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jbnbsn99's Oklahoma Zoos

Discussion in 'United States' started by jbnbsn99, 18 Feb 2010.

  1. Zooplantman

    Zooplantman Well-Known Member

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    Unfortunately, your review caused me to do some Google searching about the place. I can't forgive you for getting me to actually look at PETA sites to see their complaints. My computer feels so dirty :p

    This place has quite a history... and none of it good
     
  2. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    I agree complete Mr. Plantman. This is the first time I have ever agreed with PeTA. Could PeTA and zoo people actually join forces in a rare moment on non-partisanship?

    Veni vici vomiti.
     
  3. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    The Great Deluge and the Travel

    This segment will have nothing whatsoever to do with animals, and everything to do with me (hooray ego!)

    As I mentioned I was to visit 4 zoos in 2 days. This is completely inaccurate. I only visited 2 zoos. 1 aquarium. 1 safari park. 1 great waste. For those of you who are astute enough to add 2+1+1+1 and get 5, congratulations, you can no proceed to 1st grade. I will get to the mysterious 5th zoo in a bit.

    The deluge.

    When I got to Arbuckle Wilderness a little after noon, I briefly chatted with a keeper (the same one who called a cuisimanse a kookaburra). She asked me what my plans were. I told her I was visiting all the zoos in Oklahoma. She gave me a warning. Hold on, the makes it sound like I was visiting the old witch who lives in the ramshackle house on the hill that the kids, and secretly the grown-ups, are all scared of. The non-witchness aside, her warning was well needed. It was a portent of the weather. Beware the day before the ides of June.

    It seems Oklahoma, the whole freakin' state -and I mean all of it, was being hit be the worst rain event - did I just really use "rain event," god that makes me sound like a complete politically correct and litigious prick. Anywho, Oklahoma had rain. I had never seen so much rain in my life. Consequently, looking back into past lives, I only vaguely remember seeing more rain when I was called Utnapishtim. This was a massive storm. At one point, before noon, I heard that OKC (that's Oklahoma City - I will be using this abbreviation a lot) had received 10 inches of rain in 2 hours. I live in a part of the world where average yearly rainfall is between 20 and 40 inches a year. 10 inches in 2 hours is epic. This was before noon. I reached OKC about 4 in the afternoon. It was still raining. I had had blinding rain from just north of the great waste until the out skirts of OKC. White knuckle driving is oh so much fun, and I still had nearly 2 hours to go. What better to do than have a little stop. It just so happened that the OKC Zoo was right on my course to Tulsa. I pulled into the zoo at 4:30 and was prepared for a quick 30 minute jaunt to Oklahoma Trails, alas the zoo had already closed. Honestly, I even wonder if it had opened at all that day. Maybe a bison floated away or something. This, by the way, is the elusive 5th zoo. I was there, just didn't go in.

    Oh well, on to the turnpike.

    To get to Tulsa, no matter what you have to take toll roads. This may be why no one has ever visited Tulsa, out of shear principal of sharing the Oklahoma tax payers burden of construction and upkeep of major highways. Luckily, I had prepared for this and had a big bad of quarters with me. Might as well use them for tolls, as I don't play arcade games and my apartment is lucky enough to have a washer and drier. So about 90 minutes later, and 16 quarters poorer, I arrive in Tulsa. I make my way to the zoo. It is well past closing time, but I want to get my bearings. After arriving at a closed zoo, I proceed to find a cheap motel. Not too bad, king sized bed, smelled a little like smoke, but decent.

    I get set up in the hotel. I notice an open Bible on a counter and notice that all of its pages are warped and wrinkled from steam from the shower. Obviously no one has touched it in years. I turn on my laptop, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an unsecured Wi-Fi signal. S-U-C-C-E-S-S, that is how we spell success, go team! I log on to ZooChat, and pop into the chat room. Ituri is there as always, so we have a nice little chat. BTW, a plug for the chatroom for any of our American friends, it can get a little to Euro-centric at times. Ituri and I are in most nights of the week as we both have no life at all (sorry Ituri, it's true).

    My next mission, after chatting with a few friends; food. I hadn't eaten since early that morning. Tulsa officially owes me about 2 hours of my life back and a quarter of a tank of gas. There are absolutely no restaurants in the city. I drove every major highway that I could fine. North, South, East, West, and up I think. The best option I found was a Denny's which was right across the street from my lousy motel. Go figure. I ended up relieving my stress at a bar which had cheap beer and free pizza. Don't worry I only had 1 beer.

    Back at the hotel, I turned on the TV and watched for a little while. This was the first TV I had watch in months. I still haven't made the digital conversions.

    Damn, I hate dark hotel rooms. I woke up past 9 in the morning, which incidentally was past the opening of the zoo which I wanted to be aroused for. Oh well, extra sleep never hurt anyone except Rip van Winkle.

    As you can tell, this so far is the most epic journey I've made for ZooChat. No it's nothing like snowleopard's epic journey of 2008, but hey I finally did an overnighter.

    A review of the Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum will follow tomorrow.

    Maybe.
     
  4. ANyhuis

    ANyhuis Well-Known Member

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    Really fun following JBN's journey -- detail by detail. Actually, I virtually did a lot of these things a year ago -- cheap hotel in Tulsa, finding a restaurant, etc. As for Oklahoma's weather, I guess now you know why their NBA basketball team is named the "Thunder". Actually, you're lucky you didn't end up fleeing the state's regular tornadoes. I think OK has more twisters than any other state. Enjoy the Tulsa Zoo (and OK Aquarium) tomorrow.
     
  5. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    I enjoyed them yesterday actually.
     
  6. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    A lot of people go to Oklahoma FOR the twisters. The husband of my office manager at work here in Tucson goes to the midwest every year to chase tornadoes (as do a whole lot of tornado enthusiasts). Doesn't sound too smart to me, but it would be a cool photo to get a shot of giraffes on a savanna at a zoo with a tornado in the background :D.
     
  7. siamang27

    siamang27 Well-Known Member

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    Cool, I was planning on visiting the Tulsa and OKC zoos at some point...

    When I was last at AW 2 or more years ago it was basically the same as you described it. Donkeys, camels, ostriches and emus everywhere...the order of the animals seen also seems similar to me, but that's just how I remember it. The animals I remember that were in cages were just the tiger and wolves. I'm sure there were more but I really don't remember now.

    The only animals that I saw anywhere else were the macaws and other parrots in the gift shop. I hadn't even heard of the other walk-through area until later, and the only animals it reportedly had were a few cranes, peacocks, waterfowl, a very small reptile collection, the parrots that were in the gift shop, plus I think 2 chimps, a single lemur and 1 or 2spider monkeys.

    I hadn't even heard of the GW park, and now I have no plans to visit it. As for the 3 primate species you mentioned that weren't in many zoos: I know that Cincinnati has Japanese Macaques, and they're actually pretty common in northern zoos, or at least it seems so. Most baboons in North America are basically every other species besides the Hamadryas Baboon but judging from lists half the zoos in the rest of the world have them. I don't know of any zoos in North America with Pig-tailed Macaques though.
     
  8. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum - Part the First

    A week later since my visit, here comes the first review of the Tulsa Zoo on ZooChat! The first thing one notices about the Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum is its name. What is a "living museum?" I've talked with a few people on here about this zoo, and many of them were in the dark on the place. Let me illuminate all on the subject. The Tulsa Zoo is equal parts zoo and museum. I love this concept. I know there are some ZooChatters who abhor the idea of a zoo being anything but a place for animals, but I welcome something so out-of-the-box as this.

    Let's start this review with the signature of the Tulsa Zoo, the North American Living Museum (hereafter known as NALM). This may be the most distinctive exhibit complex in North America. I certainly don't know of anything else like it. The NALM is a series of 4 buildings that are connected by large animal exhibits in between. Each building represents a different region of North America. Arctic Tundra, Southwest Desert, Eastern Forests, and Southern Lowlands. A big gap in the collection is the Western Plains, but I won't fault it for what it doesn't have.

    Arctic Tundra
    This is the first part of the complex you come to. At the present, it is probably the most disappointing animal-wise. This is simply due to the fact that the major animal here was supposed to have been a Polar Bear. Sadly, their Polar Bear died last year. It is not an outstanding Polar bear exhibit, but it is not a grotto which so many people hate on here. Most of the windows to the exhibit were plastered over with signs saying why the Polar Bear was gone and that they probably won't be getting another Polar Bear anytime soon. Instead they are probably going to replace it with either a Kodiak or Grizzly Bear. Not quite polar, but with the situation with Polar Bears at present, I think we can let it slide. The Polar Bear exhibit did have a decent underwater viewing area on the inside of the building. Next to the Polar Bear exhibit was a smallish indoor exhibit for Arctic Foxes. I'm actually glad these exhibits are indoors and climate controlled, as it can get very hot in this part of the country. These exhibits were ok, and it was the first time I had seen an Arctic Fox (hey we don't get a lot of cold weather animals around here). Also in the Arctic Tundra was an aviary for Snowy Owls. The aviary was quite barren, but I think this is a reflection of the arctic tundra, no? There was one more animal exhibit here, a small tank of arctic fish.

    The rest of the building was devoted to museum exhibits. These really make the NALM shine I think. There were two different galleries in the Arctic Tundra. The first is the time gallery. This dealt with the age of the Earth and, gasp, evolution. I love it when the zoo just comes out and tells it like it is. I wish more would do this. Highlights here are an earthquake simulator (a 6.0 magnitude), a deinonychus model, DNA, and a calender representation of the history of the universe. Me likey lots. The second gallery is about the inhabitants of the arctic. Simulated igloos, a real seal skin boat, migration from Asia, and a constant look of "Nanook of the North" all feature here.

    Outside of the building a distinctively non-arctic animal was seen. Camels. I think these were just kept here for the camel ride which were nearby. At one time, the yard that the camels were in I can only assume was devoted to either Caribou or Moose.

    There is a fairly long gap between the Arctic Tundra and the Southwest Desert. Between every other building are animals that can tie in the complexes, but there is no way to do it here.

    Desert Southwest
    This I think may have been the weakest of the complexes I saw. You enter into a lackluster gallery with some signs of Native American art work. The central gallery is dominated by a space for desert plants including a saguaro cactus. There are free roaming Roadrunners here as well (meep-meep). Along one wall are terrariums for various reptiles including rattle snakes, iguanas, chuckwallas, and Gila Monsters. There is also a small aquarium for fish from the Sea of Cortez. A second room has exhibits for Ringtail and Swift Fox. The Ringtails were quite active, which is something I don't see too often. The fox's exhibit was pretty bland, but not out of the ordinary for Swift Fox exhibits I've seen. A cool feature was a wall with pull-out exhibits. You pull a handle and you can look into an insect exhibit or see some Kangaroo Rats. These hands on exhibits are always great in my opinion and need to be seen more in zoos. Keep it kinetic for the kids. One last major animal exhibit was for Collared Peccary. The exhibit was probably way too small for them, but there was a lot of enrichment in the exhibit. The Peccary exhibit could also be seen outdoors, and right next to it was a Pygmy Forest. This was a small area with dwarf juniper trees I think, not unlike those seen in area in the Southwest.

    The Southwest Desert like I said is the blandest of the complexes. It needs something to spruce it up.

    Between the Desert and the Eastern Forests was a nice open exhibit for White-Tailed Deer and Turkey. This is the perfect transition between the desert and the forest.

    Eastern Forest.
    This was by far my favorite part of NALM. You are in a cavern through all of the first part of the building. This is the best simulated cave I've ever seen. You really feel like you are deep underground. Before you enter the cave you see tanks for the fish of the Great Lakes. Lots of gar and paddlefish here. Ok, the cave. Not a lot of animal exhibit here, and surprisingly no bats. There are some blind cave fish, and a salamander or two. But, this exhibit is all about the geology of the cave. You have you ubiquitous displays of stalagmites and stalactites and all of the other cave formations. To get through the cave you really have to climb and maneuver through its winding path. Luckily for those who can't do this there is a bypass. A lot of people will not like this area as there is a path that I had to squeeze through sideways and completely in pitch-black darkness. I loved it.

    Out of the cave are the main animal exhibits. There is another Ringtail exhibit. I can't help but think this used to be something else like Pine Marten. Other animals are Skunk and Raccoon together, Porcupine, and owl. All of these are grouped in a nocturnal area. Out of the nocturnal area is an open aviary for various colorful birds. You can also see the Bald Eagle aviary. This might be the best Bald Eagle exhibit I've seen. The last part of the Eastern Forest Building had an aviary for a Common Crow and a few terrariums for turtles and newts.

    Outside of the Eastern Forest building you had another view of the large deer and turkey exhibit. I like how this is designed as it connects not 2 but 3 of the complexes. Opposite of the deer were Black Bears. This was a simple fenced in exhibit, but nothing too bad. A little tweaking could make this a good bear exhibit. These are your transition species to the Southern Lowlands.

    Southern Lowlands.
    I wish I could fill this one in. The Southern Lowlands is currently undergoing renovation. I suspect this will eventually happen to all of the buildings. The only animals I saw here were 2 American Alligators in an outdoor exhibit. From what I understand, the interior of the Southern Lowlands houses a lot of aquariums for sharks and the like. I wish I could have seen it, maybe on my next trip.

    I think this will just about do it for Part the First of my Tulsa Zoo review.
     
  9. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum - Part the Second - Up the Middle

    For my next trick I will tell you all about the middle of the zoo.

    Next to the entryway of the NALM is Chimpanzee Connection. Two parts to the Chimp exhibit, one indoor one outdoor. The indoor part is their night room. Lots of climbing structures for them inside. There was also a row of windows that look out into the outdoor habitat. The outdoor exhibit was quite good, and very lush. It was actually hard to find the Chimps in there, although I heard them throughout the day.

    Near the Chimps was Siamang Island. Sounds kind of cliché doesn't it. It wasn't. Quite simply this is the best primate exhibit I've seen. The island was huge and covered in dense trees and foliage. The only Siamang I saw was about 50 feet in the air swinging from the branches. Also sharing with the Siamangs are Spectacled Langurs. The island was big enough to also have Orang-utans and even Malayan Tapirs. What a combo that would have been.

    Against the advice of Allen, I did skip the Children's Zoo. As I could see most of it from the main path, I felt safe in skipping over the little petting yards.

    Next up the the Tropical American Rainforest. This is an indoor rainforest building. I quite liked the exhibit, but I don't feel it is as strong as it could have been. My biggest complaint is the lack of signs and identifiers for the species here. Granted, I know most of the species in the place, but there were a few that I didn't know. One way the combat this is through docents. I love having docents around, but sometimes even they can be stumped. Part of their being there is due to the fact that there are a lot of free roaming animals like Sloths, Fruit Bats, (orang-utans, and breakfast cereals, and the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch), White-Tufted Marmosets, and birds. New species for me was a Smooth-Fronted Caiman (at least that is what ISIS says). Another notch on my Crocodilian belt. Black Howler Monkeys were also a new species. I think I counted 6 or 7 new monkey species on my trip. One aspect of the Tropical American Rainforest is the temple theme. Here I think it is done quite well. It isn't in your face - look at me, I'm a temple. Actually, most of what is done here really looks authentic. It is more subtle than most I've seen on here. If you don't like temple themes on principle, them you might not like the whole exhibit, but trust me, I didn't think it was too bad. The only part of the TAR I didn't like is the Jaguar exhibit. Way too small. Why are Jaguars always shafted?

    Near the TAR was a small cafe where I had a very good slice of pizza and some sweet tea.

    Probably the worst exhibit in Tulsa is the Conservation Center. With a name like that it can't be all bad right? This is a weird combination of reptile house, bird house, and primate house. Only the few reptile exhibits were any good. The monkey cages were from the blue tile period of exhibit design. I at least saw a new species in the Diana Guenon. The bird exhibits here were bland. I didn't take note of the species. I am beginning to think that the only way to exhibit birds properly, at least smaller birds like those commonly seen in a bird house, is a walk-through aviary. Possibly one with bird feeding and supervision. It has to be more exciting than rows of bird cages.

    Another outdated section were the big cat and bear grottos. I won't spend too much time here, but a species list if nice. Malayan Tigers and Lions were next to each other. Across from them were Spectacled Bears and Black-and-White Ruffed Lemurs. The Lemur exhibit I believe used to be the old Snow Leopard exhibit.

    Near here was the Sea Lion pool which is now under construction for a major renovation. It is due to reopen next year. Close by is a nice exhibit for African Penguins.

    There are just two areas left to talk about, Africa and the Elephant exhibit. I will save those for part three.
     
  10. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    You mean docents don't know everything? I am shocked!!! ;)
     
  11. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum - Part the Third

    When we last left our intrepid reporter, he had traveled the vast distances of Oklahoma, crossed the torrential storms of a rare hundred-year flood, scoured the city of Tulsa for a decent restaurant only to come up empty handed, and he had begun the tour of the Tulsa Zoo. Since his last report, limited internet connection and a drinking binge in tundra of the Yukon Territory has rendered the final report lost to all time. Until now. Translated from the ancient scrolls of Nebuchadnezzar, King of all Babylon, here is the final report from the Tulsa Zoo.

    There are two areas of the Tulsa Zoo left to cover. These are pretty big areas too. First we come to the African Savanna. One of the main reasons I traveled to Tulsa was just to see one animal in this exhibit. The main of the Savanna consisted of 4 fairly spacious paddocks. One for Greater Kudu, one for Grant's Zebra and the eponymously similarly named gazelle as well as some birds like Marabou Storks, one for Cape Buffalo, and one for a lone Giraffe. Let's start with the Kudu. A very good exhibit, and what made it even better was that the signage actually said that this was not an African Savanna animal. Most zoos lump their Kudu in with the other “savanna” animals because they can, but it is incorrect. Kudus, both Lesser and Greater, are more found in the bushlands and woodlands rather than the typical open savannas. Kudos (or Kudus) to Tulsa here. I have only ever seen one other zoo acknowledge this. Next the the Kudus were the zebras and gazelles. Again a good exhibit and seemingly quite roomy. These are proper savanna animals. Next was the reason I drove two days in blinding rain. The Cape Buffalo. There they were in all their onery glory. Two of them, both females according to ISIS. Their area was much smaller than the other paddocks, but had plenty of mud wallows for them to lounge in. One aspect I really liked was a sign saying “we are not Water Buffalo.” Evidently they get that a lot. Next to the buffalo was the Giraffe. I think most of us know that Tulsa has had some bad luck with Giraffes lately. They had their 2 females die tragically from weird, freak occurrences. I know that very soon their Giraffe barn is getting a major overhaul so Giraffes dieing of hypothermia will not be an issue. Next to the Giraffe is a simulated Maasai village. This is very much in the same vein as the NALM. However, it was no where near as impressive as the former museum complex, and almost seemed like an afterthought.

    Those areas make up the biggest bulk of the Savanna, but there are some other areas nearby and across the railroad tracks that also should get lumped in too. The main area here is a complex for Ostrich, Cheetah, Meerkat, and Günther's Dik-Dik (how I love an umlaut, and why doesn't umlaut have an umlaut in it?). Ostrich yard was a small yard behind a chain-link fence. Didn't see one though. Wouldn't it be better if the ostrich were moved in with any of the other savanna animals? Cheetah exhibit was nice and roomy, but I do hate having to look at them through chain-link fence. Again I didn't see any Cheetahs. As I rounded the corner of the Cheetah exhibit it led me to another viewing area for the Cheetahs. Still didn't see them, but at least it was elevated and not looking through the fence. Across from that viewing area were two small Dik-Diks. I have a soft place for these antelopes. My Facebook picture right now is me and the world's oldest Dik-Dik. Next to the Dik-Diks were the Meerkats. An interesting indoor/outdoor exhibit for them. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a bad Meerkat exhibit. Why is more thought put into Meerkat exhibits than say a deer?

    Two more areas round out the Savanna. One is a fairly big area for White Rhinos. No rhinos today. Maybe because of all the mud, but probably because of all the construction going on next door in the playground. Actually I found this exhibit to be quite ugly. No real thought to the design of it. Lastly in the African Savanna was the Aldabra Tortoises. Sigh. Really? No, no, no, no, no. Aldabra is an atoll in the Indian Ocean and not in the plains of the Serengeti. I would be happier if these slow moving and misplaced giants were near a Madagascar exhibit.

    Last big exhibit is the Elephant Encounters. I had high hopes for this supposedly 2.5 acre exhibit. Evidently though, their acres and everyone else's in the known universe are different. I have seen a 2.5 acre elephant yard in Dallas, this was maybe .75 acres at best. If you count the barn and the adjacent elephant museum you might get that total up to 1.5 acres. And just maybe, if you include all the visitor pathways and unused green space that number might approach 2.5 acres. There were two main yards for the elephants (Asians by the way). One was for a bull and the other was for 3-4 cows. The bull was out in his yard. Didn't look like a bull though as he had no tusks. Evidently he likes to keep them short. All of the cows were in the barn. I think this for their own choosing as the doors to the main yard were open. I did hear visitors complaining about this though.

    Best part of the elephant complex was the Elephant Museum. I for a brief moment thought that maybe the PeTA people might have a good idea, but then I came back to my senses. I really loved this museum. It told the story of elephants in captivity and how they are handled. It told the story of elephant anatomy. Prehistoric elephants and elephant evolution are a big part of it. Even had a skeleton of a Sicilian Dwarf Mammoth. If they ever cloned this, you could keep it as a pet in you back yard it was so small. Also was the story of the elephant history at the Tulsa Zoo. Everything would have been great except none of the exhibits worked like they were supposed to. Many of them had “out of order” signs on them.

    Last exibit was a statue of Ganesha, the Hindu god who takes the form of an elephant. Herein lies Tulsa's biggest problem. Note I did not say it was the Tulsa Zoo's biggest problem, but rather the city itself. Tulsa is the self-proclaimed buckle on America's Bible Belt. For those of you who don't know the Bible Belt, it is basically a reference to a string of ultra-religious, ultra-conservative beliefs that happens to run across America's south. Tulsa is home to Oral Roberts University, probably the most conservative fundamentalist Christian “universities” in the country (world?). [As a side note, one of my best friends was good friends with Oral Roberts son before he committed suicide, and I have heard plenty of horror stories coming from there.] So we have our setting here of the kind of place Tulsa is. The seemingly innocent statue of Ganesha was the subject of a huge controversy. Well of course Ganesha represents a pagan god and not the one true lord and savior. So what is a Tulsan to do? Advocate for a creationism display in the zoo. That's right, good ol' fundamentalist Christian creationism. It nearly happened too. There were measures done by the city council and the mayor to force the Tulsa Zoo to install these interpretation elements. Evolution is so evil, that in order to counter it, the one true god of Xenu, I mean Yahweh, must be uplifted in a zoo. It nearly went through too. Incidentally, the mayor who did this happens to be a relative (son, grandson?) of the man whose name is on the North American Living Museum, LaFountain I think. The NALM is probably the most heavily evolution-centered exhibits I've ever seen. In fact, I whole-hearted applaud the Tulsa Zoo for having more positive information on evolution and science-based learning than any zoo I have ever visited. This is what zoos need to be doing. While they are a for of entertainment, they are also a teaching place of science. Not only science, but history, culture, geography, geology, biology, ecology, environmentalism, conservation, and so much more. The measure never passed. Actually it did pass, but it was later rescinded and never implemented. The management at the zoo raised the fact that in order to tell the creation story they would have to tell several hundred different creation stories from all over the globe, many of those conflicting Christian viewpoints. It turns out that the folks causing the ruckus only wanted their form of Christianity heard and no one else's. Screw the Catholics, Lutherans, Orthodoxeians, Methodists, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Scientologists, members of Heaven's Gate, Jedi, Pastafarians, etc., etc. All this from a simple statue of Ganesha at an elephant museum. On a side note, after all this happened, there was a lady who ran for mayor of Tulsa on the sole platform of getting a creationism display put up at the Tulsa Zoo and having Ganesha taken down. That was her whole campaign. Thankfully, she lost.

    Only a few more areas left. Near the from entryway was a Discovery Center. I think it was mainly home to the education offices, but it tried to pass off as an exhibit with a saltwater reef tank and a few insects. Glowing neon signs does not make a exhibit. Just outside of here was a small nature trail through native plants and possibly wildlife. I did not go on the trail as it was not paved and I didn't want to sink up to my ankles in mud.

    And that just about wraps it up for the Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum. I was pleasantly impressed. It isn't the best zoo I've ever visited, but it does have some impressive aspects to it. Hopefully very soon it will be getting a lot better. As I write this, Tulsa is undergoing a more to becoming a private zoo. They are following closely the model set up by Dallas last year. After seeing what went on in Dallas after the transition, things are only looking up for Tulsa. This is definitely a zoo I will be visiting again in the future.
     
  12. geomorph

    geomorph Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

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    Thank you for completing the review, and the Ganesha story is very interesting, I did not know that was the inspiration for the Creationist fervor we heard about a while back!

    I am glad you were successful in seeing the Cape buffalo too, they are a delight!
     
  13. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    Review of the Oklahoma Aquarium

    I’m finally getting around to writing the final review of my Oklahoma trip. Day 2 of the trip concluded with a trip to the Oklahoma Aquarium. The only thing I knew about the Oklahoma Aquarium before I went was that they had Bull Sharks, one of the only places in the US to house them.

    The Oklahoma Aquarium is in Tulsa, and from the Zoo to the Aquarium what do you know, I had to take the turnpike. My supply of quarters was diminishing. I get to the aquarium, pay my fees ($15.14 for a single), and head straight to the café. I needed to have my camera battery recharged, so what better place to do it than where I can get beer and ice cream. I partook in both. I had to make several stops to recharge my camera battery throughout the aquarium as the Tulsa Zoo had completely drained the entire thing.

    From here on out, I won’t bore you with intricate details of the place. Honestly, I found the aquarium fairly boring. This is one reason I have postponed writing the review for so long. Basic layout is a straight hallway with small galleries coming off of the main hall. Each gallery had a theme. First was invertebrates. Nothing spectacular here, some mollusks, shrimp, and collections of shells. Other galleries included marine life and native Oklahoman fish and water fauna. The Oklahoma section was most memorable. 2 main galleries here. One was fish, small Alligators and a huge Alligator Snapping Turtle. Next was an area for Beaver and River Otter. Both of these exhibits were very small, however I had my best view of a Beaver ever (no pun intended, ok maybe a little). Otters have a 2 or 3 level exhibit, but frankly the kitchen in my small one-bedroom apartment has more space than these otters had.

    There were several touch tanks for things like rays, crabs, and a few others. After working in a Stingray Bay exhibit 2 years ago I have no need to touch a ray again. There was a big reef tank towards the end of the main hall, and at the very end was the big shark tank. Here were Bull, Lemon, Sand Tiger and I think Nurse Sharks. A nice walk through tunnel, like most shark exhibits now have was present as well as a big viewing window.

    My biggest complaint of the Oklahoma Aquarium was the lack of signs and interpretive elements. I would say that over half of the exhibits had no sign or label on them so I had no clue what I was looking at. This is a huge drawback for any exhibit. My overall impression of the Oklahoma Aquarium is blasé. I’ve been once, but probably won’t go again. Bull Sharks are nice and about the only draw they have. If I ranked it from 1 to 10 it would probably get about a 4. Yawn.