rank the US top population cities zoos

J

jaguar78

Well-Known Member
according the the latest census the following is a list of the top 20 cities by population in the US. I would like comments on ranking the zoos of these top 20 cities:
new york, ny, LA, chicago, houston, phoenix, philly, san antonio, san diego, dallas, san jose, detroit, SF, jacksonville, Indy, Austin, Columbus, Fort Worth, charlotte, memphis and boston

To start with of the top population cities in US I have not seen the following zoos:
LA, Houston, San Jose, Austin, Memphis - I hear Memphis and Houston may be the best of the five I have not seen and don't know much about the other 3.

my favorites of the rest are as follows:
1. Tough call but I would put Columbus and Ft. Worth as a tie. Both are very good zoos
2.San Diego
3.Jacksonville - tough to find a better South American exhibit than that one
4.Chicago - Lincoln Park - best inner city zoo, sorry Bronx.
5.Philly/New York - Bronx - two other older, city zoos.....great animal collections at both....Philly cat exhibit is great. NY jungle house, tiger and snow leopard exhibits are great as well.
6. North Carolina - Charlotte - best use of space for animals....huge exhibits...can only imagine how great they can be with continued expansion and creation of continent exhibits.
7.San antonio - new african exhibits are very good.....other older exhibits need some work but I like their future plan
8.Indy/Dallas - both are smaller zoos for big cities.....nicer African exhibits for both. Indy is landlocked so I am not sure what can be done to expand.
9.Phoenix - I may be off on this one as I have not been there in years and from my view of their website and map it looks much improved.
10.Detroit - I hear budget issues in Detroit threatens the zoo. Best Polar Bear exhibit and nice size exhibits throughout zoo. Needs some updating but is nice.

Bottom Two: Boston and SF. Both are not anywhere near the other zoos. Extremely dispointed in Franklin Park in Boston which is their main zoo. SF is very disappointing as well. They have a newer african exhibit which is nice but the rest of the zoo is in poor shape. Surprised me alot since their are alot of liberal, animal activists on the west coast. Would rather see both these two zoos closed and transfer the animals to zoos that would provide better for them. Both need to get up with the times.
 
I am surprised you rank San Antonio above Dallas. I doubt anyone else on this forum would - but we all like zoos for different reasons.

(Note - I have edited this to reword it from my initial post, which was unnecessarily harsh. My sincere apologies to Jaguar78 if he or she saw the first version.)
 
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Ok, now everyone can get even with me for questioning someone else's opinion (which of course they are entitled to). Here is my list, which you are free to rip apart. I think some people might be especially surprised at which one I chose as number one.

1) Memphis Zoo
2) Dallas Zoo
3) San Diego Zoo
4) Bronx Zoo (NYC)
5) Fort Worth Zoo
6) Houston Zoo
7) Columbus Zoo
8) Indianapolis Zoo
9) Philadelphia Zoo
10) Phoenix Zoo
11) Los Angeles Zoo
12) San Antonio Zoo

Never been to the ones in Chicago, San Jose, Detroit, San Francisco, Jacksonville, Austin, Charlotte, Boston.
 
Wow!! Arizona..

No Woodland Park,Smithsonian,Atlanta?...

My wife is from Chattanooga and we are yet to visit any zoos together but you recommend Memphis?

I thought it was one of the worse but ok will give it a try. :)
 
Perhaps a better list would be by metro area, since that is really more relevant than strict city boundaries that tends to compare apples with oranges.

In that case, the metros, with the accredited zoos and aquaria that serve them, would be:
1. New York - Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Staten Island Zoo, New York Aquarium
2. Los Angeles - Los Angeles Zoo, Santa Ana Zoo, Aquarium of the Pacific, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
3. Chicago - Lincoln Park Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, Cosley Zoo, Shedd Aquarium
4. Dallas-Fort Worth - Dallas Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Dallas World Aquarium
5. Philadelphia - Philadelphia Zoo, Adventure Aquarium
6. Houston - Houston Zoo
7. Miami - Zoo Miami, Miami Seaquarium
8. Washington - Smithsonian National Zoo
9. Atlanta - Zoo Atlanta, Georgia Aquarium
10. Boston - Franklin Park Zoo, Stone Zoo, New England Aquarium
11. Detroit - Detroit Zoo
12. Phoenix - Phoenix Zoo, Wildlife World Zoo
13. San Francisco-Oakland - San Francisco Zoo, Oakland Zoo, Steinhart Aquarium, Aquarium of the Bay
14. Riverside-San Bernardino - Living Desert Zoo
15. Seattle - Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium
16. Minneapolis-St Paul - Minnesota Zoo, Como Zoo
17. San Diego - San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo's Safari Park, SeaWorld San Diego, Birch Aquarium
18. St Louis - Saint Louis Zoo
19. Tampa-St Petersburg - Lowry Park Zoo, Busch Gardens Africa, Florida Aquarium
20. Baltimore - Maryland Zoo, National Aquarium in Baltimore
 
CGSwans said:
Perhaps a better list would be by metro area...

14. Riverside-San Bernardino - Living Desert Zoo
Click to expand...

Including the Palm Springs - Palm Desert resort area in Riverside-SanBernadino is really stretching the definition of a metro area.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Including the Palm Springs - Palm Desert resort area in Riverside-SanBernadino is really stretching the definition of a metro area.
Click to expand...

I realise that, but decided to list Living Desert as it is within Riverside County. I confess to not really being familar with Southern California geography (never having been there), but figured it might well be included as the closest Riverside-San Bernardino has to a representative in this list. Others may feel free to disregard it from the list. :)
 
Just a clarification on what jaguar78 said. Dallas is not a smaller zoo by any means. On average it is twice the size of either Fort Worth or San Antonio.

Also, you want to start a controversy on this forum, mentioning Fort Worth as the nest zoo in the country will definitely do this. To me, it is one of the most boring and generic zoos that I have ever been to.

Just for fun here is the rank of the top 10 zoos Ive been to.

Dallas
Oklahoma City
Dallas World Aquarium*
Gladys Porter
Cameron Park
Caldwell
Houston
Fort Worth
San Antonio
Tulsa

*I count it as a zoo.
 
oh yes I saw your response. No big deal. This is all about generating conversation. I ranked san antonio above dallas based on what I saw when I was there. I saw dallas in the spring of 09. The elephant house exhibit was deplorable, hardly any animals were out including the cheetahs and you could not see the african plains exhibit because they would not allow access to walk around it and the monorail was not working. So based on that I did not see much. From what I saw I liked the tiger exhibit, nile crocodile exhibit and the gorilla/chimp exhibits were excellent. I hear much has changed since 2009 so perhaps you are correct. San Antonio is improved with their african exhibits but need alot of updating.


Arizona Docent said:
I am surprised you rank San Antonio above Dallas. I doubt anyone else on this forum would - but we all like zoos for different reasons.

(Note - I have edited this to reword it from my initial post, which was unnecessarily harsh. My sincere apologies to Jaguar78 if he or she saw the first version.)
Click to expand...
 
good input and i hear alot of those are nice parks to visit but you need to escape the boundaries of texas and see the many excellent zoos outside texas.....

as for ft worth being one of the best i have seen.....to each his own....this is why they call it zoochat......


jbnbsn99 said:
Just a clarification on what jaguar78 said. Dallas is not a smaller zoo by any means. On average it is twice the size of either Fort Worth or San Antonio.

Also, you want to start a controversy on this forum, mentioning Fort Worth as the nest zoo in the country will definitely do this. To me, it is one of the most boring and generic zoos that I have ever been to.

Just for fun here is the rank of the top 10 zoos Ive been to.

Dallas
Oklahoma City
Dallas World Aquarium*
Gladys Porter
Cameron Park
Caldwell
Houston
Fort Worth
San Antonio
Tulsa

*I count it as a zoo.
Click to expand...
 
I do like your list better according to metro populations......


CGSwans said:
Perhaps a better list would be by metro area, since that is really more relevant than strict city boundaries that tends to compare apples with oranges.

In that case, the metros, with the accredited zoos and aquaria that serve them, would be:
1. New York - Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Staten Island Zoo, New York Aquarium
2. Los Angeles - Los Angeles Zoo, Santa Ana Zoo, Aquarium of the Pacific, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
3. Chicago - Lincoln Park Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, Cosley Zoo, Shedd Aquarium
4. Dallas-Fort Worth - Dallas Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Dallas World Aquarium
5. Philadelphia - Philadelphia Zoo, Adventure Aquarium
6. Houston - Houston Zoo
7. Miami - Zoo Miami, Miami Seaquarium
8. Washington - Smithsonian National Zoo
9. Atlanta - Zoo Atlanta, Georgia Aquarium
10. Boston - Franklin Park Zoo, Stone Zoo, New England Aquarium
11. Detroit - Detroit Zoo
12. Phoenix - Phoenix Zoo, Wildlife World Zoo
13. San Francisco-Oakland - San Francisco Zoo, Oakland Zoo, Steinhart Aquarium, Aquarium of the Bay
14. Riverside-San Bernardino - Living Desert Zoo
15. Seattle - Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium
16. Minneapolis-St Paul - Minnesota Zoo, Como Zoo
17. San Diego - San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo's Safari Park, SeaWorld San Diego, Birch Aquarium
18. St Louis - Saint Louis Zoo
19. Tampa-St Petersburg - Lowry Park Zoo, Busch Gardens Africa, Florida Aquarium
20. Baltimore - Maryland Zoo, National Aquarium in Baltimore
Click to expand...
 
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