Nocturnal Zoos in USA?
- Thread starter elefante
- Start date
There were rumors that Disney was going to open an adjunct facility to Animal Kingdom that sounds like it would be an American version of Singapore's Night Safari: Night Kingdom to reimagine the Disney-theme-park-going experience
Disney's Night Kingdom lives to see another day (sort of) with DAK's Wild Africa Trek
It seems to have been scuttled by the Great Recession, but maybe it will be revived at some point.
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
You need to have a warm climate all year to make something like this viable; probably combined with short travel distances and low crime rates. Singapore is perfect for an exercise like this. Not sure there are many other places in the world that could pull it off.
The San Diego Safari Park now has a permanent overnight camp program where you can spend the night there and there are nocturnal animal programs, tours, etc. so I guess that would functionally be a nocturnal safari park, albeit on a much smaller scale than an entire park like Singapore.
It would be tough in the US. It would probably only work in Florida, California, or Hawaii. Vegas could be an interesting location with its 24 hour culture but I'm not sure about the crime rate there or in CA or FL. The Disney ideas are interesting.
IanRRobinson
Well-Known Member
As a lover of small carnivores I would love to have something like this in the UK. I remember once, when I was a volunteer (docent ) at London leaving the Zoo after an open evening past the owl aviaries at about 9 o'clock at night. It was marvellous to see how active the birds were.
Sadly, the climate here just wouldn't make it viable.
Sadly, the climate here just wouldn't make it viable.
An equatorial light cycle is also important. When it is warm (summer) in most of the US or Europe, it doesn't get dark until quite late in the evening. In Singapore, nightfall is pretty consistent and relatively early.
The 2 main pre-requisites for a permanent night zoo are warm nighttime climate and a consistent day/night cycle. Neither of these elements are possible in temperate countries. Florida probably comes closest to having what it takes for a night zoo.
In any case, the night safari in China was shut some years back and turned into an amusement park (it wasn't as well-received as expected), while the one in Chiangmai Thailand technically isn't a dedicated night zoo as it opens in the day as well. Several Malaysian zoos also run permanent night tours.
In any case, the night safari in China was shut some years back and turned into an amusement park (it wasn't as well-received as expected), while the one in Chiangmai Thailand technically isn't a dedicated night zoo as it opens in the day as well. Several Malaysian zoos also run permanent night tours.
I would LOVE to see it happen, but others have well stated why it would not work in a temperate country. Surprisingly, although Florida is given as a possibility, why has no one mentioned Hawaii? Seems like the only U.S. state that could pull it off year round.
The better alternative is what zoos in the southwest are doing and that is evening hours in the summer. This may be my favorite time to visit a zoo. Here are the ones I know of and I would strongly recommend any of these to any ZooChatter who can make it.
San Diego Zoo - remain open until 9pm daily (late June through early September)
Phoenix Zoo - reopen from 6-9:30pm one Saturday per month (June through August)
Wildlife World Zoo - zoo section remain open until 6pm and aquarium section remain open until 9pm daily (year round)
Arizona Sonora Desert Museum - remain open until 10pm every Saturday (June through August)
Reid Park Zoo - reopen from 5-8pm every Friday (mid May through Mid August)
Rio Grande Zoo - remain open until 8pm every Wednesday (June through August)
The better alternative is what zoos in the southwest are doing and that is evening hours in the summer. This may be my favorite time to visit a zoo. Here are the ones I know of and I would strongly recommend any of these to any ZooChatter who can make it.
San Diego Zoo - remain open until 9pm daily (late June through early September)
Phoenix Zoo - reopen from 6-9:30pm one Saturday per month (June through August)
Wildlife World Zoo - zoo section remain open until 6pm and aquarium section remain open until 9pm daily (year round)
Arizona Sonora Desert Museum - remain open until 10pm every Saturday (June through August)
Reid Park Zoo - reopen from 5-8pm every Friday (mid May through Mid August)
Rio Grande Zoo - remain open until 8pm every Wednesday (June through August)
ungulate nerd
Well-Known Member
Perhaps the San Diego Zoological Society could start a nocturnal zoo, they have the money and a big enough title, but then both ZSSD parks can be open until pretty late, perhaps even the Wildlife Conservation Society can start a nocturnal zoo, they have a big enough name, but like IanRRobinson was saying a warm climate all year round might be key and New York City obviosly dosnt have that, another good place for a nocturnal zoo would be Hawaii, they have a warm climate, even Florida or Texas could work too because of there warm climates
San Diego Zoo does stay open late in summer, which I think is probably the best they can do. Considering the massive resources required to run their two existing zos, I doubt they could start a third (especially since it would be too cold for much of the winter to be open at night). However, you mention both parks and it is a real shame that they no longer keep the Safari Park open at night in summer like they used to.
As for my previous list of Southwest Zoos, we can add Dallas Zoo to the list as of summer 2013, but need to remove Rio Grande Zoo which only did their evening program in 2011 but then discontinued it.
As for my previous list of Southwest Zoos, we can add Dallas Zoo to the list as of summer 2013, but need to remove Rio Grande Zoo which only did their evening program in 2011 but then discontinued it.
ungulate nerd
Well-Known Member
Thats exactly what I heard, I actually heard that they wont even let Honolulu Zoo have snakes in there reptile house
As I understand they also only allow male meerkats since Hawaii already has a mongoose problem.
PaleoZooLogic
Member
I was just looking for this! Anyone know if there are any zoos open during the night or 24 hours?
I am not aware of any zoos that are open in the night on a normal basis, even some of the zoos mentioned above are not doing it any longer. Some have special events or nights they are open, of course. There are some aquariums that stay open until 9PM.
Some zoos in the Southwest are open early, Phoenix Zoo opens at 6AM for members (June through August) for example.