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La Haute Touche Master plan

Discussion in 'Speculative Zoo Design and Planning' started by Therabu, 6 Nov 2022.

  1. Therabu

    Therabu Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    As the thread that covers this park in the dedicated section of the forum name it, la Haute Touche is a rather curious zoo. Public-owned by the Museum, same as the Paris zoo and Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes, it was initially a research station and was later opened. Situated in the middle of nowhere, even by French standards, it is 436 hectares large, of which only 100 are opened to the public.

    Recent evolution of the park have on one side enlarge the collection with native reptiles, birds and small carnivores. A little bit of care have been introduced in the conception of enclosures to look more naturalistic and go a little bit beyond the simple huge square of forest or grassland fenced.
    Its initial purpose is research and breeding of herds of endangered species for conservation, not being profitable and attract thousands of visitors per year. However recent additions seem to deviate from this orientation with nilgai, red river hog or coati as beneficiaries of newer investments.
    Therefore I suggest this masterplan for la Haute Touche. This is meant to be as realistic as possible meaning following constraints need to considered :
    - la Haute-Touche is situated in the countryside and far from any city. On top of that, 40 minutes away, the zooparc de Beauval is without any doubt the biggest and most dynamic zoo of the country. With this in mind, it is hard to imagine more than 2 or 3 hundred thousands visitors. Therefore, fixed cost (staff, heating...) need to be kept at a very reasonable level.
    - Current attendance is very low, in my opinion, mainly due to lack of communication and marketing. However, the park lacks a few big attractive animals that would bring him a little bit more in the light.
    - The park is situated in a region of marsh, lakes and forests, so it is rather humid. Some arid species seem to thrive here without developing sickness but that need to be considered as well when bringing in new species. It needs to be mainly hardy species that do not need heating (or just a little at some degree). I was actually surprised by the ability of some species to get along without any heating (gaur for example). Girafes were brought at some point but the animals did not fare well.
    - In order to develop a new kind of visiting experience, I have tried to cluster together species of the same regions, to develop consistent species mix while also trying to find the right specie for the topography of the area (existence of water body, woodland or grassland).
    - Of course conservation and needs of breeding programs are strongly considered for building the collection plan.

    I have purposefully not covered the "safari" part. I understand the idea of the European safari, even though it houses only least concern species. I thought it could be changed with similar species, such as West-Caucasion tur instead of Alpine ibex, Mesopotamian fallow deer instead of common fallow deer (currently occupying 3 enclosures for each morph), or Visayas warty piginstead of wild boar (does the specie really need heating in oceanic climate ?).

    Let's move to the heart of the subject with the main map (open in full screen to see better)
    Pedestrian (and cyclable) park with a colour for each region of the world covered

    After parking (left to the yellow area), the visit starts with the African trail. It actually covers several regions of the continent.

    Sahel savannah
    This first part cover the transition area between savannah and semi-desert. Its main enclosure used to house girafe, European bison and now common zebra and watusi. A large community of small svannah species coexist here with scmittar-horned oryx as the largest. They live with warthog, patas monkey for which electric fence had to be installed, red-necked ostrich and possibly a desert-dwelling gazelle (dorcas, Mhorr). Here arid-country species are living in an open enclosure where they can enjoy the sun and that actually recall their environnement better than wooded areas of the park.
    Just before, a currently under-used grassland is converted as a double-cheetah enclosure which overlook the herbivores in the nearby enclosure. African spurred tortoise are moved here in a small enclosure designed in front of the cheetah prairie and that currently house Hermann and greek tortoises.


    Current tortoise enclosure and muntjack grassland behing to be converted in a new cheetah complex

    Cheetah

    A little bit more far away we continue the theme of the Sahel region with crested porcupines, banded mongooses (instead of meerkats) who both enjoy recently developed and naturalistic exhibits on the side of the lake. Close by, is the historic rocky island for Guinea baboon that is kept as a separation enclosure for management of separated individuals. A bigger island is currently being build on a corner of the big lake for housing a surplus group coming from Vincennes. On the other side of the path, one can see the former-cheetah enclosure transformed as a bigger and upgraded striped hyaena enclosure.

    Crested porcupine enclosure by @Maxime

    Mongoose enclosure by @Maguari

    by @Maxime
    Current cheetah enclosure where striped hyaena move

    Current Guinea baboon island

    Works for the future baboon territory

    Near-threatened Guinea baboon


    Striped hyaena enjoy a larger enclosure that allow to continue breeding


     
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  2. Therabu

    Therabu Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    African marsh

    The orange area cover the already existing complex of the "African marsh" present along the lake. Today, it is however inconsistent (striped hyaena, aoudad, svannah species) or housing pinioned birds.
    The area starts with the new red river hog enclosure that remain untouched with nice reeds and grass.




    Currently sitatunga and birds enclosure

    The african plain of the zoo

    The horrible enclosure for vultures will serves as a corridor between the lake and the plain

    The first big animal brought at la Haute Touche would be the common hippopotamus. Rather than the multi-million euros installation for 3 adults built a few kilometers away by Beauval with underwater vision, we would rather go here for very simple, yet naturalistic installation on the current african plain making use of the very large lake. Indeed hippopotamus would enjoy both a large grassy areas that they share with defassa waterbuck and sitatunga males, and a part of the lake fenced off thanks to large underwater wood poles. Visitors would take an elevated wooden walkway on top of the hippo passage and continue to turn around the lake. The path that goes straight to the breeding enclosures (the round part at the right of the map) would be removed from the visitor's path and remain only as a service area that deserves the hippopotamus building.

    The next enclosure would left untouched to receive the groupe red lechwe the zoo already have. They may live with a crane couple but the enclosure is not covered by mesh. On the contrary, a large walkthrough aviary is designed on the last enclosure of the area. It used to have flamingos on one side and aoudad on the other. Here, sitatunga females coexist with a large array of large African birds that may include pelican, crane, storks, ducks, ibis or goliath heron (list not definitive).



    Sacred ibis

    Young sitatunga
     
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  3. Therabu

    Therabu Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Breeding enclosures

    We now leave the lake area to start the trail around the circle of breeding enclosures for herbivores. Structurally, very little is done but minor modifications are done to convert some fencing into more visitor-friendly observatory. The first enclosure of the serie have already undergone such a transformation with a small viewpoint with sulcata tortoise and beisa royx in the background.

    African wild ass replace here the red lechwe and benefit from the already built new stable. Only a separation paddock seem to be necessary for housing a few individuals of this critically endangered specie and develop a small area around the poorly covered fauna of the Horn of Africa.

    inside the circle, the existing kangaroo and emu enclosure remain almost untouched, apart from visitor area where a little bit of light theming could be brought. That's not the most ambitious area of the park but I guess people are always happy to kangaroo and overall a little bit of Australian fauna.



    Rare breeding group of beisa oryx coexist with African wild ass.


    View from the Somalia point of view

    Taking left, we keep our journey on the African continent with 2 large enclosures dedicated to South African ungulates and in particular from the Highveld, another poorly represented ecosystem. at some points a few moats are designed inside the enclosure to offer the visitor better views inisde those large areas of grassland. One could even imagine a small meerkat enclosure, a reduced investment, at the view point to break the monoty of large enclosures for herbivores.

    One can see in those enclosures Hartmann's zebra (as a proxy for the other subspecie of mountain zebra), blesbok, black wildebeest, a arge groupe of springbock and Cape eland (instead of the greater kudu marked on the map). Mountain zebra is another EEP that could benefit from addiitonal holder, even if for holding a few stallions.



    Hartmann zebra

    The 3 next enclosures remain untouched as well but focus on endangered species. As they are outside of any global theme, they could be changed one for another depending on the habitat, holding needs ect... Species held are :
    - Eastern mountain bongo
    - Forest reindeer
    - Taiwanese sika deer
    - Mesopotamian fallow deer
    - Addax
    - Prince Alfred's deer

    But rather than continuing on the circle, one could go inside and discover the South-american area of the zoo. I have not focused on a specific area of the continent as the species held are usually far-ranging even though most are endangered. The aviary for Congo grey parrot could be used for endangered south american parrot while the double enclosure of hog deer, which already have a nice building, is transformed for housing giant anteater on one side and maned wolf on the other. Bush dogs could be accomodated as well instead of the maned wolf or even have another dedicated enclosure close-by as space is not lacking. The historical enclosure for dhole is transformed for a large groupe white-lipped pecarry.


    Rarely presented peccaries

    Aviary for parrot

    Future enclosure for anteater and maned wolf

    Current enclosure for dholes

    Maned wolf

    DSC_5553.JPG
    Bush dog

    Toclosethis south-american theme, an aviary or even better, a few fenced trees would be the exhibit for 2 small monkeys species and agouti on the floor.
     
    Last edited: 6 Nov 2022
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  4. Therabu

    Therabu Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The steppe of central-Asia

    At the extremity of the park, a new thematic is developed around Central-Asia. The large herbivores enclosures also get dry moats at some specific points for better viewing. Outof the 3 enclosures, the first one house two new-comers/While the Bukhara deer, very endangered and unsufficiently represented in my opinion used to live at the park and make a return, Afghan urial would be totally new. The specie, already house at Menagerie du Jardin des plantes in substandard condition so sourcing would not be an issue and a large group, like in Berlin could be developed.
    On the side, a common cohabitation, involving Persian onager/Kulan and domestic camel bring 2 hardy species. Wild ass are endangered and need space while camels are always crowd-pleasers. To finish on the outside circle, a large group of Przewalski horses continue to breed and sustain efforts of rewilding of this iconic specie.

    This part of the park may feel monotonous so small installations for different animals should also be planned. The thema of the steppe allow to present both corsac fox and Pallas' cat (both currently at Menagerie) as well as a group of European ground squirrel in open-topped enclosures.

    DSC_4431.JPG





     
  5. Therabu

    Therabu Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Chinese/Himalayan area
    This area have been recently renovated and fits exactly into the spirit of this masterplan (except its lack of geographic consistency) with small aesthetic modifications on the visitors' side, while keeping the original large herbivores exhibits and add a few additional animal to round up.

    New additions are white-lipped deer that goes with takins and markhors while Chinese water deer are going with Pere David's deer. The latest are supposed to already live at the park but I do not recall seeing them. Tufted deer are not so common but would be nice replacement from Reeves' muntjack that lives with the red pandas.



    The surface should be big enough to accomodate one more specie into the mix


    The Chinese marsh with cervids adapted to those areas


    The real starts of the area for most visitors

    Cambodia
    The red area covers the existing "carnivores" sector and 2 or 3 outter enclosures of the breeding enclosures. Again, no structural modifications, just a little bit of theming on visitors side to bring a common purpose and unity to the area. Sumatran tigers are kept here as a proxy for Indochinese tiger as it would not be worth to abandon Sumatran to bring Malaysian tigers which are probably doomed in Europe. At least, renovations could be carried out to extend their enclosures to the former lions' cage that remain abandonned for more than 15 years. I would allow to double their enclosure size. It compensates also the relative reduced size by being amongst the woods and therefore offering a lot of natural stimulation to the felines. Plus, having 3 enclosures for a couple of tigers is a good set up for breeding management.

    Tigers' exhibit could benefit from a few aesthetical improvements

    Sumatran tigers would be one of the crowds favorite, or at least a specie that bring people to the zoo.

    On the other side of the path, what was used to be the timber wolf enclosure now receive a small pack of dholes. They actually could fit both the "Chinese" and "Cambodian" theme. As one can imagine, intervention would be here very minimal.


    With a separation area, this exhibit would be useful for management of the large dholes pack.

    La Haute Touche might be the biggest participant to the dhole EEP

    We continue in the carnivores sector in the middle of the circle. Current enclosures for Northern lynxes and capybara are both natural. I would suggest to modify their inhabitants by welcoming fishing cats in the lynx enclosure and otters instead of capybara. With the addition of a small water body and a glass panel for visitor, this could be a very good exhibit for those endangered species.
    Dedicating an enclosure specifically to capybara in a zoo such as la Haute Touche always make me sceptical. It is a nice piece of woodland with a large water body that would be convenient for small-clawed otters, another crowd-favourite that would bring some welcomed animation amongst all those boring herbivores ! :p:D
    From what I know, otters are cold resistant and it does not need a very large building for them.

    Future otter exhibit

    Fishing cat exhibit

    To close the Cambodian area, the large herbivores enclosures would house for the largest area a mix of Javan banteng (a proxy for the very endangered mainland specie) and Thameng, the only remaining subspecie of Eld's deer at la Haute Touche. This mix have already been tested in zoos but implemntation might need reinforcement of existing fencing for bantengs. The next enclosure would be untouched and keep housing a large breeding group of Vietnamese pseudaxis deer, extinct in the wild and with space issues in Europe. One could even imagine that surplus males could live with banteng and Eld's deer and provide a healthy stimulation of the breeding group.

    I have considered the design of a nice wooded island for a pair of pileated gibbonsin the area, similar to what Branféré and la Vallée des singes are doing but it might cost a bit too much for the zoo and would imply building a heated building for decent winter accomodation.





    Siamese Eld's deer is now gone from European collections but its cousin, the thameng is still held in healthy numbers at la Haute Touche.

    Banteng seem more calm and easy to manage than gaur. Here both species would live close-by, a set-up that one can only see in Berlin currently on the continent.
     
    Last edited: 7 Nov 2022
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  6. Therabu

    Therabu Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Terai valley

    Our next trip bring us to the Teraï valley, in the Indian state of Assam. There was 2 large enclosure for caprines at the corner with the lake and the rotunda of breeding enclosures. Those were dedicated to Nubian ibex and European muflon. While the first specie is kept in the foot-area of the zoo, the secon either leave or go to the vehicule-area. Instead, a second-group of dholes, the main one, is here exhibited in a large grassy enclosure with pounds and rocky outcrops. Some dedicated vision points are also designed to engage visitors with the observation of the the large pack.


    Enclosure of caprines

    Dholes are here exhibited alongside several of their preys. 2 large herbivores enclosures, each having a large lake are dedicated to breeding of gaurs and sambar deers. The first of the 2 enclosures is currently a walkthrough for alpacas and dwarf goats but something more exciting could definitiely being done. Instead of dedicating 2 enclosures t gaurs, one could also imagine to house here Asia buffalos (of course the domestic form).




    On the other side, a massive, even by la Haute Touche standards enclosure exist and currently house blackbucks and axis deers. the area is so vast that even with a large group of herbivores it appears, that it need be mowed! Quite underwhelming in my opinion.



    That is where the second large specie would be brought with 2 main paddocks for Indian rhinoceros. This would of course mean new fences and building between the 2 enclosures. Yhe installation is designed to house 4 adults and their youngs and offer access to natural pounds and large grazing area. Of course the pachyderms are the stars but would coexist with large herds of deers from the subcontinent : barasingha that shares habitat requirements but also Indian hog-deer and axis deer.




    In front of the main viewpoint across the pound accessible to rhinos, there is an already existing island. I thought it could be nice to add another hardy specie of primate here, lion-tailed macaque would make a good candidate in my opinion even if it does not fit the geographical area perfectly. Another enclosure is built lightly under the trees. Remaining indian barking deers would live here with saurus crane.


    Later during our visit, we will get other views of the massive rhinoceros enclosures and a few more species.
     
  7. Therabu

    Therabu Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    The Far-eastern Taïga

    This area is built around the large water body that used to house the last American moose in Europe. Visitors path need to be reviewed in order to offer improved visitors sights. Therefore the existing footprint of the guanaco and Japanese sika deers is totally revamped.

    On the map, the first enclosure suggested is for wolf but in second thought, Asian black bear could also be a nice addition to the collection as it would be a representative of this family and a piece of woods would be easily fenced. Behind, Dybowski deer, is moved here in an enclosure that will definitely be smaller than the existing one but should still be big enough.



    Grassland and woodland area to be converted in bear and deer enclosures.

    The last enclosure is also the biggest and the more spectacular of the lot. As it has already started with the arrival of one young eurasian elk, 2 more females of the biggest species of cervid in the wolrd are welcomed as well as a couple of white-naped cranes and a couple of Taïga musk-deer. Here, this amazing, threatened and primitive cervids can live in semi-natural conditions. It is hoped that a similar breeding group that Leipzig can be developed.







    That's it for the Mandchurian zone. We come back to India as visitor's pathway that lead us back to the main buildings pass along the rhinoceros enclosures. The open-topped enclosure that have recently been built for coatis is kept and convert for binturongs, a more endangered specie and that is not likely to be labbeled as potentially invasive.



    A new path is designed here and cross the existing enclosures for rhea and vicunias. What is currently the background of the enclosure is a riparian forest that covers the side of a large pound covered with vegetation. This is the place where a new installation is designed to accomodate a couple of gibbons. The specific specie does not matter much as hoolock gibbon that would be the correct fit for the area is not present in Europe. Housing gibbons have been in the plans at la Haute Touche for a few years but without much explanation of where it would be. This area is currently not used and the vegetation is very dense even if trees are not the tallest on the islands. Basically, the building and visitor platform for good observation would be the only necessary investments as the outside enclosure already "exists". One could even imagine that gibbon housing would be part of the rhino building, which would save both energy and visual perspectives.

    Example of a beautiful, hardy and very threatened gibbon specie

    The other side of this new path would be the last geographical area to be developed in the pedestrian area.
     
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  8. Therabu

    Therabu Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Ethiopian Higlands

    This area is covered by a unique and simple enclosure (of course separation enclsoure is planned behind but is not necessaraly visible) that would house mainly endangered species. A large and natural rocky outcrop, similar as in the markhor and takin enclosure, is put in the middle of the pen and to hide functional buildings.
    Fencing is half basic metallic fence with electric wire, half a little stream that run afterwards in the gibbon pound on the visitor side, allowing for undisturbed view.
    The breeding group of Nubian ibex act here as an alternative for the even more endangered walia ibex and coexist with a bachelor group of gelada males and a couple of blue-winged goose.


    The area converted as an Ethiopian enclsoure with the riparian corridor in the background where visitors will go through.

    An example of natural outcrop for ibex and gelada



    An already-proven successful mix of Ethiopian species.

    The Malagasy marsh
    This is a minor revamp of the area in its structure but it should yield a totally new feel with the replacement of the old buidling and by adding thematic features that would make people travel to Eastern Madagascar.
    For people who have never been there, there is a crappy little building surronded by 5 or 6 islands on the main lake. Lemurs use a combination of tunnel and wooden walk to get from their inner quarters to the islands that were built from nothing.They were totally barren but are now getting more green even though there is still a lack of fully-grown and tall trees.





    The idea would be to link most of the islands to offer 2 larger exhibits to lemurs on each side and focus only on 2 or 3 species. Eulemur rubriventer, eulemur albifrons and varecia variegata could be an example. That would also make space on land to add ring-tailed vontsira in an aviary on the side of the building.


    The triangle of reedbeds that precede the lemurs exhibits only wait for hosting Alaotra gentle lemur. A small electric fence, commonly used in English zoos could work here, or, by being a bit more ambitious, one could imagine another aviary with Malagasy birds such as hamerkop and Meller's duck. I am going probably a bit too far but it could also have tufted duck and little grebe as representative of their very endangered counterparts of the Alaotra lake.



    Farm area
    The last area have not been designed in detail but must be dedicated to farm animals and have the possibility to go with and touch domestic animals. This is not the most exciting area for zoochaters buta necessity in any zoo to meet family expectations.
    Situated at a strategic place, close to the parking area, it is 2 times on the path of visitors, both at the beginning and the end of the walk.
    The area could be done in a very finctional and simple style or more thematic (old-style barn or an African-style corral for African breeds) depending on funds or be strictly dedicated to local and endangered breeds.

    Conclusion
    This is the end of this fictive project. I am sure you will agree with me that it is reasonably doable with a bit of investments and would enhance significantly the experience and the feeling of visiting a zoo with large emblematic herbivores, more carnivores and primates that are the most popular species while aslo strengthening the role of la Haute Touche as a leader in breeding and conservation of endangered and exotic ungulates.
    I hope you enjoyed the read and Iwould be happy to receive remarks on feasibility, alternatives or stronger critics !
     
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