Thanks! I couldn't believe it myself taking those pictures ingame as well.
Houston Zoo
- Thread starter Captain Callum
- Start date
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- Tags
- houston recreation zoo
Natural Encounters - Entrance & Rainforest habitat
With the exterior of the natural encounters mostly complete, the inside of the building can finally see some habitats. Intial fears of the building interior being too small was thankfully not true as it turns out the building size increase was more than enough to build working habitats for the rainforest animals. The otter habitat (the next stage) may run into a few issues but I'll tackle that challenge when it comes around.
The natural encounters building sees 3 animal areas built inside the building so far - a static tropical themed fish tank, the mixed species rainforest canopy habitat and a brazilian porcupine habitat.
Starting with the entrance room first, the modern entrance to the building is expanded with a double set of doors using the gift shop doors.
We enter the entrance room which has a large skylight above us and a good sized fish tank with banded archerfish and a red tailed catfish. Both fish models are sourced from workshop blueprints. Faux trees paired with underwater plants and various items from my interior air conditioning pack decorate the entrance room. The overall theme is a tropical theme as the rainforest canopy is the most dominant in the first parts of the natural encounters.
Passing through the entrance room then brings us to the main animal area through the building. The faux rocks disappear on the left side to bring the rainforest canopy into view. A faux tree paired with bundles of green leaves (using wisteria filler plants and lady ferns) decorate the roof edges along the rainforest habitats.
Where the leaves don't cover is where the interior air conditioning system is found, large metal pipes and AC vents cover the roof giving it a very realistic look compared to a normal flat roof with no details. In lower light levels, the AC system does blend in with the dark grey roof making it less obvious to passing guests.
The main highlight of this update to the natural encounters building is the mixed species rainforest habitat. This habitat (when modded) features a mix of white faced saki monkeys, golden lion headed tamarins, red footed tortoise and linnaeus's two toed sloth. The unmodded mix currently has capuchin monkeys and aldabra tortoises. As mentioned on the real zoo overview post, the wooden bridge inside the habitat and the large skylight provides a unique indoor habitat for these animals which can travel across the bridges or travel above in the vines.
Animals in the mixed species rainforest habitat also have access to the outdoor cage I built earlier in the development of the natural encounters building. Animals have a water tap outside to encourage them to travel to and from the indoor habitat regulary allowing zoo guests a good change to see animals both inside and outside.
The last part of the rainforest area is a small brazilian porcupine habitat which barely function since the porcupines (which use the binturong rig) only have 80m2 to move around sadly. The animals do still move around however so these animals are not just stuck in one position like similar smaller habitats. The unmodded version has no porcupines inside and will likely include a static porcupine model eventually.
With the exterior of the natural encounters mostly complete, the inside of the building can finally see some habitats. Intial fears of the building interior being too small was thankfully not true as it turns out the building size increase was more than enough to build working habitats for the rainforest animals. The otter habitat (the next stage) may run into a few issues but I'll tackle that challenge when it comes around.
The natural encounters building sees 3 animal areas built inside the building so far - a static tropical themed fish tank, the mixed species rainforest canopy habitat and a brazilian porcupine habitat.
Starting with the entrance room first, the modern entrance to the building is expanded with a double set of doors using the gift shop doors.
We enter the entrance room which has a large skylight above us and a good sized fish tank with banded archerfish and a red tailed catfish. Both fish models are sourced from workshop blueprints. Faux trees paired with underwater plants and various items from my interior air conditioning pack decorate the entrance room. The overall theme is a tropical theme as the rainforest canopy is the most dominant in the first parts of the natural encounters.
Passing through the entrance room then brings us to the main animal area through the building. The faux rocks disappear on the left side to bring the rainforest canopy into view. A faux tree paired with bundles of green leaves (using wisteria filler plants and lady ferns) decorate the roof edges along the rainforest habitats.
Where the leaves don't cover is where the interior air conditioning system is found, large metal pipes and AC vents cover the roof giving it a very realistic look compared to a normal flat roof with no details. In lower light levels, the AC system does blend in with the dark grey roof making it less obvious to passing guests.
The main highlight of this update to the natural encounters building is the mixed species rainforest habitat. This habitat (when modded) features a mix of white faced saki monkeys, golden lion headed tamarins, red footed tortoise and linnaeus's two toed sloth. The unmodded mix currently has capuchin monkeys and aldabra tortoises. As mentioned on the real zoo overview post, the wooden bridge inside the habitat and the large skylight provides a unique indoor habitat for these animals which can travel across the bridges or travel above in the vines.
Animals in the mixed species rainforest habitat also have access to the outdoor cage I built earlier in the development of the natural encounters building. Animals have a water tap outside to encourage them to travel to and from the indoor habitat regulary allowing zoo guests a good change to see animals both inside and outside.
The last part of the rainforest area is a small brazilian porcupine habitat which barely function since the porcupines (which use the binturong rig) only have 80m2 to move around sadly. The animals do still move around however so these animals are not just stuck in one position like similar smaller habitats. The unmodded version has no porcupines inside and will likely include a static porcupine model eventually.
Natural Encounters - Otters, armadillos and a bunch of fish
The encounters building is now complete with the addition of 2 indoor habitats and a lots of static fish tanks, this was definitely a challening build with lots of small spaces to build in but a valuable lesson as areas around the zoo such as the galapagos islands will be even more difficult. So the encounters building now contains an asian small clawed otter habitat, an armadillo habitat and 7 static fish tanks including a jellyfish tank.
First up is the otter habitat, this decent sized habitat fills in the gaps on the opposite side of the rainforest habitat where the large skylight is placed which we saw on the exterior building post. The otter habitat is usable by the otters but because of how the barrier mechanics work, they rarely ever swim in the water. The small size of the pool doesn't help but at least they walk around the rocky area above the water and interact with enrichment.
To the left of the otter habitat, there are 2 fish tanks for south american freshwater fish. These are probably the 2 most well known river fish - the red bellied piranha and the black pacu.
Looking at the interior away, after the rainforest and SA river displays we find the encounter building narrows. On the left the desert habitat can be found with armadillos inside. On the right, more freshwater fish tanks with a wooden pier theme. The complex air conditioning pipes still travel along the roof filling in any empty gaps.
The desert habitat is probably my favourite indoor habitat I have built so far, the small hitboxes on the armadillos allow them to travel across the entire habitat even with plenty of faux rocks, broken logs and foliage. A simple blue sky background and modern lighting inside brings out the north american desert theme.
The river pier tanks are small open tanks with freshwater river stingray, electric eel (this one is covered for obvious reasons
) and some banded archerfish. While banded archerfish are not displayed in this area in the building in real life and I have yet to start my freshwater fish blueprints, they will remain here for now.
Passing both of the desert and river pier areas, we finally reach the last part of the encounter building. This is the coral reef area with 2 tanks - a coral reef fish tank with regal tang and clownfish, and a moon jellyfish tank. Purple lighting is used to create the typical aquarium lighting which is especially seen in moon jellyfish tanks. The moon jellyfish is made by me using the small bird eggs and the small half circle block.
The coral reef is a mix n' match of coral pieces from the workshop, naturally due to the shape and complexity of the coral pieces, these kind of fish tanks are very piece heavy but they do look really nice.
The encounters building is now complete with the addition of 2 indoor habitats and a lots of static fish tanks, this was definitely a challening build with lots of small spaces to build in but a valuable lesson as areas around the zoo such as the galapagos islands will be even more difficult. So the encounters building now contains an asian small clawed otter habitat, an armadillo habitat and 7 static fish tanks including a jellyfish tank.
First up is the otter habitat, this decent sized habitat fills in the gaps on the opposite side of the rainforest habitat where the large skylight is placed which we saw on the exterior building post. The otter habitat is usable by the otters but because of how the barrier mechanics work, they rarely ever swim in the water. The small size of the pool doesn't help but at least they walk around the rocky area above the water and interact with enrichment.
To the left of the otter habitat, there are 2 fish tanks for south american freshwater fish. These are probably the 2 most well known river fish - the red bellied piranha and the black pacu.
Looking at the interior away, after the rainforest and SA river displays we find the encounter building narrows. On the left the desert habitat can be found with armadillos inside. On the right, more freshwater fish tanks with a wooden pier theme. The complex air conditioning pipes still travel along the roof filling in any empty gaps.
The desert habitat is probably my favourite indoor habitat I have built so far, the small hitboxes on the armadillos allow them to travel across the entire habitat even with plenty of faux rocks, broken logs and foliage. A simple blue sky background and modern lighting inside brings out the north american desert theme.
The river pier tanks are small open tanks with freshwater river stingray, electric eel (this one is covered for obvious reasons
) and some banded archerfish. While banded archerfish are not displayed in this area in the building in real life and I have yet to start my freshwater fish blueprints, they will remain here for now.Passing both of the desert and river pier areas, we finally reach the last part of the encounter building. This is the coral reef area with 2 tanks - a coral reef fish tank with regal tang and clownfish, and a moon jellyfish tank. Purple lighting is used to create the typical aquarium lighting which is especially seen in moon jellyfish tanks. The moon jellyfish is made by me using the small bird eggs and the small half circle block.
The coral reef is a mix n' match of coral pieces from the workshop, naturally due to the shape and complexity of the coral pieces, these kind of fish tanks are very piece heavy but they do look really nice.
Perdón. Disfrute la tarea, so no pressureOh did I forget to mention basically all signs for the zoo especially animal info signs are both english and spanish? I can't speak a word of spanish so that will be fun
Real Zoo Overview - Galapagos Islands
Let's go for another round of the real zoo overview for the houston zoo! This time it's the actual entrance area considering the galapagos islands is the most visible animal sight upon entering the zoo, the Galapagos Islands is a one of it's kind facility in a galapagos islands themed area. With conservation in mind, the only animal that is found from the galapagos islands are the giant tortoises which were sourced from existing AZA collections while other animals are animal ambassadors for the wild animals that live in the islands.
Thankfully I don't need to make a map as the zoo plan for the islands area is easy to read:
Going in a clockwise rotation starting from the bottom right:
And of course lets take a look at some of the pictures of the area:
A rough overview of the galapagos islands building, picture taken under construction. Gives a view into the expansive backstage area, and large building holding the aquarium.
Above view of the sea lion habitat with it's large amount of faux rocks. The arch in the middle is the sea cave and the underwater tunnel can be seen to the right.
Below the water, guests get a great view from the underwater tunnel.
Galapagos giant tortoises have plenty of space to roam in this volcanic themed habitat.
A rocky iguana habitat with a rocky desert theme. Using an actual modded animal in here won't go well so a static iguana will be built.
If the sea lion habitat wasn't impressive enough, view many ocean species in this large ocean tank. Practise with coral reef building in the encounters building is going to come very handy for this.
And lastly, the indoor penguin habitat which is roomy enough for the penguins ingame.
As we can expect this area is going to be DIFFICULT!! The amount of planning and work needed to make all these come together nicely will take quite some time. It is definitely my most ambitious project yet, if not one of the most ambitious projects ever in planet zoo. If I can pull this off as great as the real zoo, then no zoo will ever pose a challenge again.
Let's go for another round of the real zoo overview for the houston zoo! This time it's the actual entrance area considering the galapagos islands is the most visible animal sight upon entering the zoo, the Galapagos Islands is a one of it's kind facility in a galapagos islands themed area. With conservation in mind, the only animal that is found from the galapagos islands are the giant tortoises which were sourced from existing AZA collections while other animals are animal ambassadors for the wild animals that live in the islands.
Thankfully I don't need to make a map as the zoo plan for the islands area is easy to read:
Going in a clockwise rotation starting from the bottom right:
- Stroller rental shop - At the bottom right corner we will find the old aquarium building which now contains a stroller rental shop. Remember this large circular building was connected to the entrance so we are in the entrance plaza currently
- Sea Lion Viewing - Above sea lion viewing into the sea lion habitat. There is a large area to view the sea lions from above with an amphitheatre to accomodate large crowds wanting to watch the sea lions, I imagine the sea lion keeper talk is also held here.
- Galapagos Entry - The entrance to the galapagos islands area, crowds are encourgaed to enter here instead of the exit at the stroller rental shop to help the traffic flow. The entrance here features animal statues of notable galapagos species and lots of tropical or volcanic rocks.
- Tortoises - With a pool next to the guest viewing, volcanic rock barriers and a naturalistic grassy habitat, these galapagos giant tortoises have a great habitat to explore. Directly opposite the tortoise habitat is a small rocky habitat for Grand Cayman blue iguanas.
- Sea Cave - Guests now enter a rocky cave leading to the second viewing for sea lions, this sea lion viewing has both above and underwater viewing thanks to a glass barrier and lots of rough water creates a wild environment. There are also some crabs in an exhibit here aswell.
- Sea Lion Viewing Tunnel - An underwater tunnel brings guests close to the action! The large tunnel provides plenty of viewing into the underwater environment in the sea lion habitat.
- One Ocean Gallery - First we encounter a wall tank with some pacific sea nettle (jellyfish) and then visit planet aquarium! A large deep ocean tank features sharks, sea turtles, stingrays and all kinds of tropical fish. After the ocean tank, there is another wall tank with some seahorses and various small aquarium animals.
- Penguins - Travel through a lava tunnel which brings us back to ground level and see an indoor humboldt penguin habitat and various galleries on conservation in the galapagos.
- Galapagos Giant Tortoise
- Grand Cayman Blue Iguana - static model
- California Sea Lion
- Sally Lightfoot Crab, Nimble Spray Crab - static models
- Pacific Sea Nettle - Static models
- Green Sea Turtle, bonnethead shark, blacktip reef shark, Cownose ray, Various species of angelfish, surgeonfish, unicornfish, and butterflyfish. All species will either be modded for select species or the unmodded zoo will feature every species as a static model
- Sea star, Seahorse, sea urchin - static models
- Humboldt Penguin
And of course lets take a look at some of the pictures of the area:
A rough overview of the galapagos islands building, picture taken under construction. Gives a view into the expansive backstage area, and large building holding the aquarium.
Above view of the sea lion habitat with it's large amount of faux rocks. The arch in the middle is the sea cave and the underwater tunnel can be seen to the right.
Below the water, guests get a great view from the underwater tunnel.
Galapagos giant tortoises have plenty of space to roam in this volcanic themed habitat.
A rocky iguana habitat with a rocky desert theme. Using an actual modded animal in here won't go well so a static iguana will be built.
If the sea lion habitat wasn't impressive enough, view many ocean species in this large ocean tank. Practise with coral reef building in the encounters building is going to come very handy for this.
And lastly, the indoor penguin habitat which is roomy enough for the penguins ingame.
As we can expect this area is going to be DIFFICULT!! The amount of planning and work needed to make all these come together nicely will take quite some time. It is definitely my most ambitious project yet, if not one of the most ambitious projects ever in planet zoo. If I can pull this off as great as the real zoo, then no zoo will ever pose a challenge again.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry
Ask the zoo why they had to make such a great area, this makes the Pantanal look easy
Houston zoo is in my bucketlist of zoos i would love to visit in the US. All the areas i see of them are so awesome. Galapagos looks tricky because of all the underwater tunnels. e.Ask the zoo why they had to make such a great area, this makes the Pantanal look easy
Houston is definitely on my bucklist as well, I'm spoiling all these zoo visits by learning so much about the zoo without ever going there lol. The galapagos underwater tunnel is going to be the most difficult part of the entire zoo, working with the buggy terrain and water and having a realistic entrance on both sides without terrain poking out at werid angles is going to be challenging. I did a brief attempt at how it might work a few weeks ago and it was just pure pain. It's not like I can just do a fake tunnel without any path since I need an unobstructed path going through the sea lion pool.
On the otherhand, everyone will get to see my struggles and get an up to date tunnel tutorial aswell when that video finally comes around.
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Oh this will be so useful!
Jack's Cafe Construction
While this isn't exactly the most exciting post to do lol, the old sea lion habitat is in the process of being replaced by a new modern cafe for the entrance. Jack's Cafe is planned to open somepoint in 2025 which hopefully will be long after I finish the zoo itself so the area that is for the cafe currently is a construction site until it opens. There are a couple renders of what the cafe is going to look like but I'll wait until the pictures on zoochat appear to get it right.
Planned vision of the Jack's Cafe, a large modern building with a fast food cafe with outdoor seating. The building will also feature a private event space on the upper interior space.
Ingame, I have a nicely sized construction site where the cafe is being built. Various containers and constrction equipment including 2 road rollers and 2 bobcats.
Ground level view of the construction site with the zoo entrance in the background.
Birds eye view of the zoo so far. The jack's cafe will take up the central entrance space while the galapagos islands will be on the right. Early work has started on the galapagos with the exterior sea lion viewing in progress, we can expect the reptile habitats, tortoises and iguana, to be the first development post of the galapagos later this week.
While this isn't exactly the most exciting post to do lol, the old sea lion habitat is in the process of being replaced by a new modern cafe for the entrance. Jack's Cafe is planned to open somepoint in 2025 which hopefully will be long after I finish the zoo itself so the area that is for the cafe currently is a construction site until it opens. There are a couple renders of what the cafe is going to look like but I'll wait until the pictures on zoochat appear to get it right.
Planned vision of the Jack's Cafe, a large modern building with a fast food cafe with outdoor seating. The building will also feature a private event space on the upper interior space.
Ingame, I have a nicely sized construction site where the cafe is being built. Various containers and constrction equipment including 2 road rollers and 2 bobcats.
Ground level view of the construction site with the zoo entrance in the background.
Birds eye view of the zoo so far. The jack's cafe will take up the central entrance space while the galapagos islands will be on the right. Early work has started on the galapagos with the exterior sea lion viewing in progress, we can expect the reptile habitats, tortoises and iguana, to be the first development post of the galapagos later this week.