Snowleopard's 2012 Road Trip
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
mweb08
Well-Known Member
It is a good exhibit, but I wouldn't call it amazing. The aquarium as a whole is good, but far from great imo.
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
I would agree -- good, but not great. One interesting thing, however, is that they have one of those crawl-through tunnels where you (mostly kids) can crawl to pop up in an acrylic dome in the middle of the exhibit. When I did this, the big Komodo was right on top of me! Interesting perspective.
The Shedd Aqaurium had a temporary exhibit for komodo drangons and other lizards.
team tapir
Well-Known Member
Its good to know that we are not the only adults who crawl through kid tunnels
Team Tapir
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
Just off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure that the Shark Reef Aquarium in Las Vegas has Komodo dragons. I think a few others too.
@ snowleopard: The Virginia Zoo has a stellar Asian section and a solid African section. But to warn you, the children's farm is closed for renovations but you can still see some of the animals. The prarie dog exhibit is also closed. Mysteriously a few African animals were missing maybe due to the heat. There was construction near the elephant exhibit but they eventually let them out. Also the binturongs won't be on display until fall but their new exhibit looks promising.
DAY 15: Monday, July 16th, 2012
Road Trip Review # 12: New England Aquarium
New England Aquarium’s website:
New England Aquarium Home
Aquarium Map:
http://www.neaq.org/visit_planning/maps_directions_and_parking/documents/AqMap_ForWeb_rev2.pdf
New England Aquarium is an AZA-accredited facility that opened to the public in 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts. It receives over 1.3 million visitors per year, which is about a million more than the Franklin Park Zoo in the same city. There are over 25,000 aquatic creatures of more than 600 species and it is a very complete facility with 3 species of seal/sea lions, 3 penguin exhibits, two species of sea turtle, and the usual assortment of jellies, sea stars, crabs and other aquatic delights.
The aquarium is one of the 10 most popular in the United States and even on a Monday morning it was packed to the rafters for our visit. There are whale watching tours that can be booked through the facility, as well as 4 different movies showing on the gigantic IMAX screen next door, so in reality one could spend most of the day there if they signed up for all of the activities. As it was I was quite impressed with the establishment but I was also expecting it to be larger as its reputation (and outside façade) is huge but after exactly 2 hours we had seen everything and it was time to leave.
Today we spent 2 hours at New England Aquarium directly on Boston’s impressive waterfront, and then spent 30 minutes battling traffic, food vendors, suicidal pedestrians and foolish texting drivers through the heart of the city to arrive at Franklin Park Zoo. Then we spent about 3 hours at the zoo to cap off an exciting but tiring day, and this review is essentially Part I of our Boston experience.
THE BEST:
Giant Ocean Tank – This massive 4-storey structure opened in 1969; it received a major facelift in 1984 and will once again be updated by 2013. It is a 200,000 gallon tank that is 23 feet deep, 40 feet wide, has 67 viewing windows, almost 700 creatures, at least two adult sea turtles (green and olive ridley), and a wide range of fish. It was actually built first, and then the entire aquarium was constructed around the Giant Ocean Tank. It is a Caribbean Reef-themed environment and much like the National Aquarium in Baltimore there are levels that wind around the centerpiece. Myrtle, the green sea turtle, has lived at the aquarium since 1970, is approximately 80 years old and weighs 500 pounds. By this time next year her tank will have a new reef, enlarged windows, better lighting and a domed ceiling added. The tank is a bit dated in that there is a tremendous amount of concrete on show and that will alter by next summer as some of it will be chiseled out in order to create larger viewing areas. Level 4 of the aquarium is actually an opportunity to stare down at the top of the Giant Ocean Tank.
Level 1 – This area is dominated by over 85 penguins of 3 species in a 150,000 gallon pool that has dividers separating each type of black-and-white bird. African penguins have by far the most room and the largest colony and the sound they make when communicating echoes throughout the lower levels of the aquarium. Little penguins from Australia and rockhopper penguins can be seen as visitors proceed around the base of the Giant Ocean Tank, and since penguins are aquarium superstars everyone was enthralled with their antics.
Also on Level1 is the Tropical Gallery, with many 20-foot long tanks loaded with colorful fish. Dangerous Species has lionfish and scorpionfish, a large tank contains a number of cuttlefish, and other exhibits include the Phoenix Islands and Pacific Reef Community.
Level 2 – This area has a Thinking Gallery that includes a Mangrove Swamp tank; a Salt Marsh exhibit; a 2,000 gallon, gorgeous, concave weedy sea dragon/leafy sea dragon tank that is excellent; and Ancient Fishes (spotted African lungfish, spotted gar, longnose gar, stingrays) that provides viewing of larger fish.
Level 3 – This zone features the Northern Waters Gallery, with a Pacific Northwest tank; a giant octopus exhibit; a Pacific Coast Tide Pool; Eastport Harbor, Gulf of Maine (lobsters, cod and sea stars) and even a goosefish exhibit. There is also a Freshwater Gallery with animals such as an electric eel, various turtles, an anaconda and an Edge of the Sea touch tank. The anaconda is one of 6 exhibits found in the Amazon Rainforest section (holding a total of 4,500 gallons of water), and redtail catfish, pacu and red-bellied piranha are unsurprisingly some of the other inhabitants. A small bird aviary (terns, plovers, etc.) is also here, replicating a sandy shoreline.
Level 4 – Giant Ocean Tank overview from the peak of the building.
THE AVERAGE:
Marine Mammal Center – This is essentially a single indoor pool that is covered with many skylights within a steamy, humid room. There are 3 northern fur seals and 3 California sea lions in this $12 million exhibit that opened in 2009. Being all indoors is interesting, the lack of underwater viewing is disappointing, and for something so new and costly I expected a lot more attention to detail.
Shark and Ray Touch Tank – This new development just opened in 2011 at a cost of $1.5 million and it is a large touch tank that supplies a mangrove theme with thin roots emerging from the water in various spots. Gone are the days when zoos and aquariums had a bunch of cownose rays ready to be petted, as everywhere I’m visiting on this trip has exotic sharks and other creatures that go far beyond just rays. The tank is very nice but much too small for one of the most popular aquariums in the country, and the crowds on the weekend must be murderous. I can just imagine the jostling of humans and before one knows what is going on an aquarium fanatic could be found sleeping with the fishes! Species list: Atlantic guitarfish, brown-banded bamboo shark, zebra shark, coral catshark, honeycomb whiptail ray, leopard whiptail ray, yellow round ray and Haller’s round ray.
Near the shark and ray touch tank is an open-topped Mangrove Swamp tank and a beautiful Lagoon/Coral Reef tank; there is also a Jellies exhibit down a flight of stairs that has many species but it is something that I’ve seen numerous times before and while pleasant is still appropriate for my “average” category.
THE WORST:
Harbor Seals – There are 6 seals that can be viewed without entering the aquarium as they are in an entirely glass-covered exhibit near the front entrance. There is no roof so the seals are at the mercy of the New England weather (which they should be used to) and the pool is 42,000 gallons in size. The enclosure is long and fairly narrow, with a lot of algae that has accumulated on the rocks and steamed glass that is difficult to see into in places. The exhibit is not a travesty by any means, but it needs to be modernized and the seals could really be showcased in a far superior manner.
The Layout – Since the much lauded Giant Ocean Tank dominates the center of the aquarium there are visitors streaming around it via the walkways, while at the same time people are coming back down as they have already explored all 4 levels. If an enormous sea turtle swims gracefully past a specific viewing window then there are visitors from both directions stopping to gawk at it, creating serious crowd flow issues. Hopefully when the tank gets a facelift by next year there is some thought given to crowd congestion.
THE FUTURE:
The New Aquarium Experience (coming July 2013) is the final installment in a $42 million makeover that began in 2007:
The New Aquarium Experience
OVERALL:
New England Aquarium has terrific graphics on its spacious exhibits, a diverse collection of aquatic creatures, and how can any place go wrong with 3 different penguin exhibits side-by-side? It is definitely one of the better aquariums to be found in the United States, and there are many nations in the world that would love to have an aquatic facility this impressive, but it does seem as if the new improvements made (Marine Mammal Center/Shark & Ray Touch Tank) are not as excellent as they should be. Sometimes it can be difficult for older-style facilities to compete with modern institutions that have floor-to-ceiling tanks and long underwater tunnels around every corner, and New England definitely lacks the glamour and gloss of newer facilities like Georgia Aquarium, Aquarium of the Pacific or Steinhart Aquarium. However, New England is still enormously successful, very efficient in what it displays, and it is well worth visiting if one wishes to tour yet another great American aquarium.
Road Trip Review # 12: New England Aquarium
New England Aquarium’s website:
New England Aquarium Home
Aquarium Map:
http://www.neaq.org/visit_planning/maps_directions_and_parking/documents/AqMap_ForWeb_rev2.pdf
New England Aquarium is an AZA-accredited facility that opened to the public in 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts. It receives over 1.3 million visitors per year, which is about a million more than the Franklin Park Zoo in the same city. There are over 25,000 aquatic creatures of more than 600 species and it is a very complete facility with 3 species of seal/sea lions, 3 penguin exhibits, two species of sea turtle, and the usual assortment of jellies, sea stars, crabs and other aquatic delights.
The aquarium is one of the 10 most popular in the United States and even on a Monday morning it was packed to the rafters for our visit. There are whale watching tours that can be booked through the facility, as well as 4 different movies showing on the gigantic IMAX screen next door, so in reality one could spend most of the day there if they signed up for all of the activities. As it was I was quite impressed with the establishment but I was also expecting it to be larger as its reputation (and outside façade) is huge but after exactly 2 hours we had seen everything and it was time to leave.
Today we spent 2 hours at New England Aquarium directly on Boston’s impressive waterfront, and then spent 30 minutes battling traffic, food vendors, suicidal pedestrians and foolish texting drivers through the heart of the city to arrive at Franklin Park Zoo. Then we spent about 3 hours at the zoo to cap off an exciting but tiring day, and this review is essentially Part I of our Boston experience.
THE BEST:
Giant Ocean Tank – This massive 4-storey structure opened in 1969; it received a major facelift in 1984 and will once again be updated by 2013. It is a 200,000 gallon tank that is 23 feet deep, 40 feet wide, has 67 viewing windows, almost 700 creatures, at least two adult sea turtles (green and olive ridley), and a wide range of fish. It was actually built first, and then the entire aquarium was constructed around the Giant Ocean Tank. It is a Caribbean Reef-themed environment and much like the National Aquarium in Baltimore there are levels that wind around the centerpiece. Myrtle, the green sea turtle, has lived at the aquarium since 1970, is approximately 80 years old and weighs 500 pounds. By this time next year her tank will have a new reef, enlarged windows, better lighting and a domed ceiling added. The tank is a bit dated in that there is a tremendous amount of concrete on show and that will alter by next summer as some of it will be chiseled out in order to create larger viewing areas. Level 4 of the aquarium is actually an opportunity to stare down at the top of the Giant Ocean Tank.
Level 1 – This area is dominated by over 85 penguins of 3 species in a 150,000 gallon pool that has dividers separating each type of black-and-white bird. African penguins have by far the most room and the largest colony and the sound they make when communicating echoes throughout the lower levels of the aquarium. Little penguins from Australia and rockhopper penguins can be seen as visitors proceed around the base of the Giant Ocean Tank, and since penguins are aquarium superstars everyone was enthralled with their antics.
Also on Level1 is the Tropical Gallery, with many 20-foot long tanks loaded with colorful fish. Dangerous Species has lionfish and scorpionfish, a large tank contains a number of cuttlefish, and other exhibits include the Phoenix Islands and Pacific Reef Community.
Level 2 – This area has a Thinking Gallery that includes a Mangrove Swamp tank; a Salt Marsh exhibit; a 2,000 gallon, gorgeous, concave weedy sea dragon/leafy sea dragon tank that is excellent; and Ancient Fishes (spotted African lungfish, spotted gar, longnose gar, stingrays) that provides viewing of larger fish.
Level 3 – This zone features the Northern Waters Gallery, with a Pacific Northwest tank; a giant octopus exhibit; a Pacific Coast Tide Pool; Eastport Harbor, Gulf of Maine (lobsters, cod and sea stars) and even a goosefish exhibit. There is also a Freshwater Gallery with animals such as an electric eel, various turtles, an anaconda and an Edge of the Sea touch tank. The anaconda is one of 6 exhibits found in the Amazon Rainforest section (holding a total of 4,500 gallons of water), and redtail catfish, pacu and red-bellied piranha are unsurprisingly some of the other inhabitants. A small bird aviary (terns, plovers, etc.) is also here, replicating a sandy shoreline.
Level 4 – Giant Ocean Tank overview from the peak of the building.
THE AVERAGE:
Marine Mammal Center – This is essentially a single indoor pool that is covered with many skylights within a steamy, humid room. There are 3 northern fur seals and 3 California sea lions in this $12 million exhibit that opened in 2009. Being all indoors is interesting, the lack of underwater viewing is disappointing, and for something so new and costly I expected a lot more attention to detail.
Shark and Ray Touch Tank – This new development just opened in 2011 at a cost of $1.5 million and it is a large touch tank that supplies a mangrove theme with thin roots emerging from the water in various spots. Gone are the days when zoos and aquariums had a bunch of cownose rays ready to be petted, as everywhere I’m visiting on this trip has exotic sharks and other creatures that go far beyond just rays. The tank is very nice but much too small for one of the most popular aquariums in the country, and the crowds on the weekend must be murderous. I can just imagine the jostling of humans and before one knows what is going on an aquarium fanatic could be found sleeping with the fishes! Species list: Atlantic guitarfish, brown-banded bamboo shark, zebra shark, coral catshark, honeycomb whiptail ray, leopard whiptail ray, yellow round ray and Haller’s round ray.
Near the shark and ray touch tank is an open-topped Mangrove Swamp tank and a beautiful Lagoon/Coral Reef tank; there is also a Jellies exhibit down a flight of stairs that has many species but it is something that I’ve seen numerous times before and while pleasant is still appropriate for my “average” category.
THE WORST:
Harbor Seals – There are 6 seals that can be viewed without entering the aquarium as they are in an entirely glass-covered exhibit near the front entrance. There is no roof so the seals are at the mercy of the New England weather (which they should be used to) and the pool is 42,000 gallons in size. The enclosure is long and fairly narrow, with a lot of algae that has accumulated on the rocks and steamed glass that is difficult to see into in places. The exhibit is not a travesty by any means, but it needs to be modernized and the seals could really be showcased in a far superior manner.
The Layout – Since the much lauded Giant Ocean Tank dominates the center of the aquarium there are visitors streaming around it via the walkways, while at the same time people are coming back down as they have already explored all 4 levels. If an enormous sea turtle swims gracefully past a specific viewing window then there are visitors from both directions stopping to gawk at it, creating serious crowd flow issues. Hopefully when the tank gets a facelift by next year there is some thought given to crowd congestion.
THE FUTURE:
The New Aquarium Experience (coming July 2013) is the final installment in a $42 million makeover that began in 2007:
The New Aquarium Experience
OVERALL:
New England Aquarium has terrific graphics on its spacious exhibits, a diverse collection of aquatic creatures, and how can any place go wrong with 3 different penguin exhibits side-by-side? It is definitely one of the better aquariums to be found in the United States, and there are many nations in the world that would love to have an aquatic facility this impressive, but it does seem as if the new improvements made (Marine Mammal Center/Shark & Ray Touch Tank) are not as excellent as they should be. Sometimes it can be difficult for older-style facilities to compete with modern institutions that have floor-to-ceiling tanks and long underwater tunnels around every corner, and New England definitely lacks the glamour and gloss of newer facilities like Georgia Aquarium, Aquarium of the Pacific or Steinhart Aquarium. However, New England is still enormously successful, very efficient in what it displays, and it is well worth visiting if one wishes to tour yet another great American aquarium.
How would a glass roof improve this exhibit?
I meant "clear glass for guests to see into in places".
DAY 15: Monday, July 16th, 2012
Road Trip Review # 13: Franklin Park Zoo
Franklin Park Zoo’s website:
Zoo New England
Zoo Map:
http://www.zoonewengland.org/document.doc?id=262
Franklin Park Zoo is an AZA-accredited facility in Boston, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1912 and thus is celebrating its centennial this year. It is operated by Zoo New England, which also runs the nearby Stone Zoo. Franklin Park has over 1,000 animals of 220 species on 72 acres and the annual attendance is around 350,000. That total is almost triple the 130,000 visitors the zoo received in the era of 1996-97, and there has been a steady increase since that bleak time period. Still, the nearby New England Aquarium has a staggering one million more visitors than the zoo, an unusual fact for such a famous city that won’t change any time soon as there is definitely a gulf in quality between the two establishments.
Today we spent 2 hours at New England Aquarium directly on Boston’s impressive waterfront, and then spent 30 minutes battling traffic, food vendors, suicidal pedestrians and foolish texting drivers through the heart of the city to arrive at Franklin Park Zoo. Then we spent about 3 hours at the zoo to cap off an exciting but tiring day and this review is essentially Part II of our Boston experience.
The zoo has one major pathway that equally divides the establishment into a north and south section, with exhibit trails branching off and circling back onto the main road. The north side is geared almost exclusively towards children: a kiddie zoo, farmyard/barn area, carousel ride, walk-through butterfly aviary, huge playground, walk-through kangaroo exhibit, budgie feeding and a series of smaller fairground rides. Other than the bird section at one end the entire zone is devoted to children’s activities. The south half of the zoo has nothing for kids but the more traditional zoo exhibits such as Serengeti Crossing, Kalahari Kingdom and Tropical Forest. To be honest the zoo is great for kids but the layout was also a pain because whenever we passed a ride, or the carousel, or the vast playground my daughter Kylie would plead for us to let her go off and have some fun. Of course we did many things on the north side of the zoo, but we also took a couple of long routes so that we avoided specific rides. There is some validity to the idea of a zoo having a sectioned-off children’s section that does not encroach upon the entire facility.
THE BEST:
Family-Friendly Activities – As previously mentioned there are certainly a lot of options for kids at the zoo, although several of them appear to be a bit dated. The carousel ride is small and kind of junky in comparison to the behemoths that we’ve seen at other zoos; the walk-through butterfly area is a dirty white tent; and the children’s zone is intriguing but badly in need of a paint job in many areas. However, the sheer number of rides and the size of the playground meant that far more children were riding on swings or shooting down animal-themed slides than actually staring at live creatures.
THE AVERAGE:
Kalahari Kingdom/Tiger Trails – This pathway has a very large wattled crane aviary at the start of the trail, followed by a lush tiger exhibit with two Bengal tigers (including a white one) in an average-sized yard. A male lion was roaming what appears to be a revamped grotto (opened in late 1990’s), and there was the obligatory safari jeep parked just outside the massive viewing windows and lots of vantage points for visitors. A chain-link bongo enclosure, a southern ground hornbill exhibit and a Bactrian camel yard finished off the trail.
Tropical Forest – This building was completed in 1989 and is widely regarded as the zoo’s pride and joy but also its white elephant. It was originally conceived back in the early 1970’s but due to budget issues it did not get built until much later and then not with strictly African species as first planned. Also, it was famous for costing over $20 million and taking many years to be completed due to a variety of funding issues. Entering from the south side the first exhibit encountered is for mandrills and while it looks spectacular from afar unfortunately up close it is yet another mock-rock, textured, fake jungle landscape that would be better suited for smaller inhabitants. A couple of white-crested hornbills were cool to see as I rarely come across them in American zoos, and the massive fake tree trunks in their habitat must have taken a long time to design with tiny clumps of fake moss. Dwarf crocodiles, Ruwenzori long-haired fruit bats, red-eyed tree frogs and Madagascar tree boas are all in terrariums, while a larger enclosure houses a couple of Baird’s tapirs. Giant anteaters and saddle-billed storks are side-by-side, and a couple of smaller exhibits house cotton-top tamarins and an African pygmy falcon. Rhinoceros rat snake, tentacled snake and green anaconda are in terrariums near a bizarre mixed-species exhibit of Ruppell’s griffon vulture and pygmy hippo (with a small theater for underwater viewing through a fish tank). Capybaras, ocelots and ring-tailed lemurs are found towards the exit to the building, and the ocelot exhibit has some high rocky ledges for the two cats to gain elevation for resting.
The real stars of the show are the troop of gorillas, and it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that I believe the great apes should have an outdoor exhibit to go along with their all-indoor one. None of the animals in Tropical Forest have access to an outdoor area, and the gorillas really should have that opportunity available to them. While their habitat was actually better than I had anticipated (mock-rock walls, fake trees, a thin layer of hay sprinkled on the cement floor in most areas) it is still one of the very few gorilla exhibits left in America that does not have an outdoor section. The Tropical Forest building as a whole never did live up to expectations and it cannot compete with the mega-complexes found in Omaha, Bronx, Cleveland or Sedgwick County, but for a small zoo it is decent and it wouldn’t take much for the zoo to expand some of the indoor enclosures or create a few passageways into outdoor areas. There is a sign next to a pair of half-finished exhibits directly next to Tropical Forest that announce the arrival of “Red crowned and Siberian cranes”, but plenty of zoos have primate chutes that allow those creatures to gain access to outdoor exhibits and instead of cranes the zoo should have focused on either their gorillas or mandrills instead.
Serengeti Crossing – This is essentially one extremely large paddock for at least 4 white-bearded wildebeest, 3 Grant’s zebras and 4 ostrich, and it features a grassy meadow and numerous mature trees. While there are a couple of small observation decks for the most part it is a long walk for visitors alongside an aesthetically unappealing wire fence. When so many zoos have panoramic vistas of an African savanna it seems as if any local farmer could have hammered together some chicken wire onto poles and created his or her own Serengeti Crossing. Obviously the animals don’t care either way, but one could point out that zoos (especially American zoos) are designed more for the visitor and so to have a simple wire fence is definitely not the most artful choice of containment.
Bird Zone – Aside from a very nice wattled crane aviary all of the birds in the zoo are located in one section. Bird’s World opened in 1912 (the same year as the zoo) and it was renovated in the 1970’s and seems to be hidden away off the main trail with many large trees in the neighbourhood. Indeed, on my visit there was no one in the building at all and only two other people in the general vicinity and to top it off there is even a large sign on the front entrance that states “Bird’s World is Open”. Around the building are exhibits for keas and kookaburras, along with arguably America’s ugliest and dirtiest Chilean flamingo pool. An absolutely massive Flight Cage (very similar to the grandiose and iconic aviary found at Saint Louis Zoo) is overgrown with ivy and its possibilities as a truly great aviary are unbelievably wasted. Instead of having a plethora of free-flying birds, visitors spend the entire time surrounded by thick black metal as they are the ones caged and what appears to be a single Andean condor has the entire structure to itself. What a colossal waste of space, although I suppose that if you are a fan of condors then it is perhaps the world’s largest aviary for that species.
Upon entering the historic structure of Bird’s World there is first a row of dusty, dirty, half-dilapidated terrariums that have these 6 species: Chilean rose hair tarantula, Brazilian cockroach, tailless whip scorpion, hissing cockroach, darkling beetle and vinegaroon. The building is then divided into 4 sections, with the first being the Swamp environment. This one is the best in terms of design, with probably a dozen trees sticking out of a muddy floor that even had a couple of turtles in the low water. A 3-foot glass wall is in place and the rest of the area is open-topped. Next up is the Rainforest zone and it is scarcely worth mentioning other than to say it is very tiny, has a crashing waterfall and is under maintenance. A couple of terrariums have walking sticks and blue-tongued lizards as one enters the decent Scrubland area, again with a 3-foot glass wall and an open-topped diorama. A small tawny frogmouth enclosure and the Riverbank zone complete the tour, with the Swamp/Scrubland combination standing out as the better sections.
Outback – A walk-through red kangaroo/emu yard, cockatoos and kookaburras in small aviaries, Matschie’s tree kangaroos in an average-sized exhibit, the ubiquitous walk-through bird-feeding zone all add up to a popular but not extremely noteworthy part of the zoo. This is another in a long line of exhibits that opened in the late 1990’s, but there have been few notable additions to the zoo since then.
Children’s Zoo & Franklin Farm – Every American zoo simply must have a farmyard/barn area and this one is no different as there are chickens, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, barn owls and donkeys in stalls and small enclosures. The children’s zoo is interesting as it contains a black-tailed prairie dog enclosure, a surprisingly nice red panda/Reeves’ muntjac exhibit, a coendou exhibit and even an Amur leopard enclosure. “Little Critters” is a rundown, stinky building that is terribly outdated, and here is the species list in the 17 terrariums: emperor newt, red-tailed boa constrictor, prehensile-tailed skink (two exhibits), grey tree frog, spotted turtle, green-and-black poison dart frog, yellow-banded poison frog, Borneo eared frog, mossy frog, African clawed frog, Madagascar hissing cockroach, Standing’s day gecko, red-footed tortoise, eastern box turtle, coastal rosy boa and Argentine tortoise.
Odds n’ Sods – A late 1990’s exhibit has Masai giraffes sharing space with some Grevy’s zebras in a grassy paddock that does not offer up many great viewing opportunities as the one large observation deck is currently closed. Also, African wild dogs have a spacious, grassy yard near Tropical Forest and I spotted a Baird's tapir in an exhibit just down the path from the wild dogs.
THE WORST:
There is nothing truly deserving of a place here, but several areas are suspiciously close to falling into this category in the future.
THE FUTURE:
Asian cranes (red-crowned and Siberian) will make their debut in the next couple of months, but for its 100th anniversary the zoo really should have made a push to open an exciting new exhibit as right now a temporary animatronic dinosaur zone is the only thing new.
OVERALL:
Franklin Park Zoo has seen its attendance edge upwards after a string of new exhibits opened in the late 1990’s. The problem is that there has been nothing notable added to the zoo for going on 13 years and there are many signs of decay throughout the establishment. The children’s zoo badly needs updating due to peeling paint, antiquated signage and simple things like dirty, crumpled garbage cans or pads on doors so that they don’t slam and make an awful racket. The hoofstock exhibits at the zoo are simple wire fences, the bird section seems to have been completely forgotten about, and Tropical Forest is decent but also has its share of problems. On my visit the Snowleopard family had a great time as almost 50% of the zoo is geared towards kids and the playground is fantastic, but for the historic, famous city of Boston to have such a weak zoo is difficult to comprehend. None of the exhibits at the zoo are even close to making my “best” category, and to be honest many of them are extremely close to being in the “worst” category. The population base is obviously there as New England Aquarium is nearby and it gets 1.3 million annual visitors, but Franklin Park Zoo desperately needs some type of mega-exhibit added or else an overhaul of the existing animal areas to create better word-of-mouth references from folks like myself.
Road Trip Review # 13: Franklin Park Zoo
Franklin Park Zoo’s website:
Zoo New England
Zoo Map:
http://www.zoonewengland.org/document.doc?id=262
Franklin Park Zoo is an AZA-accredited facility in Boston, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1912 and thus is celebrating its centennial this year. It is operated by Zoo New England, which also runs the nearby Stone Zoo. Franklin Park has over 1,000 animals of 220 species on 72 acres and the annual attendance is around 350,000. That total is almost triple the 130,000 visitors the zoo received in the era of 1996-97, and there has been a steady increase since that bleak time period. Still, the nearby New England Aquarium has a staggering one million more visitors than the zoo, an unusual fact for such a famous city that won’t change any time soon as there is definitely a gulf in quality between the two establishments.
Today we spent 2 hours at New England Aquarium directly on Boston’s impressive waterfront, and then spent 30 minutes battling traffic, food vendors, suicidal pedestrians and foolish texting drivers through the heart of the city to arrive at Franklin Park Zoo. Then we spent about 3 hours at the zoo to cap off an exciting but tiring day and this review is essentially Part II of our Boston experience.
The zoo has one major pathway that equally divides the establishment into a north and south section, with exhibit trails branching off and circling back onto the main road. The north side is geared almost exclusively towards children: a kiddie zoo, farmyard/barn area, carousel ride, walk-through butterfly aviary, huge playground, walk-through kangaroo exhibit, budgie feeding and a series of smaller fairground rides. Other than the bird section at one end the entire zone is devoted to children’s activities. The south half of the zoo has nothing for kids but the more traditional zoo exhibits such as Serengeti Crossing, Kalahari Kingdom and Tropical Forest. To be honest the zoo is great for kids but the layout was also a pain because whenever we passed a ride, or the carousel, or the vast playground my daughter Kylie would plead for us to let her go off and have some fun. Of course we did many things on the north side of the zoo, but we also took a couple of long routes so that we avoided specific rides. There is some validity to the idea of a zoo having a sectioned-off children’s section that does not encroach upon the entire facility.
THE BEST:
Family-Friendly Activities – As previously mentioned there are certainly a lot of options for kids at the zoo, although several of them appear to be a bit dated. The carousel ride is small and kind of junky in comparison to the behemoths that we’ve seen at other zoos; the walk-through butterfly area is a dirty white tent; and the children’s zone is intriguing but badly in need of a paint job in many areas. However, the sheer number of rides and the size of the playground meant that far more children were riding on swings or shooting down animal-themed slides than actually staring at live creatures.
THE AVERAGE:
Kalahari Kingdom/Tiger Trails – This pathway has a very large wattled crane aviary at the start of the trail, followed by a lush tiger exhibit with two Bengal tigers (including a white one) in an average-sized yard. A male lion was roaming what appears to be a revamped grotto (opened in late 1990’s), and there was the obligatory safari jeep parked just outside the massive viewing windows and lots of vantage points for visitors. A chain-link bongo enclosure, a southern ground hornbill exhibit and a Bactrian camel yard finished off the trail.
Tropical Forest – This building was completed in 1989 and is widely regarded as the zoo’s pride and joy but also its white elephant. It was originally conceived back in the early 1970’s but due to budget issues it did not get built until much later and then not with strictly African species as first planned. Also, it was famous for costing over $20 million and taking many years to be completed due to a variety of funding issues. Entering from the south side the first exhibit encountered is for mandrills and while it looks spectacular from afar unfortunately up close it is yet another mock-rock, textured, fake jungle landscape that would be better suited for smaller inhabitants. A couple of white-crested hornbills were cool to see as I rarely come across them in American zoos, and the massive fake tree trunks in their habitat must have taken a long time to design with tiny clumps of fake moss. Dwarf crocodiles, Ruwenzori long-haired fruit bats, red-eyed tree frogs and Madagascar tree boas are all in terrariums, while a larger enclosure houses a couple of Baird’s tapirs. Giant anteaters and saddle-billed storks are side-by-side, and a couple of smaller exhibits house cotton-top tamarins and an African pygmy falcon. Rhinoceros rat snake, tentacled snake and green anaconda are in terrariums near a bizarre mixed-species exhibit of Ruppell’s griffon vulture and pygmy hippo (with a small theater for underwater viewing through a fish tank). Capybaras, ocelots and ring-tailed lemurs are found towards the exit to the building, and the ocelot exhibit has some high rocky ledges for the two cats to gain elevation for resting.
The real stars of the show are the troop of gorillas, and it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that I believe the great apes should have an outdoor exhibit to go along with their all-indoor one. None of the animals in Tropical Forest have access to an outdoor area, and the gorillas really should have that opportunity available to them. While their habitat was actually better than I had anticipated (mock-rock walls, fake trees, a thin layer of hay sprinkled on the cement floor in most areas) it is still one of the very few gorilla exhibits left in America that does not have an outdoor section. The Tropical Forest building as a whole never did live up to expectations and it cannot compete with the mega-complexes found in Omaha, Bronx, Cleveland or Sedgwick County, but for a small zoo it is decent and it wouldn’t take much for the zoo to expand some of the indoor enclosures or create a few passageways into outdoor areas. There is a sign next to a pair of half-finished exhibits directly next to Tropical Forest that announce the arrival of “Red crowned and Siberian cranes”, but plenty of zoos have primate chutes that allow those creatures to gain access to outdoor exhibits and instead of cranes the zoo should have focused on either their gorillas or mandrills instead.
Serengeti Crossing – This is essentially one extremely large paddock for at least 4 white-bearded wildebeest, 3 Grant’s zebras and 4 ostrich, and it features a grassy meadow and numerous mature trees. While there are a couple of small observation decks for the most part it is a long walk for visitors alongside an aesthetically unappealing wire fence. When so many zoos have panoramic vistas of an African savanna it seems as if any local farmer could have hammered together some chicken wire onto poles and created his or her own Serengeti Crossing. Obviously the animals don’t care either way, but one could point out that zoos (especially American zoos) are designed more for the visitor and so to have a simple wire fence is definitely not the most artful choice of containment.
Bird Zone – Aside from a very nice wattled crane aviary all of the birds in the zoo are located in one section. Bird’s World opened in 1912 (the same year as the zoo) and it was renovated in the 1970’s and seems to be hidden away off the main trail with many large trees in the neighbourhood. Indeed, on my visit there was no one in the building at all and only two other people in the general vicinity and to top it off there is even a large sign on the front entrance that states “Bird’s World is Open”. Around the building are exhibits for keas and kookaburras, along with arguably America’s ugliest and dirtiest Chilean flamingo pool. An absolutely massive Flight Cage (very similar to the grandiose and iconic aviary found at Saint Louis Zoo) is overgrown with ivy and its possibilities as a truly great aviary are unbelievably wasted. Instead of having a plethora of free-flying birds, visitors spend the entire time surrounded by thick black metal as they are the ones caged and what appears to be a single Andean condor has the entire structure to itself. What a colossal waste of space, although I suppose that if you are a fan of condors then it is perhaps the world’s largest aviary for that species.
Upon entering the historic structure of Bird’s World there is first a row of dusty, dirty, half-dilapidated terrariums that have these 6 species: Chilean rose hair tarantula, Brazilian cockroach, tailless whip scorpion, hissing cockroach, darkling beetle and vinegaroon. The building is then divided into 4 sections, with the first being the Swamp environment. This one is the best in terms of design, with probably a dozen trees sticking out of a muddy floor that even had a couple of turtles in the low water. A 3-foot glass wall is in place and the rest of the area is open-topped. Next up is the Rainforest zone and it is scarcely worth mentioning other than to say it is very tiny, has a crashing waterfall and is under maintenance. A couple of terrariums have walking sticks and blue-tongued lizards as one enters the decent Scrubland area, again with a 3-foot glass wall and an open-topped diorama. A small tawny frogmouth enclosure and the Riverbank zone complete the tour, with the Swamp/Scrubland combination standing out as the better sections.
Outback – A walk-through red kangaroo/emu yard, cockatoos and kookaburras in small aviaries, Matschie’s tree kangaroos in an average-sized exhibit, the ubiquitous walk-through bird-feeding zone all add up to a popular but not extremely noteworthy part of the zoo. This is another in a long line of exhibits that opened in the late 1990’s, but there have been few notable additions to the zoo since then.
Children’s Zoo & Franklin Farm – Every American zoo simply must have a farmyard/barn area and this one is no different as there are chickens, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, barn owls and donkeys in stalls and small enclosures. The children’s zoo is interesting as it contains a black-tailed prairie dog enclosure, a surprisingly nice red panda/Reeves’ muntjac exhibit, a coendou exhibit and even an Amur leopard enclosure. “Little Critters” is a rundown, stinky building that is terribly outdated, and here is the species list in the 17 terrariums: emperor newt, red-tailed boa constrictor, prehensile-tailed skink (two exhibits), grey tree frog, spotted turtle, green-and-black poison dart frog, yellow-banded poison frog, Borneo eared frog, mossy frog, African clawed frog, Madagascar hissing cockroach, Standing’s day gecko, red-footed tortoise, eastern box turtle, coastal rosy boa and Argentine tortoise.
Odds n’ Sods – A late 1990’s exhibit has Masai giraffes sharing space with some Grevy’s zebras in a grassy paddock that does not offer up many great viewing opportunities as the one large observation deck is currently closed. Also, African wild dogs have a spacious, grassy yard near Tropical Forest and I spotted a Baird's tapir in an exhibit just down the path from the wild dogs.
THE WORST:
There is nothing truly deserving of a place here, but several areas are suspiciously close to falling into this category in the future.
THE FUTURE:
Asian cranes (red-crowned and Siberian) will make their debut in the next couple of months, but for its 100th anniversary the zoo really should have made a push to open an exciting new exhibit as right now a temporary animatronic dinosaur zone is the only thing new.
OVERALL:
Franklin Park Zoo has seen its attendance edge upwards after a string of new exhibits opened in the late 1990’s. The problem is that there has been nothing notable added to the zoo for going on 13 years and there are many signs of decay throughout the establishment. The children’s zoo badly needs updating due to peeling paint, antiquated signage and simple things like dirty, crumpled garbage cans or pads on doors so that they don’t slam and make an awful racket. The hoofstock exhibits at the zoo are simple wire fences, the bird section seems to have been completely forgotten about, and Tropical Forest is decent but also has its share of problems. On my visit the Snowleopard family had a great time as almost 50% of the zoo is geared towards kids and the playground is fantastic, but for the historic, famous city of Boston to have such a weak zoo is difficult to comprehend. None of the exhibits at the zoo are even close to making my “best” category, and to be honest many of them are extremely close to being in the “worst” category. The population base is obviously there as New England Aquarium is nearby and it gets 1.3 million annual visitors, but Franklin Park Zoo desperately needs some type of mega-exhibit added or else an overhaul of the existing animal areas to create better word-of-mouth references from folks like myself.
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A few comments on this typically thorough review:
--when the 1970s-designed Tropical Forest opened in the 1990s, it was--as intended--devoted strictly to African species. At the time, bongos, yellow-backed duikers, Jackson's chameleons and pottos were among the unusual and zoogeographically appropriate exhibits.
--while it may be easy to suggest that outdoor exhibits for mandrills and gorillas "should" have been built instead of crane yards, it ignores the financial chasm that separates these two concepts, as well as the obvious poverty of Zoo New England. Moreover, one area the zoo has excelled in is the husbandry and breeding of rare cranes, so building new facilities to augment this strength actually makes a lot of sense.
--finally it is both a mystery and a shame that Boston and San Francisco--two of the wealthiest, most environmentally-conscious and well-educated metropolitan areas in the US--should have such mediocre/poor zoos that have little or no political and community support.
Are you visiting the nearby Stone Zoo?
snowleopard, there is an outdoor yard for the troop of gorillas as you exit the TF and immediately to the right. There are 3 viewing areas into the 1/2 acre yard with crashing waterfall and stream, tall grass and climbing structures. It is in between where you exited the TF and the Wild Dog exhibit. There is also another yard past Wild Dog for the Baird's Tapir.
Also, the tigers, Anala and Luther (white) are Bengal Tigers, not Amur. They were both confiscated by USFW from someone that kept them as pets.
Also, the tigers, Anala and Luther (white) are Bengal Tigers, not Amur. They were both confiscated by USFW from someone that kept them as pets.
@reduakari: interesting observations, and like many zoogeographic sections of various zoos after years go by there tends to be changes made due to availability of species, etc. I am not going to Stone Zoo on this road trip as the one day in Boston was it for us.
@Gulo gulo: Thanks for pointing out that the tigers are in fact Bengal and not Amur, and I made the alteration in my review. Also, I did see the Baird's tapir in its grassy exhibit and I added that in as well. I've been posting so many extensive, 5-6 page reviews (using 14 font) that I am bound to miss the odd species name of an animal. Also, the area you speak of directly next to the African wild dogs is all under construction for the upcoming crane enclosures and so I definitely did not see any outdoor gorilla exhibit whatsoever.
@Gulo gulo: Thanks for pointing out that the tigers are in fact Bengal and not Amur, and I made the alteration in my review. Also, I did see the Baird's tapir in its grassy exhibit and I added that in as well. I've been posting so many extensive, 5-6 page reviews (using 14 font) that I am bound to miss the odd species name of an animal. Also, the area you speak of directly next to the African wild dogs is all under construction for the upcoming crane enclosures and so I definitely did not see any outdoor gorilla exhibit whatsoever.
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
Franklin Park Zoo -- a look back
I first visited this zoo on a gloomy November 1992 day, almost 20 years ago. It truly has changed a lot since then.
Back then, the Tropical Forest was brand new and really seem spectacular. So much so that I put it in my "Top 25 Exhibits" list in my first zoo book. The gorillas inside were very active and crowds were gathered inside to watch them.
Birds World was also very nice back then, with ultra-modern bird exhibits representing different world environments. Outside that huge walk-through flight cage was filled with many different kinds of birds, rather than one single Andean condor.
Beyond this, however, the rest of the zoo was very sparse. There was a huge open area between the Tropical Forest building and the children's area. The big cats exhibits and Serengetti Crossing were not there, just open wasted empty space. To me, the zoo seemed amazing in its potential, but that's all.
One more thing: this zoo is located in a very dangerous section of Boston, with the only parking being street side parking. I'm very glad the SnowLeopard family has made it out of there unscathed. I've always thought that this zoo needs a closed, protected parking lot more than just about any other. I hope they get one soon.
I first visited this zoo on a gloomy November 1992 day, almost 20 years ago. It truly has changed a lot since then.
Back then, the Tropical Forest was brand new and really seem spectacular. So much so that I put it in my "Top 25 Exhibits" list in my first zoo book. The gorillas inside were very active and crowds were gathered inside to watch them.
Birds World was also very nice back then, with ultra-modern bird exhibits representing different world environments. Outside that huge walk-through flight cage was filled with many different kinds of birds, rather than one single Andean condor.
Beyond this, however, the rest of the zoo was very sparse. There was a huge open area between the Tropical Forest building and the children's area. The big cats exhibits and Serengetti Crossing were not there, just open wasted empty space. To me, the zoo seemed amazing in its potential, but that's all.
One more thing: this zoo is located in a very dangerous section of Boston, with the only parking being street side parking. I'm very glad the SnowLeopard family has made it out of there unscathed. I've always thought that this zoo needs a closed, protected parking lot more than just about any other. I hope they get one soon.
Aw, snowleopard, I would've liked to meet you and your family at Beardsley this Thursday, but unfortunately (although it's good for me 
), I'll be visiting the Bronx Zoo for a Members-Only evening. Hope you enjoy your visit, hope the rest of the trip goes well, and that everything's going well for you and the family! Now has your wife started to go insane from all of the zoo-nerdiness?! 
), I'll be visiting the Bronx Zoo for a Members-Only evening. Hope you enjoy your visit, hope the rest of the trip goes well, and that everything's going well for you and the family! Now has your wife started to go insane from all of the zoo-nerdiness?!
DAY 16: Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
Road Trip Review # 14: Mystic Aquarium
Mystic Aquarium’s website:
Mystic Aquarium
Aquarium Map:
Exhibit Map - Mystic Aquarium
Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration is an AZA-accredited facility located in Mystic, Connecticut, and it was founded in 1973. There are over 700,000 annual visitors and the establishment has had a lot of success since its huge expansion that was completed in 1999. A massive beluga whale tank was added, along with an Ocean Planet Pavilion, a café, a large gift shop, changes to the main floor of the indoor exhibit building and an aquatic animal study center. There was over $50 million spent and the entire aquarium took a giant leap forward in terms of size and overall quality.
I thoroughly enjoyed this establishment and after this latest road trip I will have visited at least 35 aquariums in North America literally from the biggest to the smallest and I think that it is pretty much an absolute lock that Mystic will be in my top 10. There are whales, penguins, 3 species of seals/sea lions, sharks, sea turtles, lobsters, crabs and the usual assortment of aquatic wonders. The notable exceptions would be dolphins, otters and crocodilians but the quality of the exhibits is extremely impressive and almost everything is top-notch all across the facility. We spent 3 hours at the aquarium (including lunch) which is a full hour longer than at the previous day’s New England Aquarium, and Mystic also contains a trio of theaters that we completely skipped due to having a one year-old who would definitely not sit still for such attractions. A 4-D theater has a SpongeBob cartoon, a Nautilus Live theater has an exploration documentary, and a Foxwoods Marine Theater has California sea lion shows playing a few times each day.
THE BEST:
Arctic Coast (Beluga Whale Exhibit) – This rocky, landscaped habitat features 4 beluga whales in a 750,000 gallon pool and a trio of 20-foot long underwater viewing windows. There are conifers in the background, a pile of logs at the shallow end of the exhibit, caves with bubble-shaped windows and a trio of pools in an area that covers an acre in size. There are many vantage points, including underwater viewing, and the pool and its white whales is obviously the star attraction of the entire aquarium.
Main Building – This structure contains one outstanding exhibit after another and there is not a single flaw that can be remembered. The entrance has a large tank filled with mono fish and there is a brightly coloured piece of glass artwork within the center of the tank that reflects the brilliance of the fish. There is a large Stingray Bay tank with cownose rays, southern rays and Atlantic rays; a Shark Lagoon exhibit with whitetip reef sharks, blacknose sharks and nurse sharks; a common snapping turtle terrarium perched on top of a 4-foot snapping turtle statue; and underwater viewing for California sea lions. An Amazon River gallery is excellent and contains species such as red-bellied piranhas, an electric eel, Amazon milk frog, 8 species of poison dart frog, and nearby is a really cool, environmentally-friendly exhibit about preserving rainwater in backyards.
The main building also contains Jellies: The Ocean in Motion, with these 7 species: moon jellyfish, blue jellyfish, Atlantic sea nettle, Pacific sea nettle, crystal jellyfish, spotted jellyfish and upside-down jellyfish. Other exhibits include one for giant clams; Giant Pacific octopus; wolf eel; a crawl-through American lobster exhibit for toddlers; a large tank with barracuda and at least 15 moray eels (green and purplemouth species); winter flounder; an original few tanks containing fluorescent corals and fluorescent zebra fish that enable visitors to turn off the lights in the exhibits and then the fish glow with eerie brightness; burrfish; a large sunflower star tank; a couple of rehabilitated juvenile loggerhead turtles in some small tanks; a clownfish and anemone tank; and a Grand Cayman iguana terrarium.
A Fish of the Congo section has a gorgeous and jam-packed cichlid tank, a panther chameleon terrarium and other exhibits; a touch tank in the center of the room with at least 4 species of sharks that can be petted; and a huge Caribbean Reef central tank that is reminiscent of the iconic one at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The main building does not at first come across as being very large, but it is packed with a little bit of everything and all of it is well designed.
Marsh Trek – A wooden boardwalk circumnavigates a 1,200 sq. ft. walk-through aviary packed with Aussie birds (a seasonal attraction) and the boardwalk itself cuts through a lily-littered pond that is a huge hit with visitors. The reason for its popularity during the summer months is that there are quite a number of large frogs and juvenile turtles to be seen amongst the green plants, and spotting them is a real treat for visitors of all ages. Who would have thought that people would line up in droves to see wild creatures at a captive facility?
Pacific Northwest – This outdoor area runs between the Marsh Trek and Arctic Coast sections and features two pinniped habitats with large rocky backdrops and deep pools. The first exhibit has two Steller’s sea lions (1.1) while the second has a single Steller’s sea lion and 4 harbour seals. Mystic is one of only a small handful of American facilities with that species of sea lion, and in fact there are not many European establishments with them as well.
Ocean Exploration Center – This large building does not have any animals whatsoever, but it is still well worth visiting. There is a “Titanic: 12,450 ft. Below” gallery that is paying tribute to the 100th anniversary of the sinking of that fateful cruise liner, and it is very well done and includes a recreation of a cabin on the ship, a mini-iceberg, the boiler room, a massive hull of a ship, and many museum-like artifacts and information throughout several rooms. After passing through that section there is the Nautilus Live Theater that follows Dr. Robert Ballard and his team as they explore the ocean depths. More additions are on the way as one gallery was closed down in preparation of the latest rotating exhibit to reach the aquarium.
THE AVERAGE:
Penguin Pavilion – A colony of African penguins resides in an exhibit that opened in 1989 and if I had to choose a part of the aquarium that was the weakest this would be it. The rocky land area is not every large and while there is underwater viewing the windows are too small to handle the crowds that throng the narrow indoor walkway hoping to see swimming birds. I did see some drawings inside the main aquarium building that had images of a future penguin exhibit and so obviously Mystic is aware of the issues surrounding this habitat. It is not bad by any means but obviously the rest of the aquarium is so impressive that the penguins seem to be off in a corner (literally) as an afterthought. Penguin Encounter Room is where visitors can pay $55 to sit in a circle with several other people and have a close-up experience with a real live African penguin. Curiously this all takes place in front of a viewing window and so anyone in the aquarium can stand there and watch as people pet a penguin and nervously glance up at the onlookers.
Seal Rescue Clinic – This small area opened in 1996 and shows the transparency of the facility as it is not often that viewers see the behind-the-scenes area of an aquarium. There are probably a dozen small tubs and pools containing harbor and grey seals, although it is difficult to see much other than the odd seal head popping up out of the water. These rehabilitated animals often don’t spend much time at the aquarium as they are treated and released back into the ocean.
Marine Mammal Observatory – This is another glimpse into the inner workings of the aquarium, and in 2008 for the first time a public viewing deck was built to allow visitors to stare down into two large, previously off-exhibit pools. Again this area is for rehabilitated animals that will be released back into the wild, and a worker told me that the inhabitants change practically every week but on my visit I saw two California sea lions who were recovering from various ailments.
THE WORST:
Nothing at this stellar institution fits this category.
THE FUTURE:
Penguin Exhibit – There are a couple of drawings posted for a future penguin habitat but I have no idea of the timeline for the project and I could not locate anything online.
OVERALL:
Mystic Aquarium is an amazing place to visit as almost every single aspect of it rises above expectations and pleases the eye with its grandeur. I seem to be quite effusive with my praise but there is nothing even remotely poor about this establishment and even the trio of areas that I placed in my “average” category is still worthwhile. Two of those areas are technically behind-the-scenes zones that have been opened up to the public, and the third is a solid penguin exhibit that could well become better in the future. The outdoor areas containing beluga whales, seals, sea lions and the Marsh Trek are all top-notch, and the indoor buildings are outstanding. Even the café and huge gift shop are very impressive, the entrance plaza is well-organized, and in the blink of an eye 3 hours can pass at this establishment. With the three different theaters and additional animal encounter programs it would be easy to spend even longer at this aquarium, and I have no doubt that it is one of the 10 best in the United States.
Road Trip Review # 14: Mystic Aquarium
Mystic Aquarium’s website:
Mystic Aquarium
Aquarium Map:
Exhibit Map - Mystic Aquarium
Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration is an AZA-accredited facility located in Mystic, Connecticut, and it was founded in 1973. There are over 700,000 annual visitors and the establishment has had a lot of success since its huge expansion that was completed in 1999. A massive beluga whale tank was added, along with an Ocean Planet Pavilion, a café, a large gift shop, changes to the main floor of the indoor exhibit building and an aquatic animal study center. There was over $50 million spent and the entire aquarium took a giant leap forward in terms of size and overall quality.
I thoroughly enjoyed this establishment and after this latest road trip I will have visited at least 35 aquariums in North America literally from the biggest to the smallest and I think that it is pretty much an absolute lock that Mystic will be in my top 10. There are whales, penguins, 3 species of seals/sea lions, sharks, sea turtles, lobsters, crabs and the usual assortment of aquatic wonders. The notable exceptions would be dolphins, otters and crocodilians but the quality of the exhibits is extremely impressive and almost everything is top-notch all across the facility. We spent 3 hours at the aquarium (including lunch) which is a full hour longer than at the previous day’s New England Aquarium, and Mystic also contains a trio of theaters that we completely skipped due to having a one year-old who would definitely not sit still for such attractions. A 4-D theater has a SpongeBob cartoon, a Nautilus Live theater has an exploration documentary, and a Foxwoods Marine Theater has California sea lion shows playing a few times each day.
THE BEST:
Arctic Coast (Beluga Whale Exhibit) – This rocky, landscaped habitat features 4 beluga whales in a 750,000 gallon pool and a trio of 20-foot long underwater viewing windows. There are conifers in the background, a pile of logs at the shallow end of the exhibit, caves with bubble-shaped windows and a trio of pools in an area that covers an acre in size. There are many vantage points, including underwater viewing, and the pool and its white whales is obviously the star attraction of the entire aquarium.
Main Building – This structure contains one outstanding exhibit after another and there is not a single flaw that can be remembered. The entrance has a large tank filled with mono fish and there is a brightly coloured piece of glass artwork within the center of the tank that reflects the brilliance of the fish. There is a large Stingray Bay tank with cownose rays, southern rays and Atlantic rays; a Shark Lagoon exhibit with whitetip reef sharks, blacknose sharks and nurse sharks; a common snapping turtle terrarium perched on top of a 4-foot snapping turtle statue; and underwater viewing for California sea lions. An Amazon River gallery is excellent and contains species such as red-bellied piranhas, an electric eel, Amazon milk frog, 8 species of poison dart frog, and nearby is a really cool, environmentally-friendly exhibit about preserving rainwater in backyards.
The main building also contains Jellies: The Ocean in Motion, with these 7 species: moon jellyfish, blue jellyfish, Atlantic sea nettle, Pacific sea nettle, crystal jellyfish, spotted jellyfish and upside-down jellyfish. Other exhibits include one for giant clams; Giant Pacific octopus; wolf eel; a crawl-through American lobster exhibit for toddlers; a large tank with barracuda and at least 15 moray eels (green and purplemouth species); winter flounder; an original few tanks containing fluorescent corals and fluorescent zebra fish that enable visitors to turn off the lights in the exhibits and then the fish glow with eerie brightness; burrfish; a large sunflower star tank; a couple of rehabilitated juvenile loggerhead turtles in some small tanks; a clownfish and anemone tank; and a Grand Cayman iguana terrarium.
A Fish of the Congo section has a gorgeous and jam-packed cichlid tank, a panther chameleon terrarium and other exhibits; a touch tank in the center of the room with at least 4 species of sharks that can be petted; and a huge Caribbean Reef central tank that is reminiscent of the iconic one at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The main building does not at first come across as being very large, but it is packed with a little bit of everything and all of it is well designed.
Marsh Trek – A wooden boardwalk circumnavigates a 1,200 sq. ft. walk-through aviary packed with Aussie birds (a seasonal attraction) and the boardwalk itself cuts through a lily-littered pond that is a huge hit with visitors. The reason for its popularity during the summer months is that there are quite a number of large frogs and juvenile turtles to be seen amongst the green plants, and spotting them is a real treat for visitors of all ages. Who would have thought that people would line up in droves to see wild creatures at a captive facility?
Pacific Northwest – This outdoor area runs between the Marsh Trek and Arctic Coast sections and features two pinniped habitats with large rocky backdrops and deep pools. The first exhibit has two Steller’s sea lions (1.1) while the second has a single Steller’s sea lion and 4 harbour seals. Mystic is one of only a small handful of American facilities with that species of sea lion, and in fact there are not many European establishments with them as well.
Ocean Exploration Center – This large building does not have any animals whatsoever, but it is still well worth visiting. There is a “Titanic: 12,450 ft. Below” gallery that is paying tribute to the 100th anniversary of the sinking of that fateful cruise liner, and it is very well done and includes a recreation of a cabin on the ship, a mini-iceberg, the boiler room, a massive hull of a ship, and many museum-like artifacts and information throughout several rooms. After passing through that section there is the Nautilus Live Theater that follows Dr. Robert Ballard and his team as they explore the ocean depths. More additions are on the way as one gallery was closed down in preparation of the latest rotating exhibit to reach the aquarium.
THE AVERAGE:
Penguin Pavilion – A colony of African penguins resides in an exhibit that opened in 1989 and if I had to choose a part of the aquarium that was the weakest this would be it. The rocky land area is not every large and while there is underwater viewing the windows are too small to handle the crowds that throng the narrow indoor walkway hoping to see swimming birds. I did see some drawings inside the main aquarium building that had images of a future penguin exhibit and so obviously Mystic is aware of the issues surrounding this habitat. It is not bad by any means but obviously the rest of the aquarium is so impressive that the penguins seem to be off in a corner (literally) as an afterthought. Penguin Encounter Room is where visitors can pay $55 to sit in a circle with several other people and have a close-up experience with a real live African penguin. Curiously this all takes place in front of a viewing window and so anyone in the aquarium can stand there and watch as people pet a penguin and nervously glance up at the onlookers.
Seal Rescue Clinic – This small area opened in 1996 and shows the transparency of the facility as it is not often that viewers see the behind-the-scenes area of an aquarium. There are probably a dozen small tubs and pools containing harbor and grey seals, although it is difficult to see much other than the odd seal head popping up out of the water. These rehabilitated animals often don’t spend much time at the aquarium as they are treated and released back into the ocean.
Marine Mammal Observatory – This is another glimpse into the inner workings of the aquarium, and in 2008 for the first time a public viewing deck was built to allow visitors to stare down into two large, previously off-exhibit pools. Again this area is for rehabilitated animals that will be released back into the wild, and a worker told me that the inhabitants change practically every week but on my visit I saw two California sea lions who were recovering from various ailments.
THE WORST:
Nothing at this stellar institution fits this category.
THE FUTURE:
Penguin Exhibit – There are a couple of drawings posted for a future penguin habitat but I have no idea of the timeline for the project and I could not locate anything online.
OVERALL:
Mystic Aquarium is an amazing place to visit as almost every single aspect of it rises above expectations and pleases the eye with its grandeur. I seem to be quite effusive with my praise but there is nothing even remotely poor about this establishment and even the trio of areas that I placed in my “average” category is still worthwhile. Two of those areas are technically behind-the-scenes zones that have been opened up to the public, and the third is a solid penguin exhibit that could well become better in the future. The outdoor areas containing beluga whales, seals, sea lions and the Marsh Trek are all top-notch, and the indoor buildings are outstanding. Even the café and huge gift shop are very impressive, the entrance plaza is well-organized, and in the blink of an eye 3 hours can pass at this establishment. With the three different theaters and additional animal encounter programs it would be easy to spend even longer at this aquarium, and I have no doubt that it is one of the 10 best in the United States.
mweb08
Well-Known Member