Thoughts on San Diego Zoo » San Diego Zoo

04-10-2008

And they are the best, them and the Wild Animal Park both are. Wild Animal Park- best elephants, lions, Indian Rhinos (How many other places allow you to feed Indian Rhinos in a 35-acre exhibit), Black Rhinos- Just had a baby, White Rhinos, Giraffes. At the San Diego Zoo they have the best, nile hippo, pygmy hippo, one of the best tiger, gorilla, bonobo, panda, polar bear, Sun Bear, orangutan, and reptile exhibits. I don't know of any other zoo that has that many exhibits where they are either the best, or one of the best of that kind of animal exhibit. When you think of one please tell me.

07-10-2008

Okay:

Bronx Zoo has the best snow leopard exhibit (at least in the US), best red panda exhibit, best gorilla exhibit, best okapi exhibit, best mandrill exhibit, best red river hog exhibit, best Wolf's monkey exhibit, best gibbon exhibit, best Silvered Leaf Monkey exhibit, best Butterfly Garden, best Madagascar exhibit, best naked mole rat exhibit, best baboon exhibit (geladas), best wild dog exhibit, and among the best tiger, hornbill, zebra, Incan tern, African rock python, Burmese python, Asian turtle, tree kangaroo, bee-eater, argus pheasant, and Congo peacock exhibits. Not to mention the best small rodent exhibit ("Mouse House").

At San Diego Tiger River and the Kopje, and to a lesser extent the gorilla rainforest, are all far superior to what has been built (and designed in-house as mentioned earlier) since those early improvements. The giant walk-through aviaries are spectacular, but are much less exciting than they used to be before they added the freeway-like concrete walkways through them to handle the crowds and wheelchair accessibility.

And the Ituri "Forest" really is an aesthetic mess.

07-10-2008

And what zoo has the best hippo exhibit??

07-10-2008

Disney's Animal Kingdom

07-10-2008

I'm enjoying this debate over the merits of the San Diego Zoo, but I'm sure that even that zoo's detractors will admit that it's an amazing zoo and one of the best on the planet. I honestly think that the Bronx and San Diego are clearly the two best in North America, and I've made it clear that I support the notion that San Diego is #1. However, the fact that it is either the best or close to the best should be an incentive for the zoo to design superlative exhibits that we can all agree on and obviously some folks think that the zoo could be doing better. I can't wait until the first reviews of Elephant Mesa start pouring in here at ZooBeat, which of course will be known as ZooChat by then.

Even though I adore San Diego I fully admit that the series of 5 small carnivore cages are atrocious, and much of both cat and bear canyon could either be demolished or extensively renovated. The Bronx is a brilliant zoo, but the polar bear grotto is beyond belief when compared to the spendour and beauty that surround it. I really feel that the weather is a massive dividing factor between the zoos, as I shudder to think of all the northern zoos around the world locking up many of their animals in the winter. In San Diego practically every day is perfect weather for walking around a zoo, and the open-air concept is amazing.

07-10-2008

@okapir: I object that Disney has the best hippo exhibit. I still think San Diego has the best- just because of a little fence in the back of the exhibit? That makes no sense.

@Snowleopard: I agree with you that Bronx and San Diego are the two best. I think San Diego should bull-doze that cat cages and build a Snow Lepard exhibit like at Bronx Zoo. I know that the Jaguars will be part of Elephant Odyssey. They could make some sort of Asian Highland exhibit combing the Snow Leopards and Chinese leopards. Then it will really seal its spot in the #1.

Bronx would be better if they built a pathway around the Asian Monorail. The monorail could stop at different animals, and people could get back on when the monorail comes around again. This is because the only flaw to the monorail is the lack of time not the visitor gets to see the animals, not the exhibits themselves.

07-10-2008

Disney has the better exhibit because of its naturalistic design and the ability to house the somewhat gregarious hippos in a more natural social setting...they have the ability to house over 20 hippos! San Diego's can barely hold 3. It really has nothing to do with a fence...I think hippos could care less.

07-10-2008

Hippos are very happy in pairs as well. San Diego has the nicer exhibit.

I am convinced the whole zoobeat is against the San Diego Zoo except Snowleopard.

07-10-2008

I'm not against SD zoo. I've only visited once and I was really small, so now it's my dream to go visit again. The thing is that SD zoo should be doing way better in exhibit design, especially when they call themselves the best of the best.

07-10-2008

Gorillas were thought to be the same.

07-10-2008

Yes, your right, with the money they have they could do better than they are. They are putting a very high quality elephant exhibit. If you include the Wild Animal Park with the zoo, they are the best of the best without a doubt in my mind. If you just include the zoo by itself, it could be a little better. They need better Snow Leopard and Lion exhibits. Then again the Wild Animal Park has the best lion exhibit in the country.

@okapikpr: San Diego can hold more then 3 hippos. Look at snowleopards photos of the hippo exhibit and they show the large size of the pool.

07-10-2008

In the new Elephant Odyssey exhibit there will be exhibits for both lions and jaguars, even though they will be new they still look rather small in the site plan.

07-10-2008

San Diego can only hold 3 adult hippos. That's all the holding space they have. And I've been to San Diego, beautiful zoo. The hippo exhibit is nice, but not the greatest.

07-10-2008

I have seen Disney's exhibit crammed with unexercised hippos and I have seen San Diego's and I think it is the better. Jon and Allen coauthors of Americas Best Zoos rate San Diego as the #1 best for hippos. They rate Disney #5 with Toledo, Saint Louis, and Bucsh Gardens #s 2, 3, and 4 in between. I agree with them except I think Saint Louis should be #2 and Toledo should be #3.

07-10-2008

BTW, now that we're are talking about SD zoo's hippos, I heard Los Angeles Zoo and SD zoo are exchanging male hippos.