Entrance Species - Which are in your local zoo?

Minnesota Zoo has Japanese Macaques, Black-Footed Penguins, & Southern Tamandua all in or around the entrance building. The Penguin exhibit is ok, while the Macaque exhibit is most certainly showing it’s age, & the Tamandua exhibit is pretty small for the species.
 
Hmm great input all! What do you feel like the pros and cons are of the enclosure? As the first enclosures are often supposed to be the eyecatch when people enter the park (not super flashy but atleast well looking)
 
A zoo that is close to my home and one off my local zoos is Pakawi Park. There, at the entrance, they have an enclosure for maras and an iconic enclosure for chimpanzees, which everyone used to be afraid to pass through here because of a male chimpanzee who threwed poop and earth to visitors, among other things. However, the chimps will be moving next year to a new enclosure on the other side of the park. Next to the entrance is also an island. This was in the past for ruffed lemurs. However, it is currently being renovated for binturongs (bear-cats).
At Zoo Antwerpen, the zoo closest to me, the species at the entrance are red flamingos, which live at the entrance since 1902. Since 2016, they can be found even closer to the entrance since they now also have the largest part of the lawn next to the Flamingo Square (entrance square) at their disposal. This square is also accessible to casual passersby.
In Monde Sauvage you can find Dalmatian pelicans at the beginning of the route, just after the entrance (this entrance is by car, the parking is a bit further, so you will only see the pelicans from your car).
In Planckendael they even have animals in front of the entrance, namely on the path from parking 2 to the entrance. Here you can find pelicans and 1 of the largest bird of prey aviaries in Europe with vultures and choughs.
In Pairi Daiza you will find a petting zoo near the entrance with, among other things, goats and potbellied pigs. You will also find a glass aviary with Spix' macaws and Lears macaws.
 
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Joburg Zoo:
Left side of the Entrance - Barbary sheep
Right side of the Entrance - Various Owl Aviaries
 
Tiger said:
In Planckendael they even have animals in front of the entrance, namely on the path from parking 2 to the entrance. Here you can find pelicans and 1 of the largest bird of prey aviaries in Europe with monk vultures, Western Egyptian vultures,
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That aviary is indeed very nice, but it houses monk vultures, Eurasian griffon vultures and a group of red-billed choughs.
 
NMM said:
I would say my local large zoo, Marwell, doesn't have an entrance exhibit. Nothing is visible before you enter the zoo or at the point where you pay to go in.

The first exhibit you saw used to be a pond with an island. This used to contain several species of waterfowl with a small primate species (I can remember Squirrel Monkeys and Emperor Tamarins at different times) on the island. This is now just a water feature, it is no longer used as an exhibit.

If you go the way the main paths lead you the first animals you see are penguins on your left and a paddock on your right which currently houses Nyala and Sitatunga. Behind the penguins you can see a large paddock containing Giraffes, Zebra, Blesboks and Roan Antelope.
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I gave the above description, but not my thoughts on it. Here they are.

I think being able to at least partially see an exhibit when queuing to get in is important to try and set the mood. Obviously the entrance to Marwell isn't great in that respect. In fact that first penguin enclosure is about 200 metres from the entrance.

In terms of species, I think the first enclosure does need something that will grab peoples attention, an active, colourful or charismatic species. I don't think zoos should have their star attractions as the entrance exhibit, they need to build up to them.

Based on that, I think penguins are a good first exhibit.
 
Dhole dude said:
Minnesota Zoo has Japanese Macaques, Black-Footed Penguins, & Southern Tamandua all in or around the entrance building. The Penguin exhibit is ok, while the Macaque exhibit is most certainly showing it’s age, & the Tamandua exhibit is pretty small for the species.
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Where is the tamandua exhibit at? I don't remember seeing it when I visited earlier this year.
 
Closest zoo to me is burgers zoo, which has blackfoot pinguins as entrance animal, which i think is a great choice as they are both popular and active.
 
Penshet said:
That aviary is indeed very nice, but it houses monk vultures, Eurasian griffon vultures and a group of red-billed choughs.
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Also perhaps still at least one Short-eared owl, at least it was still there (but unsigned) in the summer of 2020. The Egyptian vulture I have not seen for quite some time now, so I don't think it there anymore.

Planckendael, as already mentioned, has a large vulture aviary with Cinereous and Western Eurasian griffon vulture (perhaps also an Egyptian vulture still, but I haven't seen that one for a long time), Red-billed choughs and Short-eared owls next to the road from the parking lot to the entrance. The Dalmatian pelican pond can also be seen from that road. The first animals to be seen near the entrance when entering the zoo itself are Bactrian camels and Indian rhinoceroses.

Antwerp has American flamingos next to their public entry plaza, but they cannot really be seen from the entrance, unless you take a side step from the direct route to the entrance, as they are on the other side of a pavilion and are next to the exit area. The animals closest to the entrance at Antwerp are the Mandrills and Spider monkeys in the outdoor exhibits of the small monkey house.

At Pairi Daiza the first animals seen after the normal entrance are the petting zoo animals (sheep, goats, chickens) and the Spix's and Lear's macaws. When entering as a resort guest you enter the park close to the Steller's sea lion, American beaver and Eurasian brown bear and Eurasian wolf exhibits in The Last Frontier.

Pakawi Park has Patagonian maras and Eastern chimpanzees (in a rather poor exhibit) closest to the entrance. An island behind the gift shop/ticket office building will soon house binturong (or perhaps already does).
 
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The Detroit and Toledo Zoos are the closest ones to my house, a similar drive in different directions.

Detroit Zoo has the Polk Penguin Conservation Center quite close to the entrance, with the massive structure being visible from outside the zoo and located immediately to your right after coming in. The Wildlife Interpretive Gallery, which includes a walk-through aviary and butterfly dome, is quite close too, being just behind a grassy patch in front of you.

Toledo Zoo has nothing immediately visible after entering, but if you take a right turn from the entrance plaza, it's a very short walk to the Arctic encounter. Soon you will see the harbor and gray seal habitat and the wolves across from them.
 
Cotswold wildlife park has two open enclosures on either side of the road before you get to the car park. The right is home to two pairs of ostriches, which I think is a good fit, and the left contains llamas. I would rather they get rid of the llamas in favour of a herd animal like an antelope or deer species, as they don’t have very many and they are always in the far corner away from the road.
 
Here's every zoo I've been to with an obvious entrance exhibit:

Henry Vilas Zoo - Orangutans
NEW Zoo - African Penguins
Milwaukee County Zoo - Humboldt Penguins or North American River Otters
International Crane Foundation - Sandhill Crane
Menominee Park Zoo - Domestic Horse/Domestic Donkey
Wildwood Zoo - Kodiak Bear
Manitowoc Lincoln Park Zoo - Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Special Memories Zoo (before it closed) - Patas Monkey
Animal Haven Zoo - Goldfish
Glacier Ridge Animal Farm - Ring-tailed Lemur
Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin - Painted Turtle
Ochsner Park Zoo - Barred Owl
Shedd Aquarium - Caribbean Reef tank (>50 species), most conspicuous residents include a sea turtle and several shark and ray species
Lincoln Park Zoo - Harbor Seal/Gray Seal
Como Park Zoo - Chilean Flamingo + several waterfowl species
Minnesota Zoo - African Penguin
SEA LIFE Minnesota - small reef tank (~20 species)
Gabbert Raptor Center - Eastern Screech Owl
National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium - Bluegill
DeYoung Family Zoo - Eurasian Brown Bear
World Aquarium (before it closed) - Blue Tang
FREEA (before it closed) - Axolotl
Anello's Torch Lite Petting Farm - Red Kangaroo/Bennett's Wallaby
Columbus Zoo - Striped Skunk
The Wilds - Hellbender
Doc's Zoo - American Bison
Shalom Wildlife Zoo - Domestic Guinea Pig
Binder Park Zoo - Dingo
Ararat Ridge Zoo/Ark Encounter - small aviary with several parrot species
Indianapolis Zoo - Gray Seal
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum - outdoor exhibit with several native lizard species
Wildwood Wildlife Park - Muskellunge
Racine Zoo - Umbrella Cockatoo
Jack Facente Serpentarium - Blue-and-yellow Macaw
Great Lakes Aquarium - tank with a few coral species
Blank Park Zoo - Sarus Crane, Domestic Bactrian Camel
 
I still remember Edinburgh’s old entrance enclosure prior to the meerkats was a smallish round pool for Patagonian Sea Lion, after they left, I’m not sure about this, but please do correct me, the Great White Pelicans occupied the enclosure, before moving to the enclosure on the left hand side of the entrance and the pool demolished and the Meerkat enclosure and sculptures were constructed.

Sea Lions seem to do well as entrance animals, active and always giving visitors a good show with their curiosity
 
The closest thing Colchester Zoo has to an entrance exhibit is its enclosure for buffy-headed capuchin monkeys.

Unfortunately, on account of the enclosure being a very dated former orangutan enclosure and because the new entrance approaches from an angle the exhibit was never meant to be viewed at, the first impressions are not at all good.
 
Another good entrance I’ve just remembered is the SEALIFE London entrance. After the entrance room, there is a narrow hall with an elevator at the end which takes you down to the rest of the aquarium. The hall has a glass bottom which looks into one of the aquarium’s largest tanks, a multi-level shark tank with sand tiger sharks, reef sharks, nurse sharks and a bowmouth guitarfish.
 
The first visible exhibit after entrance in Prague zoo has red pandas. However, this is the oldest animal enclosure in the whole zoo and over time it saw other species. Originally, it was built for wolves - specificaly for a female wolf cought and donated by a local from Zakarpatian Ukraine (it was integral part of Czechoslovakia in 1920s-1940s). The most popular inhabitants were probably Kodiak bears kept there in 1980s.
 
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