America's Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums

The answers are further up on this page

 

OK noted. Doesn't change my sole experience which left me $500 out of pocket, and I wont be repeating the experience - once bitten.. Theft of packages en-route is down to the courier and nothing directly to do with the shipper, although how such is dealt with IS down to them, as the courier is effectively the shippers choice. Theft by courier is common in the UK and a bigger problem in the run-up top Christmas, when the volume increases. All the last driver in the chain has to do is to forge the recipients signature on his electronic machine and keep the parcel for himself. It then shows as delivered, and the recipient has no receipt or proof. Simples...

 

Well the problem for me is that's it's far too expensive. The problem can be alleviated for asking for it for Christmas.

 

My copy of "America's Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums" was delivered earlier today.

I've not yet had the opportunity to study the book thoroughly but, after cursory glance, I am delighted with it. It is a very attractive, well-illustrated and informative publication.

Thoroughly recommended.

 

I ordered the book last week and I'm eager to start reading it! Is there any idea how long it should take to arrive in Belgium?

 

@snowleopard mentions the lack of interest from USA zoo gift shops which I know firsthand from my self-published book Zoos of the Southwest. The problem is most major zoos no longer run their own gifts shops. They use national companies that have largely generic merchandise and have a formula for what sells, which is basically plush animals and t-shirts. They also want the listed retail price to give them a minimum 100% profit margin (which I was unable to do with my book). The zoos and aquariums that have nice selections and good book options are the ones that are still self-run, with some notable examples that I have personally seen being Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Bearizona, Monterey Bay Aquarium.

As for Amazon, I am going to try my best to not order anything from them anymore after reading two recent articles about how awful they treat their employees and how dangerous the warehouse conditions are (with at least two people dying and their bodies not discovered for up to two hours). Read the recent article from The Atlantic and see if this is a company you want to support.

 

I was about to post pretty much exactly this, so thought I'd just piggyback on Tim's post instead! Looks great so far.

 

This is a good point on margins, by AD. Pretty much every item in our small, privately run gift-shop has 100% mark-up, out of which we have to pay sales taxes, heating and other running costs, staffing and cover theft and damage. Any new lines have to earn their place on the shelves as they will be displacing something else, and books have a much lower margin and sell poorly (very poorly if they are sealed and cant be browsed) and are prone to damage.

 

I now have half-a-dozen copies of the book sitting in front of me and my first impression is of sheer delight. I've read and edited the text on countless occasions over the past few years, but to see the high-quality final production is a magnificent feeling. The book is packed with exactly 704 photos, including the cover shot and the author photos. The images were obtained from a wide variety of sites, ranging from 'Wikimedia' to 'WordPress.com' to 'Blogspot.com' to many others. However, @Tim Brown and I are indebted to the generosity of a lot of ZooChatters who graciously gave us written approval to go ahead and use their photos. Thank you one and all!

We contacted a LOT of ZooChatters and at the end of the design process there were some photos that never made the cut, while others were added in at the last minute. There were a number of people that gave us permission to use their photos, but they either work in the zoo industry or simply wish to remain anonymous and so we've gone with 'ZooChat' as the photo credit in a select few cases.

Hopefully everyone who has at least one photo in the book will purchase a copy (or two!) and any profit will be given to the Amphibian Ark and the Saola Working Group conservation projects.

Below is a list of ZooChatters who supplied some of the 704 images that are in the book.

The 4 individuals with the most photos:

@snowleopard (Scott Richardson) = 153 photos were taken by me
@geomorph = 37 photos
John Roth = 32 photos (John is best known for being the former director of Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico - now known as ABQ BioPark Zoo - for approximately 25 years)
@Moebelle = 24 photos

However, many other kind-hearted zoo enthusiasts offered up a lot of images for the book:

@ThylacineAlive = 11 photos
@jayjds2 = 9 photos
@Arizona Docent = 8 photos (including the fantastic Bateleur Eagle cover shot)
@Milwaukee Man = 8 photos
@Ituri = 8 photos
@Giant Eland = 7 photos
@TinoPup = 6 photos
@blospz = 6 photos
@Coelacanth18 = 5 photos
Baldur Thorvaldsson = 3 photos (ex-ZooChatter)
@Ding Lingwei = 3 photos
@birdsandbats = 3 photos
@Anteaterman = 3 photos
@Newzooboy = 2 photos
@jusko88 = 2 photos
@Blackduiker = 1 photo
@carlos55 = 1 photo
@DelacoursLangur = 1 photo
@d1am0ndback = 1 photo
@pachyderm pro = 1 photo
@sooty mangabey = 1 photo
@TheGerenuk = 1 photo
@NAIB Volunteer = 1 photo

 

Now what about posting a list of the zoos & aquariums in the book?

 

Thank you for taking the time to let us know who has photos in the book, and for using them in the first place! I'll be keeping an eye on my mail box.

 

I can only echo Snow Leopard`s sentiments,the book is really something to be proud of and,if we had had to pay for imagery would have been VERY different indeed. Of course we can never compete with the internet in terms of up-to-date-ness but as a snapshot of American zoos(many of which are slowly buying it) in 2019 it ,literally,stands as a historical document. Just a word on on delivery. We have had little option other than to use the regular post,the UK to America can be slow at the best of times(I own a mail order record business-"vinyls" to the younger ones among you) and delivery to the states isnt speedy anyway and now we are into Christmas post. BUT,we have very few go missing entirely. i have to ask you to be patient, with a bit of luck all orders thus far to North America should make it to go under the Christmas tree,but it isnt as if they are tracked..that would have been more per book than the book itself!

 

Since we've already sold more than 100 books, it seems logical to release the full list of 100 zoos that made the cut before someone else beats us to the punch! It was not a difficult decision to come up with the final grouping of zoos, as I'm sure that many zoo nerds reading this would agree on at least 90 or more of the selections. However, as with any list, there could be debate over the handful of choices that weren't automatic 'shoe-ins'. We took into account absolutely everything when narrowing down our list to the final 100, including quality of exhibits, the number of species at each facility and a variety of other factors. For example, there are more than 50 zoos in the USA that have a minimum of 1 million annual visitors and obviously all of those establishments made the book.

Here are the 80 zoos and 20 aquariums (in bold):

ABQ BioPark Zoo
Adventure Aquarium
Akron Zoo
Aquarium of the Pacific
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Audubon Zoo
Binder Park Zoo
Birmingham Zoo
Bronx Zoo
Brookfield Zoo
Buffalo Zoo
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Caldwell Zoo
California Academy of Sciences
Cameron Park Zoo
Central Park Zoo
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Columbus Zoo & Aquarium
Como Park Zoo & Conservatory
Dallas World Aquarium
Dallas Zoo
Denver Zoo
Detroit Zoo
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
El Paso Zoo
Florida Aquarium
Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo
Fort Worth Zoo
Fresno Chaffee Zoo
Georgia Aquarium
Gladys Porter Zoo
Great Plains Zoo & Delbridge Museum of Natural History
Henry Vilas Zoo
Honolulu Zoo
Houston Zoo
Indianapolis Zoo
Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens
John Ball Zoo
Kansas City Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo
Little Rock Zoo
The Living Desert Zoo/Gardens
Los Angeles Zoo & Botanical Gardens
Louisville Zoo
Maryland Zoo
Memphis Zoo
Milwaukee County Zoo
Minnesota Zoo
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Montgomery Zoo
Moody Gardens
Mystic Aquarium
Nashville Zoo at Grassmere
National Aquarium
New England Aquarium
New York Aquarium
North Carolina Zoo
Oakland Zoo
Oklahoma City Zoo & Botanical Garden
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium
Oregon Coast Aquarium
Oregon Zoo
Philadelphia Zoo
Phoenix Zoo/Arizona Center for Nature Conservation
Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Reid Park Zoo
Riverbanks Zoo & Garden
Roger Williams Park Zoo
Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park
Sacramento Zoo
Saint Louis Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
San Francisco Zoo
Santa Barbara Zoo
Seattle Aquarium
SeaWorld Orlando
SeaWorld San Antonio
SeaWorld San Diego
Sedgwick County Zoo
Shedd Aquarium
Smithsonian’s National Zoo
Tanganyika Wildlife Park
Tennessee Aquarium
Texas State Aquarium
Toledo Zoo & Aquarium
Topeka Zoo & Conservation Center
Tulsa Zoo
Utah’s Hogle Zoo
Virginia Zoo
Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park
Woodland Park Zoo
Zoo Atlanta
Zoo Knoxville
Zoo Miami
ZooTampa at Lowry Park


Here are some intriguing facts:

There are 3 zoos that are privately-owned that made the book:

Dallas World Aquarium
Tanganyika Wildlife Park
Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park


There are 95 zoos that are AZA-accredited and 5 that are not:

Honolulu Zoo (applied for AZA-accreditation in September 2019 and waiting for a decision and will surely be AZA-accredited once again by April 2020)

Montgomery Zoo (ZAA-accredited and deliberately revoked its AZA-accreditation a few years ago)

Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium (ZAA-accredited and deliberately revoked its AZA-accreditation a few years ago)

Tanganyika Wildlife Park (ZAA-accredited and has always snubbed AZA-accreditation due to the annual cost and specific limitations imposed on zoos by the AZA)

Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (ZAA-accredited and has always snubbed AZA-accreditation due to the annual cost and specific limitations imposed on zoos by the AZA)

 

Would these imposed limitations include not having rollercoasters that pass through animal exhibits?

(sorry, could resist!)

~Thylo

 

Since you have 11 photos in the book, and I know that you'll purchase a copy, then you can say whatever you like. The privilege of a zoo nerd...haha.

In all seriousness, Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park was a facility that not everyone would have in such a book. However, Tim and I gave it a lot of thought and it's remarkable that such an establishment even exists because the zoo receives zero tax benefits or public subsidies whatsoever and is 100% privately-owned. Owner Mickey Ollson has admitted that he only has the fairground attractions to entice families to visit and help boost the zoo financially. The annual attendance is a robust 500,000, there are 100 acres, and most importantly the zoo has 600 species in its collection. Of all the almost 800 'zoos' in the USA, there are only 23 facilities in the country with that many species and Wildlife World is one of them. How could we possibly leave it out of the book?

I had someone else inquire whether Oregon Coast Aquarium made the cut and I gave a firm YES response. It may not be as well-known as several larger aquariums in the USA, but Oregon Coast Aquarium is superb and was a slam-dunk to be included in our book. The Passages of the Deep area is excellent with its trio of underwater tunnels, the approximately 40 indoor tanks are all very nicely done, and the outdoor zone is world-class. The walk-through Seabird Aviary, the enormous Sea Otter pool (with two subspecies), the pinniped habitat and even the Giant Pacific Octopus tank are all exceptional. The town of Newport has a population of 10,000 people and yet the terrific local aquarium has an annual attendance of 450,000!

 

Me when the Adventure Aquarium and Bronx Zoo made it onto the list:

happiness noise

 

Was there really any doubt about the Bronx's inclusion? Yeah it appears to have fallen down a lot of peoples personal rankings, but surely, even then, it's still one of the World's great zoos?

 

I suppose it'd be more of a quality over quantity argument for me here, but I can understand the rationale. I'm interested to see what you actually wrote about the zoo

~Thylo

 

Good point. It's just that the Bronx Zoo is near and dear to my heart and seeing it as one of the greatest zoos on the continent warms my heart.