With the sudden trend of these "ranking the ____ exhibits," I decided for a new ranking. Please rate from worst to best, your local zoos exhibits. Brookfield zoo 1. Reginstine Wolf Woods 2. Great Bear Wilderness 3. Tropic World 4. Habitat Africa! The Forest 5. The Fragile Desert 6. Wild Encounters 7. Habitat Africa! The Savanna 8. Clouded Leopard Rainforest 9. Pachyderm Complex 10. Australia 11. Pinniped Point 12. Seven Seas 13. The Swamp 14. The Living Coast 15. Feathers and Scales 16. Hamil Family Play Zoo 17. Hoof stock Trail 18. Big cat Grottos 19. Reptiles & Birds Lincoln Park 1. Center for African Apes 2. African Journey 3. Arctic Tundra 4. Childrens Zoo 5. Small mammals & reptiles 6. Antelope and Zebra Loop 7. Penguin Cove 8. Birds of Prey 9. Bird House 10. Waterfowl Lagoon 11. Seal Pool 12. Primate House 13. Lion House (oh dear god...)
Thank you! I'm surprised you ranked African Journey and Tropic World so high since the great ape exhibits in Tragic World suck and its style is extremely dated and fake. As for African Journey some of its exhibits for the larger mammals are too small. Why is Habitat Africa the Savanna so low? It has an excellent giraffe exhibit.
I'll just do a few. Like my other lists, none of these aren't necessarily based on quality of the exhibit but how I ended up enjoying them. Columbus 1. Heart of Africa 2. Polar Frontier 3. Manatee Coast 4. Congo Expedition 5. Asia Quest (Excluding three pachyderms exhibits on the other side) 6. North America 7. Discovery Reef 8. Australia and the Islands 9. Shores (Excluding Aquariums) 10. Pachyderms Cleveland 1. African Elephant Crossing 2. Tiger Passage 3. Wilderness Trek/Wolf Wilderness 4. The Rain Forest 5. African Savanna 6. Australian Adventure 7. Birds of Prey 8. Waterfowl Lake - Gibbon Islands 9. Primate, Cat, & Aquatics 10. Monkey Island (and Leopard) Cincinnati (Quality/Satisfying Amount of Animals per Exhibit) 1. Jungle Trails 2. Manatee Springs 3. Africa 4. World of the Insect 5. Cat Canyon 6. Wings of the World 7. Gorilla World (Renovations wouldn't change the ranking) 8. Rhino Reserve 9. Elephant Reserve 10. Wolf Woods 11. Red Panda 12. Eagle Eyrie 13. Night Hunters 14. Wildlife Canyon (went down since Harapan...) 15. Gibbon Islands 16. Children's Zoo and Penguins 17. Lords of the Arctic 18. Reptile House and Cockatoo Island 19.White Lions of Timbavati 20. Lemur Lookout 21. Dragons! 22. Discovery Forest 23. Seal Falls 24. Monkey Island 25. Kea Aviary 26. Bear Hill Brookfield (Enjoyment - Look below for quality) 1. Tropic World 2. Seven Seas 3. Habitat Africa! The Forest 4. Great Bear Wilderness 5. Clouded Leopard Rainforest 6. Habitat Africa! The Savanna 7. The Living Coast 8. Wolf Woods 9. The Fragile Desert 10. Pinniped Point 11. Pachyderms 12. The Swamp 13. Big Cats 14. Feathers and Scales 15. Reptiles & Birds 16. Australia 17. Hamil Family Play Zoo 18. Wild Encounters 19. Hoofstock Brookfield (Quality) 1. Wolf Woods 2. Habitat Africa! The Forest 3. Great Bear Wilderness 4. Habitat Africa! The Savanna 5. Clouded Leopard Rainforest 6. The Fragile Desert 7. The Living Coast 8. Seven Seas 9. Tropic World 10. Pachyderms 11. Pinniped Point 12. The Swamp 13. Feathers and Scales 14. Reptiles & Birds 15. Big Cats 16. Hamil Family Play Zoo 17. Wild Encounters 18. Australia 19. Hoofstock
Louisville 1. Glacier Run 2. Gorilla Forest 3. Islands 4. Islands Pavilion 5. Tiger Tundra 6. Australia 7. African Savanna 8. HerpAquarium 9. Cats of the Americas 10. South America line Toledo 1. Aquarium (Better than Newport by itself) 2. Aviary (Best one I've been to) 3. Arctic Encounter 4. Expedition Africa 5. Tembo Trail 6. Reptile House 7. Great Apes 8. Reptile House 9. Primate Forest 10. Penguin Beach 11. Tiger Terrace 12. Flamingo Key 13. Museum of Science 14. The Valley 15. Cassowary Crossing 16. Pheasantry
African Journey is a interesting complex for me. The savanna, while not spectacular by any means, is still has the basics of what a savanna is. Not to mention, a nice mixed species habitat for giraffes, ostriches, and grants gazelle (The latter 2 are in the hoofstock loop, but will be moved back to the savanna in a few months). The other outdoor mammal exhibits for Rhino, painted dog, and red river hog are a bit on the small side, I especially am annoyed by the wild dog exhibit, that is much to small for the pack. However, the interior is where this complex shines. The Diana monkey, and bird exhibits are surrounded by plants under a impressive dome that brings in light even in the Winter. The insect habitats, and pygmy hippo, and crocodile pools are also very well done. The Kopje is nice, but the ugly black chain-link fencing along it is a eye-sore. The rotational aardvark and meerkat exhibits are a hit or miss, (though the panoramic view in the giraffe barn is creative and I'm sucker for panoramic views) and the large fish tank following is awesome. The ape center is much better, and the only reason this beat out the Arctic Tundra (Speaking of which, I will be going to the zoo today for pictures of the new complex) is because it has more then a single species. I know tropic world is one of the most controversial exhibits on zoochat, but for me, I mostly enjoy it. Taken out of my 2016 review. Tropic world- I am sure you have heard of this controversial rainforest building. This exhibit has 3 rooms. There are 4 small islands in the front The first 2 are for cotton top tamarins, and the next 2 are for Golden lion tamarins, callimicoes, And a two toed sloth. the main exhibit has spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and a giant anteater. The next section is Asia, the main exhibit has White checked gibbons and Asian small clawed otters. The gibbons have a very high up climbing trees while the otters have a nice stream to play in. The gibbons also have section to another part of the exhibit. The small Orangutan island. this is a small island with a cluster of fake trees in the middle and is way to small for the current 5 orangs (With A 6th on the way) Across from the orangs is a small hut like terrarium for a Asian tree monitor. The final section is Africa. The main exhibit is home to many primate species including Colubus Monkeys, Allens swamp monkeys , and red caped mangbys. Lastly we have the Gorilla exhibit. This is well know for Binti jua, She is one of are female gorillas and is known for saving a little boys life after falling into the exhibit. This exhibit has a 360 view that provides the apes with little privacy. If this where just an indoor exhibit it would be great, but as a exhibit its average at best. there is also a gorilla retirement home in one of the corners of the exhibit, this is for elderly Gorillas obviously. The reason this building is so controversial is that there is a lack of natural substrate and realism throughout the exhibit. The ape exhibits are certainly mediocre at best, but smaller primates and mammals have a great home in tropic world. The reason I placed Habitat Africa! The Savanna lower is, well, the giraffe exhibit is excellent, but that's really it. The painted dog bush, while large enough to hold a pack, has the ugly brick wall that they use to make a moat. Its a major eye-sore that really makes me cringe whenever I see it. The hoofstock yards (Waterbuck, warthog, gerenuk, dik-dik, klipspringer) all have some unpleasant chain-link fencing around them. They all are certainly large enough though. The kopje is nice, but the giraffe bedroom is much too small. I really like this exhibit, but when you compare it to many other African complexes at Columbus, North Carolina, and soon San Diego, it looks rather weak.
My local zoo is the Memphis Zoo. 1. Teton Trek 2. Zambezi River Hippo Camp 3. Cat Country 4. Northwest Passage 5. CHINA 6. Primate Canyon 7. Animals of the Night 8. African Veldt 9. Dragon's Lair 10. Herpaterium 11. Tropical Bird House 12. Round Barn 13. Penguin Rock 14. Bonobos 15. Aquarium 16. Pelican Pool I didn't include Once Upon a Farm, as it's a nicely designed farm area, but the only non-domestic there are the prairie dogs, making it hard to judge. I also didn't include the two nondescript aviaries behind the former hippo pool, as they almost seem more like off-exhibit holding areas than actual exhibits.
Miller Park Zoo 1. South American Rainforest 2. Islands 3. Flamingo Pool 4. Wallaby Walk About 5. ZooLab 6. Seal/Otter Pools 7. Animals of Asia 8. Animal Building
Saint Louis Zoo 1. Reptile House 2. Bird House 3. Penguin & Puffin Coast 4. Sea Lion Sound 5. Fragile Forest 6. African Nile 7. African Savannah 8. Asia 9. South America 10. Polar Bear Point 11. Primate House 12. Antelope Yards 13. Big Cat Country
Lowry Park Zoo 1. Safari Africa 2. Ituri Forest 3. Wallaroo Station 4. Florida Wildlife Center 5. Primate World 6. Asian Gardens 7. Aviary
Never heard of STL having an Asia, South America, Nile, or Africa before... In fact they're known to have a layout that's purely based on similar animals. What I do know from visiting and studying the zoo is they have a River's Edge
Milwaukee County Zoo 1. Aviary 2. Macaque Island 3. Reptile & Aquatic Center 4. North America (Excluding Coastal Animals) 5. Prey Yards 6. Big Cat Country 7. Australia (Soon to be demolished) 8. Apes of Africa 9. Penguin habitat 10. Giraffe Experience 11. Family Farm 12. World of Primates 13. North America (Coastal Animals) 14. Pachyderm Complex (One of the Worst Large Mammal Exhibits On the Planet)
Milwaukee County Zoo 1. Aviary 2. Macaque Island 3. Aquatic and Reptile Center 4. Birch Creek Trail 5. Big Cat Country (indoor cat exhibits) 6. Australia Building (gone soon) 7. Humboldt Penguin Exhibit 8. Predator/Prey Exhibits 9. North America 10. Apes of Africa 11. Primates of the World 12. Pachyderms 13. Small Mammals Building **Not counting the Family Farm area (don't visit it enough to give a proper ranking). And rankings for some other zoos I've visited: Rio Grande Zoo 1. Adventure Africa 2. Outback 3. Raptor Roost 4. Inukshuk Bay 5. Seals & Sea Lions 6. Asia 7. Ape Walk 8. Reptile Area 9. Tropical America 10. Cat Walk **Not counting Night Watch, Parrot Aviary, and Birds of the America (as I didn't visit them); and the "etc." exhibits that aren't part of any specific exhibit complex (wolves, flamingoes, some monkeys, etc.) Denver Zoo 1. Toyota Elephant Passage 2. Tropical Discovery 3. Predator Ridge 4. Primate Panorama 5. Central Habitats 6. Sheep Mountain 7. Pachyderm Area 8. Northern Shores 9. Felines 10. Bear Mountain **Not counting Bird World (as I didn't visit it), and the "etc." exhibits that aren't part of any specific exhibit complex (Humboldt penguins, camels, etc.) Knoxville Zoo 1. Red Panda Village 2. Chimp Ridge 3. Black Bear Falls 4. White Rhino Exhibit (doesn't exist anymore) 5. Grasslands Africa 6. Valley of the Kings 7. North/South American Exhibits 8. Asia Exhibits (TIE) 9. Reptile Area (TIE) 10. Stokely African Elephant Preserve 11. Penguin Rock **Not counting Gorilla Valley (as I didn't visit it), and the "etc." exhibits that aren't part of any specific exhibit complex (some birds, otters, etc.)
Smithsonian National Zoo Asia Trails (includes Elephant Trails) American Trails Cheetah Conservation Station Great Cats Hill Amazonia/Andean Bear Exhibit Small Mammal House Ape House/O-Line Lemur Island and Lesser Ape exhibits Reptile House Kids Farm Bird House (because it's under renovations) Bison exhibit Maryland Zoo Journey Into Africa Polar Bear Watch Maryland Wilderness
Metro Richmond zoo 1. Safari(including area with tahr and takin) 2. Siamang island 3. Primates 4.penguin 5.reptiles 6.aviary 7. Other exhibits throughout the zoo 8. Otters and nearby pheasant exhibit.
MetroRichmond zoo 1. Asian and American hoofstock 2. Safari 3. Siamang island 4. Penguins 5. aviary 6. Night house and adjacent exhibits 7. Dog/cheetah 8. Exhibits north of siamang cavys and beyond 9. otters and pheasant exhibit nearby.
Birmingham Zoo Trails of Africa Alabama Wilds Birds Reptiles Predator Building (Currently being remodeled into Asian Forest). Primate Building By removing Gorilla's entirely as well as moving the Orangutans to the remodeled Asian Forest it will address the Zoo's biggest problem exhibits Zoo Atlanta Ford African Rain Forest China Asian Forest African Plains (African Plains has a chance to move up once it is expanded around the Cyclorama). Didn't visit the Children's Zoo or the Reptile House (closed for Renovations).
Point Defiance Zoo 1. Asia Forest Sanctuary 2. Red Wolf Woods 3. Arctic Tundra 4. Rocky Shores 5. Kids Zone 6. Aquariums Woodland Park Zoo 1. Northern Trail 2. Banyan Wilds 3. Trail of Vines 4. Tropical Rainforest 5. African Savannah 6. Australasia 7. Temperate Forest
