A little help with roadtrip Eastern USA?

[IceQueen]

Hi all,

I haven't been around much lately, but I hope you'll can/will help me out a bit with planning our roadtrip to the USA for this year.

We have a circle planned with zoos we think we'd enjoy, but since we're not experts on USA zoos, we're afraid we might be missing things/animals, since there's not a website like zootierliste for the USA.
We're interested in seeing rare species, cats (and other predators), lemurs (and other animals from Madagascar), reptiles etc. We like big, natural enclosures.
We're not interested in animal shows, aquaria (unless it's like Monterey Bay), not that interested in birds either, unless they are raptors or birds of paradise.

Anyway, we have the following zoos on our list:
- Bronx Zoo, NY. From what we've heard it's a must see!
- Central Park Zoo, NY. Just because we wanna go to central park and might as well go to the zoo as well, we're guessing it won't take long to see it all.
- Queens Zoo, NY. Sounds like something we'd enjoy and they have a lot of native american species, and we don't have coyotes, pronghorns in Europe.
- Philadelhia Zoo, We really would like to see the big cat crossing, as (big) cat fans.
- Maryland Zoo, we put that on the list because they claim to have African leopards, so is it really an African leopard? (and not persian or zoo mix) and also because they have sifakas.
- Washington Zoo, because it's the national zoo
- Richmond Zoo, no particular reason, we drive past it, so it's a maybe for now.
- Duke Lemur Center, it's one of the main reasons for this trip, we love lemurs, we've been supporting them for a couple of years, so it's time for a visit.
- Cincinatti Zoo, the main reason ofcourse Sumatran Rhino, I just hope he's still there and visible in October...
- Colombus Zoo, looks like a zoo we would enjoy and again claim to have African Leopards...
- Pittsburg Zoo, looks like a great stop before driving on to New York

So that's the general idea. Are we missing something in this circle, a great zoo, rare species? Or are we planning to go to a zoo which is not as great as it seems? Any feedback and tips are very welcome. Thx in advance!

 

[blospz]

- Maryland Zoo, we put that on the list because they claim to have African leopards, so is it really an African leopard? (and not persian or zoo mix) and also because they have sifakas.
- Washington Zoo, because it's the national zoo
- Richmond Zoo, no particular reason, we drive past it, so it's a maybe for now.

-Maryland: Yes, one male African leopard left. He's in the middle of the African section next to the aviary. They also do have sifakas - an adult pair and their two offspring, one born earlier this year. If you go after the end of September, you'll be able to see their new African penguin exhibit.

-Washington: Along with a good collection of animals, you have the baby panda, seal, lion, and tiger cubs. For cats they have fishing cat, clouded leopard, sand cat, lion, Sumatran tiger, caracal, and bobcat.

-Richmond: I've been meaning to go here. Seems a bit pricey, but it seems like they are some rarer hoofstock, Asian black bears, and soon on exhibit will be a baby tapir.

 

[BeardsleyZooFan]

-Bronx Zoo has plenty of cats and other carnivores (lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, wild dogs, hyenas, mongooses, fossas, brown and polar bears) and plenty of lemurs (Coquerel's Sifakas, Crowned Lemurs, Ring-Tailed Lemurs, Collared Lemurs, Red-Ruffed Lemurs, and Grey Mouse Lemurs).
-Central Park Zoo has a big focus on birds, which you said you didn't want to focus on that much. It's still a nice zoo though, and does have Snow Leopards.
-If you're in North Carolina to see Duke, you shouldn't miss out on the North Carolina Zoo. I've heard it's fantastic. It has many large enclosures, especially for their elephants and ungulates.
-Harapan the Sumatran Rhino might not be out in October at Cincinnati. I've never been there though, so I wouldn't know.

 

[blospz]

* Cincinnati Zoo: Big Cats & Carnivores - Cheetah, serval (cheetah encounter show), ocelot, white tiger, white lion, African lion, snow leopard, Malayan tiger, sand cat, black footed cat, fishing cat, bobcat, caracal, clouded leopard, Siberian lynx, cougar, Pallas' cat, polar bear, Andean bear, American black bear, Mexican grey wolf, grey fox, bat-eared fox, fennec fox, Arctic fox, African painted dog, fossa, large-spotted genet, banded palm civet, aardwolf, tayra, & North American river otter.

* Philadelphia Zoo: Carnivores & Rare Animals - African lion, Amur leopard, Amur tiger, Andean bear, Asiatic black bear, black footed cat, Canada lynx, cheetah, dwarf mongoose, giant otter, jaguar, manned wolf, polar bear, puma, red panda, slender-tailed meerkat, sloth bear, snow leopard, white-nosed coati, white-bellied spider monkey, aardvark, lesser Egyptian jerboa, short-beaked echidna, striped possum, aye aye, blue eyed black lemur, Coquerel's sifaka, pygmy loris, red-shanked douc langur, spectacled langur, & red capped mangabey.

* Columbus Zoo: Yes, as far as I know they still have an African leopard. Solid collection with new highlights being the polar bear exhibit and African savanna section.

* Pittsburgh: Cats, Carnivores, Lemurs - snow leopard, Amur tiger, red panda, Amur leopard, African lion, cheetah, black & white ruffed lemur, ring tailed lemur, North American black bear, polar bear, sea otter, sand tiger shark, North American otter, and California sea lion.

 

[zoomaniac]

I've never been to Richmond Zoo but I would recommend you to skip it. Go instead - as @Beardsley Zoo Fan already wrote - to the North Carolina Zoo at Asheboro. Okay, it's not directly adjacted to a freeway, but when you really wanna see big, spacious exhibits (and I mean BIG), then it is absolutely worth the extra miles/kilometers.

Also, maybe Toledo Zoo (which should be more or less on your route) could be the better choice then Maryland Zoo.

Also, because there is so much to see and because of its huge size, I recommend you to plan 2 days for Bronx Zoo if possible (or at least make sure that you will be at the gates at opening time).

 

[IceQueen]

Thx for the feedback! It's really helpfull!
We will check out North Carolina Zoo and see if we can fit it in our schedule.