Salisbury Zoo 2013 Salisbury Zoo Review

blospz

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Located in the Eastern part of Maryland, this little zoo is probably not visited by many out of towners. But for locals, it must be a wonderful, free place to take children when the weather is nice. There is also a playground right in front of it. The zoo is not set up in any specific way, so it's a bit hard to review each exhibit. I will go ahead and write down the pros and cons and then I'll upload photos to its gallery for people to see for themselves.

PROS:

* The zoo itself is very nice for visitors. My sister suggested I check it out because she felt it had a park feel to it opposed to a zoo. It definitely feels you're nestled in a park and the pathways are shaded with many trees.

* Although there are no stellar exhibits, all animals have access to outside and some have unique qualities to their exhibit. One that sticks out the most are the llama who are on a bank next to a river.

* If you're on your way to Ocean City and just want to make a small pit stop, this zoo can easily been seen in two hours.

CONS:

* The layout of the zoo can be confusing. I advise first timers to look at a map to get oriented. However, exhibits are closer to each other than they appear on the map.

* Most exhibits are meshed wooden cages. Some of them also have viewing windows in them, but for photographers, this can be an obstacle. I was able to get my camera to blur out most of the mesh, but for point and shoot/cell phone pictures, you're going to get the barrier.

* Despite having only average exhibits, the zoo does not have a unique animal collection that would entice a zoo enthusiast to explore it.


Here is the animal collection at the zoo: llama, pelican, Patagonian cavy, misc. waterfowl, sandhill crane, sloth, flamingo, elegant crested tinamou, yellow knobbed curassow, sun conure, macaw, flamingo, American alligator, black crowned heron, yellow crowned heron, bobcat, ocelot, white nosed coati, various ducks, spider monkey, cotton top tamarin, North American river otter, Andean bear, barnacle goose, bison, black tailed prairie dog, red wolf, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, guanaco, capybara, capybara, rhea, spectacled owl, and jaguar.
 
Thanks for the review! Judging from your notes and photos it seems that Salisbury Zoo is a fairly mediocre zoo with a common collection of animals. A free favourite for locals and perhaps a one-time visit for a zoo enthusiast?
 
Snowleopard, exactly. There may have only been a few exhibits where I felt it was way too cramped for its inhabitant, but most of them were mediocre to average. One reason I decided to go was because one of Smithsonian National Zoo's female Andean bear, Chaska, was moved there on a breeding loan. It was nice to see her again and she seems to really be a people watcher. Probably the last local AZA accredited zoo I have not been to in a few hour radius would be Brandywine Zoo. It's even smaller than this one and has the same style of enclosures. The only thing that really entices me to go is they are the closest zoo near me that has a binturong.
 
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