In 2007, Philadelphia Zoo won the award for its Big Cat Falls. And Houston Zoo won runner up for its small animal house Natural Encounters, along with the National Zoo for Asia Trail. Below is a list of the entries for the award and some website with information regarding these exhibits. Please take the time to review them and I will post a poll for everyone to decide what exhibit they would have wanted to win. Akron Zoo - Legends of the Wild Hit the Road - See America and the World: Legends of the Wild at Akron Zoo http://www.akronzoo.org/pdf/2008 Map - low res.pdf Granby Zoo - The Hippo River visite_hippopotame Houston Zoo - Natural Encounters Natural Encounters Exhibits - Houston Zoo, Animals and Exhibits, Natural Encounters http://www.houstonzoo.org/attachments/files/377/Zoo PR Nat Encount.doc National Zoo - Asia Trail Asia Trail - National Zoo| FONZ North Carolina Aquarium @ Pine Knoll Shores North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores http://www.ncaquariums.com/pks/floorplan.pdf Oakland Zoo - Valley Children’s Zoo Oakland Zoo - Wayne and Gladys Valley Children's Zoo Philadelphia Zoo - Big Cat Falls Philadelphia Zoo - Bank of America Big Cat Falls http://www.aza.org/Publications/2007/07/bigcat_falls.pdf San Diego Zoo - Monkey Trails and Forest Tales San Diego Zoo Exhibit: Monkey Trails Sedgwick County Zoo - Downing Gorilla Forest http://www.scz.org/ Turtle Back Zoo - Reptile House Turtle Back Zoo - Exhibits Virginia Aquarium - Blue Crab Corner no documentation found Woodland Park Zoo - Zoomazium Discover Zoomazium I also have a nearly complete list of AZA exhibit award entries since 1980 and I'll do more to these in the future.
Also, since I only have 10 options for a poll, if you would like to vote for Woodland Park Zoo's Zoomazium or the Virginia Aquarium's Blue Crab Exhibit please note in the thread. Also after you make your choice, please post your reason for your vote in the thread if you like. And please dont vote twice.
Since all of the exhibits are still fairly new it will be difficult to find people who have seen the enclosures up close and personal. I've visited both the National Zoo's Asia Trail and San Diego's Monkey Trails and Forest Tales, and both are brilliant. I've also seen Woodland Park Zoo's Zoomazium many times and it contains a few tanks with small animals but is generally regarded as a large, indoor play area for kids. I scanned the links to all of the other exhibits and ended up voting for the National Zoo. Their giant panda habitat is the best of its kind out of the 4 zoos that actually have giant pandas in North America, the Asian small-clawed otter exhibit is probably the best of its kind, the sloth bear exhibit is the best of its kind, and the clouded leopard, fishing cat, japanese giant salamander and red panda habitats are all amongst the best that I've ever seen. The entire zoo feels rejuvenated via the superb Asia Trail, and the fact that it didn't get a mention in terms of awards is shocking.
I agree--Asia Trail is a far superior exhibit to any of the others nominated or that won in 2007. One serious bit of confusion--looking at last years' AZA Connect Magazine, it lists Asia Trail as a "Significant Achievement" winner, and I recall that being the case at the Conference where the announcements of the winners were made. I emailed the AZA office to clarify. Big Cat Falls has some nice features and was a major improvement to an existing outmoded building, but it did not deserve to get Best Exhibit.
I voted for Asia Trail in National Zoo. When I went to the zoo, the exhibit was a couple of weeks old, so all the plants were fairly new and young, but it still looked as one of the best. After seeing the pics that Snowleopard posted, it even looked better because all the exhibits looked lusher than when I went.
It should be even better when the new Asian elephant exhibit is complete adding on another top part to the trail , The plans look quite good
Very true, I didnt even bother to look at the AZA website, I just took the information from the 2008 AZA Award thread.
The only exhibit I've seen in person is Monkey Trails. So me not having actually seen any of the exhibits really only simulates how the AZA judging goes... So based on the materials presented....I chose Asia Trail, because there really isn't anything else in there on a similar scale and level of quality.
