Good Zoo Websites

It always drives me insane when a zoo website either has no animal list or a very incomplete animal list. I get it if a specific bird species is forgotten, but it is unacceptable in my mind to leave large portions of the collection off the site. What do other people feel belong on a zoo's website?

 

I agree. The Columbus Zoo, Bronx Zoo and Staten Island Zoo have terrible websites. The Philadelphia Zoo's website is okay. The Smithsonian and the Maryland Zoo have good websites though.

 

almost all zoos do a poor job of updating their species lists. I don't know if I have ever seen one that is inclusive of every species, unless it was a small zoo. Most zoos also do a poor job of announcing births. Very hit and miss.

 

Central park zoo has the worst website I have seen. There is total disregard for the bird and reptile collectiona- except for the penguins. They have an impressive collection for a 6acre zoo but tge website does not show it. Personally, if a few small species are missed by mistake I do not care but it is when there is intentional skips for large portions of the collection.

 

All the New York City zoo websites are garbage, including the Bronx, Prospect Park, Queens, and Aquarium

 

Buttonwood park zoo-has what is probably the best zoo website I have seen, and Roger Williams Park Zoo also has a nice one. Both are about 95% accurate to the species held there- and are both also appealing to non-zoochatters.

 

Both Lincoln Park and Brookfield should talk about their entire collection, but on the other side for the collection is Racine and Milwaukee

 

At least all the zoos listed here have websites! Wisconsin Rapids Municipal Zoo doesn't even have one.

 

Amazingly, it doesn't have social media, either.

 

These are the worst zoo websites ever:

Home
(I was going to put a link to Animal Haven Zoo's website as well, but it appears to no longer exist).

 

I agree with much of what you have said. Even worse than incomplete or unavailable updates on zoo websites I have also experienced radio silence in response to very specific questions that I have sent to contact emails. My local zoo is the Staten Island Zoo and they post more updates on FB than in their website perhaps because they feel they reach more people that way. For people like me that don’t leverage FB that much it isn’t.

 

Here's what I think is easily the Good Zoo website: The Good Zoo at Oglebay Resort

 

Yeah, they both used to have better lists ten or so years ago, probably more in Brookfield's cases, though never fully exhaustive. I would say on the whole, imo, it's looked to me from my small sampling size that zoo websites have mostly been 'dumbing down' their species listings to reduce confusion for the common zoogoer, at the cost of the dedicated zoofan.

The general direction of the internet in recent years has been less and less focus on text and more on more on imagery, combined with a continued emphasis on branding information over the more technical/hobbyist presentation that provided the foundation for today's internet. Make a few small pages for the animals that might encourage guests to visit the zoo, not several pages to cover a wide variety of present species. You ultimately have fewer websites catering to a much larger userbase, with specialty sites disappearing rapidly as hosts are bought out.

 

Milwaukee County Zoo has a great website

 

I like it as well. I has a full species list, that while a little outdated is still very nice.

 

I really hate zoo website that have incomplete list of the animal collections. Worse, it's not rare to find website that doesn't even have any! I remember West Midlands Safari Park website used to have a section called A-Z animals where they list their animal collections, but now it's gone!

 

In terms of species lists, This one is amazing. Churaumi Fish Encyclopedia

 

I forgot to mention it also lists species that used to be held at the aquarium, and that are off exhibit. And if you click on each animal most of the time they give great information on the species as well.

 

Lincoln Park has a very good website species list.