Next big exhibit at Louisville Zoo... » Louisville Zoo

Next big exhibit at Louisville Zoo...
11-01-2008

Here's a zoo which is creating a new Polar Bear exhibit rather than phasing out the old...

Glacier Run at the Louisville Zoo

11-01-2008

I'm not really convinced by this; it looks a lot like the currently trendy fashion in western zoos to "replace concrete with fake rocks & fake surroundings" without actually improving a lot in terms of the animal husbandry.
You asked me in another thread what I consider a good Polar Bear exhibit; I think I gave the answer to that in one of the North American zoo threads, but let me summarize it: put the Polar Bears into a large naturalistic exhibit, like You would design for Brown Bears; let them climb trees, swim in large ponds and dig in the mud. Give them access to areas away from the public, to be able to raise their cubs quietly. Make it possible to seperate bears in adequate exhibits and offer multiple exhibits for surplus animals, females with cubs etc. They won't be as snow-white as the ones kept on concrete and artificial rocks, but they'd certainly be more content. And I'm pretty sure that this would be much cheaper than plans like the one above.
The Skandinavisk Dyrepark is going into the right direction:
Skandinavisk Dyrepark

11-01-2008

Dyrepark does look good...

This exhibit (including the surronding ones), i.e. arctic theme, seems to be pretty close (to much to be coincidental) to Toledo Zoo's similar exhibit...

11-01-2008

The most difficult mammal to design an exhibit for: the polar bear. The notion of maintaining a captive population of polar bears has been a constant theme on this forum, and there are not many easy answers. Even the so-called best enclosures sometimes don't offer enough enrichment for such wide-ranging carnivores. One problem, as in all zoo exhibits, is that occasionally there is more space devoted to human visitors than the actual zoo animals. San Diego Seaworld has a long corridor filled with fake tundra ice, a boat, fishing gear, etc that takes up probably as much space as the actual polar bear enclosure itself. Where's the conservation in that? The Louisville Zoo has plans that also contain a lot of planning for the human element.

Has anyone on this forum been to Detroit's Arctic "Ring of Life" exhibit, as it looks fantastic on their website. It won best new North American exhibit when it first opened.

11-01-2008

Is that the exhibit with tunnels of glass for Seals to swim through the Polar Bears exhibit..?

Sand Diego Seaworld is to-for-profit IMO to consider a "zoo"...

Haven't been to America yet but so many zoos there that look, worth a look...

11-01-2008

@NZ Jeremy: the tunnels that you are referring to are at the Detroit Zoo, and the exhibit is often hailed as one of the best for polar bears worldwide.

11-01-2008

It looks quite similar to the new Predators of the Serengetti exhibit coming to Oregon Zoo...

Which will feature transparent tunnels with Mongooses able to run through the Caracal exhibit...

I wonder, will zoos more and more have prey species visible to predators as a means of stimulation to them both..?

11-01-2008

I've written about that caracal/mongoose exhibit on here before, and am looking forward to May 2009 when it opens. Prey stimulation is a wonderful thing in zoos, as well as the rotation through exhibits. There are a handful of zoos (Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma being one of them) that rotate their animals through several different enclosures. Every time a zoo visitor walks up to the Asian forest section of the zoo in Point Defiance h/she never knows what will be in a particular exhibit. The animals are rotated up to three times a day into different enclosures, and often are let into exhibits where they can smell what would be their prey in the wild.

11-01-2008

While I disagree on the very first statement about the most difficult mammal to design an exhibit for (cetaceans like Blue Whales, specialised species like colugos, and "holy cows" like Elephants, Great apes...), I completely agree in terms of the quotation above; that's exactly what I fear said new exhibit will result in.

Prey stimulation however can backfire: see situation of mandrill & banded mongoose in Dresden, lions & parrots in Zurich and lions & meerkats in Schwerin; didn't work out the way it should...
Thumbs up for the rotation system-see also Zurich's Wolves & tigers.

11-01-2008

Ahh, when it comes to rotation I think I have you both trumped...

Predator and prey species rotated 4 times daily, see:

Louisville Zoo - Islands "The World's First Multi-Species Rotational Exhibit"

12-01-2008

Sorry-knew that already Read the masterplan before it was built in a zoo magazine .

12-01-2008

@NZ Jeremy: interesting that the Point Defiance and Louisville Zoos rotate three of the same species (sumatran tiger, siamang gibbon and malayan tapir) and I'm a massive fan of such endeavours. To be able to have a series of interconnected exhibits leads to a lot more stimulation and enrichment for both zoo visitors and the captive animals.

12-01-2008

Is there any evidence that this rotation is good for the animals? In particular one might imagine that being in very close proximity to a predator and surrounded by its smells might not be all that calming for a herbivore.

12-01-2008

Here some research done on this very exhibit, click on the 7th link down:

Research

12-01-2008

@NZ Jeremy: thanks for the link, and I've read that report before. That zoolex website is an amazing source of zoological based material.

Seeing all of the different zoos mentioned, and how the captive animals benefit tremendously from the extra enrichment and stimulation, then why aren't there more rotation exhibits? As the report outlines, it is cost that is the major concern. I've been to the Point Defiance Zoo twice and visitor appreciation is wildly successful, as there is indeed a sense of excitement when approaching an enclosure. One is never sure exactly which species will there on that particular day, and the benefits to the animals are clearly outlined in that 5-year study.