Talk:Nashville Zoo at Grassmere

Assessments😍😍😍😍😍
This article only has one citation, and not nearly enough content, for B-class. There are plenty of pictures available, but they are mostly in a gallery and are mostly animal closeups (not photos of the zoo). The Infobox does not contain all the info that is available and should have at least logo. Note that grammar and structure are currently checked "yes", but both of these can easily deteriorate when content is added. Donlammers (talk) 11:52, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

External links modified (February 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://archive.is/20130129190906/http://www.nashvillescene.com/2001-11-01/news/nashville-rsquo-s-ark to http://www.nashvillescene.com/2001-11-01/news/nashville-rsquo-s-ark

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 19:36, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

My COI Is listed on my talk page. I’ve tried to be as objective and non-promotional as possible, but please edit as needed. Cfifer (talk) 18:10, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

Proposed Changes
Nashville Zoo at Grassmere Nashville Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It has more than 2,760 individual animals and 365 species, offers education programs, and participates in national and international conservation through field research, habitat protection, and managed breeding programs. Nashville Zoo attracts more than 960,000 visitors annually.

History Nashville Zoo is located on property that was once a 300-acre family farm, belonging to 5 generations of the same family between 1810 and 1985. The family’s original home, still located on the property, was built in 1810. Margaret and Elise Croft, the great-great granddaughters of Michael Dunn, the original owner, were the last of the family to call Grassmere home.

After running into financial troubles, the sisters deeded the land and family home to the Children’s Museum of Nashville in 1964, with the agreement the house would remain and the land would be used as a ‘nature study center.’ After Elise’s death in 1985, the museum, known today as Adventure Science Center, began work on Grassmere Wildlife Park and opened in June 1990.

Nashville Zoo officially opened as a separate, privately owned facility in Joelton, TN in May 1991. Located 30 miles north of downtown Nashville on the old Tennessee Game Farm property. In December 1994, Grassmere Wildlife Park was closed due to financial troubles. The city of Nashville took over ownership of the property in 1995 and began searching for an independent organization to manage the property. In June 1996, then-Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen proposed either Nashville Zoo relocate from its Joelton location to Grassmere, or the land be converted to a city park, without animals. In October 1996, Nashville City Council approved the terms of a lease agreement for Nashville Zoo to relocate to Grassmere.

Nashville Zoo remained open in Joelton, and in May 1997, the Nashville Wildlife Park at Grassmere opened. Both sites remained open, but due to public confusion, the Joelton site closed in October 1998 and the organization focused completely on the Grassmere location.

Animals Expedition Peru: Trek of the Andean Bear Expedition Peru: Trek of the Andean Bear opened in March 2018. The exhibit includes Andean bears, pudu, guinea pigs, and various reptiles and aquatic species native to Peru. The exhibit also includes a hidden cotton-top tamarin exhibit, located in the women’s restroom.

Spider Monkeys: Treetop Passage Spider Monkeys: Treetop Passage, opened in April 2017, features Mexican spider monkeys. This was the first monkey species to call Nashville Zoo home. The exhibit features the conservation efforts the zoo is making to help protect this animal and others in the wild.

Kangaroo Kickabout Kangaroo Kickabout, an up close and personal experience with red kangaroos, opened in September 2013. This 4,500-square foot exhibit provides guests the opportunity to interact with kangaroos in a naturalistic Australian landscape.

Flamingo Lagoon Flamingo Lagoon, opened in August 2010, is a 15,000-square foot exhibit home to a group of Caribbean flamingoes. It includes a 22,000-gallon pool and shaded areas for the flamingoes.

Attractions Soaring Eagle Zip Line Soaring Eagle opened in March 2016. This two-passenger ride takes visitors up 110 feet to overlook the African Savannah, Grassmere Historic Farm, Festival Field, and gibbon islands.

Jungle Gym This 66,000-square foot community-built playground features a 35-foot tall tree house, slides, swings, and a giant snake tunnel.

Wild Animal Carousel Opened in October 2005, this carousel features hand-painted, wooden animals including giant anteater, red river hog, komodo dragon, and clouded leopard.

Conservation Locally, Nashville Zoo works collaboratively to protect species including the hellbender, loggerhead shrike , and Nashville crayfish. This work includes population surveys and monitoring, education, and in some cases breeding and head start programs. Globally, Nashville Zoo contributes to efforts which protect clouded leopards, giant anteaters , rhinos , tigers , and many more.

Through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Nashville Zoo participates in a number of Species Survival Plan (SSP) programs. Most SSP species are endangered or threatened in the wild. Each SSP carefully manages the breeding of a species in order to maintain a healthy and self-sustaining captive population that is both genetically diverse and demographically stable. Nashville Zoo has participated in several of these programs since 1991.

Proposed Changes
Linked photos that could be used on the page as you see fit. None of these photos are owned by Nashville Zoo.

Margaret and Elise Croft: http://cdm15138.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15138coll31/id/495/rec/52, http://cdm15138.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15138coll31/id/468/rec/39

Entry Village: http://technifex.com/portfolio/fire-cauldrons-nashville-zoo/

Flamingo Lagoon: http://behindtheglassmagazine.com/?p=447

Kangaroo Kickabout: http://www.nashvilleparent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Nashville-Zoo-Kangaroo-Kickabout.jpg

Jungle Gym: http://terrastune.blogspot.com/2012/06/face-down-in-four-year-old-foot-funk.html

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Cfifer (talk • contribs) 18:10, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

Reply 27-AUG-2018
Your edit request could not be reviewed because the provided references are not formatted correctly. The system predominantly in use with the article is Citation Style 1. The citation system used in the edit request consists of bare URL's. Any requested edit of yours which may be implemented will need to resemble the current system already in use – in this case, CS1 (See WP:CITEVAR). This would not normally be a problem in a request of a smaller size, whereas larger requests can be expected to have this formatting done before the request is submitted for review.

Unformatted request: The sun is pretty big. https://www.abcnews.com The moon is not so big. http://www.newssource.com The sun is also quite hot. http://www.somewebsite.com

Displays as: The sun is pretty big.[1] The moon is not so big.[2] The sun is also quite hot.[3]

References

1. 2.  3.

In the example above there are three URL's provided with the claim statements, but these URL's have not been placed using the citation system predominantly used by the Nashville Zoo article, which currently is the Citation Style 1 system. Using this system, the WikiFormatted text of the citations would resemble the items shown below:

Formatted request: The sun is pretty big, but the moon is not so big. The sun is also quite hot. Displays as: The sun is pretty big,[1] but the moon is not so big.[2] The sun is also quite hot.[3]

References

^ Sjöblad, Tristan. . Academic Press, 2018, p. 1. ^ Duvalier, Gabrielle. , Scientific American, 51(78):46. ^ Uemura, Shū. . Academic Press, 2018, p. 2. 

In the example above the links have been formatted to show author, source name, date, etc., all information which is lost when only the links are provided. As I indicated above, since Wikipedia is a volunteer project, larger edit requests such yours are generally expected to have this formatting done before the request is submitted for review.

Kindly rewrite your edit request so that it aligns more with the second example above, and feel free to re-submit that edit request at your earliest convenience.

If you have any questions about this formatting please don't hesitate to ask myself or another editor. Regards,  spintendo   00:50, 28 August 2018 (UTC)

Reply 30-AUG-2018
I'd like to hear what other editors think about these points I've mentioned. Please weigh in.  spintendo   20:57, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
 * 1) Thank you for formatting the references properly.
 * 2) Please take care not to remove other editor's comments as you did with your last post.
 * 3) The lead section ought not contain any references. The information in this section is to be referenced when it is mentioned later in the body of text.
 * 4) The first paragraph of the history section contains text which is unreferenced. Please be sure to place reference notes immediately after the information which they verify is shown.
 * 5) Information on the Zoo should be referenced by sources which are unconnected to the subject. The Tennessean, as a local area, statewide paper, accepts advertising from the Zoo and reports often on the Zoo as a local business of interest. It is natural for local papers to report on items of local interest in the view that such reporting is good for business. The closeness of the subject - in this case, a Zoo located within their state -- raises questions of objectivity. Seeing as how the main source being used for these edit requests involve reporting from the Tennessean, I think it would be prudent and cautious to ask for secondary sources. (This would be the case with other references closely aligned to the subject zoo, such as aza.org). I have placed some search suggestions at the top of this talk page to assist in finding secondary sources.
 * 6) Information on the History of the Zoo is Ok coming from sources like the Tennessean, who are the best positioned to know about past Zoo developments. Information on the past can be safer, because it is oftentimes devoid of any immediate potential to induce a COI (i.e., you can't sell tickets to see what year the Zoo was incorporated in, or sell tickets to meetings where it was decided what the Zoo's location would be. All of these items the Tennessean would have access to but no obvious reason to promote).
 * 7) The information on current exhibits comes close to resembling a travel guide, which is not the purpose of Wikipedia. Having the information come from a source other than a state paper which often carries advertising for the Nashville Zoo would help to alleviate concerns of promotion.

Reply 01-SEP-2018

 * 1) ✅ Portions of the proposed text concerning past zoo developments (shown under the History section) were implemented. Within this text were claims which, as written, were unclear as to what was being communicated. These areas are indicated in the final text of the article by clarification inline tags which prompt other editors to fill in missing context. That missing context may also be added here on the talk page as a COI edit request.
 * 2) ❌ Information on current exhibits was not added for the reasons stated in my previous post dated 30-AUG-2018 (point numbers #5 and #7).
 * 3) ✅ Information on conservation efforts was added in instances where the claims were directly attributable to sources unconnected to the Zoo (e.g., ABC News, etc).
 * 4)  The image used to identify the zoo on the zoo's main website (a.k.a. the Zoo's "logo") has been added to the infobox in order to better identify it to readers of the article.
 * Regards,  spintendo   22:57, 1 September 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 09:22, 2 September 2018 (UTC)
 * NashvilleZooLogo.png

Additional information about the Grassmere site
In my previous post I mentioned that the Zoo, having only opened in the past 20 years, likely did not have a checkered past. As you may well know, this was perhaps true for the zoo but not so for the zoo's property, collectively known as "Grassmere". This site evidently does have a checkered past, and I believe that the information concerning this past should be included in the article's history section. Information about the property's 19th-century owners, the Dunns (which was explicitly left out of the COI editor's request proposal) should definitely be added to the history section. From what I can see, this information has been widely reported and is well referenced. In the end I believe these items should be included. I am writing up a portion of text now with references which I would like to add to the article, and I would like your input if possible. Please advise on any ideas you may have about this. Since this article chiefly concerns the Zoo, there is no need for the information to go beyond the History section.  spintendo   09:58, 2 September 2018 (UTC)