Biggest, bestest, exhibit of all time..!

Biggest, bestest, exhibit of all time..!
17-01-2008

Snowleopard has thrown down the gauntlet...
Its like Jim Carey vs Matthew Broederick @ Medieval Times in The Cable Guy...

What is the biggest, bestest, most impressive exhibit of all time (well actually lets limit it too since 2000)..!

- Wild Asia or GSO at Taronga Zoo..? (Total over AU $100 million..!)
- The $135 million Arctic exhibit at Calgary Zoo..? (That one's for you Snowleopard..!)
- The $180 million LA Zoo is spending (or has spent) on Gorillas, Elephants, Golden Monkeys, entrance etc...
- San Diego's $40 million + Elephant oddysey..?
- Chesters &50 million (Thats a pound sign!), "Superzoo"..?
- The Columbus "Waterpark/Superzoo" development..?

European guys help me out, not sure of the (likely) fantastic exhibits in construction (or planned) in Europe..?

Should the money have been spent on something else..? Should half the money in each of these investments been spent in-situ..?

So let the debate begin what IS the best exhibit of all time (educationally, for conservation, research and entertainment)..?

Let the vs. games begin..!

17-01-2008

Well-done, close to perfection:

- Burger's Bush, Desert and Ocean at Burger's Zoo Arnhem
- Oceanium, Rotterdam Zoo

Well-done:

- Rio Negro exhibit at Duisburg Zoo
- Indonesian Rainforest, Zoo Praha
- Africa from near, Zoo Praha (not multi million i think, but a very well done exhibit of many small mammals)
- Playa Pinguinos, Emmen Zoo (high in education and a perfect, huge pinguin exhibit)

Heared is well done:
- Masaola Rainforest, Zurich Zoo
- Total rebuild of the old (and very bad) Ruhr Zoo Gelsenkirchen to "Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen"
- Orang-house, Hamburg Zoo
- Hippo exhibit, Berlin Zoo

Looking forward too:
- Elephant house, Copenhagen Zoo (but seeing what happened at Cologne, also very afraid)

For me, total loss and waste of money:
- Elephant exhibit, Cologne Zoo

edit: Really curious about the Lied Jungle and Desert Dome exhibits at Omaha's Henrly Doorly Zoo and the Journey to Atlantis exhibit at San Diego's Sea World

17-01-2008

Thanks for the post gives me something to look up...

From what I've seen on the web this looks great..!

17-01-2008

I've been to zoom erlebniswelt; it's indeed quite well done and has very good exhibits, though some do miss somethings. By the way, this zoo sadly greatly lacks in education.
I might post some pictures or it soon though, so watch out for that.

I agree on Burgers' zoo and the oceanium : they are very nicely done and I love them. Just for the oceanium (except the penguins, though) I'd go back to rotterdam.
Just for the bush and the desert I'd go back to arnhem.
I posted some pics of bush and desert in the gallery, for the ones unknowing.

btw, may I be so free to ask why you do not like the cologne elephant house ? I haven't been there yet (hope to get there this year, actually) , but from what I've seen on photo, it doesn't look quite so bad.

17-01-2008

Since I bet i'll get more reactions i'll try and explain straight away. First of all, the stables are huge and reasonably well done, but the floor (mostly, if not all) is covered with concrete so in the end they'll spent most of their time inside on concrete.

Outside isn't much better, since their enclosure (apart for the large water feature) is completely barren. Allthough most is sand, it's so compacted (and kept that way) that they're on a hard floor again. There's no place to hide and no shelter outside, and the only play feature are some logs strewn about.

The space (for a brand new huge elephant exhibit) is not very large at all. But for Cologne being a pure City-Zoo and thus being not that big it still means that almost a quarter of the zoo is covered with a monstrous elephant exhibit. Meanwhile other exhibits are old and many suffer adequate space.

It totally rips the park out of proportion, one half is the elephants and the other halve is "the rest" and it feels that way when you are in the park. For me, this Zoo should have tried to keep 1.3 or something in a much smaller scaled and nicer looking exhibit to keep it in scale with the rest...

just my 2 cents.

17-01-2008

What is the Elephant exhibit at Cologne Zoo like? I really like the look of the one opening in Copenhagen

18-01-2008

@jwer: Like I wrote before: the Lied Jungle has many, many flaws.

"The" perfect exhibit? Still looking for it...Usually, I rather fall for small and in comparison to those "mega"-buildings inexpensive exhibits like the ozelot exhibit in Aschersleben ( a rather small East German zoo) that usually have a way better cost-benefit ratio, especially on the long run.

18-01-2008

I agree sometimes inexpensive and smaller exhibits can be very good. I've seen some very good ones on that respect too. And hey, even an ugly exhibit can still be good to the animal.
I've seen very good mega-exhibits and mega-houses myself, but also some I don't like as much.

18-01-2008

@Xerxes: The question is: have You seen these mega-exhibits from every angle, especially from the point of view of the ones (both humans & animals) that have to deal with it ever day? And from that of experts? I'm still quite often surprised when pointed out the more or less obvious flaws in new zoo buildings by long-term experienced zoo staff or people of other professions covering aspects of the building and maintaining of such houses (f.e. architects, pest control...).

18-01-2008

I would mainly agree with jwer.

Masoala Rainforest, Zurich Zoo - The best exhibit build I know.
(build, that is - many exhibits which are fencing a chunk of natural habitat are better).

Orang-house, Hamburg Zoo - very good
Jungle World, Bronx zoo - very good

Mixed feeling:
Congo Gorilla Forest, Bronx zoo
- good education, but smallish and lots of disguised high-voltage
Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen
- enclosures good except moose, but kitschy with ghosts etc.
Hippo exhibit, Berlin Zoo
- great indoors, but outside small.
Elephant park, Cologne
- Agreed. Good for elephants, but empty and ugly architecture. BTW, ground indoors was sand, at least so I remember.

Some naturalistic exhibits are great, because they are natural:
- snow leopards in Zurich (fenced hillside)
- snow leopards in Rostock, Germany (fenced forest)

I'm curious about: polar bears in Scandinavian wildlife park, Tropic World in Brookfield, Chicago, great aquarium in Cancun, Mexico. Anybody seen them?

And anybody knows how much Desert and Jungle in Arnhem costed?

18-01-2008

In understand the problem. The ones that design them, sadly don't know too much of it and don't get enough talk with the ones who do.
They should get more information and do more talking. If they did, such flaws would be eliminated.
I've looke carefully at a lot, but alass not seen much of the things behind the scenes. I do have talked to some people that know more than I do, but not much to keepers.
I've seen quite a bit of these mega-exhibit, although not all and not enough to clearly judge.
Look, I'm open to your opinion, and I agree to some extent; I'm also open to information. I know some of these exhibits are sadly flawed.
In my opinion, in recent years only money and visitors are considered well enough. Not animals and staff, which saddens me.
But it still is my right to like these exhibits. I just... like those things.
I might be less experienced in zoos then you are.

@ Jurek ,about zoom erlebniswelt. The ghosts are kitschy and so is the Alaska attraction. I do like some of the theming. Good zoo, in my opinion ,but it does miss some things (education there to be my main point).
I don't know how much Arnhem's mega-halls costed. The only things I know is they costed a great lot back then. Sadly, I have no values.

Btw - I also know some good ,large exhibits that are not like the huge new mega things. I like the tigers at Ouwehands ,the plains at the beekse bergen safaripark, the monkeys living free in forests in apenheul (monkey park) ,and more.
I'm a big fan of fenced areas of 'nature' (forest, grassland) etc. They can be very good.

18-01-2008

These exhibits in particular have impressed me!

Basel zoo's african area - new lion/crocdile house, cheetah, wild dogs and small mammals

Berlin zoo's hippo house
Frankfurts asian cat house
Emmens north american area
Zurichs masola hall

18-01-2008

In terms of money spent, Gorilla Kingdom at London has been a let down for me (obviously, it has been mentioned on these forums previously by other members). For £5 million, I expected something more "foresty" and more stimulating for the gorillas. The interpretation on it is good however...

Masaola appears magnificent from the photos
Realm of the Red Ape is a personal favourite for me, mainly because I've seen nearly every square inch of it and Orangs are my favourite animals . It pulls off the Asian forest feel well and the Orangs have much more room than in the previous house (which i liked, but knew it wasn't the best)

There are probably more but i'm having a bit of a block at the moment...

18-01-2008

i agree with you there on London, gorilla kigdom was a big dissapointment

18-01-2008

@Xerxes: Once again, this was no personal rebuke; I just stated why it's difficult to say "This mega-building is great" as we don't know what hidden flaws it might contain.

We, and this is again addressed to all, also have to remember that a "perfect" exhibit for a zoofan is not always a perfect exhibit for the average zoo visitor. In fact, I have heard quite a few visitors complain at the Masoala Exhibit that they didn't see enough or any animals at all, even though there is helpful staff around trying to help them spot animals. Another flaw in regard to "Masoala": it's easily overcrowded.

Additionally, I'm also doubtful that the often non-economical "mega-zoo buildings" convey the right message in terms of environmental protection & pollution control, especially if You find Philippine Teak products for sale in such a zoo building next to a "Save the Rainforest" poster...The anti-zoo lobby loves to dig its claws into this aspect, and they are partly correct; yet a combination of zoo & national park like in Masoala/Zürich's case is one possibilty how the wish of western zoogoers for a "rainforest experience" can be combined with a conservation plan. Hope this could also be true for some of the other "mega-buildings" mentioned...