Menagerie-in-a-mall attraction opens at Ontario Mills.

Nearby, a jackrabbit romps back and forth through the brush, while road runners scramble out of its way. Wild animal sounds and forest scents waft through the air.

No, you're not in the desert. You're at the mall.

Sandwiched between a 30-screen AMC megaplex and an Ultra-Screen Iwerks motion simulator attraction at the Ontario Mills shopping center is the American Wilderness Experience, a man-made nature preserve featuring more than 100 wild animals.

The attraction, created by New York-based Ogden Entertainment Services Inc., isn't your ordinary mall-going experience - but it is an example of the continuing merger of entertainment and merchandising.

"Like a lot of location-based entertainment, this phenomenon will go through an evolution in search of the right formula," said Kevin Skislock, research director at L.H. Friend, Wienress, Frankson & Presson Inc. "The basic concept that Ogden has here has tremendous long-term promise."

The wilderness-themed attraction, which also features a restaurant, retail boutique and motion simulator ride, charges an admission fee of $9.95 for adults, and $7.95 for children. It opened to the public last week.

Visitors can tour five simulated ecosystems, known as "biomes." Each biome reproduces a region of California, including the Mojave Desert, a redwood forest, the high Sierra, the Pacific coastline and Yosemite Valley. The attractions feature wild animals from bobcats and gopher snakes to harbor seals and yellow-bellied marmots. Uniformed rangers are on hand to give nature lectures.

There's also the Wild Ride Theater, a motion-simulator ride that takes visitors on a dizzying wilderness journey through the eyes of the animals.

"This is cutting edge," said Jonathan Stern, the creator of American Wilderness and senior vice president at Ogden's entertainment group. "You'll see other companies that haven't thought about this doing this type of thing."

It remains to be seen whether consumers will want to visit a zoo at the mall. But judging from the success that Ontario Mills has enjoyed since opening a year ago, other facets of its "location-based entertainment" concept seem to be working.

Ontario Mills officials boast that an estimated 13 million visitors have come to the 1.7 million-square-foot shopping center in the past year. Richard Giss, a retail analyst with Deloitte & Touche LLP, said that sounds a little on the high side, but added that there's no doubt the mall is doing well.

"I think that most people would say Ontario Mills has been a success," said Giss. "The owners should be pleased with the initial startup."

Ontario Mills is one of the 10 largest malls in the country, and 25 percent of it is devoted to entertainment-themed tenants.

Less than 20 feet from American Wilderness Experience is Sega GameWorks, a video game arcade/nightclub with over 200 games. Further down is Dave & Buster's, an upscale game arcade and restaurant. The mall also boasts an Edwards Cinema Corp. 22-screen megaplex and Imax big-screen theater across the parking lot.

"What's going on at Ontario Mills should have been done by Disney a long time ago," said Skislock. "I don't think (theme-park) operations really know what's going on in this market."

Places like Ontario Mills, he added, "with its Imax theatres and GameWorks, seem to have a better grasp."

James G. Mance, Ontario Mills general manager reasons that providing shoppers with entertainment lets people stay longer and later in the evening. Though Mance declined to reveal the mall's overall revenues, he did say the entertainment attractions "make up a large portion."

They also attract out-of-the-way consumers.

"It's not uncommon for our market reach to be 40, 50 and 80 miles out," said Mance. "Fifty-six percent of our market are people coming in to spend a day here."

For Ogden, Ontario Mills was the ideal place to unleash its new concept, which cost about $10 million to create.

"One of the reasons we chose the Mills was because it featured one of the best demographics and markets to have," explained Stern. "The Mills concept caters to everyone to the person who just wants to shop and the ones who want to be entertained."

Ogden plans to install three more American Wilderness locations in Mills Corp. malls in Grapevine, Texas; Tempe, Ariz.; and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. by 1998.

Ogden is a diverse, $1.8 billion-in-revenues company that in the past has done everything from waste incineration to stadium concessions. In recent years, the company has sold many of its operating segments in order to "get into a higher-margin business, as opposed to only providing services," Stern said. It has committed nearly $100 million to its American Wilderness venture.