Do you happen to know when the outdoor chimp exhibit was built? When I visited the St. Louis Zoo in 1999 there were only indoor orang and chimp exhibits and I did not like them.
Does the outdoor chimp exhibit compare favorably to other good chimp exhibits that you have seen? It looks pretty lush from the photo.
Do you happen to know when the outdoor chimp exhibit was built? When I visited the St. Louis Zoo in 1999 there were only indoor orang and chimp exhibits and I did not like them.
Does the outdoor chimp exhibit compare favorably to other good chimp exhibits that you have seen? It looks pretty lush from the photo.
@DAVID: I read on another thread that you were moderately disappointed with your visit to Saint Louis Zoo in 1999, but in all honesty it might be difficult to find many ZooChatters that do not consider it one of the 10 best zoos in all of North America. Fragile Forest, the great ape complex, opened in 2005 and features a bachelor group of gorillas (possibly the first American zoo to do that in the late 1980's), a 12,000 sq. ft. chimpanzee exhibit and a 7,000 sq. ft. orangutan exhibit.
Saint Louis has one of the finest insect houses I've ever seen, one of the best reptile houses of any American zoo, a terrific great ape complex, an above average big cat area, a fantastic collection of hoofstock, a huge bird collection with many impressive exhibits, America's best penguin/puffin exhibit, and River's Edge is for the most part outstanding with a brilliant river hippo exhibit. I've heard that the zoo is not quite as thrilling in the winter but I visited in the full bloom of summer and loved every minute of my tour.
With next summer's new sea lion pool and a plan in place to update the bear grottoes in the near future this is incredibly close to being a flawless zoo. The Primate House has its shortcomings and there are little things to nitpick over but on my list of zoos I rank Saint Louis in the #6 position. Only San Diego, Bronx, Omaha, Columbus and Sedgwick County are placed above it, and both authors of "America's Best Zoos" would have Saint Louis in a similar spot on their personal lists.
@DAVID: I read on another thread that you were moderately disappointed with your visit to Saint Louis Zoo in 1999, but in all honesty it might be difficult to find many ZooChatters that do not consider it one of the 10 best zoos in all of North America. Fragile Forest, the great ape complex, opened in 2005 and features a bachelor group of gorillas (possibly the first American zoo to do that in the late 1980's), a 12,000 sq. ft. chimpanzee exhibit and a 7,000 sq. ft. orangutan exhibit.
Saint Louis has one of the finest insect houses I've ever seen, one of the best reptile houses of any American zoo, a terrific great ape complex, an above average big cat area, a fantastic collection of hoofstock, a huge bird collection with many impressive exhibits, America's best penguin/puffin exhibit, and River's Edge is for the most part outstanding with a brilliant river hippo exhibit. I've heard that the zoo is not quite as thrilling in the winter but I visited in the full bloom of summer and loved every minute of my tour.
@snow: I experienced the Saint Louis Zoo in what retrospectively looks like a very transitory period for them. This was fall 1999. The elephants and all of the other animals that are now in River's Edge were either not at the zoo or off display as the whole exhibit area was a construction zone. The ape exhibits were mostly indoors. The gorillas had a nice outdoor exhibit, but the chimps and orangs had none. The 2005 Fragile Forest sounds from your description (and looks in your photos) like a much better ape complex than what I saw. The penguin exhibit and insect house are also new since I visited. I missed most of the spectacular zoo that I read about in reviews now! Hopefully I will get a chance to see it again someday and experience the zoo as you did.
I did really like their big cat exhibits, bird house, and ungulate collection which included some very nice reticulated giraffes. I also liked their model giant squid.
Here is an overview of the chimpanzee exhibit, and I believe that on page 31 of the Saint Louis Zoo gallery thread there are numerous photos of the chimp and orangutan habitats.
