The Hogle Zoo is located on 42 hilly acres in the hills above Salt Lake City, Utah.
The entry complex is relatively new with all the expected amenities. Across from the entrance is a train station, where a CP Huntington train takes guests on a tour out around the Children's area, called Discoveryland and off through a bison paddock home to two male bison. Discoveryland consists of 4 zones, the Knoll and Burrow, the Woodland Edge, the Marsh, and Desert Canyon. The Knoll and Burrow consists of hill with exhibits for desert cottontail and striped skunk on one side, and a black-tailed prairie-dog town on the other. Inside the hill is a visitor path that leads past exhibits of cacomistles, pack rats, short-tailed fruit bats, and blind cave tetras. Offshoots of the main path allow children (and adults) to pop up inside plexiglass bubbles in the 3 outside exhibits. Bordering the Knoll and Burrow are new habitats for cougar and Chacoan peccary. This area was formerly called the Woodland Edge, I'm not sure if they are going to keep the name given the new inhabitants. The marsh is a large waterfowl pond with many native duck species and trumpeter swans. Desert Canyon is the final section and has exhibits built into rock canyon walls. Animals in Desert Canyon include ocelot, island fox, rock squirrels, and some reptiles, birds and fish.
The next area most guests view is called Primate Forest. The first section of primate forest is the old administration building, which at one point in the distant past was also the elephant building. Inside the building are rock walled, glass fronted habitats for brown capuchin monkeys and golden lion tamarins. Outside are fine wire mesh outdoor habitats for the previously mentioned species. The path then leads along a boardwalk that goes out around a habitat for eastern black-and-white colobus. Along the perimeter are indoor exhibits for entellus langur, colobus, and spider monkeys. The spider monkeys also have a mesh outdoor habitat. The viewing in this area is excellent as the wire mesh is barely visible, all the habitats have grass, plants and tree climbing structures.
Adjacent to the Primate Forest is the Tropical Garden. This large greenhouse structure is where the zoo hosts seasonal exhibits. In years past it has hosted a white alligator in "Ghosts of the Bayou" and fossa in "Madagascar". The exhibit for this season is "Nature's Nightmares" and features animals that people often find frightening. The central exhibit is home to a king vulture, while smaller jewel boxes house mosquito larvae, leeches, centipedes, millipedes, bird-eating spiders, hissing cockroaches and red-bellied pirahna. Flying freely in the greenhouse is a colony of straw-colored fruit bats. Attendants were positioned next to the bats to keep people from disturbing the colony. One final exhibit at the exit houses another striped skunk.
One of the newer exhibits is the Elephant Encounter habitat. This spaceous elephant habitat consists of four yards, one with a hill and a very large pool. The habitats are all viewed from the open air African Lodge. The center habitat is the working yard, and is set up for behavioral demonstrations. The zoos star is young Zuri, a female African elephant born last August. She was in the working yard with her mother, Christie on my visit. Hydari was next door in the pool yard. Living in the west yard is a pair of southern white rhinoceros. Presumably this exhibit is set up so the elephants and rhinos can rotate, but I've never seen the rhinos anywhere but the west yard. This exhibit was one of the first new elephant yards to open up this decade, and has been exceeded by most of the newer habitats, but it is still an excellent exhibit.
Another nearby building is the Great Ape House. There are antiquated indoor, glass fronted habitats for a male gorilla who shares quarters with Schmidt's spot-nosed guenons, and a family group of Bornean orangutan, including young Acara who was delivered via C-Section and then successfully reintroduced to her mother. Both animals have outdoor yards that are filled with grass and shrubs, and large wooden climbing structures. Viewing for these habitat is from a high wall surrounding the yards, which unfortunately has guests looking down on the apes (although the gorilla yard does have one ground level window.
Other free-floating exhibits in the area house Bactrian camels, bald eagles, desert bighorn sheep and llamas.
Also present is an outdated primate house with indoor glass-fronted habitats, all also having access to a barred outdoor exhibit. Inhabitants of this house are mandrills, black howler monkeys, black-and-white ruffed lemurs, ring-tailed lemurs and white-handed gibbons.
The west end of the zoo is starting to all be closed up for construction of the upcoming Rocky Shores habitat for polar bears, sea lions, river otters and bald eagles. This area of the zoo is antiquated and in need of replacement. This area includes the zoos exhibits for African penguins and red pandas.
Also found nearby is an outdated giraffe house with a number of giraffes in a barren, dusty yard. A hillside cheetah exhibit is nearby, but due to the grading viewing is difficult.
The old Small Animal Building is triangular in shape and has three wings, the Tropic Zone, the Arid Zone and the Temperate Zone. These are in name only as the species mix doesn't necessarily line up with these descriptions. In the center of the building is a walk-through aviary with scarlet ibis, roseate spoonbill, waterfowl, superb starlings, lilac-breasted rollers, pied imperial pigeons, aldabra tortoise, two-toed sloth, and green iguana. In the various galleries, the inside walls have exhibits for reptiles and amphibians and the outer walls are small mammals and birds. Highlights of the collection include Siamese crocodiles (which bred last year), an African striped weasel, sand cats, Arabian wild cats, black-footed cats, Wied's marmosets, meerkats, crested porcupines, and much more. Several species of monitor lizard and rattlesnake are also exhibited. Outside the building are outdoor habitats for the tortoises which is shared with black swan and red kangaroo, and outdoor habitat for the crocodiles, several small parrot cages, and a hillside habitat for gray wolves.
The high point of the zoo, both literally and metaphorically is Asian Highlands. This Central Asian themed habitat zone is home to Amur tiger, Amur leopard, snow leopard, Siberian lynx and Pallas' cat all found in beatiful naturalistic habitats. A large Asian-themed eatery is in this area with a deck overlooking the ravine below with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. The zoo has the ability to rotate the cats into different exhibits as needed, which happens usually when one species has cubs. Both the Amur tigers and snow leopards have bred here. The mesh-enclosed path for the tigers to come from their holding area goes right over visitors heads.
All in all, the Hogle Zoo is a nice place to spend a day. They have an interesting and varied collection, although notably missing are zebras and lions. If the zoo continues building habitats on the caliber of Elephant Encounter and Asian Highlands, it definitely has a bright future.
The entry complex is relatively new with all the expected amenities. Across from the entrance is a train station, where a CP Huntington train takes guests on a tour out around the Children's area, called Discoveryland and off through a bison paddock home to two male bison. Discoveryland consists of 4 zones, the Knoll and Burrow, the Woodland Edge, the Marsh, and Desert Canyon. The Knoll and Burrow consists of hill with exhibits for desert cottontail and striped skunk on one side, and a black-tailed prairie-dog town on the other. Inside the hill is a visitor path that leads past exhibits of cacomistles, pack rats, short-tailed fruit bats, and blind cave tetras. Offshoots of the main path allow children (and adults) to pop up inside plexiglass bubbles in the 3 outside exhibits. Bordering the Knoll and Burrow are new habitats for cougar and Chacoan peccary. This area was formerly called the Woodland Edge, I'm not sure if they are going to keep the name given the new inhabitants. The marsh is a large waterfowl pond with many native duck species and trumpeter swans. Desert Canyon is the final section and has exhibits built into rock canyon walls. Animals in Desert Canyon include ocelot, island fox, rock squirrels, and some reptiles, birds and fish.
The next area most guests view is called Primate Forest. The first section of primate forest is the old administration building, which at one point in the distant past was also the elephant building. Inside the building are rock walled, glass fronted habitats for brown capuchin monkeys and golden lion tamarins. Outside are fine wire mesh outdoor habitats for the previously mentioned species. The path then leads along a boardwalk that goes out around a habitat for eastern black-and-white colobus. Along the perimeter are indoor exhibits for entellus langur, colobus, and spider monkeys. The spider monkeys also have a mesh outdoor habitat. The viewing in this area is excellent as the wire mesh is barely visible, all the habitats have grass, plants and tree climbing structures.
Adjacent to the Primate Forest is the Tropical Garden. This large greenhouse structure is where the zoo hosts seasonal exhibits. In years past it has hosted a white alligator in "Ghosts of the Bayou" and fossa in "Madagascar". The exhibit for this season is "Nature's Nightmares" and features animals that people often find frightening. The central exhibit is home to a king vulture, while smaller jewel boxes house mosquito larvae, leeches, centipedes, millipedes, bird-eating spiders, hissing cockroaches and red-bellied pirahna. Flying freely in the greenhouse is a colony of straw-colored fruit bats. Attendants were positioned next to the bats to keep people from disturbing the colony. One final exhibit at the exit houses another striped skunk.
One of the newer exhibits is the Elephant Encounter habitat. This spaceous elephant habitat consists of four yards, one with a hill and a very large pool. The habitats are all viewed from the open air African Lodge. The center habitat is the working yard, and is set up for behavioral demonstrations. The zoos star is young Zuri, a female African elephant born last August. She was in the working yard with her mother, Christie on my visit. Hydari was next door in the pool yard. Living in the west yard is a pair of southern white rhinoceros. Presumably this exhibit is set up so the elephants and rhinos can rotate, but I've never seen the rhinos anywhere but the west yard. This exhibit was one of the first new elephant yards to open up this decade, and has been exceeded by most of the newer habitats, but it is still an excellent exhibit.
Another nearby building is the Great Ape House. There are antiquated indoor, glass fronted habitats for a male gorilla who shares quarters with Schmidt's spot-nosed guenons, and a family group of Bornean orangutan, including young Acara who was delivered via C-Section and then successfully reintroduced to her mother. Both animals have outdoor yards that are filled with grass and shrubs, and large wooden climbing structures. Viewing for these habitat is from a high wall surrounding the yards, which unfortunately has guests looking down on the apes (although the gorilla yard does have one ground level window.
Other free-floating exhibits in the area house Bactrian camels, bald eagles, desert bighorn sheep and llamas.
Also present is an outdated primate house with indoor glass-fronted habitats, all also having access to a barred outdoor exhibit. Inhabitants of this house are mandrills, black howler monkeys, black-and-white ruffed lemurs, ring-tailed lemurs and white-handed gibbons.
The west end of the zoo is starting to all be closed up for construction of the upcoming Rocky Shores habitat for polar bears, sea lions, river otters and bald eagles. This area of the zoo is antiquated and in need of replacement. This area includes the zoos exhibits for African penguins and red pandas.
Also found nearby is an outdated giraffe house with a number of giraffes in a barren, dusty yard. A hillside cheetah exhibit is nearby, but due to the grading viewing is difficult.
The old Small Animal Building is triangular in shape and has three wings, the Tropic Zone, the Arid Zone and the Temperate Zone. These are in name only as the species mix doesn't necessarily line up with these descriptions. In the center of the building is a walk-through aviary with scarlet ibis, roseate spoonbill, waterfowl, superb starlings, lilac-breasted rollers, pied imperial pigeons, aldabra tortoise, two-toed sloth, and green iguana. In the various galleries, the inside walls have exhibits for reptiles and amphibians and the outer walls are small mammals and birds. Highlights of the collection include Siamese crocodiles (which bred last year), an African striped weasel, sand cats, Arabian wild cats, black-footed cats, Wied's marmosets, meerkats, crested porcupines, and much more. Several species of monitor lizard and rattlesnake are also exhibited. Outside the building are outdoor habitats for the tortoises which is shared with black swan and red kangaroo, and outdoor habitat for the crocodiles, several small parrot cages, and a hillside habitat for gray wolves.
The high point of the zoo, both literally and metaphorically is Asian Highlands. This Central Asian themed habitat zone is home to Amur tiger, Amur leopard, snow leopard, Siberian lynx and Pallas' cat all found in beatiful naturalistic habitats. A large Asian-themed eatery is in this area with a deck overlooking the ravine below with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. The zoo has the ability to rotate the cats into different exhibits as needed, which happens usually when one species has cubs. Both the Amur tigers and snow leopards have bred here. The mesh-enclosed path for the tigers to come from their holding area goes right over visitors heads.
All in all, the Hogle Zoo is a nice place to spend a day. They have an interesting and varied collection, although notably missing are zebras and lions. If the zoo continues building habitats on the caliber of Elephant Encounter and Asian Highlands, it definitely has a bright future.
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