I've been going to the Bronx Zoo my whole life but today was one of the first days that I really got to see almost every single exhibit and have some thoughts: Birds of Prey exhibit and Aquatic Bird House: It's such a shame that such grand birds are kept in such tiny enclosures, yet a few acres over tiny birds are in the Bird House with so much more room. As for the Aquatic Bird House...it made me sad. The building itself reminded me much more an old college classroom building that just so happened to have clouds painted on the walls here and there. Even the Sea Bird Aviary was lacking in any real 'wow' factor. Ornithology as a whole needs some reform at the BZ. The exhibits just seem so outdated for such a forward thinking zoo. I never even made it to World of Birds as a result. Madagascar: Obviously, amazing. I think more could have been done with the aesthetics of the lemur exhibit but overall, a wonderful time. Butterfly Garden: Though upsetting that there is a 3 dollar entry, the photographic opportunities were worth their weight in gold. Congo: I really found how expansive the exhibit is today, as the gorillas literally cllimbed over head to new peaks and places. The madrill--however--was hiding. A shame. Sea Lion: Their pool is nowhere near big enough. Jungleworld: I also love the exhibits there. I like when things climb into other worlds. However, the poor Black Panthers. It feels so inhumane to keep them in that space. I genuinely think my bedroom is bigger. Wild Asia: For me, it no longer has the same relevance now that there are no Formosen Sika Deer. However, their exhibit at the far end of the park more than makes up for it. Additionally, here is a link to many photos from the day: http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b330/lushintransit/THEZOO/.
Nice review, and I wholeheartedly agree with you in terms of the bird situation. Some people objected here at ZooBeat when I gave an extremely lengthy review of the Bronx Zoo a month ago and criticized the bird exhibits. Fantastic avian collection, but poor enclosures.
It's such a shame because that zoo itself has such a large and plain GORGEOUS collection of birds (particularly the pheasants and several of the birds in the Bird House) but the actually displays are terrible. The chicken wire and rusted green cages around the pheasants take away from their amazing coloring and the Bird House reminded me of college in the most awful of ways. Their next renovations should be--in my mind--a re-do of these locales (and I'm not even a big bird fan myself...). I also think that the world of 'bears' was misleading as the two bears the zoo displays are rather paltry exhibits. The Queens Zoo--as far as New York zoos go--has much better bear displays and the Central Park Zoo--though small--has a wonderful polar bear exhibit.
I love the Bronx Zoo and rate it highly, and so it's somewhat puzzling that their grizzly bear and polar bear grottoes are amongst the worst of their kind. Of course there must be some long-range plan to demolish such ghastly "exhibits".
I think it's ironic. If you think of zoo in the traditional sense (you know, the 1940's movie with popcorn and cages sense), the animals that you think of normally are tigers and bears and other big cats. Yet, at the Bronx Zoo which I *adore*...the traditional animals in that sense have the most deplorable of habitats while the more 'interesting' and 'exotic' creatures have gorgeous and--more importantly--true habitats. Up until Tiger Mountain, the tigers were just part of the Asia exhibit and normally hid most of the time and the bears are just terrible. The other big cats aren't given enough either (black leopard is the one in my mind). I really do hope that there's some long range plan for those exhibits. They're also very user-unfriendly. Most of the children have to climb high up on the bars (which is--of course--not allowed) just in order to see the tip of the exhibit. I understand animals must be sometimes kept at an arms length but this is why many successful polar bear exhibits have FAR more water for the bears and allow guest to see below.
Would agree with your comments on the bear pits, but the aquatic birds house is a gem! It may no longer have hoatzins, but there is a real historical charm to the place, and some great species to be seen. I would like to be able to pick it up and deposit it in a UK zoo.
You should really visit the world of birds. Bronx Zoo just renovated that exhibit and I think they are some of the best bird exhibit in the country. When the Aquatic Bird exhibit was built, it was state of the art exhibit at the time. But that was long time ago. I am pretty confident Bronx zoo will do a spectacular job of design their exhibit when it is financially viable. Just like the way they built their most recent exhibits.
Also, for anyone as insane about categorization as I am...I've moved my photos from this trip here: Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket , completed with scientific name and exhibit. If anyone knows the names of either of those birds that aren't given a name, I'd be eternally grateful!
