So, I took my son to the Columbus Zoo today. This zoo holds a place in my childhood memories as a resident of the Cincinnati area. it was the first out of town zoo I attended regularly, and at times the grass always seemed greener to my not so knowledgeable young mind. I loved the old herbivore carnivore exhibits, and their North American section never disappointed. It was also the first zoo I went to with a legit neotropical collection (at the time), and it was cool to see tapirs, capybaras, etc.
Fast forward to today, which was my first visit in about 7 years. I don't know if I've ever seen a zoo with so much be so disappointing. The new sea lion exhibit has a nice immersive tunnel, but pedestrian traffic flow inside is a nightmare. It wasn't even that busy, it was just people not moving and going in opposite directions in a fairly tight space. Neat concept, annoying when you add homo sapiens. The outside is spacious but frankly unattractive. Not a single aesthetically pleasing thing about it.
This brings me to the Jungle Jack's Animal Encounter building or whatever. Unless Jack Hanna himself proposed this abomination, the person responsible for suggesting it should have been ran out of the zoo's decision-making circle in the most humiliating way possible. SO much chain link and so many boxy, bargain-basement looking enclosures. Zero zoogeographic continuity. The inside seemed like it was trying to create an immersive experience for an animal that calls a Walmart it's native habitat. It's just gross. Sadly, there were some interesting inhabitants like ground hornbills and capybaras. They deserve better.
I've always intensely disliked the Asian Islands. It's a neat idea, and the orang exhibit is admittedly cool, as is the Komodo habitat. The theming is horrific and the interspersed moaning dinosaurs can be heard throughout. It also seems like the complex is short on species. The dinosaurs almost overtake the actual animals in terms of presence. You just can't ignore it.
No complaints about the African Forest.
The Reptile House is good, but something is missing, and that something is undoubtedly and impressive crocodilian exhibit. Sure, there are some juvenile-ish gators in the front pool, but you can see those in pet/aquarium stores in Ohio. They need something a little more impressive. I'm not saying you need a huge crocodilian to have a good reptile building, but it certainly helps, particularly when the zoo has none in other exhibit areas. Surprising considering the large collection this zoo maintains.
The coolest thing I saw on my trip was a muntjac crossing inches from my feet in the pheasant aviary in Asia Quest. I love this little gem of an enclosure. The birds are beautiful, the five Burmese mountain tortoises are a neat extra, and the muntjacs being absolutely unafraid of visitors is really neat to see.
The rest of Asia Quest was alright. I always like the bat exhibit. What I really do not like is the giant room sans animals and chocked with props and TVs. There's a lot of wasted space in the indoor area. Otherwise good exhibits except for the oddball indoor sloth bear habitat.
I have nothing bad to say about North America. It's as comprehensive a collection for major species in the US that I can recall seeing save perhaps Minnesota, and most exhibits are acceptable to great. The moose exhibit is always a favorite of mine.
I'll end on Africa. Shew, man this is a tough one. I won't lie, the main panorama is among the best exhibits I've seen. It's captivating to see how things move around in the distance out in that field. I'm not sure any non-safari style drive through can even hope to beat it. That said, I think Columbus really whiffed on the remainder of the complex. I hate that the first thing we see in this area is a donkey exhibit. Just lackluster for something like that to be the first thing a visitor sees when they walk into an exhibit of that scale. I don't despise the ostrich pen. The lion exhibit isn't bad if you like playgrounds in your lion exhibits. It's adequate and looks great with the big panorama behind it.
Now comes the part I really, really hate. The infamous (for me) rotational yard.
This is honestly a big, beautiful, albeit very generic and manicured yard of an exhibit. It's borderline huge compared to other zoo exhibits for the species roster that rotates here. This exhibit irks me to no end for two reasons. The first and biggest is that I want to see these species every time I visit this zoo, which as I pointed out is about once every 5-8 years. I don't see hyenas or jackals anywhere else. Yeah, that's selfish, but why could the zoo not have dedicated exhibits for one or more of these animals? I get to see the mini donkeys all day every day, but I have to get lucky to see either African carnivore. For the record, I've never seen the jackal.
My second gripe is that such a nice, spacious yard was designed to be so generic. yes, I know they do cheetah runs there or did. Idk. The zoo has 2 cheetah exhibits plus a run. When is it enough when you're squirreling away other species behind the scenes? I also dislike the cheetah run in Cincinnati. Huge swath of potential exhibit area dedicated to a couple of daily shows. It's a me problem.
In summation, I fully admit that Columbus is among the best in terms of collection and in many examples exhibitry. It still has potential that is only limited by the amount of funds it can generate to expand. It just so happens to be the antithesis of what I enjoy as a zoo nerd. I like a bit of history mixed with some rarity with a bit of variety, particularly with reptiles, but other species as well. Columbus probably isn't the zoo for this. It seems to have a strong desire to cover up anything old with a poor man's Disney magic veneer to match anything that it builds in the future. It's probably not the worst plan for the general public, but it creates a feel that is a bit more amusement park that most zoos.
Fast forward to today, which was my first visit in about 7 years. I don't know if I've ever seen a zoo with so much be so disappointing. The new sea lion exhibit has a nice immersive tunnel, but pedestrian traffic flow inside is a nightmare. It wasn't even that busy, it was just people not moving and going in opposite directions in a fairly tight space. Neat concept, annoying when you add homo sapiens. The outside is spacious but frankly unattractive. Not a single aesthetically pleasing thing about it.
This brings me to the Jungle Jack's Animal Encounter building or whatever. Unless Jack Hanna himself proposed this abomination, the person responsible for suggesting it should have been ran out of the zoo's decision-making circle in the most humiliating way possible. SO much chain link and so many boxy, bargain-basement looking enclosures. Zero zoogeographic continuity. The inside seemed like it was trying to create an immersive experience for an animal that calls a Walmart it's native habitat. It's just gross. Sadly, there were some interesting inhabitants like ground hornbills and capybaras. They deserve better.
I've always intensely disliked the Asian Islands. It's a neat idea, and the orang exhibit is admittedly cool, as is the Komodo habitat. The theming is horrific and the interspersed moaning dinosaurs can be heard throughout. It also seems like the complex is short on species. The dinosaurs almost overtake the actual animals in terms of presence. You just can't ignore it.
No complaints about the African Forest.
The Reptile House is good, but something is missing, and that something is undoubtedly and impressive crocodilian exhibit. Sure, there are some juvenile-ish gators in the front pool, but you can see those in pet/aquarium stores in Ohio. They need something a little more impressive. I'm not saying you need a huge crocodilian to have a good reptile building, but it certainly helps, particularly when the zoo has none in other exhibit areas. Surprising considering the large collection this zoo maintains.
The coolest thing I saw on my trip was a muntjac crossing inches from my feet in the pheasant aviary in Asia Quest. I love this little gem of an enclosure. The birds are beautiful, the five Burmese mountain tortoises are a neat extra, and the muntjacs being absolutely unafraid of visitors is really neat to see.
The rest of Asia Quest was alright. I always like the bat exhibit. What I really do not like is the giant room sans animals and chocked with props and TVs. There's a lot of wasted space in the indoor area. Otherwise good exhibits except for the oddball indoor sloth bear habitat.
I have nothing bad to say about North America. It's as comprehensive a collection for major species in the US that I can recall seeing save perhaps Minnesota, and most exhibits are acceptable to great. The moose exhibit is always a favorite of mine.
I'll end on Africa. Shew, man this is a tough one. I won't lie, the main panorama is among the best exhibits I've seen. It's captivating to see how things move around in the distance out in that field. I'm not sure any non-safari style drive through can even hope to beat it. That said, I think Columbus really whiffed on the remainder of the complex. I hate that the first thing we see in this area is a donkey exhibit. Just lackluster for something like that to be the first thing a visitor sees when they walk into an exhibit of that scale. I don't despise the ostrich pen. The lion exhibit isn't bad if you like playgrounds in your lion exhibits. It's adequate and looks great with the big panorama behind it.
Now comes the part I really, really hate. The infamous (for me) rotational yard.
This is honestly a big, beautiful, albeit very generic and manicured yard of an exhibit. It's borderline huge compared to other zoo exhibits for the species roster that rotates here. This exhibit irks me to no end for two reasons. The first and biggest is that I want to see these species every time I visit this zoo, which as I pointed out is about once every 5-8 years. I don't see hyenas or jackals anywhere else. Yeah, that's selfish, but why could the zoo not have dedicated exhibits for one or more of these animals? I get to see the mini donkeys all day every day, but I have to get lucky to see either African carnivore. For the record, I've never seen the jackal.
My second gripe is that such a nice, spacious yard was designed to be so generic. yes, I know they do cheetah runs there or did. Idk. The zoo has 2 cheetah exhibits plus a run. When is it enough when you're squirreling away other species behind the scenes? I also dislike the cheetah run in Cincinnati. Huge swath of potential exhibit area dedicated to a couple of daily shows. It's a me problem.
In summation, I fully admit that Columbus is among the best in terms of collection and in many examples exhibitry. It still has potential that is only limited by the amount of funds it can generate to expand. It just so happens to be the antithesis of what I enjoy as a zoo nerd. I like a bit of history mixed with some rarity with a bit of variety, particularly with reptiles, but other species as well. Columbus probably isn't the zoo for this. It seems to have a strong desire to cover up anything old with a poor man's Disney magic veneer to match anything that it builds in the future. It's probably not the worst plan for the general public, but it creates a feel that is a bit more amusement park that most zoos.
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