Crystelia City Zoo

For the sake of formatting you might want to bold the animal names, also, it would be easier to read if you didn’t capitalize everything. Other than that, this is looking fabulous, and is certainly s place I’d visit if I had the opportunity (and if it were real).

 

Thanks Bengal Tiger, will do in the future.

 

The next three sections of the zoo I will show on one post as they are all relatively small. This post will include Otter Playground, The Cat House, and The Wings Of The Amazon.

Across from the Asian Savannah is the Otter Playground, a paradise for CCZ’s playful Giant Otters. CCZ owns a group of 3.4 of these playful giants which live in a large pool with a land portion split in half from a small river stream. The otters are viewable underwater from the main path or from a small hut allowing a better look at the land portion. This exhibit opened with the zoo in 1999 although it originally contained Asian Small-Clawed Otters instead of giants.
(Outdoor X) (Indoor 19) (Hut 18)

Heading on the main path you find another small building, this small Indian inspired hut allows another view onto the Asian Savannah. The area after this is a small stream located right in front of the cat house in here you can find a few Ocellate River Stingrays and some Redhook Myleus. The end of the stream brings you to The Cat House. The Cat House is another area of the zoo that was here since its opening. The Cat House has always had three habitats, all of which has both indoor and outdoor space for its residents. The smallest outdoor pit is currently home to a male Serval which lives in the most arid of the three yards and due to its arid habitat also has the largest indoor space of the three cats. The other smaller pit across the cat house is the complete opposite, being the cat with the smallest indoor room and has the lushest habitat. The latter point is also quite fitting for the zoo’s resident Clouded Leopard, a female which recently was moved here from Vanishing Habitats Rainforest to replace the ocelot that used to live here. The largest of all the pits is fittingly home to the second largest cat, which lives in a large grassy field surrounded by a river in a pit that was originally for cheetahs, this pit is home to the famous African Lion. CCZ pride is home to (1.2) of these cats. As mentioned all three of these cats have an indoor area connected to the pits. The indoor section of The Cat House is one large room with three low walls on each side across from the three entry points, these walls have many educational boards and signs showing the many cats species of the world and how to protect these animals. The walls all connect to a raised platform with a statue of a lion placed upon it. The actual viewing of the cats are a simple large window for each viewing which was originally the length of the entire indoor area, although it was eventually shortened to give the cats some privacy.
(Stream AC) (Serval Y) Leopard Z) (Lion AA)

Heading south of The Cat House leads you to Wings Of The Amazon, a large walkthrough aviary for Amazonian birds that was a renovation of a severely outdated row of bird cages that turned into a massive rainforest haven for a large number of tropical birds. The aviary itself is home to Sunbittern, Scarlet Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Yellow-Rumped Cacique, Inca Tern, White-Faced Whistling Duck, Red-Capped Cardinal, and most notably a Line’s Two-Toed Sloth. After you leave the aviary you will see the Sands Of Time building once again and just before the right entrance of the building is the last stop of the tour, a small tropical oasis with a small pool for a giant guinea pig relative called the Capybara, the zoo is home to a group of three females which live in this yard that was added in 2013 with the Sands Of Time.
(Aviary AB) (Capybara Outdoor C) (Indoor 21)

With that the tour of these three areas are finished and as usual please feel free to post your comments, criticism, and advice below.

 

Elephant Graveyard is the newest section of the zoo and opened in late 2021. This large area took CCZ’s old elephant habitats and surrounding area and turned it into something magical. This area is by far the most heavily themed in the zoo, following the myth of the elephant graveyard showing off the famous African Elephant along with many other African animals often associated with death and scavenging.

The start of the section is across from the aforementioned lion habitat where you will find a large tunnel made of artificial bones which will lead you to the main area. Jutting out from the side of the tunnel is another path that leads to the Nursery, a small building that hence its name is the main baby hospital in the zoo. A small window is also in the front allowing the visitors to see some of the baby animals.
(23)

The other side of the tunnel leads you to a vista of CCZ’s largest habitat for fittingly the largest land animal, the African Elephant. The elephants live in two separate yards, the one here is for the females of which the zoo owns 4 which live in this large yard decorated with artificial bones to represent the graveyard theme, some of the bones are also hallow and are used as a sort of enrichment feeders for the animals as well. The yard connects to their indoor space as well which can be viewed from the elephant barn right next to the viewing allowing the elephants to be seen year round this also allows viewing of the indoor section for CCZ’s bull as well as many other smaller animals that will be shown off next tour.
(Outdoor AD) (Barn 24)

The Elephant Barn spits you out to one of two exits, the one opposite to where we came from allows viewing of both yards with more views of the females on the right and a look at the bull yard on the left. Going left allows more viewing of the bull’s yard which is similar to the other yard albeit a little smaller and contains less artificial bones.
(Bull AE)

North of the main elephant yard is the scavenging trail, a path dedicated to scavenging birds of Africa, the first aviary contains the odd looking Marabou Stork, a bird that CCZ owns quite a few pairs of more specifically a grand total of (3.3) although this aviary only contains the main pair, while the other two are located backstage in the breeding center. The aviary also contains various mock bones like most of the exhibits in this area. The next aviary is the oddball of the four, as it contains non-scavenging birds and is walkthrough for wetland birds of Africa, more specifically Marbled Teal, Hammerkop, African Openbill, Hadada Ibis, Egyptian Goose, African Sacred Ibis, and more White-Faced Whistling Ducks. The last two aviaries are for vultures, more specifically the left is home to Rupell’s Griffon Vultures and on the right Egyptian Vultures.
(Marabou AF) (Walkthrough AG) (Griffon AH) (Egyptian AI)

The final of the three parts of the Elephant Graveyard is called The Temple Of Anubis and contains two outdoor exhibits, the first is home to Black-Backed Jackals but I will save the description of the cage for next time since it can only be viewed from the indoor temple which I will cover next time, the other is for the famous Spotted Hyena, CCZ owns (2.5) Hyenas as of this moment which lives in a large yard with an indoor cavern that can be viewed from the temple, this area also has the most artificial bones out of all the habitats in this area.
(Jackal AK) (Hyena AJ) (Temple 25)

The temple rounds you back to the elephant yard where you can go back through the tunnel to explore the rest of the zoo.

With that the tour of the Elephant Graveyard is over and as always feel free to leave your comments, criticisms, and advice below. Next time I will show off the two indoor buildings in here in detail before I start Vanishing Habitat: Rainforest and with that I hope to see you on our next tour of CCZ.

 

Have you been inspired by a fantasy project of mine, an Egyptian zone called the Temple of Anubis, with different scavenger species (Hyaenas, Jackals,Vultures,Marabou Storks...)?
I've presented it last year.

 

I never actually saw the thread you posted it in, with the exception on the area theming thread where you mentioned it, but by that time the prototype for this area was already made. The area was actually inspired by Memphis.

 

As promised the two indoor sections of Elephant Graveyard are here, these areas are mostly just indoor holdings for already seen animals but there are a few new species we will see today. The first and larger of the two buildings is the elephant barn.

The elephant barn hence its name is the indoor area for CCZ’s elephants starting with the elephant exhibits themselves they are large sandy pens with a small pool and a few feeding enrichments, the visitors walk through the building with elephants on either side with the bull on the left and females on the right along with long planters in front of the fencing.
(Bull AE) (Females AD)

Depending on the route you take you see a different reptile as you enter, the smaller of the two is for a Nile Monitor which lives in a pit in the floor with a large pool. The other pit is significantly larger for another water loving critter, the Nile Crocodile. CCZ owns two female crocodiles which live in this large pool near the south exit of the building.
(Monitor C) (Crocodile B)

The other building in the Elephant Graveyard is The Temple Of Anubis which contains indoor areas for the jackals and hyenas along with a few Egyptian reptiles. 7 terrariums are located on the wall near the south entrance which in order from A to K contain, Desert Monitor, Common Chameleon, False Cobra, Desert Horned Viper, Nile Softshell Turtle, Egyptian Cobra, Dune Gecko.

The rest of the building is made for the two aforementioned carnivores, the outdoor viewing of the jackal cage is as mentioned before viewable from eastern part of the pyramid. Towards the north exit is the indoor cavern viewing for the jackals which is viewable from the ground or from a bridge going above the exhibit, allowing the animals to move from there to their other indoor area. Across from the cavern is a large area full of more artificial bones for the jackals as well. The back wall of the exhibit is actually an artificial spine which separates the canids from their neighbors. The other yard is unsurprisingly for the hyenas which like the jackals has an cave to view them as well.
(Jackal Yard AM) (Jackal Cave AK) (Hyena Yard AL) (Hyena Cave AJ)

With that we will end this mini tour of CCZ, next time the tour will be a bit more expansive showing off a decent chunk of Vanishing Habitats Rainforest, CCZ largest section, with that feel free to leave your comments criticism and advice below.

 

CCZ continues with the largest section, Vanishing Habitats Rainforest, This area opened with the zoo in 1999 and contains a good chunk of CCZ’s big name animals such as bears, tigers, and primates. The entire section north of the Tropical Bird House is often referred to as The Islands due to the animals here at opening mostly being from Southeast Asia, nowadays the animals here are a bit more diverse coming from all parts of the world.

South of The Temple Of Anubis is two small paths leading you into the forest. The first inhabitants from here you will see going south live in the second largest habitat of The Islands, CCZ’s Malayan Tapirs which live in a large opening in the forest behind a small viewing gallery, CCZ is home to a singular breeding pair of these island living ungulates.
(Outdoor AS, Indoor 29)

If one were to go the other larger path however you would end up on a bridge over a small pond with a land portion for a Spectacled Caiman in a pond formerly home to false gharials which can either lead you to the rest of the exhibits or to a small food court overlooking the main animal of the section the Malayan Tiger.
(Caiman AR) (Tiger AT) (Food Stand 28)

CCZ singular male tiger lives in a large lush habitat full of places to climb and a large indoor section we will be able to see later, the quests are able to look out into the exhibit from this food court to see this beautiful cat. If you were looking for an animal of a different kind the other path may be more to your liking, over here you will find another bridge leading into Elephant Graveyard above a home to another crocodilian. This pit is home to a large Saltwater Crocodile a species of crocodile that hence its name can live in saltwater environments and unlike the caiman can be found in Southeast Asia.
(Crocodile AQ)

While the saltwater crocodile can be found in Southeast Asia its neighbors across from it certainly cannot say the same. The exhibit across got a bit more muddy after the leaving of the former babirusas, now it is home to a group of (1.5) adult Red River Hogs these colorful swine are found not in Asia like their former homeowners but Africa, but that is something many will forgive after seeing the trio of adorable piglets.
(Outdoor AP, Indoor 26)

Four aviaries are located south of the suids, home to in order four different species of hornbill, Great, Rhinoceros, Trumpeter, and Silvery-Cheeked.
(AQ To AL)

One last final bridge over another pit pond can be found just in front of the Tiger House home to a smaller animal than the others, this time Roti Island Snake-Necked Turtles.

With that the tour of The Islands is over, I was planning for the Tiger House to also be in this post but it turned out larger than expected so it will be saved for next time, with that feel free to post you comments, criticisms and advice below.

 

I’m currently quite busy , so CCZ will probably be on hiatus until the summer. CCZ is also almost finished anyways and I need a break, so see you in the summer for the Tiger house.