I visited the Zoo yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't ask anyone if they wanted me to check up on anything in advance - the trip was literally arranged at about 11:00 on Tuesday night, and I didn't have the time to hop on here and ask.
My visit was great. Although I missed what was likely more than half of Zoo's main attractions (I'll list everything I missed down below), and despite a few no-shows (hyenas and African wild dogs most notably), I consider yesterday's trip to be one of the best I've ever had, to be completely honest. It was a visit where the words "quality over quantity" definitely reigned supreme.
Since the World of Birds nursery has been in discussion relatively frequently lately, I figured I'd start off by mentioning that there were two western capercaillie chicks, hatched June 18th, and two southern white-faced owl chicks, hatched on May 17th, on display there.
Now, I'm not sure if this has been the case ever since the building’s renovations were finished – as I didn't notice this last time I visited the World of Birds – but it appears that there is no longer specific signage in the first two walk-through rooms of the second floor. There are signs talking about the general habitats themselves, which mention several generic species names, but there isn’t
specific signage. (For example, this isn’t exact, but say there are superb starlings, Lady Ross’s and red-crested turacos in the exhibit (which there are, haha). The signage doesn’t say so, but it does mention starlings and turacos as being found in the habitat the exhibit models. Does that make sense?)
But the World of Birds visit was great. Since my last visit to this ever-changing building was nearly three months ago, I saw quite a few new species, and a large variety overall.
My Congo Gorilla Forest visit was also probably one of the best I’ve had. I got to see the red river hogs up close for the first time, and the young mandrills were very active, playing with each other in the trees and with water. The baby gorillas were out, so I got some great footage of them with their parents.
At the Zoo Center, I finally saw all four monitor exhibits being occupied at the same time, haha, and one of the water monitors was very active, so that was exciting to see. I also got to see one of the Komodo dragons utilizing the outdoor exhibit, which was nice.
I visited the Children’s Zoo for the first time in many years, hoping to see a personal favorite of mine, the giant anteater, as I’ve only seen one once before at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, as well as some other would-be firsts like pudu and coatis. I honestly don’t remember what the Children’s Zoo was like before its overhaul; I’ve avoided going inside during each of my visits since 2010, thinking I was too old for it, haha, and I can’t remember any visits prior to then, so this was an entirely new experience for me.
And I actually really enjoyed myself. One of the first things about it that I really liked was the heron aviary, where one could get closer to the birds and feel more like one by sitting in pretend “nests” at the ends of the exhibit. I particularly liked this aspect because it reminded me of an idea I had for an exhibit in my fictional zoo, where guests would climb a fake tree that was up against the netting of a monkey exhibit so that they could feel as though they were sitting “in the treetops” with them. It obviously isn’t the most original idea, but oh well. And if this exhibit was already there before construction, forgive me. I’m not sure which parts are old or new. I was just surprised to see it implemented in an actual zoo exhibit.
All of the exhibits along the trail were neat, albeit somewhat small. The anteater exhibit was also on the smaller end, but seeing the anteater was the highlight of the trip, nonetheless. When I came up on the exhibit, it was sort of lurking in the shadows towards the back. After a few minutes, it "dramatically" emerged from behind the long grass, revealing its entire body, as if out of a movie,
, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And you can actually hear me go “ooh” in the video I took of it, and I
never make any sounds when I record videos.
It also came right up to the glass, and just getting a chance to see it up close reaffirmed the fact that giant anteaters are one of my all-time favorite animals.
Some heavy clouds started rolling in while I was walking through, and they ended up having to take the sloth off her (
I believe it’s a female) perch to bring her inside. The coatis showed nothing but their tails as they scrawled around in the brush on the floor, and I only caught brief glimpses of the pudu as they darted around at the back of their exhibit.
All in all, it was a very fun visit. I'll be heading back once or twice before the end of August if anyone wants to ask for me to check something out for them.
Exhibits Missed:
- Jungleworld
- African Plains (saw everything but "lower" half - gazelle/kudu/crane, lion and n'yala exhibits)
- Baboon Reserve
- Butterfly Garden
- Pheasant Aviaries
- World of Reptiles
- Bears
- Himalayan Highlands
- Tiger Mountain
- Birds of Prey
- Aquatic Bird House/Sea Bird Aviary
- Madagascar!
- Sea Lions
- Bison
