NYC or Chicago: Which city is better for a species list hunter?

Okay so here's the gist of my situation. Next year, I graduate American high school. In honor of my survival of the American education system my mom and I are going on a trip. We've been throwing around various ideas and the one that seems most likely now: a zoo vacation. The question: Where to? I am a species list hunter so the amount of zoos isn't my concern but rather the amount of new species I'll encounter. Now I've seen every video of Mobelle's Zoo Tour and every episode of Animal Planet's The Zoo but that doesn't make me an expert on Chicago-area or NYC-area zoos. That's why I've come to the lovely people of Zoochat for help. Which of these two cities is best? Or is another location worth checking out.
(Also keep in mind I'm a dinosaur nerd so I'd be interested in the city's natural history museum.)
- Thanks!
Edit: I should add this trip will be for about a week.

 

Congratulations! I did the same kind of zoo trip with my daughter for her graduation, and we not only had a great time, but it cemented my identity as a quasi-zoo nerd forever lol. We live on the East Coast, so we headed west, just the opposite of your plan, but the goal was still the same.

Now, I don't know the species lists nor how long your trip will be, but if you flew to Newark and rented a car, you could do the Bronx Zoo and the Museum of Natural History, pop up to the Mystic Aquarium in CT, and then drive to DC (it's only four hours), catching the Adventure Aquarium in Camden and/or Baltimore Aquarium en route to or from, and seeing NZP and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (plus a quick peek at anything else that interests you on the Mall.). You can avoid the expense of staying in the cities, just popping in for your visits but lodging more cheaply in the 'burbs. The Smithsonian museums including the zoo are free, and you can cheaply park-and-ride on the beltway and take the Metro in. I teach in NYC and visit the Aquarium because it's very close to my school on the absolute outskirts of Brooklyn by the sea, but I'm not sure it's worth the time it will take you to get up into the city itself to the Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, or Queens Zoo, given how small they are. All of that inter-borough transit time would be enough to get you all the way to DC, and you could see much bigger facilities and more species with that time. And you could probably see all of the NY Aquarium species except the sea otters at one of the other aquaria. Newark is a major hub for cheap flights and right on route 95 to Baltimore and DC, so it would be much more economical for both your flights and rental car if you planned on doing a round-trip to/from Newark.

I'm sure someone from the Midwest might give you a similar road-trip idea for Chicago!

 

This is a really tough choice! I've been to both cities multiple times and I'm really not sure which one to recommend. Either option is great though; you really can't go wrong with either.

Starting with zoos, NYC has 4 collections (Bronx, Central Park, Queens and Prospect Park, although there are more in the greater New York area) while Chicago has 2 collections. Bronx is easily the best zoo of this group; it's an all day zoo with many rarities and a huge collection. Central Park is a small but nice park (with Snow Monkeys), and although I haven't been to Prospect or Queens they seem similar to Central Park, at least size-wise. In Chicago Brookfield, while not as good as Bronx, has a massive collection in mostly solid accommodation. They also have Pangolins, which was a big draw for me and I assume it would be for you as well. Lincoln Park is also a pretty big zoo with a Reptile House, Small Mammal House, African House and lots of history. All in all, NYC and Chicago are tied in this category.

Aquariums then, and this isn't much of a contest. The NY Aquarium looks to be quite nice with the new 70 million dollar Shark area looking excellent, but it doesn't compare to the Shedd Aquarium in Brooklyn. Out of every zoological facility in the world, the Shedd has the most species and some genuinely brilliant exhibits. Species like Beluga and White-Sided Dolphins are highlights, while the Amazon Rising area is terrific. Chicago wins for Aquaria.

Both Chicago and NYC have brilliant Natural History Museums. New York has a very large collection of Dinosaurs, while I remember the Field museum having a smaller collection but also Sue the famous T-Rex. NYC's other highlights include the Ocean Hall, Reptile area and Space zone, while the Field has the African Hall, encyclopedic Bird Section and a coll display on Meteorites I'd probably rate them evenly, you can't go wrong with either of them.

Overall, I'd very slightly recommend Chicago, mostly due to the Shedd, but NYC would be an excellent choice also.

 

New York is quite good for species. The Bronx Zoo alone will be a great zoo visit (from someone who's spent more hours there than studying), the other zoos are quite good too. Here is my ranking.

1. Bronx Zoo
2. Prospect Park Zoo
3. Central Park Zoo
4. Queens Zoo

There is also the NY Aquarium, which is definitely worth checking out, the presentation of everything is quite good.

There's also a few areas on the peripheral worth checking out, such as the Maritime Aquarium and the Turtleback Zoo.

 

Typo! Shedd is in Chicago, not Brooklyn! If that's the tie-breaker, we don't want him to trek all the way to Brooklyn expecting Shedd!

 

Trust me, you'd probably see the freakin' train station before anything else in Coney Island

that or the cyclone

 

Ah, this changes things a bit. While a East Coast road-trip has already been proposed, I'll just add a mid-west road trip idea.

The Chicago area and it's 3 zoological facilities and the Field museum need about 3 days to do properly. Brookfield is a full day; it's very large and quite far away from the city. I found that combining the Shedd and Lincoln Park is quite easy to do. Given your love for Dinosaurs you'll probably spend most of a day in the Field, the rest of the day could be used for general sightseeing

From here I have two ideas. One is you can head east, driving through Indiana (sorry Indianapolis zoo) and head to Detroit. The Detroit zoo is my 4th favorite zoo and I genuinely believe in can compete with any of North America's great facilities. From here you can head south, taking in Ohio zoos like Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati, before heading back to Chicago. If you did this trip you'd visit 1 terrific aquarium (Shedd), three very historic zoos with large collections (Toledo, Cincinatti and Lincoln Park), 1 themed zoo that's highly regarded (Columbus), 1 humongous zoo with Pangolins (Brookfield) and 1 zoo with practically no flaws and a massive Amphibian collection (Detroit). That seems like an exciting trip.

The other idea is probably crazy, and would add lots of driving, but you'd visit some of the very best zoos that North America has to offer. You do the same things in Chicago as the first trip but then instead of going east you head south to the Saint Louis Zoo. Next you head west to see the Kansas City Zoo, before dipping down to visit the Sedgwick County Zoo. Finally you head north to the famous Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo before driving back to Chicago. Is it unrealistic? Probably, but on this trip you'd see 2 of the 5 best zoos in the U.S (Omaha and Saint Louis), an extremely consistent top 10 zoo (Sedwick County), a terrific African area (Kansas City) and of course the Chicago collections. That sounds amazing to me.

 

Lol. Funnily enough, I actually posted a pic of the 8th St elevated station, because of it's undulating design that looks like both waves and octopus tentacles. And the Coney Island terminal is a modern, green architectural wonder where four entire lines meet their final stop! But DEFINITELY go to the Wonder Wheel and Cyclone if you go to NYC. I put my money where my mouth is--I went to Mission Beach in SD on two different trips just to ride the Giant Dipper about 10 times!

 

I've honestly wanted to do both of these options for years, so sign me up! You could eat up a lot of that week driving, however, which has made me lean toward an OH/Detroit trip by itself, but would include the Wilds too.

PS:. You might want to figure in a visit to the Six Flags Great Adventure Safari if you did the NYC road trip. No one really discusses it on here, but they have a bounty of very rare species (including a whole herd of scimitar-horned oryx) and participate in all the relevànt AZA SSPs.). I actually like this safari much more than African Lion Safari in Ontario, but of course the real draw there is its Asian elephant program.

 

Yeah, after making that post I looked through some of the driving times and they really are quite long. It's probably doable in about 10-11 days, but not in a week.

The Ohio trip is definitely doable in a week, although if you ideally had a couple extra days you could do the Indianapolis Zoo or maybe Cleveland's zoo as well.

 

Thank you @AmbikaFan, @TZDugong, and @Ebirah766 for responding so quickly! I should note that I have taken the idea of a "Zoo Roadtrip" into deep consideration, (and I'd absolutely love it). however for the time being, due to limited funds, I am working under the pretense of staying in the same general area. For example, if we went to NYC, the Adventure Aquarium may not be to far, but D.C. may not be on the table.
But, if a road trip does end up being viable I love the current suggestions! I have also thought up these possibilities:

1. Cincinnati Zoo
2. Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
3. Indianapolis zoo (?)
4. Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo (?)
5. Lincoln Park Zoo (?)
6. Field Museum
7. Shedd Aquarium
8. Brookfield Zoo

1. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
2. Blank Park Zoo (?)
3. Lincoln Park Zoo
4. Field Museum
5. Shedd Aquarium
6. Brookfield Zoo
7. Milwaukee County Zoo

1. Bronx Zoo
2. Central Park Zoo
3. Adventure Aquarium
4. Philadelphia Zoo
5. Smithsonian National Zoo
6. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Thoughts?

Also, @AmbikaFan funnily enough my mom is also a teacher.

 

As you can probably tell, economy surpasses most criteria for me, so trust me, camping out in a centrally-located Motel 6 near the Adventure Aquarium across the river from Philly for a week and going north to NY and south to DC for day trips is about as cheap as you can get. I still go to NZP driving the 8-hour round trip the same day to eliminate lodging costs! CPZ is costly in terms of time and transit. From some affordable motel outside the city, you'll either spend about $45 and at least 60 minutes each way to drive/park or $50 for rail/subway average and 90 minutes each way for two people--to see a mere 6 acres. Is it one of the duck species you're interested in there?

DC Natural History has a new dinosaur hall, and I love that you find Philadelphia worthy!

 

No, I suppose it's more the novelty of it being "THE" Central Park Zoo. But realistically that option could probably be cut.

Yeah not so much for species as for the originality and uniqueness of the zoo.

 

I like this idea quite a bit. If you run out of time you could probably cut Fort Wayne, although I think you should definitely visit Lincoln Park. Cincinnati and Columbus are definitely worth all the driving, you could maybe add the Newport Aquarium which is just beside Cincy in Kentucky.

This idea is also quite nice. Omaha seems like it's definitely worth all the driving to see it and I think Milwaukee is doable as a day trip from Chicago.

This is also a very solid option. Philly is definitely worth going to; as you already pointed out it's very unique and is also the oldest zoo in the U.S. I found Adventure aquarium to be overrated, but it's worth seeing, if only for the Great Hammerhead Shark. Another suggestion would be the National Aquarium in Baltimore, which is a terrific aquarium. Perhaps even the Maryland Zoo?

 

One question, are you limited to just Chicago and New York? There are some other places in the U.S that would make for a terrific trip (Dallas/Forth Worth and environs, Atlanta and environs, Florida, etc).

 

Nope that's why I ended with...

Although I should note I'll be visiting Atlanta (definitely the aquarium and maybe the zoo) in early August.

 

That's great! The aquarium is amazing and while I (regrettably) missed the zoo, it looks like it's worth visiting for the reptile house alone.

Now that I know other locations can be added their are a few places I'd recommend at least looking at.

The first is the Dallas/Fort Worth area. There are 3 major zoos in this area; Dallas, Fort Worth and the Dallas World Aquarium. Dallas is a full-day zoo with a great reptile house, Fort Worth is almost an all-day zoo with an even better reptile house and DWA has an incredible number of rarities. Zoos within easy driving distance are Caldwell and Cameron Park; I've been to Cameron Park and it's a good 2-hour collection. Caldwell looks similar. The excellent Oklahoma City Zoo isn't that far away, and Tulsa could be done as a day trip from OKC.

Florida is a great place for zoos, there are a lot of different possibilities for a week-long trip. Zoo Miami is a given, it's one of the best the U.S has to offer. Other than that you can do a lot of different things. Tampa Bay has Lowry Park and a nice aquarium. Orlando has Disney Animal Kingdom, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. Smaller zoos like Brevard, Palm Beach and Naples all seem interesting and even Jacksonville isn't too far.

 

In terms of Dallas, you should not forget the Children's Aquarium, which has excellent exhibitry based on what I've seen.

 

Perhaps, but I feel like your time could be spent better by going to a larger collection like Cameron Park or Caldwell. Let's just say I don't regret not visiting when I went to Dallas in December.

 

Just an idea when and if you’re going from New York to Philadelphia or Visa versa instead of going through New Jersey you can go through Pennsylvania. The main reason for doing this is so you visit the Lehigh Valley Zoo. Although not being the most exciting zoo on your list it does have some rarities including a Fisher. The zoo is a nice 1-2 hour trip, maybe less depending on if you want to see the rarer species and leave. This excursion is a bit out of the way and will add about a hour to your route.