I went with a few younger kiddos, and it took us well over an hour to go through the MOLA exhibit. Each exhibit is so detailed. I have never seen a herpetarium put this kind of effort into reptiles/amphibians. It is quite simply the best herpetarium I have ever seen. I commented to my girlfriend while we were in MOLA, that it could have almost been built seperately from the zoo(maybe downtown) and people would pay top dollar to see this by itself. I might be biased, but any out of towners that travel to zoos as a hobby, Fort Worth Zoo(MOLA) is a must. The rest of the zoo is a cute zoo and well designed. I like comparing it to the Cincinatti Zoo. Both are medium sized and absolutely beautiful to walk through. Go see MOLA!
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Also, it is simply not possible to compare this reptile house to any others across the nation, because quite frankly I have never seen a reptile house with so much detail as MOLA. All other zoo reptile houses are just snake/lizard collections in rectangular enclosure. This is way beyond that. Omaha has great exhibits for reptiles, but they do not have a specific reptile house. Saint Louis has great reptile house too, but it is more traditional than say MOLA. Dallas Zoo is not even close. It has been years since i have been to San Diego Zoo, so I am not sure, but i have heard it is more traditional too.
One observation on the MOLA: aside from the big floor to ceiling exhibits (which are terrific, I agree), the vast majority of the other exhibits are simple reptile boxes. In some cases they are the exact exhibit from the old reptile house transported to the new building. The outdoor non-herp exhibits are still absolutely terrible, and the overall quality of the MOLA would only rise if all these animals were re-homed.
Also, it is simply not possible to compare this reptile house to any others across the nation, because quite frankly I have never seen a reptile house with so much detail as MOLA.
I definitely agree with the outdoor part of MOLA. It seems out of place, and I don't understand why they included the lemurs on the small island. I also don't understand the caged up monkies(I believe they are golden tamarins?) My pipe dream is that they bought those species for a future project, like possibly some tropical rainforest. The zoo is so land locked though, I doubt they have space for that. I do like the tortoise yard. It is large and spacious. I can't agree with you on the indoor section. Yes, there are some rectangular exhibits, but even those exhibits are above and beyond the typical reptile house. Either way, I am proud of this zoo and city. Thanks for welcoming me to the site. Definitely a fan of talking zoos with other people who share the same hobby.
I definitely agree with the outdoor part of MOLA. It seems out of place, and I don't understand why they included the lemurs on the small island. I also don't understand the caged up monkies(I believe they are golden tamarins?) My pipe dream is that they bought those species for a future project, like possibly some tropical rainforest. The zoo is so land locked though, I doubt they have space for that. I do like the tortoise yard. It is large and spacious. I can't agree with you on the indoor section. Yes, there are some rectangular exhibits, but even those exhibits are above and beyond the typical reptile house. Either way, I am proud of this zoo and city. Thanks for welcoming me to the site. Definitely a fan of talking zoos with other people who share the same hobby.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything wrong with the indoor section, just that many of the exhibits are very similar to herp exhibits at other zoos. A reptile house that I find vastly underrated is that at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. It may not be as big and flashy as the MOLA is, but there is not a poor exhibit one in it (and no rectangular boxes).
