Then at some point in your epic journey you will end up stuck in traffic. Keep your plans flexible and don't depend on doing it all in one day. Prospect Park and the NY Aquarium are an easy pair. Adding Queens to the day is a maybe. Especially if you get stuck in the morning coming from wherever you are staying. Avoid rush hour(s) and weekend Summer traffic.
I figured as much, thanks. I'm mostly familiar with driving to manhattan, I've gone to the dumbo area of brooklyn a dozen or so times (a friend lives there) but I've never been to Queens or the coney island side of brooklyn.
Hello fellow ZooChatters, I have an opinion that I don’t know if many of you would agree with. Many people consider the Bronx Zoo a world class Zoo. I love this place as I am a pass member and it is my closest zoo. Many exhibits are fantastic like the Children’s zoo, JungleWorld, Congo and Madagascar. Those are just a few. I believe that two major exhibits should be updated. Many zoos African exhibits are new and in a savannah setting. I feel that our exhibit is stuck in the past. It is disappointing walking out of a world class exhibit like Congo and looking at broken fences and looking at relatively bare exhibits. I understand that the exhibits featured in the African plains meet AZA standards but I don’t feel like for a zoo that is praised for quality exhibits that it meets those standards. The exhibit was revolutionary in the 1940’s when it opened but since then it has practically remained unchanged. If the exhibit was remodeled to be like.the Columbus, Cincinnati, or Fresno Chaffee Savanah exhibits it would be a major improvement. Those exhibits in this area I find less than immersive that even the tiny Turtle Back Zoo has a beautiful Lion and Hyena exhibit. I also believe the Aquatic Bird house is in need of a a facelift. Every time I walk in their I feel like I am in the 60’s with the ugly tiles. I do believe that some of the exhibits can be made a little bigger too. Those are my opinions I don’t know if anyone is agreeing to my opinions but I am interested to hear any responses.
Interesting points - although I actually prefer Bronx’s African exhibits to Cincy’s, I agree that Columbus has the far superior exhibit (and I haven’t seen Fresno’s so I can’t comment on it). I really am not a fan of the African exhibits at Turtle Back, while not inherently bad they feel awkward and disjointed (and this continues to be an issue with the new penguin exhibit, which I would argue isn’t as good for its inhabitants). Bronx’s exhibits are old, yes, but suitable. I don’t think they’d be a priority for renovation. Instead, I think the zoo should look at either building new exhibits, or as you say, renovating the aquatic bird house. I am glad they chose to renovate Tundra’s old exhibit soon as opposed to letting it sit empty.
I agree with what you said about Turtle Back Zoo. I believe the exhibits are pretty but feel disconnected. I think we have better animals in our African section compared to Cincinnati. I think that with what you said with new exhibits, how about a new cheetah exhibit because the AZA is trying to get as many cheetah cubs born as possible. Knowing how the WCS loves conservation work they can tie the exhibit on with how the WCS is trying to save Cheetahs in the wild. If we had a hippo exhibit that would be good too. I think if they didn’t renovate in stages like the Turtle Back Zoo the exhibits can be cohesive. When the African plains exhibit first opened it was beautiful it would be great to see something like that come back to the Bronx. The Fresno Chaffee African Adventure exhibit I believe is better than the Columbus Zoo. The Bronx Zoo could advertise the new African Plains with a new name and say that it is a brand new exhibit if it has new animals. I think the Aquatic Bird house needs a renovation soon but it never seems crowded and not a staple exhibit like the African Plains.
I would never want Bronx to model a new exhibit after Cincinnati's African exhibit... Cincinnati has been plagued with issues since before the exhibit opened, especially behind the scenes. There's a reason the male hippo had to be shipped out once the calf was born. I will agree with you, though, that African Plains and the ABH are in need of a facelift. I don't, however, know what you mean by barren exhibits, especially in CGF. I think a giraffe house is what's needed most for African Plains. Enclosure-wise the exhibits are far larger than what Cincinnati and most other zoos have to offer, giving the hoofstock actual room to roam and graze. The reason these enclosures haven't been altered much since the '40s is because they're still better than what most zoos provide today. The issue is the visitor side of things, as you say. From past announcements, though, the zoo is aware of this and has plans. ~Thylo
I said Cincinnati aesthetics wise. The savannah exhibits are spacious but when you look at the Hyena, Wild Dog and Zebra exhibits just to name a few are they comparable to any exhibit in Congo? No. Congo is beautifully done. All the exhibit needs is a facelift. The zoo guests every time I go say it isn’t pretty. A comment I heard was “This is crappy compared to animal kingdom because it doesn’t look like Africa”. I understand the zoo isn’t in Florida or have the same budget as Disney, but they can at least make the exhibit modernized for the general public. Their is easily enough space to have the carnivores in large exhibits and the hoof stock with even more space. A lot of the animals separated right now naturally share the same space in the savannah. Their is room by the Former World of Darkness to expand this section of the zoo.
Interesting comment, although I disagree with you pretty heavily. I really enjoyed Bronx’s African area, yes the exhibits are simple and it’s not as immersive as other areas of the zoo but the collection is quite nice, and the exhibits are all spacious for the animals. It’s certainly better than most African areas I’ve seen and seeing as it was made in the 1940’s this is pretty shocking! I also enjoyed the Aquatic Bird House, yes it’s ugly and the exhibits aren’t amazing but it’s a unique building with a tremendous collection and adequate exhibits. Add in the excellent Penguin/Tern aviary next door and this is a thoroughly enjoyable section of the zoo.
Having received my fourth Liz Bennett urgent email requesting donations for the week, I can't help thinking how short-sighted WCS is to make every single communication it sends out a demand for money. The Zoo episodes show clearly how people respond when given the chance to get to know the animals/species personally. NZP has a weekly newsletter and monthly magazine that highlight what's happening with animals throught the zoo. While there is the occasional ad for Brew at the Zoo or the Dino's, they're giving us big doses of animals that compel people to become attached and WANT to contribute. I may be a member, but that should hardly mean all I care about is money. i'd be willing to do more if they made some effort to bring the zoo to us, with updates, etc. For an organization of this size, they've let the fundraising team go berzerk--at real danger of turning people off--and have forgotten that people want to know about the animals.
Went today. Possible bee-eater hatching. Saw unsigned green honeycreeper and owl finch. Since when did they put quetzal back on show? No Geladas seen. Lots of babies. Youngest was a 5 day old brown eared pheasant.
I get e-mails from most zoos in my area, but unsubscribed from theirs after just a few weeks because of that. My dad still gets them from when he purchased tickets and it's put him off the zoo a lot, especially when the behind the scenes people kept mentioning how much money they raise and that it's more than any other zoo. Regarding Africa, I'm not a fan of it. The village looks old and worn and is a little confusing, the giraffe yard looks like someone's backyard vs a world class exhibit, many of the sight lines can be awful. The spotted hyenas have been in the same exact spot on every visit. I kind of love the aquatic birds building, though. It's a bit dated but in a nice way, if that makes sense?
It's unfair of me to comment when I haven't visited, but as someone pointed out to me recently this kind of remark is basically forumspeak for poor exhibits
Are you talking about the Cincinnati zoo? Henry the male hippo was not shipped out before Fiona was born. He was there before and after her birth, even on exhibit with both females, before he passed away that year.
What's wrong with any of these enclosures? They are very large, and naturally vegetated. The hyena, wild dog, and zebra enclosures all have a lot of non-grass vegetation growing within them. On the visitor side they even have glass viewing. The enclosures are simply, yes, but what's wrong with them? I've also never once heard a visitor complain about Congo not being pretty, at least not during the warmer months. Of course it doesn't look like Africa (not that I expect people making these comments to know what an African rainforest actually looks like), tropical plants wouldn't survive outdoors year-round. I think it's fantastic that the exhibit is located within an actual forest, even if it's a temperate one. I really don't understand what you mean by modernized... all of the enclosures are large and very naturalistic. The Lion enclosure is probably the worst in the entire Africa complex, and even then it's not too shabby and they currently only keep a couple bachelor males. As for World of Darkness, the massive building is still there. I highly doubt they would would want to do through all the trouble and expense to demolish the structure when they could save it for future use down the line. Also the exhibit is built on a very steep hill, which makes exhibiting anything there both difficult and rather impractical. Finally, there is also that weird balancing rock formation thing near the entrance to the building that the zoo is not going to want to demolish either. I wouldn't even agree with that... Some of them are on the smaller side but they hold smaller species like crakes, passerines, and kingfishers. Even then those smaller ones look something like either this or this (the kingfishers moved from the latter to the former, but these show the two main styles of the smaller habitats well. And then you have the main larger mixed aviaries like those for ibis, puffin, spoonbill, and penguin among others. Older? Yes. But what's wrong with them exactly? Also remember most of the indoor bird enclosures at Bronx either extend above or below the line of sight the viewing windows give visitors. Sorry, wires crossed. Iirc he was to be shipped out before Fiona was born, but wasn't she born prematurely? And then he died, that's right (sorry, I don't follow the zoo all too closely anymore). My point is I do know that the zoo was going to have to move him on before Fiona began to grow due to spatial restrictions within the exhibit. My point is a brand new hippo exhibit should not have a spatial limit of two adults, and this is not the kind of exhibit design I'd ever want to see brought to the Bronx. ~Thylo
Just noticed this. What exactly is "the DUMBO area of Brooklyn"? Although I lived there for 10 years and have taught there for nearly 30 years, I'm not aware of anything that is--or should be--described with this particular term
Aah!!! Of course! But lol you didn't capitalize it at all (I added the caps above for emphasis), making it sound like a casual insult. Brooklyn has long been the butt of stereotypical images and insults, and it deserves no more! At the risk of sounding like an English teacher, sometimes these things make for a difference in meaning!
