Best Reptile Houses

[hudson111]

I very much disagree here. The Detroit Zoo's reptile house is extremely average. It's a nice enough collection but it's fairly small and the species list isn't anything special.

the building is very nice on the inside but the species collection is not all that special and it is a small building

 

[hudson111]

Also I started a new thread called worst elephant exhibits in the US if anyone wants to join feel free

 

[15399]

I very much disagree here. The Detroit Zoo's reptile house is extremely average. It's a nice enough collection but it's fairly small and the species list isn't anything special.

I also don't necessarily agree with everything on this list. I'm fairly certain Detroit was on there primarily because of their amphibian collection also. I just figured it would be relevant to the discussions on this thread. Maybe if the same book was made today their list would be different?

 

[TinoPup]

I know the book is twelve years outdated and it's not the same as reptile house, but America's Best Zoos lists the top ten reptile and amphibian collections as
1. San Diego Zoo
2. Detroit Zoo
Runner-ups-
Audubon Zoo
Fort Worth Zoo
Gladys Porter Zoo
Knoxville Zoo
Nashville Zoo
Henry Doorly Zoo
Riverbanks Zoo
St. Louis Zoo

Collection is very different from reptile house. Omaha, for example, has a pretty decent collection, but they don't have a reptile house at all. Quite a few zoos have gotten new buildings since then, as well (like Dallas).

 

[CMP]

The amphibian and reptile houses at Detroit zoo are all very nice though, and even though the collection is not outstanding I do think they should be considered together. I also suggest using Survey Hero instead of creating many unnecessary new threads just for polls.

 

[geomorph]

I think that the Audubon Zoo's reptile house needs to be added to this list. In my personal opinion it was better than the Bronx Zoo's reptile house and on par with the Dallas Zoo's. Objectively speaking it at least is on par with the Bronx Zoo's, if you are to take my bias out of it. The exhibitory is fantastic and incredibly naturalistic (at least recently as they have been updating their exhibits), the design is fairly unique, and the species collection rivals both of the other zoos. Unfortunately there do not appear to be images representing this reptile house on zoochat so you will have to take my word and hopefully others who have been there's word for it.

I posted some photos of Audubon Zoo's Reptile Encounter in 2018, here are several of those images. They show that it is a low formal historic exterior with an average-sized interior of exhibits set mostly within modern 1980's-looking hallways but some exhibits have simulated natural surroundings. This was the era when they really knew how to carpet floors and walls to absrob sound!:

















All photos taken by geomorph.