People were getting worried last time I went to the zoo. They had 3 boards up with 3 different zones in the zoo office. The Islands and water zone, The forest zone and the savanna? african safari zone but there was no sign of the elephants. The next day they revealed the grassland zone and the elephnats will be near the entrance but not in a specific zone.
Snow Leopard Enclosure at the National Zoo in Canberra The snow leopard enclosure at the national zoo is really good, Its pretty much a huge cage with a suspension bridge running through the middle of it, It is really densly planted with trees and there is a river running through the enclosure that runs under the bridge, walk through the enclosure and out the other side and the grizzly bear enclosure is revealed which is a bit of a let down considering the bear enclosure is really cramped and there isnt much shade, Yet the snow leopards are pretty much living a life of luxury. There is a den that runs into the aquarium part of the zoo for the snow leopards and there is a glass tunnel that runs through that. The only thing I would mark it down on is visibility, Visilbilty could be a bit better but it wasnt too bad, But in terms of comfort and privacy for the snow leopards it was an A+. It is a really peacefull enclosure with the sound of the water running and the brezze blowing threw the trees as you wander through the shady exibit.
more suited to it's original residents though (the leopards) which are now I believe off display, If you look through one of the shark tanks, past the lounge room you can see the shadow of what looks to be a leopard sized cat on the other side
Bringing up the old thread. I read long ago that some zoo (in Holland? Scandinavia?) had walk-thru snake greenhouse, with I think mandarin snakes and boa constrictor able to cross visitors path. Anybody knows where it was? How did it work?
I believe you may be talking about an exhibit at Randers, they have a walk through snake exhibit, not sure of the species one i think is a python and the other maybe the Taiwan beauty snake, but then again i could be wrong.
Walking with Snakes Singapore Zoo has/had a marvellously effective walk-through reptile aviary. It had a slightly elevated walkway under which was a fence that was not visible to the visitors. This divided the floor area and there were different species of turtles on either side. The upper strata was well planted and originally had a number of [young] reticulated Pythons and some Mangrove Snakes occupying it. However, on our last visit the Mangrove Snakes were gone and we were told that the two species had proved to be incompatible. The whole "aviary" appealed to the Scrooge in me! It was relatively cheap to build, stock and maintain and yet it captured the public's imagination. I spent hours just observing the public's usage of this display and was so impressed that we determined that the Darling Downs Zoo must have one!! We have already marked out the site next to our Australian Reptile House, dug the footings and, with a bit of luck, will unveil the masterpiece by the end of the year. Unfortunately we will NOT be housing retics in the walkthrough but about 20 Carpet Pythons should be an acceptable substitute. We will also not allow unrestricted access to the walkthrough - it will open at designated times when a keeper will be on hand to answer questions and protect the snakes.
I don't know when you were in Singapore, Steve, but I was there in 2005. If you are talking about the avairy near the reptiles, there weren't any snakes in it when I was there. There were marmosets. The tortioses and bullfrogs were still in there. Zooish can you help?
The "den" in the aquarium is actually part of a different exhibit, the outside of which is above this cave and not on display to the public. It has had a number of different species in it over the years - snow leopard, puma, sun bear and now two young servals. Originally it was an oceanarium when it was mainly just the aquarium and a wildlife park. The leopards have well and truly shuffled off this mortal coil and what you may be able to see is that off display part of the cave enclosure, but I'm pretty sure that you can't really see that from there.
Well, Randers Regnskov Tropical Zoo in Denmark has such an exhibit. It is currently being renovated, and will open again within a week. It is the same kind of enclosure, but now it's an "Asian Snake Temple", where visitors can walk among non-venomous asian snakes. Here is picture of a snake crossing the path in the old enclosure. Here is a page of it in Danish with a photo
Best Zoo Exhibits I would have to say the best zoo exhibit ever constructed is the Masoala exhibit at Zoo Zurich. They have literally created a self sustaining rainforest with lemurs, birds, reptiles and bats freely living around visitors. The Bronx Zoo's CONGO exhibit is another extroadinary exhibit. No disrespect to Melbourne, but you just cannot beat Okapi, red river hogs and one of the largest captive groups of lowland gorillas in one of the largest and realistic exhibits in the world. Animal Kingdom's Kilimanjaro Safaris is, according to myself the most realistic african exhibit ever constructed.
Anyone interested in exhibit design should enjoy this site: Jon Coe Design specializes in innovative, award winning zoo planning and zoo design world-wide. Extensive zoo design bibliography and papers online.
thanks jeremy. i have certainly heard of jon coe many times before but never thought to look up his site. what i like is he travels - and thus clearly has an deep understanding of foreign lansdscapes and the nuances that define them. must of his work is among my favorite exhibits on zoolex! so i guess i should have studied landscape architecture!
Its funny there seems to be five ways into the zoo industry: Bachelor of Science (Zoology)/Animal Management Diploma/Cert --> Zookeeper/Curator Bachelor of Landscape Architecture/Horticulture --> Exhibit design and plantings... Bachelor of Planning --> Masterplans... Bachelor/Diploma of Engineering --> Aquarium design, structural exhibit designs (which I'm currently on leave from the Police studying)... Bachelor of Architecture --> Exhibit/Structural design
We have NZ versions called: Border Patrol (NZ Customs, which I worked at before the Police) and Police 10-7 (10-7 is the NZ Police Code for I've arrived at an assigned job)
