Zoo trip help Texas

pangolin12

pangolin12

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
5+ year member
Hi,
I have a trip planned for Texas next year, with my main focus on new species (but with some ‘must see zoos’ also) but I have only 5 days available, and six days plannedo_O
My planned trip goes as follows, any ideas as to what I can do together/ what I should not visit to level my days would be much appreciated:):
Dallas zoo (worth visiting without the monorail?), no must see species for me
Dallas world aquarium, tonnes of must sees for me
Fort Worth zoo, red wolf (whether impure or not, which I believe they aren’t)
Abilene zoo (A bit of an odd choice, but I REALLY want to see a black footed ferret:p)
Ellen trout zoo, bay duiker, is also on the way to Houston where I would stop for the night
Houston zoo, whooping crane, amongst a simple desire to visit there anyways.
Thanks
 
I really liked Dallas Zoo and had a great day there, despite the heat and monorail being closed at the time (because of the heat).

I'd recommend Fossil Rim over Fort Worth for red wolf. They also have black-footed cat and maned wolf.

Some less common carnivores in TX:

Abilene has tayra, ringtail, swift fox and BFF.

Aggieland Safari has crab-eating raccoon, tayra

Amarillo has BFF and American badger.

Capital of Texas Zoo has fanaloka (only holder) and common palm civet, as well as Asiatic black bear, jungle cat, and dingo.

El Paso has BFF, sun bear.

Frank Buck Zoo has geoffroy's cat.

Fort Worth and East Texas Zoo both have striped hyena.

Moody Gardens, near Houston, has giant otter, and a penguin species that they're the only holders of in the US (I forget which).

SeaWorld San Antonio has spotted-neck otter, Pacific white sided dolphin, orca, and beluga.

San Antonio Zoo is one of only 4 holders of bush dog. They also have black-footed cat.

San Angelo Nature Center has western spotted skunk.
 
TinoPup said:
I really liked Dallas Zoo and had a great day there, despite the heat and monorail being closed at the time (because of the heat).

I'd recommend Fossil Rim over Fort Worth for red wolf. They also have black-footed cat and maned wolf.

Some less common carnivores in TX:

Abilene has tayra, ringtail, swift fox and BFF.

Aggieland Safari has crab-eating raccoon, tayra

Amarillo has BFF and American badger.

Capital of Texas Zoo has fanaloka (only holder) and common palm civet, as well as Asiatic black bear, jungle cat, and dingo.

El Paso has BFF, sun bear.

Frank Buck Zoo has geoffroy's cat.

Fort Worth and East Texas Zoo both have striped hyena.

Moody Gardens, near Houston, has giant otter, and a penguin species that they're the only holders of in the US (I forget which).

SeaWorld San Antonio has spotted-neck otter, Pacific white sided dolphin, orca, and beluga.

San Antonio Zoo is one of only 4 holders of bush dog. They also have black-footed cat.

San Angelo Nature Center has western spotted skunk.
Click to expand...
Oh no, you’ve given me more zoos to choose from :p
As much as I would love to see spotted skunk, San Angelo is a bit too far from Dallas/Fort Worth (sorry I should have been more specific of where I would be staying)
I have seen all of the animals on the uncommon list barring black footed ferret and black footed cat, the latter I should be seeing whilst in California (SDZSP to be exact)
Thanks:)
 
pangolin12 said:
Oh no, you’ve given me more zoos to choose from :p
As much as I would love to see spotted skunk, San Angelo is a bit too far from Dallas/Fort Worth (sorry I should have been more specific of where I would be staying)
I have seen all of the animals on the uncommon list barring black footed ferret and black footed cat, the latter I should be seeing whilst in California (SDZSP to be exact)
Thanks:)
Click to expand...

I did the same trip 2 years ago - DWA area, with a drive to Houston, but we had dogs with us in Houston (dog show) so I didn't get to stop anywhere. I'm surprised you've seen all of those but not BFF!
 
TinoPup said:
I did the same trip 2 years ago - DWA area, with a drive to Houston, but we had dogs with us in Houston (dog show) so I didn't get to stop anywhere. I'm surprised you've seen all of those but not BFF!
Click to expand...
The only one from that list that isn’t relatively uncommon in Europe is bush dog, which is rather common over here. The others range from being in singular collections to being rare/uncommon.
The collections with rare species that I have seen are:
Swift fox- Rotterdam (not held anymore, but
Limbach-Oberfrohna tierpark apparently hold them)
Ringtail- burger’s zoo and exmoor zoo
Crab eating raccoon- overloon zooparc
Fanaloka- exmoor zoo

what zoos did you visit in the DWA area?
 
Ah, I didn't realize you're in Europe! The BFF makes much more sense now, as well as having seen fanaloka :D

Dallas Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, and DWA. I didn't want to make my friend do much driving out of town since we were already going to Houston, so missed out on places like Fossil Rim. I also squeezed in a visit to the aquarium in Denver on my layover :)
 
TinoPup said:
Ah, I didn't realize you're in Europe! The BFF makes much more sense now, as well as having seen fanaloka :D

Dallas Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, and DWA. I didn't want to make my friend do much driving out of town since we were already going to Houston, so missed out on places like Fossil Rim. I also squeezed in a visit to the aquarium in Denver on my layover :)
Click to expand...
That’s nice that you got to visit DWA. I suppose I’ve not been the clearest on where I’m from, see my location on my profile:D
 
TinoPup said:
I really liked Dallas Zoo and had a great day there, despite the heat and monorail being closed at the time (because of the heat).

I'd recommend Fossil Rim over Fort Worth for red wolf. They also have black-footed cat and maned wolf.

Some less common carnivores in TX:

Abilene has tayra, ringtail, swift fox and BFF.

Aggieland Safari has crab-eating raccoon, tayra

Amarillo has BFF and American badger.

Capital of Texas Zoo has fanaloka (only holder) and common palm civet, as well as Asiatic black bear, jungle cat, and dingo.

El Paso has BFF, sun bear.

Frank Buck Zoo has geoffroy's cat.

Fort Worth and East Texas Zoo both have striped hyena.

Moody Gardens, near Houston, has giant otter, and a penguin species that they're the only holders of in the US (I forget which).

SeaWorld San Antonio has spotted-neck otter, Pacific white sided dolphin, orca, and beluga.

San Antonio Zoo is one of only 4 holders of bush dog. They also have black-footed cat.

San Angelo Nature Center has western spotted skunk.
Click to expand...
Don't bother with Aggieland Safari - went today and they have lost many of their most unique species since opening last year - it's not worth $25/person.
 
Having just been on a trip to the Dallas area, I can agree that the unique species at DWA make it worth the trip. We found Dallas Zoo to be a nice visit, even without the monorail. I will say that while DWA has a number of unique species, you can easily see everything along the one-way path in about 90 minutes. I think it’s certainly possible to do DWA and the Dallas Zoo in the same day (especially while the monorail is down.) If you’re worried about time constraints, that may be an option.

Fort Worth has a nice zoo with some really nice exhibits. However, it’s not overly large, and the quality of the exhibits is uneven. I’m probably in the minority who prefers the Dallas Zoo to Fort Worth Zoo.
 
pangolin12 said:
That’s nice that you got to visit DWA. I suppose I’ve not been the clearest on where I’m from, see my location on my profile:D
Click to expand...

You're location is antarctica ;) I see your home zoo now, though. I rarely look at profiles, beyond noticing location in under your name on posts.

Okie said:
Fort Worth has a nice zoo with some really nice exhibits. However, it’s not overly large, and the quality of the exhibits is uneven. I’m probably in the minority who prefers the Dallas Zoo to Fort Worth Zoo.
Click to expand...

I prefer Dallas to Fort Worth, as well. That may be different when they're done with all of the upgrades, but Fort Worth definitely has exhibits that aren't great, vs Dallas being strong all over.

On going to both Dallas spots in the same day, it can probably be done, depending on how long someone likes to spend watching animals and looking around. Covid could make it harder at DWA.
 
TinoPup said:
You're location is antarctica ;) I see your home zoo now, though. I rarely look at profiles, beyond noticing location in under your name on posts.



I prefer Dallas to Fort Worth, as well. That may be different when they're done with all of the upgrades, but Fort Worth definitely has exhibits that aren't great, vs Dallas being strong all over.

On going to both Dallas spots in the same day, it can probably be done, depending on how long someone likes to spend watching animals and looking around. Covid could make it harder at DWA.
Click to expand...
Oopso_O thought I’d changed my location, that’s made me look a bit stupid:p
I will most likely do DWA and Dallas zoo together then, are there any standout species at Dallas zoo?
 
birdsandbats said:
Depending on when in they year you are going you could look for Whooping Cranes in the wild.
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It’s a very good idea, and one that I would like, but I think I’d prefer to go to Houston zoo (I never have any luck when trying to find wildlife:() - and I would get to see the new pantanal exhibit!
 
pangolin12 said:
It’s a very good idea, and one that I would like, but I think I’d prefer to go to Houston zoo (I never have any luck when trying to find wildlife:() - and I would get to see the new pantanal exhibit!
Click to expand...
They are supposed to be quite reliable at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in winter.
 
So two things to know:
Both Houston and Fort Worth are undergoing pretty massive renovations. If you are going next summer Houston will have it's Patanal section done and Fort Worth will have elephants revamped. Houston may have it's birds section ready with Galapagos at the entrance under heavy construction and Fort Worth should be working on predators. Not sure how this may affect your plans.

Dallas remains my choice for top "zoo" in the state; it's large, it's good all around, it has a lot. Fort Worth has a lot of memories form the locals as the superiors zoo from the 90s when it was the better zoo, but right now, it's not the case. When they finish building out in 5 years, maybe it will be again. Seconding what someone else said, Fossil Rim in Glen Rose is the best place you can go in Texas. Get a behind the scenes tour where they'll drive you around in a truck so you're not limited to the path with the cars.

Good luck!
 
pangolin12 said:
Oopso_O thought I’d changed my location, that’s made me look a bit stupid:p
I will most likely do DWA and Dallas zoo together then, are there any standout species at Dallas zoo?
Click to expand...

:p

Nothing in particular (other than some monorail animals :( ). Really nice exhibits for most of their species - giraffes, elephants, tigers, gorillas, chimps, and hippos are all among the best in the country. A notable for me, at both Dallas places, was Harpy Eagle.
 
TinoPup said:
:p

Nothing in particular (other than some monorail animals :( ). Really nice exhibits for most of their species - giraffes, elephants, tigers, gorillas, chimps, and hippos are all among the best in the country. A notable for me, at both Dallas places, was Harpy Eagle.
Click to expand...

Dallas is one of the few zoos in the country with perentie and tuatara exhibits, unless they no longer exhibit these species.
 
DavidBrown said:
Dallas is one of the few zoos in the country with perentie and tuatara exhibits, unless they no longer exhibit these species.
Click to expand...

They didn't have perentie during my visit July 2018. I forgot about the tuatara, one of only a couple species that were no-shows while I was there!

They have a nice stork collection.
 
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