And it's also worth noting that all of Smithsonian's inclusions were on the same side of the facility, spread between Asia Trail, American Trail, and Amazonia. Its seven mentions were for: red pandas, Asian elephants, Andean bears, North American beavers, Asian small-clawed otters, clouded leopards, and sloth bears. While the rest of the facility certainly has some great collections, including perhaps the most comprehensive small mammal collection in the country, but the best exhibits in the place are spread out between the three noted exhibits and the Bird House (which obviously doesn't include any eligible species). I did consider Smithsonian for one more- with the free-ranging titi monkeys in Amazonia, but ultimately titi monkeys as a species weren't included after all. I also was going to give Smithsonian an honorable mention, but some big news in recent months shifted that into our former exhibits post...
Indeed, Nashville is one that when starting research I expected would be featured quite a bit- and it was! Its twelve mentions include both large mammals it has famous exhibits for (Andean bears and tigers), a white rhino exhibit that used to have elephants, and a number of exhibits on the excellent Bamboo Trail, namely clouded leopards (with the country's most successful breeding program), kangaroos, tapirs, red river hogs, cape porcupines, ruffed lemurs, and spider monkeys. Gibbons and meerkats also made the cut at Nashville- meaning that a visit to this zoo certainly starts off with a bang, as these are some of the first animals visitors see.
To contrast Nashville, most of Kansas City's inclusions were older exhibits, as the 1990's brought the impressive Africa expansion to the zoo. Three of its four mentions were for impressive, large exhibits in this complex: chimpanzees, baboons, and lions. The fourth was for an impressive Matschie's tree kangaroo exhibit in Australia.
Lincoln Park is truly a small zoo that uses the space it has well. Two of its six mentions were for the classic, but innovative, Regenstein Center for African Apes, built in the early 2000's and featuring both gorillas and chimpanzees in a truly one-of-a-kind research-oriented exhibit. Lincoln Park Zoo is also one to make major strides in recent years, receiving three mentions for relatively new exhibits: Japanese macaques, polar bears, and lions. Each of these additions featured only a small number of species, certainly one approach for a smaller zoo to ensure a well-balanced collection of popular species without sacrificing exhibit quality. While I'd imagine some zoochatters prefer smaller zoos that exhibit less megafauna and instead emphasize smaller creatures, with Lincoln Park Zoo being a free, city zoo they certainly took an approach that pairs well with this zoo's role in its community, and its strong community engagement, education, and research programs. Lincoln Park Zoo might just be the research hotspot of all US zoos, so this leads to different considerations in choosing what species to display and how than at zoos without such a strong research program. For being a free city zoo, Lincoln Park has had a staggering amount of innovative new exhibits though, even the oldest exhibit featured in this thread- aardvarks in African Journey- only opened in 2002!
Brookfield Zoo, as you know, has not had the same degree of new exhibits in recent decades that Lincoln Park was graced with. However, Tropic World still provides an excellent home for the smaller monkeys in its collection, including the spider monkeys which Brookfield were highlighted for. On the other side of the zoo, clouded leopards are displayed prominently in the impressive Clouded Leopard Rainforest, while Habitat Africa: The Forest shows an impressive dedication to duikers, with great exhibits for two species. Lastly, the Australia exhibit contains an oddly-placed fruit bat habitat which is also excellent. In fact, one of my professors used to work at Brookfield Zoo, and has mentioned that fruit bat habitat as one of her favorite places in the entire zoo, and it is truly an underrated gem. Brookfield Zoo still has one incoming mention in the former exhibits- and it is one I imagine you'll be very happy to see get recognized
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