Gladys Porter Zoo Gladys Porter Zoo News

Yes. All the brocket in the US are the same species. 2.0 at GPZ, 1.1 at Phoenix, and 1.2 at Bergen County. I don't know if they still have the chachalaca. They were in the South American walk-through aviary just past the giant tortoises (which is basically across from the brocket/macaw enclosure) on my visit. I did see a wild chachalaca on the zoo grounds, however.

Just a wide variety of fishes native to the Gulf of Mexico mainly. A few inverts like Caribbean Reef Octopus and an unidentified mantis shrimp. Oh and a Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle that likes to sleep in the most deceased-looking fashion imaginable. Only cartilaginous fish were cownose rays.

~thylo

 

Yeah, pretty much. I don't know if there are any active users on this site from the Rio Grande Valley. The only reason I'm able to go soon is that I recently moved to Corpus Christi, and now it's "only" two and a half hours away, ha ha. I might end up making it a day trip instead of staying overnight.

How was your experience, by the way? I lived in the RGV until I was 12 and went to the zoo a lot as a kid, but I don't know how accurate my memories are or how much has changed. I hope it's as good as I remember.

Sure thing! I'm gonna have to write this down.

 

Thanks.

 

Would love to see your review when you come back up from Brownsville!

 

I enjoyed myself a lot and I think it is a good zoo that has plenty to improve upon still. I'm not big fan of grottos or those old San Diego-style walled ungulate enclosures so those parts of the zoo I didn't enjoy so much.* I remember the small mammal area also looking a bit rough. Other than that, though I remember it being a very nice zoo. Most of the larger ungulate enclosures and primate islands are pretty large and naturalistic, and their reptile house is really solid. The collection, of course, is superb.

*I've recently learned, though, that apparently bushbuck just do not survive in captivity when kept in anything other than this style of enclosure and no one knows why. This kind of makes up for it considering the animals would not be doing so well otherwise.

~Thylo

 

Sometimes shows when a system is working change for the sake of change does nothing.

 

A pygmy hippo calf is now on exhibit.

Baby hippo makes debut at Gladys Porter Zoo

 

Does anyone know a species list?
Thanks

 

A baby gorilla was born at the zoo on Cinco de Mayo.

Baby Gorilla born on Cinco de Mayo at Gladys Porter Zoo

 

The new baby gorilla is a boy.

It’s a boy: Zoo holds gender reveal event for baby gorilla - The Monitor

 

Visited the zoo a week ago! I'll try to post my photos tonight.

 

A giraffe calf was born on exhibit.

Baby giraffe born at Gladys Porter Zoo

 

I added a bunch of new photos to the Gladys Porter Zoo gallery! Mostly animal photos and some signage. I wasn't able to take a lot of good exhibit photos with my big camera so I took some with my phone camera, I'll have to upload them later. I wasn't able to get good pictures of the Philippine crocodile or the pygmy hippos.

I really wanted to go to the zoo earlier in the year to avoid the extreme heat, but some stuff came up so my scheduling didn't work out. The heat wore me out quicker than expected (I intentionally wore my steel toe boots to get a workout and wear myself out faster, but it worked too well!) so I didn't spend as much time as I planned, but I got a decent amount of photos.

Gladys Porter is not a very big zoo, but it does have some species that you won't find in many other zoos. The crocodilian collection is quite good, with them having saltwater crocodiles, Orinoco crocodiles, the aforementioned Philippine crocodile (a rare species in zoos and in the wild), Cuban crocodiles, and more. They added some tall fencing to some of the outdoor crocodile exhibits. When I was a kid it was just the shorter wooden rail, I think they just got tired of people throwing coins at the crocs. (I won't be surprised if they add it to all the open croc exhibits, there are still a ton of coins in the herpetarium one) There's a nice little hoofstock collection, including the harnessed bushbuck, rare in zoos outside of Africa. There are some very nice bird exhibits as well, including the aviary Macaw Canyon. The aquarium isn't very big, opting to focus specifically on the Gulf of Mexico and Laguna Madre rather than trying to feature species from all over the world.

Another thing that's really cool about the zoo is that part of it is built over a resaca, so you can get around on bridges, and some exhibits are built on small islands you can view from the bridges. And the resaca attracts quite a bit of native wildlife, so you can see some of the birds that make the Rio Grande Valley such a big birding hotspot.

The zoo hasn't changed too much from my childhood, they even still have a lot of the old signage. (NOSTALGIA) Not a fancy place. But nothing was too outdated, the exhibits are still suitable for the animals. Because the zoo isn't very big, it's probably not something you'll want to travel far for, but if you're nearby I say it's worth the visit.

 

Unicorn/Arabian Oryx sign by TheMightyOrca posted 4 Jun 2019 at 8:58 PM

Proud mother (gorilla) by TheMightyOrca posted 4 Jun 2019 at 8:53 PM

Bat (species ID needed. Egyptian fruit bat?) by TheMightyOrca posted 4 Jun 2019 at 8:49 PM

Orinoco crocodile by TheMightyOrca posted 4 Jun 2019 at 8:58 PM

 

Coins Can Kill crocodile sign by TheMightyOrca posted 4 Jun 2019 at 8:58 PM

Little blue heron (wild) by TheMightyOrca posted 4 Jun 2019 at 9:10 PM

Tiger in the pool by TheMightyOrca posted 4 Jun 2019 at 9:24 PM

 

Nonexistent in zoos outside of Africa except for Gladys Porter. Are there still brocket deer in the macaw aviary?

I found the reptile house to have quite a few species seldom seen elsewhere.

OOPS!!

Do they still have the Jentink's Duiker sign up?

~Thylo

 

Yeah, I believe they still have the brocket deer, I just wasn't able to get a good photo of it.

I don't recall seeing it.

 

Their herp collection is phenomenal and most if not all of their croc species are part of AZA breeding programmes. Also specialised in several hoofstock (they held one of the very few Hunter's antelope groups in the US at some point ...).

Sorry about this: What about the tortoises and turtles? Did you get to see and do those?

 

Potoroos and Venezuelan mantled howlers still there?

 

Are the guars still there?