August zoo trip

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gorgeousingray

Well-Known Member
By zoo trip I mean, four zoos.

Oklahoma City
Sedgwick County
Minnesota
Omaha Henry Doorly

I was hoping people who have visited could give me so information about the facilities. Such as what order I should see the exhibits, and what exciting things are going on now (some of these zoos don't have the most up to date info on their websites).

I'm leaving on August 10th for Oklahoma city. Then on August 11th I am going to Sedgwick county. I will be staying at my uncle's house in St. Paul Minnesota and visiting the Minnesota zoo at some point. Then on the 18th I will be visiting the Henry doorly zoo.

Feed back on the facilities prior to my trip would be greatly appreciated!
 
I hope that you have a good trip. I have only been to the Omaha Zoo out of the places on your journey. Their aquarium is very good so would highly recommend that - the penguin exhibit and shark tank are especially impressive. The Desert Dome, Night Kingdom, and Lied Jungle are impressive buildings. As you know as our resident zoo elephant expert their eles are gone. They have an impressive lemur collection as they focus on Madagascar - the new exhibit has been built since I saw it, but has gotten some good reviews. Omaha has an excellent giraffe exhibit.

The Como Zoo nearby the Minnesota Zoo is supposed to be quite good also, and free apparently. They also have giraffes. Can you ever get too many giraffes? I've wanted to visit the Minnesota Zoo since the 1981 Smithsonian Magazine article on it and look forward to hearing your review of it and the other zoos on your journey. Safe travels.
 
Thanks David! I'll definitely update you on the giraffes at each zoo I visit ;). Although in most zoos now I don't expect more than a simple paddock with a feeding station (the current zoo cliche).

I was actually unaware of Como! I'll look into it!
 
gorgeousingray said:
Thanks David! I'll definitely update you on the giraffes at each zoo I visit ;). Although in most zoos now I don't expect more than a simple paddock with a feeding station (the current zoo cliche).

I was actually unaware of Como! I'll look into it!
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Check out the photos in the gallery. They are building a new gorilla exhibit. They have penguins, puffins, and orangutans also.
 
Sedgwick County has the keeper chat and feeding schedule on thier website and all of these are very good. The Australian Riverbank feeding is especially fun because they feed crickets to the archer fish so you can watch them shoot them off the stump from under the water. The tiger training is also fun to watch. We usually go first thing to the Australian/S. American aviary as the animals there are always very active early in the morning. They also have a baby Chimp and Orangutan that are very active and a lot of fun to watch but they both generally stay indoors so you could really see them at any time during the day.

We usually do the Exhibits in this order: ASA Aviary, Pride of the Plains, Downing Gorilla Forest, Tiger Trek, Asian Forest Aviary (partially closed off due to trying to establish some grass), Feed Giraffes, Herpetarium & see the Australian Riverbank Feeding @11:45, Eat, Jungle, North America & see River Otter Feeding (Prairie Dog Exhibit was still closed for renovation at my last visit), Penguins (Hopefully they have the shade canopy up it wasn't at my last vist for repairs), Back to Herp. to see a couple more feeding/demonstrations, Tiger Demonstration, Catch tram, take tram to Koch Orangutan & Chimpanzee Habitat, farms. Hope this helps. My family and I might be going to the lake to do some camping this weekend but if not we would be happy to show you around.
 
I haven't been to Oklahoma City or Sedgewick County and I haven't been to the Minnesota Zoo since 1990, but from what I've seen on the site it still looks pretty similar (in a good way). I like how that zoo focuses on animals from cold climates so that the whole zoo can be open year round and all the animals can be on display.

I was just in Omaha last week and it was as great as always. This was the first time I'd seen Indian rhinos, which replaced the elephants. The siamangs were calling while I was there and you could hear them just about everywhere. The jaguar was also roaring. As was mentioned previously, the giraffe exhibit is nice and they had a giraffe in the building and visitors could get pretty close to it. The lemur exhibit is very nice although it was 103 degrees so they didn't want to come out and play. This is the only zoo where I've seen aye-ayes. There are lots of different enrichment schedules and feedings that can be seen throughout. Defintely worth the walk even in 103 degree heat.

I haven't been to the Como Zoo in Minneapolis but have heard that one is nice. That one has more of your "traditional" zoo animals from what I've heard.
 
Thank you for the feed back everyone:)

Do any of you know if the Tulsa zoo is worth visiting? I have an extra zoo day on the way home to Dallas from Minneapolis.
 
I'd say visit Tulsa. They've been making a lot of improvements over the past few years. I need to get back up there myself.
 
gorgeousingray said:
Thank you for the feed back everyone:)

Do any of you know if the Tulsa zoo is worth visiting? I have an extra zoo day on the way home to Dallas from Minneapolis.
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Last time I was there approximately a year ago there was a lot of construction going on including work on a new sea lion exhibit that is now open I believe.
 
Como and Tulsa are now on the list!

Oklahoma City Zoo- August 10th
Sedgwick County zoo- August 11th
Como and Minnesota- Any day through August 12-17th
Omaha Henry Doorly- August 18th
Tulsa Zoo-August 19th

The schedule may be subject to change... But I'm pretty sure I will be visiting all six facilities :D
 
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