Giant Pandas for Adelaide » Adelaide Zoo

04-04-2008

very shpick. a very shpick entrance indeed. of course being just a 3-D rendering and without even a final cost being determined, it will probably look nothing like that at all!!

08-04-2008

Messenger Community Newspapers Local News Adelaide South Australia

Another link on the Adelaide Zoo entrance plans, but it doesn't contain much additional information. One interesting facet of the designs is that it will be a two-storey building.

10-04-2008

For someone from Canada you sure find out alot of our Aussie news

10-04-2008

@PAT: Last year I spent 6 weeks travelling all over Australia, and visited 14 zoos/wildlife parks/aquariums while there. I also lived in Bunbury (south of Perth) for two and a half years when I was a kid. On top of that my wife and I are seriously debating over whether or not to move "down under" in another couple of years. I suppose that Australia is my second home, and therefore I follow the zoo news very closely. More than anything I'm envious of the beautiful weather that you guys have, as up here in Canada it is rain and snow on far too many days.

10-04-2008

I was talking to an Adelaide Zoo keeper and they said they are thinking about putting the pandas where the zebras are because it would be easier to store and carry in the large amounts of bamboo instead of walking lots of bamboo into the middle of the zoo.

the exhibit?
10-04-2008

i hope adelaide do something interesting, not just with their panda enclosure, but with their panda exhibit as well.

pandas are such big attractions in zoos yet they are usually housed in pretty boring, hagenbeck style habitats with grass and climbing frames. i can only imagine this is intentional - to keep the areas open and thus the animals on display or that zoos get so exited by the prosect of pandas, they figure the exhibit doesn't need to break any new ground to get attention. the national zoos exhibit would be one that seems to be an exception.

id'e like to see something a little more along the lines of a forest, a real attempt at recreating the temperate mountain woodlands of china. hopefully the zoo decides to attempt something a little more innovative and creative when it comes to habitat immersion.....

likewise, here is an opportunity for the zoo to create an entire precinct. i would have a pretty safe guess that red pandas will be benifiting from a new exhibit as well, but what about other temperate chinese species in australia?

snow leopards, sika deer, golden cats, golden pheasants, pekin robins, mandarin ducks, short-clawed otters. all these spacies live in cool temperate regions of china...

anyhow, here's an opportunity to do something truly a little exciting. i just hope its more national zoo naturalistic than memphis zoo cultural overkill.

10-04-2008

Patrick
Do you ever pass your thoughts on to the zoos themselves, let them know what you would like to see. I don't know if it would make any difference but at least it would give them an idea of what might be wanted.

10-04-2008

Patrick, the whole idea of the enw entrance precint is so zoo guests dont have to line up around the street to view the pandas, rather in zoo grounds. The panda exhibit probably is going to be quite basic and open fronted due to the hordes of people comming to see them, some figures are as high as 1.2 or so million people within the first years.

though to i would love adelaide to create something like what you suggest, a nice, new idea of a temerate forest, it will simply not withstand millions of visitors in a short amount of time walking through winding trails.

if you have seen exhibits in the states, people line up and file past exhibits, and you often dont get to stand and just observe.

it is quite sad, and i totally agree with all your ideas, and think they would be great, but the likely hood of that actually happening is minimal.

10-04-2008

thanks for the compliment jay, i have in the past but it doesn't go far.

since zoos are relying more and more on thematics, i think they need as least one chief creative, and art director essentially.

afterall, thats why disney's wild animal kingdom looks the way it does.

for example the melbourne zoo gardeners do a great job of maintaining the gardens, and they have, to a certain extent done a great job of creating a "rainforest". but just because they know about plants does that make them good at knowing how to simulate a foreign landscape with them?

they have for example, planted a stand of banaglow palms (a australian/asian genus) in the african rainforest and recently senegal palms in the asian rainforest.

now you can call me picky, but all these little nuances add up. i often get told "oh but does the average zoo visitor really..."

(by the way if this was not an internet forum i would throttle the next person who says that! )

... and the answer is yes - if the average zoo visitor appreciates the higher standard of landscaping at disney's animal kingdom, then yes, they do appreciate the attention to detail. they may not recognise the difference between a senegal and bangalow palm, but they do subconsciously know the "look" of africa. and the little details such as the look of the palms contributes to this.

10-04-2008

I will call you picky again! I Carnt wait to see you run the most zoograhical, biological, botanically correct, immersive, artistic zoo in the world- it will be most politically correct zoo in the world.

There will be crazy old botanist running around saying jeez thats a banaglow palm you twit. Hence why it's in the asian precint- gosh!

10-04-2008

it'll be better than your dumbarse zoo... and mixed species pair of elephants and a bronze statue of steve irwin

10-04-2008

yes patrick i will breed hybrid elephants, and white lions- and totally ensure the phase out of jaguars just to peve u off!

10-04-2008

While your at it Zoo Boy make sure that those hybrid elephants are kept in a nice looking but tiny cage e.g. tarongas.

11-04-2008

When I saw the giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo in 2006 it was an amazing experience, but the exhibit was underwhelming and lacked the look and feel of a temperate Chinese location. There were hordes of visitors lined up shoulder to shoulder along the lengthy, narrow enclosure. Adelaide won't be half as busy as San Diego, but they should still double their current attendance figures and so will also need a wide-angled enclosure that allows for maximum visitor space. The idea to create an Asian-themed precinct is terrific, and maybe once the funding rolls in from the increased attendance then Adelaide can incorporate more species from the same geographic region as the giant pandas.

This summer I should be visiting the National Zoo in Washington D.C. and the brand new giant panda exhibit (found on zoolex) appears to be an improvement on the old enclosure. Perhaps that could be used as a model for Adelaide?

Exhibit

11-04-2008

almost anything could be an improvement to the panda exhibit at the " National " Zoo in Washington DC ! . The building is so ordinary a 10 year old wannabe architect could have designed it !
The zoo is better than San Francisco Zoo , but for a "National " Zoo label , it didnt really live up to its name .

And I have to agree with Patrick , the gardening team can certainly make a difference for a zoo to excellent , as opposed to good . The difference is the gardening quality between Wellington and Auckland Zoos is very noticable .
Admittedly , Wellingtons zoo has become more pleasant and enjoyable , now that they have a dedicated gardener . But Aucklands botanists create a magic atmosphere within the zoo , trying to plant as close as possible the species that would be found in the animals natural habitat