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SINGAPORE: Change is in the wind for the Singapore Zoo.
It is currently undergoing a major makeover to get a lush rainforest look.
The Singapore Zoo, recognised as one of the finest in Asia, is home to more than 3,000 animals from 290 different species, ranging from gibbons and otters to tapirs and polar bears.
Since its official opening in 1973, it has been evolving - from an open viewing zoo, to a learning zoo providing an interactive and educational experience to its visitors.
Now, it wants to be the most beautiful rainforest zoo in the world.
"We're in the process of making ourselves the most beautiful rainforest zoo of the world. This entails three main elements including improving our education and training materials, our research and conservation materials and as well as providing an exceptional wildlife experience for our customers," said Fanny Lai, Executive Director, Singapore Zoo and Night Safari.
2006 saw the addition of a new Rainforest Walk, a landscaped pathway featuring waterfalls, tropical flora and free-ranging orang utans.
The zoo has also been re-zoned into eight different rainforests of the world, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Australasia, China and the Amazon.
With its rainforest positioning, comes plans to relocate the popular polar bear exhibit to another zoo.
"Just by changing ourselves in terms of our display, our animal collection to make ourselves into a rainforest zoo will certainly not attract a lot of people to come in, but it is a holistic approach that we're providing people with an exceptional wildlife experience. That includes not just upgrading our display of the animals, our exhibits, but also to provide better customer touch points including providing a wider range of food & beverage selection with better quality, better value for money, also to be more family, handicap-friendly and at the same time, we also have to be more discerning in terms of our hospitality to the visitors," said Lai.
Coupled with recent improvements like Braille interpretive signboards and a Wildlife Healthcare and Research Centre, the zoo looks set in its promise to give all its visitors a truly exceptional wildlife experience. - CNA /dt
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