This photo perfectly illustrates how outdated some of the enclosures are in this building, as the Bat-Eared Foxes are shown in their small exhibit when in fact they should have at least quaduple the space.
Here is an excerpt from my August, 2012, review:
Small Animal Building – This old building has a small walk-through jungle area at its center that features free-roaming Green Iguanas and various birds. There are 3 long, curving hallways of exhibits (Tropics, Temperate, Desert), with many reptiles and amphibians on the inside walls in attractive terrariums. The outer walls of the galleries have a long list of intriguing creatures in average to poor enclosures and many of the glass tanks are much too small for their inhabitants.
Small Animal Building species list (the asterisks are for the species found in the walk-through aviary): A total of 78 species are inside the building.
Mammal species list: Wied’s Marmoset, Agouti, Black-Footed Cat, Sand Cat, Northern Tree Shrew, Rock Hyrax, African Straw-Coloured Fruit Bat, African Crested Porcupine, Rock Cavy, Western Spotted Skunk, Meerkat, Bat-Eared Fox, Kinkajou, Golden Lion Tamarin, Cotton-Top Tamarin, Squirrel Monkey and Mara.
Reptile/Amphibian species list (39 species): Green Iguana*, Aldabra Tortoise*, Leopard Tortoise*, Siamese Crocodile, European Glass Lizard, Mexican Burrowing Python, Green Tree Python, Axolotl, Taylor’s Cantil, Great Basin Gopher Snake, Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake, Hopi Rattlesnake, Utah Mountain Kingsnake, Arizona Mountain Kingsnake, California Kingsnake, Madagascar Tree Boa, Puerto Rican Boa, Pancake Tortoise, Yellow Blotched Map Turtle, Spotted Salamander, Mangrove Salt Marsh Snake, Western Toad, Sonoran Desert Toad, Oriental Fire-Bellied Toad, Cottonmouth, Spotted Turtle, Kenyan Sand Boa, Giant Solomon Island Skink, Gila Monster, Rubber Boa, Mojave Desert Sidewinder, Desert Tortoise, Radiated Tortoise, Chuckwalla, Beaded Lizard, Green Tree Monitor, False Water Cobra, Chinese Crocodile Lizard and Indian Star Tortoise.
Bird species list: Lilac-Breasted Roller*, Roseate Spoonbill*, Speckled Mousebird*, Pied Imperial Pigeon*, Scarlet Ibis*, Radjah Shelduck*, Red Jungle Fowl*, Rose-Ringed Parakeet*, Black-Crowned Night Heron*, American Wigeon*, Superb Starling*, White-Wing Dove, Gila Woodpecker, Cardinal, Masked Bobwhite, Burrowing Owl, Saffron Finch, Rufous-Collared Sparrow and Patagonian Conure.
Invertebrate species list: Red-Knee Tarantula, Emperor Scorpion and Giant Vietnamese Centipede.
Many exhibits in this building were empty, and many held inhabitants of the former Discoveryland. It would be a vast improvement if they were to be building enclosures for the bat-eared foxes, meerkats, hyrax, and crested porcupines in their new African Savanna.
This building is such a dump. I think this puts such a black eye on a zoo that has potential. It, the great ape house, and the giraffe exhibit need to go.
