I remember that Toronto did have a small aviary that rotated between a bald eagle (which may have been flightless) and a wild turkey, but now its gone. African Lion Safari's boat ride is right up against the entrance parking lot, and you can see spider monkeys if your lucky. At the High Park Zoo, they have a paddock for llamas and a couple species waterfowl also up against the parking lot.
I remember that aviary too and noticing its disappearance, I do like the carp in the ponds and watching the occasional swan or ducks right before entering the zoo. at the toronto zoo sometimes I find tourists ask me where the animals(ie often meaning mostly mammals) are as you can miss them if you go the wrong way and go to say australia pavilion. I usually tell them to go to the africa side and the pavilions like indo malaya for some more iconic species like the tigers and gorillas, rhinos or whatever is close to where they ask me. I feel as if it's hard for the toronto zoo to put stuff by the entrance and the first few times at the zoo can be stressful if you're constrained on time and don't know where to go, you might just keep walking and feel especially frustrated if some animals are off exhibit or resting to the side.
I haven't been to Köln for some time, but I remember that as you walked across the road via the overpass you looked down on the Onagers - not sure if this is still the case
A few examples from places I've been to (I'm sure a few have been already named): Six Flags Discovery Kingdom - bottlenose dolphins Sacramento Zoo - flamingos, pelicans, screamers, and waterfowl Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary - crab-tailed macaques and squirrel monkeys Oakland Zoo - flamingos and spoonbills San Francisco Zoo - giraffes, ostriches, zebras, and antelopes Monterey Bay Aquarium - sea otters San Diego Zoo - flamingos, screamers, and waterfowl SeaWorld San Diego - touch tanks with catsharks and those fish that eat dead skin Sequoia Park Zoo - flamingos Wildlife Safari - cheetah, domestic dog, goose, and flamingos Oregon Zoo - mountain goats Mandalay Bay Aquarium - saltwater/Siamese crocodile hybrid Sea Life Park - sharks and other fishes Honolulu Zoo - flamingos and waterfowl Cameron Park Zoo - lemurs and gibbons Memphis Zoo - lions and gibbons
The Granby Zoo's elephant and giraffe barn is right up by the entrance. On my visit, there was also an empty cage for presumably some kind of primate on the second floor, though the sign was covered so I don't know what type it was.
nordens ark has two exibist at the entrance one for bears pochard and one for europan ground squrirrel
Virginia Zoo - None, you have to walk a fair bit to any of the 3 different sections Virginia Aquarium - the harbor seals are outside the building, between the parking lot and entrance
Some insight on Floridian aquariums (and a few others I've visited): Sea Life Helsinki: Red rainbow fish, Jewel cichlid, Clown loach, Emperor tetra, Panda corydoras, and another rainbowfish species which I cannot seem to remember Shedd Aquarium: Caribbean Reef Lowry Park Zoo: Off to the side by the gift shop there is a Scarlet ibis exhibit. Macaws are occasionally also there. SeaWorld Orlando: Caribbean flamingoes the last time I was there but that was a WHILE ago EPCOT: The main shark exhibit on the dark ride, main species include Green and Loggerhead turtles, Bowmouth guitarfish, Sand tiger sharks, Sandbar sharks, Bonnethad sharks, a Blacknose shark, and a Zebra shark Clearwater Marine Aquarium: Cownose rays & Southern stingrays Tarpon Springs Aquarium: Horseshoe crabs & Three-striped damselfish Florida Aquarium: Cownose rays, Southern stingrays, & Brownbanded bamboo sharks (it's been a while though) Alaska SeaLife Center: Three-spined stickleback & Needlefish Dolphin Research Center: Palm cockatoo St. John's Pass Alligator Point: American alligator (obviously but they also have stingrays and a tortoise in my defense XD) I've been to quite a few others but I was too young to pay attention to entrance exhibits for very long at that point. Even some recent ones like Milwaukee County and Jim Pec's are eluding me right now. Lots of Cownose rays and Southern stingrays in Florida though, I don't know about other areas of the US (or outside of it) but it's almost annoyingly common.
Central Park and Prospect Park Zoos have California sea lions at their entrances. Queens Zoo has a waterfowl marsh with right in front of their entrance. If you go left, you see more ducks, American alligators, an sandhill cranes. If you go right, you see Andean bears. Bronx Zoo has dromedary camels (Asia gate), American bison (Bronx River gate), California sea lions (Fordham road gate), and Komodo dragons and Aldabra tortoises+ children's zoo (Southern blvd. gate) Buffalo Zoo has California sea lions closest to the gate, but North American river otters, the now-empty Asian elephant enclosure, and polar bears are also very close by.
Havana Zoo has an artificial lake with an island in the middle which is the home of spider monkeys. That's the first exhibit that you see right passing the front gate. @carlos55 has provided some photos of it: Spider Monkey Island Havana Zoo - ZooChat
A few that I haven't seen mentioned Zoo Knoxville: American black bears New England Aquarium: Atlantic harbour seals Potter Park Zoo: Arctic fox, North American river otter, bald eagle Maryland Zoo: prairie dogs John Ball Zoo: duck pond, American white pelicans
The Philadelphia Zoo has two entrances, the one that everyone knows but never go through houses twin sized exhibits for cheetahs and maned wolves, with a fairly new bald eagle enclosure. The north entrance has black spider monkeys and the rare animal conservation center ( if you wanna count buildings)
Oklahoma City Zoo: swans and geese Abilene Zoo: lesser flamingos Houston Zoo: the Aquarium, but since most people will walk past it at first, then it's the sea lions or a few birds, maybe the red pandas San Antonio Zoo: flamingos on the right, lemurs on the left Dallas Zoo: macaws, and lemurs mixed with Aldabra giant tortoises for the zoo as a whole. If you also counted the two halves of the zoo, then Zoo North has flamingos and other birds, while Wilds of Africa has African penguins. Fort Worth Zoo: depending on which way you go, it's either flamingos and ducks (left), gorillas (straight), or bonobos (right) Dallas World Aquarium: a very elaborate winding entrance with several birds, and a few fish, from Southeast Asia/Australasia Downtown Aquarium Houston: lookdowns
Not quite an entrance exhibit, but one of the most spectacular ways of entering a zoo I have seen is Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The zoo is located on a hill the other side of the estuary from the main city. One way of getting to the zoo is by taking a boat from the city centre harbour (which goes under the bridge and past the opera house) and then a cable car up the hill to enter the zoo. The cable car goes over part of the zoo. I can remember looking down on elephants and orang utans. I noticed that Paignton's flamingos has been mentioned. What I find interesting is that this wasn't always an entrance exhibit. In the 1990s the zoo ran into financial difficulty and had to sell some of its land. As a result the flamingo lake, which was previously in the middle of the zoo is now at the entrance. A raised walkway was built over and alongside it for people queueing to get in. Another one that I don't think has been mentioned is Cotswold Wildlife Park, which has paddocks either side of you as you drive in to the car park. They currently have llamas in one and ostriches in the other. I also remember them being home to reindeer and scimitar horned oryx previously.
At the Detroit Zoo’s main entrance the first two exhibits are the Penguins and the butterflies/aviary. They’re supposed to turn the old penguinarium into a bat Conservation Center, but there are problems with the sealing in the new House so they have to move them back. If you go through the members only entrance, the first exhibits are the large South America exhibit with Guanacos, Rheas, and Peccaries, and the Asian exhibit with Camels, deer, and elk, which is a little wield.
Turtleback Zoo has no exhibit by the main entrance, but by the west entrance, the first animal you'll see is either a black bear or a red fox.
