Binghamton, NY is a small sized city that serves as the main hub in New York's Southern Tier region. Home to about 67K people in the city it is home to America's 5th oldest zoo. The Ross Park Zoo now simply the Binghamton Zoo is a small but fascinating zoo. Established in 1875 the zoo is fairly simple to traverse with its main path loop that goes from one end of the zoo to the other and is fairly easy to walk thru. The main entrance consists of a small ticket booth and a Gift shop at the exit gate, as well as one of Broome Counties six antique Carousels. If guests take the main route the first area they reach is the Barnyard with your typical farm critters and petting area. The next area is what was once known as the Lower Zoo and is home to Red Pandas, ring Tailed and Black and White Ruffed Lemurs in small natural enclosures in what is possibly the weakest section of the zoo but is nice nonetheless. One nice feature of the zoo is it's simple layout; one large loop and it also is surrounded by trees and native plants making it a great zoo to visit in the summer with plenty of shade. Further down the trail is the more recent addition of the Wonders of Nature building. It is somewhat unique featuring two large exhibits on each side of an indoor viewing building. Upon my most recent visit Pumas and bobcats were in the large outdoor enclosures which were well designed with a budget in mind. In between is the building but it is only indoors for the animals as for guests it only serves as a covered viewing location of several terrariums and smaller enclosures including the zoos Meerkats and several reptile species. Each exhibit is well done and represents each species nicely. One thing about Binghamton Zoo is the fact that it is a seasonal zoo, it is only in operation from April to September which is somewhat unique to the NYS area. After walking a ways with no exhibits visitors come up to several enclosures, primarily housing the zoos Birds of Preys such as Barred Owls, Black Vultures, Cinerous Vultures and a Raven Exhibit. Each one is fairly natural looking in the wooded setting. Across from the birds is one of the zoos best exhibits; Wolf Woods home to Gray Wolves and once again Red Wolves. What makes this exhibit so unique and special is the one way mirror glass that allows the visitors an up close view of these massive predators. The viewing cabin is somewhat lower in the ground so the wolves are higher up and with the mirror glass the wolves only seem themselves so they will come right up to the glass giving a close encounter, I have even heard them breathing thru the small gaps. It is a beautiful and spacious exhibit for these majestic creatures. The Zoo offices and snack bar are located in the middle of the zoo along with a small playground nearby. One of the zoos classic exhibits is it's Andean Bear habitat which features a covered viewing area to watch this interesting climbing species, however the exhibit is on the small side and features only a small hammock made from old fire hoses to climb on. It is still fairly nice and beats a rocky grotto any day. Continuing further on is the Great Cats of Asia, two wire framed exhibits for Amur Tigers and Leopards. The Exhibit has a viewing building with facts and signs and glass viewing windows into the exhibits that have climbing logs and pools for the cats. The Leopard has adequate room in this exhibit, however the Tigers are much too large for this habitat but much like the Andean Bear it beats a rocky grotto any day. The final area is the primary indoor building and is home to a hodgepodge of small animals along with larger species outside. The Woodland Waters area is a three level building with reptiles, fish, and small mammals. Outside you can view wallabies and from inside you can view the River otters and African Penguins from above them, at level with them and from underwater. These are somewhat spacious but not the most natural exhibits for these species, but most of the smaller indoor exhibits are well done and sized. The newest addition is actual a renovation of the aviary, now known as the New World tropics and utilizes the same building but now features several smaller exhibits in the building instead of an open aviary. Animals include Caimans, Sloths, Prehensile Porcupines as well as birds and other reptiles. Each exhibit is well done and is a better use of this space than the old Aviary. The rest of the loop is simply a stroll thru the woods to the exit. While this is one of the smaller zoos in the country it is AZA accredited and is also one of the oldest. Considering the size of Binghamton it is a very nice zoo that does well considering they only operate 6 months a year and have a smaller budget than most. If you plan on taking a trip to Southern NY make a day of it and visit the Small Science Discovery Museum next door or a little further out at the Corning Museum of Glass.
Thanks for the review! Unfortunately Binghamton Zoo lost its AZA accreditation late in 2014: Binghamton Zoo losing accreditation
