Totally agree! Some of the cave work I would guess would be very expensive.Why do you suppose they are reusing the grottoes ? Team Tapir223
Oh ok, I thought it was going to be a complete new exhibit. Still hoping they add some soft substrate.
I think it looks awesome. Tons of rock, yes, but that's more the natural environment of polar bears. The look of snow and ice is very cool (no pun intended). With a winter snow this exhibit would probably be unbelievably neat to see.
I can only speculate: if the holding areas are in basically good condition they can be re-used (Woodland Park is doing the same with their "new" bear/tiger exhibits). Even if they expand the holding, they have considerable savings by not starting from scratch and additional savings from not demolishing the existing grottos entirely (which one way or another they would do... they wouldn't simply put rhinos in them ) So they get a $28million for $20million (loosely speaking) But still, that animation has a great deal of expensive doodads.
The bluffs modeled after those found in Herculaneum were one of the first things the Zoo did after removing barred caging. They would like to hold onto that history and incorporate it into the new exhibits.
The inside cave viewing areas for guests looks really cool. I am always weary of the snow/icicle look for polar bear exhibits. I find it can look painted on or bird droppings. Sort of makes the mock rock work more fake.
We should be breaking ground on Polar Bear Point around the end of the year. I'll keep everyone posted when I hear more. For now, we're still finishing up in River's Edge. The Painted Dog exhibit is really humming along! Most of what's left is planting & waiting for landscaping to mature.
Visited the zoo on Saturday. The zoo has a new male orangutan. The Tuatara is off exhibit due to maintence. The zoo might receive some of the painted dogs from my hometown zoo the Pittsburgh zoo. My guess would be the new exhibits in rivers edge open summer 2014. Im kinda curious on where the zoo will put the sloth bear though???
Daisy the Sloth Bear will go to another zoo home (she's only been with us temporarily, but we'll miss her). Looking at Spring 2014 to open the three new exhibits in River's Edge.
I'm going to this zoo in a few days, and I couldn't be more thrilled! Just a few questions before I go: Is part of River's Edge closed due to construction of the new bear and wild dog exhibits, or is it all open? Are the anteaters and bush dogs difficult to find in their exhibits? Thanks!
When I was at the zoo the construction did not close off any of the path. The bush dog exhibit is quite small and there isn't a lot of hiding spots and I found it very easy to find them. The giant anteaters (that share an exhibit with capybaras) have a long, narrow exhibit. I could only find it sleeping at the very back of the enclosure lying in a small ditch. Luckily you can even see the anteater/capybara exhibit behind the bush dogs. That's another specialty that River's Edge offers. Have fun while you're there! I assure you, you will love the zoo. It's arguably one of the best top 5 zoos in the country. They call themselves #1 in the nation.
Rivers Edge is a superb exhibit!They have a fantastic reptile collection!Very solid primate collection and arguably the best penguin exhibit in the country. Team Tapir223
Updates from yesterday's staff meeting: 1.) We'll be breaking ground on Polar Bear Point in September. Construction through the bear bluffs & penguin and puffin will mean visitors have to go 'round the long way to reach the carousel. 2.) The expansion site will feel some love later this year. We'll be doing some parking lot re-surfacing, landscaping, etc. We'll also be doing improvements to the existing parking garage, and (wait for it) possibly some demolition around November! 3.) The new exhibits in River's Edge are still on track to open Spring 2014.
Penguin and Puffin Coast will close temporarily soon due to construction on Polar Bear Point. Goodbye, for now, penguins: St. Louis Zoo closing penguin exhibit to work on new polar bear space : News
