ok, given how many international forum members we now have, id like to present the world's first 'zoobeat zooworld awards'. each country can nominate up to two mega-exhibits (no fart-arse tropical houses etc). the exhibits are based upon design standards, though extra marks are given for in-situ conservation links, major breeding successes, etc. strong debate is encouraged, and for arguments sake Scotland is part of the UK-so its edinburgh vs chester. other rules are to be made up as we go along. WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN A WEEK. LOL categories are..... WORLD'S BEST AUSTRALASIA'S BEST (including singapore, new zealand and japan, plus australia) BRITISH ISLES BEST EU BEST im nominating wild asia at taronga and trail of the elephants at melbourne to start with, but i expect this to be argued, by at least Pat!
Am I allowed to nominate zurich zoo's masaola exhibit? It's brill and has lots of links to in-situ conservation projects. Another 2 are Chester's orang and Elephant house.
Depends what you call a "mega-exhibit". Aren't Taronga's Asia trails multiple exhibits? So can we nominate an area or something? I would say the only thing that we would be able to nominate is a single exhibit. But that raises the question if large greenhouses can be entered because they are usually an exhibit for all the free-ranging birds but also hold single-species exhibits in them... So I don't know if i can nominate these, since they're the biggest in the world i doubt you can call em "fart-arsed" Burger's Zoo Arnhem - Bush, (featured on ZooLex.org) afaik still the biggest tropical greenhouse exhibit at least in Europe, and maybe the world. - Desert, afaik the only VERY large greenhouse dedicated to a desert. The whole house is dedicated to the NA Sonora desert. Only other exhibit worth entering from the Netherlands is the Pinguin exhibit at Emmen Zoo which is extraordinary. I would guess the germans would probably enter (any germans here to argue?) Köln Zoo - Elefantenpark. The new and large elephant house build to hold 3.15 asian elephants (around those figures) and offspring. Zoo Berlin (West) - Hippopotamus dome which houses large and pygmee hippo's with underwater view.
masaola exhibit certainly qualifies. by 'fart arse' greenhouses i didnt mean exhibits like that, i meant tiny little tropical buildings, or things like a meerkat exhibit or something. what we want is groundbreaking stuff. wild asia at taronga qualifies as a mega-exhibit as the whole thing is built to be one exhibit. think bronx's congo forest, etc. in that sense this isnt just restricted to single species enclosures.
What about Bristol Zoo's Penguin and Fur Seal Coast. I think that is a pretty good 'mega exhibit', I know it's two really but they merge well. I think it also has connections to the wild environment as well.
we use teh word "exhibit" pretty loosly round here, but to me, in the zoo sense - each differnet species display usually qualifies as an exhibit, except of course if they share an enclosure in which case its still one exhibit, just a mixed species exhibit. an exhibit can have more than one enclosure, but so long as its all part of the one feature constructed to be viewed as a whole is still just one exhibit. many exhibits along a particular theme usually make up a precinct, but i suppose you could call them a mega-exhibit if you like.
Taronga's Wollemi exhibit is one of the best I've seen for mixed spieces. Also add the multiple births of platypus, although not a rare animal.It is one of only 2 places to breed them in captivity. It's not my favourite exihibit of all time but it is in my top ten. Singapore's baboon's are pretty impressive too.
