America's Top 100 Zoos & Aquariums

I can assure you that the Bronx Zoo most definitely made the final cut and not only that but the essay on the zoo is 6 pages in length and one of the longest in the book. There is some pertinent information about the Bronx Zoo (date of foundation, number of species, acreage, annual attendance, ownership, accreditation, estimated visitor time) and many of the zoos in the book supplied us with accurate information. Then in the Bronx Zoo essay there are 4 paragraphs in the 'History' section, 5 paragraphs in the 'Overview' and at the end a listing of Best Exhibits, Enthusiasts' Choice (rarities) and Conservation Projects. There are also 8 full-colour photos of the Bronx Zoo and all of that is just a single example of one of the zoos profiled in the book.

 

This was a very pleasant surprise as one of my two "home" zoos.

 

An honor to be part of the book! By my count I've been to 59 out of the 100!

 

I'm very happy to see that the Living Desert Zoo has made the top 100, it's a terrific zoo that doesn't get talked about enough imo.

I visited this zoo recently, and it's interesting that this zoo made the list. It's certainly nice, but it's small and not particularly interesting. I assume it would be on the lower end of the 80 zoos.

On a side note, I've been to 27 of the 100 on the list.

 

Mine arrived today! I live in Delaware, USA and ordered it the first or second day the link was posted.
My mom is definitely bringing home another copy or two when she goes to England next month.

 

Hopefully this means mine isn't far behind. It has to go a bit farther to get to MN.

 

Wildlife World Zoo has NOT always snubbed AZA accreditation; they used to be AZA accredited. They are no longer and almost certainly never will be (so maybe they snub them now).

I imagine it was a difficult list to compile and considering the experience of the two authors, I think it's as best a list as we can get (especially since both of the zoos in my city are included ). I am sure everyone has an opinion of one or a few they would change and I hope the authors do not consider it an insult if we discuss this.

My only quibble is that they (intentionally I think) exclude wildlife parks and yet they include theme parks. In my opinion (emphasis on opinion) theme parks should be excluded as well (or relegated to the 20 specialist places in the back). If outstanding parks like Northwest Trek (one of my top five US zoos) are not included due to not being a general zoo, then how in the world does Busch Gardens make the cut? If Alaska Sea Life Center (perhaps my favorite aquarium) is excluded, how does Sea World make the cut? (I am happy to see that at least the two I mentioned are on the 20 specialist list).

 

I'd probably classify DAK and Busch Gardens as general zoos as well, simply because they both have general collections that include pretty much all of the most popular zoo animals except bears. Similarly, the Sea World parks all exhibit more or less full ranges of aquatic animals, so I can see calling them general aquariums. All these parks are definitely way overpriced and with far too much fluff for someone looking to have a zoo-only experience though!

I'd like to reiterate the point by @Arizona Docent that the list of facilities included in the book is as good as anyone could be expected to come up with, and I'm certainly looking forward to my copy arriving in the mail. For now I'll have to settle for the lists that @snowleopard graciously provided. Just like with sports all-star teams, award nominees, etc., part of the fun is identifying some of the more well-known facilities that didn't make the list. I'll note a few of the places I had guessed might have appeared but didn't.

Among the general zoos, I'm trying to think of the best-known zoo to miss the cut. Perhaps Franklin Park, which is pretty (in)famous for its tropical hall? Other possibilities might be smaller zoos that are the only or best zoos in their states, such as Blank Park or Little Rock.

For general aquariums, the one that popped into my head is Aquarium of the Americas. It's also interesting to see that (quite rightly in my opinion) none of the chains (Ripley, SeaLife, SeaQuest, Landry) made the list.

Among the specialist collections, one wildlife park that popped into my head was Fossil Rim, and among specialist aquariums the two that I thought of were Waikiki and the Aquarium of the Bay.

 

I was a little surprised Franklin Park didn't make the cut as well. Never been, but was probably the biggest name that didn't make list. I'll point out that Little Rock did in fact make the list though. If I remember correctly from Snowleopard's previous review they have an excellent reptile collection that probably warranted them a lot of consideration. As for Blank Park I just don't think there is enough there to warrant a top spot. What they have is overall good, just not enough in terms of quantity.

 

A few comments are in order:

First of all, @TZDugong has been to 27 of the zoos in the book, with @Giant Eland at 59 zoos...time for an epic road trip guys in order to visit the rest! Who has been to more than 75 of the zoos?

As @Arizona Docent and @Gondwana graciously pointed out, the Top 100 list that Tim and I came up with is probably "as good as anyone expected to come up with" and "it's as best a list as we can get"...to quote the two fellow ZooChatters. I can vividly recall sitting down and very rapidly coming up with approximately 95 zoos and aquariums for the book; it was honestly only the last 5 slots that were up for debate. The SeaWorld parks were locks to get into the book, as they are multi-day visits for families going on rides, and the San Diego location is a full-day visit even for someone like me who dislikes rides. The number of species is astonishing, the annual attendance numbers are outrageous, the 33,000 marine animals that have been rescued and rehabilitated is admirable and far ahead of other facilities in the book...and the millions of dollars put forth towards conservation projects dwarfs almost anyone else not called the Bronx. Whatever one thinks of Orcas in captivity, or the insane admission prices, there is no denying the amazing conservation success stories that have emerged from SeaWorld over the years.

There are loads of obvious zoos that were guarantees for the book, and as I mentioned before I think that most individuals who have already purchased a copy would likely have a very similar selection process. It wouldn't be fair to single out the facilities that barely crept into the book, but of course the USA is filled with hundreds of zoos and thus some notable establishments missed the cut. Zoo-wise I feel great about our selections, and @Gondwana mentioned Little Rock (it's already in the book) and while Franklin Park and Blank Park are decent they are not worthy enough to bump any of the 80 zoos selected. I think that the final 80 is a perfect set.

In terms of aquariums, that was much more difficult as there are 170 public aquariums in the USA and we chose 20 to make the cut. Newport Aquarium in Kentucky, Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Utah and Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans are all very good but just missed out. C'est la vie!

I know that @Arizona Docent detests theme parks and so he would rather that Tim and I had booted out Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and added in Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. Then we could have booted out Disney's Animal Kingdom and added in an obscure place in the middle of nowhere called Project Survival's Cat Haven that 99% of zoo nerds will never visit. Ha! Felines in cages along dirt pathways in the blazing California heat...add that zoo to the book!

I don't mind a little debate and I'll address my friend @Arizona Docent in terms of a comparison between Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. I'm the first to admit that I'm not a major fan of rollercoasters (written as one word in Canada) but when analyzing zoos one needs to look at the whole picture and not simply focus on theme park elements.

Annual attendance: Busch Gardens is at 4.4 million while Northwest Trek is at around 220,000 and that number was even lower before they added in a $2 million playground.

Estimated visitor time: Busch Gardens is a full-day (6-7 hours) even for someone who doesn't go on rides, or a multiple-day zoo for a ride-loving family, while Northwest Trek is a 40-minute tram tour and then before the playground opened the average family spent only 2 hours at the park. I know for a fact that the playground was built specifically to get more people through the entrance and keep them for longer than the 2 hour average and it has been a rousing success.

Number of species: I'm guessing that Northwest Trek has around 30 species and it's puny in terms of the species count. There's just not a lot there, with Busch Gardens having 300 species. @Arizona Docent have you been to Busch Gardens? The bird collection alone is at least 120 species.

Exhibits: Northwest Trek has a tram ride through a 435-acre area, plus many fenced-in slices of forest that make for excellent animal exhibits, but Busch Gardens isn't a slouch here either. The Cheetah, Tiger, African Lion, Spotted Hyena and orangutan exhibits are all pretty good, there is a 65-acre African Savanna with herds of ungulates, and the Common Hippo, Chimpanzee and Lowland Gorilla habitats are all fantastic. There are some truly superb animal habitats amidst the ice cream stands and shows.

Conservation Projects: Busch Gardens has a hefty budget in this category and easily surpasses a million dollars annually towards conservation projects.

All in all, rollercoasters aside, Busch Gardens qualified for the book without a shadow of a doubt while Northwest Trek made the 'specialist zoo' section at the back of the book. I've visited several times and it is a great wildlife park, but it wasn't even close to qualifying for a full essay.

 

My one wish is for Busch Gardens (and Sea World, etc) to start doing a "no rides" ticket for those of us that just want to see the animals and not spend $85+ on a ticket.

 

There will always be some disagreement over a list such as this. Simply put everyone has different preferences. But that's also what is great about a book like this as it can open up discussion. There were definitely some surprises to me, but without having been to most the zoos, I can't really say much. In general, I think if we all sat down and created such a list and were as extensively travelled we would have remarkably similar lists.

Since people are posting, I have been to 29 of the facilities on the list. However, I tentatively have 2 trips planned for this summer currently that will add a good number of places to my number. One will be to Texas, and since I will likely be driving I will hit some places I haven't been to yet on the way down from MN. That one will likely be in May after my school year is over and I'm done teaching for the summer. The other one I will likely be going down and hitting the rest of Ohio (and maybe a bit of Western Pennsylvania), as I only hit 2 places there this summer.

 

Amazingly I have been to 15 of the zoos and aquariums. Only beef I have is that in my opinion neither California Academy of Science or Dallas Aquarium are primarily aquariums.

I have not yet ordered a copy but look forward to doing so in the near future. Fantastic work, guys.

 

Out of the 100 institutions listed, I've visited 31 of them.

Zoos (25): Binder Park Zoo, Bronx Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, Buffalo Zoo (the American zoo I visit most often), Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Central Park Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Detroit Zoo, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, Honolulu Zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo, Maryland Zoo, North Carolina Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Smithsonian's National Zoo, Toledo Zoo & Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta, ZooTampa at Lowry Park

Aquariums (6): Florida Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium, National Aquarium, SeaWorld Orlando, SeaWorld San Diego, Shedd Aquarium

 

I have been to 49 of the main 100 (and yes this includes Busch Gardens on at least two different trips). Coming up with any list like this I think would be difficult though @snowleopard says it was easy. One of the difficulties is what criteria to use. The list of criteria will obviously sway the results and create a bias. For example, one of the criteria these two authors use is annual attendance. That is certainly a valid criteria and probably even an important one, but it is not something that I personally find important. Conservation efforts would be my number one criteria (or tied for number one with animal care). I am glad to see the authors place importance on this and Snowleopard's discussion above of the conservation and rescue efforts of Sea World does sway me a bit. In another (very contentious) thread, another zoo book author joined with a few other experienced travelers to come up with a top five list that he claims is objective because the votes were based on a fixed set of criteria. However he readily admits that conservation is of low importance to his ranking of zoos, which to me makes his entire study invalid for my uses because it should be the most heavily weighted in my opinion.

 

Which thread is this? You have raised my curiosity and I would like to give it a read.

 

I will see if I can find it and notify you via private message (so as not to derail this excellent thread).
@NSU42 EDIT - Never mind. I did a search and could not find the thread. I have a feeling the moderators have deleted it.

 

Excellent book, mine came exactly in a week. Quickest I can recall anything coming from overseas.
I already learned things that I didn't know. One my home zoo Roger Williams has a turtle species I wasn't familiar with (due to a split that I wasn't aware of and they still call it by the old species) and that the New England Aquarium has both Rockhopper Penguin species.

 

I've visited twenty-two of the main collections listed in this book (some of them e.g. Bronx several times).

Although I've been to America six times, sadly, it is many years since I last crossed the Atlantic.

This book has reminded me that I must return to America for more zoo visiting; hopefully next year.