Spent last Thursday at Houston Zoo, actually my third visit to this very good zoo over the last several years. First visit since the new African Forest addition. Here are some brief thoughts.
There is one overall impression of Houston Zoo that sticks in my mind. That is that they have an extremely well-rounded and complete animal collection. The only zoo I have seen that can top them in this area is the daunting San Diego Zoo. First, they have an aquarium (which few zoos have). Next is the Natural Encounters, filled with a variety of small animals (mammals and fish and more). Very extensive bird area, with outdoor exhibits as well as an indoor tropical bird house. Good reptile building with several examples of every category: frogs, snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodilians. Good primate trail with big and small monkeys. Separate great ape exhibits. Big and small carnivores: a couple bear species, a few small cats plus most big ones plus fossa, wild dogs and fox. Several antelope including some of the world's biggest: greater kudu, giant eland, bongo. Mega-herbivores: giraffe, elephant, rhino. Extensive children's zoo with southwest animals ranging from otters to swift fox to spiders. Plus odd-category mammals like giant anteater and babirusa. Even a sea lion pool.
Amazingly, this well-roundedness (if that is a word) is NOT carried over into their new multi-million dollar expansion. I was surprised at how few animal exhibits there are in such a large area. There are only three: giraffe/ostrich, kudu/rhino, chimpanzee. (The newly built rotating cheetah wild dog exhibit is technically not part of this exhibit area). There seems to be a lot of empty space that is unutilized. I am talking mainly about the entrance area (if you go in the way the map suggests). It is a very wide, very long meandering path with nothing to see (except some old oak trees, which of course are nice). They could easily have put an avairy along here or small mammal exhibits. The fact that the path winds and will not let you walk straight just adds to the sense of emptiness.
The first area, the chimpanzee exhibit, has a very large indoor area with educational displays and mud bank walls (similar to the new indoor hippo area at San Antonio). While they should keep the educational displays, they could have added some small animal tanks along the back wall, as San Antonio did. Just a huge cavernous indoor area with not much to see. The following outdoor areas have very nice French Colonial architecture for a gift shop and a fantastic restaurant overlooking the giraffe/ostrich on one side and the rhino/kudu on the other side. But the large open walking area and carousel area could again accomodate at least one or two small animal exhibits.
I like the intensive theming of the new area, except that the giraffe barn is too dominant. But I fear that if this trend continues through future renovations at Houston, they will lose their number one attribute - an extensive collection. The heavy theme park feel of the new area is no coincidence - their current director came here from Disney Animal Kingdom. Will be interesting to see how this zoo progresses.
There is one overall impression of Houston Zoo that sticks in my mind. That is that they have an extremely well-rounded and complete animal collection. The only zoo I have seen that can top them in this area is the daunting San Diego Zoo. First, they have an aquarium (which few zoos have). Next is the Natural Encounters, filled with a variety of small animals (mammals and fish and more). Very extensive bird area, with outdoor exhibits as well as an indoor tropical bird house. Good reptile building with several examples of every category: frogs, snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodilians. Good primate trail with big and small monkeys. Separate great ape exhibits. Big and small carnivores: a couple bear species, a few small cats plus most big ones plus fossa, wild dogs and fox. Several antelope including some of the world's biggest: greater kudu, giant eland, bongo. Mega-herbivores: giraffe, elephant, rhino. Extensive children's zoo with southwest animals ranging from otters to swift fox to spiders. Plus odd-category mammals like giant anteater and babirusa. Even a sea lion pool.
Amazingly, this well-roundedness (if that is a word) is NOT carried over into their new multi-million dollar expansion. I was surprised at how few animal exhibits there are in such a large area. There are only three: giraffe/ostrich, kudu/rhino, chimpanzee. (The newly built rotating cheetah wild dog exhibit is technically not part of this exhibit area). There seems to be a lot of empty space that is unutilized. I am talking mainly about the entrance area (if you go in the way the map suggests). It is a very wide, very long meandering path with nothing to see (except some old oak trees, which of course are nice). They could easily have put an avairy along here or small mammal exhibits. The fact that the path winds and will not let you walk straight just adds to the sense of emptiness.
The first area, the chimpanzee exhibit, has a very large indoor area with educational displays and mud bank walls (similar to the new indoor hippo area at San Antonio). While they should keep the educational displays, they could have added some small animal tanks along the back wall, as San Antonio did. Just a huge cavernous indoor area with not much to see. The following outdoor areas have very nice French Colonial architecture for a gift shop and a fantastic restaurant overlooking the giraffe/ostrich on one side and the rhino/kudu on the other side. But the large open walking area and carousel area could again accomodate at least one or two small animal exhibits.
I like the intensive theming of the new area, except that the giraffe barn is too dominant. But I fear that if this trend continues through future renovations at Houston, they will lose their number one attribute - an extensive collection. The heavy theme park feel of the new area is no coincidence - their current director came here from Disney Animal Kingdom. Will be interesting to see how this zoo progresses.
