Obviously the exhibit was inspired by Elvis Presley's bedroom, complete with 3 inch shag carpeting. Assisting as part of the creative team was Jimmy Yee, manager of the Golden Dragon Buffet and Take Out.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Memphis Zoo--Giant Panda Exhibit Interior
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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2 comments:
I didn't peruse the Memphis series before I started commenting. I'll stick with "maybe they know their audience". You can find boomer balls at Animal Kingdom but they're in exhibits that aren't trying to be realistic. They have enrichment items in "realistic" displays but they blend into the environment. A lot of what makes Disney great is attention to detail -- and it doesn't have to be expensive, just a critical eye.
Jim,
The enrichment items seen in exhibits is dumbfounding to me, from the beer keg in the polar bear lagoon to the truck tire in Ganesha's temple. One of the worst for this type of realism is Brookfield with the rope/block baby mobiles hung in the feline exhibits. I have never seen a picture or a movie of a wild gorilla, orangutan, or chimpanzee sitting in the jungle wrapped up in a gunny sack or a Barney blanket, regardless of it's age. I asked a "professional" about that a number of years ago, and he replied, "that's because there are no blankets and gunny sacks in the wild. They use large leaves instead(he was condescending a dumb circus guy.) I responded, "there you go, Sparky. You can build a shotcrete mountain range to contain him, a fiberglass baobab tree to enlighten him, yet you can't make him a banana leaf to wrap up in." Not expensive, just a desire to not fall short in the illusion of reality. I think often times the enrichment "fine tuning" is left to the keeper staff, as a form of company/employees working together good faith politics.
Wade
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