Recently we got asked to make the habitat for an animal which we have never worked with before. New animals are always exciting because its kind of cool to be able to ‘tick them off the list’ Some animals are even more exciting than others though.
There is something special about Australia for many of us Brits and ones with an interest in plants and animals, maybe more so. Australian fauna is strange. The animals don’t seem to fit with the other ones around the world and if they do have similarities, they will also have some strange difference like a pouch for their young for instance. You know, kangaroos could easily have come from the same evolutionary branch as rodents or lagomorphs but they didn’t. They are totally unconnected, at least not in recent evolutionary history. I know it’s because how the land masses separated but it’s still weird. And interesting.
Wombats
When Hamerton Zoo Park contacted me and told me about their plans to bring some mainland wombats from Darling Downs Zoo, Queensland, my first thoughts were that they would be the only ones in the U.K. I knew this because a year before, I had visited Australia Zoo and viewed the environment they had built for the species there. I remember thinking what an interesting animal and it would be cool to work with these. It turns out that no wombats have been in the UK for over thirty years and the last ones had been at London Zoo in 1985. So imagine my enthusiasm when I realised that not only was it a new species for us but it was also Australian and the only ones (here at least).
The build
There wasn’t too much to design as HZP had a clear plan for what was expected. A series of 4 off exhibit tunnels leading to sleeping chambers (with special viewing windows for the public) and an open paddock separated by a semi-transparent fence. The building, which was a new structure built especially for the exhibit, had low concrete block walls which needed to be themed and beautified.
Earthbank theming
Wombats can climb (not very well) so part of the brief was to make the low walls unclimbable for a large heavy lump animal with short legs. Where they are not great at climbing they make up with digging. They spend a lot of their time digging when they are not sleeping which is the rest of the time. It was decided to theme the walls as eroded earth bank which would fit in well with the natural habitat and also compliment the look of the enclosure due to their fondness of earth moving. Each wall would have a slight overhang and the top of the fake earth bank would also incorporate an irrigated planter. Mixing planting with theming really adds to the naturalness of zoo habitats and I always encourage this in the design stage.
We set to work and built a steel armature to resemble the eroded earth bank we had in mind and carefully made the shapes in a way that the animals would not be able to get a foothold and escape. You have to think carefully when adding relief, it has to look natural but also serve a practical purpose. We sprayed on two thick layers of our standard shotcrete and made any extra texture by manipulating the wet concrete with water from a hose. Final colours were achieved with UV stable acrylic paints sprayed over several watered down layers in a wash method to achieve the look of the crumbling earth. Then it was a long wait until the animals arrived. The wait was worth it though when we saw these beautiful animals enjoying their new surroundings.
Massive thanks to Hamerton Zoo Park for having us (It feels like our second home and we are always made super welcome!) and Rob Cadd for his excellent animal shots.
