Scotland zoo

[Hiddeb99]

Scotland Zoo
Where people meet nature
​

Welcome to my first zoo made on planet zoo. I hope to post here some nice shots of my creations and inspire other people.

Episode 1: New beginnings
Scotland zoo is still a relatively small zoo. The estate on which the zoo is built used to serve as a park where the elite could spend their free hours. There is also a train station located on the estate so that visitors could easily get here. Around 1900, the park also became accessible to ordinary citizens. During the Second World War, there was no money available to maintain the park and it fell into disrepair.

A few years ago, a group of investors bought the former estate and developed plans to build a zoo on it. The zoo's vision is to give everyone the opportunity to come into contact with the wonders of nature and present them in a natural way. The old train station has been renovated in the past and now serves as an entrance to the zoo. Currently, only European species are kept in the zoo, but there are already big plans for the future.

Here you can see a birds eye view of the current situation of the zoo. The big building on the left is the entrance and the building on the right is the central staff center.

The main entrance of the zoo consists of three sections. The first part that the visitor passes upon entering includes the cash registers and information desks.

From there, visitors arrive in the central area. Here you can catch your breath from the trip on one of the benches or get a snack from one of the vending machines. There are also two vivariums in this section where 2 European species can be seen. In the design of the entrance building, an attempt was made to preserve the old style of the train station as much as possible.

The third and final section of the entrance building consists of the toilets and a coffee shop with a view over a part of the zoo.

In the vivariums you can immediately see two species that visitors will not easily encounter in the wild. One vivarium houses a number of fire salamanders (Salamandra salamandra). This salamander species lives in forests in Europe and can hide well among the leaves and fallen trees. These salamanders secrete toxic substances through their skin and therefore also have a yellow color.

In the other vivarium there is a species that is at least as special, namely the sacred scarab beetle (Scarabaeus sacer). These beetles are only up to 4 centimeters in size but can move dung balls that are sometimes the size of an apple. In ancient Egypt, these animals were revered and associated with resurrection because they burrow into the sand and then the young animals resurface while the ancient animals die.

Visitors can exit the main building through a number of doors in a large glass wall. Here they end up on a wooden platform where they can overlook part of the zoo. After this, the visitor can take the stairs down to the first animals.

On the wooden platform is a statue of a dodo and a lion separated by a glass wall. The rest of the attributes in the environment are the same, creating an illusion of a mirror. The lion and the dodo represent each other's mirror image. The deeper meaning of these images is that it is too late for some animals but that others can still be saved.

That is it for now. I hope you enjoyed this first episode and more is on the way for later this week. Let me know what you think.

 

[Captain Callum]

Your first zoo? Looks great, can't wait to see the rest.

 

[Hiddeb99]

Hello everyone and welcome back to the next update on Scotland zoo. The updates now follow up quickly because I had this part already ready since my first post. Thank you Captain Callum for your lovely words, I played a lot of Zoo tycoon 2 back in the days so I have had some experience with order zoo management games. Firstly I have a question for you guys. I want to make a nice logo for the zoo and some custom signs with all kind of animals on it. I know the tv´s in Planet Zoo can do that but I´m actually looking more for a wooden sign of some kind. If anyone has great tips for free programms or websites to do stuff like this please let me know. For now first the new update.

Episode 2: The badgers borrow a burrow
When visitors leave the main building and follow the stairs down, they arrive at the zoo's first enclosure, Badger Burrow.

The badgers' residence is a residence with a history behind it. When the former park was bought by the investors, they soon found out that a badger family had found a place to live in the wild landscape.

The zoo could not possibly remove the badgers from their surroundings and therefore came up with a well-thought-out plan. The badger burrow which was relatively close to the main building was observed for a long time. By closely monitoring the behavior of the badgers, the zoo was able to determine which entrances and exits the badgers used and which area the badgers used as habitat. Subsequently, the burrow was kept in its original state and pieces of land were contained around both entrances that served as a habitat for the badgers.

The field on the southern side of the burrow is used as a place where the park staff can have a feeding talk about the badgers.

The field near the eastern exit serves as a place where the badgers can eat and drink. Visitors can watch the badgers from a bench.

A webcam has been placed inside the burrow so that visitors can admire the inside of the burrow from home and view the animals. Even when the badgers have young, these can be viewed via the website.

That is everything for now. I hope you enjoyed this episode.

 

[Aramar]

Happy to see so much love put into a badger habitat. Good job!

 

[Captain Callum]

Firstly I have a question for you guys. I want to make a nice logo for the zoo and some custom signs with all kind of animals on it. I know the tv´s in Planet Zoo can do that but I´m actually looking more for a wooden sign of some kind.

I'm afraid there isn't any wooden signs ingame that allow you to place custom media on, the only customisable wooden signs we have are the text based signs from the Australia dlc. There are square flat screens that could work if you don't want go use the tv screens as these set of screens are the method of adding custom media into your zoo.

For an actual program, I recommend using Canva (https://www.canva.com/) for any horizontal based custom media. Use the 16:9 presentation mode and add a wooden background to the white canvas, from there you can add your actual sign info and that way you can get a wooden sign. You can always use the try to match the kind of wood textures ingame (like finding a wooden stock image from Google that resembles them) and fill the outside area (the sides or back of the screen) with wooden planks allowing for your custom media to appear directly on a wooden sign.

 

[Hiddeb99]

Hello everyone, welcome back to this smaller update. Thank you Captain Callum for your helpfull tips. I made some nice signs I think but you will see them on the next big update. For now first a smaller update.

Episode 3: Follow the fallow deer
When visitors have walked past the badger enclosure, they end up in the first themed area of the zoo called Nature across Europe. In this area, as the name suggests, European animals are central. The badgers are already a taste of this area.

Behind the badger enclosure is the second enclosure of this area called Fallow deer forest. It is a residence where visitors can go inside to admire the fallow deer (Dama dama) up close. For visitors who do not want to enter the accommodation, are in a wheelchair or have a stroller with them, there is a place next to the entrance where they can wait until the rest of the group is back.

Visitors can walk around the enclosure on a forest path. The enclosure currently houses a group of fallow deer consisting of an older male, four females and their young. The fallow deer can approach the visitors on the path but can also choose to hide among the thickets that are scattered throughout the enclosure.

Behind the rock formation present in the enclosure is an area where the fallow deer can escape the attention of the public. Here is also a stable where they can rest.

Adjacent to the right side of the residence is a staff building where feed for the deer is stored. The area around the staff building is closed to the public.

Here you can see Fallow deer forest again from a bird's eye view. On the left side of the photo you can already see a small part of what the next stay is coming. It's far from finished, but maybe you have an idea what it's going to be?

That's it for today. I hope you like this exhibit. Until next time.

 

[tiger guy]

awsome

 

[Hiddeb99]

Hello everyone welcome to this big update. Today's update is split into two different posts because I'm getting a message that I can't add more than 10 images to my post. If anyone has an idea if and how to fix this please let me know. For now sit back and enjoy.

Episode 4: What a water birds (part 1)

When visitors come from the fallow deer enclosure they can continue to follow the normal path, but the more adventurous visitor can also follow the Nature Trail. This trail is a path that leads through a forest where visitors can experience nature and learn things about nature in the form of games and information boards. The trail currently consists of only one part but will run through the entire European themed area in the future. In the first part of the Nature trail, visitors are introduced to birds from the British Woodlands. Around the Nature trail there are speakers with sounds of various birds that live in the British forests.

Behind the fallow deer exhibit is a large aviary that forms Wetland bird sanctuary. This enclosure is Scotland Zoo's first major project in which conservation plays a central role. In addition to visitors being able to enjoy all kinds of birds live in the European wetlands from different perspectives, the enclosure is also a sanctuary for injured birds from the wild and an educational center where visitors can learn more about the wetlands and the threats these nature reserves face.

The area in the aviary consists of several water features and vegetation typical of the European wetlands. There are also several resting plateaus mounted in dead trees throughout the exhibit and there are foraging places here and there in the enclosure. Currently, the following bird species are present in the aviary, mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), Canadian geese (Branta canadensis), white storks (Ciconia ciconia), gadwalls (Mareca strepera), common loons (Gavia immer), Eurasian spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia), Eurasian curlews (Numenius arquata), common cranes (Grus grus) and great egrets (Ardea alba).

The first place from where visitors can observe the birds is the centrally located bird watching hut. From here, visitors can look over the many puddles scattered throughout the enclosure. In the cabin, visitors can learn more about the Wetlands and try to spot all the birds housed there through one of the homemade signs.

On the right side of the aviary is the research center. The building has its own quarantine and medical facility to help injured birds that come from the wild. Employees can also observe the birds from behind the glass wall. On the first floor, a room has been set up where birds that have arrived can be released and fly into the aviary from here. Birds that are going to be released back into the wild can also be lured here to make it easier to catch them. The ground floor is inaccessible to guest but they can take a look through the window on the first floor.

 

[Hiddeb99]

Episode 4: What a water birds (part 2)

When visitors turn right from the birdwatching hut, they arrive at a fork. The path to the left leads to the restaurant "the foraging grounds" and the path to the right leads to a second place from where visitors can view the birds well.

The restaurant consists of a half glass dome that flows into a wooden building at the back. From the outside, a small pond flows in, so that the building merges into the wetlands area. There are several food stalls in the building where visitors can order a variety of food and drinks.

When guests follow the path on the fork to the right they end up at a small walk-in area. Here they can enter the aviary and watch the birds from up real close. In the last picture a mother white stork and her young came to pass by.

That's it for todays update. I hoped you enjoyed, let me know what you think of it.

 

[Captain Callum]

I'm getting a message that I can't add more than 10 images to my post

Yeah there is a limit on how many images you can attach to a single post. If you have lots of pictures to show, easily do part 2,3 etc in separate posts.