Islands in Danger--Chester Zoo, England

I think the Chester Zoo has done a commendable job on a limited budget, without having to go to Russia to have a log cabin built, as Minnesota did, or to India to have a temple built as New Orleans has done. Chester Zoo’s ‘Islands in Danger’ replaced the outdated Bird House and is located on the same site. Islands in Danger’ was completed in two phases, the first is the main building with the bird aviaries and one on-show and one off-show Komodo dragon indoor enclosure.

Members of the Moa family, flightless birds up to 4 m high, inhabited New Zealand before they were extinct around 1500 due to human settlement.
This woodcarving at the outside wall of the building reminds of one of the first human-caused extinctions of island species in modern times.
These stone statues, called moai are replications of the famous statues found at Easter Island (Rapa Nui). The native Easter Islanders deforested their once densely wooded islands in order to erect these statues. Once the forest disappeared the native population met the same fate between 1600 and 1700.
The outside area of ‘Islands in Danger’ is planted with tropical looking plants which can withstand the English climate.