Hello From Northwest Indiana

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Persephone

Well-Known Member
Hello!

Name’s Persephone, Seph for short. I have a degree in marine science but don’t work in the field. I’m trying to visit every AZA accredited zoo - currently at 51/239. Visited every accredited zoo in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and South Carolina. Hoping to knock out West Virginia this month. Started North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee. Current home zoos are Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. Former home zoo was Riverbanks down in Columbia, SC.

I’ll be most active in the US section but will probably mostly lurk.
 
Persephone said:
Hello!

Name’s Persephone, Seph for short. I have a degree in marine science but don’t work in the field. I’m trying to visit every AZA accredited zoo - currently at 51/239. Visited every accredited zoo in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and South Carolina. Hoping to knock out West Virginia this month. Started North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee. Current home zoos are Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. Former home zoo was Riverbanks down in Columbia, SC.

I’ll be most active in the US section but will probably mostly lurk.
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Hello, welcome! That's a big endeavor :) West Virginia is easy, at least! I've been working on visiting every zoo in my surrounding states. Delaware and Maryland was easy, I've got most of VA and NJ, and east PA. What has been your favorite so far?
 
TinoPup said:
Hello, welcome! That's a big endeavor :) West Virginia is easy, at least! I've been working on visiting every zoo in my surrounding states. Delaware and Maryland was easy, I've got most of VA and NJ, and east PA. What has been your favorite so far?
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I’m not sure I have a favorite so much as favorites. The Wilds was probably my favorite experience but comparing it to standard zoos feels unfair. Cincinnati, Columbus, and North Carolina are my favorite conventional zoos I’ve visited. Hard to really rank those. NC’s Watani Grasslands is one of the most impressive single exhibits I’ve seen and is the size of some small zoos on its own. The North America side is less impressive. Columbus and Cincinnati have diverse and interesting collections (wish Cinci displayed some of their Kea, but they still have a good bird assortment without them.)

Tennessee Aquarium was the best aquarium I’ve seen so far, but I haven’t been to Monterey Bay, Dallas, Georgia, or S.E.A. so it’ll inevitably get dethroned.
 
Welcome to the forum @Persephone. We have a lot of people from the Midwest currently and formerly, so you'll have a lot to talk about with people here I imagine.

Persephone said:
NC’s Watani Grasslands is one of the most impressive single exhibits I’ve seen and is the size of some small zoos on its own. The North America side is less impressive.
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Interesting - having just visited last year I would've easily said I liked the North America side more overall, although the elephant area at NC is one of my favorites. Watani Grasslands is indeed very grand to look at, but it's so huge and sparsely populated that it's hard to appreciate the animals as much. Meanwhile the NA area is one of the best holistic representations of the continent I've seen in a larger zoo. To each their own though!

Persephone said:
Tennessee Aquarium was the best aquarium I’ve seen so far, but I haven’t been to Monterey Bay, Dallas, Georgia, or S.E.A. so it’ll inevitably get dethroned.
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Per your post you've been to Shedd too right? It and Monterey Bay (which I just visited) are my two favorites - though I haven't been to Tennessee Aquarium.
 
Persephone said:
I’m not sure I have a favorite so much as favorites. The Wilds was probably my favorite experience but comparing it to standard zoos feels unfair. Cincinnati, Columbus, and North Carolina are my favorite conventional zoos I’ve visited. Hard to really rank those. NC’s Watani Grasslands is one of the most impressive single exhibits I’ve seen and is the size of some small zoos on its own. The North America side is less impressive. Columbus and Cincinnati have diverse and interesting collections (wish Cinci displayed some of their Kea, but they still have a good bird assortment without them.)

Tennessee Aquarium was the best aquarium I’ve seen so far, but I haven’t been to Monterey Bay, Dallas, Georgia, or S.E.A. so it’ll inevitably get dethroned.
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I'm horrible at picking favorites, too :) Nice choices! I made it to Columbus a year and a half ago and really enjoyed it. Don't forget Shedd with the aquariums, too.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
Interesting - having just visited last year I would've easily said I liked the North America side more overall, although the elephant area at NC is one of my favorites. Watani Grasslands is indeed very grand to look at, but it's so huge and sparsely populated that it's hard to appreciate the animals as much. Meanwhile the NA area is one of the best holistic representations of the continent I've seen in a larger zoo. To each their own though!
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I know Watani is a bit sparse but it was still a really fun experience to walk the length of it and see herbivores on land big enough to graze on. Probably would’ve been better if I brought binoculars. It’s not that North America is bad, per se. I like the swamp area and it has a good mix of biomes. Some of the exhibits just seem a little small for a zoo with that much free space. I know some (wolves) have off-exhibit spaces as well, but for an area with as much walking distance between exhibits it feels like they could’ve done more.

Per your post you've been to Shedd too right? It and Monterey Bay (which I just visited) are my two favorites - though I haven't been to Tennessee Aquarium.
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Shedd’s good. I really like the basement area and Amazon Rising. Sea Otters are also great. TN has a few cool design features that I think put it above Shedd. The escalator at the start with everything after going down is cool in the freshwater building and really good in the saltwater one IMO. And river giants is such an fun concept for an exhibit. What if we just put ten+ giant species of freshwater fish from around the world in the same tank? Madness. I love it. I think most people would put Shedd over TN for marine mammals and history, but I think TN gets unfairly ignored in discussions of America’s best aquariums.
 
I almost went to TN Aquarium a year and a half ago, it was my backup plan for if it rained when I was in north/central east TN. I almost wish it had rained, it looks so nice! I did make it to Ripley's because of rain the first day.
 
Amazon Rising and Wild Reef in the basement are also my favorite parts of the aquarium - the theming of them is incredibly well designed. I'm lukewarm on marine mammals compared to some others on the forum, but you're right that the history is another bonus for Shedd in my mind - the architecture of the building in particular is impressive and the elements of its early days still visible on the interior gives it a unique feel.

I've heard great things about TN Aquarium as well - it's on my bucket list. I too considered doing it, but it was a bit far for a day trip when I was in the area so I prioritized other targets.

I recently worked my way through a lot of Tennessee and some of North Carolina, so feel free to ask questions if you have any. I've also lived in Iowa and visited Saint Louis Zoo in Missouri many times.
 
TinoPup said:
I almost went to TN Aquarium a year and a half ago, it was my backup plan for if it rained when I was in north/central east TN. I almost wish it had rained, it looks so nice! I did make it to Ripley's because of rain the first day.
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I’ve been to both of the Ripley’s in the states. I liked them a lot. Good enough collection for what they’re doing (sawfish, sea turtles), excellent presentation and aesthetics, maybe a little small for the money but still worth the trip. Similar tier to Newport for me. “Very good, not Shedd or TN.”

I forgot to mention Brookgreen Gardens and the International Crane Foundation in my post on favorites. They aren’t exactly top tier zoos but they were really great smaller attractions. Brookgreen has some really cool aviaries and incorporates native species into actual environments they could live in. ICF has lots of educational signage on the conservation work they do. Lots of zoos could learn from the aesthetics / education of the two.
 
Persephone said:
I’ve been to both of the Ripley’s in the states. I liked them a lot. Good enough collection for what they’re doing (sawfish, sea turtles), excellent presentation and aesthetics, maybe a little small for the money but still worth the trip. Similar tier to Newport for me. “Very good, not Shedd or TN.”

I forgot to mention Brookgreen Gardens and the International Crane Foundation in my post on favorites. They aren’t exactly top tier zoos but they were really great smaller attractions. Brookgreen has some really cool aviaries and incorporates native species into actual environments they could live in. ICF has lots of educational signage on the conservation work they do. Lots of zoos could learn from the aesthetics / education of the two.
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I agree with your description. It was a bit better than I was expecting, with some unusual species, but overall not top tier.

I've wondered about Brookgreen Gardens! Their zoo gets so little attention compared to the gardens and art. I'd like to go there one day. It sounds like you'd enjoy Virginia Living Museum. Their waterfowl aviary is set on an actual pond, with the boardwalk going through it.
 
TinoPup said:
I agree with your description. It was a bit better than I was expecting, with some unusual species, but overall not top tier.

I've wondered about Brookgreen Gardens! Their zoo gets so little attention compared to the gardens and art. I'd like to go there one day. It sounds like you'd enjoy Virginia Living Museum. Their waterfowl aviary is set on an actual pond, with the boardwalk going through it.
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It’s on my list! Very much looking forward to it now. Unfortunately it’ll probably be a few years before I get out to Hampton Rhodes.
 
Persephone said:
Hello!

Name’s Persephone, Seph for short. I have a degree in marine science but don’t work in the field. I’m trying to visit every AZA accredited zoo - currently at 51/239. Visited every accredited zoo in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and South Carolina. Hoping to knock out West Virginia this month. Started North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee. Current home zoos are Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. Former home zoo was Riverbanks down in Columbia, SC.

I’ll be most active in the US section but will probably mostly lurk.
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Welcome to ZooChat @Persephone. I hope you enjoy your time here.

I'm sure visiting every AZA accredited zoo is a dream for many of us, so we look forward to following your journey.
 
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