Smart Commercial Design: Predator & Prey Exhibits

At the Milwaukee County Zoo

Although there is ample discussion of whether predator-prey exhibits are healthy for zoo animals, for commercial purposes, these exhibits are smartly designed.  These exhibits make the animals more lively as the predators can smell and see the prey close-by.  For many zoos, having lively animals is something that can not always be produced.  To protect the prey from the predators, an empty moat, invisible to zoo visitors, sits between the two species.  One sits in foreground and one in the background exhibit areas.  In addition, these exhibits represent a more realistic view of the animals' habitats as these exhibits are larger and show different species of the same continent living in close proximity.

For visitors, these exhibits are exciting.  Visitors of zoos and museums like to be taken away from the everyday world when they enter museums and zoos.  It is a much less expensive safari and a way to see things that are out of the ordinary for many.  Visits become all the more better when exhibits help you feel as if you are in another country and watching these animals' predatory behaviors.  People can forget that they are in a zoo.

At the Milwaukee County Zoo

What also makes these exhibits exciting is that the moat separating the two species can not be seen.  Unknowing visitors can be scared that the Amur tiger may become so enticed by the smell of the Bactrian camel that it will take a running leap into the foreground exhibit for some hunting.  Even just from the images above I am scared for the Mule Deer.  The Brown Bear seems to be looking directly at it as its next meal.  Ah, to experience "the wild"!

Photos from: http://www.zoochat.com/22/review-milwaukee-county-zoo-152750/