Design An Exhibit

Africa's Five
Based around Africa's Big Five and Little Five animals

Visitors start down a slate path and see an African leopard in a lush netted half-acre enclosure (to keep it from jumping out). The path winds past termite mounds, and guests next encounter a huge building (more on that later) and a choice to go left or right. Going left, the path takes visitors to 3.5-acre paddock with a small herd of cape buffalo and a breeding pair of black rhinos. The two species are mixed together. On the opposite side is a .75-acre grassy enclosure for a pride of lions. further down the path is a 7-acre enclosure for a herd of African bush elephants. Next to that is a 1 acre enclosure for two bull elephants. The guest then wind up back where they started (I mean at the entrance to the huge building and past the leopard exhibit).

The building is where the little five live. In the entry hall, visitors are welcomed by a large aviary with buffalo weavers. In rock formations also in the entry hall are exhibits for antlions and rhino beetles. To the right is a small planted enclosure for a breeding pair of elephant shrews. To the left is a large dayroom for the elephants that leads into their holding areas. In a moat separating the guests from the elephants is a colony of leopard tortoises.

 

Are you sure that this would work?
Black rhinos are more aggressive than their counterparts: the same goes for the Cape Buffalo...

 

https://static1.squarespace.com/sta...late+TAGs+Mixed-Species+Manual+2017.final.pdf

Above is my source material, a manual on mixed species exhibits set forth by the AZA's ungulate taxon advisory group (TAG). The relevant stuff is on pages 98, 106, 785, and 805. What I got from this is that we know for a fact that cape buffaloes and black rhinos can get along in the same enclosure. To be fair, the SDZSP keeps them in enclosures much larger than the one I proposed, and with myriad other species. I do acknowledge the possibility that they may not get along in a smaller enclosure than what SDZSP provides and that each buffalo and rhino is an individual. I suppose it would be a good idea anyway to put a fence down the middle, with each species getting 1.5 acres.

 

Let's bring this thread back!

Al Fin del Mundo!
Translation: "to the end of the world!" A journey through Argentina's diverse habitats from the northerly Gran Chaco to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost place on Earth (before Antarctica).

You start out at the Gran Chaco, a dry scrubland habitat bordering Paraguay and Bolivia. This is a free-flight aviary with activity both up high and down low. Free flying are guira cuckoos, king vultures, Orinoco geese, and blue-crowned parakeets. Greater rheas, nine-banded armadillos, and Chacoan peccaries occupy the ground level. After you exit the aviary, you come to a tall meshed-in enclosure for a breeding pair of ocelots. On the other side of the path (behind you) is a large rock formation with a large terrarium for a black and white tegu. The path continues...

Next on the itinerary is the Pampas, the warm plains in the heart of Argentina. You come to to large grassy exhibits. Home has llamas and alpacas, whom guests can feed. The next is home to guanacos and rheas from the Gran Chaco exhibit who are not breeding. There signs informing guests about the domestication of domestic llamas and alpacas from guanaocos. Down the way is an exhibit for maned wolves, followed by another for burrowing owls. The path continues...

The next exhibit features the Valdivian rainforests. You're near the border with Chile. The first exhibit you see is a lake with a flock of Chilean flamingos. Along the lake is a food court. The path winds amongst some foliage to the next exhibit. It is home to a pair of southern pudu. The path continues and gets more rocky as it approaches the next region...

You've made it to Tierra del Fuego. This zone is represented by two free-flight exhibits. The first is for a mix of Magellanic penguins, Inca terns, Peruvian pelicans, flying steamer ducks, and ruddy-headed geese. The next exhibit is for king penguins, gentoo penguins, and southern rockhopper penguins. Exit through gift shop.

 

First time on Zoo Chat, but I've had my eye on this thread for a while. Here I go so wish me luck!

So I have 1 exhibit I really want to share so, here I go (insert nervous laughter).

The exhibit is called the "Wilds of Somalia". Rather interestingly their are several species of mammals and birds that live only in Somalia and maybe in Kenya. To get to Somalia you enter through a Somali town with a few poster and signs telling about how poverty has forced the once peaceful fishermen to adopt piracy as a way to make ends meet. Directly outside the town is a chain link enclosure designed to look homemade and loosely built, but is quite strong. Inside lives one of the rarest mammals in Africa, the Hirola. 4 Hirola's live in this half acre ground-level exhibit and have several plastic balls as well as hidden feeders. In the corner sitting on a pile of rocks was a tree. The rest of the exhibit was relatively open and dusty to simulate the semi-arid conditions in Somalia. On the other side on an acre of land lived a herd of 4 Grevy's Zebra. Along with the Zebra's lives 2 Somali Giraffe (AKA Reticulated Giraffe). The Final exhibit is directly in front of both previously mentioned species and is a rectangle about as long as the whole Somalia zone is. Inside is the rare Somali ostrich and more common Marabou Stork. A few displays compare the ostriches and several others give a small speech to wrap up the exhibit. Thank you for visiting the "Wilds of Somalia".

 

Uh, bump.

I know this isn't really an exhibit. It doesn't have any animals living in it. But I thought I'd post it here anyways to revitalize this thread, because this is a good thread with great exhibits. So, here goes.

Entrance Itself
Guests walk along concrete paths with the imprints of animal tracks of all kinds embedded in them; mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, even invertebrates. The sides of the paths are planted with lush vegetation; ferns, cycads, bamboo, palms, bromeliads, and more. Guests cross a small stream on a wooden boardwalk before coming to the entrance of the zoo.

At the entrance are statues of some of the animals in the zoo’s impressive collection, representing the animal groups found in the park: African Bush Elephant for mammals, the Great Blue Heron for birds, the Komodo Dragon for reptiles, the Axolotl for amphibians, the Alligator Gar for fish, and the Monarch Butterfly for invertebrates. These statues are made out of bronze and are not painted; they sit on a marble pedestal of sorts.

The ticket booths are located under a raised ceiling to keep visitors wet as they pay the admission price of $30 for adults. It is pricy but that’s because the zoo would likely have pretty exorbitant bills with all the animals in its collection.

After paying, guests come to a fairly wide main street where they can do several things. On the immediate left and right is the two part gift shop which sells various zoo merchandise. Beyond on both sides are restrooms, with women’s on the left and men’s on the right side of the street. And past that on the right is the zoo’s first restaurant as guests enter, the World Plaza Café, which serves delicious snacks from around the globe. I won’t detail the whole menu, but suffice to say it is mostly breakfast and lunch foods, with various pastries, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, wraps, breakfast bowls and so on, along with tea, coffee, as well as cold and hot beverages.

On the left is the zoo’s Guest Services building, also with restrooms. It is not much to gawk at and is fairly uninteresting the whole. An AED and various medical equipment is also located there, and outside are drinking fountains.

On the sides of the streets are 4 small “Donation Stations” for various ecosystems and species. These are about 7 feet tall black, green, and white structures with glass sides that guests can put coins or even bills in to donate to conservation efforts. The species and ecosystems would sometimes be switched up, so guests could choose where they would focus their conservation efforts. Some general themes would be protecting Indonesian, Amazon, and African rainforests, research into global warming and sustainable energy sources, coral reef damage and protection, tagging of different species to learn more about how to defend them, reintroduction programs for endangered species, and conservation outreach missions at schools in other, particularly third-world, countries.


World Plaza
The zoo’s main street opens up onto a wide circular concrete plaza 80 feet in diameter. This is the main hub of the zoo and is where nearly all of the exhibit paths end up returning to.

The plaza has three main features.

1. The first is the large, dark, thin, continent-shaped black granite structures (plates? Sheets? Not really sure what to call these exactly) on the ground. These collectively make up 6 of the world’s seven continents (it would be difficult to have Antarctica because that is the direction guests come from anyway); North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. When viewed from a birds eye view the plaza looks like a map of the world. These are located next to their corresponding paths. Two are on the left side of the plaza, three extend from the top of it, and two are on the right side. South America is immediately to guests lefts as they enter the plaza while North America is a bit beyond that. To the immediate right of guests as they enter, almost straight out, is the path to Australia & Oceania. A bit further up is the trail to Asia. Up at the north end of the plaza are 3 paths. The furthest left one is the top of North America and represents the Arctic & Antarctica (again, Antarctica is obviously NOT geographically accurate, but this is the best I could do), the absolute middle one connects to Africa, and the furthest one to the right leads to Europe.

Each of these paths is also planted with species native to that continent and relevant to the habitats represented in the exhibits; spruces and pines for North America, kapok trees for Africa, and so on.


2. The second feature is the 10 foot diameter circular fountain in the dead center of the plaza around which the continent slabs (I’m going to call them slabs) are situated. The fountain constantly emits jets of water from the trunks of 7 small bronze elephant statues, which fall into the foot deep pool below. Guests are encouraged to donate to conservation programs and the zoo itself by tossing coins into the pond.


3. The third feature isn’t really apparent if the plaza is empty, and depends on time of day, but consists of the opening ceremony of the park and the random animal shows that take place throughout the day.

At the beginning of each day, species of birds, likely macaws, will fly over visitors’ heads as the park is opened and guests can access the rest of the park via the trails extending from the plaza.

Also taking place are random animal encounters with the zoo’s sizable animal ambassador collection. The keepers will stand by the trail representing whatever continent the species is native to (if it is, say, an animal like a peregrine falcon with a near cosmopolitan distribution they could stand on any trail they choose). Sometimes, if the species are docile, there can even be 3 taking place at the same time. These allow guests to get an immediate appreciation for the layout and collection of the zoo.


The plaza is enclosed by a low, 3 foot smooth-topped stone barrier which makes for a great bench guests can sit on; there are also several wooden benches scattered around the perimeter. Guests can kick back and relax in the shade of a tall tree next to one of the paths on the bench and wait for their friends or family to return; the plaza makes for a great meeting place if a party of guests wants or needs to split up.


Hope you liked! Think I'll tackle South America first and work clockwise. Maybe. We'll see.
- Crotalus

 

That's awesome!! Be leave it or not, but I had a similar Idea for my own entrance. This is awesome, I was coming here to post my own. I really like your design

 

New Exhibit:

Jungles of Borneo:
Species:
Dugong 3.4
Bornean Orangutan 3.6
Proboscis Monkey 2.7
Babirusa 1.1
1.2 Pygmy Elephants

This is a more different than the one I posted on "Zoo-Chat designs a zoo".

Surrounded by a water moat is a 1.5 acre artificial island. The island has high stone banks and a bridge takes you to the start of the exhibit. The wooden bridge that takes visitors to the island. This bridge gives views of the Dugongs from above. Once you're on the island you walk a dirt path and come to a fork. A metal sign says that the path to the left leads to Orangutan Encounter. The orangutan encounter is a path that runs by a perch where the orangutans can sit and have their pictures taken. As you continue you reconnect to the main path a and continue passing the free roaming orangutans, Proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants. The elephants can range the island but are inclined to stay in a certain area by fruit filled feeders. At the end you exit the island on a bridge that passes the Babirusa exhibit. At the end of the bridge on the mainland is a gift shop with some books, toys and art.

This a first person view of the exhibit:
I arrived at the wooden bridge and crossed eagerly looking over the sides. I saw several Dugongs swimming around and eating lettuce that keepers were handing out. I arrived on the island and headed straight for 15 feet before coming to a fork. I read the sign and head left towards the “Orangutan Encounter”. As I arrived I saw two keepers and a wooden ledge. On the ledge an Orangutan sat, being handed fruit by tourists. A keeper asks if I want to feed the Orangutan who I’m told is named Puck. I say yes and hand him a mango slice. He eagerly takes it and climbs into a tree and disappears. I follow the path and re-enter the main path. There are so many trees that the sun rarely shows through. Proboscis monkeys dart above along with the orangutans. Near a pond of water are the 3 elephants. They swim and sleep in a patch of sunlight. As I continue along the path I see the babirusa in their enclosure and watch them briefly. I continue and 15 minutes later and after several views of monkeys and orangutans I exit over the last bridge and into the gift shop and cafe.

 

Hungary to Himalayas
This huge exhibit will take guests on a journey from the forests of Europe to the mountains of Nepal.

Hungary
This exhibit features well-planted exhibits for moose, wild boar, and red fox

Balkans
European hamster, golden eagles, chamois, grey wolves, and domestic ferret (as a proxy for European polecat) all call this zone home.

Greece
The scenery and animal holding areas are themed to look like ancient ruins. There is a mixed exhibit for fallow deer, red squirrel, and hare. There is also a large flight cage for Egyptian vultures. Separate exhibits are home to golden jackals and Hermann's tortoise.

Aegean Sea
This exhibit is themed to look like the sunken city of Atlantis. Loggerhead sea turtles call this huge aquarium home amongst a variety of marine fish.

Turkey
We've made it to the Asian continent and are welcomed by a flock of greater flamingos. Behind it ala Hagenbeck's African panorama exhibit are exhibits for caracal and goitered gazelles. A small house is home to glass lizards and Greek tortoises.

Persia
Persian onagers, demoiselle cranes, Indian grey mongooses, and striped hyenas call this zone home.

India
We're almost there. There is a large mixed exhibit with Indian rhinos, axis deer, Reeve's muntjac, and Indian peafowl. Separate exhibits are home to wreathed hornbills, osprey, Indian porcupine, and gharials.

Nepal
We start at a farm exhibit with yaks and Himalayan monal. Next we reach a rocky exhibit for tahr, followed by one for a breeding pair of snow leopards. Finally, we reach a pair of red pandas, the last creatures in Hungary to Himalayas because they live in the eastern regions of Nepal.

 

Sorry @iluvwhales but Mooses don't live in Hungary.
By the way I like your conception.

 

hank you for the tip. This will teach me to be more careful about my sources.

 

I think I'm going to move my exhibits over to Design a Zoo. I'm doing this because at the end of this project I will have an actual zoo and not just scattered exhibits. So from now on exhibits will be posted there.