Kanchan’s Exhibit Redesign
On January of 2024, a snow leopard male (Panthera uncia) was captured in the Terai region of Nepal at around 146m(480ft) above sea level, a way’s off from their usual 3000-6000m(9800-20,000ft) home range. This individual was captured and taken to Central Zoo in Kathmandu, to receive urgent medical care. While the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC) was conducting research on a viable spot for release, the snow leopard was confined in a holding cell for almost a year.
I was then brought in on the project of redesigning an empty enclosure to better fit the needs of such a magnificent animal who we named Kanchan, after the basin of the mountain where he was captured: Kanchenjunga.
Problems and Considerations
A small space, originally housing a porcupine
Not much options for verticality
Needs to have areas that allow for privacy
Have a variety of texture
Interesting for the guests to look at
With any enclosure redesign, it is always important to understand the individual inhabiting the space. With a snow leopard in mind, I wanted to focus on providing verticality and imitating a rocky mountainside, allowing for physical exertion to an extent when maneuvering to ideal resting sites.
Another key aspect lacking in many of Central Zoo’s exhibit design are spaces where the animal can experience some privacy from guest’s prying eyes. Allowing for spots where Kanchan could find shelter at any point of the day was integral to my design. As seen above, the zoo had already retrofitted the interior to have glass walls on both sides allowing guests a full view into the AC chilled room.
Budget Busting Solution
As is usual, I always start with a dream design. One that would most likely exceed the budget, but have all key elements that would make for an enriched, naturalistic and visually appealing façade.
This solution increased the height of the enclosure by three feet, added in full rain and sun shade, and had a full rocky mountain side along the walls, along with a hollowed out interior acting as a cave.
Budget Friendly Solution
The trimmed down version did not increase the height of the enclosure. It still held on to the hollow rocky façade along the back wall, and included a ledge extension to allow for a spot to rest at the upper limit of the enclosure.
This was the design we went off of for the final build, and yes I did use a golden retriever model as a stand in for a snow leopard.
Final Results
With around a week of turnaround time provided, this is what me and the construction crew managed to build with the provided materials and budget.
A few notable changes from my original vision were that instead of creating a mountain side rockface making mock rock, we had to use actual rocks due to a lack of experience and time. The cave entrance was rotated to face towards the guests as the zoo wanted better visibility for the guests, and the gap between the rock face and the added top ledge was shortened due to worries of a mistimed jump causing injury.
While I would have liked to do more, it was great watching Kanchan move around this space like I had intended and the biggest win for me was that the ledge I had pushed so hard for did become his favorite spot to rest during the day.
Kanchan sitting in his favorite resting spot.
Orthographic view of the budget buster design.
Majestic mountain climbing golden retriever.
Kanchan interacting with a scent bag enrichment I made and installed. Click image to open a video of enrichment.