This report is part of a series from a trip to the Bay area that I took this month. In addition to CuriOdyssey I will be posting reports on Monterey Bay, Happy Hollow, Aquarium of the Bay, and the California Academy of Sciences.
CuriOdyssey is a small AZA facility just south of the San Francisco international airport. It is located in the Coyote Point Recreation Area of San Mateo. The location was perfect for us as we were able to go just after landing and before the Hilton San Francisco International Airport Bayfront hotel was ready for check in. It is located only a few minutes away from many airport hotels.
The park itself offers a marina, large playground, picnicking, walking trails, a shooting range, golf course, and other activities. Of note is that the entrance/parking fee is $6, so take that into account if you plan on visiting. The entry gate is un-manned, so you must pay by credit card.
CuriOdyssey itself has an entrance fee of $19.95 for adults and $15.95 for kids, seniors, and students. If you are an AZA zoo member you can get a 50% discount. As usual I visited with my wife and 5 year old son and we used the AZA discount, making the entrance fee reasonable enough.
Up front - if you don't have kids CuriOdyssey is really not worth the full price entry fee unless you are just trying to knock off more zoos for your list or trying to burn time near the airport. If you have kids it is still on the verge of not worth it, but in addition to the animals there is a small playground and a fair amount of indoor kids science themed activities. With an AZA discount it is a OK value, but the pretty common animals held don't stack up to much.
We were there for a total of about 1.5-2 hours. If you were just doing the animals and went slow to see everything you could probably spend 45min -1 hour or as little as 30 minutes.
After paying your entry fee you can go into the kids building or make a left to head towards the animal area. The animals are all arranged in and around a central hallway. The hallway takes you past tanks for various herps and indoor viewing for the animals that also have outdoor habitats - the small mammals and birds. There are three large raptor aviaries as well as a walk through aviary. Unfortunately the aviary was closed due to bird flue, but it looked pretty nice for a small place like this.
All of the tanks are fine, but nothing was *great*. Of note is that they previously held Channel island fox but it is now just a common grey fox. Both bobcats are from Texas and are rescues. Their website lists more species than I saw, but some are in the aviary that I could not get into and some are probably ambassador animals. Otherwise I saw everything that was signed and on display.
Outside the main building there is a aviary for American crows, but that about covers the animals.
By and large the place is fine, but not great. It is AZA quality, but if I am honest I am not sure what they gain by being a part of the AZA as all of the animals are quite common and pretty much creatures one could find in any rescue facility. The exhibits are designed well enough, but again, I am not sure why they bother being AZA.
The species list that I can recall is below:
Mammals:
River otter
Grey fox
Bobcat
North American porcupine
Common racoon
Herps:
California kingsnake
California mountain kingsnake
Northern Pacific rattlesnake
Desert tortoise
Chuckwalla
California tiger salamander
Rough-skinned newt
Western toad
Gopher snake
Inverts:
Banana slug
Birds:
Golden eagle
Barn owl
Great grey owl
Great horned owl
American crow
*lots more birds in the aviary that I could not get into
More photos in the gallery.
Main animal building entrance:
Main building hall:
Example terrariums (western toad and California tiger salamander)
Bobcat enclosure outside:
Common raccoon habitat:
CuriOdyssey is a small AZA facility just south of the San Francisco international airport. It is located in the Coyote Point Recreation Area of San Mateo. The location was perfect for us as we were able to go just after landing and before the Hilton San Francisco International Airport Bayfront hotel was ready for check in. It is located only a few minutes away from many airport hotels.
The park itself offers a marina, large playground, picnicking, walking trails, a shooting range, golf course, and other activities. Of note is that the entrance/parking fee is $6, so take that into account if you plan on visiting. The entry gate is un-manned, so you must pay by credit card.
CuriOdyssey itself has an entrance fee of $19.95 for adults and $15.95 for kids, seniors, and students. If you are an AZA zoo member you can get a 50% discount. As usual I visited with my wife and 5 year old son and we used the AZA discount, making the entrance fee reasonable enough.
Up front - if you don't have kids CuriOdyssey is really not worth the full price entry fee unless you are just trying to knock off more zoos for your list or trying to burn time near the airport. If you have kids it is still on the verge of not worth it, but in addition to the animals there is a small playground and a fair amount of indoor kids science themed activities. With an AZA discount it is a OK value, but the pretty common animals held don't stack up to much.
We were there for a total of about 1.5-2 hours. If you were just doing the animals and went slow to see everything you could probably spend 45min -1 hour or as little as 30 minutes.
After paying your entry fee you can go into the kids building or make a left to head towards the animal area. The animals are all arranged in and around a central hallway. The hallway takes you past tanks for various herps and indoor viewing for the animals that also have outdoor habitats - the small mammals and birds. There are three large raptor aviaries as well as a walk through aviary. Unfortunately the aviary was closed due to bird flue, but it looked pretty nice for a small place like this.
All of the tanks are fine, but nothing was *great*. Of note is that they previously held Channel island fox but it is now just a common grey fox. Both bobcats are from Texas and are rescues. Their website lists more species than I saw, but some are in the aviary that I could not get into and some are probably ambassador animals. Otherwise I saw everything that was signed and on display.
Outside the main building there is a aviary for American crows, but that about covers the animals.
By and large the place is fine, but not great. It is AZA quality, but if I am honest I am not sure what they gain by being a part of the AZA as all of the animals are quite common and pretty much creatures one could find in any rescue facility. The exhibits are designed well enough, but again, I am not sure why they bother being AZA.
The species list that I can recall is below:
Mammals:
River otter
Grey fox
Bobcat
North American porcupine
Common racoon
Herps:
California kingsnake
California mountain kingsnake
Northern Pacific rattlesnake
Desert tortoise
Chuckwalla
California tiger salamander
Rough-skinned newt
Western toad
Gopher snake
Inverts:
Banana slug
Birds:
Golden eagle
Barn owl
Great grey owl
Great horned owl
American crow
*lots more birds in the aviary that I could not get into
More photos in the gallery.
Main animal building entrance:
Main building hall:
Example terrariums (western toad and California tiger salamander)
Bobcat enclosure outside:
Common raccoon habitat:
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