Yesterday, I spent about 6 hours looking around the Saint Louis Zoo and here are my thoughts Overall- 1. The zoo does a really nice job of making every inch of land look phenomenal- even if not in an exhibit. 2. This zoo is really good for just taking your time, and slowly looking around- mot just quickly going exhibit to exhibit. 3. It is free- definitely is nice to just be able to walk straight in- no waiting in lines, buying a ticket, etc. Now I will review every exhibit in the order I saw them. 1. Children's Zoo I started here because it is free for the first hour. The only reason I went here was to see the Tasmanian devils- a new species for me. They had a good exhibit and were active when I saw them. 2. River's Edge This area was a mixed bag of positive and negative thoughts. All the exhibits were nicely sized and fairly realistic- but signage was poor. Also, it is easy to miss a few of the enclosures here because of stems in the path- I somehow missed the bush dogs- which would have been a new species for me. Also, I was here early in the morning so a lot of the species were not out yet. Keepers were working in the capybara, hippo and cheetah exhibits- and the following other species were not out or not visible- sun bear, painted dog, hyena, bat-eared fox, giant anteater. I definitely enjoyed the Andean bears because they were right on the glass and active- and also saw a small aviary, rhinos, sacred ibis, river hog and asian elephant. 3. Insectarium- This was very well done. I enjoyed the butterfly walk-through. A lot of the species were not visible in the other part- but I expect that woth insects and also was not looking very far. I came in here to escape the heat but was impressed by what they had. 4. Sea Lion Sound- This was the strongest area so far. Watching seals and sea lions swim over me was really cool and the tunnel was fairly cool. 5. Herpetarium- This was easily the nest reptile exhibit O have ever seen and the strongpoint of the zoo so far. There are a lot of rate species in realistic habitats. 6. Primate House- Some exhibits were a little bit on the small side. The indoor exhibits were good- yet O was not a fan of the outdoor habitats. Primates are always a crowd pleaser and this building is a solid primate exhibit- with some room for improvement. I was disappointed that the black lemur was either off exhibit or it left the zoo- not sure which. 7. Fragile Forest- We headed over here after lunch and O was impressed. This was the strongest exhibit yet and all the ape exhibits were high quality. 8. Bird House- I definitely really enjoyed the bird house- good exhibits for some rare species. 9. Red Rocks- this area was a good hoofstock exhibit was some very rare species. Some signage was wrong (an addax is not a babirusa) but a overall well done area with a strong collection and good exhibits. 10. Big Cat Country- This exhibit was poor for photographs and all the cats were either not visible or asleep (expected for midday though). The habitats were fairly good. 11. Cypress Swamp- I really enjoyed this aviary although signage was poor. A nice relaxing exhibit for mid afternoon. I would have liked some benches in the aviary. 12. Polar Bears- The zoo's weakest exhibit. The pool should be larger and the bear definitely looked distressed. 13. Penguin and Puffin Coast- The strongest exhibit in the zoo. I wished the birds were more active and swimmjng- but still a good exhibit. 14. Grizzly Bear Ridge- A strong bear exhibit. Exhibits ranked- 14. Polar Bears 13. Big Cat Country 12. Primate House 11. River's Edge 10. Children's Zoo 9. Insectarium 8. Grizzly Bear Ridge 7. Sea Lion Sound 6. Red Rocks 5. Cypress Swamp 4. Herpetarium 3. Bird House 2. Fragile Forest 1. Penguin and Puffin Coast How it compares to other zoos I have visited- Saint Louis and Columbus are definitely my top two zoo's. While Colombus had more realistic areas, Saint Louis had the stronger animal collection. Columbus had better food- but Saint Louis had better ice cream. I think I put Saint Louis a tad bit over Columbus because it is free. However, Saint Louis has room to improve and it is just barely in first. Heart of Africa at Columbus Zoo is still my favorite exhibit I have seen and nothing St. Louis has can match that- or even come close.
There were a few gaps in the collection that I want to make note of. These are projects that I hope the zoo builds in the next decade. 1. A rainforest exhibit 2. Aquatics exhibit (possibly combined with rainforest) 3. Small Mammal exhibits- maybe a desert exhibit / small mammals an new reptiles/birds 4. Solid continental exhibits would be nice 5. North American animals are extremely underrepresented.
