This zoo looks pretty nice. Besides a few cages, most of the exhibits look decent, and the grounds are attractive. For a small zoo they do have a good number of species.
This zoo looks pretty nice. Besides a few cages, most of the exhibits look decent, and the grounds are attractive. For a small zoo they do have a good number of species.
If you are alone then the entire zoo could be seen in 30 minutes, and I went with my wife and two kids and we spent exactly an hour there. There is not a single outstanding enclosure, there is barely anything that I would call "average", and in fact almost all of the exhibits are either far too small, ugly wire cages, or in need of a bulldozer. I can be a very critical zoo visitor, but that is how things change in the zoological world. For example, folks criticized gorilla and elephant habitats for years and now there are some stunning examples in American zoos for those species.
If you are alone then the entire zoo could be seen in 30 minutes, and I went with my wife and two kids and we spent exactly an hour there. There is not a single outstanding enclosure, there is barely anything that I would call "average", and in fact almost all of the exhibits are either far too small, ugly wire cages, or in need of a bulldozer. I can be a very critical zoo visitor, but that is how things change in the zoological world. For example, folks criticized gorilla and elephant habitats for years and now there are some stunning examples in American zoos for those species.
I just visited this zoo for the first time in several years. It IS a very small zoo - at 5 acres it would fit in the footprint of most modern elephant exhibits. However, I very much disagree that it is a crappy zoo.
There is quite an interesting collection for a small zoo with a combination of popular favorites (tiger, spider monkey, meerkats, macaws, flamingos) and medium-sized species appropriate to the zoo's scale (red panda, fossa, red-flanked duiker, ring-tailed and red-ruffed lemurs, grey titi monkeys, Pacific fisher, great horned owl, Bennet's wallabies, Aldabra tortoise, red river hog, African porcupine, maras, crested screamer). There are herp displays (New Caledonian giant gecko, axolotyl, and radiated tortoises, among others) and a rather decrepit, but functional aviary (sun bittern and scarlet ibis were highlights). Most of the exhibits are old and aesthetically lacking, but are as functional as equivalent exhibits in other zoos in terms of quality (size, furnishings, etc.).
This zoo is very much geared towards locals and is not a destination zoo, but it is a pleasant stop off the 101 if you need a break while driving between LA and the Bay Area.
