After not having visited the Hogle Zoo in five years and complaining about it on ZooChat, I decided to give it a chance and visit it today since I was curious about the African savannah exhibit as well as the Rocky Coast that went in a few years ago. I wasn't disappointed during this visit.
Upon entering the zoo, the African Savannah is the first exhibit that is visible. This is a pretty expansive exhibit that is split into two main yards (from what I could see). There is a train ride that goes through it which I did not take. There are three vantage points where you can look into the exhibit. One is a very small concrete enclosure which at the moment is a temporary home for the giraffes. The employee working in that area said the giraffes have been skittish around the zebras and ostriches and so have been slowly introduced. As I understand the highest vantage point is designed to be at eye level for the giraffes. The savannah looks realistic. There are untilitrees which I am not overly fond of but these did blend in. There was even a simulated termite mound. In the waterhole sections there was a pair of Egyptian geese along with some wild mallards. I did not see the guinea fowl and the picture on the display showed kudus which I also didn't see. Down the hill a little ways is the lion enclosure. It's a medium sized space with rocks, a little cave for shade, and lots of windows. The side facing the hoofstock yard is separated with netting. One of the lionesses watched the zebras intently. I should also mention the walk from the hoofstock yard to the lions has lots of skull and tusk replicas to simulate what might be seen on the savannah. The zoo has two male and two female lions. The females were in heat and so the males were separated. The males could be seen in their off-exhibit area and had some nice grassy spaces.
Right next to the lion exhibit is the Primate Forest. This area I would rate as mediocre. The indoor areas, while providing climbing structures and mostly having a fair amount of space for the primates, were still a bit sterile for my liking. With the exception of a gibbon family, I did not see any other animals inside as most were either outside or off-exhibit. The nicest exhibits were for a pair of colobus monkeys that had indoor and outdoor space, and a Schmidt's guenon that was in an outdoor exhibit. This exhibit was nice but I only saw one monkey in it and it seemed pretty listless. It always puts a bad taste in my mouth when zoos keep social animals alone and this zoo is guilty of that a few times.
Going down a small hill (this zoo has some pretty hilly sections) is the Elephant Encounter. This exhibit is a bit on the small side, however the elephants are rotated between two yards, one of which has a nice pool that was also being utilized by some mallards. There are three African elephants in this zoo, including one five year old calf that was born there. One of the elephants is the biggest one I've ever seen. This elephant exhibit's only major downfall is the foliage. In some areas it actually obscures the view into the exhibit. A third yard in the Elephant Encounter contains a pair of white rhinos. This is a dusty exhibit (as can be expected when keeping animals of this size in a smaller space) but still looks decent and seems to have enough space. An interesting aspect of this exhibit is that there is a cave structure visitors can enter and actually be eye to eye with the rhinos by looking through windows. The rhinos were close to the windows as their hay had been scattered there. Near the rhino yard there is a scale that compares your weight to things like how much and elephant and rhino eat, how much they poop, how big the newborns are, and others. I found out I weighed close to the same amount as a newborn rhino. Not sure if that's good or bad.
In this area I also saw some peacocks and red jungle fowl roosters roaming freely.
A short walk away from the Elephant Encounter is an amphitheater where the zoo does bird shows. I did not watch the bird show but on my second pass around it I saw a scarlet macaw and a cockatoo (not sure the species). What caught my attention from the Elephant Encounter was bird vocalizations. I went to the Great Ape House and from a deck I could see quite a few raptors on perches in preparation for the show. I couldn't identify the birds from the distance I was at but I am almost positive one was a Steller's sea eagle, which I think would have been a great addition to the Rocky Coast area I will describe shortly.
Since I was already at the Great Ape House I decided to go inside. This area is in need of some major renovation and is one of the two exhibits I would describe as a blight on this otherwise great zoo. There were three enclosures that I describe as cells. One contained a Bornean orangutan. The other two contained gorillas. The center cell had two small female gorillas and the furthest one had a small male. These enclosures had minimal climbing structures and were concrete. I am not sure why the gorillas were separated. The outside of the Great Ape House has two mediocre yards. They both have lots of foliage and the orangutan yard has climbing structures but they are a bit small. I did not see an orangutan outside but did see a lone silverback gorilla. He was enormous compared to the other three. I do not understand why the zoo keeps the gorillas separate like this.
Down the hill from the Great Ape House, close to the rhino yard in the elephant encounter is a second primate building. Like the first one, there were not many animals in the indoor enclosures which were similar to the Primate Forest. The outdoor exhibits were like the indoor ones in that they had plenty of climbing structures but had lots of metal bars. One of these had a strange design. It was a sphere and reminded me of those spherical cages where people do motorcycle stunts. This was empty as was a second outdoor cage. One was oddly occupied by a desert tortoise and the yard around them had desert tortoises. The sign said leopard tortoises were there as well but I did not see them. Oddly enough, outside of the Primate Forest there was a cage with a sign saying it contained barn owls, although I did not see them. Like the Primate Forest, this one has potential but I would rate it as mediocre.
Next to this primate building as an area called Lighthouse Point which is a splash park for kids. This is next to the other great exhibit in the zoo, Rocky Shores. The first exhibit there is for bald eagles. At first I thought the enclosure was small, but then realized the two bald eagles had been injured and had actually both had to have a wing amputated. Their enclosure had trees for shade as well as two small pools, one of which was a kids' wading pool. The eagles made a lot of noise when an employee entered to clean it. Next to the eagles is a stellar river otter exhibit. The otters were very active and had plenty of land as well as great underwater viewing opportunities. Down the hill from the river otters is a pinneped enclosure with harbor seals and California sea lions. There is ample viewing from the top as well as ample underwater viewing from the outside and inside a building. The seals and sea lions had plenty of rocks to rest on, although not much shade. Even so, this is much better than the concrete pools I have seen pinnepeds housed in in other zoos. This exhibit has an indoor air-conditioned section where the seals an sea lions can be viewed above and below the water. This air-conditioning was nice as by the time I left it was 93 degrees. This exhibit also has two aquariums, one with sea urchins and another with a fish species I can't remember. These aquariums are nice but their location on the back wall makes them easily overlooked. The building also has underwater viewing for the zoo's lone polar bear. After leaving the building (oddly enough called Rocky Coast Cannery) there are windows that look into the polar bear exhibit. She was not there when I first passed through but the second time she was very active and running around the exhibit and into the indoor area called the bear's den. This was a nice-sized exhibit for one bear but if they were to put in another one it could be a bit crowded. This polar bear exhibit is different from other zoos in that it has rocks and some trees and not the painted white concrete of many polar bear exhibits. One thing I thought the exhibit could have had was a sign talking about climate change, which I did not see. Next to the polar bear exhibit is a grizzly yard. Three bears are in this yard which looks very similar to the polar bear yard except that the pool is much smaller and there is no underwater viewing. The grizzlies are all siblings that were orphaned when their mother had to be put down. They were very active. The only thing this exhibit could have used a bit more of was natural substrate, although there was some.
Up the hill from Rocky Coast is the Asian Highlands exhibit. The walk up the hill is over a creek with thick foliage around it. The Asian Highlands exhibit is a cat exhibit displaying Amur tigers, Amur leopards, snow leopards, Siberian lynx, and Pallas' cats. The Pallas' cats were a no-show but I was able to see the Siberian lynx. Their exhibit is medium sized. The snow leopard exhibit is medium sized and has plenty of climbing structures. It does not resemble the rocky mountainous habitat of snow leopards but instead is forested. This is probably beneficial as it provides shade. The best exhibit here is the Amur tiger display. There is underwater viewing, something I have never seen in a tiger exhibit. The tiger was active today and swam close to the window. This exhibit is also forested and has an area above the walkway where visitors can see the tiger. The Pallas' cat exhibit is below this one and the last one in the complex is the Amur leopard. All of these exhibits are forested and provide ample shade. According to the signage the animals are rotated between exhibits. The Pallas' cat and lynx exhibit, while great for these cats, are small for leopards and tigers, but I can see the change of scenery still being beneficial.
Up the hill (the steepest one in the zoo) is an area that is unnamed but seems to focus on wildlife native to Utah. The first exhibit is called Wolf Ridge. This is an interesting exhibit as the yard at the top of the hill is small but the wolves have a steep hill they can climb that also leads to the bottom section of their exhibit, likely keeping them fit. There were two wolves in the exhibit, a gray one and a gorgeous white one. The presence of chain link is disruptive, however. This area of the zoo did not have many visitors. The wolves became very curious when a peacock wandered close to their enclosure. Opposite Wolf Ridge is another area with high chain link containing llamas, Angora goats, and Navajo sheep. This exhibit is misplaced as these are just domestic animals that are not even part of a petting zoo. Turkeys also roamed this area. This area I think could be better used for Utah wildlife like mountain lions or black bears as the theme seemed to be wildlife from the state. As you go down the hill there are cages with turkey vultures, ravens, a bobcat, and a rough-legged hawk. These are cages with bars, which I am not a fan of. This hill leads to another view of the savannah as well as the outdoor ape yards and the bird show. There is also a carousel in this area.
Next to the carousel is another area of the zoo that is in need of major renovation. This is the Small Animal House. The outside of this is a little yard with a pair of black swans, a HUGE Aldabra tortoise, and a small, dismal cage with Parma wallabies that are barely visible. The outdoor yard also had a concrete pool with two Siamese crocodiles. The Small Animal House houses mammals, birds, and reptiles. The central part of it is a small tropical aviary that had a rank smell. In this area there were scarlet ibis, roseate spoonbills, green iguanas, a sloth, red jungle fowl hens, and several other bird species. Strangely there was also a lone Canada goose in here. This exhibit lead to three halls which had the "postage stamp" approach and had banks of small glassed in enclosures that usually contained only one of an animal, regardless of how social it was. Examples include bat-eared foxes, meerkats, skunks, African crested porcupines, golden lion tamerins, cotton-top tamerins, a lone mara, and plenty of other bids and reptiles. One desert-themed area had signage for Gila woodpeckers, cardinals, white-winged doves, masked bobwhite quails, Gambel's quails, and a few other bird species. I saw exactly one bird in this exhibit, which I couldn't identify. Outside of this building there were three cages with lone Amazon parrots and a sulphur-crested cockatoo. The bottom section of Wolf Ridge is outside of this exhibit. Next to Wolf Ridge is a sign describing Rocky Mountain predators like black bears and mountain lions that seems very out of place. This and the Great Ape House are the two areas that need major work as the animals seem to be in less than desirable conditions.
One interesting absence from this zoo is a children's zoo. This is the only one I've been to that does not have a children's zoo or petting zoo of any kind. Perhaps the domestic animals across from the wolves could be placed in the old giraffe barn and turn that area into a petting zoo since it was blocked off.
Overall, I would now give this zoo a high rating and recommend anyone passing through Salt Lake City pay it a visit. It is easy access from Interstate 80 and it is small enough that it can be visited in a short time with time for multiple viewings. This zoo will probably never be a destination like San Diego (simply for the fact that Salt Lake is not a major tourist destination) but if you are in the area it is worth it. It was busy today, although I luckily beat the crowd (and the heat) by getting there half an hour after opening time. As an added bonus, the Hogle Zoo has a gorgeous mountain backdrop.
This zoo has come a long ways.
Upon entering the zoo, the African Savannah is the first exhibit that is visible. This is a pretty expansive exhibit that is split into two main yards (from what I could see). There is a train ride that goes through it which I did not take. There are three vantage points where you can look into the exhibit. One is a very small concrete enclosure which at the moment is a temporary home for the giraffes. The employee working in that area said the giraffes have been skittish around the zebras and ostriches and so have been slowly introduced. As I understand the highest vantage point is designed to be at eye level for the giraffes. The savannah looks realistic. There are untilitrees which I am not overly fond of but these did blend in. There was even a simulated termite mound. In the waterhole sections there was a pair of Egyptian geese along with some wild mallards. I did not see the guinea fowl and the picture on the display showed kudus which I also didn't see. Down the hill a little ways is the lion enclosure. It's a medium sized space with rocks, a little cave for shade, and lots of windows. The side facing the hoofstock yard is separated with netting. One of the lionesses watched the zebras intently. I should also mention the walk from the hoofstock yard to the lions has lots of skull and tusk replicas to simulate what might be seen on the savannah. The zoo has two male and two female lions. The females were in heat and so the males were separated. The males could be seen in their off-exhibit area and had some nice grassy spaces.
Right next to the lion exhibit is the Primate Forest. This area I would rate as mediocre. The indoor areas, while providing climbing structures and mostly having a fair amount of space for the primates, were still a bit sterile for my liking. With the exception of a gibbon family, I did not see any other animals inside as most were either outside or off-exhibit. The nicest exhibits were for a pair of colobus monkeys that had indoor and outdoor space, and a Schmidt's guenon that was in an outdoor exhibit. This exhibit was nice but I only saw one monkey in it and it seemed pretty listless. It always puts a bad taste in my mouth when zoos keep social animals alone and this zoo is guilty of that a few times.
Going down a small hill (this zoo has some pretty hilly sections) is the Elephant Encounter. This exhibit is a bit on the small side, however the elephants are rotated between two yards, one of which has a nice pool that was also being utilized by some mallards. There are three African elephants in this zoo, including one five year old calf that was born there. One of the elephants is the biggest one I've ever seen. This elephant exhibit's only major downfall is the foliage. In some areas it actually obscures the view into the exhibit. A third yard in the Elephant Encounter contains a pair of white rhinos. This is a dusty exhibit (as can be expected when keeping animals of this size in a smaller space) but still looks decent and seems to have enough space. An interesting aspect of this exhibit is that there is a cave structure visitors can enter and actually be eye to eye with the rhinos by looking through windows. The rhinos were close to the windows as their hay had been scattered there. Near the rhino yard there is a scale that compares your weight to things like how much and elephant and rhino eat, how much they poop, how big the newborns are, and others. I found out I weighed close to the same amount as a newborn rhino. Not sure if that's good or bad.
In this area I also saw some peacocks and red jungle fowl roosters roaming freely.A short walk away from the Elephant Encounter is an amphitheater where the zoo does bird shows. I did not watch the bird show but on my second pass around it I saw a scarlet macaw and a cockatoo (not sure the species). What caught my attention from the Elephant Encounter was bird vocalizations. I went to the Great Ape House and from a deck I could see quite a few raptors on perches in preparation for the show. I couldn't identify the birds from the distance I was at but I am almost positive one was a Steller's sea eagle, which I think would have been a great addition to the Rocky Coast area I will describe shortly.
Since I was already at the Great Ape House I decided to go inside. This area is in need of some major renovation and is one of the two exhibits I would describe as a blight on this otherwise great zoo. There were three enclosures that I describe as cells. One contained a Bornean orangutan. The other two contained gorillas. The center cell had two small female gorillas and the furthest one had a small male. These enclosures had minimal climbing structures and were concrete. I am not sure why the gorillas were separated. The outside of the Great Ape House has two mediocre yards. They both have lots of foliage and the orangutan yard has climbing structures but they are a bit small. I did not see an orangutan outside but did see a lone silverback gorilla. He was enormous compared to the other three. I do not understand why the zoo keeps the gorillas separate like this.
Down the hill from the Great Ape House, close to the rhino yard in the elephant encounter is a second primate building. Like the first one, there were not many animals in the indoor enclosures which were similar to the Primate Forest. The outdoor exhibits were like the indoor ones in that they had plenty of climbing structures but had lots of metal bars. One of these had a strange design. It was a sphere and reminded me of those spherical cages where people do motorcycle stunts. This was empty as was a second outdoor cage. One was oddly occupied by a desert tortoise and the yard around them had desert tortoises. The sign said leopard tortoises were there as well but I did not see them. Oddly enough, outside of the Primate Forest there was a cage with a sign saying it contained barn owls, although I did not see them. Like the Primate Forest, this one has potential but I would rate it as mediocre.
Next to this primate building as an area called Lighthouse Point which is a splash park for kids. This is next to the other great exhibit in the zoo, Rocky Shores. The first exhibit there is for bald eagles. At first I thought the enclosure was small, but then realized the two bald eagles had been injured and had actually both had to have a wing amputated. Their enclosure had trees for shade as well as two small pools, one of which was a kids' wading pool. The eagles made a lot of noise when an employee entered to clean it. Next to the eagles is a stellar river otter exhibit. The otters were very active and had plenty of land as well as great underwater viewing opportunities. Down the hill from the river otters is a pinneped enclosure with harbor seals and California sea lions. There is ample viewing from the top as well as ample underwater viewing from the outside and inside a building. The seals and sea lions had plenty of rocks to rest on, although not much shade. Even so, this is much better than the concrete pools I have seen pinnepeds housed in in other zoos. This exhibit has an indoor air-conditioned section where the seals an sea lions can be viewed above and below the water. This air-conditioning was nice as by the time I left it was 93 degrees. This exhibit also has two aquariums, one with sea urchins and another with a fish species I can't remember. These aquariums are nice but their location on the back wall makes them easily overlooked. The building also has underwater viewing for the zoo's lone polar bear. After leaving the building (oddly enough called Rocky Coast Cannery) there are windows that look into the polar bear exhibit. She was not there when I first passed through but the second time she was very active and running around the exhibit and into the indoor area called the bear's den. This was a nice-sized exhibit for one bear but if they were to put in another one it could be a bit crowded. This polar bear exhibit is different from other zoos in that it has rocks and some trees and not the painted white concrete of many polar bear exhibits. One thing I thought the exhibit could have had was a sign talking about climate change, which I did not see. Next to the polar bear exhibit is a grizzly yard. Three bears are in this yard which looks very similar to the polar bear yard except that the pool is much smaller and there is no underwater viewing. The grizzlies are all siblings that were orphaned when their mother had to be put down. They were very active. The only thing this exhibit could have used a bit more of was natural substrate, although there was some.
Up the hill from Rocky Coast is the Asian Highlands exhibit. The walk up the hill is over a creek with thick foliage around it. The Asian Highlands exhibit is a cat exhibit displaying Amur tigers, Amur leopards, snow leopards, Siberian lynx, and Pallas' cats. The Pallas' cats were a no-show but I was able to see the Siberian lynx. Their exhibit is medium sized. The snow leopard exhibit is medium sized and has plenty of climbing structures. It does not resemble the rocky mountainous habitat of snow leopards but instead is forested. This is probably beneficial as it provides shade. The best exhibit here is the Amur tiger display. There is underwater viewing, something I have never seen in a tiger exhibit. The tiger was active today and swam close to the window. This exhibit is also forested and has an area above the walkway where visitors can see the tiger. The Pallas' cat exhibit is below this one and the last one in the complex is the Amur leopard. All of these exhibits are forested and provide ample shade. According to the signage the animals are rotated between exhibits. The Pallas' cat and lynx exhibit, while great for these cats, are small for leopards and tigers, but I can see the change of scenery still being beneficial.
Up the hill (the steepest one in the zoo) is an area that is unnamed but seems to focus on wildlife native to Utah. The first exhibit is called Wolf Ridge. This is an interesting exhibit as the yard at the top of the hill is small but the wolves have a steep hill they can climb that also leads to the bottom section of their exhibit, likely keeping them fit. There were two wolves in the exhibit, a gray one and a gorgeous white one. The presence of chain link is disruptive, however. This area of the zoo did not have many visitors. The wolves became very curious when a peacock wandered close to their enclosure. Opposite Wolf Ridge is another area with high chain link containing llamas, Angora goats, and Navajo sheep. This exhibit is misplaced as these are just domestic animals that are not even part of a petting zoo. Turkeys also roamed this area. This area I think could be better used for Utah wildlife like mountain lions or black bears as the theme seemed to be wildlife from the state. As you go down the hill there are cages with turkey vultures, ravens, a bobcat, and a rough-legged hawk. These are cages with bars, which I am not a fan of. This hill leads to another view of the savannah as well as the outdoor ape yards and the bird show. There is also a carousel in this area.
Next to the carousel is another area of the zoo that is in need of major renovation. This is the Small Animal House. The outside of this is a little yard with a pair of black swans, a HUGE Aldabra tortoise, and a small, dismal cage with Parma wallabies that are barely visible. The outdoor yard also had a concrete pool with two Siamese crocodiles. The Small Animal House houses mammals, birds, and reptiles. The central part of it is a small tropical aviary that had a rank smell. In this area there were scarlet ibis, roseate spoonbills, green iguanas, a sloth, red jungle fowl hens, and several other bird species. Strangely there was also a lone Canada goose in here. This exhibit lead to three halls which had the "postage stamp" approach and had banks of small glassed in enclosures that usually contained only one of an animal, regardless of how social it was. Examples include bat-eared foxes, meerkats, skunks, African crested porcupines, golden lion tamerins, cotton-top tamerins, a lone mara, and plenty of other bids and reptiles. One desert-themed area had signage for Gila woodpeckers, cardinals, white-winged doves, masked bobwhite quails, Gambel's quails, and a few other bird species. I saw exactly one bird in this exhibit, which I couldn't identify. Outside of this building there were three cages with lone Amazon parrots and a sulphur-crested cockatoo. The bottom section of Wolf Ridge is outside of this exhibit. Next to Wolf Ridge is a sign describing Rocky Mountain predators like black bears and mountain lions that seems very out of place. This and the Great Ape House are the two areas that need major work as the animals seem to be in less than desirable conditions.
One interesting absence from this zoo is a children's zoo. This is the only one I've been to that does not have a children's zoo or petting zoo of any kind. Perhaps the domestic animals across from the wolves could be placed in the old giraffe barn and turn that area into a petting zoo since it was blocked off.
Overall, I would now give this zoo a high rating and recommend anyone passing through Salt Lake City pay it a visit. It is easy access from Interstate 80 and it is small enough that it can be visited in a short time with time for multiple viewings. This zoo will probably never be a destination like San Diego (simply for the fact that Salt Lake is not a major tourist destination) but if you are in the area it is worth it. It was busy today, although I luckily beat the crowd (and the heat) by getting there half an hour after opening time. As an added bonus, the Hogle Zoo has a gorgeous mountain backdrop.
This zoo has come a long ways.
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