DAY 8: Monday, July 19th
Zoo/Aquarium Review #6: Saint Louis Zoo
Saint Louis Zoo’s website:
Saint Louis Zoo
Zoo Map:
http://www.stlzoo.org/downloads/STLZooMap2009.pdf
The Saint Louis Zoo is a large zoo with an enormous collection of creatures all over the grounds. The reptile/amphibian building is incredibly diverse, the bird section is huge, the hoofstock section is larger than what is found at many other zoos, there are terrific pachyderm exhibits, the insectarium is simply awesome, the primate area is diverse, and Saint Louis seems to be a top 5 or 10 zoo in just about every category. There is a lot of history there and in fact 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of this acclaimed zoo and I briefly toured the free “Zootennial” exhibit in Peabody Hall.
Coming up on my road trip there will be a lot of average but enjoyable zoos, so I’m thankful to having recently seen two of my all-time favourites in Sedgwick County and Saint Louis. The exciting thing about each of those zoos is that they are already brilliant and yet have extensive master plans for even more improvements! Saint Louis has $120 million to spend on updating the sea lion pool, the bear grottoes, and many other exhibits. Both of those are without a doubt in North America’s best 10 zoos (if not top 5), and the other two zoos on this 30 zoo trip that I’m looking forward to the most are North Carolina and Dallas. We’ll see if those two can compete with the likes of San Diego, Bronx, Omaha, Sedgwick County, Saint Louis, Columbus, Woodland Park, Miami, San Diego Safari Park, Oklahoma City, Detroit and Minnesota…as in some type of order those are my favourite dozen zoos on the continent. I’m guessing that of all the many zoos that I have left to see in the next month that North Carolina and Dallas might be the only two that have a chance to crack my favourite dozen.
On a side note, during our visit there was an incredibly powerful storm that featured loud cracks of thunder and streaking lightning. Power was lost all over the zoo, and employees were running around and yelling at each other as the wind howled like a banshee. We were eating lunch in the main restaurant when the storm hit, and when the wind died down we went out to see the reminder of the zoo only to be waylaid by a furious pounding of rain that was so loud that we had to raise our voices to be heard. The orangutan exhibit turned out to be our sanctuary, and it was intriguing to see two of the red apes ignore the weather and still move about their lushly planted exhibit. After another 15 minutes of torrential rain the storm passed and everyone poured out from their hiding places. The zoo was crazily busy even for a Monday, but it is free to everyone and regularly receives more than 3 million visitors per year. Thank goodness we did not attend on a weekend!
The zoo is divided up into 6 major sections, with many smaller pieces within those broad guidelines. The 6 areas are: River’s Edge, The Wild, Historic Hill, Red Rocks, Discovery Corner and Lakeside Crossing. I’ll review smaller zones of the zoo within those 6 main areas, but I’ll also list where each exhibit is found.
THE BEST:
River’s Edge – There are animals from 4 different continents represented here (South America, Africa, Asia and North America) and this large section is only about 10 years old and very impressive. I’ve seen too many dusty and barren pachyderm yards featuring swaying mammals, and in contrast Saint Louis has absolutely terrific exhibits for Asian elephants, black rhinos and Nile hippos. The massive underwater viewing area for hippos rivals San Diego as the best I’ve ever seen, the black rhino/sacred ibis paddock is long and narrow to enable visitors to clearly see the animals, and it has a lush, green backdrop. There are actually 3 elephant paddocks, and while they are not huge there has been a lot of thought put into the design and the hidden moats make the enclosures appear to be larger than they really are. Elephants can possibly be rotated throughout the yards, and the exhibits are very scenic and seem tailor-made for both visitor viewing opportunities and animal enrichment.
This water-themed area also has these exhibits: cheetah, spotted hyena, bush dog, red river hog/bat-eared fox, capybara/giant anteater, carmine bee-eater, dwarf mongoose, fish from the Mississippi River. Everything is excellent, the entire area is lushly planted with a beautiful walking trail, and this section of the zoo is just about flawless.
Penguin & Puffin Coast – This is the premier exhibit within “The Wild” section, and it is the one and only walk-through penguin exhibit in all of North America. Rather than seeing Antarctic penguins behind glass, visitors can get close enough to actually touch the birds if they so chose due to the low glass and close proximity of the brave little creatures. There were zoo workers posted in position to stop anyone from being overly exuberant with the creatures, but it was amazing to see the birds up close and seemingly in the frozen southern part of the world. There are king, gentoo and rockhopper in the exhibit, with another area that has horned puffins, tufted puffins and king eider ducks also with only a low glass wall barrier. This area is freezing cold and visitors don’t seem to spend much time in the building as even on a muggy summer day it was unbelievably chilly and I was soon near to shivering. I can’t imagine what the exhibit would seem like in the winter, although I suppose that zoo visitors would be dressed more appropriately.
Insectarium – A geodesic dome with butterflies is of average quality, but inside this building, located in “Discovery Corner”, is a very well designed insect house that is the second best of its kind in North America. Only Cincinnati has a better insectarium, but the diversity of interesting exhibits make the Saint Louis one a place that no one should miss on any visit. I was entranced to see so many children go crazy for the bugs and creepy crawlies that were attractively exhibited.
Lipton Fragile Forest – This the great ape complex of the zoo, located in “The Wild”, with gorillas (a bachelor group), orangutans and chimpanzees in lush, large, naturalistic, modern outdoor habitats. The “Jungle of the Apes” building was closed during my visit, so I did not see the animals in their night quarters, but like most American zoos the apes had massive, extensively planted yards to roam around in. The orangutan exhibit was perhaps my favourite, with a plethora of climbing opportunities for those arboreal apes.
Herpetarium – This building, located in “Historic Hill”, was erected in 1927, and I was not expecting much from such an old structure. I’ve been in enough ancient zoo buildings to see how there are often only band-aid solutions to the ravages of time, but I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful this reptile & amphibian house truly was. There are some average-sized terrariums scattered along the walls, but for the most part the reptile tanks were much larger than I had anticipated. There are some massive ceiling-to-wall exhibits with animals such as komodo dragons, king cobras, false gharials (two exhibits), tuataras, Yacare caiman, Chinese giant salamanders and an extensive variety of crocodilians, snakes, lizards, frogs, turtles and tortoises. Huge columns separate a central turtle/stingray exhibit from the other galleries, and it is obvious that this is clearly one of the top 5 reptile houses in North America.
Red Rocks – If you’ve ever been to San Diego Zoo before “Elephant Odyssey” was built you’ll recall that there was “Horn & Hoof Mesa” with a bewildering variety of hoofstock in a seemingly endless sea of enclosures. Saint Louis has a smaller version of that area, and I was thrilled to finally see some rare hoofstock in a major zoo. It seems that so many major American zoos (San Diego, Oklahoma City, Denver, etc) have phased out many of their hoofstock species in favour of new exhibits complexes, but Saint Louis is doggedly holding onto their impressive collection. The species found here: Somali wild ass, reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, red kangaroo, Visayan warty pig, Chacoan peccary, babirusa, okapi, bongo, gerenuk, banteng, Cuvier’s gazelle, Bactrian camel, Indian muntjac, Transcaspian urial, Chinese goral, red-flanked duiker, lowland nyala, addax, lesser kudu, Speke’s gazelle, Sichuan takin, Mhorr gazelle, as well as birds such as wattled cranes, sarus cranes, white storks, Stanley cranes, East African crowned cranes, hemeted guineafowl and ostriches.
Living World – This building, located in “Discovery Corner”, has restrooms, a gift shop, a restaurant, theaters, classrooms, a grand hall with “An Introduction to Animals” exhibit, Chinese giant salamanders and many other visitor amenities.
Love Cypress Swamp – This huge flight cage was built in time for the 1904 World’s Fair, and is found in “Historic Hill” and is the oldest structure at the zoo. There are now 16 North American bird species found here, including spoonbills, cormonrants, herons, ibises, egrets and other waterfowl.
Sea Lion Pool – This is an outdated pool found in “Historic Hill” that is going to receive a multi-million dollar makeover that will be completed by 2012. This exciting development is detailed on a large sign at the zoo, and there will be a tunnel with underwater viewing over the heads of visitors, huge glass windows and an expanded habitat that will include space for a new sea lion show. Nearby exhibits with North American river otters and a startling abundance of waterfowl are attractive but average.
Big Cat Country – These exhibits in “Red Rocks” are borderline average, but they squeak into my “best” category due to their large size. A pair of lions is in a massive pit, but one that is huge, grassy and with some tall trees. The lioness was actually asleep far up in the foliage, as she was resting in a crook of the tree. There is a smaller and fairly standard Amur tiger enclosure, one of the largest (and surprisingly open-topped) jaguar exhibits that I’ve ever seen, and then wire mesh exhibits that were of average quality for Amur leopards, snow leopards (two enclosures) and pumas.
THE AVERAGE:
Bird House – I enjoy ratities, raptors, penguins and many larger bird species, but my wife and I both care little for smaller songbirds or even colourful perching birds. However, this 1930 building in “Historic Hill” has low lighting and a fine steel wire that makes it seem as if there are little or no barriers between visitors and the birds. If you are into birds then the collection is vast. There is an outdoor Bird Garden with average exhibits for bald eagles, bateleur eagles, cinerous vultures, white-naped cranes, Cabot’s tragopans, white-crested laughing thrushes, vulturine guineafowls, blue-bellied rollers, white-crested turacos, white-headed buffalo weavers, speckled pigeons, blue-faced honeyeaters, kookaburras, helmeted curassows, collie’s jays and red-legged seriemas.
Lakeside Crossing – A series of attractive waterfowl pools, with loads of visitor amenities and train-station stops.
THE WORST:
Primate House – Located in “Historic Hill” this 1930’s-era structure has a fantastic collection but so-so exhibits. Some of the primates have access to the outdoors in small wire/mesh enclosures, but many are indoors for life. Tastefully done and not nearly as bad as the prisons at Tulsa or Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (shudder!!) but still disappointing for a zoo of the immense quality of Saint Louis. Here are the species found in this building: Coquerel’s sifaka, mongoose lemur, ring-tailed lemur, black lemur, black-and-white ruffed lemur, lion-tailed macaque, colobus monkey, Francois’ langur, spectacled langur, golden-headed lion tamarin, white-faced saki and pygmy marmoset.
Bear Pits – Located in “The Wild” there are 4 grottoes that the zoo director and everyone else in existence has acknowledged are not just subpar but downright atrocious. There are thankfully no longer polar bears at the zoo (they escaped to greener pastures) but the four species are: spectacled, American black, sun and grizzly. These pits are due to be demolished as part of the $120 million redevelopment of the zoo.
Extra Charges – I know that this might be a touchy subject as the zoo is free and open 363 days of the year…BUT parking is $11 unless one wants to hike from across the park, the Children’s Zoo is $4 per person and doesn’t appear to be much more than average (for once we skipped this section), and the train, carousel ride, simulator ride, 3-D movie and safari pass are all extra and I can understand those costs. The children’s zoo should definitely be free, and it was annoying to find out that the sea lion show was an additional $3 and the stingray petting zone was $3 as in the past we’ve done both of those things on more than one occasion for free. However, I fully understand that this great zoo has to generate revenue from some capacity.
OVERALL:
The Saint Louis Zoo is easily one of the most comprehensive zoos in existence. Looking at all of the hundreds of zoos found throughout North America I’d place Saint Louis in the top 10 for birds, top 10 for hoofstock, top 5 for reptiles/amphibians, top 10 for primates, top 10 for pachyderms and top 2 for insects. Other than the bear pits (which are slated to be demolished/renovated in the next few years) and the Primate House there isn’t a lot to complain about in terms of exhibitry. It is a historic, traditional zoo with the various monkey, bird and reptile houses, and I much prefer geographic zoning in modern zoos. However, at the end of this summer I’ll have to think long and hard whether or not the Saint Louis Zoo is truly impressive enough to crack my top 5 North American zoos. The zoo has $120 million in developments planned (bear pits, sea lion pool, etc) and so the economic future is very bright indeed! On my next visit, whenever that might be, this could well be close to a near-flawless zoo.
I've seen much nicer cave areas at Omaha, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Fort Worth (the excellent mining shaft area in "Texas Wild!") but I didn't harshly dismiss the cave section at Tulsa. Also, the educational opportunities and signage within the NALM complex are at times impressive, but I saw at least 100 visitors walk right on by and not read even one sentence in that area of the zoo let alone actually study the museum artifacts. I enjoyed ticking another zoo off of my lifetime list, but there are at least 50 better zoos in America than the Tulsa Zoo & Living Museum.
