DAY 10: Wednesday, July 21st
Zoo/Aquarium Review #7: Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden
Zoo’s website:
Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden
Zoo Map:
http://www.meskerparkzoo.com/tour/MPZ_Map_Final.pdf
After our two days in the St. Louis area visiting the mammoth zoo and Gateway Arch, for once we had to alter our road trip schedule as heading south towards Nashville would have made for an even longer day. Instead we drove east and stopped for the night in Evansville, Indiana, and woke up with the decision to drop by the small Mesker Park Zoo. On Thursday, July 22nd, we will be meeting up with a friend ( who has seen around 230 zoos and aquariums) to tour the Louisville Zoo together, and I’m looking forward to seeing what should be an excellent gorilla exhibit, the start of “Glacier Run”, as well as the rotational policy of the “Islands” complex.
Mesker Park Zoo was established in 1928, and since then it has been overshadowed by many better zoos in neighbouring states. There are many average and outdated exhibits scattered around the grounds, but it was intriguing to see some rare animals that are often not found in many other American zoos. Our visit was around 2.5 hours in length, and I think that my wife appreciated not to have a lengthy day like the ones that we have experienced at the Sedgwick County, Kansas City and Saint Louis zoos. Those days were whoppers!
THE BEST:
Amazonia: Forest of Riches & Entrance Complex – This area of the zoo is the first thing that visitors see and was opened to the public in 2008. Having become a first-time father 10 months ago I now have a newfound respect for top-notch zoo entrances with a variety of visitor amenities. Mesker Park has an extremely impressive set of signs, restrooms, café, gift shop and fountains in what is still a shiny, polished opening zone.
“Amazonia” is yet another massive indoor rainforest building, one of about 15 in North American zoos and the 4th that I’ve seen in the past week! I was really impressed with this latest edition to the list of mega-exhibit complexes, and it has these species: jaguar (we saw 3 in their decent indoor/outdoor habitat); black howler monkey/squirrel monkey exhibit; Goeldi’s monkey; prehensile-tailed porcupines in with two-toed sloths in an exhibit with zero barriers between humans and zoo critters other than viewing from a suspension bridge; a researcher’s hut with several terrariums of invertebrates; free-flying spoonbills and ibises; emerald tree boa; giant cockroach; giant monkey frog; Peruvian fire-stick; Jamaican fruit bat; short-tailed fruit bat; long-tongued bat; short-tailed opossum; Cuvier’s dwarf caiman in a beautifully designed exhibit; yellow-spotted river turtle; giant river turtle; yellow-footed tortoise; a huge Columbian tegu in a small enclosure; a Baird’s tapir in with a capybara; keel-billed toucans; and a large assortment of South American fish.
The rainforest building and entrance complex (both opened around the same time in 2008) is the newest and by far and away the best thing about the Mesker Park Zoo and the unfortunate fact is that the rest of the zoo pales in comparison to the spectacular opening area. There are so many huge rainforest buildings in North America (Omaha, Bronx, Sedgwick County, Montreal Biodome, National Zoo, Denver, Buffalo, Brookfield, Franklin Park, Minnesota, Woodland Park, Cleveland, Tulsa, Mesker Park, etc) that it might be a stretch to say that “Amazonia: Forest of Riches” would crack the top 10 but it was still a very pleasant and rewarding surprise and it has greatly improved the zoo.
THE AVERAGE:
Lemur Forest – Two very lush exhibits for ring-tailed and red-ruffed lemurs. Opened in 1999 and well planted.
Children’s Enchanted Forest – This area opened in 2003 and is great for kids but hit-and-miss for the caged animals. River otters, colobus monkeys, DeBrazza monkeys, coatis and some raggedy-looking macaws.
Australia – A few emus in a large enclosure and a banded rail in a small cage. Yawn.
Sitatunga/white stork – This is actually a walk-through area with only a small rope barrier (closed on my visit due to a male from San Diego being introduced to the herd) but it is a large grassy paddock that simply lacks a big pool for the aquatic antelopes. A walk-through hoofstock exhibit is almost unheard of in North American zoos.
North America – This area has a pretty cool prairie dog exhibit with tunnels for children (or young adults!), a very nice grey wolf enclosure, and then a few awful metal bird cages for bald eagles, a red-tailed hawk and a species of owl.
African Panorama – A quite pleasant greater kudu/ostrich savanna, and then a series of smaller enclosures for Abyssinian ground hornbills, rheas, llamas and klipspringers. Not bad, but done a thousand times better at countless other zoos.
Kiey Building – A 1954 structure that is a mish-mash of a variety of exhibits. It is the indoor quarters for the Indian rhino, Nile hippo and Aldabra tortoises, but there is a section with about 10 different species of snakes (mainly a variety of small constrictors), a “swamp section” with only a foot-high barrier that has Blandings turtles and these birds: Javan munia, zebra finch, Cape thick-knee, golden-breasted starling and black-necked stilt.
The best part of the building is the nocturnal section, partially because my wife and I love nocturnal houses and also because here it is fairly well done in a single large room with exhibits along both sides of the room. There are 9 different species here: ring-tail, Eastern screech owl, sand cat, douroucouli (owl monkey), pygmy loris, greater galago and springhaas together, and sugar glider and Egyptian fruit bat in another mixed-species exhibit.
THE WORST:
African Rift – A large paddock for 2 giraffes and 3 Grant’s zebras. Barren, devoid of any trees and outdated.
Asian Valley – Exhibits include: grey gibbons; a large Przewalski’s horses/Reeves’ muntjac/axis deer paddock; African spurred tortoise/leopard tortoise/Reeves’ muntjac; Indian rhino; Bactrian camel/Indian muntjac; Reeves’ muntjac/Sarus crane and surprisingly a breeding herd of barasingha deer.
Big Cats – The worst lion cage that I’ve ever seen with a single African lioness in the Asian Valley section of the zoo. God-awful. Also a single Sumatran tiger in a nearby cage that at least has a mini-mountain for the poor cat to climb. Both animals would be better off on a hunting preserve, as there at least they would have some excitement in their lives and if they were shot dead then perhaps they’d actually benefit in the long run.
Discovery Center – According to the zoo’s website this aging structure was built in 1992, but it seems to date to decades before that time. Species: clouded leopard, binturong, piping guan, serval, Francois’ langur (7 of these incredibly active monkeys) in outdoor metal cages while inside there were poison dart frogs, smoky jungle frogs, northern pied hornbills, cotton-top tamarins, hyacinth macaws, some fish species and tiger salamanders in subpar enclosures. Ugly exhibits for attractive critters.
OVERALL:
Thank goodness I didn’t tour this small zoo before 2008, as the new entrance complex and Amazonia rainforest building are both terrific and well worth a visit. After that there are some rarely seen animals in major North American zoos (sitatunga, barasingha, clouded leopard, binturong, pygmy loris, sand cat) but overall many of the enclosures are badly outdated and should be replaced as soon as possible. The grounds of the zoo are beautifully planted, and the 50 acres surrounds scenic Lake Victoria. I just wish that the captive animals had as much scenery in their often plain and desolate living conditions. However, there is a lot of potential at this zoo and hopefully the establishment can capitalize on the success of their Amazonia building.
how is Kylie doing in all these zoo's?
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