Humble small zoo

How good a small zoo idea is this assuming there is a catchment area of visitors?

Insectarium
Larger scale design based on Warsaw museums (not the zoo) arachnid exhibits. Uncluttered, light, airy and featuring mainly 40cm squared footprints for spiders, scorpions, cockroaches and the like.

Aquarium
Concrete tanks with glass fronts for Amazon fishes (small river rays and uarus), Indo Pacific (flying gurnard, Plotosus), Asian fishes (snakehead, tigerfish, knifefish) and Australian turtles. A nocturnal fish display (flashlight fish and reef lobster). Jellyfish pseudokriesel. Tropical octopus. Again there is a light and airy interior rather than a dark, traditional aquarium. No coldwater fishes so as to eliminate the need for a chiller. Marine tanks share water to increase the volume for all.

Reptile House
A smaller crocodilian exhibit following the Thrigby swamp house, and otherwise bases upon the Jersey reptile greenhouse. Lots of hot herps to attract the public. Free flying softbills and finches. Aldabra tortoise and rhinoceros iguana pens. Dart frogs cohabit with eyelash vipers and with small lizards.

Rainforest
Walk around exhibit for birds, small mammals and reptiles. River turtles and small ducks on a pond. Mouse deer and fruit bats. Pigeons, lorikeets, turacos. Basilisks and green iguanas. Cafe adjacent has a window inside.

Mammal House
Mixed walk throigh exhibit for callitrichids, squirrel monkeys, titis, lemurs and also sloths, tamanduas, hyraxes, African ground squirrels and crested porcupines.

Bird House
Jewel aviaries for rollers, bee eaters, small hornbills, barbets, starlings, weaver birds, plovers and parrots.

Birds of Prey
Owls, caracaras, accipitrids, Corvus, kookaburras, seriemas and NW vultures. Bird of prey encounters but no flights as it would spook the other animals.

Bird Gardens
Flamingo, spoonbill, ibis and duck walk through aviary as a focal point. Crowned cranes. Pheasantries. Penguin pool. Sea duck and Inca tern aviary. Macaw and curassow aviary as a secondary focal point.

Small mammals
Small cats, mongooses, foxes and short clawed otters. Red squirrel "aviary".

Large carnivores
Wolves and large cats as bread and butter.

Hoofstock
Blackbuck and deer. Peccaries. Ratites. Capybara. Though I like hoofstock they are costly to maintain and don't attract the public.

Farm Park
Reindeer, alpaca, camel and water buffalo. History and science of domestication. Zoo camel rides.

 

Looks like my kind of zoo, just find funding and a site in the South of England, and I'll come and work for you.

 

I think that this is a very good idea but I don't think that it is a "humble small" zoo. That aside, it is definatley a zoo I would visit

 

Really? The idea is to take up little space and minimise a risky outlay by having few large mammals to begin with. The largest animals are big cats: zoos like Sandown manage them with 5 acres or less, which is a small zoo in the UK (Southport etc). Indeed the footprint above must be smaller than that as hoofstock species are regularly seen in smaller collections. Largest animals are domestics for meeting the public (and reindeer will lure in kids and families over Christmas).

 

Building and maintenance costs for jelly pseudokreisel, large aquaria and "Lots of hot herps" might considerably higher than hoofstock husbandry (which do have its popular representatives).

 

Sorry, I wasn't referring to the size of the zoo, I was on about the "humble" part of it. It sounds like quite a good idea for a zoo and I usually call small collections that mostly rely on domestics or pet shop species "humble" collections.

 

In zoos that are truly small and humble from my experience, hoofstock is the largest group of animals found in the zoo. As water dragon also said, they usually have animals commonly and easily accessible from private trade, many times pet trade, so several species you chose, the number you chose, and the layout of your designs prevent your zoo from being truly "humble". Of coarse there will always be exceptions to this, but I would call this zoo medium or smallish, not small and humble.

 

Well this is a 5 acre collection as would be considered small in the UK, with room to expand within it. All species are available privately else common in small collections: hardest would be sloth, mouse deer etc and the flamingos and penguins. Lions go for 100 pounds and many venomous snakes for less. The problem is licensing but a zoo labeled as such needs what the public see as proper zoo animals, so the outlay should be worth it.

 

The big aquaria are not too large (think the Moorish idol tank at Warsaw): there is a reason the Amazon tank is for rays and schooling uarus rather than arapaima, giant characins, large pimelodids and ripsaw cats.

I considered sharks but the smallest of "proper" sharks (public draw species) is the bonnethead, which needs too large an aquarium. The public do not seem drawn to Atelomycterus though they are active and stereotypically shark-like, but they seem to expect to see certain public aquarium species as jellies and stingrays. Suppose the Asian and Australian tanks were removed for reasons of space, or even the whole building turned marine. I doubt the running costs would be much different, just unavoidable.

Since my big interest is landscaped vivaria and aquaria I could hardly open without them.

Other than the classic pachyderms and noriously difficult zebra, which hoofstock are popular and hardy? Deer were chosen for friendliness and ease of care, similar the few domestics. The water buffalo might cause most problems but surely still a good idea in theory, as an educational exhibit children can pet. (I don't like rabbits and guinea pigs in petting zoos with small children dropping them but ruminants are good for children to experience.)

 

I can think of a few more animals. Lar gibbons for example were once common in smaller collections but I'm unsure they are as available now, same as penguins fell out of availability.

Skunks and tree porcupines fit in the small mammal collection as a mixed exhibit: both can be used to illustrate mammalian defence. Raccoons might fit the theme but on the other hand might get quilled.

One idea I had was for a reverse light house but the problems are 1) costs and 2) they attract rodents into (our) daylight hours, upsetting the public. Shame because they are good for small mammals such as bushbabies, springhares etc. (I used to keep springhares but now they are rare in captivity again?) Small carnivores such as genets and fennecs can become more diurnal in captivity. But the night primates and the like do not.

Architecture? I want to keep costs down but not the false economy of the shed city or even early Chester. Buildings need a degree of sturdiness but in practice houses are adapted from preexisting constructs. The issue then becomes interior design: naturalistic for walk through exhibits, light and airy otherwise. Custom built buildings may be playful - Moorish for camels, oriental for water buffalo - but classic zoo buildings may not be appropriate without large mammals and cost is a consideration.

 

The fact it would have penguins would make it no longer "small and humble" because, at least from an American stand point, they are not in private trade at all.

 

I understand the Humboldt's penguin is, in Europe but in very small numbers since bird flu. There is a reason they declined in zoos.

 

There are several things very wrong with this post. Knifefish are not from Asia but from South America.

Tiger fish are not from Asia but from Africa. Flying Gurnard are from the Atlantic and not the Indo-Pacfic.

Also why keep Australian Turtles with Asian fish? If your goal is education then keeping Australian Turtles in with Asian fish is a very bad idea. Both snakeheads and Tigerfish are extremely aggressive and will need there own tank.

A nocturnal reef is a brilliant idea! The reef is almost as beautiful at night then in the day.

 

Every dedicated fishkeeper will tell you that rays should be kept in adequately large tanks. Even smaller freshwater species like Potamotrygon scobina are pretty high-maintenance species. Representative jellyfish tanks are neither something a "humble" zoo could afford.
Depending on the local legislation, keeping venomous snakes can be expensive, especially if one has to follow pricey standards such as expensive insurances, high security husbandry elements etc.
You already mentioned deer and blackbucks; nilghai, camelids, wild goat/sheep/ibex species, takins would be hardy ungulate species. One of the most interesting deer species well adapted to central Eurooean climate to present would be the Chinese Water deer.
Rare domesticated ungulates could be another addition.
I live next to free-ranging water buffalos; they're not really a "pet" species.
All in all, most of your concept are random set pieces of your personal favourite zoo exhibits. Somehow, I'm missing a connecting leitmotif, some original concept ideas and a more detailed approach.

 

Examples? ? - because it seems venomous snakes and non-venomous snakes are housed in an identical settings, in most of the cases. I could be wrong though. Except Zagreb zoo venomous snakes corner, that includes a bushmaster snake among others, where terraria are in a locked, separate room, possibly not accessible for the visitors.

 

I could name a few examples - if you applied a more polite diction, Nikola...

 

Can you please Batto, name few more examples. Sometimes as all people, I am not in a brilliant mode. - I am in a negotiations for purchasing a small piece of land for eventual zoo. Starting from nill - greenfield

 

Depending on local legislation and, most of all, insurance companies, this can include:
- Access only via sally ports with see-through windows and heightened thresholds
- Complete sealing of all potential breakout options, including windows, water pipes etc.
- All tank glasses made of special safety glass
- Constant documentation and regulation of access control
- Access limited to selected (expensively trained) staff members who have to allow background checks, participate (often on their expenses) in further education programs and have to present good-conduct certificate.
- Supply of adequate antivenins guaranteed.

 

Old World knifefishes are osteoglossiformes convergent upon the Neotripical counterparts. The species I was thinking of was the clown knifefish. Similarly Asian tigerfish are striped softwater perches often mis-sold as brackish. Snakeheads, Asian tigerfishes and Asian knifefishes are all ambush predators but size allowing unlikely to harm one another. All prefer different levels of the tank and Datnoides, the smallest of the three, is deep bodied. They will live together but I did not mean to imply Australian turtles in the same tank. Pignoses will coexist with certain pleurodires.

Flying gurnards called helmet gurnards are present in the indo-pacific. I have kept them before in a shallow aquarium. They are an easy and charming fish but take a lot of food.

 

Well its a small ABC zoo with a few ABC species partially to help fund aquaria, and collections of reptiles and softbills. And on that not hot herps are a crowd puller. So the leitmotif is an ordinary 5 acre zoo. Traditional zoos did not have themes were they seaside resort collections or city zoos run by zoological societies. They grow, add exhibits with fashion or necessity.

Rays are not difficult given the space: the aquaria do not need to be enormous other than floor space uncluttered. Uaru or silver dollars can school above them if they are river rays. On the other hand marine rays are also good with fish and some are native to reefs where they may not even bury in sand. Dasyatis kuhli is the perfect reef ray: caveats about size apply to serranids such as Chromileptes and many other commonly kept home reef fishes. All the same the aquarium would need to have depth front to back, not to be gigantic. 180cm X 180cm for rays and others, but 90cm tall at most?

Small jellyfish tanks have dropped in price and small jelly species from tropical waters are now being offered to the UK and US public, and even proprietory foods for them No longer are they strictly for professional aquarists in public aquaria: it is merely that planktonic organisms require specific aquarium design and care.

Barbary sheep might be a good exhibit but I presume ibex and the like to require artificial rocky terraces. But what is the appeal to average zoo visitors of nilgai or takin?