Elephant Odyssey » San Diego Zoo

16-04-2008

I think you make an excellent point.
I have watched visitors at various lorikeet flight exhibits and walk-through kangaroo exhibits, sting ray touch tanks and of course butterfly exhibits and their demeanor is so different from when they are in the rest of the zoo.

Today, though, I'll admit I'm dreaming of a walk-thrugh polar bear exhibit....but that's another matter

16-04-2008

Not even lorikeet. Almost every visitor will turn away from the rarest animal when wild mallard comes begging for bread.

Walk-thru polar bears - it would be like The Far Side "scorpion petting zoo - showing children what nature is". In the meantime, some ideas are feeder above viewing glass:
http://www.zoobeat.com/2/if-i-had-my...html#post42655
and walk-thru glass tunnel, like some zoos do with big cats.

23-11-2008

Anyone else think it's odd that they haven't included the Chacoan peccaries into this exhibit plan? I think they'd be a perfect fit with the theme, being relatives of the extinct flat-headed peccary, and also being a "living fossil" themselves.

26-01-2009

Here is a new article about Elephant Odyssey along with another site plan of the area...its looks like they are adding Przewalski's Horses to the collection plan.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...25elephant.pdf

Room to roam

26-01-2009

Here's an updated look at Elephant Odyssey. As I mentioned earlier, it's clear that the jaguar and lion exhibits will be rather small, mesh enclosed spaces.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...25elephant.pdf

While the intent of the exhibit was (is) to explain that elephants once lived in North America, along with an assemblage of other species no longer found here, I'm worried this will just come off as a very random and odd collection of animals from all over. I just don't think a compellingly realistic Pleistocene landscape is likely to be created given the food court and "Utilitrees" featured in this design.

No doubt this will be a much better environment for elephants, but as others have suggested I'm not sure it wouldn't have been better to show Asian elephants in the context of an Asian forest, as opposed to this more esoteric exhibit theme.

26-01-2009

I was told the new jaguar enclosure will be much larger than the current one. The current one is pretty lush already, so I am pretty sure the new one will be fantastic. This whole new exhibit looks incredible.

26-01-2009

Look at the plan--it is very clearly NOT significantly larger than the current exhibit (which admittedly is pretty lush, but otherwise not very good).

And--just a guess--after the first pronghorn or capybara is crushed by a "playful" elephant the "animal interaction" portrals will be closed permanently.

26-01-2009

WHY ARE YOU SO NEGATIVE!! Just because the jaguar exhibit does not look big does not make it bad. Miami's jaguar exhibit is not that large, however the exhibit is brilliant and probably one of the best jaguar exhibits in the country. I am sure San Diego's will be like that too. The current jaguar enclosure at San Diego is already pretty nice, so I am sure this one will be excellent.

26-01-2009

I think once the capybara, tapir, guanaco, and pronghorn get out of their exhibit into the elephant exhibit they will not want to go back into their own exhibit.

26-01-2009

I am "SO NEGATIVE" because San Diego Zoo, despite all the things it has going for it (climate, money, public support, history, topography, collection, oh and did I say money?) has NEVER stretched itself to truly meet it's potential. I am amazed that even this group of well-informed zoo afficianados are consistently blinded by the hype and the benign Southern Californian climate to really BELIEVE that the zoo is the world's greatest.

Don't get me wrong, there are many very good aspects to the zoo (notably the walk-through aviaries, outdoor reptile exhibits, Tiger River, Kopje exhibit, subtropical plantings everywhere among them). But if the zoo ever paid attention to details the way other zoos do (think Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Woodland Park, Bronx, Shedd, Monterey, Zurich, Arnhem, Leipzig) it would be SO much better it would blow every other zoo out of the water. The equivalent in sports terms would be a player with immense natural talents who doesn't practice and only performs when the spotlight is on.

I've waited for years to see the zoo step up to the top in terms of QUALITY. When Tiger River and the Kopje exhibits opened in the late 1980s, it looked like the zoo was on its way. But nothing since that time has had the same level of thoughtfulness or quality. I had hoped to be proven wrong by Elephant Odyssey--but the plan published today (the most detailed yet) supports my suspicion that the San Diego Zoo will still not live up to it's potential, which is a shame for them, but more broadly a shame for all zoos as the public continues to regard San Diego as the "leader," and will judge all zoos by what they do. This group (Zoochat contributors) should know better....

26-01-2009

You are forgetting Ituri Forest, Gorilla Tropics, Polar Bear Plunge, Absolutely Apes, Monkey Trails and Forest Tales... are all incredible exhibits. San Diego has over 10 exhibits that are brilliant, state-of-the-art habitats. I can't think of another zoo in the U.S. that has that many.

26-01-2009

No, I'm not forgetting them. Not one of those exhibits is as good as it should be. All of them are okay, but not the best in class by any means. Why are gorilla exhibits in cold climate cities like Leipzig and New York so much better, for example? I think I'll end my commentary now, as it won't change your mind. But I will remain disappointed by San Diego until they prove they "get it."

26-01-2009

The Phoenix Zoo used to exhibit blackbuck in the elephant yard. The blackbuck had their own little safe area that the elephants could not reach them. When Indu was brought in, the zoo no longer had the blackbuck in there. I can't say for certain, but I heard rumors that a few had been rendered "blackbuck pancakes" by the newcomer.

Here's another prediction. The zoo will continue to exhibit lions in their current exhibit at least for some time (the 2 older females will not likely be moving to an exhibit set up for breeding) This is only a guess, but it's based on moves the zoo has made in the past. Anyone else remember forest buffalo on Horn and Hoof after Ituri opened, or Malayan tapirs on Elephant Mesa after Tiger River opened?

Oh sorry, was that too negative as well?

26-01-2009

The thing that really bothers me is, the newer developments, since they've started designing in-house, don't have the same attention to detail. Tiger River and the African Kopje were amazing when they opened. The attention to detail that recreated an actual place was really well done. Tiger River was a Sumatran forest with all of the biological and geological details to back that up. It was NOT originally intended to be generic Asian rainforest that area has since become. (They have also tended to water down existing themes, by completely throwing geography out the window, Arabian wild cats instead of arctic foxes, caracals instead of snowy owls? Please!)

I will leave my rant at that, because BlackRhino and I have butted heads over this very topic many times and it probably grows tiresome for some.

Just to be clear, I am a huge fan of the Zoological Society as a whole, have spent most of my life as a member, and I collect all of their publications and so forth, so this is not out of hate, this is out of frustration for what I feel they could be.

26-01-2009

Just to be clear, I am a huge fan of the Zoological Society as a whole, have spent most of my life as a member, and I collect all of their publications and so forth, so this is not out of hate, this is out of frustration for what I feel they could be.[/quote]

Ditto. As a child the San Diego Zoo/WAP was my Mecca, and it's where I developed my love for zoos. The SDZS does great conservation work, but one might never know that as a casual visitor, as one of their weakness is interpretation. You can't leave the Bronx or Brookfield zoos without having received a clear message about their international conservation efforts, but in San Diego graphics/media presentations are an afterthought.
Churro stands and plush pandas are far more evident.