I had been looking forward to visiting Wildlife World (henceforth shortened to WW) since I was a child in the 1990s and I read about it in a book. I finally made it and I think it was good that it took so long. Broadly the zoo is a study in contrasts.
Remembering that this is a private zoo goes a long way. It is not AZA accredited, but it is ZAA accredited and hosting their conference next month. They have a fair amount of "extra" items you can buy or do, including several amusement park type rides, a train, tram, feeding (giraffe, sealion, stingray, koi, ducks, petting zoo), etc.
It seems that the new areas are really nice, and broadly the collection of animals is staggering. We were there at about 9:30AM and stayed until about 4:30, without lingering anywhere, and we were still unable to see the entire place. The staggering number of animals and species makes it hard to really see everything and note what is where, as can be evidenced by my photo title edits.
Zoo wide the hoofstock yards are very large, have cover or grass, and one cannot really ask for much more. The reeves muntjac yard was massive, I am not sure how one ever sees them in it. Primates and carnivores are varied from OK to nice. The new aviaries such as the king vulture, condor, and main aviary are great, some of the older parrot and macaw cages are lacking size and activities. Reptile husbandry is adequate, although some of the small tortoise habitats were too small as were some of the crocodile enclosures. Signage is decent, on par with most AZA facilities.
This post has 10 photos to give you an idea, but I uploaded a bunch to the gallery.
Different areas of the zoo:
Original Zoo: The "Original Zoo" is a work in progress, animals have been moved out and others are getting renovated or new enclosures. Recent new habitats for jaguar and tiger will or have replaced the older and smaller habitats. This section is also where the Tropics of the World (reptile and insect house), Small Mammal House, lorikeet aviary, and Kangaroo Walkabout are located. Most of the reptile and insect enclosures are adequate, similar to other zoos I have been to. Amusingly there were two tanks that were (hopefully) newly occupied and had had written legal pad signs for the type of animal in the enclosure. The Kangaroo Walkabout was pretty cool as they had grey and red kangaroos, not just smaller wallabies as it seems are more common.
The jaguar enclosure seemed new and was on par with AZA habitats I have seen, larger than some like Phoenix zoo. The tiger and lion enclosures are OK, nothing bad or good, just OK. They are building a new tiger enclosure now, so expect them to move there soon. There are two white tigers, one that was with the orange tiger looked good, the other looked really badly inbred as some white tigers seem to. There are two lion enclosures, one here and one in the "Safari Park' this one is OK, but the Safari Park enclosure is easily twice as large and has climbing structure that this one lacked. This enclosure also had a white lioness.
This area also holds the petting zoo, which has habitats for sulcata, water snake, ducks, and other small animals. The water snake habitat was absolutely palatial, almost laughably so.
A separate part of the Original Zoo is the new Dragon World where various monitors and crocodilians are located. I should have made a list but I neglected to do so. Most of the enclosures were a fine size, except for the salt water crocodile - that was much to small for the size of the animal.
Rounding out the "Original Zoo" is the main aviary and a train ride that takes one through several savannah paddocks with African hoofstock and ostrich. These were all really nice, on par with any other savannah yard. The main aviary is a nice medium sized walk through aviary, nothing outstanding but pretty nice.
Train ride in African Train Ride (Old zoo):
Kangaroo walkabout:
"Bengal" Tigers:
Safari Park:
The Safari park is massive, easily the size of most zoos and every bit as nice as most AZA zoos that I have been to. This is one of the newest parts of the zoo, and it shows. All of the habitats are large and well designed. The lion habitat is great, the hyena habitats are nice and the monkey islands (5 of them) are well done with palm trees and climbing structure. Oddly they are all South American monkeys (spider and capuchin) as the African monkeys (vervet, hamadryas, olive, etc.) are all in enclosures other than ring-tailed lemur which have an island. The entire area consists of essentially three loops, they offer a tram ride, but it can all be seen on foot. Interesting is that there is no barrier between the walking path and the island moats, which gave the whole thing a much more immersive feeling:
Spider Monkey Islands:
White Rhino:
African Lion:
Aquarium:
I am not going to spend a lot of time on this. The aquarium is nice, it could stand alone as its own facility. Oddly they chose to have it occupy 5 different buildings, I am sure there is a reason, but it is a bit strange. The shark tank is a good size and all of the other exhibits are nice, the sealion stadium is a fun pirate ship design. African penguins (as are the most common in the ZAA) round out the animals nicely, and their habitat is well done. There is (of course) a stingray touch/feed tank as well.
Amazon tank:
Penguins:
Adventureland:
Adventureland is South and North American in theme, and they do a better job of keeping it that than they do in the Safari Park. The bear enclosure is OK, too much sun and not enough plantings. As usual the hoofstock yards are all large and include sika, axis, fallow, and mule deer along with bison (including some white bison), tapir, rhea and capybara - plus mountain lion and a host of small animals in the two small animal houses. Of course there are also islands (6!) for spider and capuchin monkey.
Speaking of the rhea and capybara habitat - it is MASSIVE. Honestly, I have no idea why it is so huge, but it is impressive.
The small animal houses were fine, if forgettable. The red footed tortoise cage was too small for the 4 animals in it, but otherwise most of the enclosures were OK. They have a tayra, which is unique to be on display (ironically the second tayra I have seen this month).
Rhea and Capybara:
American Black Bear:
In conclusion this zoo is amazing, the collection of animals is astounding. I can see where it used to be pretty bad in places, but over the last 10-15 years they have made great strides in their enclosures. There are definitely some habitats that are in dire need of renovation, and there are some animals in cages much too small. The macaws really need more stimulation and larger cages. However, on balance I would chose to go back here before the Phoenix Zoo, which I went to just two days prior to the visit here.
Remembering that this is a private zoo goes a long way. It is not AZA accredited, but it is ZAA accredited and hosting their conference next month. They have a fair amount of "extra" items you can buy or do, including several amusement park type rides, a train, tram, feeding (giraffe, sealion, stingray, koi, ducks, petting zoo), etc.
It seems that the new areas are really nice, and broadly the collection of animals is staggering. We were there at about 9:30AM and stayed until about 4:30, without lingering anywhere, and we were still unable to see the entire place. The staggering number of animals and species makes it hard to really see everything and note what is where, as can be evidenced by my photo title edits.
Zoo wide the hoofstock yards are very large, have cover or grass, and one cannot really ask for much more. The reeves muntjac yard was massive, I am not sure how one ever sees them in it. Primates and carnivores are varied from OK to nice. The new aviaries such as the king vulture, condor, and main aviary are great, some of the older parrot and macaw cages are lacking size and activities. Reptile husbandry is adequate, although some of the small tortoise habitats were too small as were some of the crocodile enclosures. Signage is decent, on par with most AZA facilities.
This post has 10 photos to give you an idea, but I uploaded a bunch to the gallery.
Different areas of the zoo:
Original Zoo: The "Original Zoo" is a work in progress, animals have been moved out and others are getting renovated or new enclosures. Recent new habitats for jaguar and tiger will or have replaced the older and smaller habitats. This section is also where the Tropics of the World (reptile and insect house), Small Mammal House, lorikeet aviary, and Kangaroo Walkabout are located. Most of the reptile and insect enclosures are adequate, similar to other zoos I have been to. Amusingly there were two tanks that were (hopefully) newly occupied and had had written legal pad signs for the type of animal in the enclosure. The Kangaroo Walkabout was pretty cool as they had grey and red kangaroos, not just smaller wallabies as it seems are more common.
The jaguar enclosure seemed new and was on par with AZA habitats I have seen, larger than some like Phoenix zoo. The tiger and lion enclosures are OK, nothing bad or good, just OK. They are building a new tiger enclosure now, so expect them to move there soon. There are two white tigers, one that was with the orange tiger looked good, the other looked really badly inbred as some white tigers seem to. There are two lion enclosures, one here and one in the "Safari Park' this one is OK, but the Safari Park enclosure is easily twice as large and has climbing structure that this one lacked. This enclosure also had a white lioness.
This area also holds the petting zoo, which has habitats for sulcata, water snake, ducks, and other small animals. The water snake habitat was absolutely palatial, almost laughably so.
A separate part of the Original Zoo is the new Dragon World where various monitors and crocodilians are located. I should have made a list but I neglected to do so. Most of the enclosures were a fine size, except for the salt water crocodile - that was much to small for the size of the animal.
Rounding out the "Original Zoo" is the main aviary and a train ride that takes one through several savannah paddocks with African hoofstock and ostrich. These were all really nice, on par with any other savannah yard. The main aviary is a nice medium sized walk through aviary, nothing outstanding but pretty nice.
Train ride in African Train Ride (Old zoo):
Kangaroo walkabout:
"Bengal" Tigers:
Safari Park:
The Safari park is massive, easily the size of most zoos and every bit as nice as most AZA zoos that I have been to. This is one of the newest parts of the zoo, and it shows. All of the habitats are large and well designed. The lion habitat is great, the hyena habitats are nice and the monkey islands (5 of them) are well done with palm trees and climbing structure. Oddly they are all South American monkeys (spider and capuchin) as the African monkeys (vervet, hamadryas, olive, etc.) are all in enclosures other than ring-tailed lemur which have an island. The entire area consists of essentially three loops, they offer a tram ride, but it can all be seen on foot. Interesting is that there is no barrier between the walking path and the island moats, which gave the whole thing a much more immersive feeling:
Spider Monkey Islands:
White Rhino:
African Lion:
Aquarium:
I am not going to spend a lot of time on this. The aquarium is nice, it could stand alone as its own facility. Oddly they chose to have it occupy 5 different buildings, I am sure there is a reason, but it is a bit strange. The shark tank is a good size and all of the other exhibits are nice, the sealion stadium is a fun pirate ship design. African penguins (as are the most common in the ZAA) round out the animals nicely, and their habitat is well done. There is (of course) a stingray touch/feed tank as well.
Amazon tank:
Penguins:
Adventureland:
Adventureland is South and North American in theme, and they do a better job of keeping it that than they do in the Safari Park. The bear enclosure is OK, too much sun and not enough plantings. As usual the hoofstock yards are all large and include sika, axis, fallow, and mule deer along with bison (including some white bison), tapir, rhea and capybara - plus mountain lion and a host of small animals in the two small animal houses. Of course there are also islands (6!) for spider and capuchin monkey.
Speaking of the rhea and capybara habitat - it is MASSIVE. Honestly, I have no idea why it is so huge, but it is impressive.
The small animal houses were fine, if forgettable. The red footed tortoise cage was too small for the 4 animals in it, but otherwise most of the enclosures were OK. They have a tayra, which is unique to be on display (ironically the second tayra I have seen this month).
Rhea and Capybara:
American Black Bear:
In conclusion this zoo is amazing, the collection of animals is astounding. I can see where it used to be pretty bad in places, but over the last 10-15 years they have made great strides in their enclosures. There are definitely some habitats that are in dire need of renovation, and there are some animals in cages much too small. The macaws really need more stimulation and larger cages. However, on balance I would chose to go back here before the Phoenix Zoo, which I went to just two days prior to the visit here.
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