Donors to zoos frequently have exhibits or other zoo facilities named after them. What if that process didn't always go so well? If you were a millionaire donor which exhibit would you least want to have named after you?
* cough cough * no posting when high * I lived in some places that were, for all intents and purposes, walk through mosquito aviaries. They aren't too bad if they don't carry diseases.
Well, if the Queen's ex-brother-in-law knew as much about aviculture now as he pretended he did in 1962, he'd be very, very cross.
Several years ago, I suggested that the Casson pavilion interior at Regents Park should become a walk-through aviary for flying snakes - I would be honoured to have my name attached to this conversion of the white elephant of zoo architecture (pun intended) into an innovative immersion experience . Incidentally from two years of intimate experiences with west African ants, I can assure you that ants in the pants are embarrassing and as painful as you would expect - but there is a soft point at the back of the knee which is even more sensitive: exquisitely excruciating! Alan
A flying snake (or lizard or frog maybe?) aviary is a genuinely brilliant idea Alan. I really wish that some zoo would figure out how to put together a Borean dipterocarp exhibit with some of these species. The Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco kind of has one in their rain forest dome, but the "flying lizard" and frog species that they have are in small terrariums, so no chance to see them in action.
I voted for the mossies, as to all intents and purposes walking in the West Highlands in August is sampling an immersive experience with the bloody things. Apologies for language are only half-hearted, as the state one is left in actually makes the b-word the appropriate adjective.
I also voted for the mosquitoes, but I misread the thread title. I thought it was the exhibit you MOST wanted named after you.
I know I didn't want to participate in this thread, but a weird idea just popped into my head - "Rattle the Ratel" - enter the Ratel enclosure while it's sleeping, give it a damn good poke and see if you can get out with your genitals intact. Hix
most of the gliders in SE Asia are nocturnal (flying squirrels, colugos, flying frogs, flying geckoes) so it would need to be a walk-through nocturnal hall or an outdoors exhibit open at night-time (which would only work in the tropics really). This would actually work really well with the giant flying squirrels. I doubt you'd see much action from the flying frogs or geckoes even if in huge enclosures, they don't just go flying around for the heck of it. Same for the flying snakes, they do glide obviously but most of the time they'd just be sliding around in the branches like any other snake. I think the best way to display these species is in a standard terrarium setting, but with videos showing what they can do. [This was just mentioned in another thread today]. Flying dragons on the other hand are very active, diurnal, and glide a lot!! They are fantastic little beasties and would be great in a display big enough for them to glide between trees. The downside always put forward is that they have very specific feeding requirements and can't be kept alive in captivity but apparently this is completely false and derived from all the imported animals over the years being heavily infested with parasites (or something along those lines: there's a discussion about it somewhere on Zoochat from last year or the year before). They are very small though so I'm not sure a walk-through aviary dedicated to flying dragons would be very effective.
Man, you're a thread-killer with all your facts and stuff. School's for fools - to quote my neighbourhood drug dealer when I was growing up. Just poke fun at David like the rest of us. Maybe can have a "Spot the spitting cobra" encounter where visitors are encouraged to eyeball the snake.
I have a couple more selections: "Llama Drama: Get Spit On By A Llama - LIVE!" "Leech Beach: Experience the magic of a Southeast Asian forest walk as you get swarmed by leeches in every direction! Not just another day at the beach!"
You stole my spitting concept, and adapted it for your own encounter. These two are self-explanatory: "Hug The Anaconda" "Tickle The Taipan"
oops, sorry nanoboy - didn't mean to make you spitting mad There is an anaconda exhibit at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco where you can stick your arm in a simulated anaconda coil and it compresses around you.
I know that you Yanks like to sue, so I thought that I would warn you. That is a very cool concept for the anaconda constriction simulation! Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin does a crocodile bite-force simulation: metal croc jaws slam shut on a big block of ice.
The electric eel exhibit seems to be the most dangerous, therefore whoever it is named after will get some bad publicity and the zoo will probably be sued if anything goes wrong.
Loving this thread. So taking it in another side track: When the Bronx Zoo built its naked mole rat exhibit, Dr. William Conway had each animal named for a member of the Board of Directors. (In fact one aspect of the exhibit was that each animal had a subdermal chip so that as they ran down one of the runs a display would inform visitors that so-and-so Rockefeller just went by.) Then he informed the Board that they could make a donation to change the name of "their" animal. I believe it worked out quite well.
