I was going over some of the UK forums and they had one with change the zoo,have it your way so I thought I'd start one. Also you can change anything you want. Also you can take away species and add species if you want. I would: Use one of the three yellow-footed rock wallabies enclosure (the one closest to the axis deer) and turn that into a Brown bear enclosure and move the brown bears into it. Then the axis deer enclosure, move them to Monarto and make exhibits for beavers. (with a path down the middle of the enclosure then put the beavers in them) Then I would move the mandrills to the children zoo kangaroo are and do that up quite a bit (more info on that later) and use that exhibit for the otters that were next to the beavers and the binturong, plus get another binturong. Then the spare enclosure next to the blackbuck I would turn into a large American alligator pool and then the old American alligator pool, turn into a small animal house for the other green anaconda. (there is two at the zoo) Then turn the old brown bear enclosures in to a building like clore in London and add some tamarins, the sloths, some agoutis and maybe some sun conures. Move scimitar horned oryx and blackbuck to Monarto and turn those two enclosures into the giant panda exhibit and the red panda exhibit. Then turn old red panda exhibit into a serval exhibit and move leopard to Monarto and turn that exhibit into a lemur exhibit for the lemurs at Monarto. Demolish the kids area, except for the barn, the enclosures next to the barn and the walk through deer area. (demolish the part with kangaroos) Then move those kangaroos to the Australia area which will stay and then make a path to that little verandah area, and make a glass fence to it. Then add the mandrills and do the exhibit up. Then the old beaver and otter exhibits turn 2 of them into a amphibian house. (because it is the year of the frog) and the other, turn into a African waterfowl aviary with a glass view at the front (that may not work so if anyone else has another idea please tell me) for Egyptian geese, cattle egrets, hammerkop (will have to be imported) and African pygmy kingfishers. (will have to be imported) Then the pond that has the black swans next to the nursery, will have more land (around half land and half water with land at back and grass) and will be turned into a pygmy hippo enclosure. So the swans will be moved to the pond next to the mandrills and the new pygmy hippo enclosure will be turned into a rain forest in the areas where there are Australian trees. Then the two pygmy hippo enclosures and the common hippopotamus enclosure plus the path between them will be joined to make a large hippo exhibit, and the concrete will also will be changed for grass and the rain forest area for the pygmy hippo enclosure will be turned into a wetland. Then the new entrance will go ahead and where the penguins were, there will be turned into a wetland for two mute swans who will be imported. Then the envirodome would be scrapped and it would be turned into a huge aviary for Andean condors. (which were once at the zoo and they will have to be gotten from other places) Then all zoo keeper areas will be done up and will be modernized. There are other bits which could have little changes but all the enclosures i didn't mention are going to stay. I think thats all, so what would you change?
@reptile lover: it's fun to pretend what we'd do to our local zoos if we had the financial backing to incorporate changes. Interesting alterations for the Adelaide Zoo, but to scrap the multi-million dollar envirodome might not be the smartest move. In this era of environmental issues the envirodome has been getting some worldwide attention and pushes the Adelaide Zoo into the future. They are going to be spending a small fortune on the dome, the giant panda exhibit and the entrance, and I'm sure that other changes will also happen down the road once the attendance doubles with the arrival of the pandas. However, I do agree with some of your changes and hated the lion exhibit when I visited in June 2007. That area that contains the lions, leopard, red panda, caracal, etc was full of old-style cages, and I also agree with your assessment of the aging hippo pools. There are a number of exhibits that should be renovated at the zoo.
Well I think the Envirodome will be good and all but it is what I think of it. Well I just thought it would good to see what people would change. Sorry if no one likes it.
dude, the only problem with reading too much of the UK threads is that you might end up actually forgetting that about half of the species you have suggested enclosures for are virtually impossible to obtain in this country, or, by chance, remain only at Adelaide Zoo, such as sloths and beaver. Personally, I would like to see Adelaide continue on in its current direction, pushing the emphasis on indigenous wildlife and threatened Asian species, particularly those from forests. As a point of difference, besides the Giant Panda of course and Envirodome (a huge asset IMO) I would like to see Adelaide Zoo... tackle the Islands in Danger theme. So far no Australian zoo has gone down this thematic path and created world-class facilities for species like Komodo Dragon, Goodfellows Tree Kangaroo, Lemur and a range of herpes and aves commonly held in Australian zoos. An African Forest zone would be a huge asset for ASMP involving mandrill and pygmy hippo. Though I would hesitate to suggest any zoo should plough too much capital into such an enclosure, for the hippo at least until the long-term objectives of the Taronga program are met through breeding and the Cairns stock are incorporated. If worse comes to worse and the pygmy hippo program does stall through the death of Timmy the male at Taronga then I think this program should be disbanded, and the females left in Sydney returned to Melbourne Zoo, leaving Australian zoos to focus soley on River Hippos with open range zoos leading the charge and urban zoos like Adelaide and Taronga creating major new displays with underwater galleries. A South American rainforest zone similar to Clore would be good. I would also like to see Adelaide Zoo create a massive invertebrate/herpes/amphibians display on the scale of BUGS at London Zoo. Exhibited creatively, the forgotten minority would then become a major attraction in their own right backed up with sub-exhibits within other precincts, ie chameleons in forest zone, tuatara in IID etc. And finally rather than scrapping any farmyard zone I would reccomend Adelaide Zoo reinvent the concept into a world-class visitor attraction such as that at London Zoo with more of an Australiana theme and use this as a forum for interpreting how dependent we are on the environment and also to foster respect for animals through interaction. Interpretation of European and North American environments using species like Brown Bear and Beaver....well I wouldnt worry about that for a host of reasons and I would leave Monarto to push the grassland theme within its superb and accessible setting. ADELAIDE ZOO is in a unique position. It already has excellent new enclosures, a GIANT attraction promised to it and a funding program for other capital works, as well as a sister property not under threat from corporate takeover. Its smallish city-centre site should be the impetus for innovation and creativity, not more of the same exhibits that pop up in other Australian zoos and yet at the same time the critical role Adelaide Zoo plays in ASMP partiularly for exotic taxa could be realised through the above suggestions.
Mute swans won't need to be imported because you can buy them as pets anyway. Sorry if Glyn mentioned this i just couldn't be bothered reading all his post.
Oh, nice, PAT! glyn is one of the most valuable contributors to this forum. Even though he and I occasionally disagree (particularly about brown bears ), he is always readable and very well informed. Show him some respect.
I thought I would say that the whole point of this forum was to first, have some fun and second, was to see what they would change and what they like, also please don't criticize anyone for what they say.
ok so it was me you aimed that at. sorry to temper your ideas with a touch of realism, i didnt realise this thread was based on a fanasy but rather grounded in some fact and a slight understanding of the sort of principles, planning and quarantine regulations that have effectively shaped the typical Australian zoo's collection plan. had i realised this forum was about 'fun' had you put it I'd probably never have bothered to reply. Id probably have went and played zoo tycoon or something, where you can dream your own zoo up. or if i had chosen to reply in the spirit of this fun forum I'd have thrown some equally realistic suggestions at you such as okapi, babirusa, unicorn or quetzal. at different points in the history of this forum we have all had a go at redesigning the various zoos around Australia. I find I get the most out of these types of threads when real knowledge is exchanged.
I wasn't aiming at you. All i was saying that the idea is to have some fun, not to have imaginary animals but to see what you would change with some regulations but without problems like money. Also I have zoo tycoon 2.
Nice ideas both reptile lov and glyn, and i agree, when on a forum like this, we can live in factasy land (ie europe with it's array of wilflife), but we must take gyln's position of being realistic when invisioning what our zoos will actually look like, and what will happen to them. And reptile lover, i love your idea of deisgning zoos in your head with no money or legal restrictions- i do it all the time, in fact right now- Bring on OKAPI!
