San Diego Zoo The future of the zoo

pachyderm pro said:
Urban Jungle is one of my most disliked exhibits in any American zoo. Incorrect geographical placement really gets my blood boiling, and in this category the exhibit excels. Where else can you find giraffes, Indian rhinos, arctic wolves and red kangaroos in the same exhibit area?
Click to expand...
Pretty much every European zoo :p

Also, re Berlin: I'm sure the Zoo will soon hold tigers again. Like SDZ, they are completely tied to the ABC collection concept, which is fine IMO. The Tierpark will, I imagine, also get a new lion exhibit, but on a much longer timeframe.
 
I would love to see Bear Canyon become a South American exhibit including 3 main event exhibits:
1. Spectacled Bear 2. Giant Otter 3. Large Crocodilian (American Croc, Orinoco, or Black Caiman) I was stoked to hear about the success of Dwarf Croc breeding and I've always wanted the Zoo to have a larger presence in crocodilian breeding success. This exhibit would also give them the opportunity to find a place for their anteaters and other South American animals which always seem thrown into whatever exhibit is empty including some small primates and hoof stock like paca.
 
My idea for the Urban Jungle and Bear Canyon areas go something like this:
- Move the Lesser Kudu, Gerenuks and Gazelles from Northern Frontier to Urban Jungle, to be featured in a woodland setting with Masai Giraffes.
- The Woodland should extend downward towards Bear Canyon, taking over the Cape Clawless Otter and former Transvaal Lion enclosures.
- Add a barless waterhole feature where guests can look out at the animals, and (should the walkway surround The Woodland, have a central hill to prevent crossviews)
- As for Bear Canyon, consolidate "Asian Passage" into Lost Forest, and expand Sun Bear Forest to feature other Bornean animals such as Clouded Leopards, various reptiles, etc. Also bring back grass into the Sun Bear exhibit.
-Move the Grevy's Zebras into the Woodland, and the Chacoan Peccaries to one of the offshow areas.
-Use Horn and Hoof Mesa remnants to create a Cloud Forest for Andean Bears.
-Move the Colobus Monkeys into Lost Forest (either in Monkey Trails or Gorilla Tropics) and build the Aye Aye complex in Africa Rocks.
-Build a moving walkway from Africa Rocks to The Woodland, and open up the viewing so that Giraffes can look through the Eucalyptus trees down at Leopards and Vervet Monkeys.
-Move the Indian Rhinos into Elephant Odyssey, maybe tying in signage about the "Woolly Rhinoceros" or something like that.
-Move the Kangaroo to the Koala Yards. (I believe LA had a mix like that.)
- Move the Cheetahs to Africa Rocks, in the yard behind the Penguins with the termite mound and such. Maybe rotate with Brown Hyenas.
 
Wyman said:
My idea for the Urban Jungle and Bear Canyon areas go something like this:
- Move the Lesser Kudu, Gerenuks and Gazelles from Northern Frontier to Urban Jungle, to be featured in a woodland setting with Masai Giraffes.
- The Woodland should extend downward towards Bear Canyon, taking over the Cape Clawless Otter and former Transvaal Lion enclosures.
- Add a barless waterhole feature where guests can look out at the animals, and (should the walkway surround The Woodland, have a central hill to prevent crossviews)
- As for Bear Canyon, consolidate "Asian Passage" into Lost Forest, and expand Sun Bear Forest to feature other Bornean animals such as Clouded Leopards, various reptiles, etc. Also bring back grass into the Sun Bear exhibit.
-Move the Grevy's Zebras into the Woodland, and the Chacoan Peccaries to one of the offshow areas.
-Use Horn and Hoof Mesa remnants to create a Cloud Forest for Andean Bears.
-Move the Colobus Monkeys into Lost Forest (either in Monkey Trails or Gorilla Tropics) and build the Aye Aye complex in Africa Rocks.
-Build a moving walkway from Africa Rocks to The Woodland, and open up the viewing so that Giraffes can look through the Eucalyptus trees down at Leopards and Vervet Monkeys.
-Move the Indian Rhinos into Elephant Odyssey, maybe tying in signage about the "Woolly Rhinoceros" or something like that.
-Move the Kangaroo to the Koala Yards. (I believe LA had a mix like that.)
- Move the Cheetahs to Africa Rocks, in the yard behind the Penguins with the termite mound and such. Maybe rotate with Brown Hyenas.
Click to expand...
Great ideas! Only criticism is that rhinos don’t fit the theme of EO. Wooly rhinos (or any rhino species) never lived in the Americas and EO focuses on modern day analogs of animals that lived in Southern California thousands of years ago.
 
Echobeast said:
Great ideas! Only criticism is that rhinos don’t fit the theme of EO. Wooly rhinos (or any rhino species) never lived in the Americas and EO focuses on modern day analogs of animals that lived in Southern California thousands of years ago.
Click to expand...
Where else would the Rhinos fit? Horn and Hoof Mesa theoretically would be gone based on my ideas, and EO seems to have quite enough space, especially given that they only have four Elephants.
 
Wyman said:
My idea for the Urban Jungle and Bear Canyon areas go something like this:
- Move the Lesser Kudu, Gerenuks and Gazelles from Northern Frontier to Urban Jungle, to be featured in a woodland setting with Masai Giraffes.
- The Woodland should extend downward towards Bear Canyon, taking over the Cape Clawless Otter and former Transvaal Lion enclosures.
- Add a barless waterhole feature where guests can look out at the animals, and (should the walkway surround The Woodland, have a central hill to prevent crossviews)
- As for Bear Canyon, consolidate "Asian Passage" into Lost Forest, and expand Sun Bear Forest to feature other Bornean animals such as Clouded Leopards, various reptiles, etc. Also bring back grass into the Sun Bear exhibit.
-Move the Grevy's Zebras into the Woodland, and the Chacoan Peccaries to one of the offshow areas.
-Use Horn and Hoof Mesa remnants to create a Cloud Forest for Andean Bears.
-Move the Colobus Monkeys into Lost Forest (either in Monkey Trails or Gorilla Tropics) and build the Aye Aye complex in Africa Rocks.
-Build a moving walkway from Africa Rocks to The Woodland, and open up the viewing so that Giraffes can look through the Eucalyptus trees down at Leopards and Vervet Monkeys.
-Move the Indian Rhinos into Elephant Odyssey, maybe tying in signage about the "Woolly Rhinoceros" or something like that.
-Move the Kangaroo to the Koala Yards. (I believe LA had a mix like that.)
- Move the Cheetahs to Africa Rocks, in the yard behind the Penguins with the termite mound and such. Maybe rotate with Brown Hyenas.
Click to expand...
The zoo has abandoned moving walkways. The current ones will be disassembled upon the completion of the elevator. They are too costly to maintain and break down frequently.
 
I would leave rhinos at Safari Park only, just as I would do with giraffes. One more reason for more visitors to discover the Safari Park. However, the zoo will obviously not do this because they feel the need to have all the popular animals at the zoo.
 
The_UltimateBea said:
The zoo has abandoned moving walkways. The current ones will be disassembled upon the completion of the elevator. They are too costly to maintain and break down frequently.
Click to expand...
I am not surprised by this, as they are kind of dangerous. As someone who grew up in southern California and remembers using them as a child, there is a bit of nostalgia associated with them that makes me sad to see them go. But realistically, there is no reason to keep them.
 
Turning Urban Jungle into a savanna/woodland exhibit would be the most most effective for guests. After all a “world class Zoo” should have rhinos and giraffes, there was huge backlash when they took rhinos and giraffes from the National Zoo.

Urban Jungles should be that savanna/woodland exhibit and be combined with African Rocks. It would have the giraffes, exchange the Indian rhinos with either black or white rhino from the Safari Park, add in Zebras (unless they were put in African Rocks), kudus, warthogs, hyenas, cheetahs, serval, ratel, and assorted African hoof stock from Polar Rim and Asian Passage. Kangaroos and singing dogs can go to the Outback where the camels and llamas are, and arctic and timber wolves can go to Polar Rim. This would probably make African Rocks cover a quarter of the Zoo, and bigger than EO.

That would probably take up a part of Asian Passage, but I think there would still be enough room for the sun bears, macaques, Bactrian camels, bintourong, lynx and small Asian aviaries which could be combined with panda canyon.

Polar Rim can encompass other “colder” geographic areas with Grizzlies, mountain lions, wolves, peccaries, Andean bears, Andean condor.

Maned wolves and giant anteaters can replace the eagle trail.

Sorry there may be some inconsistencies in this solution, since I haven’t actually been to the Zoo in 10 years, and I’m just going off the species list from 2013 and other online research.
 
The camels and llamas exhibits were demolished in 2013 for the new outback exhibit. There also is already a new cougar exhibit in Polar Rim that opened the following year.
 
What if the Savannah exhibit goes where the hoofstock yards are?

A size comparison:

MAPfrappe - Legacy Page
 
Last edited:
This is is a small request, but I would like Tiger River to be reworked. I need a more recent visit for a complete idea, but initially I would like to see the actual tiger habitat ripped out and redesigned. Same for the fishing cat.

Maybe lay into traditional Malay architecture? Underwater viewing for the fishing cat?
 
Buldeo said:
This is is a small request, but I would like Tiger River to be reworked. I need a more recent visit for a complete idea, but initially I would like to see the actual tiger habitat ripped out and redesigned. Same for the fishing cat.

Maybe lay into traditional Malay architecture? Underwater viewing for the fishing cat?
Click to expand...
I kinda like the riverbank design, and it's sad to see the obvious fencing taking away from what was supposed to be an immersive experience. That being said, maybe they could hire an actual geologist to rework the exhibit should it need to be renovated further, and not the people that have been in charge of the rockwork since Gorilla Tropics and especially since Elephant Odyssey. Underwater viewing is always a great idea for Fishing Cats, and I'd also like to see a finer mesh being used for the aviaries. (Particularly the Birds of Paradise ones)
 
Wyman said:
I kinda like the riverbank design, and it's sad to see the obvious fencing taking away from what was supposed to be an immersive experience.
Click to expand...

I too like the riverine concept, but I am not wedded to it. It can certainly be improved upon, and, if nothing more, the guts of the tiger enclosure needs to be changed/redesigned/whatever. It's really showing it's age.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top