Hey Y'all. I moved to Texas from North Carolina late last year and since then have visited almost all of the states main zoos. I have previously promised some reviews of these facilities and while life is busy I have been trying to work on these when I can. This thread will be where I review a variety of zoological establishments across the state of Texas. And I am gonna start with a facility I visited just 3 days ago... Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch (San Antonio, Texas): Located on the eastern edge of Texas’ Hill Country, Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch covers about 400 acres just 25 minutes north of downtown San Antonio. My visit to NBWR was really a last-minute decision. I knew little about the park but was in San Antonio for the morning and decided to visit on my way home. The park is largely a drive-thru safari with approximately 4.5 miles of roadway, yet there is a small walk-through section near the entrance. One could reasonably tour the facility in 2 hours, yet I went around the loop twice and enjoyed some good photography opportunities so I stayed for 4. I was extremely impressed with this facility. As many of you know my state is dotted with drive-thru safaris of varying quality, from the AZA accredited Fossil Rim to converted hunting ranches, with little to no conservation focus. I am happy to report this facility is close to the former, with a generally high standard of animal welfare. Upon entry visitors are handed a high quality guidebook that was fairly accurate and includes information on each species such as there IUCN status. This guidebook even included a taxonomic chart of the ungulates they exhibit. At this point visitors also have the option to buy pellets to feed the animals, with the instruction that visitors should always throw food on ground to feed the animals. The drive thru section is split up into 4 major sections: Tatonka Range, Tower Creek, Kenyan Preserve, and Masai Savanna. The names are largely relics though as there is no geographic basis to any of the sections although African wildlife is the focus of the facility. Below are species lists and estimates of how many individuals I saw in parenthesis. Tatonka range is the first reserve upon entry and also the largest. It was dominated by a massive herd of fallow deer who were the most eager to get fed. The highlight of this reserve for me though was the herd of barasingha, with young males practicing sparring. Most of the paddock is a flat wildflower meadow dotted with live oaks and cedars. After these meadows the road enters a hilly section of the paddock which was essentially a dead zone for animals, but offers stunning views of the valley. American Bison (3) Watusi (1) Zebu (5) Waterbuck (10) Gemsbok (20) Springbok (15) Aoudad (10) Barasingha (7) Fallow deer (70) Axis deer (2) Wildebeest (20) Greater kudu (did not see) Red lechwe (did not see) At this point the roadway enters into Tower Creek. Tower creek opened in 2013 in the valley next to the existing park (which is on a tall ridge), therefore, to get to tower creek drivers must descend one of the steeper roads I have ever seen. Tower creek is split into 3 separate paddocks (as well as the giraffe exhibit), and focuses on African antelope. Many of these species are in cooperative programs with the Source Population Alliance and Conservation Centers for Species Survival. After driving through these paddocks visitors have the option to get out of the car for a closer view of giraffe. There is also a small snack bar and bathroom area for visitors to use. Tower Creek 1: Generic giraffe (7) Addra gazelle (10) Nyala (2,0) Tower Creek 2: Ostrich (5) Bongo (9) Impala (19) Tower Creek 3: Rhea (4) Grant’s gazelle (3) Arabian oryx (13) Nile lechwe (4) Sable antelope (5) After Tower Creek visitors must again ascend up the ridge, which was fun for my little car. This section is known as Kenyan Preserve, and it only houses five species. The massive Scimitar Horned Oryx herd was very interesting although I felt this section was a little empty given its size. Gladly the facility has plans to use some of this space. They are currently building a complex for cheetah which will allow them to work with there C2S2 partners. Its not going to be a massive complex, with 2 average sized yards and a few smaller yards, yet it’ll be a nice addition to this hoofstock dominated facility. Damaraland zebra (8) Scimitar Horned oryx (50) Domestic duck (2) Common eland (did not see) Nilgai (did not see) After Kenyan Preserve the roadway briefly reenters Tatonka Range. This hilly section of that paddock was where I found the Aoudad. This is also where the white rhinoceros complex is. The park currently only has a single rhino, yet has multiple paddocks covering several acres for the species. The downside of this exhibit is that viewing is difficult as it occurs though both the rhino fence and a tall hoofstock fence. The last section of the drive-thru is named Masai Savanna (despite only one of the species living there). It was my least favorite although getting so close to the addax herd was great. Ostrich (2) Emu (3) Sicilian donkey (4) Blackbuck (20) Addax (10) After this visitors arrive again at the walkthrough section. This is only a few acres in size and is definitely the worst part of the park. Guest amenities wise it is pretty great with a large giftshop, restaurant, and an education center/rental room. In regards to the animals though it is largely a letdown. Debrazza’s monkey, common squirrel monkey, and red-tailed guenon are all housed in older concrete dominated exhibits. Ring-tailed lemur have it slightly better with a small island. There is also a second giraffe exhibit here with another 7 individuals. This yard is pretty nice and is shared with a female nilgai (may have been hand-raised) and grey-crowned crane.The rest of the walkthrough section was closed for renovations. Normally visitors would be able to see wallaby, Patagonian cavy, black-and-white ruffed lemur, and more grey-crowned cranes but these were all blocked off. The renovation entails a new gibbon exhibit (much larger than there former exhibit) and a large budgie walkthough. Overall while Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch breaks little new ground I greatly enjoyed it and would recommend individuals give it a chance. The future seems great for this place and the collection of hoostock is one of the best in the region.
When I visited in 2010 I think the last section (Masai Savanna) had a motley crew of llamas or alpacas?
Not anymore. I didn't see a single llama or alpaca. The facility seems to be really limiting its domestics and low-priority hoofstock. I imagine that is because they are now deeply involved with C2S2, working in lockstep with Fossil Rim, the Wilds, and so on. The newer section is almost fully priority ungulate species like Arabian oryx and bongo for example, and the cheetah exhibit is in collaboration with C2S2. I wouldn't be surprised if they even get black rhino in the near future as part of the breeding program.
When I last went maybe 5 years ago, they had a cape buffalo in the first section. I never saw it, and was told be the employees the was quite old. I assume she has passed away and is no longer listed as a species they exhibit (nor plan to ever again). Great write up! Excited to hear about cheetahs, really sounds like they're trying to work their way up to be a second Fossil Rim.
They don't have cape buffalo anymore. I can imagine they are not in the cards for the future, given there personality which may be an issue in a drive-thru.
Hey y'all it's time for my second review. I am not the best at working in a linear pattern so I kind of just write what I am inspired to write. I had started to write a review of the Dallas Zoo after visiting in May but was able to visit again this week. I finally motivated myself to finish part one: Zoo North. Part two about Wilds of Africa should be up over the weekend. Dallas Zoo Review: This review and species list is an amalgamation of my two visits to the zoo. One in late May and another just this past week. My first visit happened during one of Dallas’ rainiest periods in recent years, so I wanted to retry the zoo before writing a review that may have been tainted by my experience. I am going to break my review up into 2 parts. One for Zoo North and one for Wilds of Africa, which are separated by a tunnel that passes under the main road and light rail line (which allows easy access from downtown, which is rare for American zoos). Since I was on a day trip this week I drove to the zoo and I don’t know if I’m the only one but I had difficulty finding the entrance to the parking lot as it is located off the highway service road instead of off the road by the zoos entrance. I saw the zoo had a map of how to get to the parking lot so I must not be the only one But after my parking fiasco I preceded to the entrance. Similar to the Fort Worth Zoo the entrance is simple, although in this case it is placed under a road overpass. The entrance zone features the typical attractions such as a gift shop, member services, and a carousel. There is only one exhibit, an island for lemur. The island houses ring-tailed lemur, black-and-white ruffed lemur, and collared lemur. It’s a pretty great exhibit with plenty of tall trees allowing the lemurs to gain some height. After viewing the lemurs I headed to the right across the creek that runs though the zoo and into Zoo North. Zoo North is the original section of the zoo with Wilds of Africa being a later expansion in 1990 and 2010. As such Zoo North contains many of the older exhibits in the zoo and is less polished. One last thing I should note is on both visits to the zoo I failed to go to Bug U! the zoos invertebrate house. I am unsure if it was even open when I visited the first time, but for some reason must have been so excited by the tuatara that I forgot about it. Zoo North Assorted Exhibits: The first exhibit visitors see when entering Zoo North is a large waterfowl exhibit that’s actually sunken down below visitors. The main draw are the American flamingo. Yet it also holds a variety of other birds such as Southern screamer (raising a chick this month), white stork, redhead, Orinoco goose, West-Indian whistling duck, Northern pintail, and New World Comb Duck. Its a massive exhibit for the species, although I have increasingly become disenchanted with the pinioning of waterfowl and flamingoes. But ignoring that point it is one of the larger flamingo exhibits I have ever seen. Wings of Wonder is an average row of aviaries for birds of prey. The exhibits are fairly tall but not dissimilar from what can see in any other zoo. The highlight of this row though was its largest exhibit which held four Ruppell’s vulture (one sitting on a nest) and a pair of palm-nut vulture. I really do enjoy the zoos focus on African vulture species, as they work on both conservation in the wild and captive propagation of them. The other species on the row were king vulture/blue-winged goose, Andean condor (2 exhibits), red-legged seriema, spectacled owl, and a harpy eagle. Next to wings of wonder is a random group of exhibits for South American species. The largest is a yard for Galapagos tortoise who were trying to devour every seedling in sight. There is also a yard for a single maguari stork/coscaroba swan, the former being a lifer for me and an extremely rare species (considering the San Antonio Zoo no longer has them on display). Next up is a pair of aviaries that formally were for hornbill, but have recently been renovated to house Linnaeus's Two-Toed Sloth, white-eared titi, and helmeted curassow. These are nice although the thick mesh is atrocious for photographers. The last exhibit in this section is a small partially moated yard for giant anteater. I guess it’s fine for a single individual but its by no means a great display. Next up was my favorite part of Zoo North, the small Asian section. It begins with a great exhibit for Asian-small clawed otter next to the herpetarium. It features both underwater viewing and a view into there den, nearly assuring visitors see the species. I was particularly a fan of the way they constructed realistic fast-moving streams between the upper pond and lower pond, that the otters seemed to enjoy riding as slides. Next door is the tiger exhibit. It has some great architecture, with a nice boardwalk allowing an overview of the large forested Sumatran tiger display from the northern viewing point. Below the boardwalk is are exhibits for white-naped crane and red-crowned crane. The southern viewing point allows eye level viewing of the cats, and a walkway alongside the exhibit utilizes a fake bamboo fence that I really thought was innovative. My only issue with the complex is having just 1 display area for 5 tigers. Meaning tigers only come on exhibit every few days, which in my opinion is not optimal. The last exhibit in this Asian cluster is an outdoor yard for Asian brown tortoise. Primate Place is another section of Zoo North housing a collection of primates in average netted exhibits. The species I saw were white-cheeked gibbon, mandrill, spectacled langur, white-eared titi, mantled guereza, emperor tamarin, and white-faced saki. The exhibits are nicely furnished although lacking in plants. The last two species are housed in older looking cages that definitely have seen better days. Children’s Zoo: The children’s zoo opened in 2000 and is one of the better Children's zoo’s I have visited. Its not on a massive site but makes good use of its space, with several subsections around a water play area for guests. The highlight of the children’s zoo for me was the small aviary called Bird’s Landing. The aviary is a walkthrough where at select times guests can feed the birds. In reality most of the birds will not take food from visitors, except for the cockatiels (which were added for that explicit purpose). The rest of the species list are a little more interesting though as the species I saw were: blue jay, crested coua, Eastern rosealla, green-cheeked conure, African grey, crested pigeon, pied imperial pigeon, and a double-eyed fig parrot. I was told the fig parrot was the last of its kind in American zoos, and saw it only on my first visit when the aviary was closed (apparently the individual is rather shy otherwise). Next up was a small building named “Life Underground” with an umbrella cockatoo on a stick outfront. Inside there are 5 exhibits as well as one outdoor exhibit for red-rumped agouti, keel-billed toucan, and emperor tamarin. This exhibit formally held dwarf mongoose, which fit the theme much better given that they actually live partially underground but oh well. The indoor species include a Costa Rican zebra tarantula, ball python, and naked mole rat (the largest group I have ever seen in a zoo tbh). All these exhibits are nice although I wish there was more actual underground species in the building. The last major section was the farmyard, housing the typical assemblage of barnyard species (pygmy goats, alpacas, chickens). Visitors can walk into the barn though where six-banded armadillo can be seen. The rest of the children's zoo is a series of buildings for education and events. They were not open during my visit. Herpetarium: This is definitely one of the highlights of the zoo. Like almost all zoos in this state, it houses a massive reptile collection with plenty of rarities. Most of the species are housed along 4 hallways with the northern two hallways, housing almost exclusively snakes. The western two hallways housed a mix of snakes, amphibians, lizards, and the occasional turtle. The only deviation from this hallway system is the atrium section. Next to the entrance doors is an exhibit for collared lizard and chuckwalla. In the atrium itself is a Chinese alligator exhibit that I found slightly too small for my tastes. There are also a few exhibits that jut out from the wall here, although I forget which species specifically are housed here bar Meller's Chameleon. The largest exhibit in the reptile house was originally the aviary section of the building. More than a decade ago this was replaced with an American alligator exhibit that has recently been replaced by an Indonesian themed section. In the large exhibit are three juvenile false gharial, Malaysian giant turtle, and painted terrapin. Along the visitor viewing section are three exhibits for smaller species such as Borneo short-tailed python and green tree monitor. Overall it’s a great collection housed in what is a below average building. The real gems for me included the tuatara, perentie, Sakishima habu, and Brazilian lancehead (all lifers for me). The exhibits are all adequate at best, but in many cases especially for the venomous snakes are far too small compared to what can be seen at other Texas zoos. A few other issues I had with the exhibits are the amateur quality of the rockwork and the exhibit lighting being antiquated and greatly heating the building (which was downright uncomfortable. The first time I visited it was probably almost 80 degrees). My biggest issue with the building though was the amount of empty exhibits. I must have observed at least 10, with more definitely lacking animals in them. I even heard visitors comment on this as well as the general upkeep of the building. I hope the zoo readjusts its priorities to building a new facility for this stunning collection. I can imagine a renovation wouldn’t make much sense though, so it would likely have to be a completely new facility. I have a list of species I saw below. I am sure I missed some species, but I’d see this is a 90% picture of the collection. I only noted species I saw. Prehensile-tailed skink Eastern diamondback rattlesnake Santa Catalina rattlesnake Timber rattlesnake Rock rattlesnake Blue iguana Western green mamba Copperhead Chinese alligator Black-headed python Eyelash viper Fiji banded iguana Painted Terrapin Mexican beaded lizard Gila monster Philippine sailfin lizard Green tree python King cobra Eastern rat snake Corn snake Baron's green racer Mangshan pit viper Ball python Reticulated python Spider tortoise Tiliqua rugosa False gharial Jerdon's pit viper satanic leaf-tailed gecko Black tree monitor Meller's chameleon Pygmy rattlesnake Egyptian cobra Naja nigricincta Black mamba Gray-banded kingsnake Red Spitting Cobra Arizona Ridge-Nosed Rattlesnake Crocidile Monitor Snouted Cobra White-Lipped Island Pit Viper Mcgregor's Viper Black-breasted leaf turtle Chuckwalla Horned Viper Western Ratsnake Flat-tailed Tortoise Eastern green mamba Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake Tuatara (3) Perentie Eastern Collared Lizard Freckled Python Kleinmann's tortoise Borneo python Home's hinge-back tortoise Cape cobra Samar cobra Brazilian lancehead Green bush ratsnake Sakishima habu Texas horned lizard Reticulate collared lizard Indian star tortoise Pan's box turtle King ratsnake Malaysian giant turtle West African leaf viper Barnett's lancehead Olive python Dyeing dart frog Axolotl Kaiser's spotted newt Fire salamander Solomon Island Leaf Frog Barton Springs salamander Titicaca water frog Chuxiong fire-bellied newt Texas blind salamander Blue-legged mantilla Splashback poison dart frog Hope y'all enjoy
It really is. I wish it had a building that lived up to its collection though. In the coming weeks I’ll post the herps I saw at Cameron Park, San Antonio (ironically bc I visit so much I don’t have a condensed species list for this one rn), Houston, Fort Worth, Gladys Porter, and Snake Farm in New Branfels. Texas. Each with a pretty large and great collection, especially of venomous reptiles. Seems to be an unwritten rule that zoos in Texas need large herp collections
Thanks for the great review of 'Zoo North' at Dallas Zoo, as you made me want to go back and visit again! A few comments: - you'll definitely want to go inside the small but densely packed Invertebrate House on your next visit as there is a lot to see in a relatively tiny area. Usually the zoo will have between 40 and 50 species on display at any given time, which is far more than most American zoos. - I totally agree with your thoughts in regards to the zoo pinioning its flamingos and waterfowl. A huge netted aviary over that spacious pond would make a world of difference. - the 1960s era Reptile House has obviously seen better days, but the collection is indeed outstanding and all zoos in Texas have great herp displays. ZooChatter @geomorph listed 112 exhibits inside the Reptile House during his 2013 visit (see the link to his review below) and I know that Dallas has a substantial collection of reptiles and amphibians behind the scenes on top of their massive set of on-show animals. Review of Dallas Zoo [Dallas Zoo] - It's interesting to contrast the review on the link above (or my personal reviews from 2010 and 2015) with your observations. Not that long ago, Zoo North used to have Texas Cats, which was essentially 4 outdated chain-link feline enclosures, as well as an Australian section called Koala Walkabout. Both those areas are now gone. - Dallas Zoo's African area is comprehensive and for the most part superb, although the closure of the monorail has left an extensive ungulate collection off-show to visitors. Zoo North, with its aging infrastructure, could be modernized in terms of updating the Reptile House or adding something major to that part of the zoo. Perhaps an expansion of the Asian area (tigers and otters) or a South American zone? Dallas is my favourite zoo in a great state of zoos, but both Fort Worth and Houston have made fantastic strides in the past decade and suddenly Dallas needs a little love and attention.
Idk how I missed it twice But I'm sure I'll be back in Dallas later in the year. The reptile house has probably about 90 displays now as the did a small renovation in 2018 to create larger displays for king cobra, perentie, and reticulated python (that occupy one side of a hallway). Texas cats is another picnic area and the Australian section is now blocked off. I'll take about the direction of the zoo in my next post. I mean while its good to get rid of older exhibits the only new thing the zoo has done is an average hippo exhibit. Here is a sneak peak of the zoos 2019 master plan. Sadly the zoo seems to have misplaced priorities, like adding a new sea lion exhibit when they have plenty of areas needing of investment. Most of Zoo North is slated to become part of an Asian themed complex. Redevelopment of the monorail area and a new reptile house are sadly listed as low priority, compared to the sea lions and new entrance. https://dallascityhall.com/governme...ark-board/Dallas Zoo Master Plan 5-2-2019.pdf Dallas in my opinion is the third best zoo in the state. Fort Worth and Houston are better in my opinion, and this gap will only continue. Houston is likely the best in the state although I am a bit salty as temporarily the zoos bird collection is only like 30 species on display (but that will likely change in the coming years). Fort Worth is the second best in my opinion having an amazing reptile house, comprehensive native species collection (although some of these exhibits need improvement), a great elephant exhibit, and a beautiful savannah complex. By 2025 they'll have new exhibits for lion, tiger, clouded leopard, amur leopard, wild dog, cheetah, striped hyena, orangutans, okapi, and bongo. There are likely to be even more species included in the rainforest complex that'll replace the forgotten middle of the zoo between MOLA and Texas Wild!. And as a bird nerd they'll be including plenty of aviaries in these new complexes. Don't get me wrong Dallas is a nice zoo and is probably just outside my top 10 (I need to do a ranking at some point), but its moved in the wrong direction in recent years.
I firmly believe that given the very favorable climate of the south maybe a great factor for having very larger herp collections as opposed dealing with issues in a cold climate. That's my take, and a extremely good reason to visiting these zoo's. Which actually once I did the tour of visiting, Dallas Zoo, Dallas World Aquarium, Fort Worth Zoo, San Antonio Zoo, down to Brownsville Zoo, and then Houston Zoo too.
