Mega-Budget American Zoo Exhibits

snowleopard

snowleopard

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I spent a considerable amount of time researching zoo exhibits in the United States that have opened since 2004. I then made a list that only included an exhibit complex that cost a minimum of $10 million and I ended up with almost 140 different exhibits.

Here are the ‘mega-budget’ exhibits, rounded off to the nearest million bucks.

2004 – Denver Zoo: Predator Ridge - $20 million
2004 – Jacksonville Zoo: Range of the Jaguar - $15 million
2004 – Lincoln Park Zoo: Center for African Apes - $26 million
2004 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Hubbard Gorilla Valley - $14 million
2004 – Palm Beach Zoo: Tropics of the Americas - $30 million
2004 – Point Defiance Zoo: Asian Forest Sanctuary - $10 million

2005 – Cameron Park Zoo: Brazos River Country - $10 million
2005 – Indianapolis Zoo: Dolphin Adventure Dome - $10 million
2005 – National Aquarium: Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes - $75 million
2005 – Oakland Zoo: Valley Children’s Zoo - $16 million
2005 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Orangutan Forest - $12 million
2005 – Tennessee Aquarium: Ocean Journey building - $30 million

2006 – Memphis Zoo: Northwest Passage - $23 million
2006 – Philadelphia Zoo: Big Cat Falls - $20 million
2006 – Pittsburgh Zoo: Water’s Edge - $12 million
2006 – Smithsonian’s National Zoo: Asia Trail - $53 million

2007 – Indianapolis Zoo: Oceans - $10 million
2007 – Los Angeles Zoo: Campo Gorilla Reserve - $19 million
2007 – Oklahoma City Zoo: Oklahoma Trails - $10 million
2007 – Seattle Aquarium: Window on Washington Waters + pier replacement - $41 million

2008 – Bronx Zoo: Madagascar! - $62 million
2008 – Buffalo Zoo: Rainforest Falls - $16 million
2008 – Busch Gardens Tampa Bay: Jungala - $25 million?
2008 – Mesker Park Zoo: Amazonia - $13 million
2008 – Minnesota Zoo: Russia’s Grizzly Coast - $24 million
2008 – San Antonio Zoo: Africa Live! Phase 1 - $12 million
2008 – Zoo Miami: Amazon & Beyond - $50 million

2009 – Central Park Zoo: Snow Leopard Exhibit - $10 million
2009 – Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo: African Journey - $10 million
2009 – Memphis Zoo: Teton Trek - $16 million
2009 – New England Aquarium: Marine Mammal Center - $12 million
2009 – Peoria Zoo: Africa! - $27 million
2009 – Philadelphia Zoo: McNeil Avian Center (renovation) - $17 million
2009 – San Diego Zoo: Elephant Odyssey - $45 million
2009 – Shedd Aquarium: Oceanarium (renovation) - $50 million

2010 – Brookfield Zoo: Great Bear Wilderness - $27 million
2010 – Columbus Zoo: Polar Frontier - $20 million
2010 – Como Park Zoo: Polar Bear Odyssey - $15 million
2010 – Dallas Zoo: Giants of the Savanna - $30 million
2010 – El Paso Zoo: Passport to Africa - $33 million?
2010 – Fort Worth Zoo: MOLA (Reptile House) - $19 million
2010 – Happy Hollow Park & Zoo - $72 million (2008-2010 renovation)
2010 – Houston Zoo: African Forest - $42 million
2010 – Kansas City Zoo: Polar Bear Passage - $11 million
2010 – Los Angeles Zoo: Elephants of Asia - $42 million
2010 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Expedition Madagascar - $10 million
2010 – San Antonio Zoo: Africa Live! Phase Two - $10 million

2011 – Birmingham Zoo: Trails of Africa - $12.5 million
2011 – Cleveland Zoo: African Elephant Crossing - $25 million
2011 – Georgia Aquarium: Dolphin Tales - $110 million
2011 – Honolulu Zoo: Asian Elephant Exhibit - $12 million
2011 – Louisville Zoo: Glacier Run - $26 million
2011 – Oklahoma City Zoo: Elephant Exhibit - $13 million
2011 – Virginia Zoo: Asia: Trail of the Tiger - $18 million

2012 – Denver Zoo: Toyota Elephant Passage - $50 million
2012 – Fresno Chaffee Zoo: Sea Lion Cove - $10 million
2012 – Los Angeles Zoo: The LAIR (Reptile House) - $14 million
2012 – Reid Park Zoo: Expedition Tanzania - $10 million
2012 – Saint Louis Zoo: Sea Lion Sound - $18 million
2012 – Smithsonian’s National Zoo: American Trail - $42 million
2012 – Toledo Zoo: Tembo Trail - $15 million
2012 – Utah’s Hogle Zoo: Rocky Shores - $18 million

2013 – Akron Zoo: Grizzly Ridge - $13 million
2013 – Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: Encounter Africa - $13 million
2013 – Como Park Zoo: Gorilla Forest - $11 million
2013 – Kansas City Zoo: Helzberg Penguin Plaza - $15 million
2013 – National Aquarium: Blacktip Reef - $13 million
2013 – New England Aquarium: Giant Ocean Tank renovation - $17 million
2013 – Philadelphia Zoo: KidZooU - $33 million
2013 – Smithsonian’s National Zoo: Elephant Trails - $56 million

2014 – Columbus Zoo: Heart of Africa - $30 million
2014 – Indianapolis Zoo: International Orangutan Center - $26 million
2014 – Jacksonville Zoo: Land of the Tiger - $10 million
2014 – Los Angeles Zoo: Rainforest of the Americas - $19 million
2014 – Maryland Zoo: Penguin Coast - $11 million
2014 – San Diego Zoo Safari Park: Tiger Trail - $20 million
2014 – Utah’s Hogle Zoo: African Savanna - $16 million

2015 – Brookfield Zoo: Hamill Family Wild Encounters - $24 million
2015 – Buffalo Zoo: Arctic Edge - $14 million
2015 – Fresno Chaffee Zoo: African Adventure - $56 million
2015 – Henry Vilas Zoo: Arctic Passage - $10 million
2015 – Houston Zoo: Gorillas of the African Forest - $28 million
2015 – Lincoln Park Zoo: Macaque Forest - $15 million
2015 – Oregon Zoo: Elephant Lands - $57 million
2015 – Saint Louis Zoo: Polar Bear Point - $16 million
2015 – Toledo Zoo: Aquarium (renovation) - $25 million
2015 – Woodland Park Zoo: Banyan Wilds - $21 million
2015 – Zoo Atlanta: Scaly Slimy Spectacular (Reptile House) - $18 million

2016 – Detroit Zoo: Polk Penguin Conservation Center - $30 million
2016 – Georgia Aquarium: California Sea Lion exhibit - $40 million
2016 – Lincoln Park Zoo: Walter Family Arctic Tundra (Polar Bear) - $15 million
2016 – Memphis Zoo: Zambezi River Hippo Camp - $22 million
2016 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: African Grasslands - $73 million
2016 – Riverbanks Zoo: Sea Lion Landing - $12 million
2016 – Sedgwick County Zoo: Elephants of the Zambezi River - $11 million
2016 – Zoo Miami: Florida: Mission Everglades + Entrance - $33 million

2017 – Cincinnati Zoo: Gorilla World renovation - $12 million
2017 – Dallas Zoo: Hippo Outpost - $14 million
2017 – Moody Gardens: Aquarium (renovation) - $37 million
2017 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Children’s Adventure Trails - $27 million
2017 – Saint Louis Zoo: Grizzly Ridge - $11 million
2017 – San Diego Zoo: Africa Rocks - $68 million
2017 – Texas State Aquarium: Caribbean Journey - $58 million
2017 – Tulsa Zoo: Lost Kingdom - $21 million

2018 – Audubon Zoo: Asia - $10 million
2018 – Fort Worth Zoo: African Savanna - $16 million
2018 – Nashville Zoo: Expedition Peru - $10 million
2018 – New York Aquarium: Ocean Wonders: Sharks! - $158 million
2018 – Oakland Zoo: California Trail - $75 million
2018 – Oklahoma City Zoo: Sanctuary Asia - $22 million
2018 – Point Defiance Zoo: Pacific Seas Aquarium - $52 million
2018 – Roger Williams Park Zoo: Faces of the Rainforest - $14 million
2018 – San Diego Zoo Safari Park: Walkabout Australia - $17 million
2018 – Zoo Knoxville: Asian Trek - $18 million

2019 – ABQ BioPark Zoo: Penguin Chill - $19 million
2019 – Aquarium of the Pacific: Pacific Visions expansion - $53 million
2019 – El Paso Zoo: Chihuahuan Desert - $16 million
2019 – Maryland Zoo: African Journey expansion - $20 million
2019 – Milwaukee County Zoo: Adventure Africa (elephants) - $17 million
2019 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Asian Highlands Phase I and II - $22 million
2019 – Toledo Zoo: ProMedica Museum of Natural History (renovation) - $27 million

2020 – Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: Water’s Edge: Africa - $10 million
2020 – Columbus Zoo: Adventure Cove - $40 million
2020 – Como Park Zoo: Como Harbor - $20 million
2020 – Fort Worth Zoo: Elephant Springs - $40 million?
2020 – Georgia Aquarium: Predators exhibit - $100 million?
2020 – Houston Zoo: Pantanal - $23 million?
2020 – International Crane Foundation (expansion) - $10 million
2020 – Lincoln Park Zoo: Kovler Lion House renovation - $35 million
2020 – Milwaukee County Zoo: Adventure Africa (hippos) - $12 million
2020 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Sea Lion Shores - $27 million
2020 – Zoo Atlanta: African Savanna (2019) + Savanna Hall + New Entry - $55 million

2021 – Saint Louis Zoo: Primate Canopy Trails - $11 million
2021 – San Diego Zoo: Children’s Zoo - $69 million
2021 – Smithsonian’s National Zoo: Experience Migration (Bird House) - $55 million
2021 – Zoo Knoxville: Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Campus - $18 million
 
There are a lot of zoos with 3 mega-budget exhibits since 2004 (Houston, Columbus, Memphis, San Diego, Saint Louis, Como Park, Georgia Aquarium, Smithsonian's National Zoo, etc.) and then there are a couple of zoos with 4 mega-budget exhibits (Los Angeles, Lincoln Park), but no one can top Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium.

There are 7 areas at Omaha's zoo that have opened since 2004...totaling $185 million. I didn't even include the 2008 opening of the Butterfly & Insect Pavilion because I cannot find a price tag on that structure. Other notable exclusions would be the $6.5 million spent on a renovation of the Aquarium in 2012, or the construction of a Skyfari ride in 2009, or $6 million spent on a research wing addition to the Bill and Berniece Grewcock Center for Conservation and Research. One could even include the approximately $7 million that Omaha spent on Glacier Bay Landing (2019) or the $14 million spent on the Alaskan Adventure Splash Park in 2016. The dollar figures are mind-blowing, but looking just at animal exhibits it's possible to come up with this list:

2004 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Hubbard Gorilla Valley - $14 million
2005 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Orangutan Forest - $12 million
2010 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Expedition Madagascar - $10 million
2016 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: African Grasslands - $73 million
2017 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Children’s Adventure Trails - $27 million
2019 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Asian Highlands Phase I and II - $22 million
2020 – Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo: Sea Lion Shores - $27 million
 
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These are some truly astonishing figures. Without wishing to come over all Damian Aspinall – with his absurd suggestion that anybody wanting to spend more than two and sixpence on a new zoo exhibit should have it approved by some sort of committee (!) – there does seem to be something a little bit troubling in quite so much money being spent on quite so many exhibits in which quite so many unremarkable animals are held. And yes, I agree that all animals are remarkable, but when so much focus is being given to a species that is neither unusual nor of conservational significance – a Californian Sealion for example – an eyebrow is raised!

in some ways, trying to make comparisons is absolutely impossible. Clearly, a dollar buys slightly less in New York than it does in Nebraska. Likewise, looking at the sums spent here, and comparing them to those which have been spent in Europe is a fool’s errand. nonetheless, it is impossible not to look, and to compare how much money has been available to zoos in relatively out of the way locations, and then to look at the pitiful amount spent at London, to take the most egregious example.
 
sooty mangabey said:
These are some truly astonishing figures. Without wishing to come over all Damian Aspinall – with his absurd suggestion that anybody wanting to spend more than two and sixpence on a new zoo exhibit should have it approved by some sort of committee (!) – there does seem to be something a little bit troubling in quite so much money being spent on quite so many exhibits in which quite so many unremarkable animals are held. And yes, I agree that all animals are remarkable, but when so much focus is being given to a species that is neither unusual nor of conservational significance – a Californian Sealion for example – an eyebrow is raised!

in some ways, trying to make comparisons is absolutely impossible. Clearly, a dollar buys slightly less in New York than it does in Nebraska. Likewise, looking at the sums spent here, and comparing them to those which have been spent in Europe is a fool’s errand. nonetheless, it is impossible not to look, and to compare how much money has been available to zoos in relatively out of the way locations, and then to look at the pitiful amount spent at London, to take the most egregious example.
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Well, even not-for-profits must make ends meet, and earned income provides a big chunk of that. Investment in a sea lion exhibit or performance area is like money in the bank, which can then be used to fund some conservationally-important-but-ho-hum-to-most exhibits on Invertebrates. Doing the Nutcracker for a month each year makes a full year's worth of more experimental and cutting edge work possible.

The zoos who are making upgrades every five years or so are keeping themselves relevant, by creating better ways to exhibit and by reminding locals that the zoo is still there and to make a visit. I've never been to Henry Oorly

Half of my message disappeared when I was called away. I'll try to recreate it later. Sorry
 
AmbikaFan said:
Well, even not-for-profits must make ends meet, and earned income provides a big chunk of that. Investment in a sea lion exhibit or performance area is like money in the bank, which can then be used to fund some conservationally-important-but-ho-hum-to-most exhibits on Invertebrates. Doing the Nutcracker for a month each year makes a full year's worth of more experimental and cutting edge work possible.

The zoos who are making upgrades every five years or so are keeping themselves relevant, by creating better ways to exhibit and by reminding locals that the zoo is still there and to make a visit. I've never been to Henry Oorly

Half ofy message disappeared when I was called away. I'll try to recreate it later. Sorry
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Oh, I totally agree with what you write here - I am all in favour of money being spent on zoo exhibits, rather than on other cultural things. And I think the USA is right, and the UK is wrong, in the amount of money which is spent on such things. I just find it astonishing that so much money is spent!

Close to where I live is a charming museum of art and craft - History - Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. It's lovely. It receives, i believe, about 10,000 visitors a year. Its rebuilding project, a few years ago, cost £2.3 million. Few UK zoos, other than London or Chester, ever spend such an amount on a single exhibit. And yet their popularity dwarfs that of this tiny museum...

I suppose my point is that the amounts which are spent in the USA are extraordinary, and shouldn't be taken for granted!

As a separate point, I do think though that too much money can bring on flabbiness and a lack of imagination. Zoos that need to fight for every £100 - and there are many in the UK - seem to bring to the work a little more energy than do some of the zoos listed above. I've seen a number of the exhibits listed by @snowleopard . Many are outstanding. Quite a few are not. How Central Park's Snow Leopard exhibit cost more than any single exhibit ever built in the UK, I just don't know (even given construction costs in NYC)! It would be lovely if Hamerton or Exmoor or the Cotswolds Wildlife Park had a development budget of many millions - but it might take away some of their respective magic...
 
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Andrew Swales said:
Where and how does such a poorly attended (you could say unpopular?) - however lovely - organisation raise such disproportionate investment/funding?
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According to their website: "The £2.3m redevelopment was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as many generous donations by charitable trusts, foundations and individuals."

How many zoos have been given money by the lottery? London, obviously. Anywhere else?
 
sooty mangabey said:
Oh, I totally agree with what you write here - I am all in favour of money being spent on zoo exhibits, rather than on other cultural things. And I think the USA is right, and the UK is wrong, in the amount of money which is spent on such things. I just find it astonishing that so much money is spent!

Close to where I live is a charming museum of art and craft - History - Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. It's lovely. It receives, i believe, about 10,000 visitors a year. Its rebuilding project, a few years ago, cost £2.3 million. Few UK zoos, other than London or Chester, ever spend such an amount on a single exhibit. And yet their popularity dwarfs that of this tiny museum...

I suppose my point is that the amounts which are spent in the USA are extraordinary, and shouldn't be taken for granted!

As a separate point, I do think though that too much money can bring on flabbiness and a lack of imagination. Zoos that need to fight for every £100 - and there are many in the UK - seem to bring to the work a little more energy than do some of the zoos listed above. I've seen a number of the exhibits listed by @snowleopard . Many are outstanding. Quite a few are not. How Central Park's Snow Leopard exhibit cost more than any single exhibit ever built in the UK, I just don't know (even given construction costs in NYC)! It would be lovely if Hamerton or Exmoor or the Cotswolds Wildlife Park had a development budget fo many millions - but it might take away some of their respective magic...
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I'd love to see a similar list of UK projects in the last 20 years. In terms of management and breeding, you're leaps and bounds ahead of us. How does the UK list compare in adjusted currency to the US list?
 
AmbikaFan said:
I'd love to see a similar list of UK projects in the last 20 years. In terms of management and breeding, you're leaps and bounds ahead of us. How does the UK list compare in adjusted currency to the US list?
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It would be a very short list!

At current exchange rates, $10,000,000 is about £9,000,000.

Unless we start trying to convert historical costs, we have to rely on more recent developments.

Edinburgh's big Chimpanzee exhibit - Budongo - cost £6,000,000. I believe Wild Place's Bear and Wolf thing cost about £4,000,000. London's appalling Land of the Lions was reported to have cost £5.2 million.

Only Chester's Islands - at $40 million - crosses the threshold - as far as I know.

Of course, all of these figures are possibly misleading - what is actually included in the quoted figure will vary from place to place. Buying land? Decommissioning old buildings? Running costs?
 
Interesting list! I cannot help but notice that many these exhibits are not really remarkable. Why an exhibit for snow leopards cost 10m or Japanese macaques 15m USD?

snowleopard said:
2009 – Central Park Zoo: Snow Leopard Exhibit - $10 million
2015 – Lincoln Park Zoo: Macaque Forest - $15 million
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On the other hand, it seems that it is hard to build a modern elephant exhibit and NOT to top USD 10m.

By the way, judging from experiences of European zoos, hippo exhibits with underwater viewing often don't bring a visitor increase comparable to their cost. On the other hand, modern reptile houses usually prove very popular, despite the saying that an average person does not like reptiles.
 
Jurek7 said:
Interesting list! I cannot help but notice that many these exhibits are not really remarkable. Why an exhibit for snow leopards cost 10m or Japanese macaques 15m USD?
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Both Central Park and Lincoln Park are located right in the middle of New York and Chicago, the largest and third-largest cities in the U.S. Building costs and worker costs are very expensive in these cities, hence the absurdly high cost.
 
@Jurek7 A lot of the costs vary depending on the location. For example, $10 million on an exhibit for a single species (Snow Leopard) at Central Park Zoo is expensive because it is smack-dab in the middle of New York City. The overhaul of the Bronx Zoo's original Lion House into 'Madagascar!" cost more than $60 million.

On the flip side, Reid Park Zoo in Arizona built Expedition Tanzania, a fantastic elephant complex, for only $8.5 million and Sedgwick County Zoo way out in the middle of nowhere (Kansas) built Elephants of the Zambezi River for only $11 million.
 
Andrew Swales said:
Yes - profligate, and providing ammunition for the anti-zoo movement in general; even....
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But don't forget that at a lot of major American zoos it is taxpayers funding a certain portion of exhibits along with a lot of philanthropists. Fresno Chaffee Zoo has received more than $110 million in the past 15 years via 'Measure Z', a tax measure that is voted on by the public every few years. Point Defiance Zoo just built a $52 million aquarium in part due to local neighbourhoods voting with their tax money. El Paso Zoo just opened a $16 million complex that was a tax bond. The list goes on and on...

With all due respect to zoos in the United Kingdom, which I will visit one day, there is simply not the appeal for a zoo enthusiast as there is not exactly a long list of truly great zoos. What U.K. zoo has $110 million to spend on new exhibits, or can get the green light to open a $52 million aquarium within the zoo grounds? Or even spend $16 million on a series of new exhibits? There's Chester...and...and...and???
 
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snowleopard said:
With all due respect to zoos in the United Kingdom, which I will visit one day, there is simply not the appeal for a zoo enthusiast as there is not exactly a long list of truly great zoos. What U.K. zoo has $110 million to spend on new exhibits, or can get the green light to open a $52 million aquarium within the zoo grounds? Or even spend $16 million on a series of new exhibits? There's Chester...and...and...and???
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You know that not many "zoo enthusiasts" judge zoos by how much their enclosures cost, right?
 
Another thing to remember is that when these American zoos spend tens of millions of dollars, the money isn't going exclusively towards animal exhibits. Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo's exhibit for Japanese Macaques looks amazing and cost $15 million, but some of that cash went towards a re-done entrance, train attraction and other amenities. Brookfield Zoo, also in Chicago, spent a whopping $27 million on Great Bear Wilderness a decade ago and that included a restaurant, gift shop, lavatories/bathrooms, etc. It's not like $27 million went just to the bears, bison and bald eagles. :p

It is very intriguing looking at the extraordinary amount of money spent on exhibits, although some of the habitats have aged well while others are perhaps a little outdated these days. It is also interesting to see how some major U.S. zoos are entirely absent from the list and have stagnated a little over the years. I'm particularly looking forward to the rejuvenation of the state-run North Carolina Zoo with its Asian complex that is perhaps going to be in the $50 million range.
 
Chlidonias said:
You know that not many "zoo enthusiasts" judge zoos by how much their enclosures cost, right?
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Obviously, but with American zoos in the news it is all about how much things cost. That's why it was so easy for me to Google the exhibits and immediately a price-tag was attached to almost every article. It's hugely important how much things cost in Canada and the USA because in loads of cases it is the locals seeing their tax dollars put to use. Wouldn't you want to know how much a lion or tiger exhibit cost if you were paying for it? :p
 
snowleopard said:
But don't forget that at a lot of major American zoos it is taxpayers funding The list goes on and on...
With all due respect to zoos in the United Kingdom, which I will visit one day, there is simply not the appeal for a zoo enthusiast as there is not exactly a long list of truly great zoos. What U.K. zoo has $110 million to spend on new exhibits,
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We have covered this before, but in the UK this cannot happen. Over half our gross income is taken from us by the tax-payer/Government, not given to us! All new development is taxed again on top with corporation tax, and the new Community Infrastructure Levy is then added at more than 100% of the final cost of anything needing planning permission; the latter a tax which is not levied on any other leisure, museum, sports, retail, manufacturing, education or Government projects. Then annual business rates are taken by our local authorities, at the rate levied on commercial sites and based on crude turnover not any ability to pay. Our biggest costs (labour) rise at over three times average wages, again set by Government. American colleagues tell us their zoos would close over-night if subjected to this. Perhaps we dont do so badly after all...?
 
sooty mangabey said:
It would be a very short list!

At current exchange rates, $10,000,000 is about £9,000,000.

Unless we start trying to convert historical costs, we have to rely on more recent developments.

Edinburgh's big Chimpanzee exhibit - Budongo - cost £6,000,000. I believe Wild Place's Bear and Wolf thing cost about £4,000,000. London's appalling Land of the Lions was reported to have cost £5.2 million.

Only Chester's Islands - at $40 million - crosses the threshold - as far as I know.

Of course, all of these figures are possibly misleading - what is actually included in the quoted figure will vary from place to place. Buying land? Decommissioning old buildings? Running costs?
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Generally, the reported costs are “all in” project costs, which include design/engineering/project management, permitting, demolition, construction and start-up costs. It is not unusual for the non-construction costs (“soft costs”) to approach or exceed 40% of the total project costs, particularly in some of the expensive urban markets like LA or New York.

But as to the question of “value,” my only response is that in the entire UK, only one zoo exhibit sounds appealing to me in and of itself (Chester’s Islands). Collections and history are other good motivators for visiting a number of UK zoos, but from what I’ve seen there is nothing like a Masoala, a Congo, a Gondwanaland...or even a Central Park snow leopard, a Nuremberg Desert, Blijdorp okapi greenhouse or Cologne Hippodom-type exhibit to be found anywhere in the UK.
 
Something that also affects the price tags at old zoos such as Lincoln Park, Central Park, and the Bronx is that they have historic buildings. It is a lot more expensive to renovate historic structures than to build from scratch. Additionally, Lincoln Park and Central Park are so built up that new exhibits have to be built over old ones: that snow monkey exhibit at LPZ replaced the old penguin house, the demolition costs of which may or may not have been included in the price tag.

Most major zoo exhibits in the US these days are designed by specialized companies that the zoo contracts work out to. I've always been curious to know how much money a zoo would spend if it did more of the creative/design work in-house, and what the qualitative effects on the finished product would be. A question for @Zooplantman, maybe?

Also, philanthropy is a HUGE part of the construction of these mega-budget exhibits. Most of them are named after wealthy benefactors or local companies trying to make a good branding for themselves (Monsanto Insectarium and Purina Painted Dog Reserve at Saint Louis, for example). Fresno and the other zoos are examples of taxpayer-funded expansions, but most new exhibits are only partially (sometimes not at all) funded by taxes or small donors.
 
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