The vast majority of zoos are heavily limited in what they achieve because of their inability to expand. If your home zoo had the ability to acquire two additional acres adjacent to the zoo, how would you use this space? This can be used for whatever you want it to be used for, however you must specify what side of the zoo these two acres are located.
My home zoo is the Capron Park Zoo. The most likely two acre expansion would be on the field hockey field next to the zoo. If I was able to expand the zoo onto this field, I would build a new complex called Tropical Asia. The complex holds 26 species, 15 of which are brand new to the zoo. The complex would contain two sets of rotational exhibits: Set 1- 6 outdoor 5-7,000 sqft exhibits: 1.1 Sloth Bear 1.1 Malayan Tiger (2 exhibits) 1.1 Malayan Tapir 1.1 Lowland Anoa (2 exhibits) Set 2- 3 outdoor and 4 indoor exhibits, 2-3,000 sqft: 1.1 Fishing Cat 1.1 Javan Gibbon 1.3 Francois' Langurs 1.1 Rhinoceros Hornbill 1.1 Clouded Leopard In addition to the outdoor exhibits, there will be one central building housing the four indoor rotational exhibits, a Walk-through Aviary, and some reptile exhibits. The reptiles are: 1.1 Phillippine Crocodile 1.0 Blood Python 1.0 Red-tailed Ratsnake 1.0 Green Tree Python The aviary contains: 2.2.x Rodrigues Fruit Bat 1.1 Victorian Crowned Pigeon 1.1 Pheasant Pigeon 2.2 Pied Imperial Pigeon 2.2 Nicobar Pigeon 3.1 Raggiana Bird of Paradise 2.2 Metallic Starling 2.2 Asian Fairy Bluebird 4.0 Beautiful Fruit Dove 4.0 Black-naped Fruit Dove 1.0 Mindadao Bleeding Heart Dove 1.3 Crested Wood Partridge 1.1 Blue-faced Honeyeater Please don't hesitate to share any suggestions you have.
My home zoo is the Greensboro Science Center. The only place they could acquire more land is the woods that are next to it, however these woods are park of a historical park (This is where a big part of the Revolutionary War happened) If they were able to get this land, I would build exhibits for animals that were in early expansion plans but never made it through. I would first expand the small cat complex, which now (by that I mean when it opens next month) Fishing Cats, a Serval, a Sand Cat, and a Black-footed Cat. This new part will include an outdoor and indoor exhibit for Ocelots as well as Clouded Leopards. There is will be a path that leads from area near the extension that will take you to a walk-through Tree Kangaroo habitat. After this, you would see a building at the end of the path. There is also an enclosure to either side of you The one on the left contains Mandrills, and the one on the right contains Orangutans. You can go in the building to learn about these awesome primates and view their indoor areas.
One of my home zoos is the Stone Zoo. I would make an exhibit called “Rivers of Asia.” This exhibit would have Fishing Cats, Asian Small Clawed Otters and Siamangs sharing a habitat, Malayan Tapirs, Chinese Alligator, and Japanese Giant Salamanders.
My local zoo is the Calgary Zoo, and personally I'd want them to rebuild their old South American area. They had a pretty solid South American house but flooding destroyed it and they moved the majority of the animals. They still have the peccaries, flamingoes, rheas and alpacas. I'd want them to build a building kind of like the one they have for Africa, with a big interior area that extends into outdoor enclosures for the larger animals. It would also be interesting to have the building focus on the different ecoregions of each area to show that South America, which is pretty alien to Canadian visitors, is a lot more than just the Amazon. Ideally it would represent the Pantanal, the Andes, the Amazon and the Cerrado, four distinct ecoregions that would each have their own representative species in areas of the building themed after them. The Flamingoes and alpacas would be in the Andean area, and getting condors like they used to have would be great for that. The Cerrado could house anteaters like they used to have, along with rheas and peccaries, and maybe a new addition of maned wolves. The pantanal could show giant river otters, jaguars, and maybe a shared small caiman/capybara enclosure. Aquatic viewing would be a must with this one, and then the Amazon area would be themed after a flooded forest like the old lemur enclosure was based around. Large amazon fish swimming in the water with select primate and bird species in separated arboreal segments
The Queens Zoo is the closest AZA zoo to me, so let's say that's my home zoo. It would be hard for it to physically expand considering it has the neighborhood on two sides and the Grand Central Parkway on a third, leaving only some baseball field and tennis courts to the south on which to expand. Obviously, this is a fantasy, so let's say the Queens Zoo gets two acres of that land. I would give Queens Zoo the oft-talked-about jaguars in an exhibit called... Forest of Teeth It would be dedicated to predator species of South America's rainforests. The focal species would be a breeding pair of jaguars who will have a large dynamic outdoor exhibit with rocks and stumps for climbing, warm rocks to allow for some winter viewing, and a water feature with live fish. There would be indoor viewing for the jaguars during the winter, and the building is also be home to other predators. Orinoco crocodile and Cuiver's dwarf caiman will live here in dedicated exhibits. Dedicated exhibits exists for goliath bird-eating spider, Brazilian wandering spider, Amazonian giant centipede, green anaconda, red-bellied piranhas, and vampire bats. A pair of harpy eagles are another marquee species, living in a dedicated aviary with a greenhouse sunroof to give them plenty of sunshine.
I went to school in Buffalo, so the Buffalo Zoo was my adopted home zoo for four years. Historic status and Frederick Olmsted design restrictions lead to unique challenges for the renovations and (even for fantasy purposes) expansion for this zoo. That being said, for the purposes of this fantasy, the golf courses southwest of the zoo boast plenty of acreage, so let give Buffalo Zoo two of them. This will be combined with the current bison exhibit. (this will explain if the acreage numbers seem off to anyone. According to the Google Maps area calculator, the Buffalo Zoo's bison exhibit is about .5 acres.) This exhibit is for the zoo's Indian rhinos in the interest of creating a complex for year-round viewing, immersive guest experiences, and and enriching animal habitat. Kaziranga Trek The feature attraction is a 1.5 acre grassy yard home to 1.1 Indian rhinos, 1.4 axis deer, and 1.3 hog deer. There is also a long flight cage for a pair of cinereous vultures and a .4 acre habitat for Bengal tigers. A path leads guests into the rhino barn. The rhino barn is home to a .45 acre dayroom for rhinos to roam around. Adjacent to it are holding stalls. Among its features are stratching posts and a small pool. There are free-flying rose-ringed parakeets and lesser adjuctant stork. There are dedicated exhibits for gharials, Indian cobra, and fishing cat.
I think that the RSCC made better use of its original 1 acre building than the 8 acre extension to the zoo. Lots of unusual species in a relatively small space. I would have a similar collection but with more species in double the area. I would use the format of the World of Birds, the Berlin Zoo Aquarium or Frankfurt Exotarium to maximise the size of the building.
It would be quite impossible to expand at all, but the Philadelphia Zoo wants to revamp the southern end of the zoo, so that's more than 2 acres.
Houston could use those two acres for an Australian exhibit, an part of the world that isn't planned to be represented once the zoo completes its master plan. This area could easily house kangaroos, emus, dingoes, and even the return of koalas and wombats. Additionally, a few aviaries and some reptiles sprinkled throughout like the Pantanal would be awesome. I'm not sure if the space would be large enough for something like a saltwater croc or little blue penguin enclosure, not to mention I don't think the zoo really needs them either.
Two new acres at Lincoln Park Zoo, my first thought would be to use for an Asia complex with tigers and orangutan as the keystone species, modeled somewhat on Tiger Territory at London. These are both popular species that cannot be integrated into the current footprint without extensive renovations and the latter would be immensely easier to justify with new land. The above could overlap with the existing hoofstock area as well (especially as many of those species are Asian in origin) and maybe move a few species from other exhibits (francois' langur, Asian small-clawed otter) but I was planning this with the assumption the rest of the zoo remains as is. If the zoo goes through with plans to renovate the hoofstock area into an Asia complex first, then I would instead suggest an Australia expansion, something else not possible in the zoo's current boundaries. Easy design-wise: a building with small mammals, birds, and reptiles surrounded by outdoor macropod and ratite enclosures. This would open the existing bettong, kangaroo and one or two of the aviary spaces up in the process. I'm hesitant to think on Brookfield for this as they have so much unused space and are still figuring out a new master plan with this in mind.
I think this is a more interesting question for small to mid size zoos where the additional two acres could potentially make a big difference. For larger zoos, as a couple people have already suggested, they often could free up a couple of acres by making better use of the space they do have, or already have that space or more not being used anyway. A couple of suggestions for two small-mid sized zoos near me (both are in the 25-40 acre size range). New Forest Wildlife Park Add the new area in the direction of the play area near the wolves. The zoo specialises in otters, owls and European wildlife. The most obvious omission from the collection is bears. I would therefore use the space to add a new European brown bear exhibit in the zoos natural woodland. Beale Wildlife Park Being surrounded on one side by a main road, another by the river and a third by its car park, there is only one side that could be expanded. The area where the expansion could be features several paddocks holding zebra, highland cattle, alpaca, shetland ponies and pygmy goats. The zoo has a good collection of small exotics but a lot of the paddock space if given over to domestic or rare farm species. How about going for something in the middle for the extension? Domestics but from a different part of the world so they can still give a more exotic vibe. I have already mentioned alpaces which might suggest a South American theme but they also have guanacos so that area is quite well covered. I am thinking Asia. The extension could allow for a new enclosure holding domestic yak and domestic bactrian camel.
These are excellent choices of mammals and birds - I don't think that I'd change anything. Very impressive!
Zoo Antwerpen Central African tropical house with birds (Congo peafowl, Great blue turaco, Hartlaub's duck, African pygmy goose, African grey parrot,...), primate species and reptiles. Zoo Planckendael Mixed Asian exhibit with Indian rhinoceros and ungulates like deer, nilgai or blackbuck, perhaps a pig species. Inspired by the exhibit at Dierenrijk in the Netherlands. Including a building with viewable indoor paddocks.
For the Alaska Zoo a Beringia Complex. Lions Dholes Pzewalski’s Horse Wapiti Camels and Wisent Might need more than two acres…so I’ll settle for the Lions and the Horses and the Wisent. We can put the Dholes in the currently unoccupied Wolf exhibit, the Camels already have an exhibit elsewhere in the zoo and we can view Wapiti at the nearby AWCC.
