Stupidest Exhibit Ideas Ever

I also opened this thread to talk about the disco hippos :P There at least used to be a photo of the exhibit on here, I don't know what would have happened to it.

I actually like these sorts of exhibits for House Mice and Rats too, think they are quite fun...Bristol has one for Black Rats in the nocturnal house, always go for a look.

Bristol's is a very fun one! I don't understand the hate our rodent friends seem to be getting on here. While I agree neither the House Mouse nor Brown Rat are species I'd love to see in a zoo, they certainly don't deserve mere feeder status.

~Thylo
 
Here's one from my home zoo (NEW Zoo):
It keeps freshwater cichlids.

Badly made and maintained fake coral reefs in a freshwater tank? Oh so very classy indeed.

Good nomination.

How can this be described as "stupidest", this is part of their natural habitat and range, is it a quality issue???

While they are often used as feeder animals, I do think the humble house mouse deserves a little more respect. Besides, they can certainly be interesting as display animals.

I really like the idea of this exhibit! And it is definitely an enriching environment for such a small animal that is rarely provided much space in captivity.

I actually like these sorts of exhibits for House Mice and Rats too, think they are quite fun...Bristol has one for Black Rats in the nocturnal house, always go for a look.

I also opened this thread to talk about the disco hippos :p There at least used to be a photo of the exhibit on here, I don't know what would have happened to it.

Bristol's is a very fun one! I don't understand the hate our rodent friends seem to be getting on here. While I agree neither the House Mouse nor Brown Rat are species I'd love to see in a zoo, they certainly don't deserve mere feeder status.

~Thylo

I hate house mice and brown/Norway and black rats and admittedly I'm also a little (well, more than that to be honest) scared of them. I don't see much use for them in a zoo beyond being lab animals or animal feed - and outside of that context I see them as useless - and dangerous - vermin. They just make me cringe when I see them in a zoo other than as food.

I'll admit it really is more of a personal thing rather than a serious argument as to why such exhibits are stupid and why I dislike mice and rats.

I can see all your arguments, rationally speaking, but emotionally/personally I just can't agree with or like mice or rat exhibits.
 
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I also opened this thread to talk about the disco hippos :p There at least used to be a photo of the exhibit on here, I don't know what would have happened to it.



Bristol's is a very fun one! I don't understand the hate our rodent friends seem to be getting on here. While I agree neither the House Mouse nor Brown Rat are species I'd love to see in a zoo, they certainly don't deserve mere feeder status.

~Thylo
For some reason at Bristol the 'basement' section with Brown Rats has been closed, only the Black rats in the 'loft' up the creepy little stairs are still there.
 
Why is this designed to look like a church?
It was intended to suggest a traditional Batak house but, well, Indiana

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Those poor hippos! Imagine having to put up with those lights and noise all day every day. I couldn't even make it through a three minute video.

Not only is the exhibit tiny but so much sensory overload for the hippos. It's like being in a Rainforest Cafe.

Now I may be prone to sensory overload, but even that video is awful. I simply could not watch it without turning the sound of. It must have been pretty awful for those hippos having to deal with that all the time. A very stupid idea indeed if not mildly cruel to animals (and people too at that). Glad they discontinued it, but it shouldn't have ever been realized or even conceived of.

I don't think this controversial exhibit - there has been plenty of discussion on it in the gallery comments section and possibly elsewhere on here, it seems - is that terribly tiny, I don't think it's all that much smaller than your average adequate indoor hippopotamus exhibit at any given decent zoo - and I've seen worse for hippo exhibits. However, it is, besides some holding areas, their permanent home and they have no outdoor access or soft substrates. So still not a great exhibit. Not an example of how to keep hippos well I would say.

The one saving grace is that it was short lived!!

They don't the idiotic disco thing anymore, but they still keep hippos in that same exhibit.
 
The hippo enclosure used to hold porcupine and various birds mixed with them but all the other animals were removed for the disco display.

When I visited it wasn't as bad as it was in that video, I think they toned it down a lot after opening it. I still hated that exhibit and it was by far the worst in the otherwise really good aquarium.

~Thylo
 
I hate house mice and brown/Norway and black rats and admittedly I'm also a little (well, more than that to be honest) scared of them. I don't see much use for them in a zoo beyond being lab animals or animal feed - and outside of that context I see them as useless - and dangerous - vermin.

They're really quite fascinating, intelligent, highly adaptable animals - I love to watch wild rodents, they are so nimble and athletic.
 
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This is one of the two Indoor Nile Hippopotamus enclosure at the Topeka zoo. This is weirdly designed, small and very un-naturalistic.
 
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Those are some bizarre and to be honest in most cases fairly ghastly reptile exhibits.

Seriously, why would you do something like this? It's just plain stupid.

As for the hippopotamus stable... it's kind of your basic old-fashioned hippopotamus holding I'd say. Not unlike what you would have found in other places a couple of decades ago, or even more recently. I've seen somewhat similar hippo stables even here in Europe.
 
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