I loved your review! Always nice to hear reviews of your home zoo from first time visitors. But a few points: 1) You would be very surprised to learn that gorillas routinely ignore the hotwire and act as if it's not even there. I have seen it myself! 2) Unfotunately, Okapis are just plain tough animals to spot in an environment in which they live. 3) I think the signs are perfectly readable... 4) I have never seen them in the mouse house! I have only seen them in Children's zoo. Odd. 5) A few years ago the exhibit was home to 2 and maybe even 3 troops of geladas. Then they started to die, and die, and die, until there was only a few left. Amazingly, however, a baby was rencently born making it the first birth in the US since 2002! Hopefully, it will get back together soon. 6) I am sorry to tell you, but Tiger Mountain only has Siberian tigers now. A few years ago the Malayans were taken off exhibit for unknown reasons.(Recnently at the time however, the female died in a mating attempt in San diego. But there were Malayan cubs at the time in Bronx.) 7) Did you go to the Aquatic Bird House by Madagascar? They also have kiwi(Although I have never seen them awake) Athough this looks like I disagree with everything you said, trust me, I loved your review and thought you made some very good points.
I loved the Bronx Zoo review and I read it last night and then just re-read all of it this morning as it was a hugely enjoyable recap of a world-famous zoological park. It does sound as if your day got off to a terrible start and you missed out on seeing some key species but in the end you basically say Bronx is the best zoo you've ever visited and it goes without saying that the zoo is clearly one of the greatest of its kind in a nation that (along with Germany) is perhaps #1 in the world for zoos. Interestingly enough the Bronx Zoo has been relatively stagnant since I visited the facility in 2008. The Rare Animal Range (a handful of large paddocks) closed down, the zoo's 3rd most popular attraction was also closed (the Skyfari ride), and the nocturnal house known as World of Darkness had its doors permanently closed. Other than a couple of minor additions, the only major new attraction in the past 7 years has been the renovation of the Children's Zoo, but at a cost of $4 million that is peanuts in New York City as usually construction projects are mind-bogglingly expensive. Of the 325 different zoos and aquariums that I've visited in my life, 285 of them have been in the United States and I can assure you that you are correct in saying that Bronx "deserves a second chance to make a first impression". (That is a great phrase to use, by the way!). In my opinion the Bronx Zoo is a fantastic establishment that has won a lot of AZA exhibit awards and seldom disappoints its 2 million annual visitors. However, I'd place a trio of zoos above it as I believe that it is the #4 best zoo in the nation. San Diego, Saint Louis and Omaha would be the only 3 American zoos that I'd rank higher than the Bronx. They each have their own quirks as San Diego is a facility that due to its incredible amount of annual sunshine is basically the same experience year-round. Omaha swings for the fences with some amazing exhibits that are the biggest of their kind anywhere but there are also some eyesores that need to be rectified. Saint Louis has emerged as a zoo with one of the most well-rounded animal collections in the nation and with the least number of poor exhibits of perhaps any major U.S. zoo.
1) Awesome. I'm glad to hear it. I'm on the gorillas' side with this one. 2) I understand that. It was just plain bad luck. Thankfully it wasn't that big a deal, as I'll get to later. 3) You must have better eyes than me! 4) Definitely in there. Definitely not in appropriate housing. It's possible there were also fennecs in the Children's Zoo but I can't remember now. 5) Hopefully it's a turning point, then. It'd be great to see that enclosure being used to its full potential. 6) *Shrugs* The guy on the tram said Malayans. I'm happy for you to follow up who is correct. It's all the same to me, since whatever tigers were in Tiger Mountain, I didn't see them. 7) That may be where I saw the kiwi, rather than World of Birds. The exhibit style is consistent across the two buildings so it's very believable that I got them mixed up.
Unfortunately on this relatively short trip I only had time to make one of those three, which I hope I'll write about soon-ish. The others will have to wait for five years. That timeframe, by the way, is based on the 2020 election, which I have earmarked as the one where I will live a life's dream of working on a Presidential campaign (or volunteering, to be more precise).
Thanks for that CGSwans, a very interesting review. I'm especially intrigued as the Bronx is one of the top zoos I'd like to visit in the relatively near future. Out of interest, what was the weather like? In other zoos where I've felt similarly about my visit I've found it's usually cold and wet and that significantly dampens the day. A few brief thoughts on Central Park Zoo would be greatly appreciated - I'm not even sure how small it is.
Weather was bright and sunny, so it wasn't that. It might be that I would have gotten more out of the Zoo had I gone later in my week in New York. It's a place that requires some habituation, I think. I want to return to New York because I want to go back to the Met, the Museum, the Zoo and Governors Island. But I have to be honest and say the city itself isn't really for me. I certainly wouldn't want you to see Bronx through any filter applied by my post. It's an excellent zoo, a few quibbles aside. My post is probably best read as a rumination on how luck and circumstance can colour our perception of a zoo.
estimado devilfish. if you visit the bronx zoo first, the central park zoo can be depressing because most of the animal spaces are much smaller and the crowds are worse. i also felt that the fennec foxes were out place in the mouse house at the bronx zoo. The docents and staff at the bronx zoo were extra nice to me when they found out i had done conservation research in mexico. I also loved the american museum of natural history.
Seems a bit of a contradiction to me. The gorilla exhibit did not completely hide its artifice, and the okapi exhibit perfectly created an experience of sighting the animal in the real forest. Can't be a complete failure.
Can't disagree with any of this. The Bronx Zoo does not polish every corner like Columbus Zoo nor does it fully immerse like Arizona-Sonora. It isn't fully landscaped like Chester nor all new like Singapore. Many exhibits haven't been changed in forty years. What the Bronx does well it does very well. And then there's all the rest.
I think that's putting words in my mouth, to be fair. I hardly called it a "complete failure" or anything even remotely like it. I critiqued the concept as something that I thought was ultimately unobtainable but my criticisms of the exhibit were no more than glancing blows at worst. It's a genuinely great complex. Nor was I blaming the exhibit for my lack of success with okapi. When I say it was 'a bust' I mean that's what it was for me, in the context of being my first sighting of an okapi.
Fair enough. But what then does it mean to recreate a wild habitat? Yes, you saw hotwire. And yes, you only got a partial view of an okapi. I should add: I don't think any zoo designer would say we "recreate a wild habitat." We suggest habitats. We no more "recreate" wild habitats than an action movie "recreates" the end of the world. True, marketing departments and the media may play loose with the idea and make grandiose claims.
CGSwans: I have been enjoying your reviews so far, and having been to all the zoos you have toured so far I have been nodding in agreement with most of them. The Bronx Zoo is the zoo I have grown up with; however seeing other zoos I absolutely agree with some of your assessment. Unless you know the city, the zoo is difficult to get to and even once you are in the zoo it is not an easy experience. Congo is wonderful and as Zooplantman said, what the Bronx Zoo does it does incredibly well. And it is one of the few zoos I have been to where the message of conservation was so strong. But I agree the zoo has some old areas that lack polish. If the entire zoo was the quality of Congo Forest or even Baboon Reserve it would easily be the best zoo in the world. With the budget of the zoo starting to return to normal I am hopeful by the time you return in 2020 at least one or two other major exhibits will be completed. I look forward to your next parts.
So I'm actually part-way through my latest overseas trip now, but feel I should do something to semi-wrap this up before I start a new one. For various reasons I never got around to writing about my time in San Diego. It's too long ago to give a detailed account but a) the three collections I visited are very familiar to many here anyway and b) detailed accounts aren't often my thing. So just a few observations: A) I quite enjoyed SeaWorld. I obviously took particular interest in the conditions the orcas were being held in and the presentation of the shows. I had no particular qualms with either, other than the general principle that bigger is always better for marine mammal tanks. Congratulations to the people who successfully stopped that from happening. Ahem. The show presentations were basically just dolphin shows. I saw emperor penguins for the first (and only) time here, but I didn't see a great deal of them because the enclosure has the lighting set to replicate Antarctic conditions. Wonderful for the penguins, but less great for an Australian zoo nerd visiting in the northern summer. I could sort of make out the birds, but it wasn't a very meaningful encounter. There's a weird bit - I forget the name - consisting of a barn with a handful of small animal exhibits. I saw my first beaver there*, and I think it was also where I first encountered an armadillo if memory serves. I went on both the ride portion of the polar bear/pinniped/beluga complex as well as walking through. The ride was a bit silly (then again, I'm not the target market), but I really thought the theming was quite well done. I really enjoyed the interactive dolphin pool where a group of Dolphins were playing with toys, which they would nudge towards visitors to get them to throw them back into the pool. I'm sure it outrages the easily outraged, but it was an enriching experience for both visitor and dolphin. This visit was before the Blue World project (was that the name?) sank, and there was a petition going around to get the support of the Coastal Commission for the plans. I happily signed it, and would have done so even if they hadn't given me a free drink voucher to do so. Rather dodgy. b) I spent two full days at the Zoo, partly because that's how long I'd allowed, partly because they were both weekend days so I was allowing for crowds and partly because it was the end of the trip, I'd over-done the walking in Washington and New York and my knees weren't up to rushing about. When I was there the zoo was open until 9PM, but the combination of the dodgy knees and the existence of free vegetarian dinners at my hostel deterred me from staying past about 6 on either day. As it was, I had a luxurious 16 or so hours there and would have gone past everything at least twice. I remember writing in this thread that I'd had a brief moment at Bronx where I wondered if my passion for zoos had suddenly dissipated. San Diego put that to bed; I loved the place. My first bonobos. My first okapi (the shadow at Bronx notwithstanding). My first hummingbirds. And... my first pangolin! I almost missed it. Even though it was clearly written on the map that they had a pangolin talk at 1:30 I didn't see it, and it was sheer luck that on my second day I was in the children's zoo area when a keeper pulled it out. I watched for about ten minutes as it moved about, looking like an animated pine cone. Maybe part of my satisfaction with my SDZ visit compared to Bronx was that I had much better luck with my target species. About the only one I missed out on was the aye-aye which, for some reason that escaped me, was in one of four identical wire cages that were by far the lowest standard in the entire zoo. They weren't obviously bad for the animals (various species of primates), although they were on the small side. But they were just plain ugly at a zoo that (mostly) doesn't do ugly. Weird. I read a comment here once that argued that the roughly half of the zoo that is made up of rainforest-themed enclosures would stand alone as the best zoo exhibit on the world. I haven't been to many of the contenders but for those that I have I would have to agree. The standard of primate exhibits in particular is very high, and I spent hours with all the aviaries. The three big walk-throughs equal those at Jurong (although I might have a different opinion if I didn't have chainsaws to contend with in the Waterfall Aviary last February). As has also been canvassed here some of the smaller aviaries, especially those in the Wallacea area, were too small. But whilst I hope that gets addressed over time I really hope it doesn't come at the extent of what must surely be North America's greatest bird collection and one of the top handful in the world. They're big on reptiles, too. The reptile house and outdoor areas could standalone as their own separate visitor attraction in many parts of the world. A particular pleasure for me here was watching a snake shed its skin - the first time I'd seen it despite previously having had a snake of my own for about 7 years. All in all, San Diego Zoo stands alone for me as the best zoo I have visited. Granted I have a great many of the world's big players still to get too but it clearly beat Bronx for me. Again, that's quite possibly down to intangibles such as the luck I had at the respective zoos. Certainly I have plans to return to both on my next US trip, for which plans are afoot but will now come to fruition for some years. c) Believe it or not, I managed to get out to the Safari Park via public transport. It required being up at about 5:30 or so in the morning (I'd say I felt bad for my hostel roommate, but he was a really rude guy so I happily set my alarm to go off), and getting three buses. The first took me across San Diego to an interchange on a freeway. The second took me along said freeway. The third was one of I think only two services that stopped at the zoo each morning, with another 2 heading back. It put me at the zoo about an hour before opening time, so I had to sit and read a book as staff arrived and went inside, no doubt a bit baffled to see me there. Nobody else arrived by bus that day, and I was the only passenger on the return bus too. My driver that time spent the trip quizzing me about the cost of various vices in Australia, including cigars, alcohol and marijuana, and how easy it was to obtain the latter. Somebody was clearly dreaming of a big trip. It was a relatively quiet, hot Monday morning there and as I had arrived at opening time I didn't have much in the way of crowds to contend with. This was of great benefit when visiting the aviaries. The Wings of the World aviary had 38 species listed, from memory, and I was able to find 30 of the 38. Partly a function of the time I spent there, and partly also that I had the thing to myself. I don't know whether this will be a disputed view or not, but I believe that the parts of the Safari Park that you walk through are even better than the Zoo. Tiger Trails, Condor Ridge and the gorilla enclosure are all well and truly world-standard. Walking the desert trails up towards Condor Ridge, with views stretching around you for kilometres, is surely one of the greatest zoo settings anywhere. I give the points to the zoo only because its collection is more comprehensive, and because I wasn't thrilled in the 'safari' section of the Safari Park. With the admission price already very steep I thought it was a bit much that an extra fee was charged to see the Asian Passage area, and I didn't pay it. So I missed that part of the zoo. I also hadn't realised that the buses don't drive through the paddocks, but only circumnavigate them from the outside. The inevitable result is seeing most of the hoof stock only from a long distance. I did see the Northern white rhinos and can report that they look... Just like Southern white rhinos. Again, I suspect this will be a controversial call, but it's time to accept the situation with the Northerns for what it is. Not that there's safe habitat for rhinos in East Africa anyway, but if there is an opportunity to restore rhinos to their old habitat there Southerns will fill exactly the same niche. And with that, I bring my US trip report to a limp and very belated end. * Stop it. Grow up.
I'm glad that the 1-2 punch of San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park countered your disappointing experience at the Bronx Zoo. You even enjoyed SeaWorld to make it three wonderful San Diego zoological destinations. Did you spend a couple of hours at the small but very enjoyable Birch Aquarium? I'm not sure that there is a city in the world that I'd rather live in other than San Diego. I can dream... San Diego Zoo is indeed splendid and especially on the left-hand side of the map. Enormous, world-class aviaries, along with amazing exhibits for gorillas, bonobos, okapis, Nile hippos, a bewildering number of primates and around every lush corner there is another delight. I feel as if the right-hand side of the zoo suffers in comparison. There is the underwhelming Elephant Odyssey, the huge slice of construction that will be Africa Rocks, and a lot of old grottoes in the canyon area that are a bit dated these days. It is difficult to be too critical as to have two of perhaps the 10 best zoos in the USA within 30 minutes of each other and under the same institutional umbrella is remarkable. A couple of zoo enthusiasts and I were just having a friendly, week-long email debate over which are the 5 best zoos in the USA and interestingly enough we all agreed on the same 5 zoos but just in a different order. San Diego, Omaha, Saint Louis, Columbus and Bronx would perhaps be my choice and now you've seen 2 of those and only have 3 more to go. Maybe if you save up to come back to America then I'll set aside my pennies (now discontinued in Canada) to take the plunge on a European jaunt.
You deserve an award for actually taking the bus to Safari Park. I am a huge fan of public transit and use it on my travels whenever I can, but I do not think I would attempt that one. Most of the people I know who have been to both zoo and safari park actually like the park better (myself included), so your opinion is not controversial at all. Too bad you did not get to see the field exhibits in the glory days of the monorail.
Cheers. You'll show me the secret handshake when you're back in Melbourne? You'll find out what the 'something better' is in my Japan thread.
Skipped the aquarium. I'm careful not to let zoos and aquaria overwhelm my other interests on my trips, which means being selective and not trying to pack them all in. Re: Europe - I'll race you.
Why thanks. Is there a Sheridan Award for going to extremes to see a zoo? I wasn't going to travel 15,000km only to be defeated by the final 70 or so.
