NYC or Chicago: Which city is better for a species list hunter?

[AmbikaFan]

If you must stay within city limits, I think Chicago beats NY hands down. Brookfield + Lincoln Park + Field + Shedd add up to more than Bronx + Natural History. The four other WCS zoos are just too small to really bother with unless you want to see a specific species, like the sea otters or certain ducks. CPZ and PP are so small and crunched into urban density that they don't even have parking.

Now, this changes if you have compelling non-zoo interests, like the historic rides at Coney Island near the Aquarium or the historic Lefferts House in Brooklyn next to PPZ. There are a lot of cool things in Central Park to explore including Belvidere Castle, and it's right across the street from the history museum. The Queen's Zoo is on the site of the 1939/1964 World's Fairs, and there are some iconic structures like the Unisphere and three abandoned towers. It's also the site of the US Open tennis complex, the Mets' Citi Field, a science museum, and an art museum.

 

[Ebirah766]

Adsa's shilling for his home zoo

 

[AmbikaFan]

Adsa's shilling for his home zoo

I believe Tinopup is a fan of Lehigh Valley and visits somewhat frequently. @Hipporex could always message her or check on thread reports. And, um, @Ebirah766, weren't you just suggesting the completely-unremarkable Turtleback Zoo?

 

[birdsandbats]

Chicago probably wins here - New York may have Bronx but that cannot beat the simply massive species list at Shedd. It's hard to comprehend for someone who has never visited before. If you had a week in Chicago, and you were only interested in zoos (specifically ones where you will see something new), it would look something like this:

-One day at Lincoln Park Zoo/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
-One day at Brookfield Zoo
-Several days at Shedd
-Maybe one or days at some of the lesser known collections outside the city (I don't know much about these - @pachyderm pro could tell you more).

It really only takes one day to see Shedd. But if you plan on taking note of every species you see, spending time at each tank and trying find all the species, plus take some photographs, Shedd could take three days, easily. Maybe even more.

 

[TZDugong]

Chicago probably wins here - New York may have Bronx but that cannot beat the simply massive species list at Shedd. It's hard to comprehend for someone who has never visited before. If you had a week in Chicago, and you were only interested in zoos (specifically ones where you will see something new), it would look something like this:

-One day at Lincoln Park Zoo/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
-One day at Brookfield Zoo
-Several days at Shedd
-Maybe one or days at some of the lesser known collections outside the city (I don't know much about these - @pachyderm pro could tell you more).

It really only takes one day to see Shedd. But if you plan on taking note of every species you see, spending time at each tank and trying find all the species, plus take some photographs, Shedd could take three days, easily. Maybe even more.

While I agree that Chicago is probably the right option I’d strongly disagree that the Shedd takes multiple days to tour. Personally I don’t think Shedd even takes a day (I did it last year in 3 hours), but I cannot see anyone needing more than a day, even if you’re taking lists of all species.

Time would be better spent doing a day-trip to Milwaukee or going further afield to Detroit or Columbus.

 

[birdsandbats]

While I agree that Chicago is probably the right option I’d strongly disagree that the Shedd takes multiple days to tour. Personally I don’t think Shedd even takes a day (I did it last year in 3 hours), but I cannot see anyone needing more than a day, even if you’re taking lists of all species.

Time would be better spent doing a day-trip to Milwaukee or going further afield to Detroit or Columbus.

I never take notes there and I can't see anyone taking less than 6 hours to tour it. I'm genuinely curious how you got through it so fast.

 

[birdsandbats]

On another note - Shedd Aquarium has massive lines any time of year. I recommend anyone visiting but their tickets in advance and show up when the aquarium opens. This allows you to avoid a long line that itself can last 5 hours on a busy day.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

If you must stay within city limits, I think Chicago beats NY hands down. Brookfield + Lincoln Park + Field + Shedd add up to more than Bronx + Natural History. The four other WCS zoos are just too small to really bother with unless you want to see a specific species, like the sea otters or certain ducks. CPZ and PP are so small and crunched into urban density that they don't even have parking.

Yes why bother with any of the four other collections because they're small...

For the record @Hipporex, all of the WCS collections are definitely worth a visit despite their smaller size and they all can be paired up with either each other or (in CPZ's case) the AMNH. Prospect is probably my favorite of the smaller collections due to their focus on specializing in smaller, lesser kept species. The zoo is also about 12 acres, so not exactly tiny. Queens (18 acres) is probably the best of the four exhibit-wise but imo the most boring species-wise. There isn't much there that can't be seen relatively easily elsewhere but it's still a lovely zoo. CPZ I find a little overrated, but that might just be because I visit it more often than the others. The rainforest is nice but some of the singular enclosures in it are small. The outdoor macaque, bear, and snow leopard enclosures are pretty good, though, and the seabird house is great. The aviary in the children's zoo is also a must see as they keep many of their rare ducks in there and often have some odd pheasants running around. The aquarium isn't as grand as Shedd but it's definitely still noteworthy. The main gallery is pretty small but the outdoor enclosures are nice and the shark building is superb. Definitely in my top 10 aquarium exhibits I've seen. By the time you visit they'll very likely have opened their marine invertebrate house as well.

Some highlight species for the collections:
CPZ- Banded Mongoose, Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat, Greater Malay Chevrotain, White-Fronted Amazon, Plum-Headed Parakeet, Bartlett's Bleeding-Heart Dove, Yellow-Crowned Gonolek, Golden-Breasted Bunting, Long-Tailed Duck, Spectacled Eider, American Black Duck, Pink-Eared Duck, White-Headed Duck, Chinese Merganser, Brown Eared-Pheasant, Macaroni Penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, Atlantic Puffin, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Puerto Rican Crested Toad.
NYA- Hawksbill Sea Turtle, California Sea Otter, various rare Lake Victoria cichlids, various rare Malagasy fishes, various native shark species.
PPZ- Black-Footed Cat, Pallas's Cat, Chinese Red Panda, Dingo, Geoffroy's Tamarin, Red-Knobbed Imperial-Pigeon, Humboldt's Aracari, Parker's Snake-Necked Turtle, Solomon Islands Spiny-Necked Monitor, Blessed Poison Dart Frog, Portuguese Fire Salamander.
QZ- Roosevelt Elk, Thick-Billed Parrot, various native passerines.

As for the proposed Mystic detour, unfortunately the aquarium is on the opposite side of Connecticut from NYC so it might be challenging (though definitely doable) to do as a day trip, especially if you plan to then head into Pennsylvania afterwards. If you can swing it though I definitely recommend a visit as it's a great aquarium (though undoubtedly not as good as Shedd again). Maritime is also pretty good and significantly closer, but I'm still mad at them for getting rid of their amphibian room

~Thylo

 

[TZDugong]

I never take notes there and I can't see anyone taking less than 6 hours to tour it. I'm genuinely curious how you got through it so fast.

I don’t have a massive interest in fish and Shedd really isn’t that large. Yes there’s a lot of species but most are small fish in those 4 square exhibits (Oceans, Great Lakes, Islands and Lakes, and Rivers) that I found quite boring. I’ll give a breakdown of how much time I spent at each exhibit, which might be interesting for Hipporex as well.

Amazon Rising: 45 minutes (easily the Aquariums best exhibit)

Oceanarium: 30 minutes

Underwater Beauty (special exhibition): 10 minutes

Wild Reef: 25 minutes

Caribbean Reef: 15 minutes

Oceans, Great Lakes, Islands and Lakes, Rivers: 35 minutes

And then 20 minutes getting a snack and browsing the gift shop.

Shedd is a very good Aquarium but was a little smaller then I expected and lacks a real “wow” exhibit, which is why it’s behind Georgia and Valencia in my rankings.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

On another note - Shedd Aquarium has massive lines any time of year. I recommend anyone visiting but their tickets in advance and show up when the aquarium opens. This allows you to avoid a long line that itself can last 5 hours on a busy day.

A five hour line!? Surely that's not true? Who would wait five hours to get into an aquarium, no matter how excellent? Certainly not Joe Public.

~Thylo

 

[birdsandbats]

I don’t have a massive interest in fish and Shedd really isn’t that large. Yes there’s a lot of species but most are small fish in those 4 square exhibits (Oceans, Great Lakes, Islands and Lakes, and Rivers) that I found quite boring. I’ll give a breakdown of how much time I spent at each exhibit, which might be interesting for Hipporex as well.

Amazon Rising: 45 minutes (easily the Aquariums best exhibit)

Oceanarium: 30 minutes

Underwater Beauty (special exhibition): 10 minutes

Wild Reef: 25 minutes

Caribbean Reef: 15 minutes

Oceans, Great Lakes, Islands and Lakes, Rivers: 35 minutes

And then 20 minutes getting a snack and browsing the gift shop.

Shedd is a very good Aquarium but was a little smaller then I expected and lacks a real “wow” exhibit, which is why it’s behind Georgia and Valencia in my rankings.

I don't really time individual complexes in zoos (I should really start doing that) I but for me, ere are the estimated times:

Amazon Rising: 45 mins-1 hour

Oceanarium: 1 hour (including the excellent dolphin show)

Underwater Beauty: 30 mins

Wild Reef: 1 hour

Carribean Reef: 20-30 mins

Waters of the World Galleries: about 20-30 mins each

Plus about an hour of food/gift shop time. This is approximate times before I got into photography, with it now the aquarium takes much longer.

A five hour line!? Surely that's not true? Who would wait five hours to get into an aquarium, no matter how excellent? Certainly not Joe Public.

~Thylo

Only on a few days a year does it ever reach that, but 2-3 hours is a pretty normal wait time.

 

[pachyderm pro]

I highly recommend you choose Chicago. I haven't yet been to New York, but its really a preference of would you rather have one of the greatest zoos in the world and a selection of smaller less significant ones, or several very good/great zoos. Thats of course not to knock the quality of those smaller establishments, but they of course do not come close in collection to Brookfield, Lincoln Park or Shedd. As a local, here is what I would personally recommend for a week of zooing.

Give a day each to Brookfield, Lincoln Park and Shedd.

Brookfield is very much a full day zoo that takes around six hours to tour. While it isn't quite the zoological marvel it was in it's early days, Its still an iconic establishment for any zoo enthusiast. There are two children zoo like exhibits that require an extra fee as well as a dolphin show and tram ride. Yo can easily give the latter two a pass and not miss anything particularly noteworthy and you can probably skip the Hamill Family exhibits as well unless you want to go in a wallaby walkthrough or feed some goats. When it comes to rare species, pangolins, elephants shrews, Orinoco crocodiles, Chinese giant salamanders, ocelots, gerenuk and fishing cats are the most noteworthy residents I can think of.

Lincoln Park is significantly smaller than Brookfield, but is an entirely different experience in itself. Its city location allows for a completely different display of species and even though Brookfield is an objectively better zoo when it comes to species and size, Lincoln Park has improved so drastically over the last decade that it has become an experience that is completely unlike anything brookfield has to offer. It is worth noting that the ongoing construction of the revamped lion house in the heart of the zoo will be quite an eyesore during your visit, but I'm sure you will appreciate the zoos historic buildings and mostly impressive exhibits and venues. Unfortunately rare species here are limited but the Puerto Rican parrots in the small mammal/reptile house are the only ones of their kind on display outside of their native range.

Shedd is probably the greatest aquarium in America. The oceanarium is breath taking and the collection is unmatched by any zoological establishment in the world when it comes to pure size. Despite some conflicting reports above, the line does get ridiculously long at times so please purchase your tickets in advance if you want any chance of having an enjoyable day here.

Spend full days at Brookfield and Shedd, and combine three or four hours at Lincoln Park alongside a day touring the city. There is a lot to see and it would be a waste if you just spent time at zoos and didn't enjoy the environment.

Regarding the zoos mentioned by @birdsandbats previously, there are three much smaller places around the Chicago area. Cosley zoo in Wheaton is a charming, highly enjoyable 5 acre zoo showcasing native Illinois and farm animals. All the enclosures are quite nice and is certainly worth an hour or so of your time. Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glenn Ellyn is also a very nice place. Showcasing rehabilitated Illinois mammals and birds, plus an assortment of reptiles, it should take no more than an hour to get through the whole place. I did both these facilities on the same day along with the Phillips Park zoo in Aurora, however that place was highly mediocre with exhibits of poor quality, and I have no intention of ever returning.

Lastly I must recommend that you take a drive over to Milwaukee County zoo. It's a bit of a hike but it's a large very unique zoo with a very impressive collection or rare species. Pottos, chevrotains, eastern bongos, and one of the largest collections of bonobos in the world. It's a five hour zoo that I am sure you will enjoy.

Either way, have a good trip no matter where you will be heading.

 

[AmbikaFan]

Yes why bother with any of the four other collections because they're small...

For the record @Hipporex, all of the WCS collections are definitely worth a visit despite their smaller size and they all can be paired up with either each other or (in CPZ's case) the AMNH. Prospect is probably my favorite of the smaller collections due to their focus on specializing in smaller, lesser kept species. The zoo is also about 12 acres, so not exactly tiny. Queens (18 acres) is probably the best of the four exhibit-wise but imo the most boring species-wise. There isn't much there that can't be seen relatively easily elsewhere but it's still a lovely zoo. CPZ I find a little overrated, but that might just be because I visit it more often than the others. The rainforest is nice but some of the singular enclosures in it are small. The outdoor macaque, bear, and snow leopard enclosures are pretty good, though, and the seabird house is great. The aviary in the children's zoo is also a must see as they keep many of their rare ducks in there and often have some odd pheasants running around. The aquarium isn't as grand as Shedd but it's definitely still noteworthy. The main gallery is pretty small but the outdoor enclosures are nice and the shark building is superb. Definitely in my top 10 aquarium exhibits I've seen. By the time you visit they'll very likely have opened their marine invertebrate house as well.

Some highlight species for the collections:
CPZ- Banded Mongoose, Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat, Greater Malay Chevrotain, White-Fronted Amazon, Plum-Headed Parakeet, Bartlett's Bleeding-Heart Dove, Yellow-Crowned Gonolek, Golden-Breasted Bunting, Long-Tailed Duck, Spectacled Eider, American Black Duck, Pink-Eared Duck, White-Headed Duck, Chinese Merganser, Brown Eared-Pheasant, Macaroni Penguin, Chinstrap Penguin, Atlantic Puffin, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Puerto Rican Crested Toad.
NYA- Hawksbill Sea Turtle, California Sea Otter, various rare Lake Victoria cichlids, various rare Malagasy fishes, various native shark species.
PPZ- Black-Footed Cat, Pallas's Cat, Chinese Red Panda, Dingo, Geoffroy's Tamarin, Red-Knobbed Imperial-Pigeon, Humboldt's Aracari, Parker's Snake-Necked Turtle, Solomon Islands Spiny-Necked Monitor, Blessed Poison Dart Frog, Portuguese Fire Salamander.
QZ- Roosevelt Elk, Thick-Billed Parrot, various native passerines.

As for the proposed Mystic detour, unfortunately the aquarium is on the opposite side of Connecticut from NYC so it might be challenging (though definitely doable) to do as a day trip, especially if you plan to then head into Pennsylvania afterwards. If you can swing it though I definitely recommend a visit as it's a great aquarium (though undoubtedly not as good as Shedd again). Maritime is also pretty good and significantly closer, but I'm still mad at them for getting rid of their amphibian room

~Thylo

In the best of all possible worlds, we could all go to see all zoos and aquaria for what each has to offer individually. Why not do them all, plus Staten Island and even the new Sea Life aquarium in the Meadowlands? @Hipporex reached out because he has limited time and wants to learn ways of seeing the most species on a trip limited by time and money. I acknowledged that individual species like sea otters or ducks might warrant a trip to the small zoos, but offered him the costs to visiting these. It's all relative. It's not "Are the small zoos worth seeing? but "Could he get more bang for his buck seeing something else?" or what you haven't considered, frankly, "What would be have to GIVE UP if he were to spend time on the small zoos?". That's the issue he sought our opinions for, not just dogged defense of our home-town teams. 6, 12, 18 acres is MINISCULE compared to all of the 100+ and 200+ açre zoos we've been discussing, and I stand by my assessment that the return on investment of time and money can't compare to what he could get by using those resources to visit larger zoos and aquaria with more rare species as proposed by others in either the NY/Philadelphia/DC corridor or the Chicago area.

 

[Ebirah766]

I forgot about those two places >_<

I'm not so sure about the Sea Life aquarium but the Staten Island Zoo is definitely worth a visit.

 

[Imperator Furiosa]

I'm slightly biased as a Chicago local so I'd be inclined to give it a slight edge over New York. As people have mentioned the Shedd, Lincoln Park, and Brookfield are all fantastic collections. @pachyderm pro also mentioned a few of the smaller suburban collections, I've visited Willowbrook and the Cosley Zoo and both are charming. Milwaukee is about a 2 hour drive or 1 1/2 hour train ride from Downtown Chicago, it's worth the trip imo. Peoria, Miller Park (in Bloomington IL), and Racine are all also within two hours by car. I haven't personally visited Peoria or Miller Park but both are worth visiting from what I've heard and can be done in the same day since Bloomington and Peoria aren't far from each other and both are small facilities. Racine is a strangely rarity-focused collection with some gorgeous historical architecture.

If you like museums the area around Chicago is pretty good for those as well. There's the Field Museum, obviously, but the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is also worth checking out given it's focus on native Illinois fauna and live animal collection. The Milwaukee Public Museum, Peoria Riverfront Museum, Kenosha Public Museum Dinosaur Discovery Museum, and Burpee Museum of Natural History are all within two hours of Chicago. Discovery World in Milwaukee has a small aquarium, so it may be worth checking out but it is more focused on children. Additionally, a more niche museum that is one of my favorites is the International Museum of Surgical Science.

I do enjoy the NYC area zoos and museums, and if you can swing a trip to Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore, or New England you can see a lot of different zoos. It's more expensive in my experience though so if money is a barrier I'd take that into consideration.

Also...I've never been in line at the Shedd for more than half an hour. Granted I always try to go on weekdays to avoid the crowd, but 5 hours seems like an anomaly unless you're going during a summer weekend.

 

[AmbikaFan]

I forgot about those two places >_<

I'm not so sure about the Sea Life aquarium but the Staten Island Zoo is definitely worth a visit.

Fortunately you can go as frequently as you like lol.

I don't think the new Sea Life is even open yet, but it surely will be by the time @Hipporex visits in 2021. There is SO much stuff opening with the huge mall in the Meadowlands that the traffic could rival Manhattan's; it already does on football days.

 

[(Adsa)]

Adsa's shilling for his home zoo

Ahh yes as opposed to the cultural masterpiece that is Turtleback Zoo. I also see no reason other than time to not visit both, of course time is very important. For some reason I now desire a thread just to debate the Turtleback Zoo vs Lehigh Valley Zoo. Or maybe a zoochat cup for minor American zoos

 

[Hipporex]

Thank you once again to everyone who has helped to answer my question. As it currently stands it must be said I'm leaning more Chicago but would absolutely love to visit NYC someday. Pangolins are just too tempting man!

 

[AmbikaFan]

Ahh yes as opposed to the cultural masterpiece that is Turtleback Zoo. I also see no reason other than time to not visit both, of course time is very important. For some reason I now desire a thread just to debate the Turtleback Zoo vs Lehigh Valley Zoo. Or maybe a zoochat cup for minor American zoos

Well, you just go right ahead and do that! Lol Emphasis on the word minor.

 

[(Adsa)]

I’ll make one final pitch for NYC. First if you want to visit a lot of zoos outside the main city there are way more close to New York than Chicago. Such as Philadelphia Zoo, Smithsonian National Zoo and Maryland Zoo, plus many other small zoos. As for Aquariums although the Shedd is great. The aquariums within traveling distance of New York have a lot to offer these aquariums include Adventure Aquarium, Mystic Aquarium, National Aquarium. Though none of those institutions individually could compare to Shedd combined surely they beat it out. If you are staying just in New York zoologically it is inferior but it’s New York there are a million things that you can do whereas Chicago won’t last you a week plus zoos. I would like to say it takes about as long to get from New York to DC than Chicago to Cincinnati.