Designing Zoos

I found this very good blog / article about the final decision, including the RFP for the proposed new exhibit.  Enjoy!

Check it out here.

Admittedly, the article seems a bit slanted on the animal rights side, but still a good story. It truly is amazing how this topic strikes the heart of the nation.

Apparently, its Tiger Week here at DesigningZoos.com!  To continue the trend, I’m bringing you the exclusive details on the Dakota Zoo’s new Tiger exhibit.  This week, the Zoo, located in Bismarck, ND, opened Phase I of its new two-part big cat exhibit. Phase I is a super-sized tiger exhibit, currently housing three adolescent Siberian Tigers, and Phase II, slated to open September this year, will be the new home to two Snow Leopards.  Here is a local news reporter’s tour through the exhibit.

The Zoo successfully managed to stretch its limited budget of $1.2 million to the max, by primarily focusing on animal well-being and visitor proximity above theming and story-delivery. The guest features of the tiger habitat include pop-up viewing stations inside the exhibit, as well as nose-to-nose glass viewing from the perimeter.

The tigers are lavishly provided for, as well, with an enormous 45,000 sf of exhibit space. For comparison, the Bronx Zoo’s large six tiger habitat, opened in 2003, is approximately 65,000 sf (that’s 10,800 sf / tiger) while Dallas Zoo’s six tiger habitat, opened in 1999, is a more typical 28,000 sf (4600 sf / tiger). The Dakota Zoo has planned for a maximum of four total tigers, which would mean each tiger could have a possible 11,250 sf territory to roam, when the facility is maxed out.

The exhibit also features pools for swimming and play, rocks for lounging and climbing, natural vegetation for shade, and grass underfoot.

The Dakota Zoo’s back of house support area is also impressive, providing four somewhat standard-sized stalls of 120 sf each (10′ x 12′), with an additional 1200 sf off-exhibit yard.

Terry Lincoln, Director of the Dakota Zoo, kindly took a few minutes to share some thoughts on the exhibit with me. Via e-mail, I asked him if the recent press coverage of the San Francisco Zoo’s attack had affected any of the planning for this exhibit.

“We did review the San Francisco tiger incident and didn’t end up changing our plans, although we were interested to learn that our den height of 12′ was roughly the same height as their exhibit wall. Our den {ed. note: holding building which serves as one barrier of tiger enclosure} has 4.5′ of mesh and solid invert above the 12′ level to prohibit jumping or climbing {from within the exhibit}. We {also} made provisions to install a video DVR system to monitor and record the guardrail areas in the event that an incident were to occur.”

He also mentioned the exhibit walls are 16.5′ tall, and made from 3″ mesh. The full height includes a four foot kickback at the top. Additionally, the tigers are discouraged from approaching the mesh walls with a single strand of hotwire at the two foot level. Click here to watch a video of Terry and the stars of the show being interviewed at the off-exhibit yard.

This exhibit took over eight years of planning and fundraising. The Zoo designed the exhibit in-house, hiring a local architect to draw it up for them.  It is clear by the amount of local press coverage of the exhibit that the city is very proud of the exhibit and the zoo. Congratulations to all involved in Phase I, and best of luck in Phase II.

Nikki Thinking About It

The AP story about Erie Zoo’s shy tiger is showing up in most of the nation’s local papers and is plastered all over the internet…just try googling Erie Zoo and tiger!  The brief article tells us the tiger, a male named Nikki, who is a recent addition to the zoo, is taking his sweet time to explore the exhibit.  Two months, so far, and he’s only poked his head out.  The article does not go into detail about the exhibit.

After some searching, I’ve found some additional information related to zoo design.  The $500,000 exhibit renovation included adding a yard (essentially doubling the space for the tigers), adding grass versus the traditional rockwork underfoot, and upgrading the visitor experience to include glass viewing for nose-to-nose interaction, mesh training panels, and shade to encourage lingering (and in Erie, I suspect, to protect from snow).  Here’s a video on the new exhibit.

Nikki came from the Brookfield Zoo, whose tiger exhibit leaves much to be desired.  The Brookfield exhibit is a remnant of the historic bear pits, and is mostly rockwork.  The Zoo has upgraded as much as possible by adding some natural substrate and encouraging vegetative growth, but the exhibit is highly dated.  Visitors can view 180 degrees along the moated pathway.  Nikki’s hesitation to explore might be exacerbated by the extreme difference in habitats, not to mention his change of city and additional new neighbors.  Or, he could, as the AP puts it, just be shy. 

Brookfield Tiger Sleeping

If anyone has more data on the new Erie renovation, please pass it along.  I’m curious especially about size and barriers.

This article is definitely a little late in the game, but its an interesting read in relation to how zoos nationwide are affected by local tragedies. 

Preschoolers from the Legacy Christian School in Culterville, enjoy watching a Siberian Tiger during their winter tour of the John Ball Park Zoo on Wednesday afternoon. (Paul L. Newby, II_The Grand Press)

Essentially, the attack in San Francisco has caused zoos to re-evaluate the safety of their own enclosures, and, in some instances, add additional safeguards to new and existing exhibits.  John Ball Zoo opened the Lions of Lake Manyara exhibit this summer, after having carefully considered the events in San Francisco. 

The zoo community is very close-knitted.  Issues that affect one zoo, also have effects elsewhere.  Keep this in mind when designing for multiple zoos.  We can always learn from each other.

This just made me smile today, so I thought I’d share…Enjoy!

Antares at Tierpark, Berlin

San Diego’s Legoland theme park just opened the doors on its sister facility, SEA LIFE Aquarium. The Aquarium is 175,000 gallons in total with one large main tank, featuring an acrylic walk-thru tube, sea horse exhibits, and tidal pool touch tanks.  The tanks will include over 70 lego statues including a 10 foot creation of Poseidon.

This SEA LIFE Aquarium, one of the over 20 of the SEA LIFE branded aquariums centered in Europe, is focused on regional fauna, including both sea and fresh water of California.

For reference, the Georgia Aquarium, which is one of the largest, if not the largest, aquarium in the world (depending on which stats you chose to use), holds a total of over 8 million gallons of water. The Ocean Voyager tank alone, in which lives the Aquarium’s whale sharks, holds over 6 million gallons. The Shamu Show facility at Sea World Orlando, including all back of house pools and show pools, holds approximately 7 million gallons of water.

Baghdad Zoo has probably never been at the forefront of innovation in animal husbandry and exhibitry, but after enduring continuous destruction from war over the last few years, its been decimated.  The zoo’s collection has depleted to just under 800 specimens of mostly birds. 

Recently, in an act of good will, the U.S. has endeavored to send the Zoo a pair adolescent tiger siblings from a sanctuary in North Carolina.  The act is controversial for many reasons, but, from our point of view, mostly because of the lack of modern (ethically) designed habitat for the tigers.

On the flip side, the move brings a positive light to the zoo, which has already increased the visitor attendance.  An increased attendance will, eventually, lead to capital projects which will hopefully include a new tiger exhibit. 

For the time being, the cubs are provided with all of the basic elements standard in exhibits: natural substrate, a medium sized pool, enrichment devices and shade from the sun.  That’s a start.  And, if you consider the environment from which they came, being that sanctuaries rarely spend money on the aesthetic design of an animal habitat, the new home is probably not much different for them. 

Hopefully, the heightened Zoo security will keep the tigers safe from harm.  Safety is the real issue here.  Aesthetics will provide a much more comfortable home for the tigers, giving them more places of reprieve from being on exhibit, as well as providing more complex spaces for play.  However, the main reason we provide aesthetically pleasing exhibits is for the guest.  In this case, the guests, I assume, are happy to just have a functioning zoo at all.

Take a look at a video of the cubs in their new home, here.

Last month, I reported on Dallas Zoo’s decision to send their last remaining elephant, Jenny, to a wildlife park in Mexico.  It was announced this week that the Dallas city council has stepped in, reacting to the pressures of animal activists, and has requested the Zoo to find an alternate home for Jenny.  No plans have been reported, but it is safe to assume that the Zoo will consider the Tennessee Sanctuary suggested by the activists. 

The Elephant Sanctuary boasts 2700+ acres at its disposal, providing 300+ acres for African elephants, and 2400+ acres for Asians.  Additionally, the Sanctuary has one 9000 sf African elephant barn, one 17,000 sf Asian elephant barn, plus separate quarantine facilities.