Probably the most dramatic moment of the trip for me was rounding a corner in the trail and opening up into a field that was dominated by towering stone temples and pyramids. As we walked towards the main pyramid and prepared to ascend the steps to the top, I found myself glancing from side to side. Against all logic, I half-expected to see a jaguar lounging on one of the nearby ledges.
Zoos and aquariums, I have been deeply frustrated to observe over the years, tend to have questionable commitment to the concept of creativity. Someone will come up with an idea that is absolutely unique and stunning. Within a few years, everyone has copied it. One such exhibit motif that I've seen done over and over again is displaying jaguars on Mayan ruins, or tigers on Indian, Khmer, or other South/Southeast Asian ruins. Looking back on, I have probably seen more jaguar exhibits with the ruin design than I have without. Even some of the zoos that I've worked in have adopted the style - though admittedly, the execution was so half-butted that it wasn't readily apparent that they were supposed to be ruins.
I'm not sure who originated the concept. The tiger exhibit at Zoo Miami (then called Miami MetroZoo) was an earlier practitioner, though I don't know if they were the first. It probably arose in the 1980's, when zoos were moving towards more natural exhibits, the concept of immersion. The challenge was that animals - especially tropical animals like jaguars - still needed support buildings, and obviously non-natural buildings tend to take away from the atmosphere that the zoo is going for. But what if the buildings could be made part of the experience? By putting up a façade, that drab service building suddenly becomes an outlier of Tikal, Chichen Itza, or Caracol - going from something that you're trying to obscure to becoming the perfect photographic background of your display.
At least, that's the thought. Some of the buildings look stunning - as is often the case, the earlier works are the best, and Zoo Miami has one of the best-looking tiger exhibits I've ever seen. Others look obviously phony, borderline tacky. What irks me - besides the aforementioned lack of originality - is the lack of respect in some cases. Sure, the Mayan city states are no more, and the culture largely collapsed, but its descendants still live in Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala. If you're going to incorporate that culture into the exhibit, it should be done respectfully and accurately. It should also be more than a backdrop. Jaguars (and other Central American animals) played an enormous role in Mayan culture, in legends, artwork, and history. These stories should be woven into the exhibit, whether through signage or other aspects. Or, think outside the box a bit...
Recently, I was doing some research on the waldraap, or northern bald ibis. This endangered bird is typically seen in African aviaries, and they do, in fact occur in North Africa. Historically, however, they were more often associated with Europe and the Middle East. One fact that I read that sparked my interest was that the species would nest on the battlements of ruined European castles, before being driven to near extinction on that continent. I began to wonder if a zoo somewhere would build an exhibit of a ruined Austrian castle, its banners torn and fluttering in the wind, with waldraaps perching on the stone windowsills from which archers once (in this fantasy version) would have fired arrows.
It would be something different, to be sure. And for a change, it would be our culture in the zoo.
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