I lived in Colorado for a brief bit when I was a kid, and have a lot of relatives there, so I've been to a few AZA facilities in that state. I've been to the Denver Zoo, the Butterfly Pavilion, and the Downtown Aquarium, and enjoyed all three of them. But I'll let you decide which AZA accredited facility in Colorado is the best.
I've been to Denver Zoo twice, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo twice, Downtown Aquarium once and Pueblo Zoo once. As much as there is to commend at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, I still think that Denver is leagues ahead and of the hundreds of American zoos that I've visited I wouldn't hesitate to place Denver in the Top 10 in the USA.
This is a really tough choice. I’ve lived in Arvada, Colorado for my whole life, and I’ve been to Denver Zoo about 50 times (camps included), Cheyenne Mountain about 6, The Aquarium probably about 20, The Butterfly Pavilion about 15 times, and the Wolf Sanctuary Twice, I’ve never been to Pueblo. For me the vote is between Denver and Cheyenne Mountain. The one issue I see in the vote is that Cheyenne Mountain is finishing their master plan while Denver is just beginning theirs. However, I think because of things such as Tropical Discovery, Toyota Elephant Passage, and Primate Panorama, I’ll have to go with Denver, just barely though. (Perhaps there is a bit of a personal bias here though lol).
The Aquarium has lots of pretty basic Aquarium species, with additions of Zebra Shark, and Sumatran Tigers being notable. The Butterfly Pavilion is most well known for its large butterfly aviary as well as the Colorado Famous Rosy the Tarantula. It also has giant isopods and a Peacock Mantis Shrimp which were very neat to see. The Wolf Sanctuary has many, and I mean MANY, rescue wolves, with a few coyotes, and foxes, that if I remember correctly we’re Arctic, Red, and Swift.
I have been to Cheyenne Mountain and Denver and did not truly love either one. That was ten years ago so I am sure I would think more highly of Denver with the new Asia addition. I am not going to vote (since I have no true favorite) but I am going to interject an interesting comment. I have just read the biography of the (now deceased) founder of Bear Country USA, two of whose sons founded Bearizona in my state of Arizona. In the introduction to the book it says that when one of the sons was leaving Bear Country and thinking about starting his own park, his two location choices were Colorado and Arizona. However when he looked into Colorado he says the legislation there essentially prohibits the building of any new zoos in the state.
