Dewsbury Zoo Update: Life in the Tropics (11 April)

It's been a while since my last post and for that I can only apologise. Thankfully, the wait is over as I've got an update for the biggest zoo I'm working on: Dewsbury Zoological Gardens (previously known as Crow Nest Park Zoo).

As you can tell from the name change, I've had a little rethink about the zoo and it's now slightly different from what I first described in my introductory post. Let's get into that before we get into the screenshots.

Changes

The idea behind this project remains the same: to turn my local public park (Crow Nest Park) into a zoo. I've basically used the real park's layout and landmarks and added in zoo exhibits, so for example, the lake island is now a gibbon island, the greenhouse is home to crocodiles and the sports field will be a savanna.

Originally, it was meant to be a private zoo which had some open days so all the exhibits were super basic but now I want it to be a private zoo that's in the process of going fully public. That means I'll be adding slightly more complex exhibits (although still in the lower/mid-budget style), more guest facilities and I guess more focus on education.

It's by far the biggest zoo I've ever built with sections for the tropics, woodland, reptiles, savanna, mountains and marine animals. I actually scaled back my original plans so I could get it finished before Planet Zoo 2 but it's still a big zoo (at least by my standards).

So far I've finished the tropics area, known as Life in the Tropics, and that's what I'm going to share snippets of in this post! Of course, a full in-depth tour will come in a later post when the zoo is complete.

Completion of Life in the Tropics

At the end of last year, I finished working on the first section of the zoo, known as Life in the Tropics. This was a complete rebuild of a similar section that was here from way back in 2021 but the species are still the same: jaguar, clouded leopard, southern cassowary, giant otter and siamang.

Before, this area of the park didn't feel accurate enough to the real one, so I put in a lot of effort into improving it. One big change was the reinstatement of the park temple. In real-life, this building, which has long since been abandoned and left in disrepair, is one of the most notable landmarks at the park. In the earlier version of my zoo, it just didn't exist as I built my clouded leopard cages over it, but now, I demolished those cages and fully rebuilt it.

I reinstated one of the most notable landmarks at the real park: the temple. 

However, simply rebuilding it wasn't enough so I also incorporated it into a habitat and used it as an elevated viewing area. A jaguar now lives in a large cage beside it.

Not only did I rebuild the temple, I also incorporated it into a jaguar habitat.

The other big change in this area was the terrain. Basically, in the earlier version, this area sloped downwards (like it does in real-life), but the zoo's perimeter wall remained level with the terrain outside the zoo which created huge cliffs around my cassowaries and giant otters. It just looked ridiculous but now the cliffs are gone and I also rebuilt the giant otter and cassowary habitats.

A view of the new giant otter habitat — no underwater viewing this time but I think it looks better.
 

The siamang island is mostly the same but I've neatened up the shoreline and made it a lot more accurate. I also reduced the number of trees they had access to as I felt it was a bit over-the-top before, but I've compensated by giving them a huge climbing frame that spans the whole island.

The siamang climbing frame on their renovated island.

Nearby, the clouded leopards got a whole new breeding facility. It's a lot nicer than the one I had before and far better looking than the two very outdated jaguar habitats that were in its place. I designed it so that it can be made off-show whenever they're breeding as they're super difficult to breed in real-life but they can still be seen from a distance from the main path.

Clouded leopards are tricky to breed in captivity so I emphasized privacy in my design.

Lastly, I rebuilt West Town Lodge to make it a lot more accurate. I spent many weekends putting as much detail as possible into the building and public-facing garden as possible but the out-of-sight back garden is a lot more basic.

West Town Lodge, where guests could pay to spend the night.

The nearby wrought iron ornamental park gates were too tricky for me to make, so I made something more basic (but probably more realistic in terms of security). The zoo would probably use it for service vehicles or emergency access. Nearly thirty years ago, a little Mr. Weasel would be picked up from this area after school!

West Town Gate has been replaced in my version of the park and there's a fun little story behind it which I'll share in the full walkthrough.

Finishing this area took a lot of work as I had to rebuild nearly everything but I'm so happy with the end result. I look forward to showing you it in full after the zoo is complete but for now, I hope you enjoy this little snippet.

The next area of the park is coming very soon!

I'm currently wrapping up the next section, Britain's Lost Woodland, which I can't wait to show you (in about two weeks).