The Canadian Wilds is certainly the largest, and possibly the best, area within the Calgary Zoo. There is a wide abundance of species listed in this zone of the zoo.
Calgary has these wonderful amphitheatres all over the zoo. There are amphitheatres in front of the hippo, elephant, gorilla, and more. This is one thing that really impressed me here. There was no shortage of places to sit and watch the animals.
Given the opportunity to actually sit in front of an exhibit and observe the beautiful animals, I'm sure many people would instead of just rushing by, as we see too frequently in zoos. I remember from my visit to Howletts 9 years ago the comfortable seats in front of the debated gorilla cage. I saw some visitors sit there for a long time in silence, observing the apes at play, and so did I.
This amphitheater is in font of the Rocky Mountain Goats and is not used for talks that often. I only rarely see people other that camps or school groups sitting here as it is a little off the path. It does provide both nice close up views of the goats and overall views of the exhibit.
This is a splendid exhibit, and Calgary Zoo has many excellent enclosures for cold-weather species. The entire Canadian Wilds area is for the most part top-notch (kudos to the designers of the moose, bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain goat exhibits) and the new, $25 million Penguin Plunge also seems to be impressive. The Eurasian zone includes a very good Amur tiger exhibit, but the zoo is most definitely hit-and-miss in regards to warm weather critters. The Aussie/Nocturnal House has thankfully closed, the South American building is a disaster, Elephant Crossing seems small, and the African section is a mixed bag of nuts. I would love to see the zoo copy the stellar Minnesota Zoo as that is one of the better zoological gardens in North America and there is a strong focus on cold-weather animals in fantastic habitats.
I would really like to see some more specialization as well. Keep Destination Africa as the only tropical area and remove south america. Expand eurasia into the prehistoric park and bring in a new host of temperate species.
I realize that big draws such as spider monkeys and elephants are axed in my vision, but the zoo would come off better for it. Prime example HWP. Specialized in mountain/cold weather animals and they are doing wonders.
