Shangsheng River Zoo

[Teotlxixtli]

I got back into building after a considerable hiatus, but I think this is one of my best zoos yet. It's centered around a fictional river in China that houses the last remaining population of Baiji river dolphins, and the land was immediately made into a biopark to save the Baiji and also to keep other animals that could not be kept at other zoos across the globe.

 

 

The entrance to the zoo, centered around an elegant elephant fountain, gives the guest three paths: the left path heads towards some African and South American animals, the central path heads through a food court to the bridge across the Shangsheng River, and the right path heads towards some African animals.

 

 

This food court here was meant primarily as crowd control, but I took the opportunity to make it a garden fixture too, with a random path design and building organization through the flowers. In the first shot you can see a rock building on the edge of the Shangsheng River. This is a zookeeper box that I constructed for almost all of the exhibits so that the zookeepers would do their jobs instead of wandering off. In the second shot you can catch a glimpse of the Giant Armadillo exhibit, though we'll have a look at that a little bit later.

 

 

This wiry cage is known as Lemur Forest, and houses Ring-Tailed Lemurs on both sides of the winding path. If you notice a few holes in the roof, that's primarily because Ring-Tailed Lemurs require a lot of foliage to be happy in their exhibit and it made it hard to place the roof sections. In the second shot one can see a ring toss game and the central picnic area within Lemur Forest. The third shot showcases the exit and a few Baiji swimming along the river's edge. I was especially proud of how a) the observation areas with the black overpass turned out and b) how Zootan's hedge fences really frame Catfish's aviary quite nicely.

 

 

Here one can view Mandrill Coast, along the edge of the boardwalk. This is probably my second-favorite exhibit in the zoo (aside from Shangsheng River itself) because it has such an organic, round shape. I was attempting to create more inventive exhibit shapes by creating symmetrical exhibits around the boardwalk, and the curve of the river, which I originally did with freshwater, really turned out nicely for this enclosure. You can see some Baiji swimming past in some of these shots, as well as one particular Mandrill mid-jump, which was a nice surprise.

 

That's all for today. Thank you for reading! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please tell me below!

[ARIZNANA]

THAT IS REALLY NICE . I LOVE YOUR USE OF SHAPES AND WATER . AND ALL THE RED ROOFS .

[Firehawke]

So glad you have posted pics from your new zoo!

Beautiful work!!! I love all of the foliage and the layout is great...very creative!

Question...is that terrain elevation I spy in the river??? I've never seen that before!!! How did you do it?

Can't wait to see more pics!

[Teotlxixtli]

It's African Raptor's raised floor rocks. They're available for download here, actually.

Also, thank you both for your kind words!

[Firehawke]

Good to know...I'll have to check them out!!!

[fountain]

Absolutely beautiful!

[Teotlxixtli]

Thanks fountain! Instead of picking specific plants I just went for broke and chose on color and got these arrangements. I'm particularly proud of the colors with the flowers and other foliage on top of sand, it's a really good contrast.

 

 

Here we have Armadillo Den on the edge of the boardwalk. I like the ability of the Traveler's Tree to cover blank exhibit walls, but the color is a little off-putting so I don't believe I'll be using this technique again. They just look plastic, you know? You can also see the edge of the Aviary in the top right corner here.

 

 

This exhibit is called Okapi Glen. I like taking care of Okapis and all, and I was glad that I could achieve this effect with the dirt in this exhibit, but this one was honestly kind of uninspired. You can also see the Reptile House in this shot.

 

 

This area, called Jaguar Creek, was probably the winning exhibit of this side of the zoo, given the more natural design internally and the placement near all the foliage on the edge of Shangsheng River. I intended for the strip of freshwater here to look like an ancient tributary or something to this river, and I think it turned out pretty good. Swimming zookeepers is a super helpful hack in this case. These exhibits along the perimeter wall of the zoo are one of the only places you can see trees, because I wanted to create the image of lushness without obscuring any of the path (which is also why I hid the guests). Hopefully that worked...?

 

That's all for today. Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, leave them below.

[(Admin)Cricket]

Teotlxixtli, your zoo is looking great!! Love the names you have given the exhibits. And the foliage is awesome :)

[caddienoah]

Your zoo is beautiful!...Nice layout and design...I especially like the river/tank and it's inside levels...Very nice job on the whole...I would like to see more of your zoo!!!

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

Wow! Teotlxixtle, this zoo is stunning! The vibrant colors of the foliage pop with vitality; this is such a beautiful effect. I agree with striving for a lush look without covering the pathways and exhibits with tree arbor; you have certainly mastered the technique. Honestly, I am going to look back through these shots for more detailed study.

 

Would you consider uploading your zoo with a screen of your dlupdates folder, or perhaps a few large zips of the files? I would love to visit this zoo for a walkthrough.