New Bear and Langur exhibit at Ostrava, 29/05/10

A brand-new, almost-finished exhibit that looks liek it will be absolutely first-class. It\'s a huge wooded hillside (1.5ha) that will be home to Asian Black Bears and Terai Grey Langurs.

What a great looking exhibit for the animals.

I think for a zoo exhibit to be considered a great exhibit it must also meet the public's needs to observe the animal. I would think that the vast majority of the paying public are not going to get value for money from this exhibit.

The real challenge for the designers of zoo exhibits is to find the balance between the animal and the public and not go to the extreme at either end of the spectrum.

I am now wondering actually how deep the exhibit is? 1.5 hectare, either it is a really really long exhibit or yes the woods are part of the enclosure.
Are all the trees in the foreground in the exhibit?
Is the water a barrier just for the Languar?
What are the tripods purpose?

The 'tripods' are supporting freshly-planted tree saplings, I think.

The woods at the back are part of the exhibit - viewing is possible from along one-and-a-half sides of a rough triangle, so I think the animals should be visible most of the time.

I think the very front bit won't be accessible to either species (at least at first) as there's a fence on the edge of the moat, but I could be wrong.


I've often pulled exhibits up on making it too hard to see the animals, and obviously it's difficult to judge before the animals are in but I don't it'll be too big a problem here given the number of viewing points and the fact that most of these offer a view of pretty much the whole exhibit.

Wow, I could not agree more!! I've seen many comments on ZooChat where they would say something like, "It's hard to find that animals -- which is good". Good? Really?

One ZooChat friend of mine has told me that he feels it's good if visitors have to spend 10-15 minutes looking at an exhibit to find the animals. That may be good for us zoo fanatics, who go to zoos by ourselves, but it's NOT good for that young family with a tired 3-year-old in a stroller. Those families, with their admission fees and other spending, they pay the bills for the zoos we love, so we have to factor in their viewing needs.

Hi Anyhuis,

It is a contentious issue, driven by people who assume that naturalistic is best!

The gorilla exhibits at Howletts and Columbus are incredibly popular with the general public and the gorillas, the general public is however told that naturalistic exhibits are best for gorillas. I am not convinced unless you have the space that Apenheul has.

Take a look at the photos of the former enclosures of the bears and langurs and then tell me again that this isn't an improvement for both animals and people involved.

What image does convey better the image of a modern zoo to both general public and zoo aficionados-

This
http://photos.zoochat.com/large/leningrad-zoo-bear-house-32704.jpg

This
http://photos.zoochat.com/large/bear_enclosure_2_-_heythrop_2003-13174.jpg

Or this?
http://photos.zoochat.com/large/polar_world_1-80555.jpg

To anticipate the inevitable quotation of the "greatest polar bear exhibit"(...):
http://wordlesstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Arctic-Ring-of-Life-at-Detroit-Zoo.jpg

Although this might be also a (very fancy) option, it is not affordable or achievable for every zoo. The current financial situation of Detroit should be kept in mind, too...

If it comes down to "that young family with a tired 3-year-old in a stroller", an extensive innovative playground, a good petting zoo as well as good animal education programs, ample & safe parking lots/connections to public transport and good affordable dining options might be more appretiated than presenting animals in a fishbowl. However, good zoo management and PR should involve catering to possibly all demographic groups and age cohorts instead of neglecting some in favour of others, thereby providing even more grist to the anti-zoo lobby mill. "Naturalistic" doesn't have to mean to see no animals at all, leading to disappointment of the paying public; a good naturalistic exhibit can benefit both animal and visitor while making it tougher for PETA etc. to argue and provoke.

An interesting discussion! I'm tempted to suggest that a macaque might be more active, and thus more visible, than the langurs will be. And both species for which this exhibit is earmarked have unpromising prospects in Europe; I do find myself wondering what will be the long-term residents here.

This video shows the completed exhibit with both species inhabiting it- it does seem like viewing the animals is a lot easier than the above image shows.

[ame=http://vimeo.com/38634522]Chitwan - new exhibition at Ostrava Zoo on Vimeo[/ame]

I know this is an old discussion but I would just like to clarify some things:

I visited Ostrava Zoo a couple of weeks ago and saw this exhibit complete with the animals in. I didn't find that viewing was very difficult and the shape of the enclosure is more long and thin with a path going along most of it so almost all of it is visible. There is also a building with a glass window that goes directly into the exhibit which allows for viewing even in bad weather.
I will be uploading pictures of this zoo which does have some nice features (this being one of them in my opinion) over a few days.