Planning trip to Boston, MA
- Thread starter Kakapo
- Start date
They're the aquariums.
FunkyGibbon
Well-Known Member
I've never been to the east coast of America, but if this was my trip I think I would forget about the zoos of Boston altogether and just hop on a bus to New York for as long as I could reasonably spend away from the family holiday.
Kakapo
Well-Known Member
I've tought in that, and my mother (I will travel with her) in fact purposed it, the problem is that we only can spend one day at NY and this city offers too much for such small amount of time! I would need two entire days for the best natural history museum in the world, one day for Bronx and one for the botanical. And visiting half of the museum will mean that I must revisit some other year
I'd say if you have time do southwick's. it's the biggest zoo in new england and one of the few holders of african leopard in the US and the only holders of vicuna in the US although it is not a member of the AZA it is a member of the ZAA. But honestly i'd say only do it if you have time because fpz is a little bit better.
What makes Southwick's Leopard an African? To my knowledge it's nothing more than a generic zoomix Leopard.
Vicuna are extremely common in Europe.
~Thylo
Every time it is mentioned by the zoo they call it "African leopard" which seems to be being used as if it is a proper species name along the lines of Snow Leopard or Clouded Leopard (but really is just the same way that zoo-mix tigers are invariably called "Bengal tigers").
I tried finding a source for the animal but all I got was that it was "orphaned at a young age" and taken in by the zoo. It's been there a long time though - it already seems to have been an adult in 2007.
Yeah I've seen lots of African Leopards in non-accredited US zoos, but I've never seen an African Leopard.. Similar situation to the Bengal Tiger as you mentioned.
~Thylo
I haven't found a lot of info on the leopard, in a video I think they said that he came from another zoo because he was hand rased because his mother wouldn't take care of him or something similar to that. I remember them saying that the zoo that he came from closed. maybe if we found the zoos he was originally from that might help. i'll try to find the vid I think it's on southwick's youtube.
Yeah I watched that before. She says the leopard was born in "another zoo" and that zoo is now closed.
When I visited the Boston area, I really loved Southwick's Zoo. Its a very nice zoo even though its not AZA accredited. When I went in summer 2012 they had a great primate collection with Patas Monkeys, Grivets, White Collared Mangabeys, Capuchins, Chimps, etc.... They also have an African Leopard, Bearded Pigs and Brazilian Tapirs as well as a walk through deer exhibit. I never got to the Franklin Park Zoo but I did get to the New England Aquarium and didn't like it for the most part but the reason I went there is because they have Northern Fur Seals which are really cool pinnipeds and I had never seen any except in museums until that point. If your family is going to see other things than zoos I HIGHLY recommend the Museum of Fine Arts near Fenway Park! Its my favorite museum in Boston (and I'm a natural history museum kinda guy) and they have plenty of stuff to see including Egyptian sarcophagi, huge Revolutionary War paintings and early American folk art. You can preview it on Google Streetview. If you have extra time I also suggest the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Its only a couple blocks away and is a very unique museum with different themed rooms with different art all collected by Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. If you're running short on time and can't make it to Cambridge I'd suggest skipping the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Its a bunch of really old mounts clumped together in cabinets of curiosity style. They have no dioramas. The only highlights going for it is the 40 foot Kronosaurus skeleton and the Blankshe flowers exhibit.
Have fun and enjoy your time in "The City on a Hill". Be sure to use the MBTA. Its a great way to get around the city!
Have fun and enjoy your time in "The City on a Hill". Be sure to use the MBTA. Its a great way to get around the city!
Southwick's no longer keeped bearded pig and, as discussed, they do not keep African Leopard.
For me the most interesting species I saw at Southwick's is the supposed Northern Tamandua which came from LEO here in Connecticut and before that a private keeper somewhere. It's technically off-exhibit, though, and need a bit of luck to see it.
~Thylo
For me the most interesting species I saw at Southwick's is the supposed Northern Tamandua which came from LEO here in Connecticut and before that a private keeper somewhere. It's technically off-exhibit, though, and need a bit of luck to see it.
~Thylo
I'm always sort of bemused how whenever an American is discussing their country's zoos they invariably have to mention whether a zoo is AZA or not. It's only Americans that are seemingly obsessed with accreditation in this way. Anywhere else on the forum it might be mentioned in passing if a zoo is part of a governing zoo body (e.g. the EAZA), but with Americans it is like that is the most important thing, to the extent that there are members who have stated that they will never visit a zoo which isn't in the AZA. It's baffling to me.
Sorry about that. As soon as I saw the thread title, I immediately started typing.
Why do I feel soo guilty of this?
Normally, I tend to stick to AZA facilities, but I make exceptions for places that have a good collection, good husbandry and in general, would be worthy of accreditation (e.g. Metro Richmond Zoo). I think it is a big deal to us because of the recent animal rights blows, and that normally, the unaccredited roadside zoos and whatnot are (maybe?) a bigger deal here than in Europe, Canada, or Australia.
Just to be honest, I'm not all that into AZA accreditation. I for one think they're too strict on certain things (like protected contact with certain species and other rules) and I just mentioned it because southwick's has a very different feel to it than I feel a regular AZA institution usually has. That's all.
That's because there is a stigma that only AZA accredited facilities are good and all non-AZA accredited facilities are bad. It's like the moment the little symbol appears on the zoo's website it's automatically a world-class facility but the moment it's taken away it becomes a worthless roadside zoo. AZA zoos tend to be of a higher quality because the AZA has standards, but the AZA also has strict regulations on what species are allowed to be kept by member zoos- sometimes to the point that if a zoo chooses to work with a non-AZA approved species they risk losing their membership. While I wouldn't say I've ever been to a bad zoo, I've been to a good few subpar ones but they haven't always been non-AZA. With a few notable exceptions such as Space Farms and Biomes Marine Biology Center, the only real difference I've noticed in many of the non-AZA facilities I've visited vs the AZA accredited ones is the animal collection.
~Thylo
I don't care if a facility is AZA or not. As long as its a zoo with good quality exhibits.
Sorry to keep the thread off topic but do you have any examples of this? The closest thing I know of is the Taxon Advisory Groups (TAGs) but they certainly are not end all be all and are more guidelines than anything.