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PHOENIX<\/strong> – As Phoenix’s summer temperatures consistently hit triple digits, visitors to the Phoenix Zoo are enjoying the new big cats habitat, especially its star feature: large swimming pools for the jaguars and lions. Building a pool for these magnificent animals, however, presents unique challenges compared to constructing one for humans.<\/p>\n Dane Palmero, a pool builder with Overflow Pools<\/a>, the company that won the bid for this specialized project, said the zoo provided specific guidelines.<\/p>\n “The zoo taught us a lot, saying, \u2018You can\u2019t do this, you can\u2019t do that,\u2019 or \u2018Make sure this works this way,\u2019 because we have to consider the animals,” Palmero said.<\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n Once Overflow Pools understood the specific needs of the big cats, they applied their expertise to create a one-of-a-kind aquatic environment.<\/p>\n Matthew Tenuta, also with Overflow Pools, explained some of the design modifications. “We weren’t able to put the skimmer in a normal location to prevent the cats’ claws from getting stuck, so we had to recess the skimmer 2 feet back,” he said. They also had to carefully tuck in the main drain to ensure it wouldn’t pose any issues for the jaguars.<\/p>\n In addition to animal safety and comfort, the design also had to consider the visitor experience.<\/p>\n “We had to be cautious of boulder placement and elevations of the pool, so visitors can still see the animals from different angles,” Tenuta added.<\/p>\n While Overflow Pools has built many backyard pools across the Valley, this project presented a different kind of client.<\/p>\n “We weren’t in a backyard; we were here in the Phoenix Zoo doing something for an animal that’s going to enjoy this space like a family member would,” Tenuta said.<\/p>\n The new exhibit also features an overhead catwalk for the big cats, showcasing the extensive thought and planning that went into its creation.<\/p>\n Weather<\/a>Pets and Animals<\/a>Phoenix<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX – As Phoenix’s summer temperatures consistently hit triple digits, visitors to the Phoenix Zoo are enjoying the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1588,50,8047,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,313],"class_list":{"0":"post-63990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-maricopa-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pets-animals","14":"tag-phoenix","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa","21":"tag-weather"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114849766697757087","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}