Favorite New Zoo/Aquarium Exhibit of 2023?

[TheGytrash]

As the year begins to draw to a close, what was your favorite new exhibit that opened this year?

This is a pretty open-ended question, so I figure it can mean anything from a single animal habitat, a large multi-species 'trail,' a guest-centered educational exhibit with few or no animals, or even just a majorly upgraded renovation. There have been some high-profile ones!

 

[LadyA91]

Galapagos Islands at the Houston Zoo

 

[JVM]

This was tough to answer as I did not see a whole lot of new-for-2023 exhibits.

If we're limited to in-person, I did really like Brookfield's redress of their former raven aviary into a toucan/sereima habitat:

Toco Toucan & Red-legged Seriema Aviary (New in 2023)

• pachyderm pro
• 18 Jul 2023
• 2

I expressed a lot of skepticism the space could be redressed to look appropriate for these animals but they succeeded in my opinion!

I'm also really impressed with Nashville Zoo's new Komodo Dragon exhibit (some images here) which seems like a really impressive space for a species not often held in impressive habitats. Look forward to visiting that one someday.

Galapagos Islands looks like a gorgeous exhibit as well!

 

[SwampDonkey]

I did not see a bunch of new areas myself. I think that it would just be Predator Passage at Phoenix Zoo, the new giant anteater at Wildlife World, new Caribbean Ocean tank at Wildlife World, new Indo-Pacific Reef at OdySea in Phoenix.

I guess I have to give my personal to Predator Passage, although it was less than inspiring. For places that I have not been to, for looks I think I give it to Galapagos at Houston, that place looks super cool, although I personally am not on board with the species substitutes they had to do.

 

[15399]

For exhibits I saw that opened last year, Capron Park Zoo did a really nice job renovating an exhibit that now holds Nile monitor. For exhibits I haven't seen, Fresno Chaffee's Kingdoms of Asia seems to be a very impressive take on a common concept, while Smithsonian National Zoo's renovated bird house appears to be very unique and impressive.

 

[King of Komodo Dragons]

Predators of Africa and Asia at the Fort Worth Zoo

I haven't seen the Galapagos Islands Exhibit at Houston Zoo yet either, but I feel that would of been another contender

 

[TheGytrash]

I'd love to check out Predators of Africa and Asia. I very much enjoyed visiting the Fort Worth Zoo about 10 years ago on my only visit to Texas, but it seems like some of the recent upgrades are really cool.

 

[Pleistocene891]

Kingdoms of Asia at Fresno seems to have been very well done. Especially the sloth bear exhibit.

 

[zoocentral]

On maybe a larger scale, Bird Paradise - Singapore. Hands down the best of 2023 for me.