Peoria Zoo M. Man's Peoria Zoo Review

Review of the Peoria Zoo

Welcome to the Peoria Zoo!

Formerly known as Glen Oak Zoo, the Peoria Zoo is located in Peoria, Illinois. It originally started in the late 1800’s when the Park District received a donation of elk. Throughout the years, the Zoo moved to several places before settling in its current location in 1955. After a slow and steady growth focusing on conservation and education, the Peoria Zoological Society was formed in 1997, the same year a new Master Plan was revealed, paving the way towards a bright future.

This was an interesting zoo in that there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground in terms of quality. Apart from a farm section and tiger exhibit, Peoria has either sections that are new and well done, or those that are fairly outdated. Exhibit quality aside, the establishment does have that “small zoo charm” that I like to see, with its tiny acreage, pretty layout, and a collection that is impressive for its size, making for a nice zoo outing for families.

Animal Exhibit Complexes​

Asian Trail – In my opinion, this trio of exhibits is underwhelming on the whole. A pair of Sichuan takin inhabits a narrow, rocky pen with a pool. Next, an average-sized cage with not a lot of natural features holds two Chinese muntjac – odd as I don’t recall seeing very many hoofstock cages. Finally, there is a mid-sized habitat for Amur tiger, consisting of grass and even hilly terrain, however the lack of a decent-sized pool and other foliage is disappointing. It is overall a so-so tiger exhibit, but still the best of the trio in this complex.

Australia Walk-About – This area opened in the center of the Zoo in 2012. Once you enter the wooden gates, you walk amongst emus, wallabies (red-necked and parma), and black swans in a good-sized grassy enclosure with trees and a little hut. Also located here is a small cage for kookaburra, and a large enclosed aviary filled with hungry budgies, which visitors can feed seed sticks to. Nothing fancy or out of the ordinary, but I thought it was a cute, decent, little Aussie zone.

Africa! – At seven acres (about half the size of the entire establishment!), this 2009 addition is the largest section in the Zoo. I was very impressed with the attention to detail here with the various pathways, artifacts (like raised sleeping huts, fishing baskets, etc.), authentic-looking buildings, educational signage, and even music playing in the background. After entering a village plaza, the first exhibit encountered is for white rhinoceros and Grevy’s zebra. While the exhibit is mostly dusty, it is a good size with a water moat, a protected foliage area, and even views into the lion exhibit behind. Next, visitors traverse up a boardwalk, reminiscent of Memphis’ Teton Trek, until coming across the giraffe barn. Separate windows allow one to look into a pair of stalls for the tall mammals. Around the corner, the outdoor habitat comes into view. The giraffes (including a year-old calf) live alongside gerenuk and Thomson’s gazelle in a nice exhibit filled with grass, logs, and a couple shade structures. After coming across a giraffe feeding area, the boardwalk continues into the surrounding forest (nice touch!) before ending at a kopje-like area. It is here that the lion habitat comes into view – a small, but well-detailed enclosure with rocky walls, grass, and even a tall rock outcrop to scan the surrounding “savannahs.” The king of the jungle can be seen from two vantage points: a pair of vast viewing windows, and a set of stairs leads to an awesome open view at eye level with the lions on top of the rocks. Colobus monkeys and red river hogs (both of which also have indoor viewing) can be found nearby in a large, mesh exhibit with mulch and some climbing opportunities, while a mandrill exhibit is next-door, featuring an indoor room and nice-sized outdoor habitat, though it is lacking in vegetation. The last major animal species that one will come across is Aldabra tortoise in a spacious, grassy pen (not out due to temperature sensitivity). One more delight can be found here, and that’s the Treehouse, an African hut featuring these creatures: giant Zambian mole rat (a first for me), Madagascar tree boa, pancake tortoise, Madagascar hissing cockroach, African weaver bird, emperor scorpion, Dumeril’s ground boa, and black-and-rufous elephant shrew (didn’t see, and believe their exhibit is getting renovated). This is without a doubt the best that Peoria has to offer, and a very impressive exhibit complex in the small zoo community.

Tropics Building – A red brick building with some major highs, along with major lows. Some highlights consist of a number of terrariums for various reptile species and northern tree shrews – they’re large and packed with naturalistic elements; the meerkat habitat, while all-indoors, is packed with sand, a fake termite mound, and up-close viewing; and the Galapagos tortoise habitat (on the site of the old sea lion exhibit) is lush and roomy, even featuring a cool-looking waterfall. On the other hand, the primate exhibits are horrendous as they are all-indoors, cave-like, and have scarce natural features; the swift fox exhibit is entirely indoors; and the sloth/armadillo exhibit seemed a bit cramped. Additionally, some of the education features and scenery seemed rather amateur in design – mostly near the invertebrate section. On a side note, the building has garage-like doors that open up on a nice day – I thought that was a clever idea, especially considering they’re situated in front of the monkeys. Exhibit list is: black-handed spider monkey, ring-tailed lemur, mongoose lemur, cotton-top tamarin, three-banded armadillo/Hoffman’s two-toed sloth, northern tree shrew (believe this is another first), gila monster/Mexican beaded lizard, boa constrictor/red-footed tortoise, standings day gecko, Burmese python, new Caledonian giant gecko, western hognose snake, green tree python, Dumeril’s ground boa, neon day gecko, desert blond tarantula, spear-nosed bat, scorpions (Asian forest and red clawed), rainbow tetra, swift fox, and Galapagos tortoise.

Conservation Center – This tiny building is easily the weakest part of the Zoo in my opinion. The animals are found in mostly generic tanks and terrariums, and the vibrant colors and various children’s puzzles make this section look quite amateurish. Species here include: a lush outdoor pond for Chinese alligator (didn’t see), alligator snapping turtle, Colorado river toad, prehensile-tailed skink, Panamanian golden frog, spotted turtle, Mexican axolotl, green and black poison arrow frogs, and African cichlids.

Contact Barn – A typical farm area that allows for close views and opportunities to touch domestic animals, including a zebu, donkeys, a horse, a llama, and Nigerian dwarf goats. Separate pens for rabbits and chickens, along with a koi pond can be found here as well.

Visitor Experiences​

Situated on 15 acres, the Zoo is tiny and easy to navigate, with the paths mostly surrounding Australia Walk-About and either looping around or branching out to the other major attractions. Next, the entrance is a modern, nicely done building that opened in 2012, with a good-sized gift shop. Then, apart from some snacks and drinks for sale in the entry building, the only major concession in the establishment is “Zambezi River Lodge,” a restaurant in the village of Africa!. Lastly, the only non-animal attraction here that I’m aware of is a little theater situated next to the Conservation Center, where I imagine education shows are played during the summer season.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing the unique giant Zambian mole rats was the best part of my trip to Peoria. At first, they were nowhere to be seen in their three exhibits. After a while, one of them emerged from the darkness, and another popped out of a tube leading to off-exhibit areas. I enjoyed watching their interactions, quick movements, and fast digging behaviors.

OVERALL: I’ll admit, I feel a little bad for Peoria Zoo because after the well-done African and Australian areas, the rest of the establishment is somewhat overshadowed in comparison. There are some other bright spots like about half of the Tropics Building, but there are also some poor sections that definitely could use either an improvement or replacement. Having said that, I still had an enjoyable visit, as I’m always intrigued with the smaller establishments, the good exhibits are solid and work greatly, there’s enough popular species to entertain crowds, and the park-like setting and layout did add a nice atmosphere. For now it’s probably an average zoo, but assuming future plans are on the same caliber of the previous projects, then this may be a small zoo to look out for.

While talking to a keeper, I learned the Zoo’s next plan is to improve the tiger habitat, with the addition of a pool and upgraded behind-the-scenes areas. In addition to the above-mentioned shrew exhibit, the Tropics Building is seeing two projects: an extension of the swift fox enclosure seems to be planned according to a large banner next to the exhibit; and the exhibit at the end of the hallway is being renovated; the last step is installing windows, and the exhibit will then be home to wrinkled hornbills.

I will not say what Peoria’s ranking is yet, as I’ll probably post an updated list of rankings later this year.

 

Nice review. Sounds like basically nothing has changed from when I visited a couple years ago... which is typically how it goes with the smaller establishments.

The muntjac cage used to hold peafowl, and before that I assume it probably held some other arboreal or flighted animal like red panda.

Is the exhibit that's being renovated for the hornbills a mostly vertical one, in a separate room at the end from the other animals? If so, that was home to a Papuan hornbill when I visited... sad to see him/her gone, but a pair of new hornbills would be nice.

Also, is the old sea lion enclosure at the front of Tropics Building still sitting empty? The sea lion died a week after my visit and I've never heard what they did with the exhibit.

 

Thank you.

Interesting to hear that peafowl used to live in the muntjac cage - that's an animal normally roaming zoo grounds. Yes, that exhibit in the separate room is the one. A pity as I've never seen (or heard of) a Papuan hornbill. Where else are they found in the U.S.?

As for the sea lion exhibit, it has been completely taken apart and the Galapagos tortoise habitat mentioned is in its place. All that remains is a waterfall in the back. The keeper I spoke to was unsure if they'd make a return, but seemed to doubt it.

 

Not sure. I saw them at Lincoln Park years ago, but I don’t know if they’re still there. Papuans are a phase-out species so the one in Peoria was probably one of the last.

Interesting choice. They were talking about using it for penguins. An article I read about the sea lion’s death stated that they would not be using it for sea lions again because it was too small by modern husbandry standards.

 

Finally got around to looking into this. Yes, the name now seems familiar, though I still don't think I've seen it before. Thanks for the info.

 

There a few breeding pairs of Blyth's in European collections, plus a larger number of maybe incompatible pairs that don't breed. The only productive pair in the UK is at Newquay Zoo, home of so many unusual breeding species.