Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum - Cougar Exhibit

August 2008.

i love this exhibit! its so beautiful!
love ashley

Somewhat similar to the cougar exhibit at The Living Desert.

I think this is the black bear exhibit. The cougar (mountain lion, puma) exhibit is to the left of this one and is actually much nicer.

Yes, but the ASDM exhibit is open-fronted (moated), which is very unusual for cougar exhibits--it's the only one I can think of. They are both very nice displays for a species that is often relegated to small, simple mesh enclosures.

Edit: and AD is right--this is the black bear exhibit, which is not as well vegetated or geologically accurate as the neighboring cougar exhibit.

Northwest Trek near Seattle also has an open (moated) enclosure for their cougars.

ASDM, Northwest Trek and BC Wildlife Park are 3 establishments with open-top puma exhibits.

Blackduiker

The Living Desert also has an open-top puma exhibit. But glass-fronted, not moated. That is quite unusual.

I'm intrigued to see my 5th open-topped puma exhibit this summer at the Living Desert Zoo, but one thing that puzzles me about ASDM is that I've heard that the zoo still does not have any black bears in their empty exhibit. Is that true? Why on earth not? Black bears are a dime a dozen in North America and just in the Canadian Province of British Columbia over 500 are killed annually by conservation officers. Couldn't ASDM pick up a couple of bears for a relatively cheap transportation price from either the wild (problem bruins) or another accredited establishment?

They do have a black bear in their exhibit - it has been there about a year I think (maybe more). The reason the exhibit was empty for a while was not lack of available animals - it was closed for renovation. They redid the night quarters from two separate (tiny) holding areas to one decent sized holding area. Also modified some of the steep terrain in main exhibit. So they now have ability to house only one bear, not two, but they do have one.