went with minimal changes (Though still a few)

I'll show you all the first versions, that might be fun!



That's the oldest version I could find, the safari expansion only had two new animals back then, and the Desert expansion hadn't even been thought of



That's the first version of Safari, with some undersized enclosures



This is the first draft of the desert expansion, it was actually and aviary with some free-flying birds and the raccoons were separated with mesh to prevent them from catching the birds (You can understand why that changed)



This is one of the first versions of outback, with, once again, some undersized enclosures. There were actually no free-flying birds in this version

 

[Mr Gharial]

Alright, we've discussed all the regions. But I still need some help with some of the unfinished parts

- Downsize some of the enclosures in Woods, and the whole woods region

- Create interior for European reptile house

- Finish design / redesign Aboriginal caves

I can't figure out how to create these myself, can anyone help me create a basic template?

WestCoastPerson actually helped me a lot with creating the North Sea Aquarium. I'll upload a species list for the reptile house and the aboriginal caves

 

[Mr Gharial]

Species list European reptile house:
Snakes:
-Western whipsnake
-Common viper
-European grass snake

Lizards:
-Sand lizard
-Slowworm
-Ocellated lizard
-Common wall lizard

Salamanders:
-Fire salamander
-Great crested newt
-Marbled newt

Frogs and toads:
-Marsh frog
-European common frog
-Natterjack toad
-Common toad
-European green toad

 

[Mr Gharial]

Aboriginal caves

Terrariums:
mammals
-Kowari
-Short-beaked echidna

Reptiles
Turtles:
-Eastern long-necked turtle

Lizards:
-Australian water dragon
-Bearded dragon
-Frilled dragon
-Blue-tongued skink
-Shingleback skink
-Lace monitor
-Gould’s monitor
-Ridge-tailed monitor
-Giant cave gecko

Snakes:
-Eastern brown snake
-Common death adder
-Inland taipan
-Black-headed python
-Brown water python

Arthropods
-Giant burrowing cockroach
-... (More species needed)



Aquariums:
Fish:
-Murray cod
-Australian bass
-Common galaxias
-Rainbowfishes (Eastern rainbowfish, …)
-Spotted archerfish
-Giant glassfish? (Is it available?)
-Barramundi
-Australian Spotted gudgeon

Reptiles:
-Fly river turtle

Arthropods
Australian prawn



Aboriginal murals:
-Great emu war
-Disastrous introduction of rabbits and dogs
-Wildfires
-... (More needed)



Nocturnal walkthrough:
-Tawny frogmouth
-Bush stone-curlew
-Sugar glider
-Western Woylie
-Rufous bettong
-Feathertail glider



Separated caverns:
-Oasis of the Rainbow Serpent
-Glowworm dripping cave

Set locations:

-Lowered viewing for perenties
-Oasis of the Rainbow Serpent
-Dingo den indoor viewing

 

[Mr Gharial]

For both the reptile house and the Aboriginal caves it's preferred to have mostly mixed exhibits and naturalistic displays. As well as not having enclosures on both sides of a hallway, to make sure it's not too easy to miss enclosures

 

[Mr Gharial]

Little update: I added a small outside region for the fossas in Islands

 

[Mr Gharial]

Another little update: I'm going to expand make the path in Outback go into the former dingo enclosure more, expand the indoor area for Emus and Macropods, as well as giving them a little more privacy with a little wooded area (this also giving more landing space for birds)

I haven't drawn it out yet, but I will later

Also:

Aboriginal caves
Set locations:

-Lowered viewing for perenties
-Oasis of the Rainbow Serpent
-Dingo den indoor viewing

Ignore the dingo den still here, I'm stoopid

 

[Mr Gharial]

I'm also planning on adding some free-ranging lizards in the Desert hall. Common Chuckwalla and Eastern collared lizard are the main contenders, as well as Desert iguana, Regal horned lizard, Zebra-tailed lizard and Desert spiny lizard.

They're all available and geographically accurate. The current species list of other free-roamers in desert is Gambel's Quail, Scaled quail, Rose-bellied Bunting, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, Turkey Vulture, Socorro dove, White-winged Dove, Mexican House finch, Yellow Grosbeak, Ultramarine Grosbeak, and Painted Bunting. Along with that there are also Collared peccary and Bighorn sheep enclosures that are technically accessible, but easily avoidable

 

[Mr Gharial]

Also: I added king quail as a free-roamer in outback

Here's the updated map:


Temporarily took out the caves, as they haven't been designed anyway

 

[Mr Gharial]

Another little update: I added two adventure trails to Outback


Do we know of any ground-based birds that will be more likely to hang around in the bottom arid region? I fear most birds will only hang out near the top. The water area near the first adventure trail will also be more wooded.

Another thing that I forgot to mention: After time the black swans with clipped wings (the ones in the current enclosure) will be replaced by unclipped animals and they will be free-roaming, but won't have access to outside anymore

 

[Strix]

Do we know of any ground-based birds that will be more likely to hang around in the bottom arid region? I fear most birds will only hang out near the top.

Crested and spinifex pigeons and malleefowl are good fits, but I’m not sure how available they are in captivity.

 

[Mr Gharial]

Crested and spinifex pigeons and malleefowl are good fits, but I’m not sure how available they are in captivity.

Crested pigeon is available in Europe, Spinifex are not. Not sure about Spinifex's availability outside of Europe

 

[Mr Gharial]

Spinifex pigeons are available in a number of Australian zoos. They are listed least concern, so they'll probably be transferable

 

[Mr Gharial]

I added tiger quoll to the aboriginal caves, as well as a mural about off-coast islands saving populations (Tasmanian devils for example). As well as one for the extinction of Tasmanian tiger

 

[Mr Gharial]

According to Burgers zoo's website, their aardvarks are incredibly docile. So I think I'm turning their enclosure in Night to a full walkthrough, instead of a walk-over enclosure.

A breeding pair of aardvark will also stay in the bush, their regular enclosure and breeding enclosure will be joined into one larger enclosure. This is because Burgers Zoo is the most successful breeder in Europe because the aardvarks are able to bask in natural sunlight.


These are the current (slightly undersized) enclosures


This will be the new breeding enclosure, with a smaller viewing window to the side, and a larger look-around wooden viewing platform. As well as a small tunnel that leads to a small viewing window into one of three dens

It will also have a generally more natural design, and Western Hingeback tortoises will be added to add a little life into the enclosure. As the aardvarks are rarely ever visible.
If the enclosure is big enough, kirk's dikdik will share the enclosure instead, but I'm not certain about their size requirements