Hi all,
I'm currently building the Polar Bear Pit from Dudley Zoo. The pit was designed by the Tecton group in the 1930's and is an amazing example of early modernist architecture and was, at the time, one of the most advanced displays for animals in the world. Obviously, since it was built, animal welfare standards have changed, and the three displays are no longer fit for displaying their original inhabitants.
Originally tigers were housed in the left-hand enclosure, lions on the right, and polar bears in the centre. Currently, the left holds a tiger (though there were plans at one stage to replace this with chimps), the center holds arctic foxes, and the right holds howler monkeys, though i think binturongs and maybe wolverines have been held in the past.
As with many older enclosures, the pits have viewing areas that look down on the animals (though the two 'wings' rise steeply and above the viewing areas) and zoo visitors are some distance from the animals, so smaller animals aren't great.
So, my question is,.. What should go in? - I can combine the enclosures into one to expand the space, but I'm not sure what to put in.
What do you think?
I'm currently building the Polar Bear Pit from Dudley Zoo. The pit was designed by the Tecton group in the 1930's and is an amazing example of early modernist architecture and was, at the time, one of the most advanced displays for animals in the world. Obviously, since it was built, animal welfare standards have changed, and the three displays are no longer fit for displaying their original inhabitants.
Originally tigers were housed in the left-hand enclosure, lions on the right, and polar bears in the centre. Currently, the left holds a tiger (though there were plans at one stage to replace this with chimps), the center holds arctic foxes, and the right holds howler monkeys, though i think binturongs and maybe wolverines have been held in the past.
As with many older enclosures, the pits have viewing areas that look down on the animals (though the two 'wings' rise steeply and above the viewing areas) and zoo visitors are some distance from the animals, so smaller animals aren't great.
So, my question is,.. What should go in? - I can combine the enclosures into one to expand the space, but I'm not sure what to put in.
What do you think?
