This book belongs in all of our libraries!!!

[ame=http://www.amazon.ca/Americas-Best-Zoos-Travel-Families/dp/188714076X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211486802&sr=1-3]Amazon.ca: America's Best Zoos: A Travel Guide for Fans & Families: Allen W. Nyhuis: Books[/ame]

I received the book "America's Best Zoos" in the mail yesterday, and have been reading it nonstop every since. It is an amazingly comprehensive, all-around AWESOME book that anyone interested in U.S. zoos should immediately purchase. Not only can an individual read the entire book cover to cover and gain a wonderful amount of knowledge, but it is a terrific reference book that can be glanced at over and over again.

Of the approximately 220 AZA accredited American Zoos, 60 were chosen as the best of the best. These 60 zoos have long, detailed writeups that are pages in length. The average is between 3-4 pages for each zoo, but some are longer. The San Diego Zoo is 6 full pages, while there are another 37 zoos that are smaller and reviewed with a paragraph or two. The main 60 have been given the opportunity to shine. There is a lot of useful information on prices, tips for viewing, hours, etc, but then the real juicy part of the text begins. There is a list of the featured exhibits, and extremely detailed observations of the flora and fauna that make up these enclosures. Every zoo has both a second list of other exhibits that are maybe not quite as noteworthy as the featured ones, but are still reviewed. Then there is a section for kids activities and upcoming construction projects for new exhibits.

Towards the back of the book there are 20 different lists, each one with the 10 best zoos in the country for a particular set of animals and exhibits. Ten best zoos for Asian animals, ten best zoos for primates, bears, birds, etc. Then the 25 greatest exhibits in the U.S., which is an unenviable task to complete. Both writers selected their 25 best exhibits, and even though there are some major disagreements...in the end 15 out of 25 exhibits appear on BOTH of the lists.

Overall the book is an amazing source of zoo information, and for someone like me who is planning a long drive around North America (see "Summer Road Trip" thread) this book will prove invaluable. Kudos to the authors!!!!!

 

TO Snowleopard & Ituri:

Snowleopard: Thanks so much for the nice words about our book. We are SO glad you like it and find it useful and interesting. May I suggest (ASK!) of you that you add a Customer Review to Amazon? By the way, our website is now up, with some additional information. We'll be adding more info regularly.

Ituri: Are you from Sheboygan, Wisconsin?? The reason I ask is because this evening I did a book-signing at a book shop in Sheboygan. A very nice older couple came in and bought a couple of our books -- one for themselves, and one for their son who works for Zoo Boise. That wouldn't happen to be you, would it? If it's not, you should know that one of your coworkers will soon be receiving "America's Best Zoos" as a gift from his parents. Nice people!

 

www.kansascity.com | 05/30/2008 | KC Zoo wins kudos for African, Australian exhibits

There are a few news articles that have been quoting the 2008 book "America's Best Zoos", and rightly so. Many top U.S. zoos have long, detailed descriptions, and to be placed in a number of top ten categories throughout the nation is a prestigious accomplishment.

@ANyhuis: perhaps I should post a review on Amazon, as I hadn't thought of that before. I have no problem promoting this fantastic book, as any zoo fan interested in U.S. zoos would be foolish not to own it. I would love to see a similar guide on aquariums eventually published, as I believe that there are around 50 accredited aquariums in North America. Several of them (Monterey Bay, John G. Shedd, Georgia, etc) deserve to be given their own book, and there are many that are well worth a visit. There are also 25 members of CAZA up in Canada who would love their own book, but I'm the first to admit that perhaps only the Toronto Zoo and Calgary Zoo are truly top-notch institutions.

 

KC, Aquariums, & Canada

Thanks, Snowleopard!

Thanks for the heads up about the Kansas City article! I feel our recognition of the Kansas City Zoo for its excellent African area is well deserved. But I'll be honest -- that was a TOUGH call! The San Diego Wild Animal Park, North Carolina Zoo, and Dallas Zoo were all strong contenders for "Best African Exhibits". What put KC over the edge for us was a combination of: (a) having the most complete collection of African animals (the only "key" African animal that's missing is okapis); (b) having absolutely fantastic exhibits of elephants and chimpanzees; and (c) their "theming" -- they very excellently take you on an journey to 5 different African nations, with architecture and other convincing artifacts that make the journey very realistic. I'm VERY big on theming. To me, excellent theming is what brings additional visitors to the Zoo

As for an "America's Best Aquariums" guidebook, I can't say too much, but let me just hint that last month I visited 4 different aquariums in Texas, and this week my coauthor will be touring the Aquarium of the Pacific in California.

For "Canada's Best Zoos", I think my publishers would say that the biggest problem is market size -- it's probably not large enough to justify the expense of putting together a full book. BUT, if our current book is successful enough, we'll likely do an update on it in 3-4 years, and perhaps we can expand it to be "North America's Best Zoos", which would not only include a few Canadian Zoos (Toronto, Calgary, Granby, and maybe a few more), but also include Mexico City -- and perhaps a couple more Mexican zoos. (Don't know, I haven't visited any Mexican zoos yet).

 

Nope, Phoenix,AZ. I don't actually work for Zoo Boise, just a big zoo fan. I do however know much of the staff, not sure who's from Sheboygan, but I'll be curious to find out.

And while on the subject, did you even visit Zoo Boise, your review was so off that it appears you only looked at a zoo map? There is no "Small Cats" house, they are housed in individual outdoor glass fronted enclosures just like the leopards. Also the "North American Carnivores" area (which was demolished last year) housed only swift foxes, red foxes, and a badger. Also there were some mistakes about the Phoenix Zoo (which I did at one point work for). The Arizona Trail nocturnal house has been gone since 1998! The species listed from Tropical Flights was it's 1991 opening roster and has changed drastically since then. I realize I'm probably being overly critical and really do not intend to be so, I'm just wanting to point out some errors about places that are near and dear to my heart. (and by the time you are working on the update, I firmly believe Zoo Boise will be one of the premiere small zoos in the country) Having said that. I have not been able to put your book down since acquiring it. Overall it is absolutely fantastic and thank you so much for writing it.

 

Boise & Phoenix

Thanks for the updates, Ituri.
First, of the 60 zoos we completely reviewed, I've been to ALL of them, and between Jon and I, we went to all but 7 of them last year. For 4 of the zoos, our review was written based on my memory and based on a video we had made of the zoo. BUT, after writing the full review, we passed them by the zoo's Public Relations staff -- asking them to check it for accuracy. So apparently, that Arizona Trails nocturnal house and Tropical Flights species snuck through the cracks of our accuracy check. Honestly, I think in a book like this, it's almost impossible to be 100% accurate. I hope you'll be happy with our 99% accuracy.

As for Zoo Boise, you're right, I haven't been there. Of the 37 smaller zoos we more briefly reviewed as "Best of the Rest", I've been to 29 of them (some a while back). You're also correct that for Boise, I mostly just looked at the zoo's website (including the map) -- and also looked for anything else we could find about the zoo on the net (there wasn't much available). So sorry we missed the mark on Boise. In retrospect, we probably should have done the same "accuracy check" with the Best of the Rest zoos, but we were running out of time -- and we also were thinking these zoos' staffs might be a bit disappointed at not making the "Top 60" cut.

 

I got my copy of this book earlier this week and i've got to say I haven't been able to put it down!

As a UK zoo fan, I don't have much chance to see the majority of the zoos mentioned (I've only seen 2 of them 8 years ago...) but the book is so in-depth that I have gathered a good image of each one without actually visiting them. I also particularly like the lists that you have used.

Kudos to you ANyhuis!

 

Thanks for responding to the things I pointed out. I just want to reiterate that I absolutely love the book and haven't been able to put it down. You and Jon did a very wonderful job at making a very complete (and mostly acurate ) book. Thanks again for writing it.

And if you ever do find your way up to the northwest again, after Zoo Boise's African Plains exhibit opens in the fall, it will be well worth a visit.

 

Idea for book

It must have been really hard to determine which zoos get into your choice of top 60 and which dont .....
If you make a second edition , could you expand it and write a review of every zoo that has been accredited by AZA ? I am interested in all zoos , except for backyard operations like Guzoo . This includes whoever is ranked 61st , 62nd , 63rd etc ......as well as the top 60 .

Zoos that have been accredited by AZA will have at least minimum standards in place , so they will be of interest to zoofans like myself ....

I have ordered a copy of your book , but it takes 10 working days to get it to NZ .I look forward to recieving it though

 

Nigel said:
==========
It must have been really hard to determine which zoos get into your choice of top 60 and which dont .....
If you make a second edition , could you expand it and write a review of every zoo that has been accredited by AZA ? I am interested in all zoos , except for backyard operations like Guzoo . This includes whoever is ranked 61st , 62nd , 63rd etc ......as well as the top 60.
===========
First, the reason we had to limit our full reviews to 60 was because of a page-limit for the book. Anything more would have made the book more expensive to print, and thus more expensive to see. That decision was made by our publisher. But I DO hope that if we do another revision, we can expand it to the "Top 70" or maybe 75.

As for how the Top 60 were chosen we went through a long tedious and careful process. We started with a discussion where Jon and I agreed on 47 zoos that we were certain should be in the book. We called them "slam dunk" zoos. After that, we didn't yet know what number of zoos our publisher would let us review, so we decided to put the remaining zoo "contenders" in a TENTATIVE numeric order, from #48 all the way to #80, or so. To decide on this ordering, we looked at various zoo statistics (attendance, budget, #species, #animals, acreage, etc.). We also looked at the specific animals on exhibit at the zoos -- which ones have gorillas, which have koalas, okapis, and a lot of other feature or key animals. We looked at which zoos have been opening attractive new exhibits in the last few years. Finally, we of course factored in our own opinions of these zoos (if we had been there). After putting together this ordering (#48-#80), the final step was that one of us literally went out and visited all of the contenders who were anywhere close to the Top 60 -- to confirm if our ordering was correct. In the end, a few of the zoos that were NOT in our Top 60 jumped up and made it into the book, and a few zoos we initially thought would make the Top 60 did not. Please don't ask which ones!

 

I posted a review on Amazon this morning, and I was thrilled to endorse such a wonderful guide book. For my upcoming 8-week vacation (see thread "Summer Road Trip") this book will be an ever-present part of my anatomy as I cart it around to approximately 25 different zoos and aquariums. I'll be ticking off all of the highly-regarded exhibits, circling all the zoos in the top ten categories that I visit, and perusing the pages constantly. It's wonderful to have the lists at the back of the book, and interesting to see some of the selections that were made. It's not surprising to see the San Diego Zoo place in the top ten zoos in 10 out of the 20 categories, but perhaps a little odd to see the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago place in 9 of the categories, and the Denver Zoo place in 8 of the top ten lists. My "local" zoo of Woodland Park in Seattle only made 1 of the 20 lists (asian animals), and yet it is world-renowned for its amazing exhibit design and numerous awards. But lists are there to be debated, and I have been reading and re-reading this book ever since it arrived in the mail. After having read every single word in the book, it is time for me to now go back and go through it all over again!

An "America's Best Aquariums" book would be a fabulous book in its own right, as would a "North America's Best Zoos" in the future. Perhaps add 3-5 Canadian zoos and 3-5 Mexican zoos and voila!! Haha. But don't stop there, as there are some great zoos all over the world...Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Singapore Zoo, Chester Zoo, etc, etc.........

@ANyhuis: It is interesting that due to finances some zoos remain stagnant for years at a time while others seem to open a new exhibit just about every year. Were there a handful of zoos that you feel have progressed faster than others in recent memory? Would you be able to rank the overall top 5-10 zoos in the United States? Obviously the San Diego Zoo and Bronx Zoo would make such a list, but is it even possible to objectively rank great zoos?

 

Our Top Ten Lists

Thanks, Snowleopard, for the review! Also for the comments on our Top Ten Lists. I hope you (and everyone else) realize these lists are from OUR own subjective opinions -- though they were made carefully after much discussion, and after having either seen the zoos in person, or having seen the key exhibits via video.

I'm not at all embarrassed that San Diego, Brookfield, and Denver did very well on our lists. All 3 of these zoos are very complete, with some excellent exhibits. But I'll concede that I cringe a little at the thought that Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo only made one of our lists. That does NOT reflect at all on our overall opinion of that zoo! In fact, my coauthor (Jon) believes Woodland Park is one of the best (Top 10 overall) zoos in America! I don't disagree with Jon on this -- it's just been longer since I've seen the zoo. That it only made one of our Top 10 lists is more a reflection on the way they are organized. The Woodland Park Zoo tends to focus on pouring its excellence into single species exhibits. For example, their new Jaguar Cove is great -- but it's not enough by itself to raise the zoo into our Top Ten for either South American animals or big cats. Similarly, if you look on page 20, you'll see that we informally rated the zoo to have the BEST Grizzly Bear habitat in the nation! But again, it wasn't quite enough to push the zoo onto our Top Ten list for either North American animals or bears. The same thing could be said for their ground-breaking gorilla habitat.

 

adjust my idea a little .......

Perhaps you could look at more than one book , and divide the US up in broad geographical regions . Then you will have a bit more room to include other reasonably good zoos that dont quite make it to the top 60 for each of the regions .

I appreciate your approach on how you selected the 60 best ..... it still must have been difficult for those who were not in the slam dunk category ?

 

Response to Ideas

You are totally correct that it was VERY hard to decide WHICH zoos should make the "60 best"! The final decision was a back-and-forth decision!

As for your idea, it's a good one, but the problem is .... Market. There's not a big enough market for our publisher to make separate books for different regions of the nation. While Jon and I are doing this "for the love of it", our publisher is not. They are in business to make money. (No surprise, I hope). But hopefully, if this book sells good, our next edition can be a bit larger, expanding on both the Top 60 number (ie, Top 70), and also we could maybe do a larger list of "Best of the Rest" zoos. Maybe, combined, we could end up reviewing 125-150 zoos. I'd be all for that.

 

just purchased it too

 

America's Best Zoos - America's Best Zoos

The book's website has been expanded, and there are numerous links to various other wildlife parks and aquariums.

 

Allen, I noticed you had reviews of exhibits that have not yet opened like Minnesota's "Russia's Grizzly Coast", were you granted behind-the-scenes access to exhibits like this? In general how hospitable were various zoos. Did you let them know in advance that you were visiting to write a review for your book, or did you just experience the zoo as any other guest, and then run the review past the various zoos for accuracy checks? I just got done visiting the Phoenix Zoo and noticed your book prominently displayed in the gift shop.

 

Ordinary Guest

Ituri:
First of all, thanks for telling me about Phoenix selling our book! That's the first I've heard of a Zoo gift shop having our book for sale. (Though I know many have ordered it.)

For the most part, I visited the zoos as an "ordinary guest", though I sometimes called (or emailed) ahead to request a press kit (or a press pass). Usually, though, I was visiting multiple zoos on one day, so I didn't want to be tied down to a scheduled appointment. I did, however get a behind-the-scenes tour of the LA Zoo, including a look at their now open new gorilla exhibit and upcoming golden monkey habitat. I also got a walk through the area where the Oakland Zoo's giant panda habitat will be.

On the other hand, my coauthor Jon often did meet with the zoo's PR director or even the Zoo Director. He was seeing many of these zoos for the first time (as opposed to me coming back for a repeat visit), so he wanted to spend more time at each zoo. Yes, he did get to see Minnesota's new Grizzly Coast while it was under construction. He also was walked through Omaha's Lied Jungle by the director -- another reason I don't see the problems some of you do.

By the way, both Jon and I will be going to see Russia's Grizzly Coast this summer. We're very excited to see it. I think it'll be perhaps the second best new exhibit opening this year (2nd only to Miami). Jon will be there for a book-signing on June 21st.

 

Have zoo book, will travel ... : L.A. Unleashed : Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Zoo is probably impressed by the flattering review that it received in the excellent "America's Best Zoos", and this article is promoting the book.

I will personally be visiting the Minnesota Zoo on July 1st, and the "Russian Grizzly Coast" exhibit looks brilliant. Judging from photos and videos the three grizzlies have an exhibit that is extremely similar to Woodland Park Zoo's bear enclosure.

 

Allen,If you still come on here.I just want to say first of all...WOW!!!!!!!This is one of the best books ever written and its so descriptive.I really hope you add a copy of this book called America and Canada's Best Zoo's and Aquariums to shelfs across the world.Please tell Jon Congrats for a fantastic book too.And im glad to see that you guys chose such great exhibits for your lists and all the first place winners definely deserved it.Have a great summer

Zoogoer2000