Here is my review of Franklin Park Zoo
FRANKLIN PARK ZOO (BOSTON, MA)
Being located in a major American city like Boston, I had high expectations for Franklin Park Zoo. My visit was early in the morning right when the zoo opened, on what was essentially my last day in Boston. I went alone, since my friend wanted to sleep in.
Lets start with the best aspect of the zoo, which is no doubt Gorilla Grove/Tropical Forest. The gorilla habitat is really nice, and one of the better ones I've seen. It's not on the level of Bronx or San Diego's, but beats out most of the other gorilla exhibits including my hometown Zoo Miami's.
The rest of Tropical Forest has an interesting mix of species like Potto (first time seeing), De Brazza Monkeys and Pygmy Hippo among others, and who can't appreciate a free-flight tropical aviary? However, there still feels like an ingredient is missing here to truly make this exhibition a top-tier experience. There are a couple of random snake terrariums in the wall that just scream to be added to a dedicated herptile wing within this building that I feel is that missing aspect to make Tropical Forest feel complete.
In fact, "incomplete" is the general feeling I got on my visit to Franklin Park. The zoo seems so vast based on the map and my tired feet, yet most of the time I wasn't seeing any exhibit, or seeing the same one. While I appreciate the rather sizeable enclosures for the ungulate species, they feel very basic and unremarkable say when compared to other large exhibits like the Markhor enclosure at Stone Zoo. On the flip side, I found the big cat enclosures to be too small and I especially disliked the lion enclosure, with a giant eyesore of a gorge taking up what is already limited space for the animal.
Franklin Park has a nice avian collection, but they decide to divide most of the birds into three different small aviaries (two were closed but I could see most of the species from the gates), and this is not even including the free-flight birds in Tropical Forest, the closed Raptor Ridge and other singular bird exhibits like that of the Brown Kiwi (I finally saw the species!). The Birds World aviary looks much bigger from the outside, but is only a few small rooms. The Aussie Aviary takes up way too much room for what it has inside, and I feel with the more modest number of species, Franklin Park would be better off integrating their multiple aviaries into one improved Birds World. As it is, the bird exhibitions are just too fragmented to really wow me.
Franklin Park is a lot smaller than you'd expect from a major city zoo and from looking at the grounds, and I saw everything in around two hours.
@PaintedDog already made a recent
species list, but I did add some updates from my visit on that thread.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE: So, did Franklin Park Zoo live up to my expectations? Not really. Admittedly, I held it to a higher standard due to it's position as Boston's premier zoo, so perhaps I'm being overly harsh. In either event, there are really good aspects here, such as its gorilla habitat and interesting species list. On its own, I'd say Franklin Park is a small but enjoyable place that's probably worth visiting if you're in the city, but I don't think it lives up to its potential. Hopefully, a visionary with good direction and proper funding can build up all that empty, poorly used space on the grounds and turn this into Boston's answer to the Bronx Zoo.
And of course it's the one I don't have a photo of, there were people in front of it. 
