Gomphothere's Zoo Design Thread

This is a fun and fascinating thread. So here goes my effort at contributing:

The Gesamtkonzept is a combination of zoological park, aquarium and natural history museum.

The themes are Ecology, Evolution, Enrichment (for both the animal residents and the human visitors), Endangered Species and Extinction (both past and present).

Layout would be on a zoogeographical basis, per Wallace, who divided land fauna into six regions, nowadays sometimes called ecozones, with aquaria placed where the major oceanic regions would be. Each of the six land regions would be divided into bioregions, or habitat areas, which would be the basic exhibit area units. As an example, the Nearctic Region would be divided into (snazzier names are still needed) the Nearctic Boreal, Western Temperate North America, the Great Plains, Eastern Temperate North America, the Arid Southwest/Northern Mexico, and the Everglades.

Each bioregion exhibit or habitat area would be modeled on such zoo exhibits as Wild Asia and the Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx Zoo, i.e., large outdoor exhibits for display of larger mammals, birds, and even reptiles, including multi-species and predator-prey exhibits, and one or more buildings displaying smaller mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates, again including multi-species and predator-prey exhibits as well as nocturnal exhibits. The oceanic aquaria would include sea bird aviaries and exhibits of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates from major islands. There would also be aquaria for a few of the world's major fresh water systems such as the Great Lakes and the Amazon system.

Each building would also include museum type exhibits: (1) using fossils to explain the evolution of some of the significant animals from the bioregion; (2) explaining some of the geological history of the region and how it influenced the zoogeography; and/or (3) addressing the area's pressing ecological issues. In addition, there would be examples of art from the region featuring the animals displayed. And signs would be provided in the dominant language of the region in addition to English in an effort to show some of the "human zoogeography".

Exhibit design would draw on the experience of the very best from the world's zoos so that every exhibit would be pretty much state of the art. As part of the zoogeographical lesson of the zoo, the main transportation routes would be laid out along the paths of, and named for the world's major rivers and ocean currents, so people would effectively follow the paths of the planet's waters.

My rough estimate is that the zoo would need about 4,000 acres, or about six square miles, laid out roughly as a two mile by three mile oval, with the long axis east to west, sort of a living Mollweide or similar elliptical projection of the earth's surface. The corners outside the ellipse would be for parking and other transportation facilities, administration, and the main service facilities such as central supply and veterinary facilities. Counting those areas, the total size would be about 5,000 acres, or about the size of JFK airport.

I'm a New Yorker, so the dream would be for the zoo to be located somewhere in the metropolitan area, to be run by a joint effort of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the American Museum of Natural History, served by one of the main commuter train lines as well as one or more major expressways. This also means designing the exhibits to function in a temperate climate.

The zoo will be anchored at the four directional poles as follows: (a) at the north end, by "The Holarctic Arctic", an exhibit of the mammals and birds with a north circumpolar distribution; (b) at the south, by "Penguins, Pinnipeds, Petrels and More", the animals of Antarctica; (c) at the west end by "Darwin's Inspiration: the Galapagos Islands"; and (d) at the east end by "Oceania and the Ring of Fire". In the center of the zoo (at the equivalent of the intersection of the equator and the mid-Atlantic ridge) would be a main museum centered on the work of Wegener and of Wallace, i.e., plate tectonics/continental drift, and zoogeography. One of the inspirations for Wegener's theory was the fit between the continental edges on either side of the Atlantic, so the location is fitting (pun intended). The center line from north to south would actually have to be off center, displaced to the west to accommodate the much larger fauna of the Eastern Hemisphere compared to the Western.

Next installment: detailing the bioregions/habitat exhibit areas.

 

Wow, that is all I have to say, Wow

 

Dream Zoogeographical Zoo

So I have refined the concept, which follows, and sketched out an overall plan, which is attached.

The Gesamtkonzept is a combination of zoological park, aquarium and natural history museum. The themes are Ecology, Evolution, Enrichment (for both the animal residents and the human visitors), Endangered Species and Extinction (both past and present).

Layout would be on a zoogeographical basis using the current World Wildlife Fund system of eight ecozones, which is heavily based on the pioneering 1876 work of Wallace (who divided land fauna into six regions): Nearctic (North America above the humid sub-tropics); Palearctic (Eurasia above the sub-tropics); Neotropic (South and humid Central America); Afrotropic; Indo-Malaya; Australasia; Oceania; and Antarctica. Aquaria would be placed where the major oceanic regions would be. There would also be aquaria for a few of the world's major fresh water systems such as the Great Lakes and the Amazon system. The aquaria would, in addition to fish and aquatic invertebrates, include sea/shore bird aviaries and exhibits of mammals (such as pinnipeds and cetaceans), reptiles (such as sea turtles and crocodilians), amphibians and invertebrates from the region.

Each of the six land regions would be divided into bioregions, or habitat areas, which would be the basic exhibit area units. As an example, the Nearctic Region would be divided into the Tundra, Boreal/Taiga, Western Temperate North America, the Great Plains, Eastern Temperate North America, the Arid Southwest/Northern Mexico, and the Everglades. Birds will generally be displayed where they breed rather than where they winter.

Each bioregion exhibit or habitat area would be modeled on such zoo exhibits as Wild Asia and the Congo Gorilla Forest at the Bronx Zoo, i.e., large outdoor exhibits for display of larger mammals, birds, and even reptiles such as crocodilians, including multi-species and predator-prey exhibits, and one or more buildings displaying smaller mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates in habitat groupings, again including multi-species and predator-prey exhibits as well as nocturnal exhibits. Exhibit design would draw on the experience of the very best from the world's zoos so that every exhibit would be state of the art. Landscaping would use either plants native to the habitat or plants endemic to the zoo’s region but closely resembling plants from the display habitat. The goal would be to make each exhibit so realistic that a visitor from the area would remark on the resemblance to home. Efforts will be made to keep interior displays of smaller animals and birds on their natural light cycle. Some species will be displayed in more than one location if their natural range extends to more than one bioregion, particularly, if possible, vulnerable and endangered species. Many of the exhibits, particularly interior exhibits, would have viewing from more than one level, e.g., underwater views for aquatic and semi-aquatic animals and elevated views for arboreal animals. The shape and exterior materials of the buildings will attempt to evoke the geology of the region.

Each building would also include museum type exhibits: (1) using fossils to explain the evolution of some of the significant animals from the bioregion; (2) explaining some of the geological history of the region and how it influenced the zoogeography; and/or (3) addressing the area's pressing ecological issues. In addition, there would be examples of art from the region featuring the animals displayed. And signs would be provided in the dominant language of the region in addition to English in an effort to show some of the "human zoogeography". Signage would also include significant content on the conservation status of each species and its taxonomic position, particularly when closely related species are in distant regions.

The zoo will be anchored at the four directional poles as follows: (a) at the north end, by "The Holarctic Arctic", an exhibit of the animals with a north circumpolar distribution; (b) at the south, by "Penguins, Pinnipeds, Petrels and More", the animals of Antarctica, including both the continent and the subantarctic islands; (c) at the west end by "Darwin's Inspiration: the Galapagos Islands"; and (d) at the east end by "Oceania and the Ring of Fire". These anchors, each of which will involve aquatic and semi-aquatic exhibits, will be indirect reminders that the majority of the earth is covered with a salt water ocean, which was where life began. The first three of these will at the zoo’s entrances and will be designed so that visitors are greeted by iconic animals upon first arriving: Beluga Whales and Polar Bears; Penguins; and Dolphins, Sea Lions and Marine Iguanas.

In the center of the zoo, corresponding to the intersection of the equator and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, will be a main museum centered on the work of Wegener and of Wallace, i.e., plate tectonics/continental drift, and zoogeography, respectively. One of the inspirations for Wegener's theory was the fit between the continental edges on either side of the Atlantic, so the location is fitting (pun intended). (The center line from north to south would actually have to be off center, displaced to the west to accommodate the much larger fauna of the Eastern Hemisphere compared to the Western.) There would be a separate Museum of Human Evolution in the Afrotropic Zone and an exhibit on domesticated animals in the Palearctic Zone, which is where almost all of them originated.

As part of the zoogeographical lesson of the zoo, the main transportation routes would be laid out along the paths of, and named for the world's major ocean currents and rivers, so people would effectively follow the paths of the planet's waters. These concourses would also be the sites for restroom, restaurants and retail operations.

A rough estimate is that the zoo would need about 4,000 acres, or about six square miles, laid out roughly as a two mile by three mile oval, with the long axis east to west, sort of a living Mollweide or similar elliptical projection of the earth's surface. The corners outside the ellipse would be for parking and other transportation facilities, administration, and the main service facilities such as central supply, horticulture and veterinary facilities. Counting those areas, the total size would be about 5,000 acres, or about the size of JFK airport.

I'm a New Yorker, so the dream would be for the zoo to be located somewhere in the metropolitan area, to be run by a joint effort of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the American Museum of Natural History, served by one of the main commuter train lines as well as one or more major expressways. This also means designing the exhibits to function in a temperate climate.

Albatrosses, alas, will not survive in captivity. Life-sized models will be displayed at the South Atlantic, South Pacific and North Pacific Aquaria.
 
AQUARIA KEY FOR SCHEMATIC
1. Tropical Eastern Pacific Coast and Shelf and Eastern Tropical Pacific Pelagic
2. Great Lakes
3. Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean
4. Amazon
5. Arctic
6. North Atlantic
7. Tropical Atlantic
8. Temperate South America
9. Antarctic and Subantarctic
10. The Seas of Europe: North, Baltic, Mediterranean, Black and Caspian
11. Temperate Africa and South Atlantic Pelagic
12. Western Indo-Pacific
13. Central Indo-Pacific
14. Temperate Australasia Coast and Shelf
15. North Pacific
16. Eastern Indo-Pacific Coast and Shelf, Equatorial Pacific Pelagic and Oceania

 

This is one of the top 5 best fantasy zoo/exhibit designs I've ever seen on ZooChat. (The others being jbnbsn's Voyage to South America, Atlas: The Lost Africa, DesertRhino's UK-themed exhibit and fkaltheway's African/Asian Temperate Zoo.)

 

Thanks! Hope to lay out the individual exhibits here, one by one. Am deep into the concept and design work for the Arctic, Galapagos and Antarctic Exhibits and for the main museum. Hope to post all those sometime in March.

 

I agree with you.

 

So here's the first of the exhibits from my dream zoo. Plans are attached. N.B.: They vary in scale.

I. THE HOLARCTIC ARCTIC: Animals from the Top of the World; The Circumpolar Fauna. (Outlined in red on the accompanying map of the overall plan.) The concept is pack ice, and cliffs and rocky shore in the shadow of a glacier face. Building and walls between exhibits will resemble the face of a glacier, a rocky cliff, or ice thrown up by collisions. Some walks will be constructed to create the impression of walking on pack ice. There will be no trees in any of the exhibits since there is none on the tundra, but the area surrounding will be planted with evergreens to enhance association with northern climes. Inspirations include the Arctic Ring Exhibit at the Detroit Zoo, Polar Bear Shores at Sea World in Queensland, and Journey to Churchill at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg. My “pie in the sky” wish would be to display Narwhals along with the Beluga Whales, but Narwhals simply do not survive in captivity.
A. Animals and Exhibits:
1. Mammals: Polar Bear; Ringed and Bearded Seals; Arctic Fox; Narrow-headed Vole
2.Cetaceans: Beluga Whales.
3. Birds: Snowy Owl; Snow Bunting; King Eider; Common Eider; Brant Goose; Pink-footed Goose; Long-tailed Jaeger/Skua; Pomarine Skua/Jaeger; Arctic Tern; Black Guillemot; Black-headed Gull; Glaucous Gull; Common Murre; Thick-billed Murre; Northern Fulmar; Rock Ptarmigan; Sanderling; Red Knot. No open bird exhibits/display to avoid pinioning; all birds housed in aviaries.
4. Reptiles: No.
5. Amphibians: No.
6. Fish: See Aquarium
7. Invertebrates: See Aquarium
8. Aquarium with selection of 400+ fish species and ~5000 invertebrates native to the Arctic Ocean (I don’t know enough about this fauna to be any more specific than to list the main groups): Greenlings; Sculpins; Poachers; Alligatorfishes/Poachers; Snailfishes; Gadids (cods); Pricklebacks; Gunnels; Eelpouts; Gunnels; Flatfishes; Salmonids (Ciscoes, Whitefishes, Trouts, Chars and Salmons); Lanternfishes; Wolffishes; Sandlances; Lumpsuckers; Pacific Herring; Rainbow Smelt; Alaska Plaice; Bering Flounder; Skates & Rays; Lampreys; and Sharks; Crustaceans (krill, Snow Crab, shrimp and others); Molluscs; Cephalopods (octopus and squid); Annelids; Ctenephores and Jellyfish; and Bryozoans. Exhibits will be based on 11 of the shore and shelf ecoregions in the Arctic Realm: North Greenland; Lancaster Sound; High Arctic Archipelago; Beaufort-Amundsen-Viscount-Melville-Queen Maud; Beaufort Sea—continental coast and shelf; Chukchi Sea; East Siberian Sea; Laptev Sea; Kara Sea; North and East Barents Sea; and White Sea; and the Pelagic and Benthic Provinces as well, with separate exhibits for predator and prey fish as necessary. Exhibits would show the life cycle of anadromous fish.
9. Museum Exhibits: Polar Ice and Sea Level; Remnants of Ice Age Evolution; Vulnerable, Endangered and Recently Extinct Animals of the Arctic; also art of indigenous peoples (e.g., Inuit, Sami, Samoyed, Yukaghir, etc.) showing animals on display.
10. Notes on exhibits, care and enrichment:
a. Predator-Prey exhibits: Polar Bears and Seals; Polar Bears and Beluga Whales; Seals and mysids, shrimp, arctic cod, herring, crabs, clams and octopus (prey shown in tanks on lower level); Sanderling and Isopods and Mole Crabs; Ptarmigan and Snow Bunting w/Arctic Fox and Snowy Owl behind; Snowy Owl and Vole.
b. Seabird aviary pool to 10m/30' deep to illustrate duck diving behavior (e.g., to retrieve mussels dropped to the bottom; in nature they dive up to 50+m).
c. Skuas/Jaegers and Fulmar are predatory and aggressive and will be kept separate from other birds. Northern Fulmar w/2m/6' or deeper pool to demonstrate diving behavior.
d. Live fish will be provided as part of both diet and enrichment to all predatory animals with pools (Beluga Whales, Polar Bears, Seals, sea bird aviary, Fulmar, skuas/jaegers, gulls and larger fish). Rodents will be provided to Snowy Owls, Arctic Foxes and Pomarine Skua/Jaeger, so their enclosures will have to be kep rodent proof. Live chicks and/or ducklings will be provided to skuas/jaegers, Fulmar, Snowy Owl and Arctic Fox. Live shrimp will be provided to sea bird aviary, Fulmar, skuas/jaegers, gulls, larger fish, seals and Belugas. Whole eggs will be provided to Fulmar, skuas/jaegers and gulls. Mussels will be provided to the sea bird aviary, gulls and Belugas. Live squid will be provided to all aviaries with pools, seals and Belugas. Live octopus and crabs will be provided to seals and Belugas. Fulmar, skuas/jaegers and gulls will receive fish offal. Live feedings of rodents, chicks or ducklings will be made outside of visitor hours.
e. Polar Bear enrichment will, in addition to live fish, include rotating toys, food in foraging pits and carcasses.
f. Polar Bear and Arctic Fox dens will have temperature controls, air conditioning in the summer being the more important, and their exhibits will have heating/cooling pads.
g. Exhibits will house 3.3 Rock Ptarmigans. They live in single sex groups outside breeding season, so for much of year the sexes will be housed separately in the two designated exhibits. During breeding season (spring), pairs will be housed together, one off exhibit.
h. Polar Bear exhibits are designed to hold up to six bears (e.g., 2.4) plus cubs. They meet or exceed AZA standards.
i. Depth of Polar Bear and seal pools will go from shallow to 15’/5m deep. Beluga pool will include a shallow area laced with glacial boulders, such as the habitat they use to rub themselves while shedding their skin, but most of the pool will be 50’/15m deep.
j. All bird and mammal pools will have machine generated artificial waves.
k. Signs will be in Inuit as well as English.

B. Visitor Experience:
You will approach from the Zoo’s north entrance, or perhaps after alighting from the monorail at the Arctic Station, first encountering a set of flagpoles flying the flags of the nations that border the Arctic: the U.S.A.; Canada; Denmark; Norway; and Russia. While the area is surrounded by evergreen trees, the exhibits are devoid of trees, as is the far North. The building towards which you are walking resembles the face of a glacier.
To your left is a shallow salt water cove, dotted with glacial boulders, perhaps with some of a resident pod of Beluga Whales rubbing themselves on the rocks to relieve the itch from their shedding skin as waves roll in, washing over them, coming in from beyond the cove where there is a multi-million gallon, fifteen meters/fifty foot deep pool as large as a football field in which the rest of the pod cavorts.
You have three choices as you enter the Holarctic Ecoregion. First, you can turn left and stroll along the whale pool. You then reach a walkway lined on either side with glass walls. You look down as you follow the walkway: you are hopping from ice flow to ice floe, with stretches of open water between, fortunately for you covered with acrylic and more than capable of bearing you weight. Beneath your feet, you can see Polar Bears and Beluga Whales swimming in deep salt water. They’re in separate pools, but the acrylic walls between them are nearly invisible. Part way across, there is an island just to your right, and a Polar Bear pulls himself out of the water and looks you in the face, separated from you only by 2”/1cm worth of glass that is fortunately also three meters high. Now you know what it’s like to be a seal and suddenly to come face to face with your nemesis. You look out over the Polar Bear pool, waves washing towards the shore, and there you see a rocky promontory on which another Polar Bear is resting, perhaps thinking about diving into the water several feet beneath him. Beyond that, there is a stretch of roughly half an acre of grassy tundra, the summer habitat of many Polar Bears and the daily home of the Zoo’s two male Polar Bears. At the end of the walkway, you can turn left and descend below ground for an underwater viewing of the whales, whose pool interlocks with that of the Polar Bears, and you might just catch a view of the bears swimming right behind the whales, prey the bears would enjoy immensely if they could, the whales eyeing the bears warily.
You could instead have taken a ramp back where you entered the realm, down to the lower level and view the whales there from underneath from the other side of their pool. After you turn a corner, you have a direct underwater view into a pair of Polar Bear pools, each five meter/fifteen feet deep. On the left, behind the bear swimming past, you can see Beluga Whales right behind him, seemingly in the same pool. On the right, behind a couple of female bears playing in the water, you can see Bearded and Ringed Seals swimming and chasing live fish in another fifteen foot/five meter deep pool, with only acrylic between the predator and their favorite prey. You come to a tunnel entrance, and you can walk through the two pools, right under the bears and seals as they swim.
Your third option as you begin your tour is to head around a bend and have a view into the two Polar Bear exhibits from above. To your left, backed by a rocky wall, across a stretch of salt water, is the tundra. To your right, past another salt water pool, is the ice pack, the white face of a glacier rising behind, with an ice floe floating in the water, and an icy promontory projecting out over the water, either one or both serving as a resting place for one of the zoo’s four female polar bears. You can see just the nose of a third, resting in a den under a pile of boulders poking through the simulated ice pack, laced with gravel walkways and also holding a pool of fresh water, in which the fourth female bear is fishing for the trout with which it has been stocked.
Bear around to your left, and you will reach the seal pool. You can look over their pool or their haul out space on the ice pack, and see the Polar Bears on their own stretch of the ice pack right behind the seals. In both the enclosures, waves lap at the edge of the ice pack where it meets the salt water. A child behind you shrieks suddenly, and a startled seal drops into the water through a blow hole set into the simulated ice pack.
Keep on following the walkway, through double doors in the face of the glacier, and you enter the Arctic Aquarium. You cannot miss a series of three huge salt water tanks, three stories high, reaching from the floor of the basement below you to twenty feet above the floor on which you are standing, filled with the pelagic (open ocean) fish of the Arctic Ocean. Then you notice a series of alcoves around the outside of the walkway surrounding these tanks. The five on the east side of the building are each labeled with the name of one of the five Siberian coastal and continental shelf bioregions, the five on the west side of the building with the names of the five Canadian and Alaskan coastal and continental shelf bioregions, and the larger one in the center bears the name of the Chukchi Sea, the biologically rich region that stretches between Alaska and Siberia. In each alcove is a series of salt water tanks of various sizes, displaying the fish and invertebrates from those regions. You then take the stairs or ramp down to the lower level, where you have a good view of the bottom of the pelagic tanks, the haunt of demersal fish like flounder, and around the outside a series of salt water tanks display the fish and invertebrates of the deep ocean, the benthic fauna. A sign explains that all the fish tanks are kept on a light and temperate cycle that matches that of the Arctic. It is winter, and now you know why the tanks are lit so dimly, and the thermometers show that the water in some of the tanks is actually below the freezing point of fresh water!
You exit the lower level of the aquarium into an underground walkway and turn right. In a moment, you have a view on your right into a ten meter deep salt water pool, with eider ducks diving to retrieve the mussels that have been deposited on the bottom. You turn the corner and you have a view into another pool, about as deep as you are tall. Suddenly, a Northern Fulmar dives from above to nab a live fish that was swimming right in front of you a moment ago.
You follow a ramp up, back to the ground level, blinking in the bright winter sun light. There you have a view of the sea bird aviary, a sandy rocky shore and some grassy tundra backed by a ten meter/thirty foot high rocky cliff. Murres and guillemots perch on the cliffs, eider ducks and geese paddle in the pool, terns wing their way above the pool, looking for a fish to come close enough to the surface to grab. Sanderlings, Red Knots and Rock Ptarmigans poke around on the shore, while a tank to your left holds a number of the shore invertebrates that the first two of these may be looking for. Next door are the Northern Fulmars, flying from a rocky cliff to their salt water pool. In the next two aviaries are more of the avian predators of the Arctic: the Pomarine and Long-tailed Skuas or Jaegers. They are soaring over salt water pools, backed by a rocky, sandy shore, leading up to a small patch of tundra grass. Next come birds that look a bit more familiar, but the Glaucous Gull is a lot bigger than the gulls you’re used to seeing, those that are more the size of the Black-headed Gull, which are staying out of the way of their larger cousins.
The next aviary is a large stretch of hilly, occasionally rocky, but mostly grass covered tundra. At first, you think there is nothing to see, and then a very large lump on one of the hills you thought was a snow covered rock or stump moves, and you are looking into the eyes of a snowy owl. His mate takes flight suddenly and almost silently. She is probably hunting for a couple of the Narrowheaded Voles displayed in front of you. You turn a shallow corner, and there is more tundra, and you are watching Rock Ptarmigans and Snow Buntings move about. Do they look nervous? Just past them, behind barely visible fencing, on the right are the Snowy Owls, and to the left are Arctic Foxes in their winter white finery. Their intelligent eyes size you up for a moment, and then go back to following the movements of the ptarmigan.
You have experienced the Arctic. You turn and follow the walkway through the Evergreen Forest to the St. Lawrence Station and catch the monorail to your next destination, or you can follow the St. Lawrence Concourse to the Great Lakes Aquarium.

 

Here's the key, sorry to have left it out:

EXHIBIT DETAIL KEY
A. Holarctic Arctic
1. Exterior Aviary (8-10m/25-30ft. high, overlapping onto roof so birds have access to ledge out of public view): rocky cliffs, sandy coast, tundra grass, fresh water stream and pond and salt water pool w/deep water (up to 10m) and underwater viewing on level below to observe diving behavior: King Eider; Common Eider; Brant Goose; Pink-footed Goose; Arctic Tern; Black Guillemot; Common Murre; Thick-billed Murre; Rock Ptarmigan; Sanderling; and Red Knot.
a. Isopods and Mole Crabs (Sanderling prey).
2. Exterior Aviary (8-10m/25-30ft. high, overlapping onto roof so birds have access to ledge out of public view): sandy coast, tundra grass, fresh water stream and pond and salt water pool w/deep water (2m) and underwater viewing on level below to observe diving behavior: Northern Fulmar.
3. Exterior Aviary (8-10m/25-30ft. high, overlapping onto roof so birds have access to ledge out of public view): sandy coast, tundra grass, fresh water stream and pond and salt water pool: Long-tailed Jaeger/Skua
4. Exterior Aviary (8-10m/25-30ft. high, overlapping onto roof so birds have access to ledge out of public view): sandy coast, tundra grass, fresh water stream and pond and salt water pool: Pomarine Skua/Jaeger
5. Exterior Aviary (8-10m/25-30ft. high, overlapping onto roof so birds have access to ledge out of public view): rocky cliffs, sandy coast, tundra grass, fresh water stream and pond and salt water pool: Black-headed Gull; Glaucous Gull; Gull species may have to be separated if there is breeding and they attack each other’s chicks.
6. Exterior Aviary (8-10m/25-30ft. high, overlapping onto roof so birds have access to ledge out of public view): tundra grass, fresh water stream and pond: Snowy Owl
a. Narrowheaded Vole
7. Exterior Exhibit (5-6m/15-20ft. high): tundra grass, fresh water stream and pond: Rock Ptarmigan; and Snow Bunting (predators visible through fencing behind).
8. Exterior Exhibit(3-4m/12-15ft. high): tundra grass, fresh water stream and pond: Arctic Fox (prey visible through fencing)
9. Arctic Fox holding and isolation
10. Staff lockers, lounge and lavatories
11. Office and library
12. Bird holding and isolation
13. Bird and Fox food storage and preparation
14. Receiving
15. Canadian High Arctic Archipelago Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
16. Beaufort-Amundsen-Viscount-Melville-Queen Maud Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
17. Beaufort Sea Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
18. Chukchi Sea Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
19. East Siberian Sea Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
20. Laptev Sea Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
21. Kara Sea
22. Pelagic Fish and Invertebrates of the Arctic Ocean (tanks three stories high, from lower level, with service entrance from second story; viewer walkways on ground level allow two story view).
23. Lancaster Sound Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
24. North Greenland Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
25. North and East Barents Sea Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
26. White Sea Coast and Continental Shelf Fish and Invertebrates
27. Down to lower level: View of lower part of pelagic tanks; Benthic Fish and Invertebrates of the Arctic Ocean (27a: tanks around outside of viewer walkways surrounding pelagic tanks); Water Filtration, Life Support Systems, HVAC, Mechanical, and Storage; also access to moats.
28. Up to upper level (no public access): Fish and Invertebrate food preparation and storage; live food husbandry; service of larger tanks; Life Support Systems, HVAC and Storage. Work areas are skylit. Stair access to roof for access to upper level of aviaries.
29. Service of smaller tanks
30. Display cases for art and museum exhibits
31. For detail, see Polar Bear/Seals detail drawing
32. For detail, see Aquarium/Aviary detail drawing
33. Nursery
34. Polar Bear, Seals and Beluga Whale food storage and preparation
35. Polar Bear Off-Exhibit/Isolation Holding
36. Seal Off-Exhibit/Isolation Holding
37. Polar Bear – Tundra Exhibit
38. Polar Bear – Ice Pack Exhibit (w/gravel paths)
39. Bearded and Ringed Seals
39a. Mysids, shrimp, arctic cod, herring, crabs, clams and octopus (seal prey).
40. Blow hole
41. Diving promontory
42. Ice floe
43. Beluga Whales
44. Walkway – between glass walls, over simulated ice pack including acrylic bridges over gaps between ice, visitors will walk over Polar Bear and Beluga Whale exhibits, able to look down into the water to see the animals and to come face to face with the polar bear on an island.
45. Tunnel through the Polar Bear and Seal pools.
46. Beluga Whale holding, isolation and isolation.
47. Flagpoles flying the flags of the U.S.A., Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United Nations.
BC = Bear corridor
CR = Control Room for Life Support Systems
CS = Cold Food Storage
D = Den
DS = Dry Food Storage
E = Elevator
ES = Equipment Storage
F = Freezer
FP = Foraging Pit
KC = Keeper Corridor
M = Maternity Den
R = Ramp
VW = Visitor Walkways

 

I really like the addition of the maps, and pictures with the exhibit!

 

Gomphothere that is one of the best exhibit designs I've ever seen! I love when someone actually puts in the time and effort to make a design detailed, descriptive, realistic above all else, and enhanced with visuals. When do you plan on posting the next design?

 

Am working on Antarctica.

 

Don't forget to include visitor amenities as well (restrooms, cafes/restaurants, gift shops etc.) A large exhibit complex like that would definitely need some of those.

 

So, while working on Antarctica, I got to thinking about how the zoo would run, and took a detour and designed a fantasy zoo staff organization chart. It's attached. The first page is upper management, the second is the botanical and education staff, the third is the zoological staff, and the fourth is the non-scientific staff. The organization of the zoological staff splits the curatorial and animal care staff since the zoo is physically organized along zoogeographic rather than taxonomic lines and will have many multispecies exhibits. So, any suggestions for changes? Did I leave anything out? We're hiring, so for what job would you like to apply? ;-)

 

That's extremely detail and extensive Gomphothere! How'd you research all the different staff types?

 

Some of it comes from my knowledge of zoos plus some zoos put their org charts on line and others list their senior staff. Put it all together and . . . .

 

As I was researching the Nearctic (N.American) Tundra and Taiga/Boreal Exhibits, I discovered that I had missed a whole bunch of Holarctic (circumpolar north) breeding birds, so I revised my exhibit plan: (1) renamed Arctic Holarctic (more precise title); (2) added numbers and sexes of every species in the exhibit to both the exhibit description and the visitor experience essay; (3) added the additional north circumpolar species, mostly birds but also a few small mammals, requiring the addition of a separate gull aviary and also a greatly enlarged sea bird aviary to the exhibit; (4) added some explanation of exhibit design to the visitor experience essay; (5) added pictures of all the animals to the visitor experience essay; (6) realized I had attached the wrong document when I had meant to attach the plan for the lower level; and (7) added some cross sectional views. (I also added public restrooms, as zooboyabroad suggested. Am still trying to work out where in the zoo the retail and food services would best fit.) Here's the revised description; everything else is attached.

I. THE ARCTIC HOLARCTIC: Animals from the Top of the World; The Circumpolar Fauna. (Outlined in red on the accompanying map of the overall plan.) The concept is pack ice, and cliffs and rocky shore in the shadow of a glacier face. Building and walls between exhibits will resemble the face of a glacier, a rocky cliff, or ice thrown up by collisions. Some walks will be constructed to create the impression of walking on pack ice. There will be no trees or shrubs in any of the exhibits since there is none on the tundra, although the area surrounding will be planted with evergreens to enhance association with northern climes. Inspirations include the Arctic Ring Exhibit at the Detroit Zoo, Polar Bear Shores at Sea World in Queensland, the Sea Birds Aviary at the Alaska Sea Life Center, Journey to Churchill at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg and the Russell B. Aitken Sea Bird Colony at the Bronx Zoo. My “pie in the sky” wish would be to display Narwhals along with the Beluga Whales, but Narwhals simply do not survive in captivity and the tusks are a concern.
A. Animals on Display:
1. Mammals: Polar Bear (2.4); Ringed and Bearded Seals (2.2 each); Arctic Fox (1.1); Narrow-headed Vole(2.2); Tundra/Root Vole (2.2); Tundra Shrew (2.2)
2. Cetaceans: Beluga Whales (6.6).
3. Birds: Snowy Owl (1.1); King Eider(2.2); Common Eider(4.4); Spectacled Eider (2.2); Brant Goose (2.2); Pink-footed Goose (2.2); Emperor Goose (2.2); Parasitic Jaeger/Skua (4.4); Long-tailed Jaeger/Skua (1.1); Pomarine Jaeger/Skua (1.1); Arctic Tern(4.4); Little Auk/Dovekie (4.4); Black Guillemot (4.4); Common Murre (4.4); Thick-billed Murre (4.4); Razorbill (4/4); Sanderling (2.2); Red Knot (2.2); Baird’s Sandpiper (2.2); Dunlin (2.2); Red Phalarope (3.2); Red-necked Phalarope (3.2); Northern Fulmar (4/4); Black-headed Gull (6.6); Ivory Gull (6.6); Ross’s Gull (6.6); Sabine’s Gull (6.6); Glaucous Gull (4.4); Rock Ptarmigan (3.3); Snow Bunting (2.2); Northern Wheatear (2.2). No open bird exhibits/display to avoid pinioning; all birds housed in aviaries.
4. Reptiles: No.
5. Amphibians: No.
6. Fish: See Aquarium
7. Invertebrates: See Aquarium
8. Aquarium with selection of 400+ fish species and ~5000 invertebrates native to the Arctic Ocean (I don’t know enough about this fauna to be any more specific than to list the main groups; detail can be found at Home, Arctic Ocean biodiversity Greenlings; Sculpins; Poachers & Alligatorfishes; Seasnails/Snailfishes; Gadids (cods); Pricklebacks; Gunnels; Eelpouts; Flatfishes (flounders); Salmonids (Ciscoes, Whitefishes, Trouts, Chars and Salmons); Lanternfishes; Wolffishes; Sand Lances; Lumpsuckers; Pacific Herring; Rainbow Smelt; Alaska Plaice; Bering Flounder; Skates & Rays; Lampreys; and Sharks; Crustaceans (krill, Snow Crab, shrimp and others); Sea Spiders; Molluscs (bivalves, snails); Cephalopods (octopus and squid); Annelids; Sea Anemone; Sea Stars; Brittle Stars; Basket Stars; Sea Urchins; Sea Lilies; Sea Cucumbers; Cnidarians (Jellyfish, Siphonophores and Hydrozoans); Sponges; Sea Squirts; and Worms. Exhibits will be based on 11 of the shore and shelf (neritic) ecoregions in the Arctic Realm, including pelagic, demersal and benthic animals: North Greenland; Lancaster Sound; High Arctic Archipelago; Beaufort-Amundsen-Viscount-Melville-Queen Maud; Beaufort Sea—continental coast and shelf; Chukchi Sea; East Siberian Sea; Laptev Sea; Kara Sea; North and East Barents Sea; and White Sea; and the Oceanic Pelagic, Oceanic Bathyal and Oceanic Demersal/Benthic Provinces as well, with separate exhibits for predator and prey fish as necessary. Exhibits would show the life cycle of anadromous fish. Pelagic and coast/continental shelf tanks will be kept on light and temperature cycles for 80° and 75° north latitude, respectively.
9. Museum Exhibits: Polar Ice and Sea Level; Remnants of Ice Age Evolution; Vulnerable, Endangered and Recently Extinct Animals of the Arctic; also art of indigenous peoples (e.g., Inuit, Sami, Samoyed, Yukaghir, etc.) showing animals on display.
10. Notes on exhibits, care and enrichment:
a. Predator-Prey exhibits: Polar Bears and Seals; Polar Bears and Beluga Whales; Seals and mysids, shrimp, arctic cod, herring, crabs, clams and octopus (prey shown in tanks on lower level); Sea Birds w/Northern Fulmar on one side and Parasitic Jaeger on the other; wading birds and Isopods and Mole Crabs; land bird aviary (Rock Ptarmigan, Northern Wheatear and Snow Bunting) w/Arctic Fox on one side and Snowy Owl on the other; Snowy Owl and voles and Tundra Shrews; Arctic Fox and voles and Tundra Shrews.
b. Seabird aviary pool to 10m/30’ deep to illustrate eider duck diving behavior (e.g., to retrieve mussels dropped to the bottom; in nature they dive up to 50+m).
c. Jaegers/Skuas, fulmar and Glaucous Gull are predatory and aggressive and will be kept separate from other birds. Parasitic Jaeger, Fulmar and Glaucous Gull are colonial; other two jaegers kept only as pairs. Northern Fulmar w/2m/6’ or deeper pool to demonstrate diving behavior.
d. Live fish will be provided as part of both diet and enrichment to all predatory animals with pools (Beluga Whales, Polar Bears, Seals, sea bird and gull aviaries, Fulmar, jaegers/skuas, Glaucous Gulls and larger fish). Rodents will be provided to Snowy Owls, Arctic Foxes and Pomarine Jaeger/Skua, so their enclosures will have to be constructed and maintained rodent proof. Live chicks and/or ducklings will be provided to jaegers/skuas, fulmar, Snowy Owl and Arctic Fox. Live shrimp will be provided to sea bird and gull aviaries, fulmar, jaegers/skuas, Glaucous Gulls, larger fish, seals and Belugas. Whole eggs will be provided to fulmar, jaegers/skuas and gulls. Mussels will be provided to the sea bird and gull aviaries, Glaucous Gulls and Belugas. Live squid will be provided to all aviaries with pools, seals and Belugas. Live octopus and crabs will be provided to seals and Belugas. Fulmar, jaegers/skuas and gulls will receive fish offal. Live feedings of rodents, chicks or ducklings will be made outside of visitor hours.
e. Polar Bear exhibits are designed to hold a total of up to six bears (e.g., 2.4) plus cubs. They meet or exceed AZA standards for that number of bears. Although Polar Bears are solitary for much of the year, they will be kept in single sex groups here and paired off during the breeding season, either in the main exhibits or off-exhibit. These are intentionally large exhibits to give the bears plenty of room to roam and to seek a variety of physical experiences. Polar Bears do engage in social interaction when encountering each other outside the breeding season, and this is an added source of enrichment. It is also hoped that giving the bears a choice in mates well increase breeding success. In addition, the presence of more than one bear will enhance the visitor experience; the importance of developing and maintaining the regard for this iconic and vulnerable species cannot be overstated.
f. The Polar Bear maternity dens are constructed so that they are served by a branch corridor (off of the main bear corridor) into which males will never be allowed.
g. Polar Bear enrichment will, in addition to live fish, include rotating toys, food in foraging pits and carcasses. Foraging pits will also be provided to the Arctic Foxes.
h. Polar Bear and Arctic Fox dens will have temperature controls, air conditioning in the summer being the more important, and their exhibits will have heating/cooling pads.
i. Exhibits will house 3.3 Rock Ptarmigans. They live in single sex groups outside breeding season, so for much of year the sexes will be housed separately in the two designated exhibits. During breeding season (spring), pairs will be housed together, one off exhibit.
j. Depth of Polar Bear and seal pools will go from shallow to 15’/5m deep. Beluga pool will include a shallow area laced with glacial boulders, such as the habitat they use to rub themselves while shedding their skin, but most of the pool will be 50’/15m deep.
k. All bird and mammal pools will have machine generated artificial waves.
l. Signs will be in Inuit as well as English.
m. Non-skylight areas of roof not needed for exhibit access will hold solar panels to aid with energy costs.

 

Sounds interesting. I like the signs in Inuit and English.

 

Thanks. If you want to see what they'd look like: [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mammals_of_Nunavut]List of mammals of Nunavut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

I love how detailed and realistic you are. Any news on more sections? This might be the best design I've ever seen on this forum.

 

Thanks. Hope the pictures of the animals and the cross section help with the envisioning. Next one is Antarctica, the sub-Antarctic Islands and the Southern Ocean. I've got all the animals selected and the Aquarium done in final, and have the rough sketches for the penguins, birds, pinnipeds and porpoises/dolphins. Just need to turn those into finals.

I also have the animals pretty much selected for the Galapagos Exhibit and a basic concept. Need to turn it into rough sketches after Antarctica is done. Have begun researching the animal list for the North American Tundra and Taiga/Boreal regions.