Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo $10.6 Million Madagascar Exhibit

One of America's 5 best zoos just keeps on getting better. The new 17,000 sq. ft. Madagascar building opens in 2010, complete with North America's only walk-through lemur exhibit:

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The detailed site plan includes exhibits for ring-tailed lemurs, black and white ruffed lemurs, red ruffed lemurs, mongoose lemurs, common brown lemurs, aye-ayes, fossa, coquerel's sifakas, giant jumping rats and other exciting species:

http://www.omahazoofoundation.org/downloads/Madagascar_FLOORmap.pdf

Another site plan: (scroll down to see the various islands that are around the main building)

http://www.omahazoofoundation.org/downloads/Madagascar_Rendering1.pdf

 

Still astounds me! They really are at almost every second UK zoo now.


Looks a good set-up though. Straw-coloured Fruit Bats are very nice. And Coquerel's Sifakas - a species absent from European zoos. One little query - do the Brown and Mongoose Lemurs have outdoor areas? I can't spot any on the plans.

 

@Maguari: the lack of walk-through lemur exhibits also amazes me, but perhaps Omaha can start a trend!

It seems as if there are a series of outdoor yards, but both the brown and mongoose lemurs lack access to outdoor areas. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo can be covered in snow during the winter months, and the Bronx Zoo in New York City just opened a Madagascar House (by renovating a 100 year-old building) with zero outdoor exhibits and at a much higher cost. The Bronx's excellent Madagascar House is 20,000 sq. ft., while Omaha's will be 17,000 sq. ft. (with 6,000 designated for animal exhibits) but Omaha's outdoor islands and walk-through lemur habitat should make it spectacular. Everything they do at that zoo is huge (Lied Jungle, Desert Dome, Kingdoms of the Night, 4-acre aviary, etc) and so I expect the best from the latest project.

 

This may become a great exhibit, but the zoo should not be congratulated on creating a multi-million pound complex for animals being brought in when there is so much already at the zoo which needs to be improved. Whilst omaha touts "my madagascar exhibit is bigger than yours" to the bronx, it should not be forgotten that its cats are still living in barren concrete cells.

 

Seems to be a severe lack of Madagascan birds here

 

The building doesn't look that big or innovative. Basically a row of glass-fronted lemur exhibits. Something which could be build 30 years ago.

And I agree that all lemurs should have outdoor exhibits - e.g. well-planted aviaries viewable from inside of the building through the floor-to-roof windows (the plan hints at space constrains).

 

Totally disagree! Omaha should totally be congratulated for creating some of the most amazing zoo exhibits on the planet, including this one. The "so much" that needs improving is vastly overstated. They have a few problems (as does any other zoo), but they are correcting them over time. In the meantime, Lee Simmons is taking the opportunity to be the "first" over here in America, and I totally congratulate him (and the Zoo).

It truly is amazing that these great walk-through lemur exhibits are so common in Europe (I saw them in Spain, Germany, and Czech), but not at all over here in the USA. I've heard that one reason is that we have a much more severe lawsuit problem here in the States. That is, if one of these lemurs bites a visitor, the zoo is much more at risk here in the USA. (Don't know how Omaha is addressing this, though.) This is one political problem which I wish the Democrats and Republicans could agree to fix! Alas, one party has zero interest in addressing this problem.

 

And how is this building "in the meantime"? There is no actual time-scale for the cat house (which I think even you will agree is unaccaptable) to be redeveloped so, far from being an intermediate development, this new madagascar exhibit is simply taking money, time and resources away from an outdated part of the zoo which actually needs to be redeveloped. I am not saying that the zoo should cease developments, simply that they should focus on things already at the zoo which need developing rather than bringing in huge numbers of new animals from facilities which already provide for their welfare needs rather than neglecting animals in their care whose needs are not currently being met. Surely it is better to do this first and bring in the lemurs later than do it the other way round and leave the cats pacing in their concrete house for the next decade.

 

I just want to point out that most or perhaps all the big cats do have access to outdoor exhibits. I agree the indoor areas are bad, and the outdoor tiger exhibit is as well, but I think they get a bit of a bad rap for the cat house. Pretty much all northern zoos keep their cats indoors during the winter, but most of them have them off-exhibit. Thus us visitors can't see the cages that are likely not any better on average than Omaha's.

But yes, their cat exhibits should be renovated and/or totally re-done. Definitely one of their biggest negatives, if not the biggest.

 

"Expedition Madagascar" opens on May 7th, after two years of construction. There are a few statistics on the size of the exhibits on this new link:

Animals & Exhibits | Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo

 

So what do we think of those sizes? I'm not sure what a good size is for a lemur or fossa exhibit.

And will anyone be visiting the zoo too visit the new exhibit and take pics?

 

The new exhibit architect is the same one who designed Desert Dome, Kingdoms of the Night, Lied Jungle, Kingdoms of the Seas (Scott Aquarium), and most of the other buildings at the zoo. It certainly appears to be an exclusive and mostly successful relationship! It is interesting that this firm has done very few zoo designs besides the ones at Omaha. Also interesting that one of their other projects was a hunting lodge!

 

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo has done it again, as the establishment has a history of opening the biggest exhibit complexes in North America. "Expedition Madagascar" will apparently have the largest collection of animals from Madagascar in the United States, including 44 lemurs from 9 species and the only walk-through lemur exhibit on the continent:

Journey into world that is Madagascar - Omaha.com

On a side note, it appears that the largest feline building in North America might be headed for the scrapheap. From recent press releases there were strong hints from director Dennis Pate that the building that was erected over 30 years ago might well be demolished, and that means the approximately 40 cats that live there will need new homes. Maybe Omaha will begin to eventually construct more modern and naturalistic exhibits for its extensive big cat collection, but there are so many projects in the works at that fabulous zoo (polar bears, elephants, etc) that it is difficult to tell when the feline house will be renovated/removed/bulldozed.

 

The Henry Doorly Zoo thread has an article referencing what you say in the second paragraph. The president doesn't mention a polar bear exhibit. He seems to be focusing on the elephant exhibit and the cats. BTW, most of the cat exhibits on the outside of the cat house are decent. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to bash either imo. The tiger exhibit being the exception to that.

 

Does anyone really need a 10 million dollar Madagascan exhibit.
You could build a pretty decent lemur walk-through for 2 million and give 8 million to conservation in Madagascar where it is really needed.
Why are so many zoos now indulging in a p...ing contest of who can build the most lavish exhibits which will never generate the same amounts for in-situ conservation where it is really needed

 

Please spare me this oft-repeated twisted "logic." The donors who gave Omaha Zoo $10 million would almost certainly never consider giving that money to the government of Madagascar, or even to non-profit conservation groups working in that country (most of whom, by the way, have stopped sending money and people to that collapsed nation). Omaha does sponsor important research/conservation work in Masdagascar--this high-profile new exhibit will be hugely helpful in maintaining a more modest funding stream to continue the work, and expose millions of people to a place and its issues that they otherwise would never know or care about.

 

@pinkback: Madagascar is struggling to survive as a nation, let alone as a conservation area funded by major zoos. Omaha's new exhibit complex will shed light on the problems and successes in that part of the world.

@mweb08: here are two different links that mention a future "Arctic" complex with polar bears, but nothing has been guaranteed at this point. On a side note, I agree with you about the subpar but adequate outdoor yards for cats at the zoo, but the massive Feline Complex is badly outdated and thankfully it looks as if it will be demolished within the next few years.

Henry Doorly Zoo has Plans for Rosenblatt Land - KPTM FOX 42: Omaha News, Sports and Weather; Nebraska News, Sports; kptm.com |

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo Poised to Expand Designing Zoos

 

Here is a link to the sneak peak section on the omaha.com. It includes the previous article as well as a list of species the exhibit will house and an interactive map showing how it is set up.

Expedition Madagascar: A sneak peek - Omaha.com

I haven't been to the Bronx Zoo since Madagascar! opened. For those who have, how does this set up compare?

 

These plans were all conceived and announced under the leadership of the zoo's longtime director, who retired over a year ago. With a new director in place, and a true master plan for Omaha being developed for the first time, it will be interesting to see if a Polar exhibit including essentially unavailable animals like walrus will indeed still be in the cards for HDZ.

 

Go read the much more recent article in the other thread. It contradicts the plan to have a lot of new exhibits where the stadium is now and doesn't mention anything about a new polar bear or artic exhibit. As reduakari said, there's a new directer, so plans seem to be changing.