Interesting Exhibit Concept

Interesting Exhibit Concept
24-03-2008

I was thinking, there are countless African Plains exhibits but how about an 'Edge of the Savannah' exhibit featuring:

Honey Badger
Warthog
Vulture
Baboon
Impala
King Cobra
Mongoose
Meerkat
Leopard

I think this sort of multi species exhibit would be fascinating and something not seen commonly in zoos. What do you guys think?

24-03-2008

yes, but isn't the king cobra an asian species?

24-03-2008

you might be right, well some species of reptile that is African in origin....

I love the African Loppe exhibit at the Sd Zoo, it is small but well designed...

Honey Badgers are rarely seen in zoos so they should really try to breed them or build them a more appropriate enclosure

24-03-2008

You could use the Egyptian Cobra or "Rinkhals" Spitting Cobra. Honey Badgers are rarely seen in the wild here either so breeding would be good.

Would need good visual barriers or the exhibits could be very stressful as not only are those predators and prey but natural enemies. Gemsbok would be another good addition.

24-03-2008

I was thinking for the exhibit to have a similar theme to 'Heart of Africa' at the SD Wild Animal Park...

With African vegetation everywhere..

24-03-2008

There is a similar indoor exhibit at the Staten Island Zoo in New York with

Baboons
Meerkat
Ball Python
Ground Hornbill
Rock Hyrax
Superb Starling
Dik-Dik
Bushbaby
Burrowing Python
Pancake Tortoise
Leopard Tortoise
Turaco sp.
Ring-tailed Lemur
Leopard

There should be more small animal exhibits like them!

24-03-2008

Prague Zoo has similar "Into Africa" house. It has honey badgers, bat-eared foxes, black lemurs and very many African rodents, reptiles and insects. Unsure about meerkats.

It is obviously designed for children, with lots of terrariums realised like peeking into rock cracks.

Unfortunately, when I was there, children were ignoring it. And I learned that mice can be so varied.

24-03-2008

Okapikpr:

You have to admit, however, that the Staten Island exhibit is way too small and quite, well, ugly.

Check out the Prague Zoo's "Africa Closely" exhibit--everything from ratels, yellow mongoose, bat-eared fox, doormouse, dung beetles, chamelons, vipers, spiny mice, zebra mice, leopard tortoise, egg-eating snake, crested procupines, springhaas, ground squirrel, assassin bugs, fennec foxhedgehogs, hyrax, agamids, sungazer, skinks, Africn bullfrog, Calabar python, spiders, weaverbirds etc. Plus, inappropriately, black lemurs.

It's quite nice.

Basle's Etosha exhibit includes a number of smaller species as well--bee-eaters, hyrax, dwarf mongoose, locusts, Puff Adder (with mice!), along with crocodiles, lions and wild dogs.

24-03-2008

I have to agree that the african Kopje exhibit at San diego was very impressive. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I think that exhibits that show the smaller species in an ecosystem are even better then the ones that show the larger ones. Chester zoo is trying to show more of the smaller species in it's new okapi exhibit. There are 5 rodent species, three fish species and one snake. This exhibit is very well thought out, and shows the species that are 'looked over.'

I think that zoos should try to use rodents/insectivores/herptiles in their exhibits more often, as they are very important in the ecosystem, and because of their size are often left out and forgotten about.

24-03-2008

The Bronx Zoo's Congo features large mammals (gorillas, okapi, red river hog, colobus, mandrill, deBrazza and Wolf's guenon), but also has rock pythons, lungfish, Nile monitors, zebra mice, several frogs, Congo peacock, hornbills, wood hoopoes, crakes, cichlids, scorpions, millipedes, tetras, butterfly fish pygmy geese. mud turtles and egg-eating snakes. It really adds a lot to the experience.

24-03-2008

Just building on hornbill's point, it seems to be a policy of Chester to include the smaller animals alongside the main attraction in new exhibits:
Okapi: Puff Adder, Rodents, Fish
Elephant: Hornbill, Turtle, Fish, Tree Shrew, Birds
Orang utan: Snakes, Invertabrates, Lizards, Gibbons, Birds
Jaguar: Snakes, Frogs, Ants, Fish
Rhino: soon to be an african aviary, meerkats

Back on topic, doesn't Colchester have small savannah animals (aardvarks, vultures etc) in exhibits close to elephants, rhinos, giraffes etc?

24-03-2008

Jimmy, the snake in secret world of the okapi is a Gaboon viper. They have 0.2

24-03-2008

I think small animal exhibits have some problems.

First, public simply ignores them. Extra innovative presentations are needed. I would welcome e.g. walk-thru exhibits. Many small animals are harmless, why not also feeding and handling sessions? Feeding ground squirrel from a hand is better than rhino in the bush.

Second - zoo should try to focus on threatened species. But threatened small animals usually come from different places than threatened big animals. I can't recall one threatened small vertebrate with zoo population which comes from mainland sub-saharan Africa. Maybe better to break this geographical concept?

24-03-2008

yeah, sorry. I was struggling to remember and put puff adder down in hope...

24-03-2008

Does it bother anyone else when lemurs are included in African bioclimatic habitats?