Very unlike past
Snowleopard Road Trip threads, I've recently been visiting only one big zoo each day.
Saturday - San Diego Zoo
Sunday - San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Monday - San Diego Zoo (again!)
Tuesday - Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park
Coming up on Wednesday, July 12th, I visited
three facilities on the same day.
That leads me to the latest review, my first stop out of three:
DAY 9: Wednesday, July 12th
Zoo/Aquarium #11: Phoenix Zoo (Phoenix, Arizona)
This was my
3rd visit to Phoenix Zoo (2008, 2011, 2023)
Phoenix Zoo opens at 6:00 a.m. for members and 7:00 a.m. to the public, which tells you all you need to know about the weather conditions here in the summertime. It was again around
46 Celsius/115 Fahrenheit by the afternoon, when the zoo astonishingly closes at 1:00 p.m. The sweltering conditions meant that for the second day in a row I was often alone on the pathways except for the stunning array of desert wildlife that was in all directions. Think of Burgers’ Zoo and its Desert building, or Omaha’s Sonoran section in its own Desert Dome, and Phoenix Zoo is basically like that for 125 acres/50 hectares. There are all types of lizards along the trails, with so many cottontail rabbits that it makes me wonder if those creatures are a nuisance and need to be eradicated. I arrived right at 7:00 a.m. and after admiring the Turkey and Black Vulture aviary and the big entrance complex (new since my 2011 visit), I entered the zoo while it was still relatively cool outside.
The zoo's map is only available online. I went left and saw the Arizona Trail first, then Desert Lives, Africa Trail, Tropics Trail and finally the Children's Trail, therefore I walked one big clockwise loop.
This zoo opened in 1962 and is famous for helping save the Arabian Oryx from extinction, having beautiful scenery at its Papago Park location, and the establishment now calls itself the ‘Arizona Center for Nature Conservation’. But, as Bronx Zoo and Jersey Zoo and many others have found, the word ZOO in the title is what everyone uses as a name. Does any parent say, "Hey kids, do you want to go visit the Arizona Center for Nature Conservation?" Nope.
Frustratingly, zoos such as Phoenix, Oregon and Fresno Chaffee, which are at least 4 or 5 hour zoos, no longer hand out paper maps. Visitors are encouraged to download the Zoo App and spend half the time on their phones instead of exploring the old-fashioned way. I really wish that I’d had the presence of mind to print off some zoo maps before this trip, as it was a real pain not having any even though I’d visited most of these zoos in the past. You wouldn’t believe how many visitors miss significant exhibits at the three zoos I just mentioned, as any kind of dead-end cul-de-sac or slightly hidden animal habitat is skipped entirely when visitors don’t have zoo maps in their hands. It's extraordinary how many families miss stuff all the time without paper maps.
Phoenix actually reminds me quite a bit of Oregon Zoo. Both can take 4 or 5 hours to tour, as an average visit. Phoenix has more acreage, but both zoos have a terrific native species area that is the first thing that visitors see. At both facilities, you hang a left and at Oregon there is the Great Northwest complex while Phoenix has the Arizona Trail area. In each case, even with numerous more modern developments, I feel as if the indigenous habitats are still the very best thing at these zoos.
Arizona Trail begins with visitors entering a walk-through aviary, past the Stingray Bay covered area. A lizard grotto with signs for 6 species (Common Chuckwalla, Desert Iguana, Spiny-tailed Iguana, Tiger Whiptail, Desert Spiny Lizard, Sonoran Desert Tortoise) is there, along with signs for a number of birds such as Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Common Raven, Gambel’s Quail, Snowy Egret, White-faced Ibis, White-winged Dove and Wild Turkey being listed as part of the aviary’s inhabitants. There’s also a small side exhibit for Desert Box Turtle and Sonoran Mud Turtle.
A covered area called
Arizona Reptiles contains
22 exhibits and the following
26 species: Twin-spotted Rattlesnake, Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake, Hopi Rattlesnake, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Arizona Black Rattlesnake, Grand Canyon Rattlesnake, Black-tailed Rattlesnake, Tiger Rattlesnake, Mojave Rattlesnake, Prairie Rattlesnake, Specked Rattlesnake, Great Basin Rattlesnake, Banded Rock Rattlesnake, Sidewinder, Massasauga, Sonoran Gopher Snake, Green Ratsnake, Red Coachwhip, Glossy Snake, Long-nosed Snake, Desert Kingsnake, Arizona Mountain Kingsnake, Western Black Kingsnake, Madrean Alligator Lizard, Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard and Canyon Treefrog. There are some species here that I rarely see in zoos, which is thrilling, but all but one of the terrariums are of a small, standard American size.
Here is the entrance area for Arizona Trail, with free-flying birds, a lizard 'grotto' and the covered 'Arizona Reptiles' area off to the right:
Arizona Reptiles (with small terrariums):
Another herp area, called
Deserts of the World, contains
13 exhibits and the following
14 species: Cape Cobra, Saw-scaled Viper, Saharan Horned Viper, Santa Catalina Island Rattlesnake, Sidewinder, Western Hognose Snake, Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizard, Gila Monster, Mozambique Girdled Lizard, Baja Blue Rock Lizard, Gidgee Skink, Western Banded Gecko, Pancake Tortoise and Desert Blond Tarantula.
A third section, called
Diversity in the Desert, contains
24 exhibits and the following
26 species: Night Snake, Desert Rosy Boa, Mexican Rosy Boa, Western Hognose Snake, Milksnake, Western Shovel-nosed Snake, Ground Snake, Thornscrub Hook-nosed Snake, Eastern Patch-nosed Snake, Desert Iguana, Common Chuckwalla, Eastern Collared Lizard, Desert Spiny Lizard, Regal Horned Lizard, Green Toad, Couch’s Spadefoot Toad, Great Plains Toad, Red-spotted Toad, Sonoran Desert Toad, Tiger Salamander, Giant Water Bug, Blue Death-feigning Beetle, Western Horse Lubber Grasshopper, Arizona Walking Stick, Southwestern Widow Spider and Arizona Bark Scorpion.
Diversity in the Desert:
All of these buildings and exhibits are situated inside the same huge, netted aviary area. There’s a Prairie Dog enclosure here as well, plus an aviary for a Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, and a separate, walk-through area has Turkey Vultures, Roadrunners and Burrowing Owls. Here it is:
After spending a long time viewing smaller desert animals, the
Arizona Trail complex continues with larger creatures. There are several mammal exhibits, such as ones for species like White-nosed Coati (they will be relocated to a new exhibit here in 2024), Collared Peccary, Mexican Wolf, Coyote, Bobcat, Cougar (to be replaced by Ocelots in 2024), Peninsular Pronghorn and North American Porcupine. Birds are represented well here in the form of species such as California Condor, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Great Horned Owl, American Kestrel, White-throated Ground Dove, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Blue Jay, Curve-billed Thrasher and American Robin.
California Condor aviary:
Collared Peccary exhibit:
In my opinion,
Arizona Trail is the best part of Phoenix Zoo, and this complex should have been included in the thread ‘America’s 100 Must See Exhibits’. It’s a significant omission. There’s an extensive variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and even a small pond for Desert Pupfish, with almost every creature being native to Arizona. By my count, there are
105 different species in this part of the zoo. That’s almost the
entirety of Oregon Zoo’s 110 species in one loop of Phoenix Zoo! The flaws would be that almost all of the approximately 60 terrariums are on the small side, plus the Cougar exhibit is incredibly tiny but at least the zoo is rectifying that by building a new Cougar habitat elsewhere in the near future. I walked through the Arizona Trail zone and truly appreciated the diversity of wildlife that can be found in the desert, with this area being spectacular in terms of a comprehensive overview of Sonoran Desert life.
Big Cats of Arizona is due to open in late 2024, with brand-new, $3.8 million exhibits for Cougars and Jaguars, to make the Arizona Trail even better.
Up next is the dusty
Desert Lives trail, which only has two species for visitors to gawk at. The story of Phoenix Zoo saving the Arabian Oryx from extinction is a famous one, with the exhibit here being of a spacious size. But nothing really prepares oneself for the Desert Bighorn Sheep naturally formed mountains, two different exhibits that can be seen from all over the zoo. I counted approximately 25 of the animals, with 20 of them in a single magnificent herd in the first enclosure. Fencing in a slice of the desert wilderness has created a terrific, legendary exhibit area at this zoo.
How many Desert Bighorn Sheep can you count in this photo?
Predator Passage is an $8.5 million, 6-acre complex that opens in November and what I saw was a work in progress. The whole thing is almost done, but the public opening has been deferred until the cooler months. It is situated directly between the understated natural brilliance of the Arizona Trail and Desert Lives areas, which are the two outstanding sections of Phoenix Zoo. Right in the middle of two natural zones are a few generic, garishly coloured African exhibits that stick out like a sore thumb. The Lion enclosure is the largest, but still only 0.22 of an acre in size, and it looks as if it’s 100% complete and will likely be the highlight of the area. The Amur Leopard, Spotted Hyena and Meerkat exhibits are also near completion and are in truth too small and rather ugly. Exhibits for Red River Hogs and 13 Ruppell’s Griffon Vultures still have a long way to go, and there’s a brightly painted overlook deck that actually seems a bit pointless.
Lion exhibit (see the stuffed toy lion on the rock?):
Meerkat exhibit:
Also in this general African area can be found a Warthog exhibit, the current and still inhabited Lion enclosure (which will likely be converted to a Southern Ground Hornbill exhibit in the future), and two small aviaries for Golden-breasted Starlings, Spotted Dikkops and Lady Ross’ Turacos. Continuing along the visitor path, there are exhibits for the following species: White Rhino, Aldabra Tortoise, African Crested Porcupine, Mandrill, Hamadryas Baboon, African Wild Dog, Cheetah and Spotted-necked Otter. There’s a spacious enclosure combining Nyala, Thomson’s Gazelle, Grey Crowned Crane and African Spurred Tortoise, which is a nice mixed-species yard, as well as Grevy’s Zebras, Marabou Storks and Greater Flamingos.
White Rhino:
Mandrill exhibit:
Cheetah exhibit:
The
African Savanna was spectacular during my 2008 and 2011 visits, but now most definitely has faded and looks extremely sparse. I saw a trio of Masai Giraffes, way off in the distance, a couple of Grey Crowned Cranes, a whole bunch of pinioned vultures (including some Lappet-faced) that will be gone from the savanna by November, a single Thomson’s Gazelle, and a few Yellow-billed Storks and Helmeted Guineafowl. When the giraffes wandered over the hilltop, the savanna was literally empty of mammals for a few minutes. The herds of Common Eland, Watusi Cattle and Gerenuk, plus Ostriches, all roaming the savanna in 2011 during my last visit, are gone. What happened to those 4 species? There's certainly no shortage of room here. The zoo also had Kori Bustard and Kirk's Dik-dik in another nearby enclosure on my last visit, two more species that appear to have permanently left the zoo. Are they gone as well? If so, that's 6 species gone from one area with zero replacements.
Here's a photo I took in the hot summer of 2011, when the savanna was lush and green. I couldn't get any photos this time around, as the sun was blinding and creating 'spots' on all the images, but the savanna is looking like a desiccated husk of what it once was.
Here's someone's else's photo from March 2023, with the African Savanna now sadly blending into the Desert Bighorn Sheep mountains in the background:
@Rhino0118
Adding in a couple of scenic lemur islands, the total for Predator Passage and African Savanna and the entire
Africa Trail part of the zoo is approximately
32 species. The best exhibits would be the ones for Cheetahs and African Wild Dogs, and the baboon enclosures still hold up well. It’s just a shame that the signature centerpiece of this area, the once outstanding African Savanna, looks very sparse both in animals and vegetation.
Tropics Trail has an excellent Komodo Dragon exhibit (which opened in 2009), a Sumatran Tiger complex with Indonesian-themed architecture (2015) and a Chinese Alligator is also found in the Komodo area. The Bornean Orangutan exhibit looks better than it did when it first opened (2011), but still very functional for such a new-ish habitat. Jaguars have a functional cage, which will be occupied by Clouded Leopards in 2024. The zoo has a single Indian Rhino and a single Asian Elephant who rotate between a sprawling couple of enclosures with a lot of enrichment items inside. There’s tons for the big mammals to do, but having a single elephant is obviously a step backward when zoos are pushing for herds of a half-dozen or more in modern, progressive zoos. Phoenix has a decision to make there.
Orangutan exhibit (there two enclosures as part of one big complex):
Asian Elephant/Indian Rhino rotational exhibit (there is one of each species):
There are lots of other exhibits in the
Tropics Tail part of Phoenix Zoo, including a walk-through Squirrel Monkey enclosure with 19 of the primates. There are beautiful island exhibits for Siamangs and Buff-cheeked Gibbons, plus species such as Andean Bear, Maned Wolf, Chacoan Peccary, Black-handed Spider Monkey, Black Howler Monkey, White-faced Saki, Mara, Greater Rhea, Crested Screamer, Scarlet Macaw, Chilean Flamingo, American Alligator, Galapagos Tortoise, Grand Cayman Blue Iguana, Rhinoceros Iguana, San Esteban Chuckwalla, Baja Blue Rock Lizard and Spiny-tailed Iguana, with all those lizards having big outdoor exhibits. Just off the main trail is a Conservation Center with an exhibit for Narrow-headed Gartersnake.
Siamang island exhibit (still green, lush and beautiful):
Andean Bear exhibit (once grassy, now dusty):
A series of 6 small terrariums alongside a mock-rock mudbank include the following 6 species: Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird-eating Tarantula, Curly-hair Tarantula, White-knee Tarantula, Pink-toed Tarantula, Bark Scorpion and Vinegaroon. A further wall of terrariums house these 12 species: Tiger Ratsnake, Amazon Tree Boa, Smallwood’s Anole, Smooth-helmeted Iguana, Amazon Milk Frog, Anthony’s Poison Arrow Frog, Green-and-Black Poison Dart Frog, Tiger-legged Monkey Frog, Black-legged Poison Dart Frog, Yellow-banded Poison Dart Frog, Bumblebee Toad and Kaup’s Caecilian.
There are many aviaries, with species such as: Rhinoceros Hornbill, Wrinkled Hornbill, Toco Toucan, Green Aracari, Radjah Shelduck, Roseate Spoonbill, Scarlet Ibis, American Avocet, Western Crowned Pigeon, Black-naped Fruit Dove, Great Argus Pheasant, Blue-billed Curassow, Troupial, Red-crested Cardinal, Black-throated Magpie Jay, Black-throated Laughingthrush, Hawk-headed Parrot, Barn Owl, White-eared Bulbul and even a Greater Malayan Chevrotain in one aviary. There’s also a fake tree trunk with three snake species: Rainbow Boa, Pearl Island Boa and Hog Island Boa Constrictor. A number of the animals are located in the ‘Forest of Uco’ South American loop, which is heavily themed with a broken-down jeep, storefront facades and other artifacts. It all adds up to 68 species in this review and probably closer to
75 species in total as I didn’t take note of perhaps three small aviaries that were under minor repair.
Lastly, the zoo has a
Children’s Trail that is of a very large size and yet when I was there I saw not a single other visitor. The melt-your-face-off 115 Fahrenheit temperature was likely a major reason for that, as the tourist season in Arizona is the winter months. The scorching temperatures are a major reason why the zoo is not looking as lush as it has in the past. However, my previous visits were in the summers of 2008 and 2011 and the change is shocking. So much of Phoenix zoo is drier and dustier than every before and I've always gone during peak temperature season.
The Children's Trail has the usual domestic farmyard zone, but this is a substantial one with a variety of animals. For zoo nerds, Phoenix’s ‘children’s zoo’ has been famous for containing the occasional genuine rarity, and that’s the case to this day with exactly
40 species currently on-show. Surrounded by many plaques detailing the 1987 opening of this part of the zoo can be found the following
21 species: Calamian Deer, Mexican Red Brocket Deer, Visayan Warty Pig, Bennett’s Wallaby, Squirrel Monkey, Geoffrey’s Marmoset, Golden Lion Tamarin, Emperor Tamarin, Cotton-top Tamarin, Two-toed Sloth, African Straw-coloured Fruit Bat, Emu, Rhinoceros Hornbill, Spectacled Owl, King Vulture, Black Swan, Madagascar Crested Ibis, Reticulated Python, Gray’s Monitor, Western Shingleback Skink and Leopard Tortoise.
A keeper feeding two Mexican Red Brocket Deer:
There’s also a tiny icon on the zoo map with a lizard on top of a small building, and a wall with a miniscule sign saying ‘Small Wonders’ that leads to a nice discovery of
17 exhibits with the following
19 species: Grand Cayman Blue Iguana (juvenile), Black Tree Monitor, Boyd’s Forest Dragon, Henckel’s Leaf-tailed Gecko, Standing’s Day Gecko, Malagasy Leaf-tailed Gecko, Galapagos Tortoise (Volan Darwin juvenile), Radiated Tortoise, West African Gaboon Viper, Speckled Rattlesnake, Tiger Rattlesnake, Rainbow Boa, Two-spotted Assassin Bug, Blue Death-feigning Beetle, Giant Cave Cockroach, Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, Emperor Scorpion, Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tarantula and Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird-eating Tarantula.
Other than the Sand Cats hidden away in a side exhibit attached to the Convention Center, I’ve now provided a comprehensive overview of Phoenix Zoo. It’s a popular attraction that was pulling in 1.3 million annual visitors pre-Covid. Arizona Trail (circa 105 species) is amazing, and I rate it very highly indeed. Desert Lives (two species) is fantastic. Africa Trail (32 species) is a bit hit and miss, with me being less enthusiastic with the savanna and the upcoming Predator Passage but enjoying some of the older, more established animal habitats. Tropics Trail (approximately 75 species) and Children’s Trail (40 species) have their pluses and minuses, as one would find at all zoos. Phoenix has a grand total of approximately
254 species, which should be an extremely accurate number. The zoo’s website mentions 400 species, but even including off-show animals that’s hugely exaggerated and that's typical of all zoos. Whatever the case, this is a zoo that succeeds brilliantly when it comes to displaying flora and fauna from desert regions of the world, but is less successful with the hodgepodge exhibit styles and designs in the Asian/South American loops. I spent 5 hours here, from 7 a.m. to noon, which seems an extraordinary time to leave a major zoo, but it was due to close in an hour and hardly any other visitors were around! If Phoenix Zoo is empty in July and August, it must be absolutely jam-packed during the cooler months.
What has happened to the 20+ Giant Eland, Sudan Red-fronted Gazelles, two Shoebills and Colobus Monkeys at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park? They were all there in 2017. Are the Yellow-backed Duikers gone as well? Where did all these species go? Also, are there still invertebrate terrariums by the Hidden Jungle aviary or are those empty these days? 
Ask and you shall receive. The loss of the giant eland was the climax of a decades long political battle between the public holders of the species and the man who owned all of the individuals. The Safari Park had every desire to continue with the species, but the owner was so difficult to work with and was so unwilling to work with the Park, to share ownership, to comply with breeding recommendations that the park’s management finally caved and said no more and sent them all out.
