Walk-through exhibits

I don't think there's a lot to choose between chimps and gibbons [which were seriously suggested]. Chimps might hold you down, rip your limbs off and stamp on you, gibbons I believe swing past, slashing your carotid on the way...
 
FBBird said:
I don't think there's a lot to choose between chimps and gibbons [which were seriously suggested]. Chimps might hold you down, rip your limbs off and stamp on you, gibbons I believe swing past, slashing your carotid on the way...
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At least you'd die quickly in the latter eventuality ;) Give me a quick death by gibbon anyday over the horrific disfigurement of being partially eaten by a chimp!
 
Good point, fairly made. We seem to have moved on to 'die-in' rather than 'walk-through' exhibits. May I suggest the African Wild Dog Experience, the Leopard Surprise and the Flattening by Disgruntled Elephant? Also the Vampire Bat Sleepover [Rabies a special feature] and the Nasty Little Amazonian Fish That Gets Up Your Urethra Family Day Out.
 
I'm sure somewhere has a 'walkthrough' snow leopard enclosure already! How about a great white shark swim through or the bear brunch at whipsnade could take on a whole new meaning if they made that a walkthrough!
 
pipaluk said:
I'm sure somewhere has a 'walkthrough' snow leopard enclosure already! How about a great white shark swim through or the bear brunch at whipsnade could take on a whole new meaning if they made that a walkthrough!
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Lakeland Wildlife Oasis has a pseudo-walkthrough snow leopard enclosure.
 
Angel said:
We also visited the sacred crocodile pits where the dwarf crocodiles were allowed to roam freely, with staff there to watch them and ensure that the tourists didn't do anything too reckless. One crocodile was so used to humans that you could actually stroke his back!! Anyone for a crocodile walk-through??
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there's a photo in the gallery somewhere of a crocodile walk-through in Europe (by Maguari I think). Someone will know the photo I mean and provide a link.
 
Pertinax said:
London, and other zoos too, often produce exciting-sounding plans that never come to fruition, maybe this is one of those. As more recently they have ditched the idea of mixing the Colobus with the Gorillas, possibly the walkthru idea didn't stand much chance either.
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London tried this mix and it worked for a short time. Paignton were going to follow but the failure (design/construction rather than animal mix I think) put the very wary curator off !
 
Chlidonias said:
there's a photo in the gallery somewhere of a crocodile walk-through in Europe (by Maguari I think). Someone will know the photo I mean and provide a link.
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Not guilty! :D

I did post this one though, on the subject of reptile walkthroughs:

http://www.zoochat.com/451/bizarre-boa-walkthrough-budapest-08-09-a-191405/

And a friendly reptile in possibly the ultimate European walk-through:

http://www.zoochat.com/476/male-panther-chamaeleon-masoala-rainforest-zurich-103165/
 
going back to spider walk-throughs for a minute, I pulled up a photo I took in Flores last year (my hand!!) and attached it below

Chlidonias said:
(If I'm honest, Nephila creep me out a bit. I've seen hundreds of them in Asia and I know they're harmless, but they are just so big and leggy!!)
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Zooish said:
Nephila creep me out too, especially having walked face first into a huge Nephila web before (it was getting dark in the forest and I didn't notice the web)! They're fascinating to look at but I would never want to handle one.
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pipaluk said:
I've been following this thread, and have to say i agree about the risks to the public, which could also lead to the potential prosecution of the zoos concerned.
Lemurs and small monkeys have proved to be successful & relatively trouble free, but the suggestion of larger old world monkeys to me seems ridiculous, i commented on the signs at woburn displaying the size of their monkeys teeth, which dont manage to deter people from winding down windows to feed them! In a walkthrough the risk would be too great!
I'm not keen on the idea of meerkats (or mongoose) either, given the public perception (particularly kids) that they are cute!
the visitor can probably get closer to the animals through a pane of glass anyway!
I've almost been expecting chimps or wolverine to be suggested!
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Walkthrough exhibits also VERY labour-intensive.

Every time I see the keeper at London, often with a rather world-weary facial expression, supervising the interaction of humans and callitrichids in the Clore, I end up feeling that s/he would be better and more happily employed observing the Aye-Aye to work out what needs to be done to get them breeding.
 
FBBird said:
May I suggest the African Wild Dog Experience, the Leopard Surprise and the Flattening by Disgruntled Elephant? Also the Vampire Bat Sleepover [Rabies a special feature] and the Nasty Little Amazonian Fish That Gets Up Your Urethra Family Day Out.
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I love the sound of some of these- especially 'The Leopard Surprise'.:D I can see the Longleat-style T.V. adverts already.;)
 
Ian, London Zoo's keepers do spend their time being keepers. Almost all the supervision of the walkthroughs there (rainforest, squirrel monkeys and butterflies) is done by volunteers... hopefully not too world-weary...
 
Please correct me if im wrong but i think i've heard of a red panda walkthrough in the US before now.
 
Curraghs Wildlife Park in the Isle Of Man is made up of a lot of walk through enclosures I'd say 70% of the park. It can be a problem with the animals staying towards the extremities of paddocks or getting too close and causing problems. The lemur walk through has been drastically altered- I believe this is because of a few biting incidents and the walk through is not as good now. Even the old Guanaco has been fenced off- however he would often get very, very close. The best walk through for me is walking next to the Capybara. Belfast Zoo had a troop of free roaming Ring Tailed Lemurs. On a couple of occasions I met the troop on a walk through the Zoo. Belfast also had free roaming Pelicans. I had some amazing photos as I just moved my camera hand out of the way of its snapping bill. sadly I lost the photos when downloading them onto to PC.
 
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Reptile Gardens in South Dakota has a great walk-through with an interesting mix. There are several different kinds of lizards, turtles, tortoises, and a variety of birds like zebra finches, parrots, doves, and even bobwhite quails. It's the only one I've seen with boa constrictors. It has a mix of tropical and desert species under the same roof and the mezzanine above has terrariums with other reptiles. It's neat to see the zebra finches fly up to the terrariums up above.

South Dakota Attractions | Wild Life Safari | Reptile Gardens
 
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