How many zoos did you visit in 2023?

How many zoos did you visit in 2023?

  • Total voters
    88
  • Poll closed .
Neil chace said:
The new visits were:
- New England Aquarium
- Bergen County Zoo
- Turtle Back Zoo
- New York Aquarium
- Prospect Park Zoo
- Central Park Zoo
- Bronx Zoo
- Queens Zoo
- Staten Island Zoo
- Ripley's Aquarium of Canada
- Toronto Zoo
- Detroit Zoo
- Toledo Zoo
Click to expand...

Wow, I can't believe that this year was the first time you've ever visited the New England Aquarium.
 
ZooElephantsMan said:
Wow, I can't believe that this year was the first time you've ever visited the New England Aquarium.
Click to expand...
Not first time ever, that was one of the
Neil chace said:
or ones I hadn't visited in a very long time.
Click to expand...
I visited at least once or twice as a child (and fondly remember the little blue penguins), but it had been the better part of a decade, if not longer, since I last visited NEAQ. I've long been of the opinion that Mystic is the far superior option in terms of visitor experience, although I have great respect for a lot of the conservation work and research that NEAQ is involved with.
 
Neil chace said:
Not first time ever, that was one of the

I visited at least once or twice as a child (and fondly remember the little blue penguins), but it had been the better part of a decade, if not longer, since I last visited NEAQ. I've long been of the opinion that Mystic is the far superior option in terms of visitor experience, although I have great respect for a lot of the conservation work and research that NEAQ is involved with.
Click to expand...

I guess we are mirror images of each other then, since I go to NEAQ most years but I haven't made it back to Mystic in around a decade myself :p
 
Neil chace said:
Not first time ever, that was one of the

I visited at least once or twice as a child (and fondly remember the little blue penguins), but it had been the better part of a decade, if not longer, since I last visited NEAQ. I've long been of the opinion that Mystic is the far superior option in terms of visitor experience, although I have great respect for a lot of the conservation work and research that NEAQ is involved with.
Click to expand...
I have to disagree with you about the Mystic Aquarium being better. In my opinion, the only downside to the New England Aquarium is how crowded it always is. The exhibitry, aside from the penguins and pinnipeds, is phenomenal in Boston, while I can't say that about a single enclosure in Mystic. I also think that the New England Aquarium stands out for having a wide range of "unknown" species, and in great enclosures, while the Mystic Aquarium has only a few out-of-the-ordinary specimens, but in either standard or cartoony and terrible tanks.
 
wild boar said:
I have to disagree with you about the Mystic Aquarium being better. In my opinion, the only downside to the New England Aquarium is how crowded it always is. The exhibitry, aside from the penguins and pinnipeds, is phenomenal in Boston, while I can't say that about a single enclosure in Mystic. I also think that the New England Aquarium stands out for having a wide range of "unknown" species, and in great enclosures, while the Mystic Aquarium has only a few out-of-the-ordinary specimens, but in either standard or cartoony and terrible tanks.
Click to expand...
The layout and complete lack of crowd control is a HUGE problem at NEAQ, though, to the point that my visit was one of my least enjoyable zoo visits I've ever had. Furthermore, it doesn't really matter that NEAQ has a large number of "unknown" species since their educational signage doesn't do as great a job highlighting what they have to the same degree Mystic's does (without mentioning that Mystic has educators oftentimes stationed at their exhibits). Frankly, I found most of NEAQ's collection to be unmemorable, and while a few of the tanks are neat (e.g., the coral reef tank on the first floor is great, and the giant ocean tank is iconic), but overall most of it is forgettable. Compare that to Mystic, where while it's undeniable that some of the indoor exhibits, and the African penguin habitat are showing their age, the beluga habitat could arguably be considered the best cetacean complex in the entire country, and is a truly incredible exhibit. NEAQ doesn't have a single exhibit anywhere near as impressive as that. I'm also a big fan of Mystic's pinniped collection, and it is great to see a facility showing dedicated to pinnipeds other than the two most common species. At the end of the day, however, I'm not a fish expert, and the two facilities are quite different in many ways, with Mystic more aligned with what I find interesting about aquariums. I also really like how Mystic has an exhibit dedicated to amphibians, a group of animals I'd love for more zoos to highlight prominently.
 
I visited 9 zoos in 2023. Newly visited in bold.


Sedgwick County Zoo
Kansas Wildlife Exhibit
Wichita Reptarium
Tanganyika Wildlife Park
Rolling Hills Zoo
Sunset Zoo
Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium
Fort Worth Zoo
Blank Park Zoo
 
Neil chace said:
The layout and complete lack of crowd control is a HUGE problem at NEAQ, though, to the point that my visit was one of my least enjoyable zoo visits I've ever had. Furthermore, it doesn't really matter that NEAQ has a large number of "unknown" species since their educational signage doesn't do as great a job highlighting what they have to the same degree Mystic's does (without mentioning that Mystic has educators oftentimes stationed at their exhibits). Frankly, I found most of NEAQ's collection to be unmemorable, and while a few of the tanks are neat (e.g., the coral reef tank on the first floor is great, and the giant ocean tank is iconic), but overall most of it is forgettable. Compare that to Mystic, where while it's undeniable that some of the indoor exhibits, and the African penguin habitat are showing their age, the beluga habitat could arguably be considered the best cetacean complex in the entire country, and is a truly incredible exhibit. NEAQ doesn't have a single exhibit anywhere near as impressive as that. I'm also a big fan of Mystic's pinniped collection, and it is great to see a facility showing dedicated to pinnipeds other than the two most common species. At the end of the day, however, I'm not a fish expert, and the two facilities are quite different in many ways, with Mystic more aligned with what I find interesting about aquariums. I also really like how Mystic has an exhibit dedicated to amphibians, a group of animals I'd love for more zoos to highlight prominently.
Click to expand...
While the crowd control is awful at the New England Aquarium, I don't let it bother me, but I can definitely understand how it might really irritate someone else. Contrary to what you've said, I think the signage in Boston is far superior to the Mystic Aquarium's. I often have no clue what I'm looking at when I'm at the Mystic Aquarium, while the New England Aquarium lists every species on exhibit in an easily readable way, and frequently updates the signs to reflect changes. The Mystic Aquarium does have some nice general information, but the messages are often aimed primarily for children or are very vague, not to mention the grammatical errors I've noticed. I've thought almost every one of the tanks and enclosures in Boston is phenomenal (poison dart frogs, shorebirds, blue hole, etcetera) while there aren't really any stand-outs at the Mystic Aquarium. I'll admit the beluga exhibit is great, but I don't know that it is the best in the country as I'm not very familiar with cetacean exhibits. I also don't know that it is as good of an exhibit as many of the areas of the New England Aquarium, namely the Giant Ocean Tank, although that is a comparison of two very different things, so largely up to personal preference. I have never seen the amphibian exhibit, and probably never will, because I can't justify the extreme prices that accompany that attraction.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JVM
I broke my annual visits record this year (er, last) although compared to the average zoochatter it isn't much!

- Lincoln Park Zoo (January, February, March, April, May, June, August, December)
- Milwaukee County Zoo (July, September)
- Henson Robinson Zoo (September)
- Saint Louis Zoo (September)
- Racine Zoo (October)
- Brookfield Zoo (November, December)

Henson Robinson, Saint Louis and Racine were new facilities for me!

My goal was to make a zoo visit monthly that year, and by a sliver I think I succeeded -- technically, I think I missed one of last winter's months (January or February) but made it twice in the succeeding month to make up for it. I only was at Brookfield for a brief hour in November though and honestly thought I'd missed the month entirely until I date verified it. I made a half-dozen visits to Lincoln Park, three to Milwaukee, and two to Saint Louis and Brookfield.

I also attended a local fair that had a number of domestics. :)

I also have seen the Shedd Aquarium, Saint Louis Aquarium and Peoria Zoo in person this year but was not able to visit either of the latter facilities - very unfortunate in the last case as we made it to the gates at closing time due to a last second schedule change on the part of my travel partner. I also planned but had to cancel a potential trip to the National Zoo.

For a minor side goal, across each visit I've seen every single species at Lincoln Park at least once this year with the exceptions of the Guam Rail and North American River Otter, the latter of which I did see at multiple other facilities. I only saw the aardvark and red kangaroo once each.

By this time next year, I'm hoping to have doubled my life total or at least this year's total distinct facilities!
 
I visited quite a few new parks in 2023 (marked with *), and some that I have been to before. In total I visited 21 parks of which 15 were new (if I counted correctly).
Norway
- Bergen Aquarium (where I work)
- Urban zoo (Bergen, now closed)
- Oslo reptilpark
Netherlands
- Artis zoo*
- Rotterdam zoo*
- Dolfinarium Harderwijk*
- Burgers zoo*
Belgium
- Pairi Daiza*
- Zoo Antwerpen*
- Zoo Planckendael*
France
- Marineland Antibes
Monaco
- Musée Océanographique de Monaco*
Spain
- Poema del mar
- Palmitos park
Canada
- Toronto zoo*
- Ripley's Aquarium of Canada*
- Montréal Biodôme*
- Montréal Insectarium*
- Ecomuseum zoo*
- Canadian Museum of Nature*
- Omega park*
 
2023 was a big year for me because I added my first Asian zoos to my lists, with plans to expand this in 2024. In no particular order, the zoos I visited are as follows:

United Kingdom (two bird shows and two park collections were also visited)
- London Zoo
- Five Sisters Zoo
- Edinburgh Zoo
- Bird Gardens Scotland
- Scottish Owl Centre
- WWT Washington
- Camperdown Wildlife Centre
- Fife Zoo
- Jesmond Deen Animal Corner

Indonesia (a bird market and three national parks were also visited)
- Taman Safari Prigen
- Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark

The Philippines
- Negros Forest Park
 
USA:
- Indianapolis Zoo
- Mesker Park Zoo
- ZOOWorld Panama City Beach
- Forgotten Coast Sea Turtle Conservation Center
- Brown County State Park Nature Center (don’t know if this counts but they have a great collection of turtles in one small habitat)

It’s not much but I hope to visit more zoos next year, most notably Bioparc di Roma
 
9 zoos and aquariums

Cairns Aquarium
Taronga Zoo Sydney
Perth Zoo
AQWA
Dolphin Discovery Centre
Cicerello's Aquarium
Hartley's Crocodile Adventures
Birdworld Kuranda
Kuranda Koala Gardens
 
wild boar said:
I also don't know that it is as good of an exhibit as many of the areas of the New England Aquarium, namely the Giant Ocean Tank
Click to expand...
See, I don't really think the Giant Ocean Tank is that great of an exhibit. There's nothing wrong with it, and it is certainly an iconic, long-standing attraction at the aquarium, but it is definitely showing its age compared to other similar attractions at different aquariums. Signage for the tank is basically non-existent except for the occasional touch screen, the coral is obviously fake, and it lacks the large sharks that oftentimes anchor similar aquarium tanks. Is it a good exhibit? Yes. But is it a truly great exhibit? Compared to other flagship tanks I've seen (e.g., sharks at New York Aquarium, any of the larger tanks at Ripley's Aquarium of Canada) it really is not that impressive an exhibit. It's notable since it is a classic, historic exhibit, and I don't want to sound like I'm really hating on it, but compared to Mystic's beluga exhibit which is one-of-a-kind, the Giant Ocean Tank has fallen behind more modern takes on the same concept.
 
Only two, or three if you want to count the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. I went to the Philadelphia Zoo in February and the Bronx Zoo in May.
 
Neil chace said:
Mystic's beluga exhibit which is one-of-a-kind
Click to expand...
I don't really think that is, though. Sure it is the largest outdoor set of pools in the country, but beyond that there's nothing very special about it. It might even be one of the largest pool systems both inside and outside (I don't know but clarity would be good), but between some of that space not actually being accessible to the belugas and nothing that stands out particularly about the exhibit, I just don't think it's that great. Yes, the signage is pretty terrible around the Giant Ocean Tank and it is most definitely old-school, but the metaphorical representation of different depth zones is evident to most people (I am completely confident in saying that) so does still have some significant educational value. Does anyone know what some of the deeper coral reef tanks are in North America?
 
Leslie Nature Center
Detroit Zoo
Toledo Zoo
Belle Isle Aquarium
Belle Isle Nature Center
Tampa zoo at Lowery Park
Clearwater Aquarium
Seaside Seabird Sanctuary
Potter Park Zoo
Atlanta Zoo
Georgia Aquarium
Shedd Aquarium
Milwaukee County Zoo
Henry Villas Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
National Aviary
National Aquarium
Maryland Zoo
Smithsonian National Zoo
Smithsonian Natural History Museum
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
Alaska Sealife Center
Alaska Zoo
Dallas World Aquarium
Dallas Zoo
Fort Worth Zoo
Ohio the Wild
Cincinnati Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo
Philadelphia Zoo
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Gladys Porter Zoo
San Antonio Zoo
Reptilandia
Snake Farm
Houston Zoo
That’s my list.
 
this has my personal best year for zoos (if i went multiple times I also noted that down)
  • ZooTampa
  • Palm Beach Zoo(x3)
  • Central Florida Zoo
  • Zoo Miami(x2)
  • St. Augustine Alligator Farm
  • Jacksonville Zoo
  • Dallas Zoo
  • San Antonio Zoo
  • Dallas World Aquarium
  • Tulsa Zoo
  • Oklahoma City Zoo
  • Fort Worth Zoo
  • Naples Zoo
  • Brevard Zoo
  • Busch Gardens Tampa
  • Georgia Aquarium
  • Zoo Atlanta
not technically a zoo, but does have captive wildlife, the Charles Darwin Research Center
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top