Zoogoer2000
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone.Hope your all having a great summer.I just wanted to post a review about National Zoo.I visited in March 2007 and was blown away at its sheer beauty and detail.I'd beeen visiting its website for years anad when Tai Shan was born (fingers crossed for a second birth) i visited the site everyday to check updates.I became a Tai Shan fan bigtime.Back to subject im going to do a throrough review.
Asia Trail:This was the first exhibit of the day.It is in my young mind the best northern asian exhibit i've ever seen.The rockwork and planting is spectacular and there is so much graphic it was unreal!It was extremely immersive,cultural and habitat wise.The sloth bears have beatifal rocky habitats with tall glass panels and boardwalk overlooks for spectacular viewing.We saw Balawat and Hana in the first yard slurping up stuff from termite mounds as we sat and watched at a very well blended ampitheater.There was a very comprehensive education station that talking about all sorts of stuff and it was again state of the art!The second sloth bear habitat was just as great.Merlin was pacing but it was because there old habitat was terrible and he's just adjusting.It was still very large and could be seen from a board walk and from a glass panel at the education station.Following along was a very naturalistic clouded leopard that was sadly,covered in mesh but it was actually ok because they used a harp-wire netting that was basically invisble from the viewing.The two cats were busy dashing around,eating and playing pounce.They then tired out and went to sleep on a heated branch extremely close for a great encounter.It was bamboo galor in there and they seemed to love it.The viewing had a balance branch for children and like every habitat,tons of signage!The next habitats were a set of rocky harpwire habitats for a pair of fishing cats.Again,it was very autentic and they were extremely active.I guess they decided to fill up the little pools (it was a very hot day even for March) and they were fishing goldfish out.They even had underwater fiewing panels so we saw they dive in!It went up at the back with alot of rockwork and plants.There is also a secong one that is basically the same except for no underwater viewing.There is a thing that takes a motion snapshot of you and it talks about the ones they use in Asia and other countrys.Basically right next door is a fantastic small clawed otter exhibit.The first part is the Otter Training Staion with is a vbig rockwork wall with underwater viewing into the pool complete with a small water fall and a trickling creek that runs through the habitat.You can also view the six boistrous brothers from a nice overlook into there flooded forest habitat with lots of logs,grass and rocks.Also along the trail at every habitat is a big sign of the animal your look ing at called an Adaption sign.It has pull out things all over it talking about the adaption of the species.Continuing,you come across a very rocky,autchentic red poanda habitat.It has lots of foliages,trees,rocks,a trickling stream and tons of rocky ledges which make it extremly great.The can be viewed from several windows and overlooks and peeks.The highlight of the trail is right next door,The Fujifilm Giant Panda Habiat which consists of 4 outdoor yards and 5 indoor rooms.The yards new yards are extremely rocky,lots of logs,tons of trees,little pools and are very close to a chinese forest.They can be seen from huge walkway lookouts and large glass panels underneath.There are also large cool and misty caves which are great.The older exhibits are long,narowish yards with many trees,rocks and pools.There is also a nice but hard to see giant salmander habitat near by.The indoor rooms have beatifal murals on the walls and ech has a rocky little mountain for exercise and depth.The indoor area has a vast amount of stuff including signs,wallgraphics,murals,conservation items and even touch,see and smell stations.There are also computer monitor stations where you can play games such as make a conservation site,desicion station,Panda SSP and more.There is alot more stuff I did'nt mention but you'll just have to go to the zoo,won't you!Oh ya,there is also a bamboo storage room and they use bamboo extensively at the zoo!!!Rating:5 out
Cheetah Conservation Station:The Cheetah Area is pretty good size and aethistically wise.There five yards circling a large holding building plus two other yards.The first is a grassy knoll with a few trees an rocks for three maned wolves.There is no glass viewing in this complex which kind of sucks but there is little mesh.The next area is another paddock with a few rock;s and a tree for scimitar horned oryx.There are two and apparently lthere is now a dama gazelle with them now?Two yards are th highlights and its namesake...The cheetahs.There are a few trees in each one,logs,rocks and termite mounds that also serve as caves.There is also a chasing lure in the larger yard for them.The current cheetahs are Draco,Granger,Zabini and Amani but when i was there it was Zazi,Tumai who are now at the off site breeding facility and Ume who died of health complications because he was struck by lighting at 18 months.They were pretty active and Ume was trying wanting in.The last circle habitat is a home for bachelor zebra.The male was getting very boistrous and well,um..."turned on" per say.He inhabited aa nice grassy,rocky yard with an overlook.The other two grassy yards inhabited emu,tammar wallaby and spekes gazelle.Rating 3 of 5.
Elephant House:The Elephant House is one of the oldest building on zoo grounds.It may be old but inside it is still very beatifal with handpainted murals and floer plus beautifal tile walkways.The problem is that the animals have inaqequate yards.Some are extremely small while others are ok.The capybaras and pygmy hippos have the smallest and worst though with graveloutdoor yards that are extrely tiny and horrendously small indoor quarters.The murals are good,its just the tiny pools and cramped spaces that are bothersome which is why there leaving like everythingin here but the elephants.The next worst is the hippos who have an ok sized pool but terribly sized indoor land areas.There are two little sides leading to the pool and then a nice outdoor meadow type yard.There is a nice pool but he will be leaving soon.I know this may sound strange to many but the elphants have the best area here.I know its still not very good but atleast they have three dirt yards,three pools, and they must walk a bit to get beetween yards.The indoor rooms ar the worst as they are tiny and concrete but they basically always have access outdoors except for during heavy heavy snow orr a shower or anything like that.They can beviewing from many overlooks and we saw the training session with Shanti and Ambika (who is 60 this year,you'd think that an elephant that age would live in some 7 acre field but she live in about 2000 sq ft area with good joints and one health scare earlier in January.There is also a sub-adult named Kandula who was born to Shanti in November 2001.There also used to be giraffes in a nice grasst field and an indoor room with a great mural.The zoo is currently building a great new habitat due for 2011.Rating:2 of 5
Bird House:The Bird House is another historical and beatifal building here.It has great harpwire habitats for its inhabitants which are stunning and spectacular.There is also a nightroom for kiwis and a large indoor free-flight room with a ground and canopy level.This jungle room also has many great species and is very nice.After all the indoor areas you come to the outdoor areas for many species including flamingos,cranes,cassowaries and rheas.The highlight is a massive,90 foot tall net aviray covering about 5000 sq ft.There are crreks,foliage,logs,trres and loots of other stuff here.The birds are amazing to watch as they take flight and are actually quite tame with hammerkops that wil run up to you.The building and surrounding yards are some of the best ive seen.Rating:5 of 5
i'll do every exhibit after it tommorrow
Asia Trail:This was the first exhibit of the day.It is in my young mind the best northern asian exhibit i've ever seen.The rockwork and planting is spectacular and there is so much graphic it was unreal!It was extremely immersive,cultural and habitat wise.The sloth bears have beatifal rocky habitats with tall glass panels and boardwalk overlooks for spectacular viewing.We saw Balawat and Hana in the first yard slurping up stuff from termite mounds as we sat and watched at a very well blended ampitheater.There was a very comprehensive education station that talking about all sorts of stuff and it was again state of the art!The second sloth bear habitat was just as great.Merlin was pacing but it was because there old habitat was terrible and he's just adjusting.It was still very large and could be seen from a board walk and from a glass panel at the education station.Following along was a very naturalistic clouded leopard that was sadly,covered in mesh but it was actually ok because they used a harp-wire netting that was basically invisble from the viewing.The two cats were busy dashing around,eating and playing pounce.They then tired out and went to sleep on a heated branch extremely close for a great encounter.It was bamboo galor in there and they seemed to love it.The viewing had a balance branch for children and like every habitat,tons of signage!The next habitats were a set of rocky harpwire habitats for a pair of fishing cats.Again,it was very autentic and they were extremely active.I guess they decided to fill up the little pools (it was a very hot day even for March) and they were fishing goldfish out.They even had underwater fiewing panels so we saw they dive in!It went up at the back with alot of rockwork and plants.There is also a secong one that is basically the same except for no underwater viewing.There is a thing that takes a motion snapshot of you and it talks about the ones they use in Asia and other countrys.Basically right next door is a fantastic small clawed otter exhibit.The first part is the Otter Training Staion with is a vbig rockwork wall with underwater viewing into the pool complete with a small water fall and a trickling creek that runs through the habitat.You can also view the six boistrous brothers from a nice overlook into there flooded forest habitat with lots of logs,grass and rocks.Also along the trail at every habitat is a big sign of the animal your look ing at called an Adaption sign.It has pull out things all over it talking about the adaption of the species.Continuing,you come across a very rocky,autchentic red poanda habitat.It has lots of foliages,trees,rocks,a trickling stream and tons of rocky ledges which make it extremly great.The can be viewed from several windows and overlooks and peeks.The highlight of the trail is right next door,The Fujifilm Giant Panda Habiat which consists of 4 outdoor yards and 5 indoor rooms.The yards new yards are extremely rocky,lots of logs,tons of trees,little pools and are very close to a chinese forest.They can be seen from huge walkway lookouts and large glass panels underneath.There are also large cool and misty caves which are great.The older exhibits are long,narowish yards with many trees,rocks and pools.There is also a nice but hard to see giant salmander habitat near by.The indoor rooms have beatifal murals on the walls and ech has a rocky little mountain for exercise and depth.The indoor area has a vast amount of stuff including signs,wallgraphics,murals,conservation items and even touch,see and smell stations.There are also computer monitor stations where you can play games such as make a conservation site,desicion station,Panda SSP and more.There is alot more stuff I did'nt mention but you'll just have to go to the zoo,won't you!Oh ya,there is also a bamboo storage room and they use bamboo extensively at the zoo!!!Rating:5 out
Cheetah Conservation Station:The Cheetah Area is pretty good size and aethistically wise.There five yards circling a large holding building plus two other yards.The first is a grassy knoll with a few trees an rocks for three maned wolves.There is no glass viewing in this complex which kind of sucks but there is little mesh.The next area is another paddock with a few rock;s and a tree for scimitar horned oryx.There are two and apparently lthere is now a dama gazelle with them now?Two yards are th highlights and its namesake...The cheetahs.There are a few trees in each one,logs,rocks and termite mounds that also serve as caves.There is also a chasing lure in the larger yard for them.The current cheetahs are Draco,Granger,Zabini and Amani but when i was there it was Zazi,Tumai who are now at the off site breeding facility and Ume who died of health complications because he was struck by lighting at 18 months.They were pretty active and Ume was trying wanting in.The last circle habitat is a home for bachelor zebra.The male was getting very boistrous and well,um..."turned on" per say.He inhabited aa nice grassy,rocky yard with an overlook.The other two grassy yards inhabited emu,tammar wallaby and spekes gazelle.Rating 3 of 5.
Elephant House:The Elephant House is one of the oldest building on zoo grounds.It may be old but inside it is still very beatifal with handpainted murals and floer plus beautifal tile walkways.The problem is that the animals have inaqequate yards.Some are extremely small while others are ok.The capybaras and pygmy hippos have the smallest and worst though with graveloutdoor yards that are extrely tiny and horrendously small indoor quarters.The murals are good,its just the tiny pools and cramped spaces that are bothersome which is why there leaving like everythingin here but the elephants.The next worst is the hippos who have an ok sized pool but terribly sized indoor land areas.There are two little sides leading to the pool and then a nice outdoor meadow type yard.There is a nice pool but he will be leaving soon.I know this may sound strange to many but the elphants have the best area here.I know its still not very good but atleast they have three dirt yards,three pools, and they must walk a bit to get beetween yards.The indoor rooms ar the worst as they are tiny and concrete but they basically always have access outdoors except for during heavy heavy snow orr a shower or anything like that.They can beviewing from many overlooks and we saw the training session with Shanti and Ambika (who is 60 this year,you'd think that an elephant that age would live in some 7 acre field but she live in about 2000 sq ft area with good joints and one health scare earlier in January.There is also a sub-adult named Kandula who was born to Shanti in November 2001.There also used to be giraffes in a nice grasst field and an indoor room with a great mural.The zoo is currently building a great new habitat due for 2011.Rating:2 of 5
Bird House:The Bird House is another historical and beatifal building here.It has great harpwire habitats for its inhabitants which are stunning and spectacular.There is also a nightroom for kiwis and a large indoor free-flight room with a ground and canopy level.This jungle room also has many great species and is very nice.After all the indoor areas you come to the outdoor areas for many species including flamingos,cranes,cassowaries and rheas.The highlight is a massive,90 foot tall net aviray covering about 5000 sq ft.There are crreks,foliage,logs,trres and loots of other stuff here.The birds are amazing to watch as they take flight and are actually quite tame with hammerkops that wil run up to you.The building and surrounding yards are some of the best ive seen.Rating:5 of 5
i'll do every exhibit after it tommorrow
