I was at Zoo Zurich one week ago and posted some photos of construction in the gallery. One photo is a sign showing the layout.
Yes, there are - you will find corresponding links earlier in this thread. Furthermore, the zoo has announced a press release "one year until Lewa" with new information on the development and its progress for 20 March 2019. Nächster Medientermin: Ein Jahr bis Lewa
The zoo have announced today the opening date of the 'Lewa' savanna as easter 2020 and informed about the project's progress. Find construction site videos under the following link: Noch ein Jahr bis Lewa ...and images here (scroll down a little, and click on 'Bilder'): Noch ein Jahr bis Lewa No news regarding the species line-up, which is still communicated as: Giraffe, white rhinoceros, Grevy's zebra, antelope (sic), ostrich, and 'other African savanna animals'. Furthermore, grey parrot, naked mole-rat, meerkat, Dahomey cattle, spotted hyena, porcupine. The main building interior for the giraffe and rhinoceros with the aviary for the parrots directly adjacent will be designed as a continuous, landscaped canyon. The stables for the antelope etc. will not be accessible/visible for visitors. There are four feeder-tree baobabs spread across the savanna and a massive fifth fake baobab in the visitor space near the elephant park, the meerkats, and a visitor island/outlook placed in the savanna. Furthermore, a small landing strip with a zebra-striped 'Grzimek' airplane, a kiosk, a food pavillion, picnic area, and a 'tourism school' with educational exhibits on sustainable tourism. At the opposite end of the savanna will be a large kopje rock formation with additional views of the savanna and home to porcupine and hyena. The hyena enclosure will provide an unobstructed view into the savanna by means of a haha/moat. According to the press release most construction is finished and planting has started. The kopje rock formations still need to be constructed, as do the building interiors and furnishings. The first animals apparently are planned to arrive for quarantine soon. ... Also rather interesting, an interview with the zoo director Alex Rübel, who will retire next year, in a small local newspaper: Züri-Zoo-Direktor Alex Rübel im Abschiedsinterview: «In 30 Jahren haben wir geklonte Mammuts» | St.Galler Tagblatt Asked about the best zoo in the world, he mentions: Singapore zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park as exceptionally beautiful; Leipzig and St. Louis as excellent 'classical' zoos ('Tiergärten'), and Bronx as his formerly longstanding model zoo, due to its focus on education and conservation. Asked whether Zurich will become number one (in Europe, in the context of the Sheridan ranking), he responds with a resounding 'no', because the zoo does not have the ambition to present a complete set of ABCs (e.g. blob-bears). Which animals would he like to bring to Zurich - Okapi and Indri(!).
After a break of 5 years, this year again 2 female Arabian oryx-calves were born - both females. This is extra nice because this year is the 40th anniversary of keeping this species at Zürich. 1979 Zürich was one of the first European zoos to recieve a satelite-group of the world herd. 2 males and 2 females were recieved from the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Die Wüste lebt
Zurich will soon receive 2 female Southern koala from the Australian Reptile Park, the same institution where the males came from last year. source: Zoonews-Magazin Frühling 2019: Wenige Schritte bis Lewa
I don't think it was mentioned till now, but Zurich is planning to cover the Pantanal exhibit with an net, saddly there isn't much information on that. Source: Masterplan | Zoo Zürich
Also note some other changes to the masterplan. Only the Gorilla are now set to get a new enclosure between Lewa and Masoala. The Orangutan will get a new enclosure on the site of the current Ape house. This means that the planned coastal zone for seals is now set for the site which currently is the Selenga zone between Exotarium and the extension area.
You're absolutely right! I thought that was already known since some time, but what seems to be new is that the penguins seem like will get a new enclosure too, I also heard that it's planned to change the pinniped species, maybe a South American? And still, there may be some changes, next year Zurich will get a new director.
I think for the overall (geo-concept) design and feel of the park this would be a mistake. The orangutan imo should get their enclosure somewhere near/between the elephant park and the 'Betriebsgebäude' ('operations building' ?), and the geladas. From a visitor pov that would be the logical place for them. There is even still a small patch of forest directly uphill above the elephant house. The current ape house and surrounds should then be used as an Australia/New Guinea or Australia/Tasmania or New Zealand area, which would extend the current Australia section.
@arafan: I wonder where this info about the relocation of Gorillas AND Orang-Utans comes from. I have never seen a masterplan where the Orang-Utans were placed in the extension area. Afaik, that was planned for African animals all the time (with the exception of Asian Elephants, as the zoo figured out - after the first masterplan - that it would be too complicated to leave them on their current site). So after the Chimpanzees moved to Gelsenkirchen, it was clear that only the Gorillas will be set in a new enclosure within "Africa". @antonmuster: Interesting thoughts. Are you sure that this patch of forest belongs to the zoo (I don't know)? If you like to extend the current Australia section, what kind of animals would you like to exhibit at this steep and hilly section of the zoo?
@Kifaru Bwana I'm not sure about that as I haven't hear any more information about that, but the adversitement on the site isn't found anymore, so I think it's being solved. @antonmuster I don't think the location of the Orangutan exhibit would be really wrong, I can't imagine that it's just planned to keep orangs in there( I think at least the gibbons would move in there too). And that could work really well to talk about the Wallace line. And the enclosures for the European otters could be reused by some Australian/New-guinean fauna too. @zoomaniac I'm pretty sure this was on the masterplan site, the ape house and surrounding area were planed as "Feuchtgebiete und Küsten" (or something like that), although I could be remebering it wrong and apologize in advance.
You can see the area I have in mind in the above screenshot. It's entirely within the zoo fence. While it does contain service roads it is quite large with 8000 m2. @zoomaniac @arafan : I think the contrast between Sumatra and Australia would provide an unnecessarily weak and construed setup to discuss the Wallace line. I think my above suggested setup would provide much more interesting opportunities also from the pov of education. Will perhaps write more detailed thoughts later.
We haven't any infos on that yet, but I'm almost sure it will be a themed exhibit, at least that's what we've seen in the buildings from the last few years. @antonmuster indeed, it wouldn't be a bad thing either but I still prefer how it's planned at the moment, and would find it even better if the Asian elephant would be changed to African (which won't happen due to various factors).
