Woodland Park Zoo Tiger and Sloth Bear Exhibit

Ituri

Ituri

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Let's start a thread on the new Tiger and Sloth Bear complex being built at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Information on an open house to reveal the final design:

Zoo hosts community open houses to share new tiger and sloth bear exhibit designs - Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA

The new exhibit will house Malayan (instead of the current Sumatran) tigers, sloth bears and tropical birds. As part of the expansion, the zoo will be saying goodbye to their Bornean sun bears, which will be moving to the Virginia Zoo which has just completed a new exhibit in their "Asia - Trail of the Tiger" exhibit.

Woodland Park Zoo Blog: Saying goodbye to sun bears

Also like the penguin exhibit, and unlike every other development at the zoo, this complex doesn't seem to have a name. Is this a new trend?
 
This is a great idea - host an open house with a scale model to get people excited about the project. Event is free to all, but who knows how many new donors they could get out of it? I think every zoo could learn something from this.
 
Ituri said:
Let's start a thread on the new Tiger and Sloth Bear complex being built at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Information on an open house to reveal the final design:

Zoo hosts community open houses to share new tiger and sloth bear exhibit designs - Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA

The new exhibit will house Malayan (instead of the current Sumatran) tigers, sloth bears and tropical birds. As part of the expansion, the zoo will be saying goodbye to their Bornean sun bears, which will be moving to the Virginia Zoo which has just completed a new exhibit in their "Asia - Trail of the Tiger" exhibit.

Woodland Park Zoo Blog: Saying goodbye to sun bears

Also like the penguin exhibit, and unlike every other development at the zoo, this complex doesn't seem to have a name. Is this a new trend?
Click to expand...

Is the Virginia Zoo adding sun bears to its Trail of the Tiger exhibit or replacing their asiatic black bears with them.

Team Tapir
 
I've been meaning to visit the Virginia Zoo. Now that they are getting sun bears, I'll definitely have to make a trip there this summer. The closest zoos with near me with sun bears is the Catoctin Zoo, but I rather not see these animals in a cage exhibit again.
 
I'm quite excited that Woodland Park is developing a 2-acre section in the middle of the zoo that is currently the oldest and most outdated zone. One other addition that Ituri did not mention is a new exhibit for Asian small-clawed otters. The otter habitat will open in 2013 and the Malayan tiger/sloth bear complex will open in 2014.
 
snowleopard said:
I'm quite excited that Woodland Park is developing a 2-acre section in the middle of the zoo that is currently the oldest and most outdated zone. One other addition that Ituri did not mention is a new exhibit for Asian small-clawed otters. The otter habitat will open in 2013 and the Malayan tiger/sloth bear complex will open in 2014.
Click to expand...

The oldest exhibit currently there is actually the Raptor center which was originally built in the 1920s for different species of livestock.
 
@Gilgamesh: Many folks often forget that the Raptor Center is older than it looks so thanks for the clarification. There are daily bird shows in the summer on that site, and also two enclosures with lowland anoa on the opposite side. It is interesting that 90 years later that building still has a couple of hoofstock specimens.
 
Today the zoo unveiled a new link on its website with a lot more information about the upcoming $20 million Asian Tropical Forest complex. It will be the largest set of exhibits built at this excellent zoo in over 15 years. Phase one (2013) includes the small-clawed otter exhibit and kid's play area, while Phase two (2014) will include Malayan tigers, sloth bears, a tropical aviary and a Conservation Action Center.

Explore the Exhibit - Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, WA

The FAQ page has lots more information, including the exact size of the outdoor areas for the tiger/bear habitats. This link is perhaps the most valuable source of data on the site, and includes enrichment ideas for the animals such as a training wall for the tigers/bears and a lure in the cat enclosure.

http://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=2311
 
Last edited:
Studio Hanson/Roberts is the design firm for the new exhibit complex, the zoo has previous experience with them on its excellent Humboldt penguin exhibit. The two principals have previous experience in The Portico Group and Jones & Jones.
 
snowleopard said:
@Gilgamesh: Many folks often forget that the Raptor Center is older than it looks so thanks for the clarification. There are daily bird shows in the summer on that site, and also two enclosures with lowland anoa on the opposite side. It is interesting that 90 years later that building still has a couple of hoofstock specimens.
Click to expand...

A Goral is also nearby but it's very difficult to catch a glimpse of it you actually have a better chance viewing it if you go down to the boardwalk where the elk are and look down from there I have only seen the Goral once out of 20 visits so you will only see it if you're really lucky.
 
the last Sumatran tiger at the zoo has euthanised
Woodland Park Zoo says goodbye to its last tiger | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News
The last tiger at Woodland Park Zoo was euthanized Friday due to severe health problems.

JoJo, a 20-year-old female Sumatran tiger, was suffering from age-related kidney failure after months of physical decline, so zoo officials made the decision to put her to sleep.

The life expectancy of Sumatran tigers is 18 to 20 years in zoos and 15 years in the wild.

JoJo arrived in 2001 from Memphis Zoo as a breeding companion for the zoo’s only male tiger, Rakata, who died in February at age 19. The pair lived compatibly for 11 years and produced five cubs, the last cub born in 2006.

“It is with deep sadness that we say goodbye to JoJo and the last tiger in our animal collection. She regaled us with her majestic beauty and was a superb mother to her cubs,” said Martin Ramirez, mammal curator at Woodland Park Zoo. “Her legacy will live on through her offspring.”

The cat had been declining in health for several months and experienced progressive weight loss and appetite over the past couple of weeks.

"Age-related changes in the kidney are a common cause of decline in geriatric zoo cats,” explained Dr. Darin Collins, the zoo’s director of animal health. "Veterinary staff have done an excellent job of making her final days as comfortable as possible.”

All six tiger subspecies – Sumatran, Amur (Siberian), Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan and South China – are endangered, with as few as 3,000 to 3,900 tigers remaining in the wild. The Sumatran is very rare with only about 400 believed to exist in the wild. The most critically endangered is the South China tiger with only a mere 20 to 30 remaining in the wild.

The primary reasons for the decimation of wild tiger populations are illegal poaching, human overpopulation and habitat destruction.

Ramirez said a new chapter will begin for tigers at Woodland Park Zoo when a new, state-of-the-art exhibit complex opens in 2014.

“We will introduce the Malayan tiger, a related endangered subspecies, to our visitors,” explained Ramirez.

In addition to Malayan tigers, the complex also will feature sloth bears, Asian small-clawed otters and tropical birds. The $19.6 million exhibit project will transform the 60-year-old, outdated infrastructure into a state-of-the-art, spacious and naturalistic exhibit environment. The transformation will improve the exhibit experience for the zoo’s animals, visitors and staff, and will reduce resource consumption with sustainable design.
Click to expand...
 
Zooplantman said:
On building the exhibit:
Woodland Park Zoo Blog: Building Banyan Wilds
Click to expand...

The tiger yard looks decent, aside from the stream. Shame there is only one yard for the tigers and a nursery on-show. The tigers have off-show holding areas, but to only have a single yard? Underwhelming. Two sloth bear exhibits are nice, but the rockwork playground and steps are boring. It reminds me of their old exhibit with hand-cut limbs and logs. Nice to see they retained the holding building. Adds a nice touch with the mossy growth. I get there is more plantings to be placed, but the exhibitry is nothing spectacular. For the heart of the zoo, this complex in its last phase leaves more to be desired.
 
I am kind of underwhelmed with the sloth bear exhibits. Now I know I shouldn't really base it off the original sketch where it looks like they are totally submerged in a jungle setting, but the old grotto back wall takes away any naturalistic look. It looks like they just renovated the old grottoes. I guess I was expecting something different. I look forward to more photos.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top