The Cincinnati Zoo is midsized and packed with exhibits. The zoo is worth going to just to be able to see the Sumatran rhino. As that was my mission in going, I still found the zoo to be enjoyable beyond that one exhibit. I started off in Wildlife Canyon as soon as the zoo opened. It is very fortunate that the Sumatran rhino is in the front of the zoo as the morning it is the best time to catch him. When I arrived he was already resting in his pool. Both of his exhibits were nicely sized, had pools, mud, and a great shading structure over them. A docent was stationed by the exhibit and she absolutely loves Harapan, the Sumatran rhino. She joked that she told a zoo employee once if he ever ended up missing, she probably took him home. She was very adamant that Sumatra bring a female over to Cincinnati since they had success with breeding in the past. She was not happy with the thought of Harapan going over there. The rest of the canyon featured exhibits for Visayan warty pig, Sichuan takin, Prezwalski’s Horse, Bactrian camel, and emu. They are basic, dirt paddocks for hoof stock, with the most foliage being in the emu exhibit. Most exhibits had solitary animals besides the warty pigs and camels. Eagle Eyrie is a great exhibit for Stellar’s sea eagle and Andean condor. Both are huge, both vertically and horizontally. I assume they do not have clipped wings. It is actually neat to be in an open air exhibit with these birds of prey, with only branches blocking the birds from coming into the visitor area. The exhibits were lush with plants and had water features as well. I cannot go into much detail about the reptile house as I am mostly a mammal and bird lover. I enjoyed the historical element of it being one of the oldest zoo buildings in the country. There was an alligator exhibit in the center and terrariums all around it inside the circular walls. Monkey Island was a basic island that has a similar design to other zoos. Gorilla World was a lush exhibit, with some branches and nooks for the gorillas to seek shade/shelter. The viewing area is nice as there are two levels to view the apes. There’s also an interactive game to see what gorilla at the zoo you are the most similar to. Around the corner is a meshed enclosure for Colobus monkeys, which have a better exhibit in Jungle Trails. Night Hunters was a pretty nice nocturnal house. Yes, some exhibits are too small for its inhabitants, but others are decent in size. The real perk of this building is to see rare animals like aardwolf, aardvark, binturong, tayra, etc. The graphics are quite nice and there also interactive elements for visitors. The highlight for me was to see a very active aardvark. Also, the aardwolves were up the second time I visited the building. Other inhabitants were ocelot, fishing cat, black footed cat, Pallas cat, fossa, bat eared fox, fennec fox, bush baby, clouded leopard, and quite a few more. Outside is Cat Canyon with cougar, white Bengal tiger, Malayan tiger, and snow leopard. I thought the cougar exhibit was beautiful with foliage, rockwork, and a cascading waterfall. A nice glass fronted exhibit for visitors to get up close to these big cats. The viewing points for the white tiger exhibit are off to the side and in front of it. Both tigers were sleeping in their cave area in the back. I thought it was an alright exhibit, nothing horrible, but nothing to really stand out. The same goes for the Malayan tiger exhibit, but I think it had more features than the white tiger exhibit. I have seen photos of the snow leopard exhibit and was unsure about it. Is it just a sloped exhibit with rocks in the ground? It is, however, it is quite big for the two snow leopards. Both took to sleeping at the top, but the male came over to the glass and seemed to enjoy interacting with guests. This exhibit was definitely glorious comparing it to the snow leopard exhibit I saw in Louisville the following day! I briefly wanted to mention the Passenger Pigeon Memorial. It’s in a nice little building showing art work and sculptures of the last surviving passenger pigeon, Martha. They had great graphics mentioning the passenger pigeon and other animals that almost went instinct. Another wall has information on CREW and what the zoo has done to help endangered animals. World of Insects is a great exhibit! Once again, I cannot go into detail about all the insects in the building, but there were a lot. Also, there were some I have never seen before. The graphics and narration were wonderfully done. And there’s also a tube that goes to one room to the next for leaf cutter ants. Lemur Lookout and Dragons are right next to each other. The lemurs are on an outside island and the Komodo dragon has an indoor and outdoor exhibit. I believe there were other reptiles featured, but I cannot remember them. Manatee Springs is a great building overall. Although I do prefer the manatee exhibit in Columbus, the whole building sets up a story. I liked how you start off with reptiles and other Florida creatures and the grand finale is the manatees. Now the manatees have an off exhibit pool where they go to get fed. So sometimes I would only see the tail of one of them. However, they did have big TV screens with a live feed to show them in the pool. I also loved the giant bubble built inside the tank. The graphics and details were wonderful in this whole building. Rhino Reserve is unfortunately a bit of a snooze now. Where the former female Indian rhino used to be are now exhibits for birds. The okapi and bongo exhibits are under renovation, but at least when they return it will make things more interesting. The remaining side is better with flamingo, Grevy’s zebra, Indian rhino (with the hairiest ears I have seen), and the black rhino. All have nice sized paddocks and the Indian rhino has a pool. The white lions have a circular exhibit with a boardwalk that goes all around it. There is a platform towards the center that the lions like to sleep on. It seemed like a nice size exhibit for these lazy cats. Lords of the Arctic/bear grottoes were probably my least favorite exhibits. At least the polar bears have two exhibits, both with big pools and one with underwater viewing. However, it is still a grotto and with many zoos updating their polar bear exhibits, this one is stuck in time. That does not mean however, that the polar bears look bored or display stereotypical behaviors. They seem quite active. The black bear and Andean bear grottoes were quite small. By the underwater viewing of the polar bear exhibit is a mesh enclosed exhibit for the Arctic fox, which has many nooks to hide in. Jungle Trails was beautiful planted all around you. In fact all of the pathways along the zoo were quite beautifully planted. I thought the orangutan/gibbon outside exhibit was good. It was lush, featuring some structures and vines to climb on. The exhibit is probably more suited for gibbon but it is by no means awful. Their inside exhibit has many branches for them to climb. I thought it was a tad too cluttered, but I’d take it over a bare concrete room. Next door was the exhibit for lion tailed macaques. It looks like ancient ruins that they have stumbled upon. The bonobo had a beautiful outdoor exhibit and the best out of the two ape areas. I saw the Columbus one two days after and although it’s not as natural, I still like it better due to its size and climbing structures. But both are great. There was also outside exhibits for colobus monkey and maybe another primate. The bonobo inside exhibit was decent as well and that’s where all the bonobos were that day. After that was the exhibit for aye aye. Although darkly light, it was enough light to really see them and they were quite active! Wings of the World was a very nice aviary that featured many birds from different geographic areas. I unfortunately cannot list a lot of the species, but it was a treat was seeing the Victoria crowned pigeon right above me as I enter their room. They also had a room for a variety of penguins, sea birds, and puffins. Outside was an exhibit for hornbills and a big free flighted aviary for kea. It was not the weekend so I couldn’t go in, but we were still able to interact with the birds as there’s a quarter machine they play with to make the quarter go down to the bottom. Now we come to the newest exhibit, Africa. I had lunch in their counter service restaurant and they had nice outdoor seating overlooking the area. Starting all the way to the left are exhibits for the bat eared fox and African painted dog. The bat eared fox had a circular exhibit with a little shading structure in the middle. There are also two pop up bubbles for kids to take a closer look. The African painted dog exhibit is gorgeous! It is so lush and spacious. The latest exhibit feature birds and hoof stock, but no hoof stock have been added yet. Right now they have ostrich, pelican, and vulture. Next door is the intimate exhibit of the African lions. The right side has bushes for the lions to hide in when they want privacy. Both the male and the female also seem to enjoy to rest by the windows. John has his belated birthday party in the morning, so there was still a banner and a piece of rotting meat. There are two cheetah exhibits; one in the front of the area with fake weaver nests above it and the other one being cheetah run. Cheetah run does shows featuring cheetah, ocelot, fishing cat, warthog, etc. I went on a day where it did not happen, but there was still a cheetah in the yard. The last exhibit has a pool for flamingos, which connects to an existing African exhibit for Massai giraffe. You can view the giraffe exhibit from across the lions and up on the platform looking down into it. The platform also has a feeding station. On the other side of the platform, you can look into the giraffe building and come face to face with the giraffes. Wolf Woods features exhibits for sea lion, grey fox, North American river otter, and Mexican wolf. The sea lion exhibit is nothing too exciting if you compare it to some of the newer exhibits featured at other zoos. The grey fox and otter both had nice sized exhibits. I heard the grey fox is elusive, but I was lucky to see it out during feeding time. The river otter exhibit is similar to the one at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Mexican gray wolf has a large exhibit, with shade and hiding spots. It was similar to the one I saw at the Brandywine Zoo. It has the indoor cabin view into the exhibit featured at other zoos. Continuing in this section is the Children’s Zoo. The petting zoo has goats and the nursery has exhibits for education animals, such as Lucy the binturong (bearcat). I was unable to see an actual binturong face during my whole trip. There was also exhibits for the African penguin and little penguin. It was interesting to see the penguins on natural substance as I am use to seeing pools and concrete land areas. Visitors are able to look down on the birds and there are signs encouraging guests to admire the birds with their eyes and not their hands. To finish off this section is Gibbon Island and the red panda exhibit. Gibbon Island has two islands with big wooden climbing structures for siamang and buffed cheeked gibbon. The red pandas had two exhibits with waterworks, trees, and natural scenery. Elephant Reserve features a yard for the cow elephants and a yard for the bull elephant. The outside architecture of the barn is beautiful, but the inside leaves something to be desired. There was two or three stalls with no sand flooring. The cow yard is okay, but it definitely could be bigger. They do have a nice large pool and a few vantage points for visitors. The bull exhibit is small, similar to the African bull exhibit at the Maryland Zoo. It is so sad to see male elephants get the short end of the stick. I am glad that the Columbus Zoo integrates their male with the females. Discovery Forest can be missed. It’s like a small indoor rainforest with a heavy feature on the plants. I went at the end of the day so their only animal species, a parrot and a sloth, were taken off exhibit. Ohio is known for its zoos and I am glad I have seen them all, besides Toledo. As of now I would put Columbus in first place with Cincinnati right behind it. There are a lot of animals to see and many open air, lush exhibits. I look forward to the future of the zoo and to see what they do to make it better for the animals and visitors.
