Mammoth Steppe/ Ice Age themed enclosures

I had for an longer time the idea of my dream Zoo with an area themed to the Ice Age Steppe of Eurasia, with some unexpted choices.
There would be multible panoramic enclosures.
The main enclosre would be the main Steppe, which would include an Savannah-like multi species enclosure.
It would incloude this list of animals/or there living relatives, that lived in this acient eccosystem together.

- Russian Saiga Antelope ( Saiga Tatarica Tatarica)
- Pzewalski's Horse ( Equus Przewalskii )
- Bactrian Camel (Camelus Bactrianus )
- Muskox (Ovibos moschatus moschatus) ( (Ovibos moschatus wardi) would also be posible )
- Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) ( since it is the species living in Eurasia today)
- Withe Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) ( It would be the living represtation of the extinct Wolly Rhinoceros. Since it is the closest in ecology as an grazer like the Withe Rhinoceros, It is the biggest species, so closer in size, is the most commen Rhino species in captivity and peacefuller than the Black Rhinoceros.)
-Finnish forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus)

The other main enclosure would include Asian Elephants ( Elephas maximus ), as an representation for the Wolly Mammoth, since it is the closest living relative.
-The enclosure could also incloud the Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus)
- The enclosure should be next to each other, and be seperated in such an way that they appear to be together, so that the visiter aswell as the animals (espicaly the Elephants) can see to the other enclosure.
The Elephant/Mammoth House also includs an smaler enclosure with Lemmings ( Iam not sure which species. 1 of (Lemmus Lemmus/Eolagurus Luteu/ Lagurus Lagurus)
The Elephant House also works like an musuem about Mammoths and Elephant Evolution in general.

An medium sized enclosure with an water section which inclouds multiple geese & duck species
including
- Pink-Footed-Goose ( (Anser brachyrhynchus))
- Lesser withe-fronted goose (Anser erythropus)
-Swan Goose (Anser cygnoides)
-Emperor Goose (Anser canagicus)
- Snow Goose (Anser caerulescens)
-King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)
-Long-Tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
-and many more possible species...
which live in an enclosure together with
- Dall Sheep (Ovis dalli)


An 3rd big enclosure, but much smaler than the first 2 main enclosure
-Either the European or the American Bison (Bison Bison)/ (Bison Bonasus )
- Western Capercaillie (Tetrao Urogallus)

Ans smal enclosure with
- European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus)

2 smaler enclosures with
-Mountain Hare (Lepus Timidus )
Actic Fox (Alopex lagopus)


And an doubled themed area. Which is both based on the Mammoth Steppe, but also caves and an mine
With 3 enclosures having an outdoor part inside the Mammoth Steppe. Which includes 3 enclosures for

-African/Asiatic Lion ( Panthera Leo ) ( Panthera Leo persica ) as an representation for the extinct Cave Lion
-Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) as an reprensentation for the Cave Hyena
-Syrian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos syriacus) as an representation for the cave bear (The reason for this sub-speciesis because it is an endangered sub-species which has an reviable breeding popolation and is more usefull for conservation)

Inside this cave system are other not Ice Age themed enclosures, instead is themed to
subterranean animals. Some animals would be

-Bats (Iam realy not sure which bat species I should use, Iam realy not an expert on them. But an possible species would be Sebas's short-tailed bat ( Carollia perspicillata ))
-Cave Fish like (Astyanax Jordani) or ( Astyanax Mexicanus )
-Amblypygi species
-Cave Crickets like (Ceuthophilus Gracilipes)


-An aviary with either Domesttic Canaries or the wild form of the Atlantic Canaries (Serinus canaria) ( since it is themed after an cave & mine.

The Cave is like I said themed to be an cave & mine based. The Area also is an kind of museum about topics not only directly related to the animals, like cave paintings (which are alos the decoration in the beggining of the area), fossils and mining.

The rest of the outside area is not realy heavy themed in decoration. With mostly open fields for the enclosures, and some more nordic plant species like birches and conifers in general.

 

Very interesting...

I have a few minor additions: Perhaps Panthera pardus tulliana (Persian leopard) as well as Panthera onca (Jaguar) to represent the European ice age leopard and the Tuscany jaguar respectively. Otherwise, I think it is extremely good and other addition would be pedantic.

 

I dont want it to be too cat heavy ( and it doesnt work with the cave theme)

 

Fair enough! Great to know you've thought it through a lot.

 

"The Tercier is followed by Ice Age. The central part of this place is a 4-hectare sized exhibit. Here visitors can see big herds of Heck's cattle(to replace aurochs), Przewalski's horse (to replace Ice Age horses), Reindeer and Two-humped camel(to replace Camelus knoblochi). On the edge of the enclosure, there are life-size Mammuthus primigenius, Smilodon, Coelodonta and Megaloceras models. There are four carnivore enclosures: their inhabitants are Indian lions(to replace Cave lion), Spotted hyenas(to replace Cave hyena), Kamchatkan bear(to replace Cave bear) and wolves. The complex is complemented by a Homo neanderthalensis camp."

I figured a similar one like @GiratinaIsGod's enclosure without looking at his/her.
Otherwise I think White rhino and Indian elephant are very different from Mammoth and Wooly rhino, and they are tropical animals... so models are better in my opinion.

I have a better idea: the European Jaguar's good replacement is an Amur leopard-Jaguar hybrid.

 

Here is the most realistic picture about European jaguar:

 

First of all, I think hybrids should never be keept in zoos. It is a waste of the often limited gentic material, and doesn't help conservation.

But the reason why the indian elephant and espically the withe rhino would be perfect animals for this setting is that they fill similar roles in the ecco system, In concept is the replacing of extinct with similar/closely related species far more intersting than just putting replicas next to the exhibit.They would give exactly the unexpected view of tropic animals in this "cold" ecco system.
You could use this idea of "replacing" extinct animals with simnilar living species in many ways. Like King Penguins for the Great Auk, They are aswell both endangered species, which also helps in conservation.

 

Ok, hybrids aren't help in conservation, but can be good in exhibiting: if we can breed something that looks like similar to European jaguar, visitors can imagine easier this species.
You're right about living animals more interesting than a model, but can you imagine a white rhino in a tundra exhibit?

 

Yes, I do. The same way I can imagen lions in the same theme.