Zookeeper's Lounge

i saw a post at zoo admin like this not to long ago and was wondering what are some peoples favorite zoos? and maybe tell a little about them

my favorite by far is the columbus zoo (probably because it is the closest to me and i visit it more than any other) it has a really good gorilla breeding program (and had the first captive birth in the world and first twins in the west. hemisphere) it has two large troops theyve also had great success with bonobos and cheetahs and many other species such as mex. wolves and bald eagles which have been released into the wild. theyre also beginning to open many new exhibit by region(they currently have N. America, Af. Forest, SE Asia and Australia and will be opening Af. Savannah, S. America, Mainland Asia, and N. american shores) an has a huge reptile collection. its also on of the largest in the US and is quickly growing(soon almost tripling in size) its an awsome zoo

My favorite zoo is the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona. It's a smallish zoo, but there are some pretty cool animals there and they're all well cared for. The zoo is really beautiful too. (and this is all I have to say, because I need to get to that paper I have due...)

My favorite zoo is the San Diego Zoo (San Diego, California). It is a larger zoo in size, has a very large number of species of big and small animals (and plants), and provides a large amount of information on their animals. I also enjoy the San Diego Zoo Animals CD-ROM, even though it is old and has some inaccuracies.

Although it has been 18 years since I've been there, my second memorable zoo is the Toronto Zoo (Toronto, Ontario). It also was a larger zoo in size, had a good selection of animals (including pandas at the time), and had my favorite sign from a zoo. ("Please do not feed, annoy, torment, pester, plague, molest, worry, badger, harry, harass, heckle, persecute, irk, bullyrag, vex, disquiet, grate, beset, bother, tease, nettle, tantalize, or ruffle the animals.")

Although you did not care for it, Okapi, my third choice is the National Zoo (Washington, D.C.). It has been 13 years since I've been there, back when they had the original pandas. It had a nice selection of animals. I liked it for the environment. It is in a small part of a city park and you didn't pay to get in. So it was like strolling through the hills of a forested park, and passing by animal exhibits here and there.

Although not zoos, some "theme parks" have animals. The top of that list is Sea World. Next would be Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, although I liked it much better when they had a monorail going over the "safari" animals. I'll also mention Disney's Animal Kingdom (Orlando, Florida). Actually, I don't recommend people going there because they are way overpriced for what little they have. But I love their book on the animals and plants there. ("Field Guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park", if they still print it)

And, of course, there are national parks. My favorite for the diversity of animals is definitely the Everglades. But every national park has worthwhile natural sights.

I had the Animals! CD from San Diego Zoo... I don't think I can run it anymore though... anywhere... pretty good though.

My favorite had to be San Antonio Zoo. I only visited it once, when my brother moved to Austin, but it was memorable. They had such a cute baby giant anteater when I was there. And the lory exhibit was cool. You could walk in and hand-feed the lories and everything. One had a shoelace fetish. What I liked most about San Antonio is that they had the usual mix of "big" attraction animals but they also had a huge amount of smaller animals like birds and fish and amphibians. Not to mention a snake building with about 40+ species. They had all the animals you could want to enjoy seeing. About average size but every nook and cranny had something. Great zoo. Exhibits were excellent and a good variety of species well cared for.

Jay wrote:

Although you did not care for it, Okapi, my third choice is the National Zoo (Washington, D.C.). It has been 13 years since I've been there, back when they had the original pandas. It had a nice selection of animals. I liked it for the environment. It is in a small part of a city park and you didn't pay to get in. So it was like strolling through the hills of a forested park, and passing by animal exhibits here and there.

i bet 13 years ago it was a much better zoo when i went there it seemed like half the exhibits were closed and falling apart( the panda exhibit and the bird building were an exception they were cool) but they did have some interesting species like wombats and echidnas
i also didnt get to see as much of the zoo because of time constraints maybe i missed some of the better exhibits but the part i did see didnt impress me(one thing that disturbed me was the australian sideneck turtle display it was a 20 gallon aquarium with a viquarium(plastic thing that divides it into land and water) and there was almost no water left in it and the turtle didnt look too good the columbus zoo has cool turtle displays they have about 500-1000 gallons of water and a huge land area)

My favorite is the Denver zoo, partly because I visit there so often I'm sure! We go as frequently as possible, usually at least a few times each month. They have a great tropical exhibit and a great primates section too. They are currently rebuilding their lion's exhibit. It won't be finished until well into next year, but when they are done it will be much larger with a visitors center built into it. I'm looing forward to it very much.
We also have Ocean Journey aquarium here, they have a fantastic sea otter exhibit, plus a pair of Sumatran Tigers in a wonderful exhibit that is an isthmus of land in the middle of a large tank full of tropical fish. Kids can crawl into a small tunnel and pop their heads up into a dome in the huge aquarium to watch the fish and tigers swim! Sadly the aquarium is going under and it will soon become a restaurant. They say that they will continue to keep the animals there but they are going to rebuild several of the exhibits. So, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens!

I agree w/Catfish Livingin Colorado I also visited the Denver Zoo (though not in years) The primates have excellent exhibits(modeled after another Coloado zoo, Cheyenee Mountain in Colroado Springs) but the Tropical Discovery builidng at the Denver Zoo is breathtaking. That is by far the best building I've seen in ANY zoo. The aquarium Ocean Journey is spectacular but is in financial trouble. I hope it can be saved.

My favorite is the Kansas City Zoo, though most people hate the layout (you have to walk VERY long distances to get from animal to animal sometimes). But we've got a guy from the Omaha Zoo (another wonderful one) helping with the problem.

Kansas City Zoo has had two baby female black rhinos, and a female orangutan.

the columbus zoo has a male baby rhino but hes pretty big now when he was born he was about the size of medium sized dog now hes about 2 years old and the size of a full-grown female(but is still with his mother) i dont know if they will keep him or not they could put him in the old elephant yard but he will probably go to another zoo

Wolfyu wrote: But we've got a guy from the Omaha Zoo (another wonderful one) helping with the problem.

That is a nice compliment to my hometown zoo. The Henry Doorly Zoo (aka Omaha Zoo) is my favorite because it's right here where I live. Right now there is a baby gorilla and orangutan, and three Indo-Chinese baby tigers on display. There is also a baby gibbon which I have not seen, and the last time I went there was also a baby giraffe and two baby black-footed cats. So, lots of babies, needless to say!

I also like the Animal Kingdom in the Disney World complex in Orlando. I'm not sure if that is considered a zoo or not, but I liked it when I went and the wide open exhibits they offer their animals.

the columbus zoo has a baby(well not really anymore) gibbon he is 3 or 4 but is still with his parents(in their new exhibit that opened about 8 months ago) there used to be a big gibbon island (i think it had orangs too) with otters in the water around it but it is now covered up by the manatee building but they opened a new smaller gibbon island for the white-handed gibbons (the white-cheeked arent afraid of water and have to stay inside)and the male white-cheek has a funny habit of of laying on the ledge against the front mesh of the cage with a pillow of hay under his head and then he slams his head into the hay over and over and whistles its very funny and his mate sits by him and grooms him

if anyone goes to a zoo that has gibbons go in the early morning and go right to the gibbon exhibit and listen to them sing its even cooler if there are multiple pairs to challenge each other( they both try to sing louder than the other pair) its really entertaining

Our gibbons are on display on an island, only there are koi in the lagoon rather than otters. I will have to think about going in the morning to listen to them sometime, we usually go in the afternoon.

BTW, isn't Jack Hanna from the Columbus zoo? He's pretty cool to watch.

We have white-cheeked gibbons and I've heard them sing before. Very cool to hear them sing. I actually learned why they sing in my animal behavior class. Breeding/mated pairs perform duets, each one trying to sing louder than the other. Females will refuse to breed w/ males that can't keep up with them. It's a way for the females to choose the strongest (the one that is supposed to have the "best" genes)

sheila77 wrote: BTW, isn't Jack Hanna from the Columbus zoo? He's pretty cool to watch.

yeah he used to be the director (he is now technically the director emaritus(sp?)) and is still there every once and a while(but never when ive been there) he was the one who really changed the columbus zoo to the way it is now making more natural exhibits and giving them better care i like watching him on the david letterman show he brings animals(im not sure but most are probably from the col. zoo education dept.) and talks about them its usually pretty funny to watch
oh yeah and over by the education building at the zoo there is a big metal plaque dedicated to his parents and he had a gorilla named after him(JJ short for Jungle Jack)