Potawatomi Zoo Potawatomi Species List and Review

[Persephone]

There are a lot of caveats before we can get into this. To start with, I went during Holiday Lights. Almost all of the zoo was open, even if a lot of animals weren't outside or visible. Some animals that I know are there from the website and past visits weren't signed. I will still list them in my species list. Two parts, the boardwalk and the play area, were closed. I know the animals in the former. I do not know what was in the latter. Finally, the website does list their ambassador animals. Obviously I am not able to double check this. Take it with a pile of salt given how out of date the rest of the website is.

So. Review. I'm not really going to split this into sections because the zoo only notes two sections on the map: the learning center and everything else. This is fine because it's a 23 acre zoo. I got through it in 90 minutes while taking my sweet time and ordering multiple hot chocolates. That's about on par with my daytime trips. In the last few years the zoo has gotten rid of their worst exhibits through a combination of species replacements and new enclosures. I wouldn't say any stand out as exceptional except maybe the sand cat. They get a pretty large indoor space with a lot of toys, including baskets hanging a few feet off the ground. All four cats were sleeping in their own basket when I passed by. There's a new black bear exhibit under construction that actually looks really good. Overall, almost all exhibits are passable without being exceptional. Except the leopard / snow leopard. I don't know why those species never get the same space as other big cats, but it's disheartening to see it here. I really hope that the two eventually get combined.

As for the zoo lights... I wouldn't recommend coming in winter. The lights aren't actually that good, the only seasonal species is domestic reindeer, and pretty much nothing is visible. The Amur leopard was active early in the evening. So were the muntjacs. A few of the species with well-lit indoor exhibits were active. Even the sloths were moving. The mother-child pair were cuddling and another was actually eating. One of the goats briefly came out and approached the fence. The reindeer were moving. The giraffes were being fed indoors. End of list. Everything else was either motionless or unseen. There's a special encounter at 4:30 p.m. where you can apparently see an animal paint. Maybe that's worth it. Maybe not. I don't know if it's an upcharge but I assume it is.

I actually do like this zoo. This was just a kind of terrible way to experience it.

Anyway, species list.

Learning Center

There were a lot of empty exhibits and I have no idea what's usually in them. I don't make a note if there was no signage and they appeared to be completely empty.

Italics is unseen.

Black Throated Monitor
Fennec Fox
Banded Mongoose
Northern Tree Shrew
Golfudulcean Poison Dart Frog
Malaysian Scorpion* (Exhibit View Blocked Off By Newspaper)
Tokay Gecko
Green and Black Poison Dart Frog
White-Faced Saki Monkey
Golden Lion Tamarin, Linne’s Two-Toed Sloth
Linne’s Two-Toed Sloth, Geoffrey’s Marmoset, Sunbittern
Emerald Tree Boa
Veiled Chameleon
Prehensile-Tailed Skink
Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
Spotted Turtle
Standing’s Day Gecko
Eastern Tiger Salamander
Splash-Back Poison Dart Frog
Axolotl
Shingleback Snake
Mandarin Rat Snake
Giant Waxy Tree Frog
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake
Feeder Cricket (and also probably something else but it was unsigned and I didn’t see it)
Spiny-tailed Monitor
Blue Poison Dart Frog, Amazon Tree Boa
Black Tree Monitor (Exhibit was stripped bare, I doubt they’re actually on display)
Sand Cat

Red Panda, Reeve’s Muntjac
Galapagos Tortoise, Radiated Tortoise
Blue-and-Gold Macaw, Green-Winged Macaw, Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
Capybara, Giant Anteater
Mexican Spider Monkey
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Squirrel Monkey, Black Howler Monkey, Red-Rumped Agouti, Unsigned Green Iguana
[Boardwalk Closed. It holds prairie dogs, emu, and grey kangaroos.]
Laughing Kookaburra, Blue-Faced Honeyeater
Ivory Billed Aracari
Domestic Reindeer
Chacoan Peccary
Barred Owl
Bobcat
American Bison, Turkey Vulture
North American River Otter
Eastern Screech Owl
Red-Billed Blue Magpie
Masai Giraffe, Ostrich, Marabou Stork, Plains Zebra
Amur Leopard
Snow Leopard
Alpaca
Domestic Goat
Domestic Chicken
Domestic Rabbit
Pot-Bellied Pig
Unsigned Domestic Turkey
Trumpeter Hornbill
Black and White Colobus
[Play Area Closed, no idea what's usually there]
Painted Dog
African Lion
American Flamingo
Black Crowned Crane, Saddle-Billed Stork, Greater Kudu
Diana Monkey
Andean Bear
Crested Screamer
Okapi
Southern White Rhino
Sichuan Takin
Siberian Tiger

Ambassadors Listed On Zoo Website, Not Seen Elsewhere

Northern Blue-Tongued Skink
Emperor Scorpion
Spider Tortoise
New Mexico Spadefoot
Sugar Glider
Leopard Gecko
Bearded Dragon
Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec
Honduran Milk Snake
American Bullfrog
Virginia Opossum
Red-Tailed Hawk
Chinchilla

 

[Spike]

There are a lot of caveats before we can get into this. To start with, I went during Holiday Lights. Almost all of the zoo was open, even if a lot of animals weren't outside or visible. Some animals that I know are there from the website and past visits weren't signed. I will still list them in my species list. Two parts, the boardwalk and the play area, were closed. I know the animals in the former. I do not know what was in the latter. Finally, the website does list their ambassador animals. Obviously I am not able to double check this. Take it with a pile of salt given how out of date the rest of the website is.

So. Review. I'm not really going to split this into sections because the zoo only notes two sections on the map: the learning center and everything else. This is fine because it's a 23 acre zoo. I got through it in 90 minutes while taking my sweet time and ordering multiple hot chocolates. That's about on par with my daytime trips. In the last few years the zoo has gotten rid of their worst exhibits through a combination of species replacements and new enclosures. I wouldn't say any stand out as exceptional except maybe the sand cat. They get a pretty large indoor space with a lot of toys, including baskets hanging a few feet off the ground. All four cats were sleeping in their own basket when I passed by. There's a new black bear exhibit under construction that actually looks really good. Overall, almost all exhibits are passable without being exceptional. Except the leopard / snow leopard. I don't know why those species never get the same space as other big cats, but it's disheartening to see it here. I really hope that the two eventually get combined.

As for the zoo lights... I wouldn't recommend coming in winter. The lights aren't actually that good, the only seasonal species is domestic reindeer, and pretty much nothing is visible. The Amur leopard was active early in the evening. So were the muntjacs. A few of the species with well-lit indoor exhibits were active. Even the sloths were moving. The mother-child pair were cuddling and another was actually eating. One of the goats briefly came out and approached the fence. The reindeer were moving. The giraffes were being fed indoors. End of list. Everything else was either motionless or unseen. There's a special encounter at 4:30 p.m. where you can apparently see an animal paint. Maybe that's worth it. Maybe not. I don't know if it's an upcharge but I assume it is.

I actually do like this zoo. This was just a kind of terrible way to experience it.

Anyway, species list.

Learning Center

There were a lot of empty exhibits and I have no idea what's usually in them. I don't make a note if there was no signage and they appeared to be completely empty.

Italics is unseen.

Black Throated Monitor
Fennec Fox
Banded Mongoose
Northern Tree Shrew
Golfudulcean Poison Dart Frog
Malaysian Scorpion* (Exhibit View Blocked Off By Newspaper)
Tokay Gecko
Green and Black Poison Dart Frog
White-Faced Saki Monkey
Golden Lion Tamarin, Linne’s Two-Toed Sloth
Linne’s Two-Toed Sloth, Geoffrey’s Marmoset, Sunbittern
Emerald Tree Boa
Veiled Chameleon
Prehensile-Tailed Skink
Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
Spotted Turtle
Standing’s Day Gecko
Eastern Tiger Salamander
Splash-Back Poison Dart Frog
Axolotl
Shingleback Snake
Mandarin Rat Snake
Giant Waxy Tree Frog
Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake
Feeder Cricket (and also probably something else but it was unsigned and I didn’t see it)
Spiny-tailed Monitor
Blue Poison Dart Frog, Amazon Tree Boa
Black Tree Monitor (Exhibit was stripped bare, I doubt they’re actually on display)
Sand Cat

Red Panda, Reeve’s Muntjac
Galapagos Tortoise, Radiated Tortoise
Blue-and-Gold Macaw, Green-Winged Macaw, Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
Capybara, Giant Anteater
Mexican Spider Monkey
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Squirrel Monkey, Black Howler Monkey, Red-Rumped Agouti, Unsigned Green Iguana
[Boardwalk Closed. It holds prairie dogs, emu, and grey kangaroos.]
Laughing Kookaburra, Blue-Faced Honeyeater
Ivory Billed Aracari
Domestic Reindeer
Chacoan Peccary
Barred Owl
Bobcat
American Bison, Turkey Vulture
North American River Otter
Eastern Screech Owl
Red-Billed Blue Magpie
Masai Giraffe, Ostrich, Marabou Stork, Plains Zebra
Amur Leopard
Snow Leopard
Alpaca
Domestic Goat
Domestic Chicken
Domestic Rabbit
Pot-Bellied Pig
Unsigned Domestic Turkey
Trumpeter Hornbill
Black and White Colobus
[Play Area Closed, no idea what's usually there]
Painted Dog
African Lion
American Flamingo
Black Crowned Crane, Saddle-Billed Stork, Greater Kudu
Diana Monkey
Andean Bear
Crested Screamer
Okapi
Southern White Rhino
Sichuan Takin
Siberian Tiger

Ambassadors Listed On Zoo Website, Not Seen Elsewhere

Northern Blue-Tongued Skink
Emperor Scorpion
Spider Tortoise
New Mexico Spadefoot
Sugar Glider
Leopard Gecko
Bearded Dragon
Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec
Honduran Milk Snake
American Bullfrog
Virginia Opossum
Red-Tailed Hawk
Chinchilla

How was the giraffe exhibit? From i what I’ve seen it seems to be one of the best at a small zoo.

 

[Persephone]

How was the giraffe exhibit? From i what I’ve seen it seems to be one of the best at a small zoo.

It’s pretty good, especially now that there are a few more cold hardy species in there. The giraffes don’t have access to the full thing because of some barriers and a moat but they still have over an acre. Maybe two. The indoor area is one of the better I’ve seen. That’s partially because the bar is really low for those.

 

[Persephone]

Potawatomi is closed for most of their off-season, with the exception of evenings in November and December and afternoons every other weekend in January, February, and March. I went today. The three hours they’re open is more than enough to see the whole zoo. I will say that this could be unpleasant on even colder days as there simply aren’t many buildings. The only large one is at the very entrance. The giraffe house is towards the midpoint but was very crowded.

I tried to duck into the restaurant for a quick bite to warm up, but they were so backed up that they wouldn’t even take my order. Ended up doing the second half pretty quickly.

A few things I didn’t note in the last species list:

-Indian Peafowl wander the zoo when it’s warmer.
-Blanding’s Turtles and North American Porcupine are the only species in the kids play area.
-They also have red kangaroo on the boardwalk.

Domestic rabbits are no longer signed in the farm. Domestic donkeys were in the final large barnyard exhibit. They still are not signed.

The trumpeter hornbills are no longer signed by the colobus monekys. The two exhibits there are now occupied by groundhogs and an unsigned North American (?) porcupine.

The ambassador red-tailed hawk was in the kookaburra aviary. The turkey vultures were in the kudu exhibit instead of with the bison.

There were a lot of changes in the Discovery Center, most of which had probably been made at the time of my last visit but the signage hadn’t been updated to reflect it.

-Malaysian Scorpion
-Fennec Fox
+Yellow-Footed Tortoise
-Prehensile-Tailed Skink
-Standing Day Gecko
-Giant Waxy Tree Frog
-Shingleback Snake
-Mandarin Rat Snake

The sand cats had “temporarily off exhibit” signage. The black tree monitors still weren’t present but the exhibit they’re signed for seemed to be much farther along in construction. There was an unsigned snake in the terrarium I only saw feeder crickets in last time. The South American exhibits had their species changed. No losses, just the addition of yellow-footed tortoises and maybe another species I couldn’t readily identify. Maybe the radiated that are outdoors in the summer? Maybe even a young Galapagos.

A lot of species were active due to the cold weather or novelty of having visitors after twelve days without. The tree shrews were scurrying around. The bobcat was pacing by the glass. The howler monkeys were howling. The prairie dogs were barking. Even the red pandas were moving. Most of the flamingos chose to be outside. Two species I was hoping to see active in cold weather, the otters and tigers, were a bust. The otters were asleep and I didn’t see the tigers at all.

In better lighting a few of the exhibits seem kind of small. It’s inevitable in a zoo of this size. The kudu yard feels like it should be merged with the adjacent enclosure and ideally the moat. The rhino exhibit is one of the smallest I’ve seen for the species. None of the Asian big cat exhibits are very large.

Overall, still a solid small city zoo.

 

[FlyingGrayson]

The tortoises under the white-faced sakis are red-footed tortoises. And the fencing around the moat was due to the kudu calf born last fall. They normally have access to the moat.

 

[Persephone]

Remember how last year I said it wasn’t worth going to the lights? Guess who ignored that advice.

It’s been a fairly good year for Potawatomi. The new spectacled bear exhibit and restaurant is a solid addition. There have been a few notable births. No particularly important species have left the collection. They even finished the Learning Center refurbishment.

The lights were better than I remembered. Animal viewing was predictably terrible. I saw the Amur leopard, red panda, and muntjac active right at the start. Then not much of anything outside of the animals with indoor viewing.

The old lion exhibit is now signed for a future colobus monkey area. That’s cool. If they add a lot of verticality it could be one of the better exhibits for the species. Curious what they do with the old colobus area afterwards. I feel like they could demolish it and the kids area to have some good space to work with.

The turkey exhibit has been taken down. Pretty much none of the farm area was signed and I only saw the alpaca / goats. I wonder if that’s getting caught up in renovations, too, or if they’ve just sent loaned domestics away for the winter like some zoos do.

One of the howler monkeys hates me. I have no idea what I did to him. It can be months between visits. Doesn’t matter. The moment I come around he will come as close to me as he can, follow me around, and keep trying to intimidate me into leaving. I repeat: I have not done anything to this monkey. I’m a very quiet visitor. I’m just very confused at this point.

Anyway, onto the list. Italics means I didn’t see it. Get ready for a lot of that.

Learning Center

Boa Constrictor
Fennec Fox
Banded Mongoose
Northern Tree Shrew
Western Hognose Snake
Blue Tongued Skink
Tokay Gecko
Sunbittern, Geoffroy’s Marmoset, Linne’s Two-Toed Sloth, Radiated Tortoise
White-Faced Saki Monkey
Golfudulcean Poison-Dart Frog
Veiled Chameleon
Waxy Monkey Tree Frog
Linne’s Two-Toed Sloth, Golden Lion Tamarin
Madagascar Hissing Cocktoach
Spotted Turtle
Standing’s Day Gecko
Eastern Tiger Salamander
Carrot-Tailed Viper Gecko
Mandarin Rat Snake
Black Tree Monitor
Axolotl
Frilled Lizard
Prehensile-Tailed Skink
Unsigned Terrarium
Emerald Tree Boa
Spiny-Tailed Monitor
Blue Poison Dart Frog, Amazon Tree Boa
Black Tree Monitor
Sand Cat

Free Roaming: Indian Peafowl

Amur Leopard
Red Panda, Reeve’s Muntjac
Galapagos Tortoise (Sp?)
Southern Screamer
Mexican Spider Monkey (A. g. vellerosus)
Green-Winged Macaw, Blue-and-Gold Macaw, Military Macaw, Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
Giant Anteater, Capybara
Ring-Tailed Lemur
Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
Western Grey Kangaroo, Red Kangaroo
Emu
Squirrel Monkey (S. sciureus), Black Howler Monkey, Red Rumped Agouti, Green Iguana
American Alligator
Red-Billed Blue Magpie
Laughing Kookaburra, Blue-Faced Honeycreeper
Chacoan Peccary
Eastern Screech Owl
Red Fox
Bobcat
Spectacled Bear
North American Bison
North American River Otter
Ivory-Billed Aracari
Snow Leopard
Masai Giraffe, Common Ostrich, Plains Zebra, Marabou Stork
African Lion
Red River Hog
African Wild Dog
American Flamingo
Greater Kudu, Saddle-Billed Stork, Black-Crowned Crane
Diana Monkey
Empty Exhibit (Future Colobus)
Southern Ground Hornbill
Okapi
Common Genet
Groundhog
Trumpeter Hornbill
Black-and-White Colobus
North American Porcupine, Blanding’s Turtle
Unsigned Exhibit (Pot-Bellied Pig)
Unsigned Exhibit (Domestic Chicken)
Unsigned Exhibit (Jersey Cow / Miniature Donkey)
Unsigned Exhibit (Domestic Rabbit)
Miniature Nubian Goat, La Mancha Goat, Nigerian Dwarf Goat
Alpaca
Okapi
Southern White Rhino
Sichuan Takin
Amur Tiger

Ambassadors

Only source is the website

Giant African Millipede
Leopard Gecko
Western Tiger Salamander
Virginia Opossum
Guinea Pig
Bearded Dragon
Geyr’s Spiny-Tailed Lizard
Emperor Scorpion
Brown Rat
Crested Gecko
Red-Tailed Hawk
Striped Skunk
African Bullfrog
Pancake Tortoise
Spider Tortoise
Chinchilla
Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec
Honduran Milk Snake
Argentine Black and White Tegu
Barred Owl
Southern Tamandua
Sugar Glider
Kenyan Sand Boa