Do you have any pics from the zoo? there is a thread for this zoo but no pics yet... BTW how many wolverines does the zoo have? and how is there exhibit? thks matt
I looked around for pictures of the Henson Robinson Zoo. The zoo's website is quite lame and only has a picture of a prairie dog. The best I could find was this blog posting of a family's trip to the zoo: Hoorahoopti Away: Henson Robinson Zoo-Springfield, IL
The Asiatic black bear exhibit looks okay from the photo. This zoo seems to have some zoo rarities for being such an obscure zoo even to us zoo nerds, Asiatic black bear, wolverine, European black vulture (I'm not even sure what that is exactly). Here's the species list from the zoo website: Henson Robinson Zoo: Our Animals
I've spent quite a bit of time glancing through websites of tiny American zoos recently, just in case another "Snowleopard Road Trip" rears its head in future summers. It seems to me that based on the extended summer hours of Illinois's zoos it would be possible to tick off 6 small zoos in 2 days. A single individual with no kids should easily be able to see the zoos listed below in 1-2 hours each, but is that feasible with a family along for the journey? Has anyone visited all 6 zoos?
Day One:
Cosley Zoo + drive 30 min. + Phillips Park Zoo + drive 2 hours + Niabi Zoo
Day Two:
Peoria Zoo + drive 45 min. + Miller Park Zoo + drive 1 hour + Scovill Zoo
I should add that neither Phillips Park nor Niabi (due in part to its elephant controversy) are AZA-accredited but all of the others are. That includes Henson Robinson Zoo, yet another small Illinois facility that could be seen on a 3rd day.
I've spent quite a bit of time glancing through websites of tiny American zoos recently, just in case another "Snowleopard Road Trip" rears its head in future summers. It seems to me that based on the extended summer hours of Illinois's zoos it would be possible to tick off 6 small zoos in 2 days. A single individual with no kids should easily be able to see the zoos listed below in 1-2 hours each, but is that feasible with a family along for the journey? Has anyone visited all 6 zoos?
Day One:
Cosley Zoo + drive 30 min. + Phillips Park Zoo + drive 2 hours + Niabi Zoo
Day Two:
Peoria Zoo + drive 45 min. + Miller Park Zoo + drive 1 hour + Scovill Zoo
I should add that neither Phillips Park nor Niabi (due in part to its elephant controversy) are AZA-accredited but all of the others are. That includes Henson Robinson Zoo, yet another small Illinois facility that could be seen on a 3rd day.
Another place to check out is Wildlife Prairie State Park in Peoria. It is 2,000 acres in size and has an open top cougar exhibit, an 86-acre bison and elk paddock, as well as exhibits for black bears, wolves, foxes, coyotes and river otters.
