Category — Cats

Kingdom Productions did an amazing job creating a life-size tiger relief sculpture for the Cat Canyon exhibit. Below are some pictures of the installation.

All wrapped up and ready to go to the Zoo

Transporting the sculpture into the Cat Canyon area

Installed!

Next, Horticulture will move in and pretty up the space with plants so it looks as if the tiger is peeking out from the vegetation. Come by the exhibit when it opens later this month to get the full effect.

Just a quick update on Cat Canyon, which is scheduled to open in just a few weeks.

As always, last minute adjustments made on site during the construction process have to be considered when preparing to install signage, as we are discussing in the photo below.

The tiger viewing shelter is shaping up nicely. The glass window is in and the trellis is finished. A shallow pool sits just in front of a good part of glass window.

The animal yards are coming together, too. Here the sod is being laid in one of the tiger enclosures. Other plants, trees and bamboo, have been planted.

And here’s a shot of the first tiger yard, complete with a rainbow!

The Graphics team and I visited the Kingdom Productions Inc. studio today to check on the progress of a tiger relief sculpture they’re working on for the Cat Canyon exhibit. Zoo Curator Mike Dulaney came along to provide his expert opinion on the tiger’s shape and color.

Here is a mock-up of the tiger’s face in detail. I love the effect of the bouncy ball eyes, but I imagine they’ll be replaced in the final piece.

Detailed prototype of tiger face

This is the foundation for the life-size tiger relief made of concrete and clay. I didn’t get a real crisp image, but you get the idea.

Full body

Here is a close-up of just the tiger face. I wish I were so talented!

Close-up of tiger head

Now that the full body tiger has Mike’s stamp of approval, the next step will be to make a rubber mold. The final piece will be made from that with fiber reinforced concrete. Then, they’ll add on some nylon whiskers and paint the body. After checking out the painting sample below, Mike suggested that the colors need to be a bit darker and more muted.

Painted tiger head

We were very impressed with what we saw. It will be exciting to see the final piece come together over the next couple of months!