Here goes the rest of the review - the outdoor exhibits surrounding the main building.
First of all, there are three medium-sized paddocks, all fenced with wire mesh (and, except for the first one where it is possible to get up close to the mesh, are not photographer-friendly): the first one houses a few
red kangaroos and two
emus; the next a single
double-wattled cassowary and some unsigned pheasants (I saw
golden pheasants and a
Swinhoe's pheasant - by the way pheasants seem to be another specialty of this zoo, I saw more species than in most bigger zoos I've been last paddock is called "Sahara" and houses 3
scimitar oryxes, and pair of
ostriches, and two
Southern ground hornbills. By the way, the three paddocks house 3 species of ratites between themselves, and there is also a
greater rhea elsewhere, which makes a total of 4 species - another specialty.
Next there is a new exhibit for
Amur leopards. They had 2 specimens on exhibit. I liked the exhibit - it is decent in size, nicely landscaped, has places to hide, a pool (though I doubt leopards would use it much), and the viewing is either through glass window or through a mesh which my camera could easily focus through. If leopards were really kept in the African wing of the main building before, then this is a definite improvement.
Then there is a row of aviaries for birds of prey: the first one houses an
Eurasian eagle owl, the next one
great horned owl mixed with a
turkey vulture, and the last one (seems to be twice the size of the other two) 2
bald eagles. Next to the aviaries is an exhibit for foxes - it's the first time I saw 2 species of foxes mixed in the same exhibit: yesterday I saw 3
red foxes and 2
Arctic foxes all living together.
The zoo also has two older-style "corn crib" cages: one had 2
palm-nut vultures mixed with 2
pied crows; the other housed
Canadian porcupines.
Next, there is a an open-top exhibit for 2
North American river otters with underwater viewing area (which is located underground and directly behind the main viewing area)
Finally the zoo has a Children section which happened to surprised me the most. I usually skip children sections in zoos, and was going to skip that one as well (the first thing you see before you even enter the section is a feeding paddock for goats, and I am not really interested in this stuff). However, the zoo is small and I had time to kill so I decided to come in and have a quick look. Turned out to be a good decision since in addition to goats, sheep, donkeys, and chicken there is a fair bit of exotic species. First of all the was a small open-top paddock with a pool and the mix of following species: one
beaver, two
emperor geese, a
red-breasted goose, a
cereopsis goose, two
black swans, a
wandering whistling duck, a domestic Chinese goose, and two Toulouse geese. Then there was an enclosure that looked like a chicken coop, but had a good collection of pheasants (all males):
satyr tragopan,
Himalayan monal,
Amherst's pheasant,
golden pheasant, and
green jungle fowl (there was a pair of the latter - cock and hen). Then there was an enclosure for
woodchuck with a log house, but i did not see any residents. Then a duck pond:
black-neck swans,
Indian spot-billed duck,
Philippine duck,
mandarin ducks,
Chiloe widgeon,
Puna teals,
marble teals,
ringneck teals,
North American ruddy ducks (I did not see them, but the signs also listed
smew,
common goldeneye, and
Baikal teal). Then another pheasant aviary - this one had 3
ocellated turkeys, 1
Temminck's tragopan, 1
Cabot's tragopan, 1
Himalayan monal, 1
Reeve's pheasant, 1
Elliott's pheasant, 1
Palawan peacock pheasant, and 1
golden pheasant. Finally there were 3 paddocks: one for 2
capybaras, another for
coscoroba mixed with some medium-sized
Galapagos tortoises (and a
rhea in a separate paddock in the back), and a last one with some
sulcata tortoises
So in terms of number of non-domestic species, the children section exceeded the rest of the outdoor exhibits put together. I was glad I decided to check it out
And this wraps up the review of the Staten Island zoo.
