Another news nugget I forgot to mention is that the main African savannah exhibit was still under construction and no animals were in it yet. The giraffes were confined in their indoor quarters, and twe were able to see addra's gazelles, ostriches, and zebras in some smaller paddocks. No wildebeest or elands that we noticed, although their signage was in place on the main exhibit.
My visit to the OKC Zoo was a mixed bag. I'll get the negatives out of the way first. My four siblings and I got to the zoo around 12:30 or 1PM, something like that, so we didn't have much time. Don't do that. It's a fairly large facility with a lot to see, and there's walking involved. You need to get there early and allow several hours to comfortably stroll around and enjoy yourself. Also, don't go at the height of summer, because the Oklahoma sun doesn't play games and the zoo's distribution of shade is very uneven. Some areas have plenty, some have literally none. Long stretches of path and viewing areas around big-ticket exhibits where all you can do is roast. So be prepared. Navigational signage is severely lacking, too, so prepare to walk in circles and be unsure where you're going a lot of the time.
A lot of the exhibits (apes, elephants, tigers) have multiple viewing areas, which is great in terms of allowing opportunities to see the animals, but does contribute to the navigational confusion. Signage on the exhibit barriers tends to be pretty clear and common, though, so it's rarely hard to figure out what is supposed to be in an exhibit once you walk up to it. Points for that.
Positives now. I'm new to the zoo nerd community, so I don't know what animals in OKC's collection are rarities, if any. I'm not great at in-depth exhibit analysis, either, due to lack of experience. From my perspective as a noob that hasn't been to many zoos, the standouts were:
- The massive elephant complex. There were at least three yards I remember, one of which was very spacious. There were viewing windows into the indoor quarters, too, though those were empty. It was great to see a multi-generational herd of elephants as opposed to the usual two or three. They seemed happy and active, less bored and frustrated than Atlanta's elephants looked in their old exhibit. Most of the herd was in the main yard, gathered around eating a pile of fresh branches. Two of the mid-sized animals broke off and had a pool party right in front of the viewing walkway, splashing around and diving underwater. That was a treat to watch. The largest bull was separated in another yard.
- The grizzly and black bears both had large exhibits with room to roam and places to hide. Nice landscaping and water features for the grizzlies, too. We were very disappointed that the grizzlies were no-shows; they were one of the main things we wanted to see. The black bear gave us a decent show, though, walking up to the glass a few times before flopping down on its cot for a nap up against the window. The building with the indoor bear viewing was fairly nice in general, with a large fish aquarium, otter viewing, burrowing owls, and several rattlesnakes. Everything but the grizzlies was out and visible. The whole Oklahoma Trails area was nicely landscaped, with lots of lush trees and tame wild birds and squirrels gathering around looking for handouts.
- The ape exhibits weren't as nice as Atlanta's gorilla setup, but that's to be expected. Still large and full of climbing opportunities and multiple viewing angles, though. It was too hot for the apes to be doing much outside, but we got great looks at all of them in their indoor rooms. The female orangutan came up to the glass and was using a stick to scrape something edible out of a crevice along the window. The whole family of chimpanzees were relaxing on or around a log inches from the glass. The big male was playing with a tiny toddler, who gave us a great performance. He did a lot of climbing and hopping around, playing with my sister by jumping at the glass a few times. He and his father were both interested in my sister's phone when she showed them some videos.
We had some nice interactions with a spider monkey and a friendly black goat that wanted its ear scratched. We didn't go through the petting zoo, and ran out of time so we missed some things in that part of the zoo. We never made it to the herpetarium, Raptor Ridge, stingray pool, or the smaller mammals in that area. Unfortunate, but that's how it goes, I guess. The Okapi was obliging enough to approach the fence and give us a good look, and a keeper fed a melon to one of the Indian rhinos to get it to (sluggishly, half-heartedly) climb out of its pool and move around for us.
Admission is very cheap, I'll say that's a big point in the zoo's favor. Five people visiting for something like $80? Yeah, I'll take that all day. Concessions are readily available and not too unreasonably overpriced. We bought drinks and split two decent chicken tender baskets for lunch. The gift shop was pretty meh. Great selection of cute stuffed animals, underwhelming otherwise. There were two books on the history of the zoo, which was interesting... I was tempted to pick them up, but ultimately passed. Lots of the merch featured animals the zoo doesn't have, like hippos or African rhinos. I bought a magnet, two of my siblings bought eagle t-shirts. We got out of it for about $200-250 for the whole trip, or thereabouts. We'd have spent that just walking in the door at pricier places like the Georgia or Tennessee Aquariums.
The master plan post on the previous page lists wolves as a 'current' species and I mistook the coyote on the zoo site's map for a wolf. We did see the coyote on our visit, from a distance as it peeked out from a hiding place.
