Ah baboons, that seems to be what I was thinking. It's been a while since I heard that, and so my memory is a little fuzzy.
So what about the temporary exhibits, they have that tour round the sealife centres in Europe. I could be wrong but I think they are temporary exhibits but I am sure you will argue they aren't.
No, you are correct. The Golden monkeys were never given access to the ibex moated exhibit. For one thing: no shade.
Ok, you win, didn't think of those, and I shouldn't have worded it so strongly. However, by the sounds of things, there are significantly fewer temporary exhibits in Europe than in the USA. Of course these temporary exhibits are a lot more common in natural history museums where it is easy to pass around the exhibits but it is harder to do so if animals are involved and need to change exhibits, which could be stressful, expensive and a waste of time. It is of course easier with herps where the exhibits are often similar and can be replicated relatively easily and of course temporary exhibits showing insects/herps for their venom/abilities are pretty common.
Of course when the Bronx Zoo opened their first butterfly exhibit (1991?) it was intended to be temporary: 1 year. That was to create some new attraction while we were completing Congo Gorilla Forest. But the Butterfly Zone became so popular that it remained for several years and was the forerunner of the now permanent butterfly house at the zoo.
The Roger Williams Park Zoo just announced they will have a temporary exhibit for an albino alligator this summer. Capron Park Zoo had an albino alligator for one summer in 2012, from St. Augustine. Stone Zoo kept two koalas in summer of 2013 from the San Diego Zoo.
My local zoo has a constant temporary exhibit called the ark. Over the past 20 years its held Snow Leopards, Bengal Tigers, Lions, Black Ruffed Lemurs and Red Pandas. At the moment the wolves have been moved there so their old exhibit could be renovated for a pair of dingos.
I believe Monterey Bay Aquarium has had a handful of temporary exhibits, like the old jellyfish and deep sea exhibits (there will be a new deep sea exhibit, permanent this time). I believe Tentacles is supposed to be temporary, but it's still up, although the stars of the exhibit, Vampire Squid and Flapjack Octopus are sadly gone.
In the summer of 2013, Toledo Zoo opened a wallaby walk-through enclosure called “Wild Walkabout” that left after Labor Day. Another one temporary exhibit I’ve seen was the Toronto Zoo’s giant panda habitat. The bears were at the zoo for five years from 2013-2018.
