African Grasslands - Lion Exhibit (see two lions?)

This is indeed a very natural looking exhibit. And it makes me again wonder, why some people here praising the ugly lion exhibit at Doué la Fontaine in France.

@zoomaniac Because it's almost three times bigger than this and the lions don't seem to particularly care if it's ugly to you or not? No need to bash a zoo to praise another.

Omaha's lion exhibit is one of the best I've ever seen, with a terrific pile of rocks at the top. Here are some more photos:

Maybe bigger (which I doubt after checking air maps at google, both are about 60 x 40 meters), but less planted and (at least in some parts unnecessary) steep. And we are not talking abount mountain lions, do we? Further more, you should be long enough here to know that quality is more important then quantity. But yes, "ugly" wasn't the best term for that. "Less natural" would fit better although it is still ugly to me (Lion castle).
Here to compare:
https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/lion-enclosure.503239/
https://www.zoochat.com/community/media/lion-exhibit-2020.527901/
By the way: No need to give unnecessary advice either. Afaik, this forum is based in a democratic country with democratic rules. So as long as someone is not insulting REAL PERSONS/PEOPLE/NATIONS bash and/or praise something should be okay!

Doue's exhibit is around 6000 sqm, Omaha's closer to 2200. Just because aesthetically it looks great doesn't mean it's miles better for the lions. As for the different ways of using the space, Doue's entire ethos is using a multi-tiered approach to a zoo and embracing its past as a quarry to make innovative exhibits. You may not like it personally but I respectfully disagree with you. If it works well for the animals, visitors and keepers, it's a great exhibit whether it looks good or not. Either way, where would we be without some zoos taking risks and daring to do things out of the ordinary?

With beeing disagree with me I have no problem at all. This is also part of the democratic way of live I mentioned before.
Just to clarify: My judgement wasn't based aesthetically only(!), but also in quality (see post above).
I have heard from the goals, how Doué is trying to use its space. However: I'm respectfully disagree that it was necessary to built - let's say - such a thing (exhibit with rock towers and a deep moat/ditch). I would have prefered an exhibit with an area mostly on the same level (except a natural looking Kopje) and (mostly) glas windows or steel netting at the edging (with maybe one moat on one side). That might have minimized the space for the animals a little. But they got a more natural and realistic habitat instead. Also, you don't have that bird perspective from visitor to animal then, that also disturbs the behaviour of lions (among other species). On the other hand I miss some evidence, that the space in Doué is as much used as the one in Omaha (but I doubt that we will ever find it out). Also, with the argument that animals don't care about aesthetics, you could also say that we don't need natural climbing structures in monkey exhibits as long as synthetic or metallic structures serves the purpose.
Last but not least: May I ask you (without any irony) from where you got the dimensions of the two lion exhibits. Because regarding to your numbers, there must be something wrong with the specifications at the aerial views on google map.

Then I have no problem with your preferring a different style of exhibit, I only took issue with your initial statement. The exhibit you describe doesn't necessarily fit into what Doue is trying to do but each to their own. As for the elevated viewing, it isn't so high that you can see over the mounds, so the lions have plenty of privacy; in fact I think the biggest argument against the Doue exhibit is that is is potentially too hard to see the lions.

As for your point about metallic structures, you aren't comparing like for like. The Doue exhibit is natural rocks, grass and trees laid out in a slightly different manner to what they'd typically encounter in the wild. A metallic climbing frame is not natural nor can it serve the same purpose or have the exact same usage as a tree or even a wooden climbing frame as the material is very different. However I will point out that parts of an exhibit made out of synthetic materials like chain-link. netting or caging is often happily used by parrots, primates etc for climbing.

And the exhibit dimensions, I've used the Google maps 'Measure distance' function twice for each exhibit and it's come out with the same figure both times. I can't upload an image from my files as far as I know in media comments so I'm guessing this will just have to be something you trust me on (or not).

Yes - but if Doué follows its ideas strictly and does not improve/check/review it (or choose a better way) doesn't mean it couldn't/shouldn't be done better.

As for the dimensions: After your info, I tried it the same way: I got about 6330 squaremeters for Doué (including the building in the southern corner, which I presume! is for maintenance) and about 2900 for Omaha (with separation enclosures BUT WITHOUT the adjacent building which COULD also be for maintenance). So - provisio any measure mistakes from my side - comparing the exhibits, Doués is only about 2 times bigger, not 3 times as you wrote in your first post here. An we still don't know how much of the steep areas in Doué the lions can use or not.

At the end, we probably agree to disagree here. And I guess that's okay for both of us.

PS: To clarify: Even if it doesn't sound so here, I like the efforts how Doué is exhibiting its animals. But in opposite to the rhino enclosure, that - imo - looks very similar to some areas in Africa I have seen, the "lion castle" does not.