Best Zoo Exhibit in U.S.

BlackRhino said:
Another great exhibit that is missing is St. Louis' River's Edge and Bronx's Himalayan Highlands.

Pittsburgh's African Savanna is extremely ordinary, and if it were to make a top list that would be a good indication that America is lacking good exhibits. But it's not, so Pittsburgh's African Savanna shouldn't be on anyone's top 50 list unless they have some sort of connection with Pittsburgh Zoo.
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Well he and others are making lists of exhibits they've been to, so depending on how many and which zoos one's been to, I can see it making a list that long. I also think it is better than average.
 
Although not a large multi-themed exhibit, I do think Miami's Gibbon exhibit is likely there best exhibit, at least pre-amazon and beyond.
 
mweb08 said:
Although not a large multi-themed exhibit, I do think Miami's Gibbon exhibit is likely there best exhibit, at least pre-amazon and beyond.
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Many of the large pachyderm paddocks are also very good. I think the elephant exhibit (the african one) is the best in Florida if you exclude DAK. The giraffe exhibit is the largest exhibit there and is very grassy with lots of shade trees. I really don't think anything at MMZ is bad. The worst exhibits there are average, making a great zoo experience. It is my favorite zoo in Florida, and I do like it better than DAK.
 
mweb08 said:
Well he and others are making lists of exhibits they've been to, so depending on how many and which zoos one's been to, I can see it making a list that long. I also think it is better than average.
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What makes it better than average?
 
BlackRhino said:
so Pittsburgh's African Savanna shouldn't be on anyone's top 50 list unless they have some sort of connection with Pittsburgh Zoo.
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This thread has been fascinating ... and friendly! If I could make a suggestion, let's NOT try to JUDGE what exhibits "should be" or "shouldn't be" on each others' lists! OK? (This is what Sun Wukong does -- telling us how wrong we are if we violate his own opinion of zoos or exhibits.)

On the other hand, it's fine to ask, "Hey, did you forget ________?" (some certain exhibit that might have been overlooked.)

I'll say one more thing: When Jon and I made our Top 25 Exhibits lists, I emphasized that we needed to make our lists "with our heads" and not "with our hearts". This is hard to do, but what it means is that we can't simply include or exclude certain exhibits simply because we like or dislike its zoo, and we can't include or exclude exhibits because they have our favorite animals (as BlackRhino does with jaguar exhibits) or because we're not into that type of animal. With this in mind, it seems like many of you are leaving Miami's "Wings of Asia" off your list because "I'm not into birds". Simply put, this has to be the best walk-through aviary outside of San Diego, so if your rating exhibits "with your head", this one certainly deserves some strong consideration, right? For me, Wings of Asia just missed making my Top 25 Exhibits list.

I'm NOT disagreeing with or criticizing any of your lists -- just pointing out the difference between head-ratings and heart-ratings. Intellectual honesty would suggest that you should be open about WHICH type of ratings you're making. What do you all think?
 
BlackRhino said:
What makes it better than average?
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The zebra/ostrich/gazelle exhibit is large, has very good viewing, and looks naturalistic. So I think that exhibit is well above average while the the giraffe exhibit is good and the others in that area are average or a little better. The zebra, elephant, and giraffe exhibit all mesh together quite well too.
 
I do think the type of animal should be considered when judging exhibits. Some animals are much easier to make outstanding exhibits for than others.

For example, I went to the Maryland Zoo yesterday, and they had a tremendous exhibit for box turtles. It is likely the best in the world, but I'm not going to put that in any top exhibit list unless it's for turtles or maybe reptiles. It's just not hard to make a great box turtle exhibit, and people don't get that excited about it.

The animals are the star attractions of an exhibit, and what kinds are presented change how much people enjoy an exhibit. The zoo is able to decide what animals they want to feature in their top exhibits, and they should be rewarded or penalized based on those decisions. If a zoo wants to build a very expensive exhibit for animals that most people don't care that much about, then that's likely not a smart move, and the rating should reflect that imo.
 
ANyhuis, I'd love to see your 26 through 50 list! Do you still have it? I imagine it has changed since printing the 1 through 25!

I loved Wings of Asia too, my list is slanted toward multi-exhibit complexes so it wasn't considered for my list. I would categorize it in a seperate single-exhibit list, which I have not tackled yet. It may be an approach that glosses over the complexity of some single exhibits like this versus the straight forwardness of my favorite barred cage or whatever, but thats my mode. My list has Big Cat Falls and World of Primates which only have mammals from a specific class, so that starts to make me wonder if I'm not being tough on birds since many of them can be displayed successfully together without the need for multiple exhibits!
 
Just a comment on the Henry Doorly Zoo new elephant complex

If there going to do the underwater viewing, I think they should consider Asian Elephants instead of African Elephants as the Asian Elephants seem to enjoy water whilst African Elephants prefer sand and mud instead

I really hope the project doesn't get scaled back at all as 12 acres to roam and a pool big enough for underwater viewing sounds fantastic!
 
Zoogoer2000 said:
If there going to do the underwater viewing, I think they should consider Asian Elephants instead of African Elephants as the Asian Elephants seem to enjoy water whilst African Elephants prefer sand and mud instead
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From what I have seen African elephants enjoy water just as much as Asians, and I have actually never seen an Asian in water, but have an African. I think it just depends on what zoo your talking about. At Busch gardens they have Asian elephants but they don't really ever use their pool, but at the nearby Lowry Park Zoo the African elephants are always using their pool.
 
geomorph said:
ANyhuis, I'd love to see your 26 through 50 list! Do you still have it? I imagine it has changed since printing the 1 through 25!
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I never actually finalized my list from 26 to 50. But I can tell you what exhibits were in contention for the bottom of the 1-25 list (and thus they'd be sitting there in the high 20's:

Maharajah Jungle Trek (Disney's Animal Kingdom)
The RainForest (Cleveland Zoo)
Tropics Trail (Minnesota Zoo)
Gorilla Tropics (San Diego Zoo)
Tropic World (Brookfield Zoo)
Northern Trail (Minnesota Zoo)
Minnesota Trail (Minnesota Zoo
Dolphin Adventure (Indianapolis Zoo)
Wings of Asia (Miami Metrozoo)
JungleWorld (Bronx Zoo)
Northern Trail (Woodland Park Zoo)
Asia Trail (National Zoo)
Tropical Asia (Woodland Park Zoo)

And had I seen them prior to making this list, I likely would have put Columbus' Asia Quest and Manatee Coast on this list too. My biggest regret is not putting Minnesota's Northern Trail on my list.

The way I did this was to first do a statistical analysis (I'm a professional statistician), factoring in many factors: (a) Rarity of animal species; (b) Number of species; (c) Number of animals; (d) Uniqueness of exhibit; (e) The "Wow!" factor; (f) Viewing availability/ease of animals; (g) Comfort and care of the animals; (h) Time and value of touring exhibit; (i) Theming; and (j) Year-round access. For each of the above categories, I gave the exhibit a score from 1 to 10 (most of the best exhibits got 8's or higher). I averaged these scores, put the exhibits in order accordingly, and then finally did some minor subjective reordering according to my personal opinion, Jon's opinion, and an informal survey I took of a dozen or so people.
 
I think the Toronto Zoo's new Tundra Trek can be added, pictures will be up soon!
 
@geomorph: the Minnesota Zoo really is a worthwhile zoo to visit, as both the Minnesota Trail and Northern Trail (with North America's largest tiger exhibit) are both truly excellent. However, Russia's Grizzly Coast is brilliant and the best thing about the impressive zoo.
 
BlackRhino said:
From what I have seen African elephants enjoy water just as much as Asians, and I have actually never seen an Asian in water, but have an African. I think it just depends on what zoo your talking about. At Busch gardens they have Asian elephants but they don't really ever use their pool, but at the nearby Lowry Park Zoo the African elephants are always using their pool.
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Im goign by the fact that I've never seen an african in water but I have seen asians
 
I've seen Africans in the water at SDWAP quite a few times, and the Asians in the water there and at the zoo.
 
Im going to right my little list of exhibits I've seen that I like (This is in no particular order)

Malayan Woods Pavilion (Toronto Zoo)
African Rainforest Pavilion (Toronto Zoo)
African Savanna (Toronto Zoo)
Asia Trail (National Zoo)
Amazonia (National Zoo)
Outdoor Flight Cage (National Zoo)
Marajarah Forest Trek (DAK)
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (DAK)
Kilimanjaro Safari (DAK)
Gorilla Tropics (San Diego Zoo)
Ituri Forest (San Diego Zoo)
Tiger River (San Diego Zoo)
Owens Aviary (San Diego Zoo)
East African Kopje (San Diego Zoo)
Sun Bear Forest (San Diego Zoo)
Journey Into Africa (San Diego Wild Animal Park)
Lion Camp (San Diego Wild Animal Park)
Elephant Overlook (San Diego Wild Animal Park)
Tiger Overlook (San Diego Wild Animal Park)
 
Zoogoer, you have seen some wonderful exhibits! I love your local zoo, Toronto...have you seen the new Tundra Trek?
 
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