Best enclosure / exhibit design in zoos for species extinct in wild.

Some more freshwater fish species extinct in the wild and their exhibits at Whipsnade zoo.

La Palma pupfish.


Charco pupfish.

Overall view of the aquarium where these species are kept.

Interesting conservation lab viewable by the public for educational reasons.


Interesting educational display of information.


Photo credits to @MagpieGoose, @gentle lemur, @ro6ca66 and @ajmcwhipsnade.

 

Here another example of an exhibit of Mexican pupfish extinct in the wild this time in the USA.

Charco palma pupfish aquarium at the Children's aquarium of Fair Park Dallas. The education signage in the bottom right hand corner of the aquarium doesn't look particularly brilliant.

One of the fish on display.


I wonder if these displays are more effective than those at ZSL and whether some of the children that see these fish are moved by their plight ?

Photo credit to @geomorph and @jayjds2.

 

Actually I totally agree with you regarding the mixing of a domestic breed of cattle with these oryx at Cape Valley.

Not a good mix at all either educationally or otherwise.

I much prefer the second enclosure at Lehigh valley.

 

It might not be an educational mix, but nevertheless it's a very popular combination of watusi cattle with antelopes. Many savannas aren't really a representation of how things are, with species from South-western deserts, South-Eastern savannas, Sudanian-Sahellian savannas and the Sahara desert combined on the regular. Without these "wrong" mixed exhibits I doubt they would have been so common as they are now. Watusi are a popular species, and whilst I do think they are more fitting in an African domestic exhibit like the one in Planckendael (Ankole-Watusi cattle and Somali black-headed sheep paddock, 2020-05-23 - ZooChat) I don't bother when seeing them in such mixed exhibits.

It could b.tw. be very educational to mix these two when talking about competition between domestic and wild species for grazing grounds and water sources.

 

Yes, actually I totally agree with that and that is a brilliant point.

However, I would imagine that this would be better in an exhibit with Sub-Saharan species which in the wild would have to compete for grazing ground with livestock owned by pastoralists.

 

The zone where they live is also subject to these problems, possibly even more due to the even lower availability of both plants and water. Zebu cattle would be more representative for that region, but still it's the idea that matters and most people won't care wether it's cow A or cow B.

 

Yes, I agree, and of course the public wouldn't care about such things but on a personal level the perfectionist in me probably would care and particular with domestic species which I feel uneasy about being in zoos to begin with.

 

Also, regarding the Scimitar horned oryx there is the rich cultural element / significance which would be interesting to include in the exhibit educational signage (I'm sure that zoos probably do this already).

For example, it being domesticated in Ancient Egypt, bred and kept by the wealthy elite in Ancient Rome, the Medieval myth of the unicorn probably having its inspiration from the oryx.

I think that any zoo keeping these animals that didn't make mention of the long relationship between humans and this oryx (and the cultural tapestry in this) would be wasting an opportunity to showcase the species in a different light.

 

Unfortunately this aquarium closed permanently as a result of the pandemic - so no children will be seeing this exhibit anytime soon.

 

That is really unfortunate, with both Texas cave blind salamanders and La Palma pupfish on display there...