@SusScrofa What was your impression of the animal exhibits at Liberty Science Center? Do they have an interesting collection? Is the collection diverse and large enough that you would consider this an indoor zoo?
@DavidBrown the exhibits were generally fine from what I remember. The collection is mostly ectotherms and their exhibits were of the standard you would typically see at an aquarium or reptile house at an AZA facility. The worst exhibit I can remember was for the Cottontop Tamarins which I thought was too small. Maybe the Red-footed Tortoise exhibit is too overstocked as well. But none were terrible.
The collection was very unremarkable in terms of rarities from what I can recall, however I don't keep fish life lists so its possible there are species in this group which are rarer; the science center has an aquarium hall featuring species native to the area and they did have some exotic fish in Wild About Animals like West African Lungfish which from my experience isn't too common. Prior to Bronx Zoo reopening World Of Darkness, I believe this was the only facility in the greater NYC area to exhibit Nake Mole Rats.
Everyone has a different definition of what qualifies as a "zoo" in the broader sense. Between all the herps, invertebrates and fish held inside the two animal-focused exhibit areas (plus some small mammals), I would certainly say there is enough of a collection that it would qualify as one, but others may have a much more strict criteria.
