Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 1
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 2
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 3
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
1903
1876
1876 London Zoo, 1903 Bronx Zoo
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 4
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
1903
1876
1912
…and 1912 (a refurbished version) Lincoln Park
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 5
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
1913
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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 6
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
1914
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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 7
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
2007
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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 8
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
2014
The overhead raceways for tigers at Jacksonville were a direct result of a staff member seeing the Highland Wildlife Park’s wildcat structures.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 9
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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….
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 10
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse Parallel Evolution
Early 1990s 1994
…the National Zoo in Washington D.C.’s O-line for the orangs.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 11
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse To boldly go…….
Patented 1896….
….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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 12
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse To boldly go…….
It is still in use today.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 13
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse To boldly go…….
1950
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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 14
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse One zoo’s approach:
The Highland Wildlife Park’s first polar bear enclosure.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 15
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse One zoo’s approach:
The enclosure is about 1.6 hectares (~4 acres); the bear is in the red circle.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 16
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 17
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 18
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse One zoo’s approach:
Musk ox at the Highland Wildlife Park.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 19
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
The species is normally enclosed with heavy steel fencing, illustrated above by the former Whipsnade fence, or with moats.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 20
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 21
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse One zoo’s approach:
Markhor at the Highland Wildlife Park
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 22
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse One zoo’s approach:
Snow leopard enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 23
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 24
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
Markhor in snow leopard enclosure.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 25
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 26
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 27
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 28
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse One zoo’s approach:
Wolverine enclosure at Highland Wildlife park with a combined chain-link and electric fence barrier.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 29
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse 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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 30
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
Space: quantity vs quality
Helmut Otto Antonius, director Tiergarten Schonbrunn , 1924-1945
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.
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org Douglas Richardson, Highland Wildlife Park 31
New ideas in zoo design are never the province of the risk averse
Be bold
Zoodesign Conference 2017, Wroclaw, Poland www.zoolex.org