Coming to America

Okay, not sure why nobody is posting on this thread with me?

Just driven Kansas City - Omaha - Witchita about 9 hours of driving and way to much thinking time!

Omaha zoo hugely disappointing, surely when people are rating this zoo they are placing animal care standards before exhibit immersion.

I think Toledo zoo should rate higher on this criteria alone.

Will post more when not so tired.
 
I'm loving your reports, and I only wish that they were pages long! However, I'm sure that you have better things to be doing than typing up reviews well into the evening.

Saint Louis is a marvellous zoo and when I think that Sea Lion Sound is opening soon, Polar Bear Point in the next 2-3 years, and additions to River's Edge (two bear species) I believe that the zoo will be close to flawless by 2015. I'm glad that you enjoyed Kansas City as that is a huge, unappreciated zoo with a vast African section that is almost too big to see in one exhausting day. Kansas City is let down by the rest of the (non-African) areas but there have been many improvements in the past 5 years and the future looks bright.

Omaha is always a hit-or-miss zoo for ZooChatters, with guys like you and David Brown on this forum perhaps being quite disappointed. But how do you account for the opinions of zoo authors like Allen Nyhuis or Tim Brown, who have seen 250 and 600 zoos respectively? Allen calls Omaha the 2nd best zoo in North America (after San Diego) and Tim has mentioned before that Omaha might possibly be in the top 5-6 zoos on the planet! I think that ranking/grading/reviewing zoos is a wonderful hobby and your love of Toledo Zoo just goes to prove that we all have our own, subjective opinion that is valid and correct. Many folks on ZooChat think that Toledo is only the 4th best zoo in the state of Ohio, as Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati are perhaps all better but you seemed to really enjoy Toledo's mixture of new and old exhibits. Omaha has consistently been a divisive zoo.

Keep the postings coming my friend. When I go on my mega road trips to 40+ zoos in the summer I sometimes wonder why I spend so long typing up reviews but the truth is that I mainly do it for myself as I love to have the statistics and recaps many years down the road. If you think that people aren't responding to your postings then just look at how many people are reading this thread and be heartened by the numbers!
 
snowleopard said:
Omaha is always a hit-or-miss zoo for ZooChatters, with guys like you and David Brown on this forum perhaps being quite disappointed. But how do you account for the opinions of zoo authors like Allen Nyhuis or Tim Brown, who have seen 250 and 600 zoos respectively? Allen calls Omaha the 2nd best zoo in North America (after San Diego) and Tim has mentioned before that Omaha might possibly be in the top 5-6 zoos on the planet!
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I can't speak for Allen or Tim, but Lee Simmon's strategy to build up the Omaha Zoo was to put great collections of animals together in impressive buildings full of special effects. In a relatively short time he amassed the bear exhibits, Lied Jungle, aquarium, desert dome, nocturnal exhibit, etc. It was an impressive feat.

The problems that people have with these exhibits come from them being substandard homes for many of the species housed there. I haven't been to Omaha for several years, but I have read that some of these problems may be fixed. New bear exhibits at least would help.
 
Thx all, the posts and pvt messages much appreciated.

Just finished at Sedgwick County Zoo, WOW. Will post more later tonight.
 
zooman said:
Thx all, the posts and pvt messages much appreciated.

Just finished at Sedgwick County Zoo, WOW. Will post more later tonight.
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I'm glad that I convinced you to drive all the way to Wichita to see one of North America's best and arguably #1 most underrated zoo. I can't wait for the details.
 
snowleopard said:
I'm loving your reports, and I only wish that they were pages long! However, I'm sure that you have better things to be doing than typing up reviews well into the evening.

Saint Louis is a marvellous zoo and when I think that Sea Lion Sound is opening soon, Polar Bear Point in the next 2-3 years, and additions to River's Edge (two bear species) I believe that the zoo will be close to flawless by 2015. I'm glad that you enjoyed Kansas City as that is a huge, unappreciated zoo with a vast African section that is almost too big to see in one exhausting day. Kansas City is let down by the rest of the (non-African) areas but there have been many improvements in the past 5 years and the future looks bright.

Omaha is always a hit-or-miss zoo for ZooChatters, with guys like you and David Brown on this forum perhaps being quite disappointed. But how do you account for the opinions of zoo authors like Allen Nyhuis or Tim Brown, who have seen 250 and 600 zoos respectively? Allen calls Omaha the 2nd best zoo in North America (after San Diego) and Tim has mentioned before that Omaha might possibly be in the top 5-6 zoos on the planet! I think that ranking/grading/reviewing zoos is a wonderful hobby and your love of Toledo Zoo just goes to prove that we all have our own, subjective opinion that is valid and correct. Many folks on ZooChat think that Toledo is only the 4th best zoo in the state of Ohio, as Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati are perhaps all better but you seemed to really enjoy Toledo's mixture of new and old exhibits. Omaha has consistently been a divisive zoo.

Keep the postings coming my friend. When I go on my mega road trips to 40+ zoos in the summer I sometimes wonder why I spend so long typing up reviews but the truth is that I mainly do it for myself as I love to have the statistics and recaps many years down the road. If you think that people aren't responding to your postings then just look at how many people are reading this thread and be heartened by the numbers!
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Thanks for the encouragements snowleopard it is appreciated, and have looked at the amount of visits to the thread totally different to the number of posts :)

How someone could rate Cleveland above Toledo! LOL yep subjective and Toledo was my favourite zoo so far on this trip however your recommendation of Sedgwick County Zoo was realised today :))) more about that later.

What a huge debate we could have on the way we personally rate a good zoo! I can see why many would rate omaha so highly, however surely the number of oppressive animal exhibits plays a part "My two bob"
 
TropicWorld54 said:
zooman,
What is your favorite zoo on your trip so far?
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Hi TropicWorld,

Today was Sedgwick County Zoo, hands down my new favourite zoo from this trip maybe ever, actually going back tommrow, first time on this trip that l have decided to spend two days at a zoo and this zoo while big is far fom huge!

Your one zoo is Brookfeild? I may assume from your avatar, any news on the construction of the outdoor area for the Gorillas? btw still have not seen a better exhibit of sea birds than brookfeilds although St Louis does come close.

And thanks for the question l was tired and a little lonely when l posted the other night questioning why no one was posting here, doing this road trip on my own and l appreciate connecting on here on my zoo obsession.
 
Random question but did Columbus have their orangutans on exhibit when you went? Also what did you think of Columbus? (I personally think that Columbus is a top three zoo in the U.S. the only thing that keeps it back is currently a lack of African animals and South American animals)
 
DavidBrown said:
I can't speak for Allen or Tim, but Lee Simmon's strategy to build up the Omaha Zoo was to put great collections of animals together in impressive buildings full of special effects. In a relatively short time he amassed the bear exhibits, Lied Jungle, aquarium, desert dome, nocturnal exhibit, etc. It was an impressive feat.

The problems that people have with these exhibits come from them being substandard homes for many of the species housed there. I haven't been to Omaha for several years, but I have read that some of these problems may be fixed. New bear exhibits at least would help.
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Hi David,

Will have to look into the history of Omaha, was not aware of your comments.

Can't see them fixing the bear exhibits any time soon.

I did think the main large aviary was very impressive and that was about it. As a point of interest the barrier for the giraffes of the pebbles was very effective and totally in obtrusive to the eye and sharing the enclosure with penguins! Was interesting.
 
There has been no news about any new exhibits recently (as far as I know) but acording to their master plan phase two fetures a new elephant and mixed ugulate exhibits, but the Brookfield Zoo master plan has many errors so you can not trust it. On the Zoo's facebook wall they keep saying that they are currently planing on getting elephants back.
 
Wish I would have been following this thread! Glad you enjoyed Sedgwick County, i probably could have made time today at lunch to show you around my home zoo but unfortunately missed this thread. If I didn't have a previous engagement over lunch I could have done it tomorrow. What areas will you be visiting tomorrow?

zooman said:
Today was Sedgwick County Zoo, hands down my new favourite zoo from this trip maybe ever, actually going back tommrow, first time on this trip that l have decided to spend two days at a zoo and this zoo while big is far fom huge!
QUOTE]
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Sedgwick County Zoo

Thx Snowleopard,

Firstly WOW, the worst exhibits at this zoo would be considered okay or even good at many other zoos. The zoo was opened on this site in 1972 and at this time they built some enclosures steel mesh for primates and cats. These enclosures are very well furnished with enrichment and allot of natural climbing structures and these are the worst and they are not even what l would consider small.

I am returning to the zoo tommorow and will give a more detailed review then.

I decided to repay this city for having such a great zoo by going shopping, I had planned to do this in NY however l could not think of a better mutually gratifying way of saying thank you. The reason l mention this is that in each shop l purchased in l had a conversation with the shop assistants and often other shoppers. The people of Witchita that l came into contact with (at least 30) have no idea how good there zoo is! I wonder why this is???
 
Drew said:
Wish I would have been following this thread! Glad you enjoyed Sedgwick County, i probably could have made time today at lunch to show you around my home zoo but unfortunately missed this thread. If I didn't have a previous engagement over lunch I could have done it tomorrow. What areas will you be visiting tomorrow?

zooman said:
Today was Sedgwick County Zoo, hands down my new favourite zoo from this trip maybe ever, actually going back tommrow, first time on this trip that l have decided to spend two days at a zoo and this zoo while big is far fom huge!
QUOTE]
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Hi Drew, first up will be Gorillas then the Jungle exhibit then the aviaryies I am not normally a bird person but until today l had also not seen so many varieties of macaw actually flying!
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Drew would you agree that locals have no idea how good there Zoo is?

Also how sweet is the female Rhino l have never met such a docile Rhino who actually laced down and rolled onto her side so that her tummy could be scratched with a broom.
 
Zooman,
That response actually surprises me! Wichita is not a "large" city with a little over 600,000 in the metropolitan area and the zoo consistantly brings in above this number every year. I think i would agree that most traveling Wichitans might not know how good their zoo is compared to other zoos just becasue they haven't visited them. Of course we have at least 7-8 high quality zoos within an 8 hour drive so what they would be comparing SCZ to would be some stiff competition.

I beleive her name is Bibi but I could be wrong on that. The rhino encounters are a favorite of visitors even if the male Eugene (unfortuantely recently deceased) peed on me a couple times.

zooman said:
Drew would you agree that locals have no idea how good there Zoo is?

Also how sweet is the female Rhino l have never met such a docile Rhino who actually laced down and rolled onto her side so that her tummy could be scratched with a broom.
Click to expand...
 
Sedgwick County Zoo

A - Jungle World a large indoor structure that is full or real plants and rocks did not notice anything artificial at all! Opened not long after the zoo in 1972. A wandering bark pathway that allows the public to wander through and see a huge amount of birds and bats up close.
A-river boat cruise and l do have a soft spot for these, cruise past Nth American exhibits, Mexican wolves and lemur islands.
B - Dowling Gorilla Forest exhibit good size outdoor exhibit with excellent viewing through a area themed as a research hut very well done without a huge $ spend. 9 males housed at the zoo.
B - New tiger exhibit the exhibit has been opened a couple of years and the plantings of bamboo are now starting to immerse the exhibit in a couple of years the intention is to have the tigers viewed only through the glass viewing windows and the bamboo covering all the fencing, interesting the fence supports are recycled donated old telephone poles.
The two enclosures are both large with one maybe 50% larger than the other with excellent view points around the exhibit.
Interestingly to me one exhibit was specially deigned to house young tigers with one feature being the ability to lower the pool depth.

A- A network of aviaries Australian and South American again very well done nothing artificial and literally 100's of birds and mammals exhibited throughout. Free flying macaws!

A - A Asian themed children's zoo a first for me and again very well done on a small budget.

A - A good sized Grizzly bear exhibit viewed on one side across a moat and the other glass fronted and a pool. The exhibit is built on a hill and seems a good size with allot of natural substrate.

B- Lion exhibit, multi view points in particular a spot that place the lions very high and the male stood up here and roared like the king of all he can see as l am sure the view would be great from this spot.

Comment
Like allot of zoos SCZ has been impacted by the GFC, maybe even more for this zoo as historically a substantial amount of support has come from industry rather than pvt, and the local industry is aircraft manufacture!

When talking with staff and one of the enclosure designers at the zoo, they are all slightly imbarresed by there steel cages holding some small cats and baboons. In comparison to so many other small cat enclosures these are great, outdoors, well ventilated full of natural substructure and of a reasonable size l will post pictures when l can. They have nothing to be embarrassed by is my point.

A must see is the hippo underwater viewing built in the 70's it is defiantly out of date and there is no filtration system! A sign says the pool is drained and refilled twice a day. The two elderly hippos have been there from day 1 and the keeper assures me they are very content. They also have a good sized land area.

According to a keeper the zoo receives a substantial amount of hands on help from students and volunteers doing everything from carting rocks to weeding the gorilla enclosure.

If you have not seen this zoo and you think you have seen the 5 best zoos in Nth America l would suggest you make a trip to Witchita!

There are plans and when funding is available a new multi acre elephant exhibit is next along with a upgrade to the river boat ride, will all continue to enhance an already very good zoo.

The zoo has just been notified that they can breed gorillas, interestingly the females and males that will be used will be brought into the zoo in the next year.

SCZ reminds me of Chester zoo of 25 years ago, particularly Jungle World and the extensive use of water moats and just a feeing at the zoo that animals are reasonably content.
 
Oaklahoma Zoo,

B - The new Elephant exhibit is huge and the public viewing areas are built over the elephant barns, this combined with ramps for access has meant that the timber tructure dominates the landscape. A baby girl malee naturally sired while the zoos two elephants wre housed at Tulsa zoo father called Snezzy!

A - zoozeum a great exhibit showcasing the history of the zoo.

A - fruit bat display an exhibit about the size of a large car parking space a classed in and in a nocturnal house, very active and interesting display.

B - good side bear exhibits, however the bears showed stereotype behaviour :( they just had a much bigger pattern, rather than a 10-30 second loop they followed a 3-8 minute loop. Is the answer a more proactive nrichment program????

Comment overall a zoo of contrast from the great Elephant exhibit and very well themed noth american exhibits to some very boring aviaries, hoof stock and very small cat enclosures.

A baby chimp with only one arm, apparently a mature female accidentally injured the arm when the chimp was very young and the only solution was to amputate.

the Gorilla exhibits outdoor were of a very good size as long as they rotate these exhibits as one was on the small size while the other was huge.
 
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