This weekend I will embark on my 5th road trip of the past 7 summers and counting my 2007 honeymoon (14 Australian zoos) it is technically the 6th trip of the past 8 summers. This time around I will be leaving my amazing wife Debbie at home with our 3 young kids and going solo and that is why I've crammed 60 zoos into 20 days. It will be a fairly short trip but one where I tick off all the tiny zoos that I skipped over years ago. Past Summer Road Trips: 2008 - 30 zoos http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-epic-road-trip-20316/ 2010 - 39 zoos in 46 days http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-2010-road-trip-160988/ 2011 - 24 zoos in 32 days http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-2011-road-trip-223080/ 2012 - 50 zoos in 50 days http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-2012-road-trip-278110/ 2014 - 60 zoos in 20 days (see the schedule below) DAY 1 (Sun. July 27th) : Drive 7 hours + Cat Tales Zoological Park (Spokane, WA) + drive 5 hours + LOSE AN HOUR DAY 2 (Mon. July 28th) : Drive 3 hours + Yellowstone Bear World (Rexburg, Idaho) + drive 1.5 hours + Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center (West Yellowstone, MT) + drive 1.5 hours + Montana Grizzly Encounter (Bozeman, MT) + drive 7 hours DAY 3 (Tues. July 29th): Bear Country U.S.A. 8-10 (Rapid City, SD) + Reptile Gardens 10:30-12:30 (Rapid City, SD) + drive 3 hours + Riverside Discovery Center 3:30-4:30 (Scottsbluff, NE) + drive 8 hours + LOSE AN HOUR DAY 4 (Wed. July 30st) : Dakota Zoo 10-12 (Bismarck, ND) + drive 1 hour + Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery & Aquarium 1-2 (Riverdale, ND) + drive 1 hour + Roosevelt Park Zoo 3-5 (Minot, ND) + drive 4.5 hours DAY 5 (Thurs. July 31st) : Red River Zoo 10-12 (Fargo, ND) + drive 1 hour + Chahinkapa Zoo 1-2:30 (Wahpeton, ND) + drive 2 hours + Hemker Park & Zoo 4:30-6 (Freeport, MN) + drive 1.5 hours DAY 6 (Fri. Aug. 1st) : Minnesota Zoo 9-3 (Minneapolis, MN) + drive 1 hour + RAD (Reptile & Amphibian Discovery) Zoo 4-5 (Owatonna, MN) + drive 30 min. + Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium 5:30-6:30 (Bloomington, MN) + drive 2 hours DAY 7 (Sat. Aug. 2nd) : Pine Grove Zoo 10-11:30 (Little Falls, MN) + drive 3 hours + Lake Superior Zoo 2:30-4:30 (Duluth, MN) + Great Lakes Aquarium 4:30-6:30 (Duluth, MN) + drive 2.5 hours DAY 8 (Sun. Aug. 3rd) : Como Park Zoo 10-1 (St. Paul, MN) + drive 1.5 hours + Irvine Park & Zoo 2:30-3:30 (Chippewa Falls, WI) + drive 2.5 hours DAY 9 (Mon. Aug. 4th) : Wildwood Wildlife Park 9-11 (Minocqua, WI) + drive 3 hours + Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Zoo 2-4 (Green Bay, WI) + drive 1 hour + Lincoln Park Zoo 5-7 (Manitowoc, WI) drive 3 hours DAY 10 (Tues. Aug. 5th) : Ochsner Park Zoo 7:30-8:30 (Baraboo, WI) + International Crane Foundation 9-11 (Baraboo, WI) + drive 1 hour + Henry Vilas Zoo 12-2 (Madison, WI) + drive 2 hours + Racine Zoo 4-6 (Racine, WI) + drive 1.5 hours DAY 11 (Wed. Aug. 6th) : Shedd Aquarium 9-1 (Chicago, IL) + drive 45 min. + Cosley Zoo 2-3 (Wheaton, IL) + drive 30 min. + Phillips Park Zoo 4-5 (Aurora, IL) + drive 2 hours DAY 12 (Thurs. August 7th) : National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium 9-10:30 (Dubuque, IA) + drive 1.5 hours + Niabi Zoo 12-1:30 (Coal Valley, IL) + drive 1.5 hours + Peoria Zoo 3-4:30 (Peoria, IL) + drive 30 min. + Wildlife Prairie Park 5-6:30 (Hanna City, IL) + drive 1 hour DAY 13 (Fri. Aug. 8th) : Miller Park Zoo 9:30-11 (Bloomington, IL) + drive 1 hour + Scovill Zoo 12-1:30 (Decatur, IL) + drive 45 min. + Henson Robinson Zoo 2:30-4 (Springfield, IL) + drive 2 hours DAY 14 (Sat. Aug. 9th) : Saint Louis Zoo 8-3 (St. Louis, MO) + drive 30 min. + Butterfly House 3:30-4:30 (Chesterfield, MO) + drive 30 min. + World Aquarium/City Museum 5-7 (St. Louis, MO) + drive 30 min. DAY 15 (Sun. Aug. 10th) : World Bird Sanctuary 8-9 (Valley Park, MO) + drive 30 minutes + Grant’s Farm 9:30-12 (St. Louis, MO) + drive 30 min. + Endangered Wolf Center 12:30-2:30 (Eureka, MO) + drive 3.5 hours + Sea Life Kansas City Aquarium 6-7 (Kansas City, MO) + drive 2 hours DAY 16 (Mon. Aug. 11th) : Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari 9-11 (Ashland, NE) + drive 30 min. + Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium 11:30-12 (Gretna, NE) + drive 45 min. + Lincoln Children’s Zoo 1-3 (Lincoln, NE) + drive 2 hours + Clay Center Zoo 5-6 (Clay Center, KS) + drive 1 hour + Kansas Fishes Aquarium 7-7:30 (Salina, KS) + drive 1.5 hours DAY 17 (Tues. Aug. 12th) : Tanganyika Wildlife Park 9-12 (Goddard, KS) + drive 1 hour + Hutchinson Zoo 1-2 (Hutchinson, KS) + drive 1.5 hours + Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo 3:30-4:30 (Great Bend, KS) + drive 2 hours DAY 18 (Wed. Aug. 13th) : Lee Richardson Zoo 8-10 (Garden City, KS) + drive 4 hours + GAIN AN HOUR + Pueblo Zoo 1-3 (Pueblo, CO) + drive 9.5 hours DAY 19 (Thurs. Aug. 14th) : Loveland Living Planet Aquarium 10-12 (Draper, UT) + drive 30 min. + Tracy Aviary 12:30-3 (Salt Lake City, UT) + drive 1.5 hours + Willow Park Zoo 4:30-5:30 (Logan, UT) + drive 4 hours DAY 20 (Fri. Aug. 15th) : Aquarium of Boise (Boise, ID) + World Center for Birds of Prey (Boise, ID) + drive 10 hours home + GAIN AN HOUR. Whew! 60 Zoos/Aquariums in 20 Days Cat Tales Zoological Park (Spokane, WA) Yellowstone Bear World (Rexburg, ID) Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center (West Yellowstone, MT) # Montana Grizzly Encounter (Bozeman, MT) Bear Country U.S.A. (Rapid City, SD) Reptile Gardens (Rapid City, SD) Riverside Discovery Center 3:30-4:30 (Scottsbluff, NE) # Dakota Zoo (Bismarck, ND) # Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery & Aquarium (Riverdale, ND) Roosevelt Park Zoo (Minot, ND) # Red River Zoo (Fargo, ND) # Chahinkapa Zoo (Wahpeton, ND) # Hemker Park & Zoo (Freeport, MN) Minnesota Zoo (Minneapolis, MN) # **** RAD (Reptile & Amphibian Discovery) Zoo (Owatonna, MN) Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium (Bloomington, MN) Pine Grove Zoo (Little Falls, MN) Lake Superior Zoo (Duluth, MN) # Great Lakes Aquarium (Duluth, MN) Como Park Zoo (St. Paul, MN) # Irvine Park & Zoo (Chippewa Falls, WI) Wildwood Wildlife Park (Minocqua, WI) Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Zoo (Green Bay, WI) # Lincoln Park Zoo (Manitowoc, WI) Ochsner Park Zoo (Baraboo, WI) International Crane Foundation (Baraboo, WI) # Henry Vilas Zoo (Madison, WI) # Racine Zoo (Racine, WI) # Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL) # **** Cosley Zoo (Wheaton, IL) # Phillips Park Zoo (Aurora, IL) National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (Dubuque, Iowa) # Niabi Zoo (Coal Valley, IL) Peoria Zoo (Peoria, IL) # Wildlife Prairie Park (Hanna City, IL) Miller Park Zoo (Bloomington, IL) # Scovill Zoo (Decatur, IL) # Henson Robinson Zoo (Springfield, IL) # Saint Louis Zoo (St. Louis, MO) # **** Butterfly House (Chesterfield, MO) # World Aquarium (St. Louis, MO) World Bird Sanctuary (Valley Park, MO) Grant’s Farm (St. Louis, MO) Endangered Wolf Center (Eureka, MO) # Sea Life Kansas City Aquarium (Kansas City, MO) # Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari (Ashland, NE) # Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium (Gretna, NE) Lincoln Children’s Zoo (Lincoln, NE) # Clay Center Zoo (Clay Center, KS) Kansas Fishes Aquarium (Salina, KS) Tanganyika Wildlife Park (Goddard, KS) Hutchinson Zoo (Hutchinson, KS) # Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo (Great Bend, KS) Lee Richardson Zoo (Garden City, KS) # Pueblo Zoo (Pueblo, CO) # Loveland Living Planet Aquarium (Draper, UT) Tracy Aviary (Salt Lake City, UT) # Willow Park Zoo (Logan, UT) Aquarium of Boise (Boise, ID) World Center for Birds of Prey (Boise, ID) **** = I have previously visited 3 attractions: Minnesota Zoo, Shedd Aquarium and Saint Louis Zoo # = 30 AZA accredited (30 are not AZA-accredited) Zoos = 49 Aquariums = 11 TOTAL = 60 zoos/aquariums in 20 days!! (57 I’ve never toured before) Lifetime total will then be 242 zoos/aquariums…..including 206 in the U.S.A. U.S. State breakdown of zoos/aquariums on this trip: (16 U.S. States) Washington = 1 Montana = 2 South Dakota = 2 North Dakota = 5 Minnesota = 8 Wisconsin = 8 Iowa = 1 Illinois = 9 Missouri = 7 Nebraska = 4 Kansas = 6 Colorado = 1 Utah = 3 Idaho = 3 (one early and two late) Wyoming = 0 Oregon = 0
One major difference on this road trip is that I will NOT be posting full-length reviews on ZooChat as I have done on all my past journeys. That is sure to disappoint a lot of people and it kind of saddens me as I look forward to typing up detailed, intricate write-ups of all the 60 zoos and aquariums that I visit….but the good news is that there is a method to my madness. I have partnered up with Tim Brown to co-author a book on American zoos that will hopefully be published in late 2015. Two full years ago (July of 2012) I received a lengthy hand-written letter from Tim and in my response I asked him if he would like to co-author a zoo book with me. To my delight he replied in the affirmative and since late 2012 we have sent each other the occasional email and Tim has done an incredible amount of travelling. I have spent an inordinate number of hours re-writing and editing all of my 150 “Snowleopard” reviews and having sent the brand-new reviews to Tim he has been steadily editing them once again so that my written words and his own innumerable reviews are combined into a cohesive whole. The book is tentatively going to include at least 200 reviews and be in the ballpark of 400 pages, and we are using the German book of 600 reviews called "Abenteuer Zoo" (2012) as our template. Tim wrote "The IZES Guide to British Zoos & Aquariums" (2009) and co-authored "An Illustrated History of Bristol Zoo Gardens" (2011) and so our work together will be his 3rd zoo book. I have already written 150 reviews of American zoos and plan to add 60 more this August and with Tim’s global knowledge of zoos (he has visited around 650 at last count) we plan on publishing our book in late 2015. We will use my approach with the write-ups so that there is a newly described format of “Outstanding, Good, Average, Poor” set of categories for each zoo and every single review that I’ve previously placed on ZooChat has been substantially edited and updated to include all of the latest developments. In many cases I’ve reviewed zoos and Tim has then toured them at a later date so between us we hope to encapsulate the strengths and weaknesses of all the major American zoological establishments. One item that we’ve focused on is the inclusion of aquariums as they are clearly zoos with water and there will be approximately 50 aquarium reviews in our book. My 3 longest road trip threads are all ranked in the top 10 of the most viewed threads ever on ZooChat and so I know that there will be many folks silently following my journey this summer. What I will do is post daily updates and comments on zoos but not follow the “Outstanding, Good, Average, Poor” doctrine as then what zoo nerd would buy the book? Even as it stands right now I’m sure that many individuals will ponder the worth of purchasing a zoo book that is mainly available online, but once again I will stress that all of my past reviews have been edited and re-edited on several occasions while other zoos have been reviewed exclusively by Tim. We are excited to produce approximately 200 brand-new reviews compiled into a single book, along with hundreds of photos and potentially some essays on the state of American zoos and aquariums. I can’t wait to read it!
Wow. Once again, it looks like an amazing schedule. I can't wait to follow your travels. Do you have any contingency time set aside, e.g. In case of traffic/ unforeseen circumstances/ distractions? Or are some collections potentially sacrificial? Are there any particular species you're looking forward to seeing for the first time? I'm also looking forward to the book. Many of us are familiar with - and fans of - both your writing styles and interesting reviews. You're selling it really well already and I don't think increasing the detail in your reports will have a detrimental effect on levels of interest. After all, it's the detail in your previous reviews which has created a lot of interest in this book.
Day 1 – Sunday, July 27th The biggest shock of the day came very early as it only took me 18 minutes to cross the U.S. border and I was barely questioned at all as I went past at about 7:30 a.m. I felt sure that a single man approaching the age of 39, with a suitcase packed full of clothes and an itinerary of 60 zoos, would look awfully suspicious to the grumpy American border guards that inhabit the Sumas crossing near my hometown of Abbotsford, British Columbia. The guy in the booth simply glanced casually at my passport and did not even raise an eyebrow when I mentioned that I was working on a zoo book and was obsessed with zoos of all shapes and sizes. He paused for a couple of seconds and then said: “So, zoos are your shtick? Some people tour around tracking the concerts of rock bands in the summer, other people go to antique museums and your shtick is zoos, right?” I nodded and with aplomb I found myself cruising American highways with a smile on my face. One thing that I adore about road tripping is the fact that while many U.S. cities do indeed look the same the countryside dramatically changes as one drives across the nation. Heading south to Seattle and then turning left upon hitting Interstate 90 meant that vast mountainsides of conifers and misty mountains gradually gave way to a parched landscape as I headed east towards Spokane, Washington. The scorching day of 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) meant that I had the air-conditioning cranked in my little Toyota Echo as it rambled over hill and dale in a quest for zoos. I made it all the way through the state of Washington and hit the beauty of Idaho and Montana on an epic day of driving. The northernmost part of Idaho is truly gorgeous and Montana takes ones breath away with its spectacular scenery. The towering green canyons and rushing rivers alongside the highway give way to sprawling fields of grassland that are pure beauty. It is cowboy country and signs for saloons, bars, casinos and cowboy hat stores dot the landscape whenever a small town approaches. I am “old-school” when it comes to music and thus I literally have hundreds of CD’s and I’ve never purchased an I-pod in my life. Without a cellphone I’m feeling like a Luddite in a world of technology, but I enjoyed many hours of silence on my drive as well as 7 full albums. For those that are inclined to be music fans I first put on Neil Young’s quiet record “Silver and Gold”, and from there it was a mixture of Black Crowes (“Warpaint” album), Red Hot Chili Peppers (“Greatest Hits”), Barenaked Ladies (“Gordon” – Canadian band that was big in the 1990’s), Bob Dylan’s wonderfully textured 1997 album “Time out of Mind”, Pearl Jam’s seminal 1991 debut “Ten” and finally Steve Earle’s “El Corazon” which is my favourite album by that artist. Some great records on the open road! Animal life was abundant as I saw 2 bald eagles, a great blue heron and plenty of small raptors as hawks seemed to be circling overhead at every opportunity. As night wore on I passed 2 rabbits by the side of the road and the true highlight of the day was a herd of 9 pronghorn antelope in a field as dusk was setting. I will eat very cheaply on this trip and for lunch I had Taco del Mar for the princely sum of $6. That franchise is similar to Subway but instead of a bread sandwich it features tacos, burritos or tortillas and then a build-your-own meal philosophy. Dinner was Taco Bell as for me to have corn taco shells, beef, cheese, salsa, lettuce and cilantro it is all gluten-free, delicious and inexpensive. The day featured what will be the longest amount of driving for the entire trip as I passed the 950 mile mark (over 1,500 km) by the time I turned in at close to midnight. It was an insanely long day of driving and to put it in perspective for English zoo nerds it is the equivalent of driving from London to Lisbon (approximately 950 miles) in a single day. I barreled along at quite a fast speed as in some stretches of Idaho and Montana the speed limit is 80 miles (130 km) per hour and that is fast by anyone’s standard. Amongst the tacos and pronghorn antelope there was a zoo in my day and I’ll get to that now. Cat Tales Zoological Park is a non-AZA-accredited facility located in Spokane, Washington, and it opened in 1991. (It is technically in Mead, slightly on the outskirts of Spokane.) The husband and wife team of Mike and Debbie Wyche still run the park and the facility houses almost exclusively felines, and according to the zoo’s website there are approximately 35 cats currently in residence. The establishment also has a zoo-keeping training center that has produced several employees that have moved to various zoos across the United States. Cat Tales is very small in size and even though I quickly used the restroom, walked through the tiny gift shop and took a photo of every enclosure I was back in the parking lot after 35 minutes. During that short period of time I saw about 20 animals of 7 species and the zoo is only a few acres in size. With only 20 animals on show it is obvious from the plethora of holding cages behind the main exhibits that there are additional cats that are rotated on exhibit at various times of the week. All of the enclosures are basic chain-link cages that are fairly barren and tiny for many of the animals. A small string of metal cages house a handful of bobcats; a pair of larger cages have a couple of lynx inside; I saw two Amur leopards (including a beautiful melanistic form); there were a trio of cougars; a single American black bear (the cinnamon colour phase); a male and female lion are separated; and there were perhaps 8 tigers including 2 white ones that used to be performing animals. Considering that bobcats, lynx, cougars and black bears are all found in the United States the only exotics were the lions, tigers and leopards. The facility is a rescue establishment as all of the animals were confiscated from pet owners, rehabilitated from a dire situation or abandoned in the wild. There are descriptions of the plight of the individual animals on signposts in front of the cages and plenty of employees are on hand to answer questions but the enclosures leave a lot to be desired. A number of the cages are approximately 22 feet wide and 22 feet deep with little other than a couple of scratching posts, some scattered hay and a tub of water to soak in. The row of bobcat cages is very tiny indeed. Many of the large cats are rotated into even smaller off-show cages and the quality of life of the specimens does not seem to be very high. Some of the cats have been at the zoo for 20 years and I cannot imagine that they lead invigorating lifestyles even though the animals appeared to be for the most part well-fed and genuinely cared for. Tomorrow morning I will see 3 zoos that are all dominated by bears. Yellowstone Bear World, Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center and Grizzly Encounter are all within 3 hours of each other and it will be interesting to see how they compare to one another. Then on Tuesday morning I first head to Bear World U.S.A. and with 4 straight zoos mainly featuring bears I expect to see black and grizzly bears in all directions. I type this from a McDonald’s, and the wonderful feature of that fast-food franchise is that there is fast and free Wi-Fi at every location. I’m not sure that all of my blog entries will be this lengthy but I happen to have an hour on my hands as I wait for Yellowstone Bear World to open to the public.
Hi SL, I was worried given that you had said these reviews would be different due to the book. I can see from this review I have nothing to worry about Safe travels
I'm glad to hear that the trip has started well - and safely. Some non-zoo comments: The worst Steve Earle album is probably better than the best album by 99% of other artists, but how can El Corazon be your favourite? It's good, sure, but it's the last few albums - especially I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive and Washington Square Serenade - that are astonishingly good. And the early ones, particularly Copperhead Road and Guitar Town - are pretty exceptional too. I enjoy driving, and don't mind racking up long distances - but this is an extraordinary mileage in one day. I cannot imagine covering that amount of ground without going mad... ...especially not having to go at those sort of speeds! 80 mph on the average autobahn is very quickly going to see you sticking with the Slovakian lorries, while the majority of the traffic speeds by at a somewhat higher rate.
Enjoying the journey thus far. Cat Tales is quite the establishment isn't it? When I was at school in northern Idaho, it was the closest thing I had to a zoo within a 2 hour drive. I only went once. Yellowstone Bear World is an interesting experience and I'm quite anxious to hear what you think. I've had some interesting animal encounters at that facility in the past. I haven't been to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in a long time, since they were just the Grizzly Discovery Center, but it seemed nice if not overpriced for what was there to see. Safe travels!
Yellowstone Bear World looks like a real doozy from looking at the website. You can feed bear cubs and ride a bus into the bear enclosure to feed the begging bears just like they used to attract bears with garbage at national parks. Maybe you can enjoy the Platinum Level Bear World Experience where you slather yourself in barbecue sauce and walk into the grizzly cage for a memorable close encounter of the first kind with a grizzly. (Some of these descriptions are true and some may be slightly exaggerated for satirical effect).
I'm not a huge fan of McDonald's and its food but I can 100% see why travelers use it for meals...the free Wi-Fi. The internet is super fast at every McD's that I enter and I can bang off emails to my wife and zoo nerds. @Sooty: "El Corazon" is a terrific album and Ft. Worth Blues might well be my favourite Steve Earle song ever. "The Revolution Starts Now..." might be a strong contender for my second favourite Earle record. Yesterday's 1,500 km (950 miles) has caused my right thigh and ankle to go into shock therapy as without cruise control it is hours upon hours of pressing down on the accelerator. I suffer for my art, as the great giraffe biologist David Brown once told me. I should clock in with at least another 1,000 km today as I am done with both Idaho and Montana, am typing this from Wyoming (the city of Sheridan to be exact) and I'm headed for Rapid City, South Dakota tonight. Just keep following my itinerary from the first posting as I'm on track although all along I've questioned "Day 3" and so we'll see what becomes of tomorrow after the Reptile Gardens facility. Today I ticked off Yellowstone Bear World in Idaho and it is well over-priced. The drive-through section cost me $18 and I went super slow and was still done in 25 minutes. I was only at the zoo for an hour and that included 10 minutes in the huge gift shop as the other exhibits consist of a petting farm, a single moose and a couple of small bear cub enclosures. Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, right on the entrance of Yellowstone National Park (with hordes of tourists lining up to enter), is superb in every way. The signage, employees, exhibits, etc, all lend a certain gravitas to proceedings. The problem is that there are 3 wolf habitats, one bear enclosure and 5 aviaries and that is basically it. I doubled back a few times and still was done after an hour. Walking in it is obvious that AZA-accredited facilities are a whole cut above the others and this place illustrates that well with everything being excellent apart from the lack of more species on show. Other than watching one of the movies in the small theatre I could not possible have spent more time there. Montana Grizzly Encounter is $7 to watch a couple of bears in one enclosure. I saw a family pay $30 (including taxes) for four of them and they left after maybe 10 minutes. That does not seem reasonable. My arrival coincided with a bear talk and the switching of bears (two out and two in - plus there is an off-show cub) and so I stayed maybe 35 minutes in total. One big minus to the last two places is that there are 8 grizzlies at the Discovery Center and 5 grizzlies at the Encounter and each facility has the single enclosure. That means a lot of bears are locked away in smaller outdoor yards or their dens for most of the day. The couple of individuals who made comments on my other thread about me zooming through zoos are a bit foolish as I had done the research prior to my trip and received many tips from fellow zoo nerds and thus knew what I was getting into. I'm visiting gift shops and restrooms, chatting with employees and still feel that I'm dawdling as these places are SMALL. If I was with my wife and 3 kids then I'm sure that we could spend half an hour on a zoo's playground and they go at a much slower pace so my times would be longer, but an adult like me who takes photos of everything still cannot spend more than an hour at these attractions. Cat Tales - 35 minutes Yellowstone Bear World - 1 hour Grizzly & Wolf D. Center - 1 hour Grizzly Montana Encounter - 35 minutes
I think you will find that the reason those three attractions in particular feel so heavily overpriced is because they are feeding on the tourist market provided by Yellowstone National Park itself, so in essence they are competing in a theme park environment rather than a local zoo market. I have family in eastern Idaho relatively near Bear World who say that many locals almost never visit the place, it's too expensive, they'd rather go to Tautphaus Park Zoo for less money, and that Bear World is a "tourist trap".
Day 2 – Monday, July 28th Today the musical selection consisted of 6 CD’s, beginning with a trio of Canadian artists: The Tea Party, Tom Cochrane and Neil Young (“Unplugged”). My all-time favourite John Mellencamp disc (“Human Wheels”), a Counting Crows record and an extremely eclectic assemblage of tunes from a fellow zoo nerd friend from the U.K. Wild animals seen consisted of the usual raptors but also a single deer and 23 pronghorn antelope. I drove 1,200 km (745 miles) to go with the 1,500 km from the previous day but after one more crazy day of driving the miles should slow down somewhat. I already posted a little information on the trio of zoos that I visited but I thought that I’d also expand upon that here. Yellowstone Bear World – A true tourist trap that is summarized by the behemoth of a bus that pulled up while I was there and unloaded at least 50 Korean individuals. The huge entrance building and enormous gift shop, stuffed to the gills with all sorts of knick-knacks, is enticing and completely free to all visitors. There are a couple of small enclosures that each featured 3 American black bear cubs and the zoo is a bit dodgy ethically as the cubs are all taken from their mothers at the age of 6 weeks and put on display shortly thereafter. The early-morning crowd of tourists clicked their cameras in unison as the cubs gamboled and fell over their feet in anticipation of their audience. A single moose and a petting yard, along with a tiny kiddie amusement park, sum up the free part of the zoo. The drive-thru section of the park costs $18 and I was only inside that area for 25 minutes and there is not a lot of bang for your buck. A Rocky Mountain goat enclosure with about 10 of the animals was a treat to see and its rocky mini-mountain was added in 2006. There is an all-white, leucistic adult elk and several youngsters that are also white and they stood out in the elk herd that was very skittish and yet able to be clearly seen via the road. A highway roars past the attraction and some of the other hoofstock (deer and bison) were far away from the traffic. The park apparently has 2-3 grizzly bears although I didn’t see any, and there are approximately 55 black bears sprawled in all directions. Interestingly enough I saw 3-4 wolves in with the black bear exhibit as I was driving through the facility. The park is strongly geared towards anyone on their way towards Yellowstone National Park and thus is a minor addition to the world of zoological attractions. Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center – This is a truly superb facility but one that is very tiny and necessary to leave within an hour. A pair of bald eagles, a great horned owl, a peregrine falcon and two empty aviaries is all recent additions and other than that area there is a discovery center (taxidermy displays and information on bears in all directions), a single bear habitat, and a “living with bears on easy street” zone with no live animals that is also new. There are 8 bears that rotate through the single long enclosure and it is quite a system as at times a single bear is on display (probably a surly male that does not get along with others) while a maximum of 5 bears can be seen on another occasion. There is an 8-page free guidebook and a separate sheet listing all of the bear rotations as every hour there is some kind of rotation policy in effect as bears are coming and going all day long. There is a desperate need for a second exhibit but that is due to occur in 2024 at the earliest. The big push at the moment is for a Riparian Habitat consisting mainly of a river otter display but also incorporating fish, reptiles and amphibians and that building will add a lot to the small zoo. The wolf habitats are excellent and the two largest ones are seen via a naturalist’s cabin that offers up massive viewing windows. While I was there a number of the wolves howled back and forth for 10 minutes and their enclosures are quite impressive. A ground squirrel exhibit will open in 2015 and those little critters are the “meerkats of North America”. Montana Grizzly Encounter – This is a single enclosure and the facility has 4 adult bears and a 6-month old cub that has not yet gone on display. The facilities consist of a gravel parking lot and port-a-potties for washrooms and so it is as bare bones as a zoo can possibly get. Timing is everything as I arrived just as two adult bears had been rotated off-view and an employee was smearing honey and peanut butter on all of the rocks and logs in the grassy exhibit. Yummy treats were tossed in all directions and a very knowledgeable volunteer gave a 15-minute talk on grizzly bears. Then two new bears were allowed into the exhibit and I spent a further 20 minutes watching them root around for their dinner. Judging from the license plates in the parking area all of the visitors (of which there was a lot) are from out of town and I can imagine that some individuals might not be content to pay $7 per person to come across a couple of sleeping bears not moving at all. The 5 grizzlies at the establishment are all rescue bears and in fact one of the females spent 18 years of her life in a tiny, barbaric cage and so the staff (every one of which is a volunteer) is surely a dedicated group.
Thanks for spending your time writing these mini-reviews, it is very interesting to read about all of these small establishments.
Today I visited 3 South Dakota attractions and went back to my original schedule that I had all along. Bear Country USA (much better than the previous day's Yellowstone Bear World but still with some major flaws); Reptile Gardens (huge collection but hit-and-miss exhibits); and Bramble Park Zoo. For tonight I will simply post the species list for Reptile Gardens (Rapid City, South Dakota) as I've had a request for it in the past. The highway that has Bear Country and Reptile Gardens only 2 miles apart is packed with tourist attractions all the way down to the Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monuments. Everything below I saw with my own eyes, including a rough-scaled python that is according to a large sign "the rarest snake in the world". There are a few signs in the entrance area that state clearly that Reptile Gardens has 225 species and subspecies of reptile and amphibian and "Guinness World Records" is stamped everywhere to certify the truth to that statement. I took a photo of every single sign on a reptile or amphibian terrarium and I ended up with 128 species plus another 15 for invertebrates. However, there is at least one caiman species involved in the Gator Show but I did not catch which one it is, plus there are a few roaming lizards in the small walk-through jungle zone. Even so, that means Reptile Gardens must have around 90 off-show species and I'd love to see a complete list if anyone has one. I suppose that 225 is the #1 total in the world and I wonder what other zoos are close... Check out the number of snakes on show, including a long list of venomous critters that could easily kill a human. A sign said that Reptile Gardens has 12 Inland Taipans (the only 12 in the Western Hemisphere) and the number of cobras, mambas, taipans, rattlesnakes, vipers and other deadly snakes is mightily impressive. Again, everything below I saw with my own eyes and it is definitely snake-heavy with a shockingly small number of lizards on display. Species List: Snakes (78 species): Black Mamba, Jameson’s Mamba, West African Green Mamba, East African Green Mamba, Coastal Taipan, Inland Taipan, Papuan Taipan, King Cobra, Central Asian Cobra, Indochinese Spitting Cobra, Egyptian Cobra, Banded Water Cobra, Samar Cobra, Western Brown Snake, Mulga, Central American Bushmaster, Boomslang, Tiger Snake, Red-Bellied Black Snake, Puff Adder, Death Adder, Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Common Cantil, Caatinga Lancehead, St. Lucian Lancehead, Cascabel, Asp Viper, Long-Nosed Viper, Radde’s Mountain Viper, Saw-Scaled Viper, Snorkel-Nosed Viper, Mangshan Pit Viper, Eyelash Viper, Beautiful Tree Viper, Jumping Viper, Ottoman Viper, West African Gaboon Viper, Desert Horned Viper, Flat-Nosed Pit Viper, Purple-Spot Pit Viper, Okinawan Habu, Cape Coral Snake, Western Massasauga, Asian Vine Snake, Mojave Rattlesnake, Grand Canyon Rattlesnake, Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, Red Diamond Rattlesnake, Baja Rattlesnake, Uracoan Rattlesnake, Mexican West Coast Rattlesnake, Mexican Black-Tail Rattlesnake, Arizona Black Rattlesnake, Prairie Rattlesnake, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, Speckled Rattlesnake, Timber Rattlesnake, Tentacled Snake, Woma, Wandering Garter Snake, Plains Garter Snake, Smooth Green Snake, Pale Milk Snake, Eastern Yellow-Bellied Racer, Bullsnake, Anaconda, Green Tree Python, Black-Headed Python, Timor Python, Rough-Scaled Python, Burmese Python, Australian Scrub Python, Papuan Carpet Python, Jungle Carpet Python, Emerald Tree Boa, Madagascar Tree Boa and Boa Constrictor. Lizards (13 species): Komodo Dragon, Green Tree Monitor, Blue Tree Monitor, Black Tree Monitor, Rhinoceros Iguana, Fiji Island Banded Iguana, Frilled Dragon, Veiled Chameleon, Blue Tongue Skink, Land Mullet, Leopard Gecko, Beaded Lizard and Gila Monster. Tortoises & Turtles (13 species): Galapagos Tortoise, Aldabra Tortoise, African Spurred Tortoise, Pancake Tortoise, Red-Footed Tortoise, Burmese Mountain Star Tortoise, Russian Tortoise, Snake Necked Turtle, Fly River Turtle, Three-Toed Box Turtle, Red-Eared Slider, Spotted Turtle and Ornate Box Turtle. Crocodilians (9 species): Saltwater Crocodile, Nile Crocodile, Johnston’s Crocodile, Dwarf Crocodile, Cuban Crocodile, American Crocodile, African Slender-Snout Crocodile, Chinese Alligator and American Alligator. (Plus a 10th species in the Gator Show - some kind of caiman) Amphibians (15 species): File-Eared Tree Frog, Clown Tree Frog, Giant Chinese Tree Frog, White’s Tree Frog, Red-Eyed Tree Frog, Amazon Milk Frog, African Bullfrog, Fire-Legged Running Frog, Green + Black Poison Arrow Frog, Dyeing Poison Arrow Frog, Blue Poison Arrow Frog, Bumblebee Walking Toad, Woodhouse Toad, Marine Toad and Tiger Salamander. Invertebrates (15 species): Red Claw Scorpion, Flat Rock Scorpion, Wolf Spider, Black Widow Spider, Brown Recluse Spider, Cobalt Blue Tarantula, Pink Toe Tarantula, Mexican Red-Knee Tarantula, Indian Ornamental Tarantula, Chilean Rose-Hair Tarantula, Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, American Cockroach, Death’s Head Cockroach, Florida Ivory Millipede and Southeast Asian Giant Forest Centipede.
While Reptile Gardens sounds to have an extraordinary collection, it appears as if hyperbole is a specialism as well! While rough-scaled pythons are unusual, I think you'd be hard-pressed to describe them as "the rarest snake in the world". I've seen them advertised by private breeders, and I read that they breed fairly easily in captivity. Inland taipans are at London - and if the Greenwich Meridian which separates the Western and Eastern hemispheres goes through London, then it is to the east of the city, so the zoo is certainly in the west! There are also a number at other zoos in Europe - although these are in the Eastern Hemisphere (Germany, Denmark, Switzerland et cetera).
Indeed; London Zoo is indeed in the Western Hemisphere. In point of fact there are very few UK collections which are *not* in the Western Hemisphere - the only exceptions being those collections in Norfolk, Essex and Kent.
Day 3 –Tuesday, July 29th Another 1,200 km and the third straight monstrous day of driving was a bit wearisome, although the initial 3 days of every single one of my road trips is arduous in terms of driving simply as I have to travel a vast distance in order to reach some new zoos. The musical highlights of the day consisted of Def Leppard’s “Greatest Hits”, Guns n’ Roses and the “Appetite for Destruction” record and a pair of U2 albums. Wild animals amounted to a single mule deer and a rabbit. Yee haw! Mini Reviews: Bear Country USA – This is the 4th consecutive bear park of the trip and one that is significantly better than Yellowstone Bear World and Montana Grizzly Encounter but not as impressive as the AZA-accredited Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. A 45-minute drive-thru is set amongst the 200 acres of the park and it features these species: Rocky Mountain Elk, Reindeer, Arctic Wolf, Bighorn Sheep, Dall Sheep, Rocky Mountain Goat, Cougar, American Black Bear, Grey Wolf, Pronghorn Antelope and Bison. Other than the grey wolves and black bears all the rest of the animals have their own separate area. I saw at least 6 cougars in the same long enclosure and it was feeding time for the bears and I have a photo that must show at least 40-50 black bears all together at a single time and scrapping over food. Rather astonishing. The walk-around zone had 8 bear cubs that followed me all over their spacious enclosure as the park pulls all baby bears from their mothers and raises them via human care. Other animals included the most obese grizzly bear that I’ve ever seen; badgers, striped skunks, bobcats, lynx, raccoons, river otters, pronghorn antelope youngsters, coyotes, red foxes and Arctic foxes. All are in enclosures that feature Fred Flintstone mock-rock in the background and manicured, fairly plain grassy yards. A 6,000 sq. ft. gift shop is enormous and obviously rakes in dollars from tourist wallets. Overall this park for an adult is about 45 minutes for the drive-thru area and another 45 minutes for the small walking section. Reptile Gardens – Just 2 miles down the road is this attraction, of which I’ve already posted the species list. Its 225 reptile and amphibian species and subspecies make it #1 on the planet but about 90 of that total are off-show. The outdoor entrance zone and large dome are a fantastic first impression but the truth is that initially I was rather disappointed with the facility. The jungle walk-through area at the base of the dome can be seen in 5-10 minutes and features a boa constrictor on a stick, several macaws and parrots, and then a few free-roaming lizards. Leaving that area there are exhibits along the walls in a complete circle inside the establishment but some of the enclosures leave a lot to be desired. (Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium & Safari Park in Arizona springs to mind). The crocodilian exhibits at Reptile Gardens are very poor, consisting mainly of fake turf land and then a pool that is not much longer than the crocodilian inhabiting it! There is one wall that has 18 snake terrariums that makes a great first impact but in most of the exhibits the snake is actually a greater length than its entire world of glass. Thankfully things improved on the upper level as the vast majority of the terrariums are of at least adequate size and some are quite large. With mambas, cobras, vipers and rattlesnakes everywhere the collection is astonishing even if the enclosure throughout the place are a bit dodgy. Outdoors is a bald eagle aviary, plus a walk-through tortoise yard (yes, you can pet them all you want), gator show, snake show, prairie dog town, etc. Nothing to top a green mamba, mind you, and after 2 hours you’ve seen it all. Bramble Park Zoo – An AZA-accredited facility that is over 100 years old but it is pretty small and an hour and a half is enough time to view everything. American black bears, Amur tigers, jaguars (including a melanistic specimen) and a snow leopard are a popular quartet but the enclosures are only just adequate and all on the small side. Elsewhere there are spacious aviaries for Andean condors and bald eagles, probably a thousand prairie dogs amongst the bison and Bactrian camels in their respective paddocks, 8 primate species all in metal cages (one from 1911 and a year before the zoo opened) and a major addition that has yet to open is a new Children’s Zoo/Farmyard area. A huge red barn appears to be finished but a substantial area around it has a lot of work to be done before it is complete. A river otter exhibit is also going to be built near the entrance and there are a number of other animals on show but nothing to surprising. I make note of 5 rarities that are hardly to be seen in American zoos these days: pine marten, fisher, swift fox (at least 5-6 of them), black lemur and white-throated capuchin. If you have any further questions or comments then feel free to ask as I’m only posting mini-reviews but I will still answer anything in regards to the zoos.
Just a note to the collection watchers: though the Bramble Park Zoo uses the common name Pine Marten, the animals in the collection are in fact Martes americana not Martes martes as this common name may imply.
Reptile Gardens does indeed specialize in hyperbole and on the rough-scaled python sign it states that the zoo was "the first to have and first to breed rough-scaled pythons outside of Australia". In regards to the inland taipans the sign says that Reptile Gardens has 12 specimens, Moscow Zoo a single snake and "1 in a European zoo"...whatever that means. Of course that sign might have been in place for 5 or 10 years and things have surely changed since then. Two more things of note to add to my mini-reviews from Day 3: - Bear Country USA apparently has around 90 American black bears and I know that not all of them are in the drive-thru section (when I had probably 50 all fairly close to my vehicle) as I saw an off-site enclosure with a number of bears rambling around. The place breeds them like crazy. - Bramble Park Zoo struck me as needing a good cleaning. Whether it was disintegrating signs, chipped paint or an abundance of weeds...someone needs to smarten that facility up.
What's in the aviary at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center? I haven't been there in seven years. How do you like the museum there?
