mweb08
Well-Known Member
In my opinion of course.
I will say that it's lack of a large and diversified collection holds it back from being a top 10 caliber zoo, but it does great with what it has for the most part.
The zoo only has 3 sections:
Maryland Wilderness featuring the Children's Zoo:
Features a marsh aviary, great river otter exhibit, very good red fox/snapping turtle exhibit, good cave exhibit with bats, skunks, reptiles, and amphibians, the tree of life(of something like that) which features snakes and amphibians inside and a slide on top, great box turtle exhibit, a farm themed petting zoo, and some other things for kids to play on. Also has a good deal of Maryland forest and bog to walk through.
Very well done section, and even great for someone like me who doesn't care about the petting zoo or the kids play sections. Not just for kids at all.
African Journey:
Starts with a great sitatunga/crowned crane exhibit. After that there's a very good tortoise exhibit and an aviary featuring African birds. There's a great southern white rhino/plains zebra/ostrich exhibit on one side of the aviary and a very good to great African leopard exhibit on the other side. A good cheetah exhibit is next to the leopards. Opposite of the cheetahs is a great lesser kudu/addra gazelle/stork exhibit which actually is connected to the rhino exhibit by water which has a barrier in the water to keep the exhibits separate. A good warthog exhibit is next.
After that is a loop around the giraffes which obviously includes the giraffes in a large exhibit which features a feeding section. There's a decent elephant exhibit off this loop with at least 3 yards and a large house. Camel ride is also nearby. A penguin exhibit, perhaps the only really outdated exhibit in the zoo is in this area as well, very spacious, but not pretty and no underwater viewing. Decent Okapi and Lemur exhibits are near the giraffes as well. The last exhibit before Chimpanzee Forest is for lions, and it's a pretty good one.
Chimpanzee Forest has an indoor section for the chimps along with a pretty good mixed exhibits for colobus monkeys, porcupines, and another another kind of monkey. Sifaka's and crocodiles are also featured in the building. Then you walk out to the outdoor Chimp exhibit, which is an old style cage, but with lots of space, climbing opportunities, high grass, plants, and glass viewing. Good exhibit.
Polar Bear Watch:
Very good polar bear exhibit with various substrate for the bears to walk on and lots of water to swim in, a retired tundra buggy from Churchill sits in between the two exhibits and allows people to view the bears in a temperature controlled environment. Also have underwater viewing and glass/open viewing outside the buggy. Exhibits of arctic fox, snow owl, and ravens surround the polar bears.
The only other exhibit is at the front of the zoo, and that's the new prairie dog exhibit which is very nice.
Otherwise, this zoo is actually pretty good at immersion as they don't have much in the way of buildings(other than elephant and giraffe houses), souvenir/food stands, or anything else near the animals to distract you from the experience. They also have a a lot of natural forest which provides a nice setting for the zoo.
Overall, I'd put this zoo in the same category as the National Zoo and KC Zoo in terms of overall quality and above zoos that have more animals such as LA and Lincoln Park.
Pictures will be up shortly.
Edit: I see Zebraduiker has just uploaded some pics as well, so check those out too.
I will say that it's lack of a large and diversified collection holds it back from being a top 10 caliber zoo, but it does great with what it has for the most part.
The zoo only has 3 sections:
Maryland Wilderness featuring the Children's Zoo:
Features a marsh aviary, great river otter exhibit, very good red fox/snapping turtle exhibit, good cave exhibit with bats, skunks, reptiles, and amphibians, the tree of life(of something like that) which features snakes and amphibians inside and a slide on top, great box turtle exhibit, a farm themed petting zoo, and some other things for kids to play on. Also has a good deal of Maryland forest and bog to walk through.
Very well done section, and even great for someone like me who doesn't care about the petting zoo or the kids play sections. Not just for kids at all.
African Journey:
Starts with a great sitatunga/crowned crane exhibit. After that there's a very good tortoise exhibit and an aviary featuring African birds. There's a great southern white rhino/plains zebra/ostrich exhibit on one side of the aviary and a very good to great African leopard exhibit on the other side. A good cheetah exhibit is next to the leopards. Opposite of the cheetahs is a great lesser kudu/addra gazelle/stork exhibit which actually is connected to the rhino exhibit by water which has a barrier in the water to keep the exhibits separate. A good warthog exhibit is next.
After that is a loop around the giraffes which obviously includes the giraffes in a large exhibit which features a feeding section. There's a decent elephant exhibit off this loop with at least 3 yards and a large house. Camel ride is also nearby. A penguin exhibit, perhaps the only really outdated exhibit in the zoo is in this area as well, very spacious, but not pretty and no underwater viewing. Decent Okapi and Lemur exhibits are near the giraffes as well. The last exhibit before Chimpanzee Forest is for lions, and it's a pretty good one.
Chimpanzee Forest has an indoor section for the chimps along with a pretty good mixed exhibits for colobus monkeys, porcupines, and another another kind of monkey. Sifaka's and crocodiles are also featured in the building. Then you walk out to the outdoor Chimp exhibit, which is an old style cage, but with lots of space, climbing opportunities, high grass, plants, and glass viewing. Good exhibit.
Polar Bear Watch:
Very good polar bear exhibit with various substrate for the bears to walk on and lots of water to swim in, a retired tundra buggy from Churchill sits in between the two exhibits and allows people to view the bears in a temperature controlled environment. Also have underwater viewing and glass/open viewing outside the buggy. Exhibits of arctic fox, snow owl, and ravens surround the polar bears.
The only other exhibit is at the front of the zoo, and that's the new prairie dog exhibit which is very nice.
Otherwise, this zoo is actually pretty good at immersion as they don't have much in the way of buildings(other than elephant and giraffe houses), souvenir/food stands, or anything else near the animals to distract you from the experience. They also have a a lot of natural forest which provides a nice setting for the zoo.
Overall, I'd put this zoo in the same category as the National Zoo and KC Zoo in terms of overall quality and above zoos that have more animals such as LA and Lincoln Park.
Pictures will be up shortly.
Edit: I see Zebraduiker has just uploaded some pics as well, so check those out too.
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