Category — Cat Canyon

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!

Cat Canyon construction is coming along nicely. I got the chance to check out the site yesterday afternoon. It helps to be able to visualize where we will be able to place our interpretive elements, e.g. signs, interactives. We wrapped up the design and layout of the signage this week and will be sending that out to production very soon. Now the interpretive team will move on to tweaking some of the interactives planned for the tiger exhibit and planning out the audio elements. I also need to put together an interpretive guide for our staff and volunteers, which provides background information they need to be able to talk to visitors about the cats and the exhibit. Our Education Department is putting together the curriculum for programs and classes, including summer camp, that will incorporate the new exhibit, too. It’s all coming together and we’re getting very excited to be able to showcase tigers and snow leopards again by the end of June!

Twigs snap. Leaves rustle. You get a prickly feeling on the back of your neck as you wonder whether someone, or something, is watching you, stalking you, hunting you. It’s an eat-or-be-eaten world and, in the Cincinnati Zoo’s new Cat Canyon exhibit opening next summer, you are the prey.

A fishing cat crouches in its Night Hunters exhibit. (Photo: Brian Jorg)

Cat Canyon will encompass and link up the new Night Hunters experience (opened in May 2011) with the former Tiger Canyon area and include new exhibits for cougars, tigers, and snow leopards. (The cougar exhibit actually opened already.) Cat Canyon provides an exciting, sensory adventure into the world of our great predators, the wild cats, while strengthening the Zoo’s commitment to the conservation of threatened species through education and scientific research in the wild and at the Zoo. [Read more →]