Volume 3, No. 16. August 22,2003
AZA Preview
A
new point of view
Sometimes a zoo opens a new exhibit that revolutionizes exhibitry throughout
the industry. Lately, the entire industry has seen a rapid succession of such
envelope-pushing, mind bending, outside-the-box-thinking exhibits.
This
year alone we have seen the AZA Conference host, the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo and
Aquarium, open Islands of Southeast Asia using a slow boat ride as a method
for viewing the exhibits (THE
LOOP, July 25, 2003), the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida, unveiled Expedition
Africa featuring kayak tours (THE
LOOP, July 11, 2003), and the Downtown Aquarium in Houston, Texas, routed
a train through a giant shark tank (THE
LOOP, February 28, 2003). The Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, built
the largest nocturnal exhibit featuring five themed halls with Kingdoms of the
Night (THE LOOP, April 25,
2003), the St. Louis (Missouri) Zoo fit both the Arctic and Antarctic inside
the Penguin and Puffin Coast (THE
LOOP, July 25, 2003), and the Memphis (Tennessee) Zoo put the finishing
touches on the architecturally rich CHINA exhibit it opened a year ago (THE
LOOP, July 26, 2002) with a pair of pandas this spring.
One
zoo, however, managed to pack several stunning innovations into a single new
exhibit, innovations that run the gamut from fundraising devices to operational
procedures to new ways of experiencing the animals. The exhibit is the African
Rift Valley at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado (THE
LOOP, June 27, 2003).
“Our mantra is every kid, every time, goose bumps,” said Sean Anglum, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s director of public relations. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and exhibit designer Jack Rouse Associates have put in many clever interactive elements (track how many crackers guests feed each giraffe each day) and educational displays (giraffe anatomy inside the giraffe house), and got a bonus with the exhibit’s location on the side of Cheyenne Mountain overlooking Colorado Springs. “The TV guys are always coming here to do weather shots,” Anglum said.
The
designers themed the exhibit to compare the African Rift with Colorado. Both
regions feature expansive plains leading to high mountain ranges, both with
unique native fauna. This theme is explained in a workbook, the “Cheyenne
Mountain Zoo Journal” handed to all children who enter the exhibit, that
features “Anne” of Colorado Springs and her friend “Joseph”
visiting from Kenya. Their footprints, along with that of a giraffe, can be
seen in the pavement throughout the exhibit.
The
4 1/2 acre (18,211-square-meter) exhibit allows the zoo’s ample (19) and
proliferative (181 births in 40 years with two more on the way) herd of reticulated
giraffes to gambol in a bush and tree bordered sloping yard. Also on display
are various fowl, meerkat, zebra mouse, lesser kudo, red river hog and red-flanked
duiker.
What
sets African Rift Valley apart is the many ways guests can experience the giraffes
themselves. Guests can feed them from three locations and can view them from
several vantage points, including a three-story tower, a ground-level “research
station” and on a drawbridge that opens every morning to allow the giraffes
to pass from their holding areas out into the yard. “People crowd in at
9:15 to get a position here,” Anglum said.
The
most unique vantage point is from inside the exhibit itself. The zoo is offering
“Safari Tours” that take up to 10 guests on a path along the vegetation
bordering the giraffe yard, allowing patrons to walk alongside the giraffes
without the risk of being caught underfoot. Offered six times a day, the tours
cost $5 per person, even for members, and most of the tours have been sold out,
Anglum said. Also inside the yard itself is a blind where professional photographers
and artists can sit to shoot or sketch the giraffes and fowl.
As
revolutionary as those perspectives may be, guests get an even more singular
view of the zoo’s giraffes by way of one of the zoo’s giraffes, Twiga.
She has been trained to wear a strap on her horns that will carry a small video
camera. The image will be broadcast to a screen in the interpretive area of
the exhibit. “Twiga is easy to work with, and she’s our brave giraffe,”
Anglum said. “She was the first in the yard, she was the first up the hill.”
At
the entrance plaza to African Rift stand five giraffe statues created by local
artist Karyl and fabricated out of plastic by The Glass Hand in Cincinnati.
The statues bear the names of giraffes in the exhibit, and the spots on the
fabricated giraffes bear the names of donors. Spots range in price from $100
to $750, depending on their size and location: the larger and higher the spot,
the more it costs. All the $100 spots have sold out, Anglum said, including
those at the very, um, bottom. “When they purchase a spot, people will
say I want a leg on Jane or I want a rump. But all the rumps are taken.”
Another sculpture in the exhibit is that of a half-eaten zebra amid bushes inside the giraffe yard. It serves as an enrichment tool for the exhibit’s griffon vulture, which gets its food from the sculpture. However, other birds in the yard have discovered the vulture’s stash. “We’re making carrion eaters out of the cattle egrets,” Anglum said.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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