Abilene Zoo Review
Finally I have reached the last true "zoo" that I have planned to visit this summer. No need to fret faithful readers I will still visit other facilities in this great state (like Fossil Rim). So on to Abilene. The first thing I had to do in order to write this review is learn to spell the city's name. I had the hardest time typing this location into my GPS in my car. Hint, Abilene is not spelled how it sounds, I think there is a silent "q" somewhere in it. So after 2.5 hours of driving I reached the zoo. Incidentally, I spent 5 hours of driving and only 2 hours at the zoo. This will be one of the shorter reviews I've written. No 3 post or 4 post epics here.
So entering the zoo. First thing is that my GPS was wrong and was sending me to a different part of town. Luckily I am smart enough to read road signs. I find the zoo, park, and then pay and enter. Only 4 bucks to get in. I didn't try and get any discount with any of my memberships, I figured the four bucks was cheap enough not to haggle. The odd thing here was they asked if I would like to buy food for the animals. Huh?!? For $1.50 I figured why not. I was only to not feed the monkeys. This left me feeling a little odd, but why not. Upon entering I noticed this zoo is much sparser than any others I've been to. This is not a bad thing, just a reflection on the climate and topography of west Texas - flat and dry. The first exhibits I came to were nice ones for alligators and waterbirds/flamingos (thankfully not mixed). I liked these, simple, not overly designed. Next to the gators was a small bird cage for a few native songbirds and an Attwater's Prairie Chicken. This highly endangered bird could have used a lot more space. Next to the water birds were a few more bird cages, one for hornbills and one for superb starlings. Next to here was a nice little are for Prairie Dogs. Lots of the marmots here, simple exhibit again and effective. A small pond for turtles was near here that was rather uninteresting as it just held native turtles that you can see in a local creek.
Imposing in front of you now is a large bridge over a barren exhibit. This is the Giraffe area. The giraffes were off exhibit today after 4 steady days of rain the exhibit had to have time to dry out. The bridge brought you over the exhibit above the head level of the giraffes. If they were out, I would have fed them. Alas, sigh. It may be somewhat small, but not too bad, and I believe they are going to be expanding the area soon. Heading back towards the front we next find a heard of Bison. The bison are acclimatized to the public feeding them. A few of the Bison came right up to you and seemed to beg for the dry wafers that I had. Next to the Bison are Maned Wolves. Nice area for them, but it is a shame that I have to look at them through a chain link fence. Aside from the fence, I liked the exhibit. Next to here was an area for spider monkeys. Nothing too fancy, but no real trees to speak of. Lots of climbing and ropes so the monkeys seemed to be fine here. Next to here was what I think is the best exhibit at the zoo, surprise its the Jaguars. It's not spacious, but it is the biggest in Texas. On the map when I looked at it, I was prepared to be completely disappointed, but surprise no. There were two jaguars here one spotted and one black. Oddly enough there were full brothers. The area was nicely planted with lots of climbing and a nice water feature. It puts Fort Worth's to shame. (Doesn't take much BTW). Next to here was a pitiful black bear. This may be the biggest victim of the feed the animals policy. The bear was up against the bars all day begging for the crackers that the guests had. The exhibit wasn't necessarily bad, but as the bear - at least during my visit - didn't use an area larger than his rump it wasn't good. When can I see a great bear exhibit? Across from here is a nice cage for Angolan Colobus Monkeys. I had never seen this species before. I always like seeing new animals and this was ok. A fairly big cage with some climbing opportunities so in all not bad for the animals.
Now to the back of the zoo. Past the giraffes are areas for Black Rhinos and across from them Zebras and Ostriches. The Black Rhinos are in an area that used to hold African Elephants. It would have been terrible for Elephants but for Rhinos it's not too bad. As it was completely muddy here the rhinos were at home. Across from here were the Zebras and a lone Ostrich. If the adjoining area for Giraffes was connected to this yard it would be a great exhibit. Next to here were areas for Secretary Birds, Crowned Cranes, and Ring Tailed Lemurs. The lemur exhibit was boring, the birds though had a nice area and both shared their home with Vulturine Guinea Fowls.
Across from the African birds were two areas for big cats. A single White Tiger was in one. Ugh. Not great for a tiger. Conversely the same space for the two tigers next door seemed to be fine. I think it may just be that I hate White Tigers. I think up until earlier this year the tiger area used to hold a Hyena. I would much rather have seen that. In an education building across from here were two small ocelot cubs awaiting the construction of a new exhibit for them.
Last but not least is Reptile House. Great herp exhibit. It was all redone in 2007. Every exhibit in here is good and has a LCD display telling you about each animal. A guest told me they have the largest collection of venomous snakes in the world. I am highly skeptical of this as I can see more at my reptile house in Dallas and I know that that is only a fraction of our collection. At any rate a cool collection.
And that's it. Like I said a small zoo only about 15 acres. If I had to rank it on my normal scale of 1-10 it gets a 4. I think they've tried really hard to get those major animals that everyone wants to see at the zoo. No apes, elephants and hippos, but they had everything else. Maybe tomorrow I will do a summary post on all the exhibits and zoos I've seen with some ranking lists.
