What do you like best and least about your zoo?

This isn't a bad thread idea so here's a slightly updated list of Beardsley.
Beardsley Zoo:
BEST
1. WOLF- In 2006, an air-conditioned cabin opened up in between the Gray and Red Wolf exhibits that offered glass views of the exhibits. The wolf enclosures are spacious, and views are great from the glass. Educational graphics are all over the cabin as well, as well as sounds of wolves howling.
2. North American Plains- A Black-Tailed Prairie Dog exhibit with pop-up bubbles, a spacious American Bison/White-Tailed Deer exhibit, and a very large Pronghorn exhibit are the good exhibits here, although 2 puny cages for a Barred Owl and a Turkey Vulture are also in this area.
3. South American Rainforest- This rainforest building is smaller than others, but has a nice theme and is filled with mostly good exhibits. The highlights are a caiman pool, a free-flight aviary, a Golden Lion Tamarin exhibit, a Goeldi's Money exhibit, an ocelot exhibit, a saki/howler monkey exhibit, and a Pygmy Marmoset exhibit, although there are also snake exhibits and a Common Vampire Bat exhibit.
4. Alligator Alley Bird Exhibits- The free-flight aviary doesn't count as it is too small, but a large Sandhill Crane exhibit and a gorgeous Bald Eagle exhibit are very nice.
5. Canid and Cat Collection- The cat and canid collection is quite large for a small zoo, as there are 5 species of cats (Canada Lynx, Amur Tiger, Domestic Cat, Brazilian Ocelot, Bobcat) and 4 species of dogs (Gray, Red, and Maned Wolves, Gray Fox). Soon there will be a 6th species of cat too.
WORST
1. Predators- Two empty exhibits used to house an Andean Bear who always performed stereotypical behavior, but he was sent away recently. Fortunately, his exhibit will be overhauled. An amazingly small lynx exhibit is close by, although they do get some good vertical access. You'll hardly ever see the lynx do something besides pace. Amur Tigers reside in 2 small cages. The tiger exhibits aren't awful, but they sure aren't good.
2. Some bird exhibits- The Barred Owl, Turkey Vulture, and Great Horned Owl exhibits are all too tiny, and should be demolished. A small walk-thru aviary in Alligator Alley is a fair size for the birds, but the walkway can get extremely crowded.
3. Asian Collection- Only 1 Asian species resides here at this otherwise North/South American zoo. Amur Tigers, and they are the highlight of the zoo, but are in a subpar enclosure. There is no chance of them leaving though, as they are too popular. Fortunately, another Asian species will arrive soon.
4. Not revealing much- There is only one real article on Pampas Plains, an upcoming exhibit at Beardsley. It talks about how Diageo donated $30,000and 100 hours of volunteer work to Beardsley. There is a PDF that mentions it, but doesn't mention much. It is hard to tell what is going on for Beardsley's future, which is sad, as the plans seem exciting for a small zoo. They also don't always talk about when an animal is to go on exhibit.
 
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Brookfield Zoo
Good
Wolf Woods- This is the best exhibit at the zoo and arguably the best wolf exhibit in the U.S. This exhibit is 2.5 acres (1 acre off exhibt) holds a sibling pack of Mexican Grey Wolves. The viewing is indoors with a one wat glass window, a remote controlled camera and in the back is a room that simulates wolf howls.
Habitat Africa The Savanna- This has a large Giraffe exhibit that is viewed across a water moat, From inside the building you can view it past the tortise exhibit through a window and through a hidden moat between the African Wild dog exhibit and the giraffe exhibit. The African wild dog exhibit is on a hill with a back of a mock rock kapoje and there is also a kopje in the middle of the exhibit that the dogs can enter. You can see this exhibit through a moat, a separate indoor viewing building with a large glass window, and inside the main building through two small glass building. there is also a aardvark exhibit with an indoor and outdoor yard and a small grassy area that holds waterbuck and red river hog. The building is average. There are two small mountain like structures in the corners that hold klipspringers and the indoor holding for giraffes are in here.
Great Bear Wilderness- This area has one exhibit for grizzlies and two exhibits for polar bears that are rotated. The are very heavy on mock rock but the exhibits all have trees and grass. There are two very large underwater viewing windows in an indoor air condition building and outside there door that open so the zoo can do training demonstrations. There is a very good 1 acre bison exhibit that you can go underneath the exhibit and view the bison eye to eye.
Dolphins- They are getting very rare in zoos so it is cool to see the dophins that are very active but there exhibit is only average.

Bad
Tropic World- This massive building has three sections Africa, Asia and South America. The entire building is concrete except behind the visitor path are plants. The exhbits all are massive except the orangutan and gorilla exhibits are small. The Asia section has hay over the ground every where except for the orangutan exhibit. There are no plans to demolish this building probally because it is too massive. The only primate in this building that has outdoor acess are the golden lion tamarins which have free roaming acess to all the woods in the salt creek nature trail.
 
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Mystic Aquarium:
BEST
1. Arctic Coast- This is one of the best Beluga exhibits in North America. 750,000 gallons of water in three interconnected pools, studded with jagged rocks and glacial streams, with several under and above water viewing points and evergreens in the background. It houses 4 Belugas, and they are trying to get them to breed.
2. Indoor Exhibits- There are many indoor exhibits with rays, sharks, turtles, jellies, chameleons, fish, and more. All of the exhibits are good.
3. Marine Mammal Collection- The aquarium houses 2.2 Belugas, 1.1 Steller Sea Lions, 4 Harbor Seals, and 4.2 California Sea Lions. The aquarium is one of the few that houses Steller Sea Lions.
4. Hands-On Activities- Free activities include petting sharks and rays and other normal touch tank creatures, feeding Australian birds, and some lucky kids can participate in the sea lion show. You can also pay to interact with belugas or penguins, or to be an animal trainer for a day.
5. Future- Plans for a new penguin exhibit, to bring dolphins back, and to include Sea Otters in the aquarium's collection have been talked about.
6. Rehabilitation- The aquarium treats injured or stranded seals and sea turtles, and eventually releases them.
WORST
Nothing falls into worst.
 
BeardsleyZooFan said:
Mystic Aquarium:
BEST
5. Future- Plans for a new penguin exhibit, to bring dolphins back, and to include Sea Otters in the aquarium's collection have been talked about.
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Click to expand...

It will be interesting to see if they do acquire dolphins - the trend seems to be in the opposite direction with several institutions closing their dolphin exhibits (with exception of Georgia Aquarium getting them).
 
DavidBrown said:
It will be interesting to see if they do acquire dolphins - the trend seems to be in the opposite direction with several institutions closing their dolphin exhibits (with exception of Georgia Aquarium getting them).
Click to expand...

Mystic closed their dolphin exhibit more than a decade ago when all the dolphins died, but even before they died they planned on sending the dolphins away. However, when they temporarily housed Shedd's dolphins and belugas, they said it would be a glimpse into the future as they planned on getting dolphins again. I have seen plans online for a sea otter exhibit, and snowleopard mentioned the future penguin exhibit, so they definately have an exciting future if these exhibits do open.
 
Chester Zoo

Best things
A good range of interesting species, generally well displayed and with good breeding results: special species include giant otter, Visayan warty pig, Bornean & Sumatran orangs, okapi, brow-antlered deer, rhinoceros & Visayan tarictic hornbills, blue-crowned laughing thrush, Boelen's python, radiated tortoise & tuatara.
The old zoo motto 'always building' still applies (although it's no longer part of the mission statement).
There is a real pride in being Britain's best zoo and a commitment to keeping it that way.
Support for a considerable range of in situ conservation projects.
​

Worst things
A few old enclosures are very unsightly. I have hated the enclosure currently used as an aviary for occipital blue pies since I first visited the zoo over 50 years ago - although to be fair almost all the others of that age have been replaced or upgraded.
The range of birds, reptiles and small mammals on display has been contracting for many years. The development of major exhibits for larger species has been at the expense of smaller features. In consequence many interesting species are not on display.​

Alan
 
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Home Zoo: Los Angeles Zoo

Best:

Elephants of Asia
LAIR
Francois' Langur Habitat
Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains
Red Ape Rain Forest
Campo Gorilla Reserve
Komodo Dragon Exhibit

Ape Species Exhibited: Lowland Gorilla, Borean Orangutan, Chimpanzee, Buff-cheeked Gibbon, Siamang.

Outstanding history of breeding: California Condor, Maned Wolf, Mountain Tapir, Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby, Red-flanked Duiker, Black Duiker, Cape Griffon Vulture, Bongo, Southern Gerenuk, Crimson-rumped Toucanet, Mexican Giant Horned Lizard, Komodo Dragon, Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle, Madagascar Radiated Tortoise, Mexican Beaded Lizard, Gila Monster, Marbled Cat, Masai Giraffe, Arabian Oryx, Peninsular Pronghorn, Golden Lion Tamarin; to name a few.

The Exhibiting of Many Rare Species

Gottlieb Animal Health and Conservation Center.

Worst:

Dated Perimeter Exhibit Barns and Fencing: especially for the Calamian Deer, Ostrich, Giant Eland (now empty), Red River Hog, and Chacoan Peccary (former Bactrian Camel) yards.

Round Houses: especially those for primates and birds with low vertical space (Ring-tailed Lemur, Red-tailed Hawk, etc.), and a much needed demolition and rebuilding of the Jaguar enclosure; a species that never should have been omitted from the new Rainforest of the Americas planning.

Defaced Glass-fronted Exhibit Viewing Windows: Probably one of my most bitter complaints. It seems the zoo is very gung ho about providing volunteers and security for newly opened exhibits, then abandoning any posts where the problem is most likely to arise after several weeks. It sickens me to the limit to see what has occurred to the likes of Red Ape Rain Forest, Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, Campo Gorilla Reserve, Desert Trails, and even the Langur habitat... Is LAIR next? I have my opinion about what should be done to the rotten jerks that want to scratch their idiotic symbols across glass viewing spaces; but I would probably be banned from ZooChat for life! Keeping volunteers on alert and stationed wherever these problems are likely to occur should be a priority. One possible solution; screening every one's personal belongings as they enter. It's done at Disneyland and other major attractions. Expensive and requiring more staff? Can the zoo continue to have its millions in planning and construction, horribly defaced within months of grand openings? They sure don't seem to have it in their budget to replace the growing graffitied windows all across some of their most stellar exhibits.

Lack of Regular Glass Cleaning: This has been a problem throughout the zoo for several years now. It could be budget cuts, or it could be keepers not bothering to clean the windows as part of what should be their daily routine; just as well as the hosing and raking I see them doing throughout the day. What's the point of building brand new multi-million dollar habitats if the glass is looking funky even when the zoo first opens in the morning? Granted, the keepers have more important things to do as they begin to make their rounds, but sometime during the day someone should be on window washing detail. And when will we ever be able to see clear window viewing of the Ocelots again? Their glass has been stained for years, in what is otherwise an excellent habitat.

Failure To Put California Condors On Exhibit For Many Years.

Failure To Bring Back Major Species After The Opening Of LAIR:
Exuma Island Iguana, Crocodile Monitor, Chinese Alligator, Ploughshare Tortoise, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, Prehensile Tailed Skink, Anaconda, Boa Constrictor (though hopefully these last two will be found in Rainforest of the America's after its opening). All of which should have been featured specimens.

And Last (for now) But Not Least: Please do something with the cave in the Children's Zoo! What started out as a pretty neat place, has now turned into one of the biggest waists of space, and one of the most boring in the zoo.
 
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