ZooChat Exhibit Design Competition #3

Oh why not! It's been an age since we did one of these.

This competition will have multiple stages, and will function not unlike a real life planning period for a zoo. Planning phase 1 will take 1 week and be finished on August 17. Further plans will follow from that point.

Phase 1 - Collection planning
The zoo is looking to open a new Papua-New Guinea exhibit. The exhibit will be housed indoors in an on-site building that will be converted for the project.

Over the next week, we will take the collective minds of the ZooChat community to work out a realistic collection plan. Once the collection plan is complete, phase two will begin. Assume that the zoo is located within the AZA and must abide by their collection plans and requirements.

Phase 2 - Budgeting
Phase 3 - Initial Proposals
phase 4 - Final Designs

Let's see what we can come up with for Papua-New Guinea.

 

Just a question, do I post a PDF file or just a summary? Also, should I use Sketchup?

 

Collection planning: Matschie's tree kangaroo (max. 2.2), greater forest wallaby (white-striped dorcopsis) (max 4.4), common spotted cuscus (max. 5.5), Northern cassowary (max. 2.2), Papuan hornbill (max 2.2), black-necked stork (max 3.3), raggiana bird of paradise (max 3.3), eclectus parrot (max 2.2), palm cockatoo (max. 2.2), black capped lory (max 4.4), New Guinea crocodile (max 3.3), crocodile monitor (max 2.2), emerald tree monitor (max 2.2), Boelen's python (max 3.3), green tree python (max 1.1), Papuan taipan (max 2.2), New Guinea snapping turtle (max 10.10), and maybe some amphibians, invertebrates and fish endemic to New Guinea.

 

Right now, it's just group collection planning. No designs yet.

 

In collection planning, there's not a huge need to specify sex ratios. Maximum numbers for larger animals, sure, but not a sex ratio (unless you're dealing with an animal, like elephants, where male husbandry is different than female).

 

How big is this building? Nikola's list looks pretty good, but Cassowary in particular would need quite a lot of space. Knowing whether there is a room big enough for a walkthrough aviary would also affect the collection plan.

I would add Echidnas, Sugar Gliders and several more Birds of Paradise.

 

Mammals: New Guinea Short-beaked Echidna, Matschie's Tree-kangaroo, Common Spotted Cuscus, White-striped Dorcopsis and New Guinea Singing Dog

Birds: Southern Cassowary, Little Grebe, Little Pied Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Australian Pelican, Great Egret, Pied Heron, White-faced Heron, Striated Heron, Glossy Ibis, Black-necked Stork, Magpie Goose, Plumed Whistling Duck, Wandering Whistling Duck, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Brahminy Kite, Brolga, Buff-banded Rail, Australian Swamphen, Bush Thick-knee, Masked Lapwing, Sliver Gull, Metallic Pigeon, Peaceful Dove, Nicobar Pigeon, Southern Crowned Pigeon, Wompoo Fruit-dove, Orante Fruit-dove, Superb Fruit-dove, Torresian Imperial Pigeon, Papuan Mountain Pigeon, Blue-eyed Cockatoo, Brown Lory, Pesquet's Parrot, Edward's Fig Parrot, Dollarbird, Blyth's Hornbill, Hooded Pitta, Olive-backed Sunbird, Spangled Drongo, King Bird-of-paradise, Raggiana Bird-of-paradise and Metallic Starling

Reptiles: Crocodile Monitor, Parker's Snake-necked Turtle, Fly River Turtle, Saltwater Crocodile, New Guinea Crocodile, Green Tree Python, Emerald Tree Monitor, Boelen's Python, Papuan Snapping Turtle, Blue-tongued Skink, Smooth-scaled Death Adder, Tough-scaled Death Adder, Argus Monitor, Crowned Forest Dragon, Brown Water Python, Amethystine Python, Diamond Python, Red-eyed Crocodile Skink and Northern Death Adder

Various fishes, such as rainbowfishes and gudgeons! Also, a large number of insects and crustaceans, various amphibians!

 

I will give building dimensions in round two, but the building won't be massive. Footprint will be around the 20,000 sq. ft./2,000 sq. m. range or smaller.

 

Is the exhibit wholly indoors, or is there an opportunity for adjacent outdoor areas? If not, that may influence the suitability of some of the larger species such as cassowaries and singing dogs.

The available species list would need to take into account the locations. For instance, I think US zoos are focusing on Matschie's tree kangaroos while European zoos are focused more on the Goodfellow's tree kangaroo.

Is there a limit on what can be included? Does a species need to be kept in captivity or is there some flexibility in the species list?

With those questions in mind, here are some of my species ideas:

Mammals - Goodfellow's / Matschie's tree kangaroo, dusky pademelon, short-beaked echidna, striped possum, common spotted cuscus, Australian water rat, bats (little red flying fox and diadem roundleaf bats have been kept in captivity)

Birds - King bird-of-paradise, flame bowerbird, palm or blue-eyed cockatoos, Goldie's lorikeet, double-eyed fig parrot, doves and pigeons (Victoria crowned, white-naped pheasant, Nicobar, Wompoo fruit and emerald), radjah shelduck, yellow-faced myna, metallic starling, blue-faced honeyeater, hooded pitta, black munia, blue-faced parrotfinch

Reptiles - Saltwater crocodile, Boelen's python, green tree python, crocodile monitor lizard, tree monitor lizards (green, blue-spotted, black and Reisinger's), red-eyed crocodile skink, frilled lizard, blue-tongued skink, red-bellied short-necked turtle

Amphibians - White-lipped tree frog, cane toad (invasive non-native species)

Fishes - Lake Kutubu rainbowfish, peacock gudgeon, dark-margined flagtail, coral reef fish (species not specified), possibly larger fish such as reef sharks or large-toothed sawfish

Invertebrates - Spiders (net-casting, triangular, Portia jumping spider, golden orb-weaving), marbled scorpion, giant jungle prawn, stick insects (giant spiny, peppermint), beetles (Lamprima and Cyclommatus stag beetles), butterflies and moths (species not specified), marine invertebrates (species not specified)

 

There will be room for outdoor expansion, but not a lot.

For this challenge, we will be working with AZA collections.

The species limit should be worked out in the collection planning phase. Everyone will be working with the same species list.

 

I'm mostly in agreement with the above (seems to be pushing it a bit to keep cassowary or brolga indoors, it's possible but the cassowary especially will take a lot of room) I'll just add one species that I could think of: pig-nosed turtle.

 

Here's a list of all proposed mammal species so far. Any and all are open for debate.

Mammals

• Matschie's tree kangaroo
• Greater Forest Wallaby (White-Striped Dorcopsis)
• Common Spotted Cuscus
• New Guinea Short-beaked Echidna
• New Guinea Singing Dog
• Dusky Pademelon
• Australian Water Rat
• Little Red Flying Fox
• Diadem Roundleaf Bats

What should be added? What should be taken away?

 

Happy to stumble upon this new challenge, and I like the new process. It's great to get others exposed to real-world collection planning.

Of the 9 mammal species you've outlined that the group has come up with, only 2 would be readily available through AZA programs. Matschie's Tree Kangaroo and Short-beaked Echidna are managed as SSP programs, so animals should be more obtainable from other zoos. (To me, it does not make sense to manage echdinas to the subspecies level for purposes of this exhibit.) New Guinea Singing Dogs are probably obtainable through private breeders, and there are enough within AZA that someone could probably breed them for this exhibit. Someone did also mention Sugar Gliders, which are easy to get in North America, so I think they're worth including in this planning phase. Agile Wallabies also exist in decent numbers in North America, so those could probably be acquired as well.

Of the remaining species listed, only Dusky Pademelon and Australian Water Rats exist in substantial enough populations outside of Australia (in this case, in Europe), so those have the most realistic potential for importation if a facility wanted to put in significant effort/time/money to acquire these species in North America.

I'm looking forward to what you all think about the birds when you get there, happy to consult on that when the time comes!

 

Here's my take on the mammals:

Obtainable without imports

Mastchie's tree kangaroo- As they are endangered in the wild they send visitors a strong conservation message. Normal visitors will appreciate how cute they are, while others will appreciate their rarity.

Agile wallaby- easy to obtain. It may be recognized by visitors as a "small/baby kangaroo" and will generally bring delight. If space is available there isn't really a reason not to include it.

Sugar glider- easiest to obtain out of all the species. They are cute and can fit into almost any exhibit that might be built. The only downside is that if it isn't a nocturnal exhibit then there will be low visibility.

Short beaked echidna- while this would be tricky to acquire because the population doesn't grow fast (when's the last time an echidna hatched in the US?) but they'd be memorable for visitors of all varieties. They are unique in appearance and lay eggs, and could fit into most exhibits, nocturnal or diurnal.

Obtainable with imports from Europe

Australian water rat- after looking at some pictures, they're kind of cute. If a foreign zoo is willing to part with them, then they'd make an attractive exhibit, although their nocturnal nature could be a problem. It would depend on who's designing the exhibit. If a nocturnal portion is included then it may be worth taking a look at importing some.

Dusky pademelon- attractive but little known species. However, if agile wallabies are included then it may not be worth going through the effort of importing a similar looking species.

Obtainable with imports from wild

Common spotted cuscus- a very unique species. It might make a good nocturnal exhibit, and it would certainly stand out in memory of the exhibit is done properly.

Other

Little red flying fox- there are many options for acquisition. Wingham Wildlife Park currently has the only individuals outside of Australia/NZ/PNG. However, they don't have very many and probably wouldn't be willing to part with them. They could be imported from a zoo in Australia or New Zealand, or directly from the wild (but getting a permit for that would be challenging). They are presumably moderately active during the day, like other flying foxes (couldn't find online when they are most active, I glanced through several websites). They stand out as small cute bats that are noticeably different from microbats. It would be worth looking into importing some to round off the collection.

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If I left a mammal off, it was intentional and I wouldn't even consider it for the exhibit.

I'd also like to add red-knobbed imperial pigeon to the list of birds for the exhibit. I don't know how many are in the US (they seem to be rare, actually) but I saw one earlier this year at the Houston Zoo.

 

In terms of mammals, there are a couple of things I would consider important - first is that New Guinea is one of the few places with the three different mammalian groups (monotremes, marsupials and placentals), which I think is important to represent in some manner. The other is to exhibit the variety of habitats, instead of just rainforest. There are also grasslands (Trans-Fly savannah) together with wetland, mangrove and reef habitats.

As such, of the mammals listed I would preferably include:

- New Guinea short-beaked echidna (Trans-Fly savannah, monotreme) - AZA managed species
- Dusky pademelon (Trans-Fly savannah, marsupial) - import from Europe
- Matschie's tree kangaroo (Rainforest, marsupial) - AZA managed species
- Common spotted cuscus (Rainforest or mangrove, marsupial) - investigate potential; they have been imported to Europe recently and are kept and bred at Port Moresby Nature Park in PNG
- Sugar glider (Rainforest, marsupial) - readily available
- Australian water rat (Wetland, placental) - import from Europe
- Little red flying fox (Rainforest or mangrove, placental)

As for the other mammals, I would definitely remove the greater forest wallaby (would require importing from Europe and not overly threatened), diadem roundleaf bat (unavailable) and New Guinea singing dog (needs too much space, not native to the island). Agile wallaby and striped possum go on the 'maybe' list, although both are rather similar to other species included.

 

Bird Species

Here is the list of all bird species currently proposed.

1. Northern cassowary
2. Papuan hornbill
3. Black-Necked Stork
4. Raggiana Bird of Paradise
5. Eclectus Parrot
6. Palm Cockatoo
7. Black Capped Lory
8. Little Grebe
9. Little Pied Cormorant
10. Great Cormorant
11. Australian Pelican
12. Great Egret
13. Pied Heron
14. White-faced Heron
15. Striated Heron
16. Glossy Ibis
17. Magpie Goose
18. Plumed Whistling Duck
19. Wandering Whistling Duck
20. Cotton Pygmy Goose
21. Brahminy Kite
22. Brolga
23. Buff-banded Rail
24. Australian Swamphen
25. Bush Thick-knee
26. Masked Lapwing
27. Sliver Gull
28. Metallic Pigeon
29. Peaceful Dove
30. Nicobar Pigeon
31. Southern Crowned Pigeon
32. Wompoo Fruit-dove
33. Orante Fruit-dove
34. Superb Fruit-dove
35. Torresian Imperial Pigeon
36. Papuan Mountain Pigeon
37. Blue-eyed Cockatoo
38. Brown Lory
39. Pesquet's Parrot
40. Edward's Fig Parrot
41. Dollarbird
42. Blyth's Hornbill
43. Hooded Pitta
44. Olive-backed Sunbird
45. Spangled Drongo
46. King Bird-of-paradise
47. Metallic Starling
48. Flame Bowerbird
49. Goldie's Lorikeet
50. Double-eyed Fig Parrot
51. Victoria crowned Pigeon
52. White-naped Pheasant Pigeon
53. Emerald Pigeon
54. Radjah Shelduck
55. Yellow-Faced Myna
56. Blue-faced Honeyeater
57. Black Munia
58. Blue-faced Parrotfinch

 

If the building is possibly to be 20,000 sf, between visitor space (paths, bathrooms, etc) actual exhibits, lss/mechanicals, holdings and service areas, what is a rough estimate of space left for animals? Is there a percentage breakdown of taxa to be displayed? Are venomous going to be displayed? Will there be enough area to manage venomous and crocodylians? The bird list alone is quite staggering, and doesn't really fit into the box, unless you want to have birds perched on sticks. Then again, we don't know the locale of such exhibit and what animals can be displayed/held outside vs. the box.

 

The bird list isn't a final list, just every species mentioned so far.

 

One question - once we have the final species list, will we have to use all of them? If for example, a species was decided upon that you do not think would fit into your idea, would you be allowed to leave it out?

 

Yes, species can be left out, but not added.