Snowleopard's 2017 Road Trip
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
Hey, it was lost on me, and I'm the one who originated it! It actually wasn't a joke. I was responding to one poster who talked about "getting rid" of his ex-spouse, and I was trying to say something nice about SnowLeopard's wife (whom I've met), saying "she's a keeper", meaning she's worth keeping, rather than getting rid of.
Ned's response was the joke - "I'd be keen to stay with a spouse who was a keeper, what zoo does she work at?" was an off-the-cuff quip relating "she's a keeper" to zoos. It seems to have swooshed right over the heads of lots of people.
DAY 12: Wednesday, July 12th
Yesterday was a very long and busy day with the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and 3 small aquariums that I saw late into the night. Today I toured 7 small facilities! The first 5 were all aquatic-based and mainly free of charge, while the Orange County Zoo was only $2 admission and $3 parking…and then the Reptile Zoo in Fountain Valley was $5 but had a staggering number of specimens crammed into what is only two large rooms. Let’s get right to it!
Zoo/Aquarium #29: Marine Mammal Care Center
Along the coast is the city of San Pedro, home to the Oiled Bird Care and Education Center (completely closed to the public) and the Marine Mammal Care Center shares the same acreage. There is a small gift shop and then the Rehabilitation Area includes a half-dozen pools for rescued pinnipeds. I saw several Northern Elephant Seals and at least 8 California Sea Lions, plus the center regularly has Harbour Seals, Northern Fur Seals and even the occasional Guadalupe Fur Seal. This is an honourable establishment and worth a 20-minute visit from the edge of the limited viewing area.
Then I drove 45 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #30: Bolsa Chica Interpretative Center
I headed along the coastline to Huntingdon Beach, still in the Los Angeles greater metropolitan area. This very small building has a Brown Pelican taxidermy specimen at the door that is a little unnerving to see as one enters, but after that it appears as if someone robbed the joint in the middle of the night. There are boxes and cartons haphazardly piled up in corners, placards detailing the surrounding wetlands (which is a protected ecological reserve), and about a dozen exhibits that have species such as Two-Striped Garter Snake, Southern Alligator Lizard, San Diego Gopher Snake, Coastal Rosy Boa, California King Snake, Corn Snake, Lined Shore Crab, California Spiny Lobster Swell Shark and a variety of other fish and anemones in a couple of touch tanks. There is also a long list of taxidermy specimens and most of them are coastal seabirds and birds of prey but the whole place is messy and totally uninviting.
Then I drove 45 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #31: Pacific Marine Mammal Center
I headed along the coastline to Laguna Beach, not that far from downtown Los Angeles, and here I saw some juvenile male Northern Elephant Seals sparring on the edge of their pool and it was an impressive image. I can only just imagine what fully-grown adults would look like in the wild when they clashed in their bloodthirsty battles for supremacy. A group of at least 6 California Sea Lions was also a joy to watch, as they barked and splashed just as sea lions tend to do on a never-ending basis. There was a lot of squabbling amongst the group in their pool.
Now that I’ve visited all 4 of the marine mammal rescue centers in the state of California I question whether they should even be counted as “zoos” at all. I always wrestle whether or not to include some of the pokey little places that may or may not meet a particular individual’s definition of what a zoo represents. If anyone has any thoughts on these marine mammal establishments, then reply on this thread or send me a private message as I’m genuinely intrigued. Of the 4 of them that I’ve toured in the past couple of weeks, by far and away the best of the lot was the one at Sausalito, just outside of San Francisco. Rather than a half-dozen holding pens, that facility had a $32 million building that opened in 2009 and 62 pinnipeds of several species. The goal is to not have any seals and sea lions that need to be rescued, but if there are any that require space and time to recover before being re-released into the wild then the Sausalito location is fantastic.
Then I drove 20 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #32: Ocean Institute
Further along the coast is the city of Dana Point, another popular destination and famous for its extensive harbor that employs more than 1,200 people. There were luxury yachts outside but this place was ultimately a disappointment, even though it is of a high quality and is very well regarded by educators. There is a very large, excellent gift shop and the spacious main building is clean and well-maintained with the whole place on 2.5 acres. A small Tidepool Playscape outdoor zone is for young children, and the Seaside Learning Center (where visitors can learn to tie knots or navigate while at sea) received a $4 million renovation a couple of years ago…but there are no animals in this part of the facility. My disappointment stems from the fact that after I had paid my $5 and entered to see a Living Reef tank (California Spiny Lobster, Surf Perch, Bat Star, etc.), a Kelp Forest tank (California Moray Eels and smaller fish) and a series of smaller tanks and touch pools…that was it! The deal with this place is that it is only truly open to the public on weekends and during the week, even all summer long, it is an aquarium designed to be for school children or camp groups. That is a true shame, as most of the 250,000 annual visitors are kids at local schools (which is wonderful) but what about the average zoo enthusiast that wanders in out of the blue? I had a long talk with a couple of workers and they said that behind-the-scenes is a shark and stingray touch tank (also with a Shovelnose Guitarfish), an exhibit with a California Two-Spot Octopus and then many classrooms with small tanks filled with local species for students to study. Apparently there are hundreds of school groups that use the facility and I could have stayed for another hour to get a small behind-the-scenes tour but it was for only one extra room and I glimpsed inside and there wasn’t anything on-show that I am not already seeing every single day anyway.
Then I drove 3 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #33: Doheny State Beach Interpretative Center & Aquarium
This tiny facility is “the smallest aquarium in the nation” according to the lady behind the counter, and I’m not sure that is something to be proud of. Just a few minutes down the road, in the Doheny State Beach Park that has almost one million annual visitors, is this entrance structure. To be honest this place is of an extremely high standard, with a gorgeously textured touch pool with some fine rockwork surrounding it. There is a set of three tall glass cabinets with 15 or so taxidermy birds, a mounted Cougar on the far wall, and a curiosity cabinet’s worth of whale bones and baleen, shells, rocks and other assorted oddities. Then there is a professionally designed Underwater Adventure area that is made to look like a rocky cave and is home to 5 average-sized fish tanks. The names of these are Lobster Den, Rocky Reef, Kelp Forest, Sandy Bottom and Moray Cave and they wouldn’t look out of place at a major aquarium. Unfortunately, this facility, even with its handful of great tanks, can easily be seen in 20 minutes.
Then I drove 30 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #34: Orange County Zoo
I headed inland and about 45 minutes from the Pacific Ocean, and just east of both Santa Ana and Anaheim, is the small Orange County Zoo in the city of Orange. There are many common species that are found at countless American zoos and the focus is on North American wildlife (Coyote, Mule Deer, Collared Peccary, North American Porcupine, Virginia Opossum, White-Nosed Coati, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Red-Tailed Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, a dozen or so reptile terrariums, etc.) but the zoo’s largest exhibits are for an American Black Bear and a couple of Cougars. Those enclosures are adequate for a half-hour zoo but nothing extraordinary, although a North American Beaver exhibit was rather nice. The real surprise to me was seeing two species that I’ve only seen perhaps 5 times in my lifetime: San Joaquin Kit Fox and Long-Tailed Weasel. Even the smallest zoos are worth visiting!
Practically a stone’s throw away is the Orange County Nature Center, which doesn’t have any live animals but I spent 20 minutes inside nonetheless. There must be close to 100 taxidermy specimens of North American animals (the largest ones being an American Black Bear, a Mule Deer and a few Coyotes), a display on Native Americans and the first indigenous communities in the area, and a centennial display for Irvine Regional Park (1897-1997). In truth the Nature Center doesn’t seem as if it has had any new items in a couple of decades but at least it was free and it was nice to see it busy during my short visit.
Then I drove 30 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #35: Reptile Zoo
I had to go inland and visit Orange County Zoo first because that zoo has very short hours during the week (10:00-3:30) and afterwards I headed back towards the coast to the city of Fountain Valley, a few miles from the shoreline. All of the 7 “zoos” that I toured today are found in the basic layout of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The first part of this facility is a pet shop, with exotic animals for sale and the establishment was packed with people on my visit. Many families were with young children who were buying little containers of live mealworms or handfuls of lettuce that came with tongs. Those tongs, sort of like BBQ forceps, were used while feeding the Red-Eared Sliders and African Spurred Tortoises. It was a bit alarming to see brochures advertising the sale of African Spurred Tortoises or 9 adult tortoises in an enclosure perhaps 15 feet long. Prices ranged from $40-80 per tarantula, to $200 for a Bull Snake or Honduran Milksnake, $400 for a Leopard Tortoise, $300 for a Blue-Tongue Skink or at the high end of things a “Purple Haze” Ball Python for $800.
Seeing a wonderful, diverse collection was great, as where else has 11 monitor species in one location; or Collared, Rhinoceros and Cuban Iguanas; 7 species of gecko; 10 types of tortoise, or almost 30 species of boas and pythons? The downside is that while the smaller animals are mainly in adequate terrariums, there are a LOT of exhibits that are downright awful. There are a couple of the Asian Water Monitors that are longer than their tanks and they are half as wide as their accommodation…they probably sit in one place all their lives. There are a few really big snakes (Reticulated and Burmese Pythons) that are probably double the length of their terrariums and there is zero chance of them stretching out to their full length. Plenty of the iguanas could use a lot more space as from head to the tip of their tail they are filling their tiny tanks. I really do have mixed feelings about this place, from the volume of exotic animals for sale to some of the living conditions.
I took lots of photos of signs and creating the species list took me a long time but it is likely to be 95% accurate…with a few exceptions for snake “morphs”. There must have been at least 6 different colour phases just for the Reticulated Pythons and this facility obviously breeds expensive, specialized animals for the pet trade.
Species List (138):
Crocodilians (2): American Alligator and Cuvier’s Dwarf Caiman.
Lizards (41): Asian Water Monitor (several labeled as “Sulphur-coloured” specimens), Savannah Monitor, Gould’s Monitor, Crocodile Monitor, Black Tree Monitor, Green Tree Monitor, Nile Monitor, Dumeril’s Monitor, Solomon Island Spiny Monitor, Mangrove Monitor, Red Ackie Monitor, Frilled Lizard, Philippine Sailfin Lizard, Panther Chameleon, Veiled Chameleon, Armadillo Lizard, Chuckwalla, Beaded Lizard, Gila Monster, Argentine Black-and-White Tegu, Nigerian Uromastyx, Cuban Knight Anole, Jeweled Lacerta, House Gecko, Velvet Gecko, Crested Gecko, Tiger Crested Gecko, Leopard Gecko, Gargoyle Gecko, New Caledonian Giant Gecko, Bearded Dragon, Prehensile-Tailed Skink, Blue-Tongue Skink, Emerald Tree Skink, Chinese Water Dragon, Brown Basilisk, Green Basilisk, Green Iguana (with Blue Iguana and Red Iguana morphs), Collared Iguana, Rhinoceros Iguana and Cuban Iguana.
Snakes (54): Green Anaconda, Yellow Anaconda, Reticulated Python (with a half-dozen different colours and morphs like Albino, Anthrax, Purple Albino), Dwarf Corn Island Boa, Red-Tailed Boa Constrictor, Dumeril’s Boa, Amazon Tree Boa, Jamaican Tree Boa, Kenyan Sand Boa, Sunset Indian Sand Boa, Solomon Island Tree Boa, Columbian Rainbow Boa, Hog Island Boa, Central American Boa, Tree Garden Boa, Arizona Rosy Boa, Burmese Python, Children’s Python, Diamond Python, Carpet Python (including various colours and an “Axantic” female on sale for $800), Jaguar Carpet Python (a morph?), Ball Python, Mexican Burrowing Python, Spotted Python, African Rock Python, Macklot’s Python, Green Tree Python, Olive Water Python, Black-Headed Python, Blood Python, Woma, California Mountain Kingsnake, Speckled Kingsnake, Grey-Banded Kingsnake, Newport Beach Kingsnake, Arizona Mountain Kingsnake, Mexican Black Kingsnake, Bull Snake, Corn Snake (including morphs such as Albino, Albino Stripe, Anery and Caramel), Western Hognose Snake, Madagascan Hognose Snake, False Water Cobra, Honduran Milksnake, Rufous Beaked Snake, Eastern Indigo Snake, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Southern Pacific Rattlesnake, Black Pine Snake, European Rat Snake, Trans Pecos Rat Snake, Oriental Rat Snake, Texas Rat Snake, Great Basin Gopher Snake and California Gopher Snake.
Chelonians (19): Aldabra Tortoise, African Spurred Tortoise, Radiated Tortoise, Golden Greek Tortoise, Russian Tortoise, Forest Hinge-Back Tortoise, Red-Footed Tortoise, Amazon Basin Yellow-Footed Tortoise, Burmese Black Mountain Tortoise, Leopard Tortoise, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Common Snapping Turtle, Ornate Wood Turtle, Three-Toed Box Turtle, Reeves’ Turtle, Chinese Box Turtle, African Side-Neck Turtle, some kind of Softshell Turtle and Red-Eared Slider.
Amphibians (6): Argentine Horned Frog, White’s Tree Frog, African Bullfrog, Leopard Frog, Fire-Bellied Toad and Cane Toad.
Invertebrates (16): Venezuelan Suntiger Tarantula, Rose Hair Tarantula, King Baboon Tarantula, Rhino-Horned Baboon Tarantula, Socotra Island Blue Baboon Tarantula, Mexican Fire Leg Tarantula, Mexican Red Knee Tarantula, Thai Zebra Tarantula, Costa Rican Tarantula, Pink Toe Tarantula, Vietnamese Scorpion, Flat Rock Scorpion, Emperor Scorpion, Tailless Whip Scorpion, Vietnamese Centipede and Hermit Crab.
Yesterday was a very long and busy day with the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and 3 small aquariums that I saw late into the night. Today I toured 7 small facilities! The first 5 were all aquatic-based and mainly free of charge, while the Orange County Zoo was only $2 admission and $3 parking…and then the Reptile Zoo in Fountain Valley was $5 but had a staggering number of specimens crammed into what is only two large rooms. Let’s get right to it!
Zoo/Aquarium #29: Marine Mammal Care Center
Along the coast is the city of San Pedro, home to the Oiled Bird Care and Education Center (completely closed to the public) and the Marine Mammal Care Center shares the same acreage. There is a small gift shop and then the Rehabilitation Area includes a half-dozen pools for rescued pinnipeds. I saw several Northern Elephant Seals and at least 8 California Sea Lions, plus the center regularly has Harbour Seals, Northern Fur Seals and even the occasional Guadalupe Fur Seal. This is an honourable establishment and worth a 20-minute visit from the edge of the limited viewing area.
Then I drove 45 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #30: Bolsa Chica Interpretative Center
I headed along the coastline to Huntingdon Beach, still in the Los Angeles greater metropolitan area. This very small building has a Brown Pelican taxidermy specimen at the door that is a little unnerving to see as one enters, but after that it appears as if someone robbed the joint in the middle of the night. There are boxes and cartons haphazardly piled up in corners, placards detailing the surrounding wetlands (which is a protected ecological reserve), and about a dozen exhibits that have species such as Two-Striped Garter Snake, Southern Alligator Lizard, San Diego Gopher Snake, Coastal Rosy Boa, California King Snake, Corn Snake, Lined Shore Crab, California Spiny Lobster Swell Shark and a variety of other fish and anemones in a couple of touch tanks. There is also a long list of taxidermy specimens and most of them are coastal seabirds and birds of prey but the whole place is messy and totally uninviting.
Then I drove 45 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #31: Pacific Marine Mammal Center
I headed along the coastline to Laguna Beach, not that far from downtown Los Angeles, and here I saw some juvenile male Northern Elephant Seals sparring on the edge of their pool and it was an impressive image. I can only just imagine what fully-grown adults would look like in the wild when they clashed in their bloodthirsty battles for supremacy. A group of at least 6 California Sea Lions was also a joy to watch, as they barked and splashed just as sea lions tend to do on a never-ending basis. There was a lot of squabbling amongst the group in their pool.
Now that I’ve visited all 4 of the marine mammal rescue centers in the state of California I question whether they should even be counted as “zoos” at all. I always wrestle whether or not to include some of the pokey little places that may or may not meet a particular individual’s definition of what a zoo represents. If anyone has any thoughts on these marine mammal establishments, then reply on this thread or send me a private message as I’m genuinely intrigued. Of the 4 of them that I’ve toured in the past couple of weeks, by far and away the best of the lot was the one at Sausalito, just outside of San Francisco. Rather than a half-dozen holding pens, that facility had a $32 million building that opened in 2009 and 62 pinnipeds of several species. The goal is to not have any seals and sea lions that need to be rescued, but if there are any that require space and time to recover before being re-released into the wild then the Sausalito location is fantastic.
Then I drove 20 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #32: Ocean Institute
Further along the coast is the city of Dana Point, another popular destination and famous for its extensive harbor that employs more than 1,200 people. There were luxury yachts outside but this place was ultimately a disappointment, even though it is of a high quality and is very well regarded by educators. There is a very large, excellent gift shop and the spacious main building is clean and well-maintained with the whole place on 2.5 acres. A small Tidepool Playscape outdoor zone is for young children, and the Seaside Learning Center (where visitors can learn to tie knots or navigate while at sea) received a $4 million renovation a couple of years ago…but there are no animals in this part of the facility. My disappointment stems from the fact that after I had paid my $5 and entered to see a Living Reef tank (California Spiny Lobster, Surf Perch, Bat Star, etc.), a Kelp Forest tank (California Moray Eels and smaller fish) and a series of smaller tanks and touch pools…that was it! The deal with this place is that it is only truly open to the public on weekends and during the week, even all summer long, it is an aquarium designed to be for school children or camp groups. That is a true shame, as most of the 250,000 annual visitors are kids at local schools (which is wonderful) but what about the average zoo enthusiast that wanders in out of the blue? I had a long talk with a couple of workers and they said that behind-the-scenes is a shark and stingray touch tank (also with a Shovelnose Guitarfish), an exhibit with a California Two-Spot Octopus and then many classrooms with small tanks filled with local species for students to study. Apparently there are hundreds of school groups that use the facility and I could have stayed for another hour to get a small behind-the-scenes tour but it was for only one extra room and I glimpsed inside and there wasn’t anything on-show that I am not already seeing every single day anyway.
Then I drove 3 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #33: Doheny State Beach Interpretative Center & Aquarium
This tiny facility is “the smallest aquarium in the nation” according to the lady behind the counter, and I’m not sure that is something to be proud of. Just a few minutes down the road, in the Doheny State Beach Park that has almost one million annual visitors, is this entrance structure. To be honest this place is of an extremely high standard, with a gorgeously textured touch pool with some fine rockwork surrounding it. There is a set of three tall glass cabinets with 15 or so taxidermy birds, a mounted Cougar on the far wall, and a curiosity cabinet’s worth of whale bones and baleen, shells, rocks and other assorted oddities. Then there is a professionally designed Underwater Adventure area that is made to look like a rocky cave and is home to 5 average-sized fish tanks. The names of these are Lobster Den, Rocky Reef, Kelp Forest, Sandy Bottom and Moray Cave and they wouldn’t look out of place at a major aquarium. Unfortunately, this facility, even with its handful of great tanks, can easily be seen in 20 minutes.
Then I drove 30 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #34: Orange County Zoo
I headed inland and about 45 minutes from the Pacific Ocean, and just east of both Santa Ana and Anaheim, is the small Orange County Zoo in the city of Orange. There are many common species that are found at countless American zoos and the focus is on North American wildlife (Coyote, Mule Deer, Collared Peccary, North American Porcupine, Virginia Opossum, White-Nosed Coati, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Red-Tailed Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, a dozen or so reptile terrariums, etc.) but the zoo’s largest exhibits are for an American Black Bear and a couple of Cougars. Those enclosures are adequate for a half-hour zoo but nothing extraordinary, although a North American Beaver exhibit was rather nice. The real surprise to me was seeing two species that I’ve only seen perhaps 5 times in my lifetime: San Joaquin Kit Fox and Long-Tailed Weasel. Even the smallest zoos are worth visiting!
Practically a stone’s throw away is the Orange County Nature Center, which doesn’t have any live animals but I spent 20 minutes inside nonetheless. There must be close to 100 taxidermy specimens of North American animals (the largest ones being an American Black Bear, a Mule Deer and a few Coyotes), a display on Native Americans and the first indigenous communities in the area, and a centennial display for Irvine Regional Park (1897-1997). In truth the Nature Center doesn’t seem as if it has had any new items in a couple of decades but at least it was free and it was nice to see it busy during my short visit.
Then I drove 30 minutes…
Zoo/Aquarium #35: Reptile Zoo
I had to go inland and visit Orange County Zoo first because that zoo has very short hours during the week (10:00-3:30) and afterwards I headed back towards the coast to the city of Fountain Valley, a few miles from the shoreline. All of the 7 “zoos” that I toured today are found in the basic layout of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The first part of this facility is a pet shop, with exotic animals for sale and the establishment was packed with people on my visit. Many families were with young children who were buying little containers of live mealworms or handfuls of lettuce that came with tongs. Those tongs, sort of like BBQ forceps, were used while feeding the Red-Eared Sliders and African Spurred Tortoises. It was a bit alarming to see brochures advertising the sale of African Spurred Tortoises or 9 adult tortoises in an enclosure perhaps 15 feet long. Prices ranged from $40-80 per tarantula, to $200 for a Bull Snake or Honduran Milksnake, $400 for a Leopard Tortoise, $300 for a Blue-Tongue Skink or at the high end of things a “Purple Haze” Ball Python for $800.
Seeing a wonderful, diverse collection was great, as where else has 11 monitor species in one location; or Collared, Rhinoceros and Cuban Iguanas; 7 species of gecko; 10 types of tortoise, or almost 30 species of boas and pythons? The downside is that while the smaller animals are mainly in adequate terrariums, there are a LOT of exhibits that are downright awful. There are a couple of the Asian Water Monitors that are longer than their tanks and they are half as wide as their accommodation…they probably sit in one place all their lives. There are a few really big snakes (Reticulated and Burmese Pythons) that are probably double the length of their terrariums and there is zero chance of them stretching out to their full length. Plenty of the iguanas could use a lot more space as from head to the tip of their tail they are filling their tiny tanks. I really do have mixed feelings about this place, from the volume of exotic animals for sale to some of the living conditions.
I took lots of photos of signs and creating the species list took me a long time but it is likely to be 95% accurate…with a few exceptions for snake “morphs”. There must have been at least 6 different colour phases just for the Reticulated Pythons and this facility obviously breeds expensive, specialized animals for the pet trade.
Species List (138):
Crocodilians (2): American Alligator and Cuvier’s Dwarf Caiman.
Lizards (41): Asian Water Monitor (several labeled as “Sulphur-coloured” specimens), Savannah Monitor, Gould’s Monitor, Crocodile Monitor, Black Tree Monitor, Green Tree Monitor, Nile Monitor, Dumeril’s Monitor, Solomon Island Spiny Monitor, Mangrove Monitor, Red Ackie Monitor, Frilled Lizard, Philippine Sailfin Lizard, Panther Chameleon, Veiled Chameleon, Armadillo Lizard, Chuckwalla, Beaded Lizard, Gila Monster, Argentine Black-and-White Tegu, Nigerian Uromastyx, Cuban Knight Anole, Jeweled Lacerta, House Gecko, Velvet Gecko, Crested Gecko, Tiger Crested Gecko, Leopard Gecko, Gargoyle Gecko, New Caledonian Giant Gecko, Bearded Dragon, Prehensile-Tailed Skink, Blue-Tongue Skink, Emerald Tree Skink, Chinese Water Dragon, Brown Basilisk, Green Basilisk, Green Iguana (with Blue Iguana and Red Iguana morphs), Collared Iguana, Rhinoceros Iguana and Cuban Iguana.
Snakes (54): Green Anaconda, Yellow Anaconda, Reticulated Python (with a half-dozen different colours and morphs like Albino, Anthrax, Purple Albino), Dwarf Corn Island Boa, Red-Tailed Boa Constrictor, Dumeril’s Boa, Amazon Tree Boa, Jamaican Tree Boa, Kenyan Sand Boa, Sunset Indian Sand Boa, Solomon Island Tree Boa, Columbian Rainbow Boa, Hog Island Boa, Central American Boa, Tree Garden Boa, Arizona Rosy Boa, Burmese Python, Children’s Python, Diamond Python, Carpet Python (including various colours and an “Axantic” female on sale for $800), Jaguar Carpet Python (a morph?), Ball Python, Mexican Burrowing Python, Spotted Python, African Rock Python, Macklot’s Python, Green Tree Python, Olive Water Python, Black-Headed Python, Blood Python, Woma, California Mountain Kingsnake, Speckled Kingsnake, Grey-Banded Kingsnake, Newport Beach Kingsnake, Arizona Mountain Kingsnake, Mexican Black Kingsnake, Bull Snake, Corn Snake (including morphs such as Albino, Albino Stripe, Anery and Caramel), Western Hognose Snake, Madagascan Hognose Snake, False Water Cobra, Honduran Milksnake, Rufous Beaked Snake, Eastern Indigo Snake, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Southern Pacific Rattlesnake, Black Pine Snake, European Rat Snake, Trans Pecos Rat Snake, Oriental Rat Snake, Texas Rat Snake, Great Basin Gopher Snake and California Gopher Snake.
Chelonians (19): Aldabra Tortoise, African Spurred Tortoise, Radiated Tortoise, Golden Greek Tortoise, Russian Tortoise, Forest Hinge-Back Tortoise, Red-Footed Tortoise, Amazon Basin Yellow-Footed Tortoise, Burmese Black Mountain Tortoise, Leopard Tortoise, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Common Snapping Turtle, Ornate Wood Turtle, Three-Toed Box Turtle, Reeves’ Turtle, Chinese Box Turtle, African Side-Neck Turtle, some kind of Softshell Turtle and Red-Eared Slider.
Amphibians (6): Argentine Horned Frog, White’s Tree Frog, African Bullfrog, Leopard Frog, Fire-Bellied Toad and Cane Toad.
Invertebrates (16): Venezuelan Suntiger Tarantula, Rose Hair Tarantula, King Baboon Tarantula, Rhino-Horned Baboon Tarantula, Socotra Island Blue Baboon Tarantula, Mexican Fire Leg Tarantula, Mexican Red Knee Tarantula, Thai Zebra Tarantula, Costa Rican Tarantula, Pink Toe Tarantula, Vietnamese Scorpion, Flat Rock Scorpion, Emperor Scorpion, Tailless Whip Scorpion, Vietnamese Centipede and Hermit Crab.
Seven facilities in one day must be a world record!
Well, no bargain buys there...^^
Jaguar Carpet Python = morph
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Nope one behind mine and I know of people that have done into double figures in one day.
Just out of curiosity which 8 have you done zg?
As for double figures I'm guessing the German bird parks visited by Maguari, Robmv and others would be up there.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
I was with the user's mentioned the day they did it. Well we even managed to throw in Speyer Sealife into the mix. I will list the 8 later tonight.
DAY 13: Thursday, July 13th
After a crazy couple of days with a grand total of 11 “zoos”, although many were puny facilities, today saw me visit the remnants of the old Los Angeles Zoo (long since closed down and deserted) and then the modern Los Angeles Zoo. Back in 2008 my wife Debbie and I went on a lengthy road trip that was about 8 weeks in length, as both being teachers we have summers off to frolic around the USA. While crossing California on the last leg of our epic journey we made our way to the Los Angeles Zoo and met Mario (aka “mstickmanp” on ZooChat) and he was a fresh-faced youngster who was only 18 years old. I had only been married for just over a year, none of our 4 kids had been born, and I was not yet even a high school teacher as I entered the teacher training program in the fall of 2008. Mario was a volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo and he spent the day showing us most of the animals in the zoo. Flash-forward 9 years and now 27 year-old Mario met me at the zoo at 9:00 so that we could tour the old, abandoned Los Angeles Zoo before heading into the “real zoo” when it opened at 10:00. In the 9 years since we met, Mario has gone to university and earned a 4-year degree in zoology, and he now has a fiancée and a part-time job at the zoo he has loved for his entire life. He is a hoofstock keeper and while he works 20 or more hours now, his plan is to become a full-time keeper in the year that he gets married…in 2018! Getting a job at the LA Zoo is ultra-competitive, with keepers applying from all over the nation as it is one of the highest paying zoos in the USA. There are literally hundreds of applicants for jobs all over the zoo, with a 4-year university degree obviously a necessity these days. A far cry from the old days of zoos when the keepers would all be men that had quite often zero qualifications other than they could operate a shovel and hose!
We spent perhaps half an hour strolling around the old LA Zoo, with its still-standing grottoes, cages and rusty bars, and many of the structures were built by WPA Projects in the 1930’s. After that tour, Mario obtained our free tickets, as he is allowed to take one other individual into the zoo with him, and we entered directly at 10:00 when the zoo finally opened for the day. Mario works with a variety of ungulates (and occasionally the African Lions) and he and I had a great day together. We started our tour right when the gate opened and we left at 4:30, only half an hour before the zoo closed for the day. Including our tour of the old LA Zoo it was a 7.5-hour day and we visited a couple of sections twice and had some cool experiences, as well as a terrific chat over lunch. Even though the Los Angeles Zoo has many hit-and-miss exhibits, I would give the day a 10 out of 10 in terms of enjoyment.
Zoo/Aquarium #36: Los Angeles Zoo
I’d first like to go into some detail in regards to LAIR. The fairly new Reptile House (LAIR) is fantastic, with approximately 50 modern, ultra-naturalistic exhibits. The Southwest Desert Building is the weaker element as it contains commonly found species in a very small room that also is like a sauna on a hot Los Angeles day. Even so, the size and variety of the terrariums is something to be admired. The larger building is air-conditioned, features almost all non-native specimens, and there is a wide variety of both venomous snakes and rarities. A keeper-friend saw Mario and I and before we knew it we were in the behind-the-scenes area and being introduced to a pair of reptile keepers. We walked inside the building’s largest exhibit (home to Fly River Turtle, Mary River Turtle, Roti Island Snake-Necked Turtle, Australian Lungfish and a couple more Australian fish species). From our vantage point inside the exhibit we saw the animals being fed catfish, as well as a stream of visitors seeing us looking down on them. We were then given a tour of the main building and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff is really cool and quite a contrast to the behind-the-scenes tour I had at Fresno Chaffee Zoo last week. No disrespect to the excellent Fresno Zoo, but the Reptile House there is almost 40 years old while the one in Los Angeles is only 5 years old.
Away from the eyes of visitors we saw a trio of spacious off-show terrariums that were stacked on top of each other and they all contained a West African Green Mamba, plus a 4th mamba was already on exhibit to the public. There were Armenian Vipers in many sealed containers, and several other venomous species all in double-locked terrariums that were done up like Fort Knox. One of the snakes was so rare that it is possibly found at only a couple of other locations worldwide and keeper Greg was keen to show it off but later on Mario and I couldn’t quite recall the name (something like Black Horned Viper, but I could be wrong). A Boyd’s Forest Dragon was taken out and handled by a keeper, a Gaboon Viper terrarium was opened (while we stood far back) and the snake was sprayed with a water bottle as it won’t drink from a bowl. We then went behind-the-scenes in the Southwest Desert building with keeper Byron and it was great to see LAIR from both the visitor perspective and also from the keeper side of things in both of the structures.
In terms of Reptile Houses, Los Angeles Zoo now has a great one although it is not even in the same ballpark as Fort Worth Zoo’s MOLA. An unfair comparison for sure, but LA has around 50 exhibits while Forth Worth has 100 exhibits and 150+ species compared to LA’s 70 or so species. Great zoos for reptiles and amphibians in America? There are loads of zoos with 100+ species on-show but sometimes it is not all about the numbers as in Los Angeles the quality of the reptile habitats is impressive. See the list below, basically ranked in my personal order, but by no means definitive.
Possibly the dozen best zoos in the USA for reptiles/amphibians:
- San Diego Zoo – this facility has the best outdoor reptile section plus a ton of great terrariums and 200+ species in total. A truly great zoo for cold-blooded critters.
- Fort Worth Zoo – one of the best Reptile Houses on the planet and at 30,000 sq. ft. it is almost four times larger than the two buildings at Los Angeles Zoo combined. Fort Worth is unbeatable if one were to rank single, stand-alone Reptile Houses. There are 100 exhibits in MOLA.
- Saint Louis Zoo – a grand old, historic structure with 100 species. Fantastic all-around collection with another 100 species off-show.
- Detroit Zoo – one historic reptile building and one modern amphibian structure.
- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo – 240 species in total but not all on-show. Still, at least 120+ terrariums spread around the zoo. Startling to consider the zoo’s enormous collection without having an actual Reptile House.
- Dallas Zoo – one of the largest collections of reptiles and amphibians in the nation, with approximately 125 exhibits plus a huge off-show selection.
- Los Angeles Zoo – In the #7 position. There are 70 species in the two LAIR buildings but the quality is extremely high although it was much smaller than I anticipated as many of the terrariums are directly next to each other.
- Nashville Zoo – terrific Reptile House focusing on Central + South American species.
- Denver Zoo – 150 species (including off-show) in the enormous Tropical Discovery building.
- Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum – plenty of species in some very natural-looking terrariums.
- Houston Zoo – 100 species on-exhibit plus many more off-show.
- Bronx Zoo – a vast collection in a solid Reptile House.
Moving on from Reptile Houses, highlights from the day include:
- Going through LAIR in the morning and then again at the end of the day, and getting behind-the-scenes tours of both buildings.
- I got to pet and feed a 13 year-old Nile Hippo. To use a modern catchphrase…totally awesome dude!!! I was allowed to scratch, rub and pat the head of a female Nile Hippo for a few minutes and she apparently enjoys that touching as she closed her eyes the whole time I did it. The “pink sunscreen” secretions on her face made for a sticky and slimy touch. I also fed her several handfuls of lettuce, carrots and even a melon as I felt one of her sharp teeth. A wonderful, enchanting, ten-minute experience.
- We saw 3 Red Uakaris in their exhibit set off from the main path.
- A female Bornean Orangutan vocalized for a couple of minutes…something you never actually hear the apes do.
- Some great views of a baby Siamang.
- Two visits to the outstanding Australia House. This long dormant structure reopened to the public in 2015 and while we didn’t see the Sugar Gliders or Woylies we did see some incredibly active Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombats on both visits.
- The two Tasmanian Devils scarcely stopped moving as they explored their exhibits.
- Loads of rarities: Greater One-Horned Rhino (the oldest specimen in the nation), Mountain Tapir (with another 3-4 off-exhibit), Sichuan Takin, Okapi, Calamian Deer (only at one other AZA-accredited zoo in the USA), Lowland Anoa (only at 10 zoos in the country), Black Duiker, Chinese Goral (unseen), Southern Gerenuk, Peninsular Pronghorn, Chacoan Peccary, Yellow-Footed Rock Wallaby, Red Uakari (only zoo in the country), Koala, Tasmanian Devil, Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat, Giant Otter (in two exhibits and we saw at least 6-7 otters), Panay Cloud Rat (unseen), Double-Wattled Cassowary, Sarus Crane, Harpy Eagle, Indian Gharial (4 specimens), West African Green Mamba (several off-show), South American Bushmaster, Perentie, Grey’s Monitor, Fly River Turtle and Chinese Giant Salamander (two of them).
Some other bits and bobs:
- Elephants of Asia is a colossal improvement on what was there before, but probably not in the same ballpark as other elephant exhibits like North Carolina, Nashville (pre-rhinos), Dallas, Sedgwick County, Omaha, Reid Park, Oklahoma City and maybe a couple of other places. Mario said that every single day that he works at the zoo there are complaints from visitors about the elephant viewing because the enclosure is seen in tiny snippets and even today I understood the nature of the complaints. We saw the male elephant (Billy) from one side but by the time we walked around the zoo and got close to where he was the darn guy had already wandered over to where we previously were. Mario said that is a common occurrence and the exhibit is a very different design and not entirely successful. The theming is great but not being allowed in the barn is disappointing…although the largest of the 4 habitats does have some great views and overall I was impressed. However, the design is a bit quirky in comparison to other elephant habitats. We saw all 4 of the pachyderms as a 4th elephant (from Fresno) was just added a couple of weeks ago.
- Rainforest of the Americas is for the most part excellent and I loved seeing the Giant Otters.
- Still lots of crap here: species like Steller’s Sea Eagle, African Fish Eagle, Mandrill, other large animals and worst of all two species of gibbon (Siamang and Golden-Cheeked) in the 1960’s-era roundhouse cages. Some of those c-shapes exhibits work really well for smaller animals (Perentie, Cape Rock Hyrax, Radiated Tortoise, etc.) but for the larger animals they are very poor.
- Bornean Orangutan exhibit is much better than I remembered it to be, as Mario pointed out the many new climbing structures that were added just a few years ago and after my 2008 visit. I was much more impressed this time around, even though as usual ALL of the orangs were on the ground. What is it with zoo orangutans sitting on grass with climbing opportunities near them?
- Campo Gorilla Reserve is still a weak gorilla exhibit…it has not aged well at all.
- Junky enclosures for prominent animals like lions, tigers, giraffes, zebras, black bears and several ungulates with mock-rock blobs that are decades out of fashion.
- No less than 12 closed exhibits, from several roundhouse cages to smaller terrariums. That is too much for a major zoo in the middle of summer, and I’m not even including the old sea lion pool that still sits desolate and empty near the Children’s Zoo.
Overall, Los Angeles Zoo is clearly a must-see facility, with 30+ species that I would classify as a rarity in the North American zoo world. Off-show there is apparently much more to see, and the zoo has specialized in duikers. There is a combined 22 or so duikers of three different species (Yellow-Backed, Black, Red-Flanked) but most of them are off-exhibit, along with the extra Mountain Tapirs. There is a LOT of walking involved, with a big gap between the entrance and the main part of the zoo and substantial steep sections in-between exhibits. The zoo is larger than San Diego but there are sections with no animals to be seen anywhere while at San Diego there are habitats poking out of crevices and no shortage of exhibits. Los Angeles is a zoo that I very much enjoyed visiting, with lots of very good enclosures and a long list of outdated ones, and I had some cool experiences that might not be replicated anywhere else. Mario is convinced that at least 75% of the zoo will be dramatically altered with the next Master Plan and so I suppose that we’ll all have to wait and see how that plays out.
After a crazy couple of days with a grand total of 11 “zoos”, although many were puny facilities, today saw me visit the remnants of the old Los Angeles Zoo (long since closed down and deserted) and then the modern Los Angeles Zoo. Back in 2008 my wife Debbie and I went on a lengthy road trip that was about 8 weeks in length, as both being teachers we have summers off to frolic around the USA. While crossing California on the last leg of our epic journey we made our way to the Los Angeles Zoo and met Mario (aka “mstickmanp” on ZooChat) and he was a fresh-faced youngster who was only 18 years old. I had only been married for just over a year, none of our 4 kids had been born, and I was not yet even a high school teacher as I entered the teacher training program in the fall of 2008. Mario was a volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo and he spent the day showing us most of the animals in the zoo. Flash-forward 9 years and now 27 year-old Mario met me at the zoo at 9:00 so that we could tour the old, abandoned Los Angeles Zoo before heading into the “real zoo” when it opened at 10:00. In the 9 years since we met, Mario has gone to university and earned a 4-year degree in zoology, and he now has a fiancée and a part-time job at the zoo he has loved for his entire life. He is a hoofstock keeper and while he works 20 or more hours now, his plan is to become a full-time keeper in the year that he gets married…in 2018! Getting a job at the LA Zoo is ultra-competitive, with keepers applying from all over the nation as it is one of the highest paying zoos in the USA. There are literally hundreds of applicants for jobs all over the zoo, with a 4-year university degree obviously a necessity these days. A far cry from the old days of zoos when the keepers would all be men that had quite often zero qualifications other than they could operate a shovel and hose!
We spent perhaps half an hour strolling around the old LA Zoo, with its still-standing grottoes, cages and rusty bars, and many of the structures were built by WPA Projects in the 1930’s. After that tour, Mario obtained our free tickets, as he is allowed to take one other individual into the zoo with him, and we entered directly at 10:00 when the zoo finally opened for the day. Mario works with a variety of ungulates (and occasionally the African Lions) and he and I had a great day together. We started our tour right when the gate opened and we left at 4:30, only half an hour before the zoo closed for the day. Including our tour of the old LA Zoo it was a 7.5-hour day and we visited a couple of sections twice and had some cool experiences, as well as a terrific chat over lunch. Even though the Los Angeles Zoo has many hit-and-miss exhibits, I would give the day a 10 out of 10 in terms of enjoyment.
Zoo/Aquarium #36: Los Angeles Zoo
I’d first like to go into some detail in regards to LAIR. The fairly new Reptile House (LAIR) is fantastic, with approximately 50 modern, ultra-naturalistic exhibits. The Southwest Desert Building is the weaker element as it contains commonly found species in a very small room that also is like a sauna on a hot Los Angeles day. Even so, the size and variety of the terrariums is something to be admired. The larger building is air-conditioned, features almost all non-native specimens, and there is a wide variety of both venomous snakes and rarities. A keeper-friend saw Mario and I and before we knew it we were in the behind-the-scenes area and being introduced to a pair of reptile keepers. We walked inside the building’s largest exhibit (home to Fly River Turtle, Mary River Turtle, Roti Island Snake-Necked Turtle, Australian Lungfish and a couple more Australian fish species). From our vantage point inside the exhibit we saw the animals being fed catfish, as well as a stream of visitors seeing us looking down on them. We were then given a tour of the main building and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff is really cool and quite a contrast to the behind-the-scenes tour I had at Fresno Chaffee Zoo last week. No disrespect to the excellent Fresno Zoo, but the Reptile House there is almost 40 years old while the one in Los Angeles is only 5 years old.
Away from the eyes of visitors we saw a trio of spacious off-show terrariums that were stacked on top of each other and they all contained a West African Green Mamba, plus a 4th mamba was already on exhibit to the public. There were Armenian Vipers in many sealed containers, and several other venomous species all in double-locked terrariums that were done up like Fort Knox. One of the snakes was so rare that it is possibly found at only a couple of other locations worldwide and keeper Greg was keen to show it off but later on Mario and I couldn’t quite recall the name (something like Black Horned Viper, but I could be wrong). A Boyd’s Forest Dragon was taken out and handled by a keeper, a Gaboon Viper terrarium was opened (while we stood far back) and the snake was sprayed with a water bottle as it won’t drink from a bowl. We then went behind-the-scenes in the Southwest Desert building with keeper Byron and it was great to see LAIR from both the visitor perspective and also from the keeper side of things in both of the structures.
In terms of Reptile Houses, Los Angeles Zoo now has a great one although it is not even in the same ballpark as Fort Worth Zoo’s MOLA. An unfair comparison for sure, but LA has around 50 exhibits while Forth Worth has 100 exhibits and 150+ species compared to LA’s 70 or so species. Great zoos for reptiles and amphibians in America? There are loads of zoos with 100+ species on-show but sometimes it is not all about the numbers as in Los Angeles the quality of the reptile habitats is impressive. See the list below, basically ranked in my personal order, but by no means definitive.
Possibly the dozen best zoos in the USA for reptiles/amphibians:
- San Diego Zoo – this facility has the best outdoor reptile section plus a ton of great terrariums and 200+ species in total. A truly great zoo for cold-blooded critters.
- Fort Worth Zoo – one of the best Reptile Houses on the planet and at 30,000 sq. ft. it is almost four times larger than the two buildings at Los Angeles Zoo combined. Fort Worth is unbeatable if one were to rank single, stand-alone Reptile Houses. There are 100 exhibits in MOLA.
- Saint Louis Zoo – a grand old, historic structure with 100 species. Fantastic all-around collection with another 100 species off-show.
- Detroit Zoo – one historic reptile building and one modern amphibian structure.
- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo – 240 species in total but not all on-show. Still, at least 120+ terrariums spread around the zoo. Startling to consider the zoo’s enormous collection without having an actual Reptile House.
- Dallas Zoo – one of the largest collections of reptiles and amphibians in the nation, with approximately 125 exhibits plus a huge off-show selection.
- Los Angeles Zoo – In the #7 position. There are 70 species in the two LAIR buildings but the quality is extremely high although it was much smaller than I anticipated as many of the terrariums are directly next to each other.
- Nashville Zoo – terrific Reptile House focusing on Central + South American species.
- Denver Zoo – 150 species (including off-show) in the enormous Tropical Discovery building.
- Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum – plenty of species in some very natural-looking terrariums.
- Houston Zoo – 100 species on-exhibit plus many more off-show.
- Bronx Zoo – a vast collection in a solid Reptile House.
Moving on from Reptile Houses, highlights from the day include:
- Going through LAIR in the morning and then again at the end of the day, and getting behind-the-scenes tours of both buildings.
- I got to pet and feed a 13 year-old Nile Hippo. To use a modern catchphrase…totally awesome dude!!! I was allowed to scratch, rub and pat the head of a female Nile Hippo for a few minutes and she apparently enjoys that touching as she closed her eyes the whole time I did it. The “pink sunscreen” secretions on her face made for a sticky and slimy touch. I also fed her several handfuls of lettuce, carrots and even a melon as I felt one of her sharp teeth. A wonderful, enchanting, ten-minute experience.
- We saw 3 Red Uakaris in their exhibit set off from the main path.
- A female Bornean Orangutan vocalized for a couple of minutes…something you never actually hear the apes do.
- Some great views of a baby Siamang.
- Two visits to the outstanding Australia House. This long dormant structure reopened to the public in 2015 and while we didn’t see the Sugar Gliders or Woylies we did see some incredibly active Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombats on both visits.
- The two Tasmanian Devils scarcely stopped moving as they explored their exhibits.
- Loads of rarities: Greater One-Horned Rhino (the oldest specimen in the nation), Mountain Tapir (with another 3-4 off-exhibit), Sichuan Takin, Okapi, Calamian Deer (only at one other AZA-accredited zoo in the USA), Lowland Anoa (only at 10 zoos in the country), Black Duiker, Chinese Goral (unseen), Southern Gerenuk, Peninsular Pronghorn, Chacoan Peccary, Yellow-Footed Rock Wallaby, Red Uakari (only zoo in the country), Koala, Tasmanian Devil, Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombat, Giant Otter (in two exhibits and we saw at least 6-7 otters), Panay Cloud Rat (unseen), Double-Wattled Cassowary, Sarus Crane, Harpy Eagle, Indian Gharial (4 specimens), West African Green Mamba (several off-show), South American Bushmaster, Perentie, Grey’s Monitor, Fly River Turtle and Chinese Giant Salamander (two of them).
Some other bits and bobs:
- Elephants of Asia is a colossal improvement on what was there before, but probably not in the same ballpark as other elephant exhibits like North Carolina, Nashville (pre-rhinos), Dallas, Sedgwick County, Omaha, Reid Park, Oklahoma City and maybe a couple of other places. Mario said that every single day that he works at the zoo there are complaints from visitors about the elephant viewing because the enclosure is seen in tiny snippets and even today I understood the nature of the complaints. We saw the male elephant (Billy) from one side but by the time we walked around the zoo and got close to where he was the darn guy had already wandered over to where we previously were. Mario said that is a common occurrence and the exhibit is a very different design and not entirely successful. The theming is great but not being allowed in the barn is disappointing…although the largest of the 4 habitats does have some great views and overall I was impressed. However, the design is a bit quirky in comparison to other elephant habitats. We saw all 4 of the pachyderms as a 4th elephant (from Fresno) was just added a couple of weeks ago.
- Rainforest of the Americas is for the most part excellent and I loved seeing the Giant Otters.
- Still lots of crap here: species like Steller’s Sea Eagle, African Fish Eagle, Mandrill, other large animals and worst of all two species of gibbon (Siamang and Golden-Cheeked) in the 1960’s-era roundhouse cages. Some of those c-shapes exhibits work really well for smaller animals (Perentie, Cape Rock Hyrax, Radiated Tortoise, etc.) but for the larger animals they are very poor.
- Bornean Orangutan exhibit is much better than I remembered it to be, as Mario pointed out the many new climbing structures that were added just a few years ago and after my 2008 visit. I was much more impressed this time around, even though as usual ALL of the orangs were on the ground. What is it with zoo orangutans sitting on grass with climbing opportunities near them?
- Campo Gorilla Reserve is still a weak gorilla exhibit…it has not aged well at all.
- Junky enclosures for prominent animals like lions, tigers, giraffes, zebras, black bears and several ungulates with mock-rock blobs that are decades out of fashion.
- No less than 12 closed exhibits, from several roundhouse cages to smaller terrariums. That is too much for a major zoo in the middle of summer, and I’m not even including the old sea lion pool that still sits desolate and empty near the Children’s Zoo.
Overall, Los Angeles Zoo is clearly a must-see facility, with 30+ species that I would classify as a rarity in the North American zoo world. Off-show there is apparently much more to see, and the zoo has specialized in duikers. There is a combined 22 or so duikers of three different species (Yellow-Backed, Black, Red-Flanked) but most of them are off-exhibit, along with the extra Mountain Tapirs. There is a LOT of walking involved, with a big gap between the entrance and the main part of the zoo and substantial steep sections in-between exhibits. The zoo is larger than San Diego but there are sections with no animals to be seen anywhere while at San Diego there are habitats poking out of crevices and no shortage of exhibits. Los Angeles is a zoo that I very much enjoyed visiting, with lots of very good enclosures and a long list of outdated ones, and I had some cool experiences that might not be replicated anywhere else. Mario is convinced that at least 75% of the zoo will be dramatically altered with the next Master Plan and so I suppose that we’ll all have to wait and see how that plays out.
You can't recall the name? You realize this is going to drive some ZooChat members quite insane!
Arizona Doc. is right..a fair tip when unsure of something in a herp collection is to ask the scientific name as the vernacular is frequently open to interpretation anyway;it also saves face as few people could be expected to remember ALL the scientific names -even a genus would have given us a better idea.Overall though, a great review of a place im very fond of.Knew a couple folks here pretty well over the years. Curator Mike Dee is now retired and of course Jason Jacobs is head guy at Tucson.
The_UltimateBea
Well-Known Member
We're all wondering why you didn't include Elephant Odyssey in that list.
Atheris matildae?
Yeah, that can be an issue with some gaboon vipers; my male specimen did that for a while.
West African mambas + Fly river turtles = rarities?
To my knowledge, both of these species are found in a number of US zoos and aquaria. Fly River turtles, in particular, are a popular choice of large aquatic turtle.
I'm glad you enjoyed LAIR, @snowleopard: it's definitely my favorite part of LA Zoo and what the collection lacks in quantity, it makes up for in rarities. The new addition of Indian gharials just upgraded it even more.
Even though the arrangement of the elephant exhibit is rather odd, I actually like that setup. Having the huge exhibit in the middle of the zoo helps me orient myself when I'm walking around, which is especially useful considering how awful it can be trying to navigate the paths.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
Okay as promised the 8 I did in a day
1) Vogelpark Reilingen
2) Vogelpark Oberhausen
3) Sealife Centre Speyer
4) VogelparkSchifferstadt
5) Vogelpark Birkenheide
6) Luisenpark: Mannheim
7) Vogelpark Heddesheim
8) Vogelpark Viernheim
Some of those were pretty sizeable collections
mstickmanp
Well-Known Member
The snake was a Black-tailed horned pitviper (M. melanurus)!
Scott, it was great hanging out at the zoo with you again after 9 years. It was also my first full visit of the zoo since I got hired, so I'm glad I got to do it with another zoo nerd like me.
One thing I would like to clarify, in that I may have misspoken, is that I do think Elephants of Asia is quite successful actually. Although it is entirely frustrating for patrons to not be able to see the elephants from one side or the other, I think it works great for the elephants. For example, the India and China portion of the exhibit is one long yard that allows them to choose the sunny/waterfall (India) side or the more shaded/forest (China) side. The China side is also barely visible from the public side, but it's a great opportunity for the elephants to get away compared to being on the Cambodia or Thailand side, which has the elephants always on view. The elephants are also rotated between exhibits, giving them a different experience every day. As for the complaints from patrons, I understand, and hopefully something can be done in the future to allow easier access to all sides of the exhibit.
Scott, it was great hanging out at the zoo with you again after 9 years. It was also my first full visit of the zoo since I got hired, so I'm glad I got to do it with another zoo nerd like me.
One thing I would like to clarify, in that I may have misspoken, is that I do think Elephants of Asia is quite successful actually. Although it is entirely frustrating for patrons to not be able to see the elephants from one side or the other, I think it works great for the elephants. For example, the India and China portion of the exhibit is one long yard that allows them to choose the sunny/waterfall (India) side or the more shaded/forest (China) side. The China side is also barely visible from the public side, but it's a great opportunity for the elephants to get away compared to being on the Cambodia or Thailand side, which has the elephants always on view. The elephants are also rotated between exhibits, giving them a different experience every day. As for the complaints from patrons, I understand, and hopefully something can be done in the future to allow easier access to all sides of the exhibit.
Ah, Mixcoatlus melanurus! That is indeed a rare species, even though I've seen it offered for Hamm last year. ^^
That's why I asked. Both are more or less regularly offered in the international exotic pet trade, too.