I appear to be one of the first Zoochatters to have seen this new zoo, so thought a review was in order. I'm sure that many others will check it out soon. I've parked this review in General Zoo Discussion for now, until a moderator creates a Jurassic World sub-forum under Costa Rica.
This is a zoo unlike any other. Truly revolutionary. There are some flaws, and I'd certainly be uneasy if I were insuring the place against personal injury compensation claims. But it's got to be at the top of any zoo nerd's travel list.
First things first - getting there can be a bit of a pain, and certainly expensive. It's located off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica - requiring a trans-Pacific flight from Australia (for me at least), then another connection from LA to San Jose, overland to the ferry, and finally a ferry ride out to the island. Not easy. Because of its remote location you're also effectively locked into booking the resort that's on the island. Think theme park, not zoo, prices. The same goes for crowds - don't expect to have this place to yourself.
Of course the collection is what makes the hassle so worthwhile. There are animals here that you can't see anywhere else in the world. In fact, that's the entire point. The species list is quite limited - there's only six carnivore and 14 herbivore species on public display. Also, the collection is specialised to just a couple of orders of reptiles (Dinosauria, Pterosauria, Squamata). Think Apenheul meets Disney's Animal Kingdom on a massive scale.
I just want to stop for a moment and reflect on how special it is to have so many rarities in one location. All of these species are critically endangered, and all were in fact once believed to be extinct. The only remnant wild populations live quite close to Jurassic World on Isla Sorna, another part of the same archipelago. I hope some of the park's profits are getting funnelled back into conservation there. Isla Sorna itself is a prohibited area so if you want to see dinosaurs, Jurassic World is it.
Anyway, on to the zoo. Unfortunately my time was limited to two hours and ten minutes so I didn't see everything, but I did see enough to get an overall impression of the place. The theme park feel is reinforced by the main visitor services area at the entrance to the park. It looks a lot like something Universal Studios might conjure up. Lots of luxury dining and retail options - I even saw a Pandora bracelet store there, of all things.
This area also has some very innovative, very high-tech interpretative features. Kids can dig for 'dinosaur bones'. You can see a great deal of the behind-the-scenes research that Jurassic World is undertaking into genetics and bioengineering in the 'Hammond Creation Lab', which I presume is named after John Hammond, who sadly didn't live to see his dream zoo turned into a reality. Hologram images of the species on display can get people much closer to theropods than they're supposed to be in the rest of the park. Supposed to be.
There's also a very nifty take on the traditional petting zoo where kids can feed and even ride young animals. They are the first living, breathing dinosaurs that visitors see.
The exhibit quality here is of a very high standard. The park is very, very big - it takes up an entire island that seems to be the size of Hawaii. Only the southern half of the island is open to visitors though. Like many open range zoos you navigate around the park by train, and some of the views are breathtaking. I don't think there's a better setting for a zoo in the world.
There are four main areas that I saw. The largest is a massive savannah area for large herbivores known as The Valley. Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Parasaurolophus live here. It's possible that the Pachycephalosaurus and Gallimimus were also in this paddock, but it's so big that I can't tell where one enclosure ends and the next one begins. Ideally they wouldn’t be keeping species from such different geological time periods together, but I can live with it. It’s a shame there’s so much grass in the enclosure – ferns, cycads, gingkos and conifers would have shown more attention to detail.
One potential drawback of such a large exhibit is that you end up too far away from the animals, but they've dealt with this pretty well. You can ride trucks or these ridiculously cool contraptions called 'gyrospheres' throughout the paddock. It allows people to get in right amongst the herds. You can even kayak down a river that runs through the exhibit. So cool. I confess that I was a bit concerned that the vehicles weren't really strong enough to protect against what are, ultimately, the biggest and most dangerous land animals on a geological time scale. If there were safety barriers along that creek then they were very well done, because I couldn't spot them. If I were feeling unkind, I’d suggest that safety isn’t the number one concern at this zoo.
I wasn't able to see as much of The Aviary as I'd like. It’s a dome-like structure – think the Desert Dome at Omaha, but big enough to contain the entire zoo. The species here are Pteranodon and Dimorphodon, and you can view them from an enclosed viewing area within the aviary. Unfortunately this exhibit was closed due to urgent repair works. It'd be great if it were a proper walk-through aviary, but I wouldn't want to get carried away.
T.Rex Kingdom is a wonderful immersion-style habitat for Tyrannosaurus. Lots of enrichment opportunities for the T-rex here, including live feeding – not something that many zoos are game to try in full view of the public. I’m sure that PETA will be up in arms about it (T-rex arms, though, so they’ll be as useless as ever). The theming here is Disneyesque - from one of the secondary vantage points into the enclosure you can see the main viewing platform... And it looks like a giant tree turned on its side, with the people inside like ants in a hollow log.
It's a shame I didn't get to see the other theropods. They have some incredible little-known rarities behind the scenes, apparently including Suchomimus. I know there are Velociraptors there too, of course, but they seemed to be off-display for training or something. Next time.
The mosasaurus exhibit is a dead set certainty to win the next AZA design award, even though it's clearly too small for its inhabitant. It's basically a giant Sea World pool with a grandstand, BUT the stands are also on hydraulic lifts so that halfway through a show you're transported from above to underwater viewing. Very clever. As I said, too small for the mosasaur though. Also I have serious issues with using great white sharks for food. It's hard to see how such an endangered species is being sustainably fished.
All in all, I can't recommend Jurassic World highly enough. It's not without its faults, I admit, and the prices are horrifying. But this place is at the cutting edge of science. It's achieving things no ordinary zoo is even imagining are possible, and it's constantly trying to up its game further. As long as some idiot doesn't let the dinosaurs out, it's hard to see how anything could possibly go wrong.
This is a zoo unlike any other. Truly revolutionary. There are some flaws, and I'd certainly be uneasy if I were insuring the place against personal injury compensation claims. But it's got to be at the top of any zoo nerd's travel list.
First things first - getting there can be a bit of a pain, and certainly expensive. It's located off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica - requiring a trans-Pacific flight from Australia (for me at least), then another connection from LA to San Jose, overland to the ferry, and finally a ferry ride out to the island. Not easy. Because of its remote location you're also effectively locked into booking the resort that's on the island. Think theme park, not zoo, prices. The same goes for crowds - don't expect to have this place to yourself.
Of course the collection is what makes the hassle so worthwhile. There are animals here that you can't see anywhere else in the world. In fact, that's the entire point. The species list is quite limited - there's only six carnivore and 14 herbivore species on public display. Also, the collection is specialised to just a couple of orders of reptiles (Dinosauria, Pterosauria, Squamata). Think Apenheul meets Disney's Animal Kingdom on a massive scale.
I just want to stop for a moment and reflect on how special it is to have so many rarities in one location. All of these species are critically endangered, and all were in fact once believed to be extinct. The only remnant wild populations live quite close to Jurassic World on Isla Sorna, another part of the same archipelago. I hope some of the park's profits are getting funnelled back into conservation there. Isla Sorna itself is a prohibited area so if you want to see dinosaurs, Jurassic World is it.
Anyway, on to the zoo. Unfortunately my time was limited to two hours and ten minutes so I didn't see everything, but I did see enough to get an overall impression of the place. The theme park feel is reinforced by the main visitor services area at the entrance to the park. It looks a lot like something Universal Studios might conjure up. Lots of luxury dining and retail options - I even saw a Pandora bracelet store there, of all things.
This area also has some very innovative, very high-tech interpretative features. Kids can dig for 'dinosaur bones'. You can see a great deal of the behind-the-scenes research that Jurassic World is undertaking into genetics and bioengineering in the 'Hammond Creation Lab', which I presume is named after John Hammond, who sadly didn't live to see his dream zoo turned into a reality. Hologram images of the species on display can get people much closer to theropods than they're supposed to be in the rest of the park. Supposed to be.
There's also a very nifty take on the traditional petting zoo where kids can feed and even ride young animals. They are the first living, breathing dinosaurs that visitors see.
The exhibit quality here is of a very high standard. The park is very, very big - it takes up an entire island that seems to be the size of Hawaii. Only the southern half of the island is open to visitors though. Like many open range zoos you navigate around the park by train, and some of the views are breathtaking. I don't think there's a better setting for a zoo in the world.
There are four main areas that I saw. The largest is a massive savannah area for large herbivores known as The Valley. Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus and Parasaurolophus live here. It's possible that the Pachycephalosaurus and Gallimimus were also in this paddock, but it's so big that I can't tell where one enclosure ends and the next one begins. Ideally they wouldn’t be keeping species from such different geological time periods together, but I can live with it. It’s a shame there’s so much grass in the enclosure – ferns, cycads, gingkos and conifers would have shown more attention to detail.
One potential drawback of such a large exhibit is that you end up too far away from the animals, but they've dealt with this pretty well. You can ride trucks or these ridiculously cool contraptions called 'gyrospheres' throughout the paddock. It allows people to get in right amongst the herds. You can even kayak down a river that runs through the exhibit. So cool. I confess that I was a bit concerned that the vehicles weren't really strong enough to protect against what are, ultimately, the biggest and most dangerous land animals on a geological time scale. If there were safety barriers along that creek then they were very well done, because I couldn't spot them. If I were feeling unkind, I’d suggest that safety isn’t the number one concern at this zoo.
I wasn't able to see as much of The Aviary as I'd like. It’s a dome-like structure – think the Desert Dome at Omaha, but big enough to contain the entire zoo. The species here are Pteranodon and Dimorphodon, and you can view them from an enclosed viewing area within the aviary. Unfortunately this exhibit was closed due to urgent repair works. It'd be great if it were a proper walk-through aviary, but I wouldn't want to get carried away.
T.Rex Kingdom is a wonderful immersion-style habitat for Tyrannosaurus. Lots of enrichment opportunities for the T-rex here, including live feeding – not something that many zoos are game to try in full view of the public. I’m sure that PETA will be up in arms about it (T-rex arms, though, so they’ll be as useless as ever). The theming here is Disneyesque - from one of the secondary vantage points into the enclosure you can see the main viewing platform... And it looks like a giant tree turned on its side, with the people inside like ants in a hollow log.
It's a shame I didn't get to see the other theropods. They have some incredible little-known rarities behind the scenes, apparently including Suchomimus. I know there are Velociraptors there too, of course, but they seemed to be off-display for training or something. Next time.
The mosasaurus exhibit is a dead set certainty to win the next AZA design award, even though it's clearly too small for its inhabitant. It's basically a giant Sea World pool with a grandstand, BUT the stands are also on hydraulic lifts so that halfway through a show you're transported from above to underwater viewing. Very clever. As I said, too small for the mosasaur though. Also I have serious issues with using great white sharks for food. It's hard to see how such an endangered species is being sustainably fished.
All in all, I can't recommend Jurassic World highly enough. It's not without its faults, I admit, and the prices are horrifying. But this place is at the cutting edge of science. It's achieving things no ordinary zoo is even imagining are possible, and it's constantly trying to up its game further. As long as some idiot doesn't let the dinosaurs out, it's hard to see how anything could possibly go wrong.
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