America's 100 Must See Exhibits

I haven’t been since the reopening. Very excited by the zip line feeding if anyone knows about what times that happens. I did get a chance to see Lincoln Park’s lions from across a pane of glass, though, as one hid under the viewing window’s rockwork to get out of the rain.

A recent visit to St. Louis reminded me of an answer to the bonus question. I’m not sure St. Louis’s Children's Zoo qualified as the best of its kind, but certainly worth an honorable mention. A few interesting Australia-Oceania species (Tasmanian Devils?), a good play centered area indoors with Guinea pigs. A very fun otter exhibit that I think had a slide through it, although I may be confusing it with Akron. Then the usual goats and whatnot. Sadly lost during the pandemic.
 
pachyderm pro said:
23. Seabird Aviary
Oregon Coast Aquarium, OR
Opened: c.1992
Size: 7,850 Square Feet (730 Square Meters)
Inhabitants: Tufted Puffin, Horned Puffin, Rhinoceros Auklet, Pigeon Guillemot, Common Murre, Black Oystercatcher

Alcids have extremely demanding welfare needs that make them difficult to display in captivity, but if those needs can be met, they can create one of the most engaging enclosures in any zoo or aquarium. This 34 foot tall aviary is the largest outdoor seabird enclosure in North America. There are two pools with varying depths that add up to hold 29,000 gallons as well as nearly 40 individual nesting sites. Underwater viewing windows placed at knee-height allow guests to get inches away from the birds, close enough to be in the splash zone of an energetic auk. Intricate rockwork fills the aviary and showcases the endearing nature of alcid behavior, with several rock burrows and a 30 foot cliffside that allows the birds to demonstrate their impressive diving abilities. This aviary is also home to the only captive breeding pair of black oystercatchers anywhere in the world. Every aspect of this display is superb and is a great example of a facility taking advantage of its climate to create an exhibit that wouldn’t be possible elsewhere.

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@snowleopard
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Similar Exhibits: Another excellent alcid aviary can be found at the Alaska SeaLife Center. This aviary holds the title of the deepest seabird aviary in North America at roughly 21 feet deep. The underwater viewing area is very impressive and many rockfish can be seen sharing the pool with the birds. This could easily have been the pick instead of the Oregon Coast aviary and in its own ways is just as impressive. The outdoor aviary at Point Defiance Zoo is also worthy of a mention even if it doesn't hold the distinctions of the other two.

Alaska SeaLife Center

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Point Defiance Zoo

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I used to be an intern in this exhibit! It really is an incredible display run by an equally exceptional team of bird-nerds. I was told to talk to the bird while working in the aviary (mostly guano scrubbing and the mid morning murre feed) so I made up a little song to the tune of "Girls" by the Beastie Boys. "Cause in the morning its BIRDS", "I like the way that they WALK", "I like the way that they SQUAK". My brief internship with the bird department was a wonderful experience that I will never forget!
 
pachyderm pro said:
Similar Exhibits: I'm not aware of another historic cat house that has been modernized to this extent.
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Lincoln Park Zoo (Illinois) has done a great job with the preservation of their historic Lion House. While not featuring any captive animals, it's fun to see what became of a couple of other notable Big Cat Houses at major American zoos.

Little Rock Zoo (Arkansas) turned their 1930s-era Feline House into the Cafe Africa restaurant, with an outdoor barred patio:

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Toledo Zoo (Ohio) also turned its 1930s-era Feline House into a restaurant, complete with "cages" for visitors to sit and eat their burgers. :)

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@pachyderm pro is the lion house still super echoey, or has that issue been resolved? I haven't been since the renovation, but during my visits a long time ago the main thing I remember is how incredibly loud the inside of the building was.
 
Coelacanth18 said:
@pachyderm pro is the lion house still super echoey, or has that issue been resolved? I haven't been since the renovation, but during my visits a long time ago the main thing I remember is how incredibly loud the inside of the building was.
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The noise level is much more tolerable now compared to how it was before the renovation. The zoo added a layer of carpet over the original hard floor which has greatly reduced the overall echo considerably. It was really bad before, especially for the cats who had to endure it on a daily basis, and I’m glad they were able to fix the issue.
 
Happy to see the Lincoln Park exhibit be acknowledged here, while I hope more come in the future, I absolutely see why this exhibit was chosen, I've managed to see the lions, but it was before the exhibit opened, while when I went when the exhibit opened, I couldn't find them
 
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I was incredibly skeptical of Pepper Family Wildlife Center going from photographs -- they really do not do justice to how it feels in person. The windows always look smaller to me in the photographs, but in person they are massive. I don't feel I've ever been surrounded by so many visitors with such strong engagement in the same animals as my visit last month as we all watched little Philippi play with his family. It's not that I've never been in a big crowd at a zoo, but so many people were absolutely in love with the lions without there being pushing for space to view a grotto from far away, and were watching every behavior not simply glancing to acknowledge the animals' presence. It was the highlight of the visit and made me remember what makes lions such fantastic animals.

While a part of me does leave slightly wanting for something more on the southern wall, perhaps some kind of learning experience in the absence of other exhibits, the indoor structure makes a fantastic viewing area and has plenty of space. There is much less echo with the new carpeting as mentioned, and the overall architecture and feel of the building is the same in the best way possible. They also removed the gift shop inside, which I'd always had mixed feelings on.

I still cannot believe they redeemed the old Lion House so well without losing sense of the building!

pachyderm pro said:
I don't think anybody I've spoken to is a fan of the name. It's far too ambiguous and diminutive for a building this imposing. A name that emphasized cats or carnivores would have been much better, but most locals still refer to it as the lion house anyway.
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My initial assumption was that smaller non-cats would replace the southern residents and the name would be reflecting that, but we still have three cats and red pandas, which are held in cat buildings at other zoos without such name concerns. It only becomes more mystifying considering the old lion house was essentially a generalized big cat building whereas now as a dedicated lion building, it's not a lion house!
 
Many European zoogoers perhaps know the Vienna zoo, where an old big cat exhibit was very much renovated. In one place, visitors find themselves inside a former cat cage, looking outside at the modern big cat paddock surrounding it.
 
It seems like a lot of users are discussing cat exhibits converted into restaurants -- have any additional historic cat exhibits been converted into holding different animals? I believe I'd heard Night Hunters at Cincinnati used to be a lion house?

It seems relatively less known that Brookfield Zoo's Fragile Desert and Fragile Rainforest were decades earlier indoor big cat cages, converted to hold smaller felines in the eighties (Pallas' Cat, Sand Cat, Margay and Lynx alongside Fishing Cat) before becoming their current versions.
 
Another lesser known historic big cat house is San Francisco's, which still does house big cats - though the indoor viewing section is still closed due to managing Covid exposure, presumably it will reopen at some point.
It's a very interesting insight, although both the house and the main exhibits are certainly a bit dated.

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Credit to @TheoV

Fishing cat exhibit next to the indoor viewing for the cats by @Arizona Docent
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Credit to @snowleopard
 
JVM said:
It seems relatively less known that Brookfield Zoo's Fragile Desert and Fragile Rainforest were decades earlier indoor big cat cages, converted to hold smaller felines in the eighties (Pallas' Cat, Sand Cat, Margay and Lynx alongside Fishing Cat) before becoming their current versions.
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Indoor holding or indoor exhibits?! I would love to see anything anyone may have of this!
 
Joseph G said:
Indoor holding or indoor exhibits?! I would love to see anything anyone may have of this!
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The only video I have is the same one that MeiLover posted right above. The outdoor area was much the same as today, except Jaguar were held instead of sloth bear. The predator ecology exhibits were dismantled to become the Fragile Kingdom because some of the enrichment did not hold up to the cats' activity, according to Let the Lions Roar: The Evolution of Brookfield Zoo. There is additional information in this zoochat thread, This Tribune article also contains a detailed description of the exhibit, though quite a ways down.
 
25. Desert Lives
Phoenix Zoo, AZ
Opened: 2000
Size: 10 Acres (4 Hectares)
Inhabitants: Arabian Oryx, Desert Bighorn Sheep

Conservation is the core purpose of modern zoos, but few other institutions are as famous for bringing a species back from the brink of extinction as Phoenix with the Arabian oryx. There's a reason the ancestry of most wild Arabian oryx can be traced back to Arizona and what's been accomplished here is indeed remarkable. In the 60s, the zoo took on the entire remaining population of both wild and captive individuals in a last ditch effort to breed and return the species to their native range. The arid desert climate of Phoenix proved to be the perfect place for the species to thrive in captivity with close to 250 calves born, a majority of which have been reintroduced to the wild. The oryx paddock is picturesque and perfectly integrated with the desert landscape. Blending in even better are the adjacent multi-acre bighorn sheep enclosures, as the zoo essentially just fenced in a pair of enormous buttes which works brilliantly. This one-two punch of world class desert habitats is spectacular, complete with a tremendous conservation success story as the cherry on top.

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Similar Exhibits: There are other well done desert trails in the Southwestern US, but I'd like to take this time to highlight a few other outstanding caprid enclosures particularly on the west coast. The habitats at San Diego Zoo Safari Park and The Living Desert are among some of the greatest, utilizing existing hillside terrain.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

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@ThylacineAlive

The Living Desert

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pachyderm pro said:
24. Pepper Family Wildlife Center
Lincoln Park Zoo, IL
Opened: 1912 (Completely Renovated in 2021)
Size: 54,000 Square Feet (5,100 Square Meters)
Inhabitants: African Lion, Snow Leopard, Canada Lynx, Red Panda

Similar Exhibits: I'm not aware of another historic cat house that has been modernized to this extent.
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Memphis Zoo converted their old Cat (Carnivore) House into a cafe, though it is not a modernized exhibit area like you state. (If I remember, there may have been one refurbished exhibit next to the dining area?).
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@geomorph
 
26. Stork Aviary
Racine Zoo, WI
Opened: 2011
Size: 9,300 Square Feet (860 Square Meters)
Inhabitants: Lesser Adjutant Stork, Western Tufted Deer

This impressive wetlands aviary contains a combination of species that cannot be seen at any other institution. The lesser adjutant stork is unusual bird scarce in zoos worldwide and it's even more rare to find them in an exhibit that features them as their own attraction. In the US at least, it's also uncommon to find an aviary that highlights ungulates, in this case a pair of western tufted deer. The aviary is beautifully landscaped with mature trees, lush furnishings and a running creek, a far cry from its former iteration as a rocky pool for rescued pelicans. It can be viewed from all four sides, but carefully placed vegetation and privacy barriers prevent cross views from being an issue. The best view is seen from the walk-in observation deck which provides a completely unobstructed look of the exhibit and allows guests to share the same space as the residents. The combination of two fascinating species in a beautiful setting makes this display absolutely top-notch and a true hidden gem.

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Similar Exhibits: Bronx Zoo is the only other North American holder of lesser adjutant storks and their aviary is similarly stately. Of course, without the ability for guests to enter the exhibit or the inclusion of other species, the Racine aviary is superior.

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