This was years ago so I could be misremembering, but when I was at zoo camp as a kid, they said the owls died from some disease (I want to say either malaria or west nile). They just never replaced them.
America's 100 Must See Exhibits
- Thread starter pachyderm pro
- Start date
30. Kingdoms of the Night
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, NE
Opened: 2003
Size: 42,000 Square Feet (3,900 Square Meters)
Inhabitants: Over 60 nocturnal species including 8 species of bat, Aardvark, American Beaver, Fossa, Mohol Bushbaby, American Alligator and more.
Nocturnal houses are becoming a rare commodity in the US, but if this exhibit is any indication, they won't be disappearing completely any time soon. Built underneath the Desert Dome, this complex is essentially a nocturnal house on roids. When director Lee G. Simmons first pitched the concept to donors, it wasn't met with the same enthusiasm as the Lied Jungle or Desert Dome, yet the exhibit proved to be a huge hit with zoo patrons. Guests traverse through a series of dark caves with over 2,400 stalactites protruding from the ceiling. A 16 foot deep pool for blind cave fish is particularly uncanny, seemingly lacking any sort of barriers to prevent an unsuspecting visitor from falling in, although an invisible sheet of glass a few inches below the surface has prevented any incidents. The herp collection is extensive as well, including an elaborate display for lake Titicaca frogs and acting as the only place in the world to see a Togo slippery frog. At a quarter acre in size, the largest indoor swamp in North America is an eerie display with dozens of crocodilians and beavers traversing several interconnected bodies of water. There are eight species of bat on exhibit with the absolute highlight being a cave with over 300 short-tailed fruit bats making for a mesmerizing display. Small to medium sized mammals are present in mixed species habitats that are much more spacious and dynamic than the usual glass boxes found in most nocturnal buildings. The exhibit is not without its flaws; the lack of digging substrate for aardvarks is disappointing and some species would definitely be better off outdoors. Overall though, this is easily the greatest nocturnal house in North America, perhaps worldwide, and one of the most surreal zoo experiences of all time.
*Several of the following photos were taken by @MGolka during an after hours event where the lights were turned on. During normal hours, many of these enclosures are much darker.
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Similar Exhibits: Animals of the Night at Memphis Zoo has a fantastic collection and is undoubtedly the next best nocturnal house in the country. Currently this is the only place in North America to see several species including slender loris and banded palm civet. The use of mirrors also creates the illusion of the exhibits appearing larger than they actually are, although the exhibits themselves are more than adequate. Night Hunters at Cincinnati Zoo leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the quality of its enclosures, but it also features a robust collection of nocturnal species with an interesting focus on small carnivores - including the last aardwolf in the AZA. Both of these houses have the lights turned on for the first hour of opening and the following photos were taken during that time.
Memphis Zoo
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Cincinnati Zoo
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Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, NE
Opened: 2003
Size: 42,000 Square Feet (3,900 Square Meters)
Inhabitants: Over 60 nocturnal species including 8 species of bat, Aardvark, American Beaver, Fossa, Mohol Bushbaby, American Alligator and more.
Nocturnal houses are becoming a rare commodity in the US, but if this exhibit is any indication, they won't be disappearing completely any time soon. Built underneath the Desert Dome, this complex is essentially a nocturnal house on roids. When director Lee G. Simmons first pitched the concept to donors, it wasn't met with the same enthusiasm as the Lied Jungle or Desert Dome, yet the exhibit proved to be a huge hit with zoo patrons. Guests traverse through a series of dark caves with over 2,400 stalactites protruding from the ceiling. A 16 foot deep pool for blind cave fish is particularly uncanny, seemingly lacking any sort of barriers to prevent an unsuspecting visitor from falling in, although an invisible sheet of glass a few inches below the surface has prevented any incidents. The herp collection is extensive as well, including an elaborate display for lake Titicaca frogs and acting as the only place in the world to see a Togo slippery frog. At a quarter acre in size, the largest indoor swamp in North America is an eerie display with dozens of crocodilians and beavers traversing several interconnected bodies of water. There are eight species of bat on exhibit with the absolute highlight being a cave with over 300 short-tailed fruit bats making for a mesmerizing display. Small to medium sized mammals are present in mixed species habitats that are much more spacious and dynamic than the usual glass boxes found in most nocturnal buildings. The exhibit is not without its flaws; the lack of digging substrate for aardvarks is disappointing and some species would definitely be better off outdoors. Overall though, this is easily the greatest nocturnal house in North America, perhaps worldwide, and one of the most surreal zoo experiences of all time.
*Several of the following photos were taken by @MGolka during an after hours event where the lights were turned on. During normal hours, many of these enclosures are much darker.
@MGolka
@MGolka
@MGolka
@Dhole dude
@Dhole dude
@pachyderm pro
@pachyderm pro
Similar Exhibits: Animals of the Night at Memphis Zoo has a fantastic collection and is undoubtedly the next best nocturnal house in the country. Currently this is the only place in North America to see several species including slender loris and banded palm civet. The use of mirrors also creates the illusion of the exhibits appearing larger than they actually are, although the exhibits themselves are more than adequate. Night Hunters at Cincinnati Zoo leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the quality of its enclosures, but it also features a robust collection of nocturnal species with an interesting focus on small carnivores - including the last aardwolf in the AZA. Both of these houses have the lights turned on for the first hour of opening and the following photos were taken during that time.
Memphis Zoo
@Coelacanth18
@Coelacanth18
@Coelacanth18
Cincinnati Zoo
@ZooNerd1234
@Moebelle
@Moebelle
What species in particular are you referencing for this? I'm sensing another debate may start on how essential outdoor access is, as that's always a big point of debate on zoochat. While I tend to view outdoor access as non-essential, especially in colder climates, one thing I do find as important for a number of species is access to natural lighting, which is often lacking in Nocturnal exhibits (because they're, well, dark).
Kingdoms of the Night is one that I never pass up any time I go despite seeing it too many times to count. My favorite thing about this exhibit is going on a weekday when crowds are down and being alone in the Swamp area. Standing in the dark with the only sounds coming from various creatures wading in water, is just a great experience. And the occasional splash, even small, you immediately react like, "What was that?!"
It really did feel like a footnote to many people in Omaha at the time it opened. Just felt like "oh they added some stuff to Desert Dome?" feeling. However it did take on a life of its own very quickly, I know a vast amount of people that go regularly skip the Desert Dome and go straight to the basement to see Kingdoms. The Swamp alone is a huge part of that.
Last summer on a random weekday, talked with a couple that drove down to Omaha from Canada after seeing videos of the zoo online. They had no idea about Kingdoms of the Night until they visited, and it ended up being their favorite exhibit at the zoo.
It really did feel like a footnote to many people in Omaha at the time it opened. Just felt like "oh they added some stuff to Desert Dome?" feeling. However it did take on a life of its own very quickly, I know a vast amount of people that go regularly skip the Desert Dome and go straight to the basement to see Kingdoms. The Swamp alone is a huge part of that.
Last summer on a random weekday, talked with a couple that drove down to Omaha from Canada after seeing videos of the zoo online. They had no idea about Kingdoms of the Night until they visited, and it ended up being their favorite exhibit at the zoo.
This is a good thing IMO, becuase every nocturnal house I have seen is bad. (Note I have NOT seen Kingdoms of the Night, which seems to be a cut above those I have seen).
The use of mirrors is a blatant attempt to hide the fact that the exhibits themselves are NOT adequate.
You are correct here, so I wonder why you defend the Memphis exhibits which are as bad if not worse than these?
Pleistocene891
Well-Known Member
While nocturnal houses are rare, nocturnal exhibits are still very common. They’re usually scattered across the zoo. Despite closing World of Darkness, Bronx has nocturnal exhibits in the mouse house and jungle world.
Does KOTN still do a lot of mix species exhibits? That also impressed both times I've been there. And at one point did they have tiger quoll mixed with the freshie crocs? I remember hearing that after asking about the exhibit which clearly had climbing branches (much like when the raccoons were mixed with gators)
Not to mention Aquatic Bird House's kiwi habitat, Carter Giraffe Building's aardvark/scops owl habitat and Congo Gorilla Forest's African rock python exhibit.
Oh yeah, there are still a ton. Almost all of them are mixed species, especially the larger habitats. Here are some that exist today:
Springhaas, Bushbaby
Potto, Bushbaby, Two-toed Sloth, Brushtail Opossum, Aardvark, Springhaas
Douroucouli, Nine Banded Armadillo, Three Banded Armadillo, Prehensile Tailed Porcupine, Red Rumped Agouti, Screaming Hairy Armadillo
Tammar Wallaby, Short-beaked Echidna
Among others that have multiple species of bats, the swamp has tons, and there are a couple small terrariums that have multiple species as well. The raccoon/alligator mix is no more, it is now home to American Crocodile, Alligator Snapping Turtle, and tons of fish and other turtles.
I don't remember the Tiger Quoll, that would have been in the early days if it was. For a better part of the last decade that exhibit has the freshwater crocs and tons of turtle species.
I've been impressed with a lot of the recent choices on this popular thread, but I truly love Kingdoms of the Night at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo. It's just about my all-time favourite zoo exhibit of the thousands that I've toured. The underground facility is extremely dark, which makes it eerie when walking through the swamp section. It's possible to listen to the splashes of the American Alligators, Spectacled Caimans, American Beavers and Nutrias, with plenty of each species, without seeing them at first. Like all Nocturnal Houses, it doesn't look as impressive with the lights on, but the darkness here surrounds visitors and creates a mesmerizing environment.
The entire exhibit is fabulous, including the 2,400 stalactites, the hundreds of bats, the famous pool for Blind Cave Fish, the Australian River habitat and the sense of wonder around every corner. Europe has the legendary, fantastic Grzimek House at Frankfurt Zoo, which I walked through twice in 2019, but it really doesn't compare to Kingdoms of the Night in terms of an experience.
The entire exhibit is fabulous, including the 2,400 stalactites, the hundreds of bats, the famous pool for Blind Cave Fish, the Australian River habitat and the sense of wonder around every corner. Europe has the legendary, fantastic Grzimek House at Frankfurt Zoo, which I walked through twice in 2019, but it really doesn't compare to Kingdoms of the Night in terms of an experience.
Personally, I'm a big fan of these smaller-scale nocturnal exhibits, used only for species that are truly nocturnal, and can thrive well in these environments. Standalone nocturnal exhibits are great, but huge buildings of nocturnal exhibits have a lot of flaws, especially related to accessibility, visibility for visitors, crowd management, etc.
Some smaller nocturnal exhibits I've seen that are great include:
- Franklin Park Zoo: two standalone nocturnal displays in the Tropical Forest for Ruwenzori Fruit Bats and Potto, along with a standalone building for Northern Brown Kiwis (mixed with tawny frogmouth if I remember correctly)
- Philadelphia Zoo: inside the PECO Primate Reserve is a small nocturnal gallery for Aye-Ayes. While the Primate Reserve overall has some mediocre exhibits, this nocturnal gallery was one of my favorite spots in the zoo.
- Buffalo Zoo: inside Rainforest Falls, a standalone nocturnal exhibit houses Common Vampire Bats.
- Rosamond Gifford Zoo: while larger than one or two exhibits, Rosamond Gifford Zoo has a small nocturnal display inside it's Adaptations of Animals exhibit. This area houses Large Hairy Armadillo, Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth, Lined Seahorse, Moholi Bushbaby, Feathertail Glider, Fennec Fox, Southern Tamandua, and a Northern Brown Kiwi that's been a no-show on all three of my visits.
The fossa exhibit stood out to me as the weakest in the building, especially considering there's an outdoor fossa enclosure in another part of the zoo which makes it completely unnecessary. Otherwise the wallabies and beavers come to mind as species that would likely do better outdoors as well, but these are a bit less egregious.
It may as well have been my favorite part of the zoo as well - at the very least my favorite indoor exhibit. I agree with you and @snowleopard that the swamp room in particular is superb and was one of the most exhilarating zoo experiences I've ever had. I believe there were even free-flight owls here when the exhibit first opened, although unsurprisingly this didn't work out. The amount of bat species on display is also fantastic and the general presentation is unparalleled.
I'll admit I was perhaps a bit kinder to the house at Memphis than I should've been, although I still find it stronger than Cincinnati. The inhabitants are more appropriate for a nocturnal house (smaller, slower moving species) and at the very least there are plenty of climbing opportunities there as apposed to the exhibits at Night Hunters which are overloaded with mockrock. I agree overall that nocturnal houses rarely do much to impress with their exhibitry, which makes Kingdoms of the Night all the more impressive.
When discussing other nocturnal areas, the nocturnal wing of Milwaukee’s small mammal house comes to mind. Brookfield and Los Angels both have Australian nocturnal houses that focus on wombat and echidna and are generally pretty well done.
Columbus's Australian themed night house is a well done small night house, IMO.
The Nutria are sadly gone, replaced by an albino alligator - not that you'd be able to tell in the dark!
All of those nocturnal houses look so impressive and I hope to visit all of them in the nearer and not further future. Kingdoms of the Night and Night Hunters are close to the top of the list of exhibits I hope to see in the future, and Memphis' building is new to me but I would love to see it. I still think (dedicated) nocturnal houses are such a rich exhibit concept and I desperately wish they were more commonplace.
Arctic Ring of Life was probably the first exhibit I immediately thought would be on the list when Pachy started. It is probably one of the five exhibits I think I have seen the most buzz for on zoochat and easily the biggest one in the midwest. I look forward to seeing it when I make it out to Detroit.
River's Edge is on my list for this year. It looks absolutely breathtaking in these photos, and I like the biome focus as opposed to a biogeographic focus here. Didn't they used to have Bush dogs there too?
The Kelp Forest at Monterey Bay also looks beautiful and has always been one of my biggest desire to see in an aquarium. It's such a unique habitat and it's recreated to stunning effect.
Arctic Ring of Life was probably the first exhibit I immediately thought would be on the list when Pachy started. It is probably one of the five exhibits I think I have seen the most buzz for on zoochat and easily the biggest one in the midwest. I look forward to seeing it when I make it out to Detroit.
River's Edge is on my list for this year. It looks absolutely breathtaking in these photos, and I like the biome focus as opposed to a biogeographic focus here. Didn't they used to have Bush dogs there too?
The Kelp Forest at Monterey Bay also looks beautiful and has always been one of my biggest desire to see in an aquarium. It's such a unique habitat and it's recreated to stunning effect.
I agree with the specific example you're using completely, which is why I used a higher number than three, and also why I explicitly did not name exhibits. I said that there are "probably five or six great polar bear exhibits" and that listing all of those would be excessive, and then used the same comparison for other animal groups to show that my issue was not polar bears. But the examples you used I would not take issue with.
I'd love to hear where anywhere else is. I am not a well-traveled zoochatter by any means and I fully admit that, but I've been to six major facilities and only once been through an outdoor walk through aviary of any kind, which contained ducks and was much smaller than this looks. If there are aviaries like this across the country, I'd truly love to know about them and see them, because I think it would be a visit highlight for me anywhere.
Would you do that if all of the tanks were empty? I don't think any of the Shedd exhibits meet that standard. The basic galleries are galleries, with Amazon Rising, Caribbean Reef, Wild Reef and the Oceanarium being the only fully unique exhibits. I've not heard either reef exhibit brought up on zoochat outside reviews, which suggests to me they are not really well-known. I don't think the Oceanarium stands up to the standard of being fun without animals and I've seen criticism of the sea lion and sea otter habitats. Amazon Rising I may have undersold but the prevalence of Amazon exhibits made me assume that my favoritism of it was personal bias, not testament to quality. When I think of unique aquarium exhibits - Monterey Bay's Kelp Forest, giant open ocean displays, the absurdly cliche underwater tunnel - those are all things the Shedd hasn't done yet. I hate to sound so negative, because I truly love the Shedd and think it's a great institution.
Why would "the exhibit would be fun without animals" ever be a requirement? I wouldn't visit a single zoo exhibit that is currently on this list or even one that is a candidate for this list if it didn't have animals, because having animals is the entire point of a zoo exhibit. The idea that exhibits on this list should be engaging without animals is nonsensical.
I believe this is something has come up in the thread previously, as a suggestion to avoid the implication that exhibits are only being listed because of the species they contain and keep the focus squarely on exhibit design.
Saint Louis Zoo has a large Cypress Swamp Flight Cage, Stone Zoo has a walk-through aviary with Caribbean Flamingos, Scarlet Ibis, and Macaws, Franklin Park Zoo has two wall-theough aviaries- one housing Hooded cranes, waterfowl, and azure-winged magpies, and the other holding andean condors (visitors walk through an enclosed pathway through the massive aviary), Disney's Animal Kingdom has two large walk-through aviaries for various tropical birds, I could go on with even more impressive walk-through aviaries, and that's not counting all of the indoor walk-through aviaries (i.e. most Rainforest exhibits). The one above is fairly unique for housing Storks, something I personally have only seen once in a walk-through exhibit, and it was yellow-billed storks in an indoor Rainforest alongside other bird species. However, if the animal isn't important in deciding which exhibits to include, there are, in my opinion, better options of a walk-through aviary to feature, some of which may be featured here in the future (I'm really hoping for Stone Zoo's Caribbean Coast- one of my all time favorite zoo exhibits).
I am not sure they are "across the country", but they are around. In regards to water birds and storks/cranes, Sylvan Heights Bird Center comes to mind immediately. In regards to native birds, Columbus North America aviary is good. There are a number of tropical themed outdoor and large aviaries of course, ZooTampa, Miami, SD, SDSP, Busch Gardens, Wildlife Worlds, etc. all have large outdoor tropical themed walk through aviaries. ZooTampa has saddle billed storks in the smaller walk into Sulawesi Aviary and demoiselle cranes in the main aviary. Really large main aviaries are not that common, not rare, but not common.
Yes and no. I think it depends on the style of exhibit with whether or not it'd be "fun without animals". Even the best elephant exhibits would be extremely boring if you didn't see any elephants, but a lot of the immersive geodesic domes would make for enjoyable exhibits even if all the animals were no-shows. Especially Rainforest Buildings I feel are often more so for the experience and the feeling like one is in the Rainforest, and the inclusion of animals is just an added bonus, but of course differing exhibit needs for different species means that an immersive, lushly planted exhibit- interesting in it's own right, would be impossible to do. I guess it all depends though on what a zoo visitor's other interests are- I'm sure there are plenty of people interested in architecture who would also find some zoo exhibits extremely interesting even if there were no animals.