Cincinnati Zoo 2003 - Outdoor Sumatran Rhinoceros exhibit

May 2003

Outdoor Sumatran Rhinoceros exhibit. It was too hot for the Sumatran Rhinoceros family to be outside on the day of my visit.

Nice to see a picture of the exhibit before it was renovated and the new shade structures were built over the exhibit.

And it was really rather beautiful when first built in... was it 1990 or thereabouts? I should find the pictures to share

More plants and no shade cloth

I would say 1990 would be a good guess. I'm not sure when the exhibit opened exactly either. That would be great if you could find a picture! I looked through all of my older photos from the late 90's, but I couldn't fine one of the Sumatran Rhinoceros exhibit.

OK, here you go, September 1989:
http://www.zoochat.com/556/sumatran-rhino-1989-a-188147/

Perhaps it wasn't really so much nicer

Thank you very much It's not all that much nicer, but it is a lot greener than the exhibit is now. Though from the picture there does not seem to be a lot of shade. I think the present exhibit suits the needs of rhinos very well, even though it's not exactly the greenest or most South-east Asian themed.

It's been quite a long time since I was there...but my memory is that at the time the South side of the yard was very shady from the existing trees there, as was the area just outside the holding. There were hills to the East with trees as well... so the only open area was to the North. (But I have no pictures of the South end of the exhibit)
If that situation has changed (=loss of trees) then that is a shame.

The exhibit was not landscaped intentionally "South Asian" biome, but was a clearing in the existing forest. Next to the rhinos, to the North were wart hogs, I believe, and beyond them takin... so it was not a geographically defined area of the zoo.

I'm not sure if there are many trees left now that the new shade structures have been put up. There are a few around the edges and maybe a few small trees scattered in the middle. Clearly not as many as there used to be. It does seem however that the exhibit currently has more mud wallows then it used to.

Oh I know it wasn't. I was just speaking in terms that some people seem to think that if the exhibit isn't geographically themed that it isn't as good. Even though the Sumatran Rhino exhibit isn't geographiclly themed it's still a good exhibit for the animals. Of course Wildlife Canyon, like most of the zoo, isn't geographically themed. I mean, it currently houses Sumatran Rhinos, Red River Hogs, Sichuan Takins, Przewalski's Horses, Bactrian Camels, Slender-horned Gazelles, Bennett's Wallabies, and Emus.