So over this past Labor day weekend I took a short, 4 day trip over to the USA, the destination was, as the title implies, Philadelphia. Originally I was going to spend the long weekend in Miami, taking in the famous Miami Zoo (and possibly some small places near there), but hurricane Dorian put an end to that plan, so I ended up in Philadelphia. I ended up visiting two places, the Philadelphia Zoo and the Adventure Aquarium. Reviews will hopefully come out shortly, probably in the next week or so.
Philadelphia Zoo Review The zoo was the very first thing I did upon my arrival into Philadelphia on Thursday, August 29th. This fight day was probably the most exhausting day of the trip, I woke up at 4:30 am to catch a 7 o’clock flight, and after a relatively short 1:30 hour voyage, I was in Philadelphia! From the Airport I went immediately to the zoo, walked around the establishment for 5 hours and then explored Philadelphia a little. Suffice to say I was completely exhausted by the end of the day, although it was definitely worth it! Anyways, the main reason I went to Philadelphia was to see the zoo, although to be honest I didn’t really know much about. I’d originally planned to visit Miami so I didn’t have time to research into the zoo that much, and there isn’t really much talk about this zoo on Zoochat. All I knew was that it was the oldest American Zoo and that opinions about it were pretty conflicted. Some people seemed to really enjoy it, while others didn’t, although I’d say I’d definitely fall into the former category. While it isn’t competition for the San Diego’s or Bronx’s, I loved my visit and it would easily make my top 10 zoos list. Okay, so after passing through the scenic gates, buying my ticket and briefly viewing and average Black-Handed Spider Monkey enclosure, I made my way to the first major exhibit, the Rare Animal Conservation Center. I have conflicted feelings about this exhibit, on one hand I enjoyed the eclectic species list and there were some real rarities, but the exhibit quality left a lot to be desired. For the smaller monkeys like the Geoffroy’s Marmoset or Golden Lion Tamarin these exhibits are pretty good with adequate space and lots of climbing structures, but for the medium-to-large primates these exhibits are definitely inadequate. The Red-Capped Mangabeys in particular get the short end of the stick, there exhibit is about the same size as the Tamarin one, and their enclosure has very few climbing opportunities. So overall I enjoyed viewing the exhibit and re-visited it multiple times throughout the day, but the area needs some pretty major improvements before it could be considered “good” (like maybe building traditional outdoor enclosures for the species). I compiled a species list for this area, as I found the mix of species very interesting and there are some excellent rarities. Species List: Rodrigues Fruit Bat, Golden Lion Tamarin, Two-Toed Sloth, Naked Mole RatGeoffroy’s Marmoset, Prehensile-Tailed Porcupine, Pied Tamarin, Blue-Eyed Black Lemur (lifer!), Rep-Capped Mangabey, White-Faced Saki, Francois Langur, Mongoose Lemur, Giant Elephant Shrew, Bolivian Gray Titi Monkey, Eclectus Parrot. The next exhibit I came to was the Reptile and Amphibian House and I was really impressed by this exhibit. This is a deceptively large house and it’s divided into three parts; the first area contains mostly smaller snakes and amphibians, the second has a King Cobra exhibit as a centrepiece and the final are has larger snakes and Crocodilians. I really enjoyed the first part, its mostly snakes and they aren’t really my cup of tea snakes but there are a lot of different exhibits and they are for the most part pretty good. The second area is very good also, the centrepiece King Cobra exhibit is very nice and some of the surrounding exhibits are quite large for their inhabitants. Wasn’t really impressed with the Snapping Turtle exhibit however. The third and final area was a little hit-or-miss, species like Chinese Alligator and West African Crocodile are cool, but their exhibits weren’t the best, and the other exhibits were only so-so. An excellent outdoor Aldabra Tortoise enclosure rounds out the exhibit, which has its flaws but is still very enjoyable. I then visited the KidZooU, which surprised me a lot as this the best “kid Zoo” I’ve ever visited. This is almost entirely down to the Zoo360 component, which takes ordinary barnyard animals like Goats, Sheep and Horses and makes it a joy to view. The Zoo360 area consists of a bridge that goes over the head of visitors, a long pathway viewable from outside the kid zoo in which animals can walk between exhibits and then stone steps which connect to another exhibit. It’s a brilliant idea which maximizes space and creates interesting viewing opportunities for the visitors. I’m surprised more zoos aren’t utilizing this concept. Elsewhere in the kid-Zoo there’s a separate barnyard area and a medium sized building with some Budgies, a small coral reef tank, assorted herps and some rats. I then made my way to the Small Mammal House, which was the exhibit I was the most excited to see in the entire zoo. The house starts off nicely, with a small nocturnal section for Pygmy Slow Loris and Vampire Bat. Both are obviously delightful species, and they were both active in their decent exhibits. After that, there’s a long row of small-ish box-enclosures for mostly rodents (and a Pygmy Marmoset) and although the species list isn’t incredible, I was pleasantly surprised with the exhibit quality. At first glance the little box exhibits appear to be inadequate and cramped, but each species in this area has 2-3 of these boxes, and when you add them up these exhibits are pretty good for the small species they contain. I then made my way to the final area of the house, a tall, domed room containing Aardvarks and an indoor Meerkat enclosure on one side and a two-toed Sloth/Porcupine (not sure which species) mixed enclosure. Outside the house contained my favourite part of the complex, the outdoor Meerkat enclosure. This is a part of the Zoo360 project and consists of a trail system of wire tunnels with a sandy floor substrate, interspersed with 2-3 wire “towers” that the Meerkats can lookout on, as well as a average sized main exhibit with a fake Rhino head adding height to the enclosure. This exhibit is deceptively large, the viewing is unique and the Meerkats were active and putting on a great show. At this point in the visit I was really enjoying the zoo, I’d enjoyed all the exhibits and almost all were of a high quality, so I was bound for a disappointment. I got that in the form of the Outback Outpost, a bland and uninspiring Kangaroo/Emu exhibit that was especially disappointing when I learned that this is a new exhibit. Luckily this disappointment didn’t last long as I soon made my way to the African Penguin exhibit, which is another great enclosure. It was very clear as soon as I saw it that this was not an exhibit designed for Penguins - it was the Zoos former Polar Bear exhibit - and this means the exhibit has a large land area and a pool bigger than your average Penguin exhibit. The nearby Bear Country is also pretty good. It contains Sloth and Andean Bears and while the Andean exhibit is only so-so, the Sloth Bear exhibit is large and thickly vegetated. The nearby African Plains is a hit-or-miss area, an (under renovation) White Rhino exhibit is ho-hum, as is the Giraffe enclosure, while a Hippo exhibit is one of the worst in the zoo, with a small land area and a minuscule pool. This area is saved by an excellent Mhorr Gazelle/ Red River Hog/ Southern Ground-bill exhibit that, given the destructive nature of Red River Hogs is improbably lush and grassy. I then made my way to the newest exhibit at the zoo, Water is Life, which struck me as a bit of an odd name because of the three species in this complex (Red Panda, Fossa and Giant Otter), only one of them strikes me as an animal you’d have in an aquatic-themed exhibit. Odd name aside, this exhibit is really nice, and is another part of the Zoo360 campaign. Red Pandas are up first and it consists of two average-sized exhibits connected by an overhead tunnel. Not a world-class exhibit but certainly above average. The Fossa exhibit is too small and a bit disappointing, although on this day it was using the small primates Zoo360 exhibit, so was replaced with a North American Porcupine, imo a better fit for the enclosure. Giant Otters are the stars of the show, and they get three different exhibits, a small, dissatisfying exhibit akin to the Fossa one, a long exhibit with underwater viewing and a big pool, and my personal favourite, a rocky exhibit with a shallow, medium-sized pool and a slide. All three are connected and they come together to make a really good exhibit, probably one of the best Otter enclosures I’ve seen. I then came to the most northerly section of the zoo, which is an odd little area with no specific focus. That doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting though! The area starts out with Domestic Chickens and then a large meshed aviary for un-releasable Bald Eagles. Maned Wolf and Cheetah are oddly placed beside each other in grassy enclosures that then lead into a meshed exhibit for Black and White Colobus Monkeys. An aviary for non-releasable Turkey Vultures and Crested Caracara ends this strange corner of the zoo. A short ways away is the McNeil Avian Centre, which is a small but pleasant bird house. It consists of 5 exhibits, the first is a smallish rainforest exhibit in the main hall, the second is a nice African savanna aviary, the third has an island theme with great species like the Guam Rail and Kingfisher, and the final exhibit is about coffee and its link to birds. There’s one more exhibit in this house and it’s easily the highlight, a large tropical walk-through aviary. Although compared to walk-through aviaries at other zoos it’s nothing special , the exhibit is of a good size, lushly planted and with nice species like Aracari and Victorian Crowned Pigeon. All in all, a good little house that won’t win any awards but makes for an enjoyable 20 minute visit. At this point in my visit there were only two exhibits I hadn’t seen (apart from the small but pleasant Bird Valley), but these were also the biggest and most popular exhibits in the zoo. The first of these two exhibits I came to was Big Cat Falls, an exhibit I was anticipating to be pretty good, as I’d heard mostly good things about it in the past. I think this exhibit matched my expectations, it isn’t great but is still a good complex. It was built in 2007 and feels newer than most of the zoo; signage is bright and modern, viewing is shiny, Zoo360 is implemented and the whole thing looks well-done and polished. The species list is about what you’d expect from an exhibit titled “Big Cat Falls”; African Lion, Amur Leopard, Amur Tiger, Jaguar, Puma and Snow Leopard. The one drawback is exhibit size, apart from the Amur Tiger exhibit which is easily the best in the complex, the exhibits are small for a new exhibit. Not tiny, and still pretty good with decent shade, natural features, enrichment, etc, it’s just a little disappointing that a new exhibit couldn’t have bigger enclosures. The final exhibit I saw was also the exhibit I’ve heard the most about, the PECO Primate Reserve. I’ve heard almost universal criticism for this exhibit, and after visiting I must say that this criticism is valid, this is probably the worst area of the zoo. That’s not to say everything is terrible, Ring-Tailed Lemurs have a nice island, Sifaka indoor/outdoor enclosure is fine, Aye-Ayes are always great to see and Zoo360 is of course brilliant. That being said, everything else is pretty terrible. Gorillas have an okay sized outdoor enclosure, but there’s almost zero shade and just one wooden climbing structure. Unsurprisingly the Gorillas were huddled in the one shady area of the enclosure. The Orangutan/Gibbon enclosure is actually a decent size but there are very few climbing structures, making most of this exhibit unusable. Inside is not much better. These species have have small, concrete indoor enclosures with a little hay, a couple of climbing beams and very little else. The rest of the house is very forgettable, the enclosures weren’t great and I’m not sure if any other species in the house had outdoor access. What is most surprising is that this exhibit was built not too long ago in the 1990’s (or maybe early 2000’s), which makes this area completely unacceptable. Instead of going for a modern approach, the exhibit goes back to an old-style monkey house and fails miserably. Probably the only actual disappointing exhibit I saw all day. Interestingly, I’ve almost finished my Philadelphia Zoo review and yet I haven’t fully talked about my favourite thing about the zoo, the Zoo360 development. For those who don’t know, Zoo360 is a unique trail system that allows animals to move between enclosures as well as adding extra outdoor space for certain species. This development is currently in 6 different exhibits at the zoo; the Rare Animal Conservation Centre, the Big Cat Falls, the PECO Primate Reserve, the Meerkat exhibit at the small mammal house, the KidZoo and the brand-new Water is Life enclosures. All of these are quite different from one another, but combined they form an amazing set of exhibits. From a practical standpoint this is also a great idea, Philadelphia actually has a pretty small acreage for a major zoo at 42 acres, so building up instead of out is a great idea. It also adds an extra element to viewing. Not only does it create new and unique angles and ways to see animals but it also adds a sense of surprise as you never know what animals you’ll see using them. I’m honestly surprised no other zoos have copied them, yes zoos like San Diego or Cleveland have exhibits that have meshed passageways between enclosures, but Philadelphia’s is on a massive scale with a load of different species. So overall I really enjoyed the Philadelphia Zoo. It was more consistent then I was expecting, with exhibit highlights being the Reptile House, Red River Hog mixed enclosure and Amur Tiger exhibits. The collection hits most of the notes you’d expect from a major zoo, although there are still rarities like Slow Loris and Aye-Ayes. I’d compare this zoo to a Cincinnati or Brookfield, although I think it’s slightly better than Brookfield and while Cincinnati has the larger collection I think Philadelphia has more consistent exhibitory. I Would definitely recommend this zoo, it’s historic with a good collection and solid exhibits. I also visited Adventure Aquarium, that review should be posted relatively soon.
Thanks for the review and 5 hours seems as if it is the average time to see all that the Philadelphia Zoo has to offer. I am looking forward to your review of an aquarium with an all-indoor hippo exhibit!
Nice review. It sounds like Philadelphia has really cut down on their collection over the last few years. Were there any interesting species being exhibited in the old Bird Valley yards?
Thanks! I know very little about Philadelphia's history, but it definitely felt like the collection used to be much larger. This is probably for the better, as exhibits like the Small Mammal House and Bird Valley have some nice exhibits that were clearly separate exhibits brought together for one species. Speaking of Bird Valley, I can't recall any species apart from Chilean flamingo and Trumpeter Swan, although I can sort of remember seeing White-Faced Whistling Duck as well. 5 hours seems about right for Philadelphia, it's not massive but takes up most of a day. And I have quite a bit to say about the Adventure Aquarium, and especially that Hippo exhibit!
For sure, the Small Mammal House was formerly cramped for some of its residents. It was pretty cool how many different orders of mammals were to be found there a decade ago though. Everything you mentioned was there, along with short-beaked echidna (nocturnal hall), striped possum (nocturnal hall), lesser hedgehog tenrec (diurnal hall), Northern treeshrew (diurnal hall), African hedgehog (diurnal hall), pygmy shrew (diurnal hall), African dormouse (nocturnal hall), African striped weasel (nocturnal hall), Eurasian red squirrel (outside), and blue duiker (outside), among others.
Yeah, it would've been awesome to see all of those animals, especially the Weasel and Echidna. It would be interesting to have visited he zoo 10 years ago and come back to the house, as it's almost completely changed. I really liked the house but there's probably some extra space for more enclosures. I remember seeing hedgehog in the house, are you sure the African Hedgehogs have left the collection?
Interesting review! I'm glad to hear someone else enjoyed the meerkats as much as I do, people on here tend to overlook it because "it's just meerkats" but it's such a fantastic exhibit. Same with the children's zoo! They did a remarkable job transforming that space. The rat show they do is really good, I'm not normally one to watch talks/shows but I always try to make it. A few points - With the conservation center, the zoo360 trails allow the animals to go outside, climb, etc. They're rotated several times a day and everyone gets to use them, from the little tamarins to the mangabeys. The trails were created to give the animals more room in such limited space, and they worked hard at incorporating real trees for climbing, etc. The trail from the conservation center goes all the way down to the primate house and around. The fossa isn't kept in the water is life area at all, they just never changed the sign. He's behind the scenes and in the 360 trail. Water is life combined some old exhibits, hence the weirdness. The smallest otter one used to have black-footed cats.The red pandas were already there. I'm not sure why they picked that overall theme, other than maybe they were given all of those machines and whatnot. It worked better as a small carnivore area! That end of the zoo has changed a lot, and my beloved cheetahs and maned wolves have gotten the short end of the stick lately. It used to be a continuation of Africa - they had african wild dogs instead of maned wolves, and the eagle, owl, etc areas were a long camel-ride trail. Those two exhibits are among the newest at the zoo. I'm really hoping they upgrade the cheetahs and maned wolves next, but I think they're going to have to wait a few more years In Big Cat Falls, the animals also get rotated among the exhibits, so no one animal or species is stuck in the smaller spaces all the time. They also all get rotated with the 360 trail. There's pretty much always animals in the 360 trails, other than when they shut the meerkats in/the weather is too severe for them to be used. I think it's a fantastic, innovative way to give animals with smaller enclosures room to move about, see different things, and explore. The big cats are even able to "hunt" the primates.
