New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse

Transcription

1 1 New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse Douglas Richardson The premise of the presentation is to illustrate how zoos have historically copied each other and that new approaches to enclosure design, in particular barrier design, are created and tested by a minority of institutions.

2 2 Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery The above images show the 1876 lion house from London Zoo, arguably one of the most copied zoo designs historically.

3 3 Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery London Zoo, 1903 Bronx Zoo

4 4 Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and 1912 (a refurbished version) Lincoln Park

5 The L shaped building circled is the old central mammal house at London Zoo, which had a novel approach to linking the indoor and outside cages for tropical small mammals.

6 The circled building in the colour shot is a modern aerial picture of the 1914 Acclimatisation house at Edinburgh Zoo. This was a copy of London s central mammal house, which was L shaped due to the restrictions of existing structures around the site. Although the Edinburgh site was clear of such structures, they still copied the L shape.

7 In 2007, overhead mesh raceways were built for the Scottish wildcats at the Highland Wildlife Park to connect different enclosures and increase the scope for the cats.

8 The overhead raceways for tigers at Jacksonville were a direct result of a staff member seeing the Highland Wildlife Park s wildcat structures.

9 9 Parallel Evolution Early 1990s A couple of the pre-cursers to the overhead cat tunnels that were not a result of imitating were the Prevost s squirrel tunnels at Shaldon Zoo in the UK.

10 10 Parallel Evolution Early 1990s 1994 the National Zoo in Washington D.C. s O-line for the orangs.

11 11 To boldly go. Patented put into practice 1907 Probably the first use of moats as a barrier for large carnivores included the lion exhibit at Hamburg, designed by Carl Hagenbeck.

12 12 To boldly go. It is still in use today.

13 13 To boldly go The glass section fitted into the barred front of the leopard cage at Bristol Zoo is probably the first use of glass as a barrier between visitors and large dangerous mammals.

14 14 One zoo s approach: The Highland Wildlife Park s first polar bear enclosure.

15 15 One zoo s approach: The enclosure is about 1.6 hectares (~4 acres); the bear is in the red circle.

16 16 One zoo s approach: To enclose such a large area cheaply, a new style of polar bear fence was constructed using 2.4 high deer fencing and an inner electric fence barrier.

17 17 One zoo s approach: The enclosure was built in 2009 for an elderly female polar bear. It now houses two adult males that each weigh over 0.5 tonne, and we have never had a security issue with the fence.

18 18 One zoo s approach: Musk ox at the Highland Wildlife Park.

19 19 The species is normally enclosed with heavy steel fencing, illustrated above by the former Whipsnade fence, or with moats.

20 20 One zoo s approach: At Highland Wildlife Park, as with the polar bears, we wanted to enclose a large area but only had a small budget. Using wild male behaviour as a guide, to inhibit charging the fence, a stutter barrier of logs is fixed about 1.5 m from the perimeter which breaks the bull s charge as he has to stop and step over the log barrier. In use since 2012, we have never had any damage to the fence.

21 21 One zoo s approach: Markhor at the Highland Wildlife Park

22 22 One zoo s approach: Snow leopard enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park

23 23 One zoo s approach: The double slide channel between the snow leopard and markhor exhibits allows for a combined limited enclosure rotation and enrichment option. The snow leopards are locked into their large holding pens, which are on exhibit to visitors, and the markhor are given access to the leopard area to browse, graze and defecate on for 24 hours once per month.

24 24 Markhor in snow leopard enclosure.

25 25 After 24 hours of access for the markhor, the snow leopards are allowed back into the enclosure and are stimulated by the scents left behind by the markhor.

26 26 One zoo s approach: Male polar bear holding area at the Highland Wildlife Park. As the Park is on a similar latitude to Churchill, Manitoba, there was little point in building a polar bear house so a basic holding pen and open den area was constructed.

27 27 One zoo s approach: Also at the Highland Wildlife Park, and working on the same principle as for polar bears, there was no need for a snow leopard house, and the two roofed dens are simple welded mesh cubes with wooden walled screening for weather protection and privacy.

28 28 One zoo s approach: Wolverine enclosure at Highland Wildlife park with a combined chain-link and electric fence barrier.

29 29 One zoo s approach: Although this picture shows the anti-dig ground mesh at the Amur leopard facility, this simple principle was successfully used on the wolverines and negated the need to sink mesh ~1 m into the ground to prevent them digging out. The wolverine enclosure has been in use since 2013 with no attempts to dig out.

30 30 Space: quantity vs quality Helmut Otto Antonius, director Tiergarten Schonbrunn, Although Hediger (1950) discussed the concept of the quality of an animal s enclosure being more important than the size of the space at length, it was first suggested by Antonius (1933). Although quality is of course very important, we do know that there are significant welfare benefits to large enclosures for species that have shown a propensity to stereotyping, e.g. polar bears, or for those that live in large groups, e.g. many ungulates and primates. There are no longer any elephants in urban zoos in the UK, where there are fewer holders but more elephants due to the dynamic herds that are maintained. Zoos need to stay ahead of the criticisms that are aimed at the community and drive the discussion and the changes to how we keep our animals, and not just be reactive. Our understanding of individual species needs and welfare is more refined and this often requires that we devote more space to some of them. To build the scale of enclosures that are sometimes needed, a new approach may be required so as not to be hampered by a limited budget or a narrow view of what can and cannot be done.

31 31 Be bold