You should be fine. Half of the zoo exhibits are indoors. Some of the outdoor exhibits (lions, tigers for example) have sheltered viewing.
Visited the Indianapolis Zoo for my first time on Thursday, May 3. The weather cooperated with my timing. There were several school groups there on field trips of course. The Sea Lion exhibit was still under construction. I did see the sea lions through a window as the keepers were doing an enrichment session with them behind the scenes. Both walrus were out, always fun to see that species, as it is so rare in zoos in the US. While I like the underwater dolphin viewing, I was very disappointed in the dolphin presentation. It was less than 15 minutes and half of that was watching videos on the big screen. As one of only 2 AZA zoo's in the US to display dolphins, they really should have a more engaging and dare I say entertaining presentation and display (I do believe that there is conservation value in pulling people in through entertainment, not circus like shows, but they needed some energy!). Only 3 elephants were outside on my visit in the smaller yard, no one in the larger yard. There were keepers working around the area, so they may have just shifted them and I missed it. The orangutan exhibit is interesting, and was great to see most of the animals interacting. Had it been better weather all day, I would have loved to see them outdoors climbing. I would rank the zoo in the middle of the pack so to speak. It has some unique exhibits and collections that they really should highlight better. I anticipated the zoo to be larger than it was for some reason, but given the location in the city, they make good use of the land they have. I hope they do something different with the dolphin presentation, I was pulled into loving marine mammals early on in my childhood by presentations at the Minnesota Zoo (belugas and dolphins). From what I saw, I am not sure kids were really drawn in, and that is a missed opportunity in my opinion when that is the only chance many kids in the middle of the country may have to see dolphins.
A look at their newly renovated macaque exhibit. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10157483113592576
That’s a fun monkey view of the exhibit, we seldom see exhibits from the inhabitants’ viewpoints; usually if we do it is during a construction tour when the exhibit is still taking shape.
I really like the way this exhibit is shaping up! The platforms look a bit hokey and the planting contrived, but otherwise it is a great exhibit for the macaques!
Indianapolis Zoo on Instagram: “BABY NEWS: Four spunky little warthog piglets are the newest members of our Plains family! Mom Lily gave birth to the quadruplets — 3 boys…” The Indianapolis Zoo has new warthog piglets!
Here's the left side of the Long-tailed macaque viewing. It went from completely open topped to now fully enclosed all around. The moat on this side was filled in and you can now get face to face with this exhibit's residents. A perfect example of using the space and transforming a poor polar exhibit.
Are you thinking of revisiting the Indianapolis Zoo for your Zoo Tours? (The Oceans area, now that the Macaque exhibit is close to open)
I just visited yesterday (that's my photo). I got footage the Oceans exhibit, plus a few others for a new series. Was it dumb of me to visit and cover a section that's missing its newest star attraction when I could've just waited 3 more weeks? Yes it was, but it means I get to cover the new macaque exhibit in the close future by itself.
New Macaque monkeys at Indianapolis Zoo known for swimming, diving and photo-bombing New, long article on the long-tailed macaques.
I am visiting today to film the rest of the zoo. This includes Oceans, which will be released on Friday. That will include a look at the new macaque exhibit.
Zoo Tours Special Episode 25: Oceans at the Indianapolis Zoo - Walruses, Dolphin Dome, and the unveiling of Sharing One World: Long-tailed Macaques
Thank you for another great video Moebelle . Does the Indianapolis Zoo no longer display Asian small-clawed otters? If not, I'm surprised they didn't renovate the former polar bear exhibit for otters. Otters would have made better use of that water feature than the crab-eating macaques have so far!
They used to display otters with gibbons and a green peafowl, but the otters were shipped out. (As per @Moebelle 's Forests video).They could make the deep pool a new otter exhibit, with a view into the macaque exhibit, or just throw live crabs as prey items for the macaques.
So I'm looking at doing a zoo-only trip this fall, I have an airline voucher from a cancelled flight, and Indianapolis is somewhere they fly to a lot. From the website, the zoo seems pretty amazing, with the desert dome, dolphin viewing, cheetah show (my favorite species), etc. What are the cons? Why isn't it higher ranked on peoples' lists?
Due to its size. You can fit a lot into 64 acres but each individual enclosure takes up a good chunk of space. I'd say the overall quality of the zoo is above average, and they display just about every major star species you can think of (dolphins, tigers, elephants, lions, giraffes, etc.) Even with a species list that attracts zoo enthusiasts and usual zoo visitors, it's very short. I'm not the only one who's said this, but if you were to walk through the entire zoo without taking time to view anything, your visit would be 20 minutes long.
Thanks! Sounds a bit like Philly, then; fantastic but still inner city and restricted by that (just checked and Philly is 42 acres). Shame Fort Wayne is the closest AZA, at 3 hours away.
I live here in Indianapolis, and so I take my 6-year-old to this Zoo at least once a month. I know this Zoo like the back of my hand! Moebelle's assessment is pretty accurate. The Zoo isn't really "small", but just has a small number of exhibits. The exhibits it does have are large and very much above average, exhibit quality-wise, but the larger size means there are fewer animal exhibits on site. The zoo doesn't really have many "galleries" of smaller animals, except for one small room with about 8 or 9 snakes. One thing that many ZooChatters dislike about our Zoo is that it is very much aimed at children, which is why my 6-year-old loves it so much! There are 3 very popular animal shows, featuring dolphins, macaws, and dogs. There are also some unique petting and feeding opportunities, including a big shark-petting room, giraffe feeding, flamingo feeding, and budgie feeding. (The shark-petting room may be the most popular place in the Zoo!) There's also a number of fun rides for kids, including a sky ride, carousel, train ride, and "family" roller coaster. As I said, the kids love all of this, but some purists think this is all unnecessary, especially if they're touring the Zoo without kids. The "Cheetah show" is actually just a keeper talk, but cheetahs are a big deal in the African area. They have two big yards with 2 cheetahs each, with great viewing of them. There's also a fun thing for kids where they can "Race a Cheetah" (actually an electronic cheetah, kids find out how far they can run before the cheetah passes them). The newest thing at our Zoo is extensive exhibit for about 30 long-tailed macaques. Eventually they're hoping we can watch these aquatic monkeys swimming from an underwater gallery. Near to these monkeys is a very nice walrus exhibit, one of the few zoos to exhibit them.
