A lot of zoos are phasing out elephants or building them better enclosures, which is reasonable considering how hard it is to care for them in such limited space. However, when the elephants move what I've found is that they are almost always replaced by two animals, rhinos or camels. (Even some bigs zoos like San Diego are guilty of this *coughs* Urban Jungle. So are there any zoos you know of that have had some interesting replacements for old elephant exhibits? My local Henry Doorly Zoo moved its elephants from Pachyderm Hill to the African Veldt, and renovated that exhibit for bongos, tortoises, sable antelope, cheetahs, and honestly one of the best lion exhibits in the world. I also heard Greenville Zoo in South Carolina replaced their exhibit with a Pampas exhibit with an anteater and some rheas.
I can't think of any examples , but I think that when it comes to putting to use a former elephant enclosure (with the notable exception of ZSL ) the possibilities are endless.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is replacing their old elephant exhibit with a roller coaster. (*insert sad face* I was hoping they were going to add a new animal exhibit.)
I remember from reading threads on this site that the Santa Barbara Zoo planned to replace their elephant exhibit with tigers once their pachyderms died.
A few I can think of: *Audubon Zoo’s Asian elephants got a new habitat in 2015, and orangutans moved into their old home. *Calgary’s herd went to Smithsonian in 2014, with their former area getting overhauled for giant pandas in 2018 (after Indian rhino briefly occupied it). I believe plans are for orangutan to reside here after the pandas head out. *I heard of plans to redo Buffalo’s former elephant exhibit for the Zoo’s gorilla troop, but don’t know if it’s a confirmed thing yet. *Philadelphia Zoo’s old elephant area is now part of the children’s zoo KidZooU.
St Louis went from the old Elephant house, they lost two species-pygmy hippo and Malayan tapir. Babirusa moved elsewhere, sun bear moved in, to the Rivers Edge And they gained bush dog capybara, giant anteater red river hog hyena dwarf mongoose painted dog and Andean bear moved in hippos and black rhino and of course elephants stayed
Rostock converted their Elephant enclosure into one for Pygmy hippo. The old elephant enclosure in Blijdorp first held Reticulated giraffe for 15 years and now Black rhino. The enclosure in Burgers' Zoo was downsized massively and is now a spacious Meerkat enclosure. In Erfurt the plan is still to convert the old Elephant exhibit into one for giraffes. Frankfurt former Elephant enclosure now has Black rhino (and sometimes the remaining Hippo). The former elephant enclosure in Nuremberg now holds Reeves' muntjac, Indian rhino and a free-ranging group of Souslik.
Paris Jardin des Plantes keeps giant tortoises in their centuries-old elephant yard. Cologne plans to extensively remodel their historic pachyderm house for lemurs.
Sadly, according to their Instagram, the last elephant has died. I was curious to what they 'd replace them with, and tigers would be a cool fit. I'd be impressed with any asian carnivore replacing them.
Toronto Zoo replaced its elephants with its giraffes. Greater Vancouver Zoo once had an asian and african elephant, but once they were transferred, their exhibit was turned into a bighorn sheep exhibit.
I have often thought that many former elephant complexes could be replaced with herds of endangered bovids, Gaur, Banteng. Obviously with so many asian themed complexes losing their elephants Indian Rhinos are in high demand, this could be an alternative which both fits the geographic theme and contributes to endangered SSP.
It should be noted that rhino and camel are common replacements for a good reason -- they can usually be accommodated without any housing modifications, while species smaller than camels would often be able to escape containment. That doesn't explain why wild cattle aren't used more frequently as replacements though. Anyway, here are some other examples: London - was camel, but now holds tapir. Lake Superior (Duluth) - was polar bears and seals, then abandoned after flooding and now being renovated for brown bear. Erie - the wing of the main building that holds orangutan. Omaha - sable antelope, but not sure if it really counts since the old elephant barn was demolished.
Ostrava Zoo uses an old elephant house for red river hogs. Riverbanks Zoo plans to convert an elephant house to a rhino.
The Wellington Zoo's historical elephant house was refurbished at one point to hold a variety of lizards and even African small-clawed frogs and a group of little red flying foxes (Pteropus scapulatus). Unfortunately it's only a cafeteria now. The paddock they had has been turned into a play area. The Barcelona Zoo, after phasing out their Asian elephants, built the Snowflake Memorial exhibition building (soon to be an insectarium), with an adjacent red kangaroo paddock.
Very interesting, I think giant tortoises would make great replacements for most elephant yards no longer in use due to the flat terrain and exposure to sunlight.
A couple of UK ones I can potentially think of that had different animals. I am not 100% sure so hopefully someone can clarify. Isn't Bristol's Gorilla Island on the site of their former elephant enclosure? If so, was there anything in between or was it redeveloped for Gorillas after Wendy died? In the early '90s I went to Cricket St Thomas just after they had opened their new elephant enclosure. I am sure I remember a keeper talk where they said they were planning to turn the old one into a new sea lion pool. I don't think I visited again before the wildlife park closed. Does anyone know if this happened?
