@Gulo gulo- And by the way, welcome to ZooChat. I'm sure you'll be a valued member in the community; you can inform us on the less-familiar New England institutions. 
2012 Road Trip Plans
- Thread starter snowleopard
- Start date
By the way, snowleopard, how do your kids react to the road trips? I know they're still young, but do they anticipate it, think nothing of it, what?
And how about your wife? She's still hasn't been completely tuckered out by the crazy zoo nerd driving mad across the country each year?
And how about your wife? She's still hasn't been completely tuckered out by the crazy zoo nerd driving mad across the country each year?
By the way, snowleopard, how do your kids react to the road trips? I know they're still young, but do they anticipate it, think nothing of it, what?
And how about your wife? She's still hasn't been completely tuckered out by the crazy zoo nerd driving mad across the country each year?
These questions made me laugh! My wife is amazing and for the most part she enjoys the vast distances that we cover and the adventures that we have. She would honestly much rather have a bit more of a mixture on the trips (shows, movies, etc) but with two very young kids that is an impossibility in terms of sitting quietly in on location
. I try to arrange it so that she can perhaps see a movie in a nice air-conditioned theatre on a few occasions while I take the kiddies to a small zoo by myself. The kids are too young to probably ever remember the 100+ zoos that they will have seen in the first few years of their lives, but they have a blast on a day-to-day level. My daughter will be 3 years old in September and my son will be 1 in May so they are both quite tiny. On this last epic trip we will visit many places that we've never seen before, including small zoos and aquariums that only take a few hours to tour. The monstrously sized zoos are few and far between (Denver, Busch Gardens being examples of two on this trip) because with little kids a big zoo makes life difficult for my wife and I as we travel at the pace of a two-toed sloth.
I never thought I'd be envious of children under 3 years of age...
But I think it's great that your wife comes on these road trips with you. You said it yourself in one of the other road trip threads, you've got the perfect mate to be doing all of this with.
I hope you guys have a great time on this trip, and I'll be sure to tune in when it kicks off.The peoria zoo looks pretty good for a small zoo (from just seeing videos it looks like it might be Illinois second best zoo after Brookfield and before Lincoln Park zoo but i am not sure since it is just videos) it just opened a african section including Gerenuk, lions (with a hidden mote between them and the main savanna), White rhinos, mandrill, columbus monkey, Giant Zambian Mole-rat (first North american zoo to breed them Successfuly), Grevy zebra, thomson gazelle, red river hogs, african crested porcupine, rock hyrax, and reticulated giraffe. They also recently got an exhibit for takin. here is a map of the zoo: http://www.peoriazoo.org/PDFs/Peoria%20Zoo%20Map.pdf
Here is a map of the African section: http://www.peoriazoo.org/PDFs/AFRICA!%20MAP.pdf
Here is a video of the new exhibit:
Here is a map of the African section: http://www.peoriazoo.org/PDFs/AFRICA!%20MAP.pdf
Here is a video of the new exhibit:
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I have been to both of these zoos. They both are pretty small most of the exhibits are average and have visible chain link fences (the Naples Zoo has a boat tour that you have to go on to see the primate islands). The naples zoo has a better collection but the brevard zoo has better exhibits.
I agree with most of TropicWorld54's assessment of Naples Zoo. Most exhibits have a mix of chain link viewing or glass. The problem is where there is glass, a relatively large crowd is near it, making the viewing just as difficult as the fence viewing. Some animals have absoultely horrible viewing (http://www.zoochat.com/586/horrible-viewing-267932/), and most exhibits are average at best, as well as some mediocre habitats (Leopard Rock). The boat tour will give you some good photos, but the problem is that certain islands are mostly viewable from only one side of the boat, so you'll get better views of different animals depending on which side of the boat you take.
snow if you go through birmingham, I would recommend going to see Trails Of Africa.
I fell like the Naples Zoo is sort of like a mini San Diego Zoo (not by exhibits but by the amount of animals and just putting animals randomly around the zoo). snowleopard when you go to the Naples Zoo i would recomend seeing the animal shows because it was pretty cool seeing a serval jumping and i think that is the only place you can see some species.
@BZF
Ha, "the horrible viewing (Horrible Viewing)"
@TropicWorld54- About how "new" is Peoria's Africa exhibit? That video was from Jan. 2011!
Ha, "the horrible viewing (Horrible Viewing)"
@TropicWorld54- About how "new" is Peoria's Africa exhibit? That video was from Jan. 2011!
@BZF
Ha, "the horrible viewing (Horrible Viewing)"
@TropicWorld54- About how "new" is Peoria's Africa exhibit? That video was from Jan. 2011!
I would still consider that fairly new and I did not say brand new.
A list of the shows at Naples:
Daily Zoo Events at Naples Zoo
I didn't see any shows except for a "Meet the Keeper" at the Fossa exhibit, unless you count the cruise as a "show". But it's true, only certain species can be seen through these shows (Ocelots, Dingoes, Sloths, Hawks, Vultures,etc.) However, I do disagree with calling the Naples Zoo a "mini-SD Zoo." For although Naples does share traits such as trying to exhibit species in not so good exhibits, many of SD Zoo's older exhibits are brilliant (Monkey Trails, Tiger River, Polar Bear Plunge). Naples exhibits are average at best, some mediocre, and only one was pretty good (Black Bear Hammock.)
Yes, well it all depends what one considers new. As you said, you consider that new, whilst I do not, as I would not, for example, call a show that premiered last year "new". And brand new-new, same thing to me! Anyway, not an attack, just stating my opinion.
I said comparing them not exhibit quality wise.
