Best and worst local zoo exhibits

Ragunan certaintly have some hit or miss exhibits, notably the outdoor gorilla and Bornean orangutan exhibits are just wonderful. While most of the other exhibits at the zoo look more like some leftovers from the 1910's.

 

Dudley zoo is my local zoo, in my opinion it has several best exhibits,
Lemur walkthrough
Gelada enclosures
Wolverine enclosure
Unfortunately the primate house and enclosures are looking very tired, mainly due to the many improvements around the zoo

 

Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
Best: Penguin Coast (arguably...lots of African Journey worth mentioning)
Worst: Lemur Lane

 

Daytona aquarium rainforest adventure (Opened around 3 weeks ago)

Best: Amphibians, alligator, main shark tank

Worst: Sail fin lizard

 

Fresno Chaffee Zoo (not local but my "home zoo")

Best: Sea Lion Cove

Worst: Monkey Cages (don't know if the area has a name)

Virginia Zoological Park

Best: Asia: Trail of the Tiger

Worst: Australian Walkabout

 

Zoo African Safari Plaisance-du-Touch (my local zoo, near of Toulouse)

Best : First part of Drive-in Safari (Roan Antelope, Wildebeest, Watusi Cattle, Red Lechwe, Zebra, Common Eland, Scimitar-horned oryx, Blesbok), Cheetah exhibit.

Worst : Tiger exhibit, Lion exhibit, Scimitar oryx exhibit (on pedestrian part), Camels exhibit, they don't have enought space.

Réserve Africaine de Sigean ("Home zoo")

Best : Drive-in Safari, Great aviary, African plains (pedestrian part), Eye of Ca (area with many birds like flamigos and pelicans). One nice thing in the most of exhibits, animals can hide if they want peace and zoo staff explains that's a good thing. Petting goats are changed all day between three herds and they have a place in the exhibit if they want peace.

Worst : Some reptiles exhibits.

 

ZNE Franklin Park Zoo

Best:

Gorilla Grove - An excellent outdoor portion of the gorilla enclosure with a waterfall and great viewing opportunites.
Raptor Ridge - A huge walk-through aviary of Andean condors that looks oddly like the pterosaur cage in Jurassic Park II.

Worst:

African pygmy falcons and cotton-top tamarins - two tiny netted exhibits clinging to a rock wall that no one notices. The sore spot of the otherwise great Tropical Forest.
Kea and kookaburra - two more ugly cages lining a pagoda building that just looks dated and wrong.

 

Good ol' Columbus:

Best:
- Heart of Africa (need I say more? Its gorgeous)
- Manatee Coast (Large, immersive for guests AND animals)
- Outdoor Bonobo

Worst:
- Penguin exhibit (hardly any room at all and very, very outdated)
- Most of Shores (This region needs help)
- Gibbon/Siamang exhibit
- Indoor Asia quest exhibits

 

Agreed. I’d also have mentioned the sea lion pools, though I do acknowledge that there’s really not a whole lot that can be done since the pools themselves are listed buildings and the two sea lions they have remaining are too old to be translocated.

 

For me the worst exhibits are ones that never seem to have the animals in them. For instance, at the Los Angeles Zoo, there is a nice habitat for the tiger, but I haven't seen it in over two years. In contrast, the giraffe exhibit (which I think is way too small) is always a win because the giraffes are there everytime I go. It doesn't do much good to design a nice exhibit if the animals aren't visible during zoo hours.

 

Chester Zoo:
Good- Islands
Bad- Aquarium

Blackpool Zoo:
Good- Project Elephant
Bad- Monkey House

Knowsley Safari:
Good- Amur Tiger Trail
Bad- Sea Lion Pool

 

ZSL London Zoo:
Good- Into Africa
Bad- The Mappin Terraces

 

Colchester Zoo:
Best exhibits- Playa Patagonia (sea lions) and Dragons of Komodo.
Worst exhibits- Really tough one, possibly the World of Wings aviaries, Call of the Wild (wolves), or the Buffy Headed Capuchin enclosure (previously sun bears and orangutans), mainly due to age of these areas. Saying that, the latter two are due redevelopment and upgrades in 2024, but there isn't really a standout worst exhibit at Colchester to me.

 

Houston zoo:
Best exhibit: South American Pantanal. It's so well made in every aspect from the animal statues to the exhibit designs and the animals are very charismatic and all except the Jaguar are always active.
Worst exhibit: John P. McGovern Children’s Zoo. Everything about the area feels outdated. Most of the animals either aren't very active or are constant no shows especially the Herps.

 

Local zoo is the Minnesota Zoo.

I really enjoy the mixed aviary exhibit on the Tropics Trail- it's a relatively brief walk-through space, but overall the space is very big, and an elevated walkway means you can look far down into a tiered jungle enclosure. One of the more immersive portions of the MN zoo IMO.

Least favorite by far is the big mammal tank in discovery bay- it was dolphins when I was a kid but now it's for what little remains of their Hawaiian monk seal program. Nothing but plain concrete... it's really underwhelming and doesn't leave me feeling good about seeing it, if that makes sense.

 

There are three zoos that I could call my local zoo

'Dierenpark de Oliemeulen' because it's the one closest to me (10 minutes).
Best enclosure; probably the ring-tailed lemurs
Worst enclosure: caracal

'Zie-zoo' because it's the zoo I have an annual pass for and it's the zoo I visit the most as a zoo guest
Best enclosure: South American enclosure (capibara, mara, anteater, rhea)
Worst enclosure: Tayra enclosure (I really dislike the not-yet-in-use future spider monkey island too)

'Safaripark Beekse Bergen' because I work there
Best enclosure: Take your pick. Most enclosures here are huge and there's little bad to say about them.
Worst enclosure: Defenitely the Cape buffalo enclosure. I would even go as far to say it is the ONLY bad enclosure in the entire zoo.