Animals are not particularly fussy when it comes to having materials that precisely recreate the environment in their country of origin, but natural materials are still important to them. ‘You’ll get some amazing zoo exhibitions that recreate the natural habitat,’ Field notes, ‘but the tiger doesn’t care if it’s a tree from Indonesia or a tree from the UK. To them, it’s a living, breathing tree that they can rip apart or scratch.’
The Materials connection has an interesting piece on designing for zoos.