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Snowleopard's 2010 Road Trip

Discussion in 'United States' started by snowleopard, 14 Jul 2010.

  1. siamang27

    siamang27 Well-Known Member

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    I believe that African Elephants will be included in Africa Live 3 when it is opened, so I'm assuming the Asians will also be put into that exhibit? If so then that will be a massive improvement.
    Personally I thought the worst parts of the zoo were the carnivores (hyena, tiger and lion), those small monkey cages for mangabeys and guenons, and the hoofstock exhibits. Honestly many of these animals could have been moved to Africa Live 2 (rest of the guenons and mangabeys, some of the hoofstock, etc). I think White Rhinos will be in Africa Live 3 so maybe then the Black Rhinos will have the entire area for themselves.
    The bird collection is indeed massive. What I am wondering is: why does the zoo continue to keep birds in those small glass cages inside the bird house? Why not just convert the whole building into a free-flight aviary with more birds instead. Get rid of those glass boxes!
    The same could go for the rows of small aviaries outdoors. A large walk-through aviary could be built next to the bird house, and many of the birds could be mixed together in there. There are absolutely tons of birds here and many could be mixed in a large aviary. I believe several of the birds in the aviaries in AL2 came from these aviaries.
    Calling Amazonia an exhibit from a 3rd world country is a little bit too harsh, but I do agree 100% that the majority of exhibits in that section of the zoo are ugly and it can be difficult to see many of the animals. Did you actually see any douroucoulis in the nocturnal section? I thought the zoo didn't have them anymore.
    Personally I really liked the Rift Valley exhibits a lot more than you as I thought they were quite good.
     
  2. BlackRhino

    BlackRhino Well-Known Member

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    Some zoos make up for their lack of elephants by building enormous, brilliant habitats that are among the best in the world. Detroit has managed to build the finest polar bear exhibit in North America, and one of the best exhibits of any kind in America, thus it does really well without one of the most popular zoo animals.

    Most zoos, like Cleveland, don't really have an exhibit that is truly brilliant (although Wolf Wilderness is quite good), and thus a lack of elephants becomes a problem. Luckily Cleveland is building its signature exhibit with a focus on elephants, and it will hopefully be brilliant once it is finished, but to me the past few years without elephants have been hard and a zoo visit is definitely not as enjoyable or as long with the absence of elephants.
     
  3. geomorph

    geomorph Well-Known Member 10+ year member Premium Member

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    siamang, I agree, San Antonio should focus on bigger and better exhibits for many of the birds in the back of the zoo! They have already done that with Rift Valley and Africa Live 2, keep going in that direction!
     
  4. JaxElephant

    JaxElephant Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    If the zoo will include a new elephant habitat in Africa Live 3 then the zoo should sent their 2 elephants(one was from the circus who came to the zoo recently, her 2 other friends went to the San Diego Zoo) to another zoo(National Zoo could be an option). Or even the elephant center in Florida, once it is finish.
     
  5. Zooplantman

    Zooplantman Well-Known Member

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    As Blackrhino alluded to earlier, moving elephants of this age has a bad bad history.
     
  6. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    I didn't mean to start a trend of bashing San Antonio Zoo, as I see that since I posted my review a number of people have stated that there needs to be many changes at that establishment. I even checked out "geomorph's" review of San Antonio (which I only ever do after I write mine) and he was also not very flattering in his comments. There is good news, and that is that the 3 latest major additions to the zoo (Tiny Tot Nature Spot, Africa Live 1, Africa Live 2) are all excellent and in sharp contrast from the old, rock-strewn, cement, lack of grass, subpar enclosures of the past. The new hippo/croc underwater viewing area is fantastic, and so hopefully the zoo can continue to improve and create more acceptable animal habitats. My fingers are crossed, and at least this zoo is actually building new exhibits while many other poor zoos remain stagnant for years.

    DAY 37: Tuesday, August 17th

    ZOO/AQUARIUM REVIEW #34: Gladys Porter Zoo

    Gladys Porter Zoo’s Website:

    Gladys Porter Zoo

    Zoo Map:

    http://gpz.org/PDF Files/Map08_b.pdf

    Gladys Porter Zoo is just over 4 hours south from the bustling metropolis of San Antonio, and the zoo is located in the city of Brownsville, which is very close to the Mexican border. It took a lot of driving just to see Gladys Porter, but the trip was well worth it as the zoo specializes in maintaining a number of rarely seen animals. In fact, the Jentink’s duiker and harnessed bushbuck are the only ones in all of North America! The zoo itself is above average, as even though it can be seen in about 3.5 hours there are more good exhibits than bad ones.

    A word on the demographics is intriguing, as according to Wikipedia 91% of the city of Brownsville is Hispanic/Latino, which makes sense since the town is so close to the nation of Mexico. Twice at the zoo and once in a restaurant I was first spoken to in Spanish, and many of the signs around the city have Spanish first and then English second. One disappointing fact is that the area is crawling with border patrols and police officers, and while driving to and fro in the region we saw many cops pulling over cars and searching through the contents. In some cases personal belongings were strewn all over sidewalks, and it definitely left a bitter taste in ones mouth to see the police force out in such numbers. I fully understand some of the paranoia and fear that has gripped many Americans since 9/11, but seeing police cars every few kilometers, and having to drive through a border patrol checkpoint with guard dogs barking everywhere is not something that a mild-mannered Canadian is used to. Between illegal drugs and illegal immigrants I’m sure that the cops along the Mexican-U.S.A. border are kept awfully busy.

    One fabulous thing about the zoo is the number of cool animals on display. On my visit to Gladys Porter Zoo I personally saw all of these species, many of them rarely exhibited in North American zoos: red-handed tamarin, Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, red brocket deer, Bornean bearded pig, harnessed bushbuck, Jentink’s duiker, Angolan colobus monkey, mata mata turtle, Rio Grande siren salamander, Cuban crocodile, Mindoro crocodile, saltwater crocodile, gaur, bontebok, pygmy hippo, pileated gibbon, Przewalski’s wild horse, bettong, sable antelope and Arabian oryx. On top of that I saw 5 full-grown tigers in the same enclosure (3 of them were white) and the most active gorilla troop I’ve ever seen in all of my lifetime zoo visits. What a day!

    THE BEST:

    Gorillas – The zoo has a pair of elderly gorillas in a small, separate enclosure, and the female is in her early 40’s while the male is in his late 40’s. According to the sign the male has sired 17 babies (not all survived) and the zoo has been prolific in breeding many gorillas over the years. There has been something like 30 births in the almost 40 years since the inception of the establishment.

    A second, much more expansive exhibit has a troop of 10 of the apes, and I’ve never seen such an active group in all of my life. They were all ages, and were racing around with sticks, twigs and bits of lettuce, slapping each other on the legs, engaging in chasing games across the tall wooden beams in their habitat, and generally causing a ruckus. The most amazing thing of all is that one of the younger gorillas leapt at least 12-15 feet off of a rock into about 2-feet of water! There was an almighty splash, and a total of 4 gorillas went into the water, looked around for food, and stayed there for several minutes.

    It gave me pause for thought as I admired the energetic troop for a long period of time. If the enclosure had been empty I would have said that the exhibit was average and not comparable to the huge ape jungles that I’ve seen in many other American zoos. However, the engaging and playful troop of 10 gorillas suddenly made the exhibit outstanding in terms of how many visitors were drawn to the antics of the apes, and so does that mean that Gladys Porter has one of the all-time best gorilla exhibits in North America? I don’t know, you tell me. One last thing about the gorillas is that about half of them (I think that there are 4-5 sisters in the troop) had brownish-blonde hair on much of their bodies, unlike any of the other gorillas that I’ve ever seen.

    Indo-Australia – This area has large but basic primate islands for orangutans and white-handed gibbons, an Aussie building with bats, two exhibits of sugar gliders, the indoor holding area for almost 20 eastern grey kangaroos, a Virginia opossum (a marsupial but from North America!), Matschie’s tree kangaroos, tawny frogmouths and bettongs. There used to be kowaris and cuscus here as well, but they are both gone from the zoo. Outside are aviaries for salmon-crested cockatoos and kookaburras, as well as the eastern grey kangaroo outdoor yard, a cassowary/cape barren goose enclosure and a basic walk-through aviary with cockatiels and lots of doves. Mindoro and saltwater crocs are in nearby pools that are lush with vegetation.

    Tropical America (North + South America) – Two massive waterfowl ponds are scenic and packed with a variety of birds, two species of spider monkeys (Mexican and black) inhabit densely planted neighbouring islands, crested caracara, king vultures and bald eagles have huge aviaries, Galapagos tortoises have a large yard, white-tailed deer have a spacious enclosure, and a very pretty walk-through aviary is home to at least 8 species of birds. Spoonbills dominate this area, and along one wall are a series of enclosed aviaries with a variety of South American birds.

    Africa – Hoofstock yards here include Arabian oryx, yellow-backed duiker, Jentink’s duiker, harnessed bushbuck, dromedary camel, pygmy hippo, giraffe, zebra, white rhino, sable antelope, bongo, ostrich/greater kudu and a massive bontebok enclosure. There is also a huge African crowned crane yard, two ring-tailed lemur islands, one red ruffed lemur island, and large exhibits for lions and African wild dogs. The lions can actually gaze longingly over their prey (giraffes and antelopes) via their moated enclosure. The weakest exhibits are the smallest, and those are for mandrills and servals, and while there are about 8 full-grown chimpanzees their climbing area is disappointing and due to their ages they were not nearly as active as the “energizer bunny” gorillas.

    Realm of the Dragon – A large indoor komodo dragon exhibit with massive viewing windows. Nice, and yet another zoo with komodos!

    THE AVERAGE:

    Asia – Large moated yards spread around the zoo display gaur, Przewalski’s wild horses and Bornean bearded pigs. There are a pair of lush gibbon islands (Mueller's and siamang) and an average-sized enclosure with 5 tigers (3 of them are white).

    Crocodilian Row – American alligators, Cuban crocodiles (two enclosures) are in decent but unspectacular pools, while flamingos are found just around the corner and close to the zoo entrance.

    THE WORST:

    Bear Grottoes – There are 3 ancient grottoes that are disgustingly small and barely furnished with any natural substrate. Spectacled bears are in one, while sun bears are in the other two. Yawn…more ugly bear pits at a zoo.

    Sea Lion Pool – A single California sea lion was lounging on a rock, but the enclosure is badly outdated and the water looked and smelled terrible. Ugh.

    Herpetarium – Like San Antonio there is an impressive collection in subpar exhibits. Two alligators are in the centerpiece exhibit, but the gators don’t have a lot of space and their pool is packed with a hell of a lot of coins. Why don’t the keepers take out the money? There are black mambas, green mambas, spitting cobras, king cobras and all sorts of wonderful reptiles and amphibians, but in a few cases there are snakes coiled up that cannot stretch out to their full length due to the small size of their tank. Like the adjacent aquatic wing this area badly needs a makeover. The best reptile exhibits are outside of this building, with various crocodilians (including Cuvier’s dwarf caiman) and other animals (radiated tortoises, red-footed tortoises, iguanas) in top-notch habitats.

    Aquatic Wing – Tiny, stinky, outdated and in need of an overhaul. This is exactly what the zoo intends to do, as there is a sign posted nearby that gives vague details about a future aquatic zone. There are some cool species here: Rio Grande siren salamander, mata mata turtle, Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, spotted gar and alligator snapping turtle.

    Small World Petting Zoo – Tiny exhibits that are far too small for their occupants. Meerkats, chinchillas, agoutis and a variety of tamarins, white-faced saki monkeys and domestic animals (pigs, rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs, goats) all live in this stinky mess.

    OVERALL:

    Gladys Porter Zoo has a number of outdated areas that are in desperate need of an overhaul, but there are slightly more above average zones that are beautifully landscaped and contain pretty waterways that curve around many of the enclosures. I love to see primate islands, and I’d certainly choose that method of exhibiting primates over all-indoor tanks or all wire cage methods of exhibitry. At Gladys Porter there are 6 species of apes, and at least another 8 species of primates that are all great to watch. The number of rarely exhibited animals makes this zoo extra special, although it is a long drive south for anyone to visit and I hardly know anyone that has even heard of this zoo let alone taken the time to basically drive to Mexico to find it. I honestly say that the journey is worth it, and I even managed to purchase a 2007 hardcover history book of the zoo in the gift shop.
     
    Last edited: 20 Aug 2010
  7. Otter Lord

    Otter Lord Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Thanks for the updates Snowleopard. I apologize because I haven't had time to comment. Glad to see you are traveling safely and visiting some nice zoos. I'm on a mini zoo trip myself as I'm traveling cross-country to college. I've visited Rio Grande Zoo and OKC Zoo so far and I'm on my way to St Louis and Columbus to visit those zoos. OKC was excellent with its Oklahoma Trails exhibits. Your St. Louis review will help cuz its been hectic trying to see all of the last two zoos. At OKC I visited the best exhibits first so the rest of the zoo was less interesting especially as I got tired from the "pleasant" 93 degree weather. xD
     
  8. siamang27

    siamang27 Well-Known Member

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    It looks like the White-cheeked and Mueller's Gibbons are no longer at Gladys Porter. Too bad as seeing Lar, Pileated, Mueller's, White-cheeked and Siamang gibbons in 1 zoo would be impressive!
     
  9. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    DAY 38: Wednesday, August 18th

    No zoo review today, as it was a driving day for some of the time and a shopping/laundry/relaxing day for the rest of the time. However, I will type up some odds n' ends here.

    Visiting times were discussed on here for many of the Texan zoos, and here are my rough estimates of how long it takes to see each zoo:

    Dallas Zoo - 6 hours
    Houston Zoo - 5 hours (only 30 minutes if you skip all the bird aviaries - just joking!)
    San Antonio Zoo - 5 hours (45 minutes if you only see the good exhibits - just joking!)
    Gladys Porter Zoo - 3.5 hours
    Cameron Park Zoo - 3 hours
    Caldwell Zoo - 3 hours
    Dallas World Aquarium - 2.5 hours

    I should point out that my wife, daughter and I also visited 2 other major attractions while in the enormous state of Texas. We toured the Sixth Floor Museum in downtown Dallas, and took the audioguide tour that discusses John Fitzgerald Kennedy's assassination. His 1963 murder in broad daylight in Dallas shocked the nation, and it is an event that I have always been fascinated with. I've seen the Oliver Stone film "JFK" at least 5 times, and it was nominated for Best Picture in 1991 and has a star-studded cast. I've also attended a lecture on the subject at my local university back when I was still in college, and I've read Jim Garrison's book on the subject.

    I won't dwell too long on the topic here, but the real controversy is whether or not Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and killed the President without any outside aid, whether he was part of a greater conspiracy, or whether he even fired a rifle on that fateful November afternoon. I bought the official book of the museum, and in it as well as at the museum itself there are the results of several polls done in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's, and interestingly enough in total between 70% and 90% of Americans believed that Oswald was NOT a lone assassination who acted without any extra assistance. The photos of witnesses and police officers running towards the grassy knoll after the shots rang out is fantastic evidence that perhaps there was more than one gunman. Anyway, it has been almost half a century and the President's death will never be solved and there are far too many facts and stats to go into it on a zoo forum.

    The second attraction that we visited was the Alamo, the mission/fortress/patriotic emblem of American fortitude that is practically in the very center of downtown San Antonio. We spent just over an hour there, and like the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas we were not allowed to take any photos while inside the main buildings. What I find intriguing is that the Alamo was a scene of immense tragedy as American and Mexican soliders battled to the death...and now American commercialism has overtaken any thoughts concerning the past. There are Alamo pins, hats and bubble gum containers (I'm not joking!), Alamo hamburgers to eat across the street, Alamo mini-Bowie knives, baseball caps, toy cars and everything else crass and bizarre that you could ever imagine. There is probably Alamo toilet paper somewhere, and I'm sure that Davy Crockett and the rest of his entourage are all rolling over in their graves somewhere.
     
  10. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    @siaming27, Looks to me from the review that the Mueller's Gibbons are still there.

    I'm actually surprised that the Orang-utans aren't still there. Maybe they were off exhibit?
     
  11. snowleopard

    snowleopard Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

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    The apes at Gladys Porter Zoo are these species: gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee, siamang, Mueller's gibbon and white-handed gibbon, and they are all listed in my review. I know that the zoo used to have even more gibbon species, but like the kowari and cuscus in the Aussie zone they have all departed the establishment.
     
  12. ANyhuis

    ANyhuis Well-Known Member

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    A few comments on SnowLeopard's trip:

    1. One reason I feel very defensive of the San Antonio Zoo is because recently there was an anti-zoo news article, putting this zoo on their "Ten Worst Zoos" list. No matter how critical you may feel about San Antonio's exhibits, there is NO way it belongs on this list, below many horrid Third World zoos.
    http://www.zoochat.com/2/top-10-worlds-worst-zoos-162956/

    2. While you said you found all of the police presence in Brownsville to be a bit "disappointing", for those of us who live further north, we are glad to hear the police are out there, doing their best to enforce the border! SnowLeopard, welcome to one of the USA's most heated and contentious political issues!

    3. Glad you liked Gladys Porter. I personally believe it's one of the "prettiest zoos" in the nation. You'll find another pretty zoo in Albuquerque.

    4. To answer your question about GP's gorilla exhibit, yes -- I do think this is among the best gorilla exhibits. As you pointed out, its exhibitry doesn't match some of the more beautiful gorilla exhibits around the nation. But I believe your experience at this exhibit was not entirely random. It happened because of another key factor -- population! As you said, they had at least 14 gorillas there, thus a greater chance to see some very active and entertaining gorillas. On the other hand, the Dallas Zoo has one of the most beautiful and natural gorilla exhibits, but they only have a few gorillas in their huge exhibit. Thus many visitors get to see a great, but seemingly-empty, exhibit.

    5. As for Who killed JFK, my opinion has always been to go with the Warren Commission's finding. That Commission included a future US President (Ford) and JFK's own brother (Teddy) said he was satisfied with its findings. On this one, I'll go with Ted.

    6. So sorry the outside commercialization spoiled your visit to the Alamo, as that shrine truly is a special place to visit. I always recommend that visitors first take in the excellent 3D movie about the Alamo which is shown across the street. (I'm guessing the SnowLeopard family skipped this, due to having Kenlie along.) The movie makes visiting the Alamo "come alive".
     
  13. Baldur

    Baldur Well-Known Member

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    Snowleopard's reviews will come handy to me in less than two weeks when I go to the USA, as many of the zoos he has visited or will be visiting are on my itinerary as well. I will be sure to print out his reviews, and probably those of Geomorph as well, and study before I see the zoos myself. I don't think I could give myself a better advance birthday gift (I'll turn 30 in January next year) than this massive USA tour (20 zoos planned for sure but I'll probably get it up to 24-5 if I know myself right :))
     
  14. mweb08

    mweb08 Well-Known Member

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    What zoos are you visiting?
     
  15. Baldur

    Baldur Well-Known Member

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    I'll be visiting the East Coast, South Central, Colorado and finally the North Central. I've got the following zoos nailed down (if flights will be on time and all other things go as planned)

    East Coast

    Central Park Zoo
    Bronx Zoo (2 days)
    New York Aquarium
    Philadelphia Zoo
    National Zoo

    South Central

    Gladys Porter Zoo
    Houston Zoo
    San Antonio Zoo
    SeaWorld San Antonio
    Dallas Zoo
    Fort Worth Zoo
    Dallas World Aquarium
    Caldwell Zoo
    Oklahoma City Zoo

    Colorado

    Denver Zoo
    Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

    North Central

    St. Louis Zoo
    Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
    Minnesota Zoo
    St. Paul's Como Zoo

    ... and if time, money and energy allows:

    Queens Zoo
    Prospect Park Zoo
    Staten Island Zoo
    National Aquarium in Baltimore
    National Aquarium in Washington (yes, I know it is tiny)
    Capital of Texas Zoo in Austin

    And possibly some other small animal attraction (aquariums, vivariums, etc) that I'll run into here and there. I'm not driving but using flights, trains and buses.
     
  16. mweb08

    mweb08 Well-Known Member

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    Very cool. You will be seeing a lot of great zoos. Are you mostly going from zoo to zoo or will you be doing plenty of sightseeing too? How did you come about selecting these establishments?

    And please take some good photo's of the Madagascar exhibit at Henry Doorly and post them on here!
     
  17. Baldur

    Baldur Well-Known Member

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    I guess I could do 25-28 zoos in the 31 day trip (including the flight days to and from the US) but I've also taken in some free days so that I don't get too bored with zoos. I'll have free days in New York City (loads to see), Washington (National Mall area, fortunately most of the capital's main attractions are close to each other), San Antonio (the Alamo, etc), Dallas (Sixth Floor Museum and Dealay Plaza), Denver (although I expect to use that day for the zoo too) and Minneapolis (I'm interested in seeing the famous Mall of America, much as I otherwise hate malls :D)

    And I sure will take photos at Omaha; I'll have part of a second day there before my flight to Minneapolis to end the trip.
     
  18. jbnbsn99

    jbnbsn99 Well-Known Member

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    Why does everyone who visits Dallas want to see the 6th Floor Museum? Nothing more that I'd like to see than a window where someone was murdered from. I've lived in the area my whole life and have never visited even once, no intentions to either.
     
  19. Baldur

    Baldur Well-Known Member

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    Tourists visit the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas for the same reason as they visit Auschwitz in Poland and other locations where death and/or suffering of sometimes one and sometimes millions took place.

    It is 00.30 in the night so I don't really have the energy to write at length, but as a tourism graduate, I would like to introduce you to the following Wikipedia side to brief you on the subject of Dark Tourism:

    [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_tourism]Dark tourism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
     
  20. mweb08

    mweb08 Well-Known Member

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    Well you have devised an interesting itinerary and I hope you have a great time. I'd probably cut out some of the weaker zoos you are visiting and see some more non-zoo stuff and would replace the NYC aquarium with the one in Baltimore. I would have a very hard time passing up all the great sites in this country in order to attend so many zoos that aren't anything to write home about. But obviously you and Snowleopard feel otherwise.