Exhibit Design

 Here's an employment category the definitely differentiates the big zoos from the little ones.  The larger zoos will actually have a designated in-house team for the design of new exhibits.  This differs from the smaller places, which will have the keepers build (much simpler, generally) habitats .  Many other zoos contract exhibit design out to outside firms, such as CLR, which may have something to do with the end result that a lot of exhibits at different zoos kind of look the safe.

An in-house design team does have advantages, especially as far as familiarity with your facility and its landscape and other conditions.  After all, what may work well at one facility might not be as successful at another.  Nor is the work limited to the big picture of designing whole habitats and complexes.  It also consists of designing features for your animal habitats, especially ones that you want to have a natural touch.  Want a slide for your river otters?  Sure, you could get a plastic slide from a kid's play set - or you could have one crafted to look like a broken off tree limb.  Or, perhaps you want a realistic looking termite mound for your chimpanzees, one which they can actually fish for treats out of like they would in the wild.

I've spent most of my career at zoos on the smaller side, so most of the exhibit work I've done has been along the lines of, "Here's some lumber, there are the nails and wire, we've got two hours before we need to get ready for closing, so let's get on it."  A few years back, however, I did sit in on a workshop hosted by Disney\s Animal Kingdom on how to use silicone to cover enrichment objects and furniture - we wrapped hoses and ropes with the gunk, then used textured stamps and animal-safe dyes to disguise them as weathered old vines for a tamarin habitat.  (Disney, of course, with their staff, budget, and commitment to detail, is all about this sort of thing).  I thought it was cool - but to be fair, if I'd had the budget to do that for my zoo, I probably would have used it to hire an extra keeper or two instead.