This is just a short overview of the zoo so people can get a slight idea of what it's like.
The wonderful Columbus Zoo is known for being rated the number zoo in America by magazines and other reviewers. I currently also lies first on my list and is my second favorite zoo I've been to. It has a total of over 6300 animals and about 800 species.
The North America region of the is the largest and the oldest animal attraction at the zoo. It consist of 13 large and natural habitats, including a 10,000 sq ft migratory songbird aviary home to over 40 species. Many native species from around the whole continent like trumpeter swans, timber wolves, Mexican wolves, black bears, grizzly bears, moose, prairie dogs, bison, pronghorn, pumas, bobcats, wolverines, and eagles. Near the end of the trail is a Wetlands area with man-made streams for North American river otters and freshwater fish like black crappies, blunt nosed minnows, and rainbow trouts. There is even Habitat Hollow with hundreds of rare barn animals. The Polar Frontier is also located in the region, it is the newest exhibit at the zoo and showcases Arctic foxes, brown and polar bears.
Songbird Aviary: American coots, American goldfinches, American robins, bobwhite quails, brown-headed cowbirds, catbirds, cedar waxings, eastern bluebirds, eastern meadowlarks, evening grosbeaks, fox sparrows, Harris sparrows, indigo buntings, killdeer plovers, mourning doves, North American ruddy ducks, northern cardinals, ovenbirds, palm warblers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, rufous-sided towhees, slate-colored juncos, soras, Swainson's thrushes, red-winged blackbirds, redhead ducks, Tennessee warblers, tufted titmouses, song sparrows, yellow rails, yellow-rumped warblers, white-throated sparrows, Wilson's warblers, and painted turtles.
Habitat Hallow: Ponies, angora goats, Sudanese Nubian goats, West African pygmy goats, La Mancha goats, Nigerian dwarf goats, Barbados blackbelly sheep, Karakul sheep, and Jacob's four-horned sheep.
Since 2006, Asia Quest has been exhibiting rare and endangered species in well-constructed habitats to attempt to get guests to understand the importance of conservation. The region is split up into two parts, each area divided by two of each indoor and outdoor viewing. The first area takes guests along a bridge over looking three habitats showcasing Chinese muntjacs, tufted deer, white-naped and red-crowned cranes. The first indoor building consists of six rare species behind glass including the sun bear bedroom. Visitors will observe water monitors, reticulated pythons, golden-mantled and large flying foxes, and silvery langurs. The next area features species that inhabit the high mountains of Asia including red pandas, Turkmenian markhors, Pallas' cats, and the endangered Amur tiger. There is also a walk-through pheasant aviary with roaming golden, Swinhoe's, and Reeve's pheasants. Lions are part of the region even though they are not an Asian species. Along the middle of the trail is the Pachyderm building housing Asian elephants and black rhinos in the largest building of it's kind.
The Shores region is divided up into four different sections containing a wide diverse collection of species from around the world. It opens with open-topped yards home to Caribbean flamingos, alligators, Aldabra tortoises, and Humboldt penguins. The Discovery Reef is the main aquarium part of the zoo housing hundreds of thousands of aquatic wildlife in a 88,000 gallon tank. Animals include coral, bamboo, epaulette, zebra, bonnethead, and black-tip sharks, basslets, pot-bellied seahorses, butterflyfish, tangs, horshoecrabs, and many more. Manatee Coast simulates the sights and sounds of the swampy biomes of Florida. The building has a retractable roof, allowing natural sunlight to shine on the exhibit during the warmer months. In the tank, porkfish, cownose and southern rays, sea turtles, and the zoo's Florida manatees fly through the water. The Reptile House is an all indoor facility containing the zoo's snakes, amphibians, lizards, turtles, and tortoises.
Reptile House Animals
Snakes: Dumeril's ground boas, Madagascar tree boas, Macklot's pythons, Savu Island pythons, scrub pythons, green tree pythons, blood pythons, Burmese pythons, black ratsnakes, radiated ratsnakes, false water cobras, Madagascar giant hognose snakes, black pine snakes, Louisiana pine snakes, king cobras, northern copperheads, eyelash vipers, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, Aruba Island rattlesnakes, timber rattlesnakes, and eastern Mississaugas.
Lizards: Leopard geckos, Standing's day geckos, New Caledonia giant geckos, Gila monsters, spiny-tailed iguanas, Grand Cayman blue iguanas, San Esteban Island chuckwallas, and prehensile-tailed skinks.
Turtles: McCord's snake-necked turtles, Siebenrock's snake-necked turtles, saw-shelled snapping turtles, spot-bellied side-necked turtles, yellow-spotted Amazon river turtles, fly river turtles, alligator snapping turtles, Annam leaf turtles, stripe-necked leaf turtles, black-breasted leaf turtles, Barbour's map turtles, yellow-blotched map turtles, Delta black-knobbed map turtles, eastern box turtles, Hispaniolan sliders, and Mesoamerican sliders.
Tortoises: Indian star tortoises
Invertebrates: Goliath birdeater tarantulas
Amphibians: Axolotls, Panamanian golden frogs, and eastern hellbenders.
The African Forest has been inhabiting animals from the Congo since the year 2000. Similar to the structure of Asia Quest, the region takes first guides visitors along a bridge while they face the species that are at eye level. It opens up with two, tall mesh enclosures showcasing Angolan colobus monkeys and African grey parrots. From a shelter and along the path, guests can walk past, and into an African aviary home to hundreds of birds ranging from large to small. African Forest also features the largest of all monkeys, mandrills, and one of the most stealthiest cat in Africa, leopards, with both indoor and outdoor viewing. Rare forest dwellers, okapis and black duikers, co-exist in two yards simulating the dense jungle of Central Africa. As the path swerves in all directions, it will take guests to the great apes. The zoo's vast expanding western lowland gorilla family lives in an un-natural environment, but are given the enrichment the apes enjoy the most, climbing and resting. Bars, steps, ropes, and tubes are placed around the cage, giving the apes the chance to spend the day completely off the grassy floor. In another lush, and dense forest environment, lives a large family of the closest living relative to humans, bonobos. This exhibit (along with the gorillas) allows guests to up-close with the apes, and giving them a chance to understand their smaller relatives. Red river hogs are also part of the attraction. In addition to this simulated forest, visitors are also given the chance to view the gorillas indoors in a semi-circular building. This building includes three bedrooms that surrounds the observers, giving the feeling for the guests that they actually live with the apes. Older and younger gorillas spend most of their day in here, including Colo, who was the first and is the oldest gorilla in captivity.
African Aviary: Cattle egrets, hamerkops, sacred ibises, hottentot teals, West African crowned cranes, East African crowned cranes, black crakes, buff-crested bustards, speckled pigeons, blue-throated carmine bee-eaters, racquet-tailed rollers, white-vented bulbuls, white-crowned robin chats, violet-backed starlings, and emerald starlings.
To the farthest, western part of the zoo lies the attraction that showcases two parts of the world that teem with some of the most exotic creatures on Earth. This region is called the Voyage to Australia and the Islands, featuring species from the land Down Under and the islands of southeast Asia. As guests first walk into the area, siamangs and lar gibbons greet them in a temple-themed habitat enclosed by bamboo bars. Behind this habitat is an island giving the gibbons space in the full outdoors. Orangutans venture above and beyond as they play on the enrichment of large banisters and artificial vines that go across the whole habitat. A large river or stream takes zoo visitors around the Islands area, giving them dramatic and close viewing of the animals. In addition, other exhibits give an overlook of Asian small-clawed otters, black swans, galahs, Sulphur-crested cockatoos, and the Komodo dragon.
The Australia area showcases some of the most rarest animals on Earth that only few zoos have and few people have seen. The first area is the Kangaroo Walkabout, where visitors can literally walk into the actual enclosure at ground level to get as close as possible to red and grey kangaroos. The Roadhouse building is a nocturnal themed environment featuring 8 species like woylies, Prevost's squirrels, brown kiwis, fishing cats, Matschie's tree kangaroos, tiger quolls, feather-tailed gliders, and lesser dog-faced fruit bats all behind glass. Near the end of the building is a separate walk-through aviary with over 20 diurnal species from Asia and Australia like kookaburras, crowned pigeons, and crested porcupines. Outdoor enclosures give homes to koalas, and a co-existing bedroom that includes echidnas, woylies. The last area in the region is an outdoor flight cage called Lorikeet Garden, where visitors may walk into it and feed many rainbow, and Goldie's lorikeets.
Roadhouse Aviary: Straw-necked ibises, Indian whistling ducks, Malayan crestless firebacks, crested wood partridges, masked lapwings, Nicobar pigeons, bleeding heart pigeons, Victoria crowned pigeons, Jambu fruit doves, eastern rosellas, hooded pittas, Indian crested porcupines, fairy bluebirds, blue-faced honeyeaters, metallic starlings, Bali mynahs, grosbeak starlings, golden pheasants, Mariana fruit doves, white-throated ground doves, Javan pond herons, and pied-imperial pigeons.
Hope you like it. I am working on the gorilla and elephant history of the Columbus Zoo right now.
The wonderful Columbus Zoo is known for being rated the number zoo in America by magazines and other reviewers. I currently also lies first on my list and is my second favorite zoo I've been to. It has a total of over 6300 animals and about 800 species.
The North America region of the is the largest and the oldest animal attraction at the zoo. It consist of 13 large and natural habitats, including a 10,000 sq ft migratory songbird aviary home to over 40 species. Many native species from around the whole continent like trumpeter swans, timber wolves, Mexican wolves, black bears, grizzly bears, moose, prairie dogs, bison, pronghorn, pumas, bobcats, wolverines, and eagles. Near the end of the trail is a Wetlands area with man-made streams for North American river otters and freshwater fish like black crappies, blunt nosed minnows, and rainbow trouts. There is even Habitat Hollow with hundreds of rare barn animals. The Polar Frontier is also located in the region, it is the newest exhibit at the zoo and showcases Arctic foxes, brown and polar bears.
Songbird Aviary: American coots, American goldfinches, American robins, bobwhite quails, brown-headed cowbirds, catbirds, cedar waxings, eastern bluebirds, eastern meadowlarks, evening grosbeaks, fox sparrows, Harris sparrows, indigo buntings, killdeer plovers, mourning doves, North American ruddy ducks, northern cardinals, ovenbirds, palm warblers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, rufous-sided towhees, slate-colored juncos, soras, Swainson's thrushes, red-winged blackbirds, redhead ducks, Tennessee warblers, tufted titmouses, song sparrows, yellow rails, yellow-rumped warblers, white-throated sparrows, Wilson's warblers, and painted turtles.
Habitat Hallow: Ponies, angora goats, Sudanese Nubian goats, West African pygmy goats, La Mancha goats, Nigerian dwarf goats, Barbados blackbelly sheep, Karakul sheep, and Jacob's four-horned sheep.
Since 2006, Asia Quest has been exhibiting rare and endangered species in well-constructed habitats to attempt to get guests to understand the importance of conservation. The region is split up into two parts, each area divided by two of each indoor and outdoor viewing. The first area takes guests along a bridge over looking three habitats showcasing Chinese muntjacs, tufted deer, white-naped and red-crowned cranes. The first indoor building consists of six rare species behind glass including the sun bear bedroom. Visitors will observe water monitors, reticulated pythons, golden-mantled and large flying foxes, and silvery langurs. The next area features species that inhabit the high mountains of Asia including red pandas, Turkmenian markhors, Pallas' cats, and the endangered Amur tiger. There is also a walk-through pheasant aviary with roaming golden, Swinhoe's, and Reeve's pheasants. Lions are part of the region even though they are not an Asian species. Along the middle of the trail is the Pachyderm building housing Asian elephants and black rhinos in the largest building of it's kind.
The Shores region is divided up into four different sections containing a wide diverse collection of species from around the world. It opens with open-topped yards home to Caribbean flamingos, alligators, Aldabra tortoises, and Humboldt penguins. The Discovery Reef is the main aquarium part of the zoo housing hundreds of thousands of aquatic wildlife in a 88,000 gallon tank. Animals include coral, bamboo, epaulette, zebra, bonnethead, and black-tip sharks, basslets, pot-bellied seahorses, butterflyfish, tangs, horshoecrabs, and many more. Manatee Coast simulates the sights and sounds of the swampy biomes of Florida. The building has a retractable roof, allowing natural sunlight to shine on the exhibit during the warmer months. In the tank, porkfish, cownose and southern rays, sea turtles, and the zoo's Florida manatees fly through the water. The Reptile House is an all indoor facility containing the zoo's snakes, amphibians, lizards, turtles, and tortoises.
Reptile House Animals
Snakes: Dumeril's ground boas, Madagascar tree boas, Macklot's pythons, Savu Island pythons, scrub pythons, green tree pythons, blood pythons, Burmese pythons, black ratsnakes, radiated ratsnakes, false water cobras, Madagascar giant hognose snakes, black pine snakes, Louisiana pine snakes, king cobras, northern copperheads, eyelash vipers, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, Aruba Island rattlesnakes, timber rattlesnakes, and eastern Mississaugas.
Lizards: Leopard geckos, Standing's day geckos, New Caledonia giant geckos, Gila monsters, spiny-tailed iguanas, Grand Cayman blue iguanas, San Esteban Island chuckwallas, and prehensile-tailed skinks.
Turtles: McCord's snake-necked turtles, Siebenrock's snake-necked turtles, saw-shelled snapping turtles, spot-bellied side-necked turtles, yellow-spotted Amazon river turtles, fly river turtles, alligator snapping turtles, Annam leaf turtles, stripe-necked leaf turtles, black-breasted leaf turtles, Barbour's map turtles, yellow-blotched map turtles, Delta black-knobbed map turtles, eastern box turtles, Hispaniolan sliders, and Mesoamerican sliders.
Tortoises: Indian star tortoises
Invertebrates: Goliath birdeater tarantulas
Amphibians: Axolotls, Panamanian golden frogs, and eastern hellbenders.
The African Forest has been inhabiting animals from the Congo since the year 2000. Similar to the structure of Asia Quest, the region takes first guides visitors along a bridge while they face the species that are at eye level. It opens up with two, tall mesh enclosures showcasing Angolan colobus monkeys and African grey parrots. From a shelter and along the path, guests can walk past, and into an African aviary home to hundreds of birds ranging from large to small. African Forest also features the largest of all monkeys, mandrills, and one of the most stealthiest cat in Africa, leopards, with both indoor and outdoor viewing. Rare forest dwellers, okapis and black duikers, co-exist in two yards simulating the dense jungle of Central Africa. As the path swerves in all directions, it will take guests to the great apes. The zoo's vast expanding western lowland gorilla family lives in an un-natural environment, but are given the enrichment the apes enjoy the most, climbing and resting. Bars, steps, ropes, and tubes are placed around the cage, giving the apes the chance to spend the day completely off the grassy floor. In another lush, and dense forest environment, lives a large family of the closest living relative to humans, bonobos. This exhibit (along with the gorillas) allows guests to up-close with the apes, and giving them a chance to understand their smaller relatives. Red river hogs are also part of the attraction. In addition to this simulated forest, visitors are also given the chance to view the gorillas indoors in a semi-circular building. This building includes three bedrooms that surrounds the observers, giving the feeling for the guests that they actually live with the apes. Older and younger gorillas spend most of their day in here, including Colo, who was the first and is the oldest gorilla in captivity.
African Aviary: Cattle egrets, hamerkops, sacred ibises, hottentot teals, West African crowned cranes, East African crowned cranes, black crakes, buff-crested bustards, speckled pigeons, blue-throated carmine bee-eaters, racquet-tailed rollers, white-vented bulbuls, white-crowned robin chats, violet-backed starlings, and emerald starlings.
To the farthest, western part of the zoo lies the attraction that showcases two parts of the world that teem with some of the most exotic creatures on Earth. This region is called the Voyage to Australia and the Islands, featuring species from the land Down Under and the islands of southeast Asia. As guests first walk into the area, siamangs and lar gibbons greet them in a temple-themed habitat enclosed by bamboo bars. Behind this habitat is an island giving the gibbons space in the full outdoors. Orangutans venture above and beyond as they play on the enrichment of large banisters and artificial vines that go across the whole habitat. A large river or stream takes zoo visitors around the Islands area, giving them dramatic and close viewing of the animals. In addition, other exhibits give an overlook of Asian small-clawed otters, black swans, galahs, Sulphur-crested cockatoos, and the Komodo dragon.
The Australia area showcases some of the most rarest animals on Earth that only few zoos have and few people have seen. The first area is the Kangaroo Walkabout, where visitors can literally walk into the actual enclosure at ground level to get as close as possible to red and grey kangaroos. The Roadhouse building is a nocturnal themed environment featuring 8 species like woylies, Prevost's squirrels, brown kiwis, fishing cats, Matschie's tree kangaroos, tiger quolls, feather-tailed gliders, and lesser dog-faced fruit bats all behind glass. Near the end of the building is a separate walk-through aviary with over 20 diurnal species from Asia and Australia like kookaburras, crowned pigeons, and crested porcupines. Outdoor enclosures give homes to koalas, and a co-existing bedroom that includes echidnas, woylies. The last area in the region is an outdoor flight cage called Lorikeet Garden, where visitors may walk into it and feed many rainbow, and Goldie's lorikeets.
Roadhouse Aviary: Straw-necked ibises, Indian whistling ducks, Malayan crestless firebacks, crested wood partridges, masked lapwings, Nicobar pigeons, bleeding heart pigeons, Victoria crowned pigeons, Jambu fruit doves, eastern rosellas, hooded pittas, Indian crested porcupines, fairy bluebirds, blue-faced honeyeaters, metallic starlings, Bali mynahs, grosbeak starlings, golden pheasants, Mariana fruit doves, white-throated ground doves, Javan pond herons, and pied-imperial pigeons.
Hope you like it. I am working on the gorilla and elephant history of the Columbus Zoo right now.
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