Does anyone know the exact acreage of the newly expanded elephant exhibit? Also, how long would an approximate zoo visit be? What are the 3 highlights of the zoo?
Does anyone know the exact acreage of the newly expanded elephant exhibit? Also, how long would an approximate zoo visit be? What are the 3 highlights of the zoo?
Snowleopard, I see you're commenting on smaller East coast zoos today. Are you starting on your list of zoos to visit this summer?
Three Highlights:
1.) Humboldt Penguin exhibit. One of the newer exhibits and pretty impressive for this little zoo. There are different levels to view the penguins.
2.) Primate Park. Another new exhibits. Compared to other zoos it may not be much, but to know that some of the monkeys now have access to an outside exhibit is encouraging.
3.) Asian Elephant Preserve. I have not seen the finished product, but I'm sure like the other new exhibits, its one of the nicer parts of the zoo. Being a part of Wildlife Trails, I found some of the bigger exhibits, like the Amur Tiger, Markhor, and Big Horned Sheep are quite decent.
I say this zoo can take 2-4 hours.
Would you have any interest visiting the Seneca Park Zoo in Rochester, NY? I am a little reluctant to recommend it to you as I know you will detest their primate and ape exhibits, but I'd be curious to read your review. Plus hopefully by the summer the new lion exhibit will be open.
@blospz: I've already established a tentative list of captive wildlife attractions for the latest edition of "Snowleopard's Summer Road Trip", but I don't plan on unveiling the full itinerary anytime soon. Zoos like Virginia, Rosamond Gifford, Franklin Park and Erie will probably be locks to make the cut in the east, while Seneca Park will more than likely be skipped. Interestingly enough that latter zoo has a third of its acreage under construction (lions, olive baboons, African elephants) and the zoo map indicates that visitors basically walk from one end of the zoo to the other, then turn around and head all the way back along an adjacent trail to the entrance.
That is true, the Seneca Park Zoo is a a trail of exhibits. About half a mile from the entrance to the last exhibit. I must admit the last time I went it was rather a quick visit with the African section closed off. I look forward to when the whole zoo is opened up again.
I am a Syracuse area Native and have been visiting Rosamond for all my life even when it was still Burnet Park Zoo. The zoo has really done a great job in the last decade or so becoming a real top notch zoo, I would safely say it is one of the best Mid-Sized zoos in the country which is saying a lot since Syracuse Isn't a huge city.
Easily some of the best exhibits are the fairly new Penguin exhibit which has produced several chicks since the first year it opened, and the two newest exhibits the Primate Park and Elephant Preserve are excellent additions, I believe the Preserve is roughly 3-3.5 acres in size and has a capacity to hold 12 elephants but currently has 7. Other highlights would have to be the Red Panda Yard which has had excellent breeding success including a rare triplet birth a few years back. They also have a very nice Amur Tiger exhibit and just recently had triplets born. There are still a couple things that need improvement such as the African Lion Exhibit which seems too small for three large lions and some of the wildlife trail exhibits are a bit dated but functional and still somewhat above standard. All in all a great zoo and worth a visit at least once and very affordable (I think like 8 bucks in the summer).
More like a small-sized zoo than a mid-sized one. Blopz has a very accurate description of the exhibits. The new elephant exhibit is rather nice, but the Elephants don't really walk all of it and they can't go outside in winter. Also, although the lion exhibit is small, the lions don't appear to be bothered by it and don't have apparent problems with abnormal behaviors.
Yes that is somewhat true, the overall size is more a small zoo, but if you look at the number a species and specimens its pretty good sized, most animals are located indoors. And yes the lions don't seem bothered but it would be nice to someday see them in a larger exhibit similar to the Tigers. As for the elephants, they can go outside in the winter as long as it isn't too cold out, I believe in the low 40s to high 30sF.
