Fort Worth Zoo Fort Worth Zoo 2008-2012

snowleopard

snowleopard

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Fort Worth Zoo

The Fort Worth Zoo, in the State of Texas, opened in 1909 and has recovered from an undesirable history to be recognized as a worthy member of the American Zoological Association. Due to sharp declines in attendance, decreasing financial support and the deterioration of many exhibits, the zoo's management was temporarily assumed by the AZA. It closed briefly in 1991, re-opened in 1992, and has grown in stature in recent years.

Since 1992, the Fort Worth Zoo has opened 15 permanent exhibits and support facilities, virtually creating a new zoo. Ten years of improvements and Association management was celebrated with the addition of Texas Wild! in 2001, which houses seven distinct exhibits within an 8-acre complex. The following new features have been opened:

1992: World of Primates, Asian Falls
1993: Raptor Canyon, Asian Rhino Ridge, Gloria Lupton Tennison Education Center, Portraits of the Wild Art Gallery
1994: Chee·tos Cheetahs
1995: Flamingo Bay, FUJIFILM Komodo Dragons, Terminix Insect City
1997: Meerkat Mounds
1998: Burnet Animal Health and Science Center
1999: Thundering Plains (now closed)
2001: Texas Wild!
2004: Parrot Paradise
2005: Great Barrier Reef

In addition to these new exhibits, substantial improvements have been made to zoo facilities, including handicap accessibility as defined by ADA standards, as well as improvements to restrooms, shade structures, walkways, food outlets, picnic areas, animal areas and exhibit space.

Public reaction to the Zoo's renaissance has been tremendous, making the Fort Worth Zoo one of the most popular attractions in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The Zoo has been ranked as a top zoo in the nation by Family Life magazine, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today, one of the top zoos in the South by Southern Living Reader's Choice Awards, and named the number one attraction in the Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex by Zagat Survey U.S. Family Travel Guide.

There are a number of other exhibits at the zoo, including an African Savanna, African Diorama, Australian Outback, Flamingo Bay and a children's play area.

Future Exhibits

http://www.fortworthzoo.org/conserve/pdf/Zoo.pdf

The Herpetarium already has over 600 reptiles and amphibians of more than 160 different species in one of the largest yet oldest buildings of its kind in the United States. However, in 2009 the Museum of Living Art (MOLA) will open. This brand new herpetarium will house around 900 reptiles and amphibians, and will include large outdoor habitats, a nursery for babies, and a restaurant that will have viewing windows into the gharial and saltwater crocodile exhibits.

Here is a link to the major exhibits that will be in the MOLA:

Fort Worth Zoo
 
Re: Indian rhinos at Forth Worth.

What has happened to former SD-WAP breeding male Rahba (no longer listed on ISIS)?

Has the current unbred female rhino Arati been moved out to her intended destination at SD-WAP (in swap for their female Shanti)?

Much obliged! :D
 
I can't wait to see the MOLA. Is it still scheduled to open in 09? It sounds like it could potentially be the best reptile house in the country.
 
Hopefully somebody on the forum lives close to the Fort Worth Zoo as MOLA looks amazing from the plans I have seen and also the species list.
We will need a review and lots of photos.
 
Having visted this zoo a couple times expect for the repitles and few other places it is only an okay zoo even from certain aspects Texas Wild! is not that great. I believe that Dallas zoo even not seeing it will soon pull ahead of Fort Worth.
 
Check out the thread Snowleopards Epic Road Trip as there is a long review of the Fort Worth Zoo from when I was there last summer. Overall the zoo is okay but "Texas Wild!" is a disgrace, as the cultural theming is terrific but almost all of the animal habitats are substandard and have been placed on the backburner in that part of the zoo. The upcoming reptile house could well be #1 in all of North America, and the plans appear to be outstanding!
 
While I work at the Dallas zoo, I try and get over to Fort Worth as often as possible (was a member there for years). I can attest that the MOLA is amazing. Already completed is the connecting food court. As far as I know it will be open in the Spring. The only thing that may be weird is having the saltwater crocs feeding next to visitors who are sitting down to a meal.
 
jbnbsn99 said:
While I work at the Dallas zoo, I try and get over to Fort Worth as often as possible (was a member there for years). I can attest that the MOLA is amazing. Already completed is the connecting food court. As far as I know it will be open in the Spring. The only thing that may be weird is having the saltwater crocs feeding next to visitors who are sitting down to a meal.
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Welcome to Zoochat jbnbsn99!!! When MOLA opens, can you upload photos? I can't wait till it opens, as it may be the best Reptile House in North America when it opens.

Finally, somebody from Texas has joined Zoochat!!!
 
snowleopard said:
Check out the thread Snowleopards Epic Road Trip as there is a long review of the Fort Worth Zoo from when I was there last summer. Overall the zoo is okay but "Texas Wild!" is a disgrace, as the cultural theming is terrific but almost all of the animal habitats are substandard and have been placed on the backburner in that part of the zoo. The upcoming reptile house could well be #1 in all of North America, and the plans appear to be outstanding!
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Gee, Snowleopard, it seems like every time you talk about Texas Wild! your opinion gets more and more negative! I went back and looked at your review of it, written a few days afterwards, and you weren't nearly so negative. When you categorized every zoo's exhbits as "The Best", "The Average", and "The Worst", you put Texas Wild! as "Average". You called "some" of their exhibits "subpar". You said "as far as humans are concerned it gets ten out of ten" (of course, humans are the ones paying the admission!) In fairness, you also said many of the large animal exhibits are "far too small" and even called the bobcat enclosure "puny".

As I've said elsewhere, you are entitled to you opinion, but readers should remember this is just one person's opinion. I've seen this exhibit (admittedly via a detailed video) and I saw nothing at all that could be considered "a disgrace". Nothing! Could the exhibits be larger? Sure! Were the animals suffering? I didn't think so. Overall, however, our book ranked this terrific exhibit as the #4 best zoo exhibit in the entire USA, and I totally stand behind that ranking! The reason is that this is exactly the kind of exhibit that zoos need to build to make zoos into better tourist attractions! With more Texas Wild!-style exhibits, zoos should be able to compete better for tourist dollars, which will enable them to continue to expand and upgrade their exhibits, and contribute more to conservation and education efforts. Without exhibits like this, zoos will become manila copies of one another and tourists will have no reason to include another city's zoo in their vacation plans.
 
@ANyhuis: perhaps I have been a little too hard on the "Texas Wild!" set of habitats at the Fort Worth Zoo. I ranked it in my average category in my initial review as I've maintained all along that it is highly impressive for visitors. The old west style town that is recreated is engaging with both the young and old, and there is even a small museum that has some intriguing photos from years gone by. However, the animals have been placed on the backburner in the design of the entire area, and all of the cat enclosures are terribly disappointing. The mine shaft set of exhibits is brilliant, but the rest of the animal habitats lack the grandeur, size, scope and ambition of the fake town setting. Why spend some crazy amount of money ($55 million?) on the design of animal exhibits that are outdated from the day they are opened to the public? Partly spectacular, partly full of disgracefully small enclosures = an average ranking overall. I respect your decision to rank this exhibit as your #4 overall in the United States because all rankings are subjective, but your co-author has it nowhere on his list and it would definitely not figure on my own personal top 25 exhibit list.
 
snowleopard said:
@ANyhuis: perhaps I have been a little too hard on the "Texas Wild!" set of habitats at the Fort Worth Zoo. I ranked it in my average category in my initial review as I've maintained all along that it is highly impressive for visitors. The old west style town that is recreated is engaging with both the young and old, and there is even a small museum that has some intriguing photos from years gone by. However, the animals have been placed on the backburner in the design of the entire area, and all of the cat enclosures are terribly disappointing. The mine shaft set of exhibits is brilliant, but the rest of the animal habitats lack the grandeur, size, scope and ambition of the fake town setting. Why spend some crazy amount of money ($55 million?) on the design of animal exhibits that are outdated from the day they are opened to the public? Partly spectacular, partly full of disgracefully small enclosures = an average ranking overall. I respect your decision to rank this exhibit as your #4 overall in the United States because all rankings are subjective, but your co-author has it nowhere on his list and it would definitely not figure on my own personal top 25 exhibit list.
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I appreciate your reevaluation. I would encourage terms like "terribly disappointing" instead of IDA-terms like "disgracefully small". The former is much less judgmental than the latter.

One other thing to consider, and I'm only speculating here: You've made much of how you think they misdirected the funds spent to build this exhibit. I don't know about this exhibit, but often these kinds of massive exhibits are sponsored with huge grants by some corporate sponsor. Isn't it possible that some sponsor gave a large grant with the directive that the funds be used to build a terrific western town? Again, I don't know. As for whether the exhibits are "too small", that's 100% subjective. There are people in this world living happily in houses that you and I would say are totally "too small" for comfort. But they are happy and comfortable, who are we to judge?
 
I visited the Fort Worth Zoo two years ago, and was torn on the Texas Wild! exhibit. The Orientation "town" is absolutely amazing (and watching a Harris hawk being flown around from roof to roof was an unexpected surprise). The completeness of the exhibit (in regards to habitats of Texas) was astounding, and few others can compete in this regard (Oklahoma Trails @ OKC Zoo sounds to be one of them).

I would concur with snowleopard that the "desert carnivore" section is the weakest, with an emphasis on quantity of species (jaguar, coyote, bobcat, ocelot, cougar), which resulted in less-than-huge enclosures. I would like to point out that the ocelot and bobcat rotate between the indoor and outdoor exhibits on a daily basis ... so it is not quite as bad as it might seem at first. However, I do think it would have been stronger to have one or two exhibits in the same space.

On the other hand, one of my absolute favourite exhibits in the zoo was the large shorebird aviary in Texas Wild! ... displaying a large flock of roseate spoonbills, along with pelicans (brown, and white) and gulls, with whole trees to perch on, lots of space to fly, and the opportunity for very close interaction. The aviary is happened on quite unexpectedly (exiting from the 'aquatics' building) and actually filled me with awe, especially when several spoonbills flew up and perched on the railing just a few feet away from me.

The rest of the exhibits were done fairly well, although not "Bronx-well" ;)

Most importantly, I thought the underlying educational message was very pervasive - and that some messages came through even if nobody stopped to read the individual signs. Simply by titling the exhibit "Texas Wild! and then leading visitors through the breadth of habitats and the resident fauna instills a broad appreciation of Texas' natural wonders ... if only to make the connection in people's minds ... "I didn't realize jaguars were found in Texas".
 
As someone who until a few months ago went to the FWZ, I can probably comment on this zoo as well as anyone.

Yes I do completely agree that the majority of the exhibits are small, not just in Texas Wild!, but the majority of the zoo (possible exception would be the big cats). This is most assuredly due to the zoo's lack of area. There, as far as I know, is no room anymore for the zoo to expand. It is in the middle of one of the nicer areas of town, so buying any land (which there is none to be had) would be at a premium.

As far as Texas Wild! goes, I will have to admit that it is not my favorite section of the zoo. It is basically a theme park with a nature trail with some local animals. An important thing to remember about the FWZ is that it, while being officially owned buy the city, it is in fact a private zoo in essence run by the Bass Family (a very wealthy local family). Most exhibits at the zoo have their name on it in some regards. The zoo is run very business-like and can actually be an unfriendly environment for a true zoo fan. Its main goal is to bring people into the zoo (as I'm sure is the goal of all zoos at some level). The FWZ excels at this. It is actually the most visited attraction in the whole of the Dallas Fort Worth area (surpassing even the local sport teams - yes even the Cowboys). It is most likely that in order to create this a certain atmosphere of "amusement park" has been adopted.

With all of that said, I know for a fact that some of the animals mentioned (particularly the jaguars) are a key concern to the zoo and SSP. It turns out that the FWZ is a great place for breeding the jaguar - I have even seen them mating one many occasions. I know that the original pair at FWZ was shipped to Houston Zoo when they proved to be an effective breeding pair, and FWZ got a new pair which have subsequently breed.

If someone is looking for a great Texas exhibit, I can make a great suggestion, and that is to head south from DFW to Waco and the Cameron Park Zoo. It really is a little jewel of a zoo with large habitats (especially elephant and African hoofstock). Its newer Brazos exhibit is based on the Texas Wild! concept but without the amusement park feel. It is defiantly worth looking into.
 
I can see that some people agree wholeheartedly with my description of "Texas Wild!" while others rave about the exhibit, and it comes down to whether individuals like the amusement park factor in a zoo or not. I evidently do not, and still fail to see how rollercoasters at Disney's Animal Kingdom or Tampa's Bush Gardens can really create future conservationists. At the end of the day such amusement park style rides bring in additional fans and thus that means more people seeing exotic and rare animals. I actually prefer the method that the Columbus Zoo has adopted, as there is a waterpark and a theme park...but both are far away from animals and outside of the main zoo area.
 
The Gorilla SSP needs to work faster finding a solution for heart disease. Unfortunately this is the first death in "year of the Gorilla." RIP Kambula . . .
 
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