Burgers’ Zoo 4.0

Introduction

Burgers’ Zoo, in my opinion the best Dutch zoo and I think it fulfills a role model for modern zoos. Despite it being an amazing zoo, I’ve made a plan of how to make it even better/what I’d like it to look like. I’m aiming it to be as realistic as possible, while still keeping it fun and different. A couple of key points I kept in mind while making this idea:

1. I want it to still feel like Burgers’, by keeping their themes: showcasing ecodisplays which have a story to tell and in which people feel like actually being at the place it showcases; giving a more than average amount of space for the animals
2. Burgers’ Park is something that does not fit their own ambiance and thus needs to be replaced
3. New species need to be realistic for Burgers’: a few (very) rare species, but mostly (un)common species
4. Behind the scenes areas need to be kept in mind, and not be build over
5. I’d like all ecodisplays to be areas within the zoo, not just a greenhouse.

From now on I will be presenting the different ecodisplays one by one. I haven’t done visualising for most of the areas, so it might take some time and they won’t come at a fixed pace. So now let’s get started! (Please wait until the first ecodisplay has been posted before commenting)

 

Burgers’ Forest

We start our zoo tour in what currently is part of Burgers’ Park. As said in the introduction, these areas will be replaced, in this case with Burgers’ Forest. It showcases the Boreal forests of Canada.

The first exhibit will be housing North American beavers and replaces the penguin enclosure. The rocks have been replaced by a sandy ground, with a lot of conifers in it. In an ideal situation the beavers will break some of them down in order to make a dam.

Following up is the American black bear, which will live on a big part of the elephant exhibit. This time, some grass has been planted, and a few conifers as well.

The lemur island will be replanted so it can house common raccoons and striped skunks. Most of the island will be filled with small shrubs.

The meerkat enclosure will be planted with some shrubs, but most importantly conifers and some dead trees. This is because the new species will be the North American porcupine.

The erea ends with a complex of aviaries, that together make a U-shape. These will replace the coati/squirrel monkey island. The following aviaries and what they showcase:
1. Bohemian waxwing and Canada jay (the national bird of Canada), showcasing passerine birds
2 and 3. rough-legged buzzard and bald eagle, showcasing birds of prey
4. wood duck and bufflehead, showcasing waterfowl
5. American red squirrel and eastern chipmunk, showcasing some of the smaller mammals of the ecosystems.

 

Must say I really like this idea, but I think you should switch some things around. I think the current penguin enclosure is definitely too small for beavers, and some of the other areas feel a bit odd to me.

I'd suggest keeping the former coati island, and making that a mixed enclosure for porcupines and beavers, if you make the water area bigger and deeper.

The meerkat enclosure will be better suited for squirrels and chipmunks, which can probably be mixed with the waxwings and jays.

The penguin enclosure would be perfectly suited for bald eagles, since they are fishing eagles. You could seperate it to also include rough-legged buzzard.

Quick edit:

 

I'll be following this! Burgers zoo is my favorite zoo.

 

Me too! As a fellow Burgers'-zoo-theoretical-expansion-creator

 

Yes ive seen your thread, very interesting.

 

Very nice job.

 

You want to replace there coati/lemur exhibits, which are some of the best exhibits in the whole park for raccons. A commen and not in any way endangered species. The Elephant reteirment home, which Iam not the biggest fan of with black bears. The raccons of the bear world. And the iconic penguins with beavers. This redesign allready starts off weak

 

Thanks for telling me so nicely and believeing in development . Yes, the new islands are amazing and yes the penguins are iconic, BUT Burgers' Park is BS in my opinion. They heavily ephasize theming around ecosystems through ecodisplays. Burgers' Park is the oposite of what their main idea is. The choice to go for boreal forest was easy, as they don't have anything temperate. For location I choose Canada since their boreal forest are so iconic. Just like Burgers' does, first the ecodisplay and THEN the species. For species choice I was very limited, since a lot of iconic American species are nowhere to be found in European Zoos. I choose some very common species, which would also attract a lot of visitors. This lack of rare species will be made op for later.

The species not being here anymore doesn’t mean they are gone from the Zoo. And also, the species you mention, Asian elephant, ring-tailed lemur, South American coati, African penguin, are all really common as well. I don’t really think it’s as much as a problem as you say.

 

A nother problem with the entrencearea for a ecco display is mainlyi its smal size. To make a themed ecco diisplay. It makes much more sense to keep this as a unthemed begining with many extremlyp opular species (penguins, lemurs, monkeys, coatis, elepfants and meerkats) in which atleast the lemurs have a real conservation value. Then a smal area with many unpopular species, which have o conservation value or are particular popular) The other areas of the "Burgers Park" like the leopard/reindder area, the bird house and the apes can be used to implament the more rare and unique species very well

 

Just let people make their fantasy burgers' zoo expansions and let us get rid of that ugly-in-comparison first part. I'd much prefer some cool aviaries with birds of prey over the current penguin enclosure

 

Why Canada and not Scandinavia?

I mean you say lack of American species. Just flip the globe and make it European.
Et voila! Species!

 

I mean you are showing off your work on a forum. Expect people to give feedback based on knowledge of the subject and their opinions on the matter. I do agree here with GiratinaIsGod Park does have some great enclosures and the species being replaced here are meh?

 

Of course, I’m all in for constructive feedback and am more than happy to improve my ideas. I just Hope we can communicate with eachother nicely. On top of that, in my introduction and reaction to GirinataIsGod you can find some very clear rules that I set to myself, and I won’t change those.

I’m not happy with my first ecodisplay and am sad to hear you guys are too. If the next ones aren’t appreciated as well, I’ll take the conclusion that this isn’t something for me and end this thread.

 

I could yes, just think species like moose are more often associated to North America. You’re absolutely right though

 

Please don't end it! I actually quite like this first new area, and some of my own first drafts were just plain sh()t. Building a new project like this is perfect for learning how to do things like this! You'll learn and improve, even if you don't notice it at first

 

I am not saying you should quit doing this. Not at all. But all I said is: expect feedback Positive AND negatives. I understand why you would like to get rid of the Park region, however keep in mind people often do not like being dropped into a themed area once entering. Give them some time to adjust and settle before the adventure starts. An energetic species as the african penguins are perfect for that reason.
My advice is: Look for species that are often active as the entrance region (which the front-park represents) has active animals that cause the audience to be immersed and enjoy watching, so that when the guest get exhausted, the animals are less active aswell (safari basically).

Note that the owner of the zoo (Alex van Hooff) has said that he wants an area with 'guest favourites' as it basically just draws in the ABC guests with their favourites etc.

 

Quick tip @1Squirrel monkey I suggest that you keep the squirrels with the smaller birds, and the chipmunks alone. Squirrels will outcompete chipmunks for good, and bully them. Nice job, and I am rather curious to see what you’ll do next maybe expand on North America

 

I know you weren't saying that, it was my own conclusion after dissapointment in myself.

So my Idea for this first new ecodisplay, was to not make it an overkill, so not a full on ecodisplay like the Bush or Mangrove. But more like Rimba, there is some theming but it's not like you're actually at the South-Asian forests. What would you think about a species that does fit in with the first ecodisplay (could be different from the one I have now), which is an ABC-animal and is very active?

Addition: I understand what you mean, I think a lot of visitors can feel overwelmed, but I think just giving the enclosures in the same area species from the same ecosystem won't change much (with good species choice at the start). I don't really see how it can be a different story if the first animals are from different ecosytems

 

My motto regarding this is: You cannot immerse people if you do not set a baseline first. Meaning: Start without a theme so that people can settle in and not have wrong expectations after entering your park.

A great start after the first non-themed enclosure could be mountains for example. The area you are trying to set a concept for is elevated and has a few patches of steep un-used territories. Maybe look into marmots, mountain goats or ibex, a lynx, red panda, species such as are often impressive and can be quite active while maintaining an interesting starter of the adventure. Kinda like a world-mountain-trial.