What is a zoo exhibit that currently has no plans of being updated/changed that you wish it was?

ContraryPython

ContraryPython

Active Member
Lincoln Park Zoo’s Primate House is an exhibit I wish had some renovations. I feel like the primate exhibits in the building are lackluster and don’t give the primates there a lot of room, especially compared to the exhibits of the macaques, gorillas and chimps. Granted, those are bigger primates, but still.
 
Riverbanks Zoo's Conservation Outpost. Small mammals are my absolute favorites, so it's wonderful getting such a nice collection in one area, but the exhibits themselves are very poor and basically haven't evolved in 50 years. I would love more than anything to see it demolished and replaced with a full on modern small mammal/nocturnal house, out of favor as those are sometimes thought to be.
 
All of the many large, unused historic buildings at London Zoo. While some of these have serious infrastructure issues that make renovations expensive (Mappins) or are so bizarrely designed that finding an appropriate inhabitant is all but impossible (Tecton Roundhouse), there are others where I really don't see any reason. Most notably the former Elephant and Rhino Pavilion which nowadays, other than the indoor areas for Red River Hogs and Babirusa (as well as armadillos, but their off-display), is entirely empty. At least it now seems to have been permanently reopened to the public, having been, with the exception of some rather random periods, each a few months long, behind-the-scenes for several years. But the indoor areas for two pig species doesn't cut it, especially when one of them (the Babirusa) seem to spend their entire life outdoors at London.

I like the idea of an exhibit for a miscellaneous assortment of Southeast Asian species to tie in with the nearby 'Tiger Territory' (tigers and gibbons), as well as the Komodos not too far away, and babirusa of course already being present. On multiple occasions I have dreamt, rather randomly, of it being home to pangolins, which would be quite special indeed, but is by no means likely.

The visitor 'lobby' is quite large, considerably larger than the actually stalls for the animals (a staple of elephant houses, and likely all mammalian indoor exhibits, of that era), so there could easily be space for a few terrariums and aviaries dotted around - thinking of something akin to Colchester's 'Kingdom of the Wild,' although of course with SE Asian species as opposed to African ones. There is also the offshow armadillo room which could easily be made onshow (several of the zoo's signifcant behind-the-scenes areas, for food preparation etc, are located in the basement portion of the house, so although I could be wrong I can't imagine the loss of the staff facilities here being all too impactful). Additionally, there is the third stall, between the RRH and babirusa ones, that in recent years has served for muntjacs and pygmy hippos, and for a brief period in the sixties even held a walrus (not sure which of the two, if either, it held in the elephant and rhino era). Rather spacious, covered in soil substrate with areas for a pool and some hanging branches, it is a very versatile exhibit and could be home to anything from monitor lizards to primates. I wonder if the zoo have any plans for it.
 
Georgia Aquarium's public California Sea Lion/Harbour Seal habitat. They have more space bts, but the on display area is too small for a single seal, let alone a group of them. I do realize that as a city aquarium, they have little option to expand, but I believe they could give their pinnipeds more space, even if it means sacrificing some of the main atrium event space.
 
It’s not openly a plan yet, but there have been rumors and rumblings of a Shark Lagoon renovation at Aquarium of the Pacific since the pre-COVID days (2019 was the first I heard about a desire to do it). I think they absolutely have to get that done at some juncture - the main tank is simply too small for many of its current and former residents and it’s all very dated.
 
Kalaw said:
Additionally, there is the third stall, between the RRH and babirusa ones, that in recent years has served for muntjacs and pygmy hippos, and for a brief period in the sixties even held a walrus (not sure which of the two, if either, it held in the elephant and rhino era) .
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The area you're referring to was originally the elephants' bathing pool. It housed the young walrus "Alice" for a while in 1966 / 1967 and was first used for pygmy hippos in the 1980s, so it held both walrus and pygmy hippo during the "elephant and rhino era" (although obviously not simultaneously).
 
Mystic Aquarium's seal exhibit.

It exhibits more seals (16 when I last visited) and more species of seal (4 including subspecies) than I've seen at any other seal/sea lion exhibit, but the viewing experience is underwhelming. I would love to see underwater viewing or even viewing closer to the eye level with the seals as opposed to staring down from above. Going from their incredible beluga exhibit to their seal exhibit is jarring.
 
At Colchester Zoo, I would say the area most in need of renovation that seems to have no real plans at the moment are the two old bear dens. One of them is currently home to a trio of capuchin monkeys awaiting a move to another zoo, while the other is boarded up and completely off-view. It doesn't make the walk between the sea lions and the penguins particularly appealing.

If I were to have the opportunity to plan what goes in that area, I would completely demolish the two enclosures, renovate the old rockwork and add new planting and climbing areas and use the quite considerable land area to make three large aviaries for macaws and other South American parrots, possibly with some other birds mixed in with them. That part of the zoo is mainly a sort of de facto South America zone, and I would say that macaws are the main animal missing from the zoo.

The other area that I would change is the old gold panning area, between the elephant house and the ramp up to the entrance of the koi building. It has been used for temporary non-animal activities, but could also provide a decently-sized footprint for an exhibit for some smaller animal. Thinking about what could work there and would tie in with the nearby African area, I'd love if the area was turned into an outdoor aviary for some kind of fruit bat - my choice would be either Rodrigues flying fox or straw-coloured fruit bat (both of which can live in an outdoor aviary in Europe). There could be an indoor viewing area included, perhaps with one or two terraria for cave-dwelling African species (like African cave cricket or Simandoa cave cockroach). I would adore both of these developments if they were to ever happen.
 
African Plains at Philly. The rhino/zebra exhibit works for what it is, I do find charm in the older-style hippo enclosure (which honestly is a LOT better than their old Pachyderm House yard), but their giraffe yard... even with the recent renovations, the stone dust and the wooden fencing, more could certainly be done. Especially with The Phase across the path, a gorgeous grassy hillside that's being *very* underutilized for Ankole-watusi and red river hogs... oy.

I get renovating Bear Country to increase the capacity for sloth/Andean bears (though they couldn't even keep ONE of the moats? The moats offer privacy and spatial complexity, and unless the mesh was semi-invisible like Cleveland, I'm not a fan of filling in every single moat), but if it means building up the momentum to make a new giraffe space and doubling down on hippos/rhinos/zebras, in the end it's an overall positive.
 
ContraryPython said:
Lincoln Park Zoo’s Primate House is an exhibit I wish had some renovations. I feel like the primate exhibits in the building are lackluster and don’t give the primates there a lot of room, especially compared to the exhibits of the macaques, gorillas and chimps. Granted, those are bigger primates, but still.
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The renovations at my local zoo were a huge improvement, but they were not satisfactory enough to me.

The Cerrado is alright to me.

I wish they moved their capuchins elsewhere and in their place expanded the orangutan/macaque exhibit. The other primate isles are ok, so is the petting zoo.

The whole carnivore corridor could be demolished so they could open space for a future elephant herd. The same works for the old tiger enclosure. The otter exhibit, on the other hand, is great.

The lion exhibit is bad, though not bad enough to be called awful. However, it'd be much better suited for a lion if they removed the platform once used by red-faced spider monkeys and gave the lion some more open space. Maybe, instead of demolishing the old tiger exhibit, the male lion could alternate between the two.

As for the Burle Marx Gardens, they are alright except for the cassowary pen, which is way too small. If I were the director, I would build a house for animals native to New Guinea, as the zoo has had a long history with a few species native to the island. The reptile village is fine as well.

The king vultures should be replaced with Lear's macaws. The enclosure could also get an expansion so the parrots would have more space. The small herp house is fine and so is the walkthrough aviary.

The "Savanna" is home to a single African ungulate, which is the Barbary sheep. The other two hoofstock are a few female Javan rusa and a breeding herd of blackbuck. I wish they improved the roster and moved the sheep to their old cliffside exhibit.

The islands in this area are home to peafowl, which means this whole zone of the zoo is a zoogeographic mess.

The hippos live in a nearby enclosure, which I believe is way too small for them. Maybe moving them back to their old enclosure (of course, after a renovation) would improve their situation.
 
As London's already been mentioned, I'll go a bit further afield then the UK...

Berlin recently canned their plans to redevelop the elephant house at the Zoo, at least in the short term, leaving the herd of 5 (1.4, with a bull in prime breeding age and his daughter overdue a move) in their admittedly very pretty but incredibly cramped and underequipped paddocks. The bull, Victor, in particular gets the short end of the stick currently with his miniscule paddock that he shares with whichever female he choses that morning, reducing the space even further. Though I am glad the Zoo is finally going to give its great apes a modern house, I can't help but feel like the elephants should take precedent.

Elsewhere on the continent, my previous choice would have been Prague's polar bears but as they are soon to get what seems to be potentially the best exhibit for the species in Europe it'll have to be the preposterously small hippo exhibit. It's tiny, there's bugger all land area and it's been plagued by maintenance issues resulting in opaque water and the house itself being closed more times than it's open. As far as I'm aware, Prague's next plan aside from the bears is to bring in wild Bactrians...which would be excellent, but the poor hippos are long overdue an upgrade.
 
StoppableSan said:
African Plains at Philly. The rhino/zebra exhibit works for what it is, I do find charm in the older-style hippo enclosure (which honestly is a LOT better than their old Pachyderm House yard), but their giraffe yard... even with the recent renovations, the stone dust and the wooden fencing, more could certainly be done. Especially with The Phase across the path, a gorgeous grassy hillside that's being *very* underutilized for Ankole-watusi and red river hogs... oy.

I get renovating Bear Country to increase the capacity for sloth/Andean bears (though they couldn't even keep ONE of the moats? The moats offer privacy and spatial complexity, and unless the mesh was semi-invisible like Cleveland, I'm not a fan of filling in every single moat), but if it means building up the momentum to make a new giraffe space and doubling down on hippos/rhinos/zebras, in the end it's an overall positive.
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I agree, when I visited Philly I thought Bear Country was one of their stronger outdoor exhibits, I certainly wasn't expecting it to be the next exhibit renovated.

Personally, I'd rather see the odd mish mash of exhibits near the south exit - including raptor ridge - to be overhauled before African Plains. Other than the giraffe exhibit, all the other exhibits are at least serviceable and are rather cohesive. The Phase really just needs more species added - it's a solid exhibit for hoof-stock.
 
Columbus' Asia Quest. Don't get me wrong, I adore the region and think it hasn't significantly aged poorly, but it's at a point where it could use a bit of a pick-me-up. The indoor portion is small, mostly unused space that is just weak in general with outdated exhibits. The entire building honestly needs completly redone to capture the idea they originally were going for, a walk through asian ruins. And I think an expansion of the outdoor exhibits could benefit from some redesign and expansion.
The centerpiece of the area, the elephants, doubtlessly will need a larger area as more animals are born and to compete with the ever-evolving standards of pachyderm exhibits. Cincinnati outshines them significantly in this aspect and I would be very surprised if they wouldn't want to try and match that quality.
The other main attractions of the region, the tigers and Sloth Bears, would also benefit entirely from larger and more attractive exhibits. The sloth bears are literally still living in a grotto!
I would love to see a revamp of the area to match a theme throughout, especially in the older exhibits. Maybe with a few species added too.
 
I'd really like to see Milwaukee's former Dall Sheep exhibit used for something. Nubian ibex would need expansion but would respect the exhibit's history while fitting the Adventure Africa theming. It's a shame there isn't even a tentative concept what to do with the space.

ContraryPython said:
Lincoln Park Zoo’s Primate House is an exhibit I wish had some renovations. I feel like the primate exhibits in the building are lackluster and don’t give the primates there a lot of room, especially compared to the exhibits of the macaques, gorillas and chimps. Granted, those are bigger primates, but still.
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I don't think much could be done with the current building unless they were to knock it down and start over with a single large primate exhibit ala Macaque Forest.

King of Komodo Dragons said:
Georgia Aquarium's public California Sea Lion/Harbour Seal habitat. They have more space bts, but the on display area is too small for a single seal, let alone a group of them. I do realize that as a city aquarium, they have little option to expand, but I believe they could give their pinnipeds more space, even if it means sacrificing some of the main atrium event space.
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You could say exactly this post about the Shedd exhibit. Funny that both aquariums share this flaw.
 
As far as I know, there are no plans for Marwell Zoo's "African Section" (Serval Exhibit, Giraffe House, Heart Of Africa) and I think it might be the best area to focous in on, as it is the first major area visitors go to.


Would be great to see the area replenished - animals in the HOA house, something moved over to the old Warthog Enclosure (ofc some modernising would be needed) and restocking the centre paddock! Oh and also closing the Lemur Walk-through to give the lemurs more space!!

This is the baseline to be fair, there is a ton of empty space around this area, including the valley, so it'd be great to see a proper rebuild of the area!
 
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