Whoooaaaa!!! They are finally getting around to building the long-proposed lion exhibit. This is HUGE!
And hot on the heels of the new jaguar exhibit. This will cement The Living Desert's position as the best mainstream zoo for cats (and indeed for carnivores in general, unless you are a bear lover).
At one time they were going to be have rhinos, Nile crocodiles, and baboons as part of the African savanna exhibit. From the sign it looks like maybe just the lions are happening? This project has been in the works for a decade.
Whoooaaaa!!! They are finally getting around to building the long-proposed lion exhibit. This is HUGE!
And hot on the heels of the new jaguar exhibit. This will cement The Living Desert's position as the best mainstream zoo for cats (and indeed for carnivores in general, unless you are a bear lover).
Whoooaaaa!!! They are finally getting around to building the long-proposed lion exhibit. This is HUGE!
And hot on the heels of the new jaguar exhibit. This will cement The Living Desert's position as the best mainstream zoo for cats (and indeed for carnivores in general, unless you are a bear lover).
You need to make an updated list of America's best zoos for big cat exhibits. Candidates could be Memphis, Oklahoma City, The Living Desert when Lion Ridge opens, Bronx, Utah, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, etc.
I know Living Desert has diversified since my (incredibly enjoyable) visit in 1998, but I'd still struggle to think of it as 'mainstream zoo'.
Fantastic place though - and still has several unique entries on my mammal life list, most notably Mexican Wolf, but also various rodents and (annoyingly as I've tried and failed to see them twice since) Slender-horned Gazelle.
Well maybe their specialized theme (desert animals) makes it not quite a mainstream zoo. But what I meant is a zoo with a generalized animal collection as opposed to a specialized cat/carnivore only facility like Exotic Feline Breeding Compound.
The comment about tigers got me thinking. Now that the exterminated Caspian Tiger is believed to be genetically the same as the Siberian/Amur Tiger, perhaps they actually could do a "Caspian Tiger" exhibit themed around the central Asian desert?
As for my personal favorite zoos for carnivores, here are a few off the top of my head, as I think of them (numbers are not necessarily a rating). (Please note my opinions are based not only on the actual number of species but on the appearance of the exhibits and their conduciveness to photography). This is U.S.A. only (as France's Parc Des Felins would win hands-down otherwise).
1) Memphis Zoo (for cats)
2) The Living Desert (for cats and dogs/hyenas)
3) Nashville Zoo (for cats)
4) Houston Zoo (for cats and dogs and bears)
5) Northwest Trek (for North American predators)
6) Oklahoma City Zoo (for cats and bears - though I have not been there)
7) Cincinnati Zoo (for cats and bears)
Very cool! Hopefully they'll be able to break ground soon and build it. I've never been to the Living Desert, but the insurance company I work for provides the insurance on them. We also write a specialized program that is providing insurance for more and more zoos, which makes a zoo-aholic like me very happy.
Either way, I need to get to the Living Desert one of these days.
