Creating the Rembrandt Park Zoo (a fantasy project of mine)

Now although this tour may have abruptly ended on a brief turning point. I do want to point out that given the amount of time I was able to write out this first part of the tour, I just didn’t have enough time to fully go through the entire complex. However, there will be plans to fully finish off this tour sometime this weekend, if I end up not being too busy during that time.

 

BENNETT FAMILY DISCOVERY ZOO: - (29 exhibits, continued)

Beginning once more from the location where we have previously left off at. We will now continue on our sensory journey through the children’s zoo, by walking straight toward some habitats whose inhabitants will often utilize olfactory communication as yet another survival strategy. From the hawk and owl aviaries from we have last left off; and later approaching towards our left towards the *Smell* section. Up ahead will be a rather simple, yet well-landscaped enclosure for a 0.1.0 Gray Fox named “Louise” along with her friend, “Matilda” the 0.1.0 Red Fox. For the latter of the two, Matilda had only arrived at our facility about a month or to ago as a potential companion for Louise who had lost her sibling “Thelma” late last year. Both fox species are rather well-known for their excellent sense of smell; but back when the exhibit first opened in 2016, it was first home to a striped skunk who had since left the area to become part of the zoo’s animal ambassador program. Moving on from our new friends and walking straight towards our right, up ahead will be a large, 4,000 sq ft, densely-vegetated enclosure with the zoo’s family of 1.1.2 American Beavers being the exhibit’s main highlights. Although, it also happens to be the home for a single 0.1.0 Carolina Wood Duck named “Minnie”, who for reasons relating to a nearby case of avian influenza, had to be moved off exhibit with the other birds due to these precautions. While this exhibit may appear to be like every other beaver habitat that one may find in a similar zoo. One of the more unique features about this exhibit is a child-sized, crawl-through tunnel that allows guests to explore beneath the watery surface of a beaver pond; and to also behold a rather unique viewing perspective of watching these incredible rodents in full action. Located across from the main beaver viewing area, and after walking a few short steps to your left. You will then approach an equally well-vegetated, 3,000 sq ft enclosure that houses “Victor”, a rather well-mannered 1.0.0 Chinese Alligator; along with a mixed group of 0.0.9 Southern River Terrapins and 0.0.7 Chinese Stripe-Necked Turtles that directly co-inhabit the same space alongside him. All of these animals are often well-received from the countless amount of visitors that annually visit the zoo to see and perhaps, to be educated from every animal they see. But even still, albeit admittedly; even they could not match the full attention-spans of most children than the domesticated animals found in the farmyard-themed section of the complex that we will now head toward. Opening with the rest of the children’s zoo back in 2016, and after being fully-renovated since 2021. The *Touch* section widely incorporates domesticated farm animals and play-based educational areas to create a welcome space for guests to become more well-immersed into the day-to-day life down on the farm. Serving as the visual icon for not only this part of the complex, but also for the rest of the entire children’s zoo is the 3,500 sq ft *Observation Barn* that serves as the public indoor viewing area for many of the zoo’s farm animals, alongside being a place where younger children can play and learn among the interactive games and features housed within a specially-designed corner section of the barn. Guests can also choose to feed and interact with many of the animals outside of the barn, in a special contact yard separate from the main paddocks where most of the zoo’s 7.0.0 Domestic Goats, 4.0.0 Domestic Sheep, 2.1.0 Domestic Pigs, and 1.3.0 Alpacas that will come on over to congregate and appreciate these said interactions all in between. Separate from this main contact yard; and located within five outdoor paddocks where guests can observe from, are more individual 0.4.0 Goats and 0.3.0 Sheep, alongside “Clementine”, “Rose”, and “Bramble”, the zoo’s personable trio of 0.3.0 Domestic Cattle. With Rose and Bramble each being two-year old Miniature Jersey siblings, while Clementine is a Belted Galloway cow who is a few years older than the other two at the age of four. Further away from these paddocks and located adjacent to a location that we will approach to in a moment’s notice, is a large, meshed-in run that typically houses the zoo’s rescue flock of 1.7.0 Domestic Chickens and 0.5.0 Domestic Turkeys of the Royal Palm breed. But yet again due to avian influenza precautions, the majority of the birds found within this complex continue to remain off-exhibit for the time being; and because of these reasons, we will begin to move along once more. Last but not least, is the exhibit’s *Taste* section which predominantly features fresh, zoo-grown fruits and vegetables; but also a wide variety of invertebrates that are typically housed within a solar-powered indoor facility building dedicated to invertebrate conservation. Now although one cannot exactly enter the building at this time due to a slight interior refurbishment that shouldn’t take too long to complete. We will make up for this unexpected turn of events by looking at the outdoor pollinator garden and adjacent apiary found nearby. Here, the zoo’s two thriving colonies of Western Honeybees have taken advantage of the warm weather by pollinating a good majority of this certified garden alongside the Carpenter Bees and other native invertebrates that feed among them. Now it’s not just this pollinator garden where the bees have taken root at; they have also been found pollinating a vast majority of the bushes and flowers planted throughout the rest of the zoo; and we thus have plans to introduce a third colony into our facility sometime this July to help continue on with our efforts for the continuation of a healthy micro-ecosystem found within all of zoo grounds. Now before we conclude with our sensory journey. I should mention that after taking a left from the apiary, vegetable gardens, and invertebrate house which is not too far from where we have first started. There lies ahead to our right, an interactive hedge maze somewhat identical to the similar mazes found within numerous other facilities such as the one in Jacksonville, where guests would team up together and solve out a way to find the the maze’s exit. That is appropriately located not too far away from the same whimsical archway from where we had first entered into, that lead us all around into this rather unique take on a typical children‘s zoo.

(11 mammal taxa)
(14 bird taxa)
(4 reptile taxa)
(2 invertebrate taxa) - (typically, there are usually 9)

 

Will you be covering this in the thread?

 

Mostly some animals that I loosely mentioned about in the thread so far, (such as the striped skunk). Along with other notable animals that will be listed on the general species list; which is also expected to become fully complete by the end of this year. But to keep things simple, the answer is yes.

 

It’s “Honey Bee”, not “Honeybee”.

 

Well @Birdsage, since the post has already past the edit expiration date. There’s nothing else I can do about it to fix the error. But thank you again for the correction.

 

Now although it has been quite sometime since we have last taken a tour around Rembrandt Park. I recently noticed that we should probably get back into the swing of things, and to start yet again of touring a new exhibit. So do prepare yourselves for a major post to make its debut very shortly; and of course, I will be here once again to show you all this next major part of my wonderful speculative zoo.

~ @Austin the Sengi

 

For the next three tours, (that will each cover the zoo’s major attractions), the overarching theme that each exhibit will represent will be directly based on a bio-climatic part of the world. With this first exhibit showcasing the mountainous environments of Central Asia; while the other two will showcase the contrasting temperate and tropical rainforests of Central Africa and the Pacific Northwest respectively. But for now, and without further adieu, let us move on to the tour and begin once more:

HIMALAYAN CROSSROADS: - (15 exhibits)

As we start off the tour by taking a short walk past the previously-featured Discovery Zoo from your right, all while enjoying the well landscaped environment that the zoo’s horticultural team have strived to achieve for the average guest. You won’t exactly have to walk too far in order to explore this next part of the zoo. For as you turn towards your left and approach towards an inviting entrance area, we will now begin at the entrance to the “crossroads” by staring at the four towering pillars intentionally designed to resemble the trunks of a Himalayan Birch; each pillar is further supported by a pyramid-shaped stack of stones that also make for a unique aesthetic addition to the already impressive entrance. Connecting to each pole are colorful Buddhist prayer flags attached to a sturdy rope that were made to give off a loose insight to the cultural decor that we will find to be scattered throughout the entirety of the main complex.

In terms of the thematic story that we have begun to immerse ourselves into, an infographic signage kiosk located directly ahead of our view tells us that we are directly 2,000 m (or 6,500 ft) above sea level in the misty montane forests that borderline the treeless peaks above, to that of the more humid jungles below. This kiosk also tells us about what kind of flora and fauna live in this part of the Himalayas, and how the majority of these organisms have greatly affected to human activity.

Beginning towards your right and as you will soon begin to notice, via the two identical stone statues that welcome you to this part of the forest; then the first exhibit that we will encounter is a gently-sloping, 2,500 sq ft enclosure for “Ago” and “Pani”, the zoo’s experienced breeding pair of 1.1.0 Himalayan Red Pandas. The exhibit itself is noticeably scattered with naturalistic climbing frames and pruned tree limbs to allow the pandas to explore as much as they please; but today it seems that the pair are currently inside, which is understandable due to the afternoon heat. But this habitat is not the only public space for these iconic fuzzballs; for there is also a far larger habitat directly across from this first viewing area where we can look out for the pair’s adult son “Hava”, along with an all-female herd of 0.4.0 Himalayan Tahr for whom he shares this space with. Each of the females are not only well-accustomed to their human caretakers, (since they were each hand-reared at an early age); but they also tend to get along with “Hava” pretty well, even though you may typically find the young panda resting on a tree limb far above his larger companions. Now although this 6,750 sq ft was mainly designed with the tahrs in mind, the habitat also includes a smaller amount of climbing frames for “Hava” to climb and explore. Leaving the tahr and pandas behind and after backtracking towards the first kiosk, you will then make a short right towards a rather simple, 1,950 sq ft, meshed-in grotto that usually contains a non-breeding pair of 1.1.0 Yellow-Throated Martens. But since this exhibit was mainly built with privacy in mind, both of the zoo’s martens have earned a slight reputation for being so frustratingly elusive; and to further avoid giving anyone’s hopes up, we will move along.

Further down the path from the martens, and located not too far from our next stop, is the first of two small aviaries that we will encounter within this first zone. Being around 900 sq ft in size, with sizable room for the inhabitants to roam about. It may come to as a surprise to see that this aviary houses only three individual birds within such a sizable space; with the first being “Rivet”, a 0.1.0 Red-Billed Blue Magpie, who was also hand-reared at an early age due to a lack of parental care shortly after hatching; along with two breeding pairs of 2.2.0 Temmnick’s Tragopans that rotate weekly to (hopefully) increase their chances of successful breeding, which is why you may never see the same two birds twice on each visit. Other than being a lushly planted aviary with several bare spots for the males to demonstrate their breeding behaviors to the females; there is not much else about this exhibit that is worth a mention, and mainly for those reasons, we will continue to move along. Within the vicinity of this aviary is a faithful replication of a small Tibetan village that was based on several real-world villages that the zoo’s construction team were able to take inspiration from, prior to the construction of the complex. At the center of this village is a small covered shrine with the centerpiece being a bronze-cast replica of a temple bell that serves as a humble visual centerpiece amongst the surrounding buildings. The off-show building for the connecting tragopan aviary is thematically incorporated into this village, and is also one of the first buildings that guests would encounter before entering the village plaza.

Backtracking once again, and after walking in the opposite direction of the marten habitat; you will then encounter a colorful signpost pointing upward towards the exhibit’s next section. Not too far away from this signpost, as you will then begin to notice, is an ascending flight of stairs, (along with an accompanying ADA-approved wheelchair ramp), that will take you towards this next part of the complex in an instant. After walking up these said stairs and approaching yet again to another infographic kiosk; you are now told that we have climbed up to reach 3,000 m (or 9,000 sq ft) above sea level, and the amount of foliage planted here is seemingly less significant with a noticeable lack of trees and bamboo, along with more bushes and shrubs that were pruned to resemble smaller trees growing on the edge of the tree-line. Directly in view is an astonishing 20-ft tall aviary visually accessible through a simple covered viewing area with two wooden doors that serve as an airlock. But as we will see when we are higher up the zoo’s man-made mountain, there is a secondary viewing area located above that we will begin explore momentarily.

Walking left past this viewing area and located directly ahead from where we step, is a sizable, 3,000 sq ft, walk-in aviary that is home to three notable species of bird that often migrate through the Himalayas as part of their seasonal migrations; which in term, are all individually listed as seen below:

• - Demoiselle Crane
• - Bar-Headed Goose
• - Ruddy Shelduck

Now as you may have seen, there is not too much to see in terms of the amount of species found within, but I promise you that there are more individual birds housed here than one may expect. Adjacent to this spacious aviary is a large holding building themed to a rural Tibetan monastery that not only serves as the birds’ indoor holding quarters; but it also serves as the home to a naturalistic 25-gallon terrarium containing 0.0.6 Emperor Newts, along with a roped-off viewing area that overlooks a semi-outdoor, 150 sq ft enclosure that usually holds a young non-breeding pair of 1.1.0 Himalayan Striped Squirrels. Now in addition to the following exhibits, the building’s interior can also be used as an optional event space for certain private events, with the building’s floor space being large enough to comfortably serve up to 400 people at a time. But for the time being, on a normal operating day like today, one may expect this space as nothing more than a well-immersed building designed with educational graphics, engaging exhibit-design, and perhaps, as a good place to sit down and cool off from the midday heat after walking around the rest of the zoo.

(4 mammal taxa) - (currently)
(5 bird taxa) - (currently)
(1 amphibian taxa)

Naturally, there are still some parts of this exhibit for us to explore. But for now, I just thought that staying inside of the “monastery” would be a good place for a brief stop, since it will be a short while before we have time to continue on with our tour. So for the time being, feel free to express any feedback that you might have for the exhibit complex as a whole; and I hope that you all have enjoyed on what this tour has showed off so far.

 

Given that the month of October will be quite a busy month for me. I just wanted to quickly highlight a sort of “road-map” plan for the remaining tour posts for Rembrandt, going forward, in the following list below. Which would give you all a relatively good idea for what there is left to tour on this thread, whenever the time permits for tours like these to occur. But with all of that being said and done, here is what you can all expect to see for this thread for the remainder of 2022, along with early 2023:

• - The completion of *Himalayan Crossroads; sometime next weekend if the time permits.

• - The beginning and end of the next major tour; sometime in late October, at the very least.

• - Animal Ambassadors highlight; sometime in early to mid-November.

• - Overall animal update; also in early/mid-November, much akin to the one that I posted back this past April.

• - Creating the overall species list; sometime in late November to early December, if the time permits.

• - The beginning and end of the final major tour; sometime in early January, right before the beginning of my second semester.

• - A general update to the overall species list; sometime in late January to early February, if the time permits.

 

Where is Glarevissck supposed to be located? Just asking.

 

Regarding the city’s location, I did not originally intend in being too specific about where exactly the zoo would be. To be honest, it was just more of an idea that I had where the logistics of the zoo’s location would not exactly matter to directly impact the overall concept of the project. Although, when it comes to regarding future speculative projects; I will try to become more intentionally specific on where exactly these said projects might take place.

 

In that case, why did you even feel the need to name a fictitious city that the zoo is located?

 

I had mainly made up my mind on that decision to help further enhance the initial concept that I was going for at the time. In addition to making the location stand out a bit more when compared to other speculative zoos that will often times, base their fictional zoos into a real life city that currently lacks one.

 

In what continent would this zoo be found?

 

If we are really going to continue further on with this topic, I really do not want to overthrow this thread too far into an off-topic conversation. But in all seriousness, I suppose that geographically, it could probably be somewhere in between Western and Southern Europe.

 

It's not exactly off-topic to know the wherabouts of this zoo

 

Well @Ursus, while you may be right in that regard. I just didn’t want to lead away from what I had in mind too far. But then again, that’s probably just me not getting the memo.

 

As you might see, this past month was indeed a very busy time indeed; and since the holidays are not too far away, I just thought it would be nice to conclude another major exhibit tour before the craziness of the holidays begin. With that being addressed, I suppose that now is the right time to pick up from where we left off, and to resume with the progress that we have made on this tour so far. But for now, let us continue:

HIMALAYAN CROSSROADS: - (23 exhibits)

Rising up off of our feet and thus leaving behind the monastery-themed holding building from where we have last met at. We will now make our ascend towards another flight of stairs that will take us to the third and final part of the complex, (at least, chronologically). Once we reach the other end of the stairs, you are instantly greeted with two, nearly identical enclosures that aren’t exactly the biggest of their kind; but are still one of the most natural. Both of the 400 sq ft enclosures, each contain a single 1.1.0 Pallas’s Cat, with both individuals being given access to each habitat every other day. Not too far away from the cat’s main viewing area, is another infographic kiosk that tells us that we are now some 3,962 m (or 13,000 ft) above sea level; and explains about how the relatively few organisms that are found in this altitude have certain adaptations that help them persist in these challenging conditions. Moving away from this kiosk and after turning a short turn towards our right, up ahead is an equally sized, meshed-in aviary of 250 sq ft, which is usually home to a rather successful breeding pair of 1.1.5 Himalayan Monals and their current offspring. But since the monal chicks first hatched about a week ago, each bird is currently off-exhibit until the chicks have started to become more naturalized to their new environment. Now splitting off from this main path for a bit, while not being too far away from the monal aviary, are two adjacent enclosures that each contain one of the zoo’s major highlights. Aka, the trio of 2.1.0 Snow Leopards that currently call the zoo their home. While two of the leopards are given access to the public enclosures every day; it is “Taj”, the third leopard, who instead lives in a specialized off-show exhibit that well satisfies his needs, as he is an older individual who is effectively retired from being on display. Now occasionally, mainly before the zoo opens, “Taj” does get to have access to one of the public enclosures for a change of scenery; but other than that, he tends to remain in his more familiar home behind the scenes. Speaking of enclosures, each enclosure has two dedicated viewing areas with a certain type of barrier which separates the guests from the cats. The first viewing area’s barrier is exactly like the outdoor fossa viewing area from a previous tour, in which, the barrier of question is made of piano-wire; with a intricately-craved wooden fence in front, that serves as a guest barrier to keep the occasional unruly guest from get too close. Both habitats are also well-furnished with rocks, boulders, and logs of various sizes, are approximately 8,511 and 7,225 sq ft in size; and have a double-enforced mesh roof to prevent the cats from breaking out. With the general appearance of each enclosure being something very similar to the first image below:



As for the second leopard enclosure, the main barrier used for this space would be the conventional plexiglass window with another wooden-fence that keeps the guests from getting too close to the cats. Rounding out the corner from the second leopard exhibit and walking back to the monal aviary, for which we walk pass by; up ahead is a sheltered viewing platform that takes overlooks a steep, descending cliff-face. While this 7,600 sq ft aviary may seem like it would contain a separate species. This is in fact, the upper level viewing area for the 20 ft tall enclosure that we have already seen before, (in the lower viewing area). However, unlike the previous viewing platform, we head on inside past the double set of wooden doors that serve as an airlock. Of course, as you can already see below, the aviary does feature a rather small committee of 4.0.0 Himalayan Griffon Vultures which is subjected to change, as while we do plan on making a transaction with the region’s vulture breeding program to swap out two of our males in exchange for a pair of females; but as of right now, the general plans necessary for the transaction to be underway have yet to be finalized. While the following second image below demonstrates on the exact scale, rather than the general appearance of the vulture aviary. I just thought it would make some sense as to how tall the aviary actually is when compared to some of the other aviaries scattered throughout the zoo:



Exiting out of the vulture viewing platform and making our way left of the aviary, we will now begin to make our descent back down towards the attraction’s exit. But before we do so, there is yet another exhibit not too far away from the defending flight of stairs and accompanying ramp. Being located adjacent to the second leopard exhibit and to where we stand at the moment, is a 10,920 sq ft, rocky enclosure with a small, boulder-stacked hill in the center, (as seen in the third image below), that serves as the mountain’s “highest point”. Inhabiting this said space are a herd of 1.4.0 Bharal or Blue Sheep, that once had a successful breeding program in the past, but as of late, the zoo’s herd have been slowly dying off; with the zoo planning on phasing out this species, in favor of something new in the near future:



Now as we begin to make our decent down the flight of stairs, along the way, in the middle section of the mountain; is yet another exhibit for an ungulate. Being smaller than the sheep exhibit at around 5,500 sq ft. The zoo’s lone 0.1.0 Chinese Goral, known by all as “Bo”, has been living by herself for quite sometime; but in this case, it seems to be ok, as gorals do tend to be solitary in the wild aside from a female raising her offspring. Even still, with “Bo” being a younger individual, we do have plans to pair her up with a young male; even if the last male goral she was introduced to did not end up getting along. Leaving “Bo” to be in her reclusive hiding place, but not yet making down the next flight of stairs, you eventually enter a small, covered replica of a traditional Tibetan shrine with infographic signage on each wall that highlights the cultural impact of a certain snowman, and how it has remained as an iconic symbol of the Himalayas, (even if the snowman is nothing more than a humble legend). Exiting out of the shrine, and making our way the next (and final), flight of stairs. We have now returned to the forested foothills of the Himalayas, with a rather simple aviary being within our sight not too far away. Greeting us at the bottom of the stairs, this rather simplistic, 950 sq ft, walk-in aviary that may not exactly be a walkthrough; yet you still get to easily view the birds from an open-topped frame that looks out into the center of the aviary. Three species of bird currently inhabit the aviary, with 3.2.0 Plum-Headed Parakeets, 4.0.0 Himalayan Bulbuls, and a secretive pair of 1.1.0 Hill Partridges that steal the show come feeding time. Last but not least, as we leave the aviary and walk past it to our right, up ahead is a wooden boardwalk that mainly serves as a main viewing area. Overlooking the attraction’s biggest habitat at around 13,700 sq ft, the following exhibit would look very similar to the image seen below; although in this case, the inhabitants within would be different, as the exhibit does contain the zoo’s charismatic herd of 1.5.2 Mishmi Takins, which have recently gained some attention due to the births of the two calves that were born this past year:



As we leave the takins behind, and walk out of the boardwalk; we will now conclude our journey through these crossroads by leaving the attraction the same way that we did before. For up ahead, in plain sight, lies the inviting entrance area that greeted us before. As we stand in the midst of the four towering pillars that we stood in awe before, we will now leave the complex with hopefully, a better understanding of the people, places, plants, and animals that inter-connectedly dwell within the towering peaks of the Himalayan mountains.

(8 mammal taxa)
(10 bird taxa)
(1 amphibian taxa)


(All photo credits, in order, go to @twilighter, @Moebelle, leclub, and @geomorph respectively)

 

Are you sure that last picture is a takin ?
looks like a moose to me

 

I am, indeed, aware that the fourth image does contain a moose instead of a takin. But if you read carefully enough, I did mention about this issue in a sentence which explains about the “inhabitants within would be different”.