San Francisco Zoo Review of San Francisco Zoo

[DavidBrown]

I'm pretty sure the recently "renovated" exhibits for bobcats and anteaters were part of the WPA work that built the majority of the zoo in the 1930s. In the late 60s and70s I remember sun bears (!!!) in those tiny moated exhibits with weird concrete carvings. I don't think anything has lived there since the 70s until now.


The Tropical Building is about to undergo its 4th or 5th makeover since it opened in the 30s. Originally, it was a single glass fronted interior aviary that opened onto a very large outdoor aviary, site of the future Squirrel monkey exhibit. In the 1970s, a glass partition in the round opening connecting the indoor and outdoor aviaries was filled with opaque glass, and the interior glass barriers removed to make the indoor aviary a walk-through space, with the addition of planters in the former public gallery providing a very weak attempt at immersion.

In the 90s, the outdoor aviary was demolished, and the interior area modified again with small exhibits for caimans, turtles and anaconda added.

Maybe the next iteration will finally get it right.....

I remember seeing sun bears in there in the late 1980s, possibly even into the 1990s.

The rain forest building is perplexing as reduakari indicates; it seems to have been under continuous renovation for the last decade, seemingly closed more often than open.

Thanks for the updated review Geomorph. My visit to the SF Zoo in February gave me some hope that this zoo may be on a genuine pathway to renewal, but it sounds like they are just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic again with minor renovations of decaying exhibits, closure of their best exhibit (the genuinely great aye-aye experience), and building another in their series of endless playgrounds.

Where are all of the SF parents demanding a better zoo to take their kids to? Do they just go to the Oakland Zoo and/or Happy Hollow in San Jose instead?

 

[reduakari]

I remember seeing sun bears in there in the late 1980s, possibly even into the 1990s.

The rain forest building is perplexing as reduakari indicates it seems to have been under continuous renovation for the last decade, seemingly closed more often than open.

Thanks for the updated review Geomorph. My visit to the SF Zoo in February gave me some hope that this zoo may be on a genuine pathway to renewal, but it sounds like they are just shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic again with minor renovations of decaying exhibits, closure of their best exhibit (the genuinely great aye-aye experience), and building another in their series of endless playgrounds.

Where are all of the SF parents demanding a better zoo to take their kids to? Do they just go to the Oakland Zoo and/or Happy Hollow in San Jose instead?

San Francisco has one of the lowest percentage of children per capita of any major US city. It is increasingly a city of affluent adults, not the typical target audience for zoos, but one that if given the right "product" could be very supportive and engaged in a progressive, conservation-focused zoo. Now, the Zoo seems to be attempting to appease those who think it should serve as a "rescue zoo," in a defensive response to what it perceives the community "wants."

 

[snowleopard]

Great updated review geomorph. There has been discussion about the upcoming playground and it is perplexing that the zoo is going in that direction as Oakland Zoo has one of the 10 best children's zoos in the nation and Happy Hollow Zoo is outstanding for young children and both of those establishments are fairly close by. I'm not sure that San Francisco can compete with those two in terms of luring additional families to the zoo as there is some stiff competition out there!

 

[Buldeo]

...little unimpressive yard and pool that was created for the species next to the black rhinoceros yards which are currently separated by plywood covering the gaps between hefty poles instead of just cables (perhaps to alleviate some current aggression?)

This comment raised some red flags when Msr. Morph initially mentioned it, but I wanted to wait until I had verifiable evidence before commenting upon it. In the past couple of years since the Hippo Formally Known as Tucker arrived, I haven't noticed any aggression between him and Elly. And at 41 Elly is probably too old to care.

Anyway, it turns out that the plywood was for the new male black rhinoceros that arrived earlier this month. While I haven't managed to learn his name, the new rhino is the Elly's grandson! No word on where he came from either yet.

However, just around the corner, the nice large yard for giant eland is now...empty.

The giant eland's yard is still empty and overgrown, but the yard up the steps from the lion fountain appears to have been mown fairly recently and some work has been done on what passes for a barn has been refurnished. No word on what the inhabitant is supposed to be, but it is an encouraging sign.

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

I would expect that at some point they will bring in a second unrelated female rhino to breed with the grandson of Elly's!

 

[Buldeo]

I would expect that at some point they will bring in a second unrelated female rhino to breed with the grandson of Elly's!

More than likely! I hope they work on "plussing" the enclosure first and expanding it to take over some of the space from the eland's old enclosure.