A zoo only 5 hectares (12,3 acres) of area, but with big animals, not cramped nor impoveris

After several threads about zoos with limited space, I imagined a zoo only 5 hectares (12,3 acres) of area, but not missing big animals, not cramped nor impoverished.

I limited large animals to relatively few species, but with spacious enclosures similar in size to newly built exhibits in other zoos. They include most ABC favorites, except elephants. The moves are: focus on smaller animals, mixed-species exhibits and building on two levels.

Two levels

Small mammal house is located under lion rocks. A large building containing administration, freshwater aquarium and terrarium is hidden under enclosures of sloth bears, tigers and leopards. Large aquarium similar in size to Burgers Ocean is hidden under the enclosures for polar bears, rocks of penguins and sealions, a restaurant and playground. Bottom of the animals pools is at the ground level, and there are underwater views from inside the aquarium.

The luxury restaurant has two glass walls on two sides – one looking at the rocky polar bear exhibit, another underwater into a tropical reef. The effect is like a magical luggage.

A roof of an animal house with an exhibit is unusual, but roofs of city buildings can have live grass, cafes, even swimming pools. So why not an animal exhibit? Skylights on the roof are protected by mesh and hidden behind tufts of tall grass or artificial rocks. The main limitation is installing heavy boulders and tree trunks as furnishings.

If this concept does not work, just redevelop the zoo into a 5.8 ha zoo on one level.

Layout

The zoo is generally divided into three sections. The first is this aquarium with polar animals: polar bears, penguins and sealions, a luxury restauranr and playground..

The centre of the zoo is occupied by the African savanna paddock with giraffe, zebra, kudu, springbok, ostriches and unusually, dromedaries, warthogs, rock hyrax and zebra mongoose. This one paddock takes about 20% of the zoo. Warthogs have two artificial termite mounds with holes to hide in and several burrows. Unusually, thorny buses grow in the dry moat, giving a feeling there is no separation.

Adjacent is the pair of paddocks of black rhinos, mixed with roloway and owl-faced guenons, bat-eared foxes, white-naped mangbeys and king colobus. Primates live on tree islands and climbing structures meters over the heads of the rhinos.

This area is overlooked by rocky exhibits for lions and a sandy meerkat area. The main viewing path is designed so, that it gives a 200 m view along the full length of the zoo – at the lions in one direction, and all across the savanna and rhino paddock in another direction.

The remaining larger complex is South Asian jungle, with spacious indoor exhibits and outdoor ones viewed through glass and dry moats. Sloth bears live with javan langurs, orangutans with buff-cheeked gibbons and small-clawed otters, sulawesi crested macaques with babirusas, gharials with turtles and tropical butterflies. There are also sumatran tigers, javan leopards, a very tall hornbill aviary, walkthru area for Balabac chevrotains and birds, and smaller exhibits for pythons and other reptiles. The second restaurant has a look through the glass at the tigers, and opens in outdoor tables at the African savanna.

 

This is the map - as you see I tried to fit all exhibits really into the 5 hectare space, and still give animals lots of space. One little grid is 5x5 m. Public paths are mostly 10-20 m wide, to allow green space at the border of animal paddocks, sitting benches etc.



Below is the visualization of three lower-level houses.

 

More detailed description of the zoo:

As we enter the zoo, to the left are two polar bear enclosures with spacious pools. They are bordered with artificial rocks, and the ground is grass and gravel.

Nearby is a luxury restaurant on two levels. Part of it is on the roof of the aquarium building, part inside it. It has two glass walls facing themselves on two sides – one looks at polar bear rocks, another underwater into a tropical reef. The effect is like Harry Potter magical luggage.

Behind is a children playground, also on the roof. It includes a look at polar bears through a window, and a a peek into the penguin land area through the glass. It is themed as undersea. The playthings are an inflatable jumping place modelled as jellyfish, swings, a suspended whale model, model sea anemones to sit in, a kelp forest labyrinth and a coral reef climbing frame with slides and overhead sitting pods full of oversized models of sea creatures.

To the right of the restaurant is an entry into the sea aquarium on the lower level. The aquarium is about the size of Burgers Ocean, and has a tropical gallery with coral reef tanks and a large shark tank. Cold water gallery includes views underwater into pools of polar bears, penguins and sealions.

Adjacent is a 50m long pool for magellanic and gentoo penguins and magellanic steamer ducks. Gentoos are, unusually, exhibited outdoors. They live also in the temperate part of southern tip of America. Nearby is a pool for a group of Patagonian sealions, with space to watch sealions training.

The second part is African animals. It starts with a large night house for small mammals, located under the lion rocks. There is also lion indoor accommodation here. Lions have two tall glass fronted rooms, opening into the lion paddocks through glass walls. Lions climbing the rocks outside will sleep on the roof of their house. The house has actually more windows, opening to the wall of savanna ungulate paddock under the raised visitor path near the lions.

Further in the house there are kiwis mixed with little owls, burrowing bettongs mixed with tawny frogmouths, night monkeys mixed with coendou, black-footed cats, fishing cats, bats and rodents. There is a large exhibit featuring naked mole rats underground in plastic pipes, African hedgehogs on the ground and acacia rats on tree level. There is an large open-fronted African night hall a with aardvarks, springhares, galagos and adjacent fennecs. Another is a pseudo-walkthu Madagascar jungle separated by piano wire with aye-ayes, mouse lemurs, tenrecs and giant jumping rats.

Nearby is a large mixed exhibit for crowned lemurs, sifakas and pygmy hippos. It represents Madagascar before arrival of humans, with pygmy hippos as a stand-in for the recently extinct local hippo species. It has partially a water moat, partially a chainlink fence.

Then we face the glass-fronted lion exhibit. There are two lion paddocks, which can be joined. Both are themed with red eroded rocks and grey-leaved thorny bushes, but the ground is mostly soft. The lower lion paddock is seen mostly through the glass, the other mostly across a dry moat. Views are so designed, that the moat is not a dead space, we can look into it through the glass on the lower level. We climb on the rocks overgrown with grass and African red hot poker flowers, and see the lions in the first paddock from above, and in the other at the eye level, resting on tall rocks, watching visitors and ungulates behind them.

To the left we there is a window at the lions, and the indoor accommodation of meerkats under a rocky outcrop. And a large sandy meerkat exhibit, where they are mixed with spurred tortoises.

On the other side of the path opens a 150 m panoramic view across the savanna paddocks. We look down at savanna from a dry wall. Far behind, there is a rhino paddock, which is separated by a low water moat with a hidden submerged fence. We go down the rocks, and follow alongside the long savanna exhibit. The savanna paddock has a raised centre to eliminate cross-viewing, and some very narrow bush and tree islands surrounded by rocks. It is modelled after the Lyon Zoo. There are giraffe, hartmanns zebra, kudu, springbok, ostriches and unusually – dromedary camels, warthogs and zebra mongoose. Warthogs have burrows under two artificial termite mounds, and several further burrows to hide in. This also discourages warthogs from digging. Zebra mongoose can use these burrows, and additionally can hide in the bushy moat, on tree islands and in a number of pipes buried underground. Sides of savanna where cross-viewing occurs, from the visitor side are separated by 3m wide, 3m tall green belt planted with tall grass, red hot poker flowers or thorny bushes.

Walking alongside the savanna, we approach the second, more relaxed restaurant. The restaurant is partially on two levels. Outdoor tables have a view at African animals across a low-sided moat, planted with water lilies and reeds. To the left, children can crawl into a tunnel and emerge inside the savanna paddock inside another termite mound. Other side of the restaurant looks into the tiger exhibit through the glass wall.

Following are double paddocks for the pair of black rhinos. One paddock is shared with roloway guenons and white-naped mangabeys, another with owl-headed guenons, king colobus and bat-eared foxes. Monkeys live on tree islands and climbing structures. Climbing frames are tall and designed so that monkeys are usually good several meters above the rhinos, reducing the chance of contact. The black rhino-colobus mix is modelled after the Magdeburg Zoo.

Then is the part is for South Asian animals. Much of it is on the roof of the administration – terrarium building. First are two mixed-specied paddocks for sloth bears and javan langurs. They are modelled after Leipzig Zoo. There is a possibility to keep two langur troops. The paddocks have narrow water moats in front and rocks behind. Between them there is an indoor area with a glass window. Visitors can also walk on the roof and see monkeys on a higher level.

Then there is a narrower, shadowy path bordered by bamboo, giant reeds and climbing plants. It gives impression of a grassy thicket on open swamp. It follows alongside a tiger exhibit with glass viewing windows and high chainlink fence hidden by plants. There is even a swampy patch with reeds, floating water plants, broken dead branches and released local pondweed, dragonflies and frogs. It prevents visitors from approaching the tiger fence and creates an impression of a wild wetland. However, in fact we are walking on a roof and the setup is artificial. No huge natural boulders or tall trees here. Clumps of tall grass, bamboo and Miscanthus grass hide skylights. There are also few climbing branches. A shallow pool is in front of one of the viewing windows.

There is an overhead wire tunnel into the glass-fronted tiger indoors accomodation and second, similar tiger exhibit. Tigers there can be also seen from inside the restaurant. Since their exhibits overlook ungulates and monkeys, tigers spend lots of time resting on raised tree trunks, watching ungulates and looking magnificent to visitors.

Next is a divisible, glass-fronted, mesh-roofed aviary for javan leopards. The design is similar – tall grass and bamboo, and several branches for climbing and resting.

On the opposite side of the path, we look down into an open exhibits for Sulawesi crested macaques and babirusa. It is separated by a dry moat and an electric fence. Its border is modelled after Amsterdam Zoo. Animals are glass-fronted indoor accomodation in the terarium building, under the leopard paddock.

We go down, and see the indoor hall for Indian gharial, turtles, fruit doves and butterflies. The semi-circular path gives an underwater view on the lower level.

Next is an indoor freeflight area for Asian birds and mousedeer. Species are argus pheasant, palawan peacock pheasant, pheasant pigeon, bali myna, chattering lories, mindoro bleeding-heart, orange-headed thrush, citron-cheeked cockatoo, Balabac mousedeer and green imperial pigeon.

Then is the building with three indoor rooms, and three outdoor exhibits for orangutans, gibbons and short-clawed otters. The visitor view inside is on the first floor level, across glass. The indoor design is broadly similar to Hamburg zoo. Outside exhibits are two mesh-covered aviaries and one moated enclosure for otters.

Then is a large and very tall aviary for a pair of rufous hornbills and palawan porcupines. Several smaller aviaries for Asian birds end this group of exhibits. There are bar-bellied eagle owls, vietnamese pheasants with Javan green magpies and mountain peacock pheasants with sumatran laughingthrushes.

Then is the second zoo exit, and a small bird house with 4 aviaries. It is mostly there so that visitors don't walk a long time along the zoo fence. There are red birds of paradise, blue-throaed macaws with three-banded armadillos and tarictic hornbills with green junglefowl.

We still have not visited the terrarium under the Asian carnivores. As we enter, we see the pygmy hippos underwater indoors mixed with Malagasy cichlids, and lemurs on the vegetation at the back. The exhibit is similar to Berlin zoo. Then is a series of freshwater habitats, A night aquarium has Chinese giant salamanders. A mangrove habitat has long-tailed parakeet, archerfish, mudskippers and fiddler crabs. Another has fruit bats. There is also a big tank for Lake Victoria mbuna cichlids with glossy starlings in the above-water part.

A 600m2 Amazonia hall has three levels and a glass roof. It shows fish, birds and tamarins, bearded sakis, tamanduas and sloths. Fish are on the ground level, and the upper level is open-fronted with the fish tank acting as a moat. Birds are: golden conures, amazon parrots, sunbittern, great curassows, caciques and tanagers.

The small animals collection has a large focus on endangered fish and rare freshwater turtles. Some Asian exhibits, including bornean earless monitors and a large reticulated python lead us to the Asian section.

 

Summary:

Thinking how this fictional zoo differs from real small zoos, it is not burdened with outdated exhibits. Most zoos have outdated buildings and enclosures which will never be good exhibits. Usually the zoos poorly adapt them to a poor man's attempt of a normal exhibit. Or they put mid-sized uninteresting species – something neither threatened, nor especially interesting for visitors. My local zoo has this way nutria, mufflon, owls and some waterfowl.

One possible addition

After reading an old article about polar bears and arctic foxes at Omaha zoo, and long-existing mixes obf brown bears with red foxes in Gelserkirchen and corsac foxes in Heidelberg, I think it would be possible to mix arctic foxes with polar bears. Foxes would have their own spacious rest area plus 14 hiding burrows made of 4 m long plastic pipes buried underground. A fox would be never more than 5 m from a hiding place. Pipes would be opened on two sides, so a fox could never be cornered. They would be secured so that the bears cannot dig them out, move and use as a climbing aid to escape, and sufficiently long, that even if hypothetically two bears would chase all the foxes into one pipe and reach from two sides, the foxes were safe.

 

All the small zoos aren't burdened with outdated exhibits.
There are very good small zoos like Asson, Spay or Fuengirola, that haven't got this problem at all.

 

There's a reason this mix would be considered "unusual": it wouldn't work. Camels are notoriously aggressive, and as such don't do well in mixed-species settings, although it can be done in extremely large enclosures (as in, larger than your entire zoo). Mongoose are both in danger of being stepped on/trampled by the larger species, and their digging also poses a tripping hazard for the ungulates. As much as you can "discourage" digging, as long as there's a soft substrate, these animals will dig- as that's quite literally their natural tendency. Warthogs also tend to be aggressive, and would likely pose a significant risk to the fractious springbok. Zebra and springbok are also one I'd be skeptical about due to the fractious nature and flight habits of the latter, paired with the aggressive history of zebras.

One concept in this thread I do like however, is multi-leveled zoos. I'm honestly surprised we haven't seen more zoo buildings of multiple floors, especially in smaller zoos, as this can be a really effective way to maximize space. We see multi-story aquariums all the time, so why can't be see a zoo build a multi-story Reptile House instead? There are some examples of multi-story Rainforest Buildings or Aviaries, but even these aren't exactly common, and often limited to multi-story viewing of the same habitats.

 

Interesting. I checked German Zootierhalung and AZA mixed ungulate manuals, and they don't list camels as such. To the contrary, a huge list of domestic and wild animals is mixed. There are some problems but more due to individual animals.

My vision of this exhibit is very influenced by a savanna in the small Lyon Zoo in France. It has long, narrow raised islands of trees and bushes surrounded by large rocks, and does not look much like a typical zoo grass lawn with mixed animals. Smaller mammals could seek rest on the islands, and dig mostly between / under rocks. Any burrows in the open could be protected by piles of branches to discuorage large ungulates from stepping into them.

I know of several two-storey aquaria, and Dallas Zoo Aquarium has a jaguar outdoor exhibit on the roof.

 

Did you make the maps in a Google spreadsheet? Really enjoy that creative use of the program.

 

Wouldn't a zoo that had that kind of ample ressources to afford all these elaborate buildings not rather invest in a larger area?

 

Maybe in urban areas where the cost of the land (even in the neighbouring countryside) is expensive ?
I think for example to the Côte d'Azur, where the price of estate is horrendously high (and where there isn't a single real zoo now in spite of an ideal climate, much money and many tourists).
Also to more exotic places like Hong Kong, where there's really little room.

 

The huge Minnesota Zoo was built when the small (5 or 6 hectare) Como Park Zoo was deemed inadequate. However, rather than close Como, the state of Minnesota has continued to invest in renovating it as well, so that there's a small, free admission zoo in the city plus a major zoo in the suburbs.

Interestingly, Como Park Zoo bears quite a few similarities to the vision of @Jurek7, including a central savanna exhibit (Giraffe and Ostrich on one side; Kudu and Zebra on the other), a cat house with exhibits on the roof (rocky outcrops for Puma and Snow Leopard), well-sized Lion and Tiger exhibits, modern Polar Bear, Sea Lion, and Ape complexes, and a Amazon-themed tropical hall. No rhinos, but Como does have two great apes (Gorilla and Orangutan). Nothing at Como feels terribly small, and there is even still a bit of underutilized space.

 

That would usually apply to a historic, long established zoo (with old, listed buildings). And nobody builds zoos in upscale areas when there are far more profitable options.

 

I did maps in Open Office. It is free and easier to use than Google Sheets in my opinion. I actuallly had a very boring assignment to write in it...

In practice, there are many old city zoos which cannot expand and are renovated, as others pointed.

About rooftop exhibits. They contribute relatively little, less than 1 ha of space. I am not an architect. However I think a rooftop exhibit might cost only a little more that the same exhibit and the building next to each other, if it is mostly grass, few bushes, chainlink fence with glass viewing windows and some lightweight climbing structure. An example would be a modern lion or tiger exhibit. Avoided would be very heavy animals, deep pools, big natural boulders, old trees.

Interesting - I never heard about Como Park Zoo before. That you mention that Como Zoo and Minnesota Zoo are close together - is it possible that the same talented zoo planner contributed to the renovation of Como Zoo and internationally famous Minnesota Zoo?

 

And as pointed out by yours truly, federal preservation orders would make it rather difficult and expensive to build so radical new buildings.

 

While I do agree some of the proposals in this thread are unrealistic, and personally don't see why a small zoos needs to incorporate so many large animals when there are countless amazing species that are substantially smaller, I will say that some of the concepts and ideas in this thread I feel are legitimately good ideas, and things that I'd wish more zoos would consider for new exhibits. Chiefly, I would like to see more zoos take advantage of height and build multi-story exhibits- if an aquarium can be in a multi-story building, I see no reason a reptile house can't also. At the very least, using second stories, or basements, as placement for staff facilities, so as they don't take away from the overall space the zoo has to offer. I do know a few examples of zoos doing both of these things, but it'd be great if they were more widespread and more zoos would consider taking advantage of vertical space more in the design of new exhibits- especially those zoos that are spatially constrained.

 

Y'see, I'm immediately reminded of Berlin Aquarium, with its Aquarium on the bottom floor, Reptile house on the middle and Insect house on the top.

 

Just in case, terraria and aquarium in my fictional zoo are mostly one level, with outdoor exhibits on the roof. Not that different from so-called green roofs which are actually obligatory in new buildings in some cities.

Two level terraria I remember are Cologne Zoo and the gigantic one in Wroclaw zoo. Afrykarium at Wroclaw zoo, I think, also has some two-level areas, with some conference rooms. And there is one-of a kind elephant house in Warsaw Zoo, the current indian rhino house, see the description below:
Old Elephant House - ZooChat

 

Public funding for both came from the State of Minnesota, but different architectural design firms were involved. The Minnesota Zoo's original design was by "InterDesign", and the Como Park Zoo's 1978 master plan that guided renovations there was by "Rafferty, Rafferty, Mikutowski and Associates". The more recent renovations at Como Park have used CLR Design, which is one of the handful of current major American Zoo design firms.

 

CLR Design has built some of the best exhibits of the century so far, and have done work at some of the country's greatest zoos. African Grasslands and Asian Highlands at Omaha, Pepper Wildlife Center and Small Mammal-Reptile House at Lincoln Park, Giants of the Savanna at Dallas, Elephant Trails at National Zoo, Range of the Jaguar at Jacksonville, Penguin Coast at Maryland, the Baboon Reserve at Bronx, African Rift Valley at Cheyenne Mountain, African Elephant Crossing at Cleveland, MOLA at Fort Worth, Islands at Louisville, the highly anticipated Kingdoms of Asia at Fresno Chaffee, and a number of other top zoo exhibits. Not many companies can flex that kind of a resume, so it's no real surprise that they could do great things at Como Park.