What is your favorite zoo and why.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I went to the Dallas Zoo today and was less than impressed. Maybe it is because I like to see a lot of animals that you can get close to. I will admit that aside from the one in Columbia, South Carolina, I had not seen a zoo in over 20 years. I liked the Columbia zoo. Maybe it is because I like to watch the penguins and in South Carolina there were many of active penguins. In Dallas, I will admit that the apes were moving about, but very little else was.

Also, anybody been to the Ft Worth zoo? Should I see that one?

SSG Schwartz

2

The San Diego Zoo is the best in the world, IMO.

3

The San Diego Zoo is indeed a great one. The one in Singapore is just as good, too, and there’s even a Night Safari there that’s pretty cool.

Example at Singapore: The wife and I are strolling along in the zoo, when this monkey jumps down from the trees and wanders off. Many of the monkeys are allowed to roam around, because knowing this is where they get fed, they won’t leave.

4

I haven’t been to many zoos, and I’m not in a a particularly accessible part of the world for you, but I like Taronga Zoo in Sydney, which is often cited as one of the best in the world.

5

San Quentin

6

The Omaha Zoo is freaking amazing. Yes, I’m serious, and I’ve been to the San Diego Zoo, and Omaha’s kicks SD’s little furry butt all over town. And I was surprised that this was the case.

7

St. Louis Zoo is pretty awesome. Of course, it’s the only one I’ve been to outside of a podunk (but impressive given its size) zoo in Manhattan, KS.

8

I thought Taronga Zoo was really good. I hadn’t been to much in the way of zoos before though so I have little to compare it against.

Things that stood out to me were the lack of obvious enclosure boundaries for many of the animals and a fantastic talk and demonstration by a trainer and his New Zealand Fur Seal. The trainer gave an interesting talk and the seal demonstrated various things without any obvious cue from the trainer (it turned out he was using subtle foot and hand signals.) Another standout memory is the giant tortoise enclosure where a male tortoise was trying to mate with a female tortoise. The female was “running” away and the male was chasing her. He was about two feet behind her and the chase was happening at about one mile per hour. A similar sight to the Simpsons episode where Grandpa is chasing a tortoise who has his false teeth.

9

I love the Singapore Zoo.

The zoo in Cairo, Egypt is pure hell.

A favorite “zoo - ette” is the Pana’ewa Zoo outside Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. It is very small (except for their white tiger Namaste they don’t have any big animals) and it is more like a park with some animals added than a real zoo. But – it is clean, absolutely beautiful, a wonderful place for a stroll or a picnic, and the staff couldn’t be nicer. Also, it is free.

The Rangunan Zoo in Jakarta used to be a horror show (visitors feeding the giraffes candy, no intervention by guards, animals dying from lack of the proper feed), but I haven’t been back in years. My son’s school just took a field trip there so I guess it has been improved a bit.

Dopers, I expect you all to drop whatever you are doing and visit Singapore, Jakarta, Cairo, and Hawaii so that you can see this for yourselves.

10

Columbus, Ohio and San Diego are my favorites.

11

I have to agree with silenus – the San Diego Zoo blew me away. I knew it was big when I visited in 1980, but I didn’t realize what they had:

A Clouded Leopard! I’d read about these in Frank Buck’s books, but I’d never even heard of a zoo having them

Koala Bears! Back then, it was unheard of for anyplace outside Australia to have them (We’ve since had the m even up here in Boston). They had special dispensation and a special breeding program for the little cuddly guys.
KOMODO DRAGONS!!! I’d read about them all my life. The Museum of Natural History in New York has a diorama of them (moved fro m the older, confining Hall of Reptiles to a big hexagonal tank in the newer Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians many years ago, and their peeling skins repaired), but I didn’t realize that any US zoo had LIVE ones.

Worst US Zoo – The Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, about 30 years ago. I rode there on my bike and started in at the northern entrance. Aside from the huge Aviary cage, I saw no animals – just a broad stretch of unbroken grass. I started walking through. There were buildings on the sides, but they were closed, and clearly had been for a long time. Even the one with carved elephant heads. Soon I saw a gate in the distance. “Aha!” I thought, “THAT must be the entrance to the zoo!” It was – it was the other entrance. I’d walked all the way through the zoo without seeing a single animal. I swear it’s true. (There were cages, but they were well off to the sides. I hadn’t seen them.) When I saw the movie Altered States andd saw the scene with the rhinoo, I had to laugh. Not only is there no rhino in a Boston Zoo, I don’t think they ever had one.

Of course, it’s much better today. About the time I returned to the city, they added the Tropical World exhibit, with its gorillas and other things. They added a Lion pen, and enclosures for zebras and giraffes, ostriches and antelope.

The other Boston Zoo, the Stone Zoo, was actually closed by the city so they could concentrate on the Frankllin Park Zoo, but viewer interest and donations kept the Stone Zoo going, and it’s now again a part of the Boston Zoo system, and has recovered fro m the Lean Years when it was almost empty.

12

Koalas aren’t bears. They’re marsupials.

13

Yeah, and Jellyfish ain’t fish, and Goeducks ain’t ducks.
But when I was growing up, we called 'em Koala Bears and we liked it!

Now get off my lawn.

14

Yes – though some marsupials do have names which suggest that they are related to placental mammals, e.g., the Tasmanian tiger, which was just called that because it was striped (it looked a lot more like a dog than a tiger).

And, of course, I’ve never seen a live Tasmanian tiger, but the last time I saw koalas was three weeks ago at the Columbus Zoo, which is a very good zoo for its size, including many animal enclosures designed to be very open-looking, to resemble the animals’ natural habitat. I have a collection of pictures taken at the Columbus Zoo over several visits at Columbus Zoo | Flickr

15

The New Orleans Audubon Zoo is great. I also loved the Cincinnati Zoo and the Tulsa, OK zoo.

As noted above, New England is not the place to be for zoos in general. However, the largest zoo in New England is the Southwick Zoo in Mendon, MA and it is completely private. It started out as an exotic animal collection on a farm and grew from there over many decades. It is interesting because it looks like you are driving to a farm on back roads when you go there yet it has over 100 acres of animals some of which like deer herds you can walk around in the woods with and hand feed them. They have most everything.

16

I took MilliCasl there last year. It was almost deserted (it was raining), but it was a hoot! We have to go back sometime when it’s dry.

And it’s near a functioning drive-in theater!

17

I have to mention Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago, although I’m biased because it’s the only zoo I’ve been to more than once (I’m a member so I go a few times a year). They’ve come a long way since the 1930’s in making the habitats more natural and accessible, and in emphasizing the educational and ecological aspects. It’s covers a large area, so there are a lot of open and wooded spaces to walk around in. Nearly every exhibit or building has its own unique character, and they keep adding and improving.

18

While I can’t say I recall any zoo trips from my school days with any fondness, the New England Aquarium was always a trip I enjoyed. It’s not the best zoo, but I think it’s a great aquarium, which deserves a mention.

19

Yes, they are both great. We do both many times a year when they are open. The drive-in is very good. They have first run movies (double-features) and a huge concession stand that is way cheaper than a traditional theater. I highly recommend it. It is a godsend for us because we have a 5 year old and 1 year old that basically bars us from most regular movie theaters. However, the drive-in sometimes sells out over an hour in advance the weekend a blockbuster is released. That isn’t typical but beware of that.

20

I came in to mention Columbus, mostly because it’s my ‘home’ zoo.

Other cool things about columbus’ zoo…

Jack Hanna. He is just a cool guy, he brought a lot of attention to zoo issues on various national TV shows and did a lot to improve our zoo.

Oscar the gorilla. 2nd child of Colo who was the first gorilla born in captivity. Oscar and I share a birthday (though he was born a few years earlier) and more than once we spent my birthday at the zoo with the highlight being a visit to see Oscar. We had it setup with the zookeepers ahead of time so that we could bring him a watermelon and they would give it to him while we were there.