Ranking the U.S Elephant Exhibits

pachyderm pro

pachyderm pro

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
After looking back at old thread I made called "elephants In zoos" I decided to come up with a list of every AZA zoo that has elephants, and rank them from best to worst. If there is any I missed I encourage you to let me know. I will be judging the zoos based on size, care, reputation, and viewing points.

* = The zoo will be building a new exhibit in the future or expanding the current one
** = The zoo will be phasing out elephants in the future

1. North Carolina
2. Disney's Animal Kingdom
3. Dallas
4. Henry Doorly
5. Birmingham
6. Sedgwick County
7. San Diego Safari Park
8. National
9. Kansas City*
10. Denver
11. Reid Park
12. Oregon
13. Saint Louis
14. Indianapolis
15. Los Angles
16. Fresno (African)
17. Columbus
18. Oklahoma City
19. Lowry Park
20. Oakland
21. Miami
22. Cleveland
23. Rosamond Gifford
24. Cheyenne Mountain
25. San Diego
26. Houston*
27. Pittsburgh
28. Rio Grande
29. Toledo
30. Bronx**
31. Jacksonville
32. Audubon
33. Cincinnati
34. Maryland
35. Montgomery
36. Cameron Park
37. Atlanta*
38. Honolulu
39. Bush Gardens
40. Phoenix
41. Memphis
42. Seneca Park
43. Riverbanks
44. Tulsa*
45. Point Defiance**
46. Hogle
47. Fort Worth*
48. Santa Barbara**
49. Little Rock*
50. Louisville
51. El Paso**
52. San Antonio
53. Fresno (Asian)**
54. Cadwell*
55. Milwaukee County*
56. Knoxville
57. Topeka*
58.Wildlife Safari
59. Buffalo
60. Buttonwood Park**
 
What criteria are you using in your ranking? What is most important? What is less so? I find rankings without reasons to be non-starters for conversation.
 
Zooplantman said:
What criteria are you using in your ranking? What is most important? What is less so? I find rankings without reasons to be non-starters for conversation.
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My most important criteria is the size and enrichment opportunities for the pachyderms. My least is reputation, the past isn't the present and we shouldn't always judge a facility on the past unless they are concistantly abusive to the animals like Natural Bridge. This is just my opinion and if yours is diffrent I would love to hear it.
 
pachyderm pro said:
I knew I forgot one. Thanks for reminding me. I'd probably place them around 45 - 50
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You're welcome. Frankly I don't think their exhibit is horrid, that said yes I do think there are improvements that could be made, adding new yards, perhaps a few alterations to the Elephant house, though ideally this would all be done without having to move them, hey MIT is right up the road in Boston, surely some innovative and inexpensive new building methods could be devised?

Though I will admit the likelihood of some geniuses putting their heads together for my fantasy project is low, at least the Elephants seem to be in the master plan, I really think that it is important to have at least one species on view in New England (clearly they will be around longer than the Girls at Buttonwood, barring some horrible tragedy), otherwise it would be a question of going out to New York State or up to Granby in Quebec in order to see them.
 
wensleydale said:
You're welcome. Frankly I don't think their exhibit is horrid, that said yes I do think there are improvements that could be made, adding new yards, perhaps a few alterations to the Elephant house, though ideally this would all be done without having to move them, hey MIT is right up the road in Boston, surely some innovative and inexpensive new building methods could be devised?

Though I will admit the likelihood of some geniuses putting their heads together for my fantasy project is low, at least the Elephants seem to be in the master plan, I really think that it is important to have at least one species on view in New England (clearly they will be around longer than the Girls at Buttonwood, barring some horrible tragedy), otherwise it would be a question of going out to New York State or up to Granby in Quebec in order to see them.
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From my understanding Roger Williams Park has made a long-term commitment to exhibiting elephants and has stated they don't plan on phasing them out.
 
GraysonDP said:
From my understanding Roger Williams Park has made a long-term commitment to exhibiting elephants and has stated they don't plan on phasing them out.
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Wonderful! You just brightened my day. I know for a fact that the current herd could easily live another few decades (and I hope they do) it would be wonderful if they could acquire a new female(s) and start a breeding herd, or otherwise transition to having a bull herd or something.
 
My list (primary factors are naturalism, size, enrichment, detail, number of elephants, viewing, pools, backdrops, education and immersion)
* means I've seen it in person
1. North Carolina Zoo*
2. Dallas Zoo*
3. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
4. San Diego Safari Park*
5. Sedgwick County Zoo
6. Disney's Animal Kingdom*
7. Reid Park Zoo
8. Saint Louis Zoo
9. Fresno Chaffee Zoo
10. National Zoo*
11. Indianapolis Zoo
12. Oregon Zoo
13. Denver Zoo
14. Birmingham Zoo
15. Kansas City Zoo
16. Los Angeles Zoo
17. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
18. Oklahoma City Zoo
19. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
20. Zoo Miami*
21. Rosamond Gifford Zoo
22. Lowry Park Zoo*
23. Oakland Zoo
24. San Diego Zoo
25. Columbus Zoo*
26. Toledo Zoo*
27. Houston Zoo*
28. Bronx Zoo*
29. Audubon Zoo*
30. African Lion Safari
31. Jacksonville Zoo*
32. Pittsburgh Zoo*
33. Rio Grande Zoo
34. Cincinnati Zoo*
35. Cameron Park Zoo
36. Zoo de Granby*
37. Roger Williams Park Zoo
38. Montgomery Zoo
39. Phoenix Zoo
40. Honolulu Zoo
41. Tulsa Zoo
42. Zoo Atlanta*
43. Knoxville Zoo*
44. Busch Gardens*
45. Caldwell Zoo
46. Riverbanks Zoo*
47. Seneca Pak Zoo
48. Hogle Zoo
49. Maryland Zoo*
50. El Paso Zoo
51. Louisville Zoo
52. Point Defiance Zoo
53. Fort Worth Zoo
54. Santa Barbara Zoo
55. Little Rock Zoo
56. Dickerson Park Zoo
57. Memphis Zoo
58. Wildlife Safari
59. San Antonio Zoo
60. Milwaukee County Zoo
61. Topeka Zoo
62. Buffalo Zoo
63. Buttonwood Park Zoo
64. Natural Bridge* (Yes I have been there and it is beyond awful- I should write a review about it but everything would be in the worst section)
 
GraysonDP said:
My list (primary factors are naturalism, size, enrichment, detail, number of elephants, viewing, pools, backdrops, education and immersion)
* means I've seen it in person
1. North Carolina Zoo*
2. Dallas Zoo*
3. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
4. San Diego Safari Park*
5. Sedgwick County Zoo
6. Disney's Animal Kingdom*
7. Reid Park Zoo
8. Saint Louis Zoo
9. Fresno Chaffee Zoo
10. National Zoo*
11. Indianapolis Zoo
12. Oregon Zoo
13. Denver Zoo
14. Birmingham Zoo
15. Kansas City Zoo
16. Los Angeles Zoo
17. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
18. Oklahoma City Zoo
19. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
20. Zoo Miami*
21. Rosamond Gifford Zoo
22. Lowry Park Zoo*
23. Oakland Zoo
24. San Diego Zoo
25. Columbus Zoo*
26. Toledo Zoo*
27. Houston Zoo*
28. Bronx Zoo*
29. Audubon Zoo*
30. African Lion Safari
31. Jacksonville Zoo*
32. Pittsburgh Zoo*
33. Rio Grande Zoo
34. Cincinnati Zoo*
35. Cameron Park Zoo
36. Zoo de Granby*
37. Roger Williams Park Zoo
38. Montgomery Zoo
39. Phoenix Zoo
40. Honolulu Zoo
41. Tulsa Zoo
42. Zoo Atlanta*
43. Knoxville Zoo*
44. Busch Gardens*
45. Caldwell Zoo
46. Riverbanks Zoo*
47. Seneca Pak Zoo
48. Hogle Zoo
49. Maryland Zoo*
50. El Paso Zoo
51. Louisville Zoo
52. Point Defiance Zoo
53. Fort Worth Zoo
54. Santa Barbara Zoo
55. Little Rock Zoo
56. Dickerson Park Zoo
57. Memphis Zoo
58. Wildlife Safari
59. San Antonio Zoo
60. Milwaukee County Zoo
61. Topeka Zoo
62. Buffalo Zoo
63. Buttonwood Park Zoo
64. Natural Bridge* (Yes I have been there and it is beyond awful- I should write a review about it but everything would be in the worst section)
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your opinion, we both have a pretty similar list.

Simply for entertainment reasons, if you could wright a review for Natural Bridge that would be fun to read.
 
I did not include Natural Bridge because its a roadside zoo.

I did not include the Canadian zoos sense I put this in the United States thread.

I forgot Dickerson, I would probably put them at the 43 spot.
 
To see a list of 64 zoos in the USA with elephants is to be reminded that many zoos that used to have elephants have phased out the species. However, most of the "best" exhibits are recent ones because on "GraysonDP's" list there are perhaps only 3 out of the top 20 exhibits that were not built in the past two decades. Obviously "pachyderm pro" has a similar theme as the modern habitats in American zoos are more natural-looking, spacious and expensive. The sheer cost of all of these new elephant exhibits must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, while at the same time many zoos have chosen to fund-raise for enclosures that do not involve elephants.

While having a large tract of land that is not barren of foraging opportunities is crucial, there are many things to consider when ranking elephant exhibits. Aesthetics are important to many zoo enthusiasts, but the size of the family unit is a factor that must not be overlooked. For example, would someone rather watch a trio of elephants in the shiny new Los Angeles Zoo exhibit or would they rather watch a dozen elephants in the 1970's San Diego Zoo Safari Park exhibit? Those are the kind of things to consider.

I wrote this in 2015 while on my southern USA road trip and while I mention at least 20 zoos I give a strong hint that my favourite elephant exhibit could well be Reid Park:

"Where exactly are the best elephant exhibits in the nation? In terms of size Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s 9.5 acres is stupendous but with no exaggeration at all it is possible to only see the elephants for less than two minutes on the safari tour. North Carolina is often cited as having a world-class habitat as there are 7 acres of lush greenery but the barn is off-show and the elephants can occasionally be far away in the distance. Nashville Zoo has a fantastically landscaped exhibit but with 3 aging females there is a need for a barn update and the zoo is closing its elephant program down for the next couple of years to make improvements. Dallas has a brilliant exhibit with 4 aging females. Houston has 3 exhibits and a herd of 8 but the elephants are possibly never all together in one location. Denver has a neat rotational policy with its elephants in Toyota Elephant Passage but the cold climate keeps the elephants indoors for longer than the southern zoos. Oakland has a sloped exhibit with older females not always using the top section of the enclosure. Birmingham has a new elephant exhibit with only bulls, a commendable decision, but I believe that the zoo can only host 4 as a maximum number and the public will never see a baby elephant. Other good, but not great, exhibits are for retirement-age elephants (San Diego and Cheyenne Mountain) while there is a sprawling elephant complex in Los Angeles but it badly needs more than 3 elephants to be considered excellent. National Zoo, Saint Louis, Oklahoma City and Oregon (opening soon) all have terrific Asian Elephant exhibits and new ones coming next year for Africans will be at top-rated Sedgwick County and Fresno Chaffee (possibly opening this fall). San Diego Zoo Safari Park seems to have a new baby elephant every other year and while the herd dynamics are amazing the 1970’s enclosure (while large) is not aesthetically pleasing. The list could go on, with zoos like Cleveland and Indianapolis also having good elephant exhibits.

I’m not sure what elephant exhibit I’d consider America’s “best” or my personal favourite, but I will point out that one could make a great argument for Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona. The elephants have exactly 3.8 acres to roam plus a barn with sandy stalls in a 7 acre section of the zoo; the exhibit is slightly curved so that at any point a visitor can be very close to elephants; there is a herd of 6 and the bull for most hours of the day has access to his family members; the elephants spend 23 hours per day outside in a warm, always sunny climate; the interpretative graphics are all top-notch; the animals only have to be locked in their barns for approximately 3 days per year due to cold weather; there are 8 elephant keepers at the zoo; it seems that the overall combination of the multi-acre habitat together with the herd of 6 elephants makes Reid Park a strong candidate for having the greatest elephant exhibit in the nation. It is certainly up there amongst the best of its kind and for a medium-sized zoo with 600,000 annual visitors that is a stunning fact."
 
snowleopard said:
To see a list of 64 zoos in the USA with elephants is to be reminded that many zoos that used to have elephants have phased out the species. However, most of the "best" exhibits are recent ones because on "GraysonDP's" list there are perhaps only 3 out of the top 20 exhibits that were not built in the past two decades. Obviously "pachyderm pro" has a similar theme as the modern habitats in American zoos are more natural-looking, spacious and expensive. The sheer cost of all of these new elephant exhibits must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, while at the same time many zoos have chosen to fund-raise for enclosures that do not involve elephants.

While having a large tract of land that is not barren of foraging opportunities is crucial, there are many things to consider when ranking elephant exhibits. Aesthetics are important to many zoo enthusiasts, but the size of the family unit is a factor that must not be overlooked. For example, would someone rather watch a trio of elephants in the shiny new Los Angeles Zoo exhibit or would they rather watch a dozen elephants in the 1970's San Diego Zoo Safari Park exhibit? Those are the kind of things to consider.

I wrote this in 2015 while on my southern USA road trip and while I mention at least 20 zoos I give a strong hint that my favourite elephant exhibit could well be Reid Park:

"Where exactly are the best elephant exhibits in the nation? In terms of size Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s 9.5 acres is stupendous but with no exaggeration at all it is possible to only see the elephants for less than two minutes on the safari tour. North Carolina is often cited as having a world-class habitat as there are 7 acres of lush greenery but the barn is off-show and the elephants can occasionally be far away in the distance. Nashville Zoo has a fantastically landscaped exhibit but with 3 aging females there is a need for a barn update and the zoo is closing its elephant program down for the next couple of years to make improvements. Dallas has a brilliant exhibit with 4 aging females. Houston has 3 exhibits and a herd of 8 but the elephants are possibly never all together in one location. Denver has a neat rotational policy with its elephants in Toyota Elephant Passage but the cold climate keeps the elephants indoors for longer than the southern zoos. Oakland has a sloped exhibit with older females not always using the top section of the enclosure. Birmingham has a new elephant exhibit with only bulls, a commendable decision, but I believe that the zoo can only host 4 as a maximum number and the public will never see a baby elephant. Other good, but not great, exhibits are for retirement-age elephants (San Diego and Cheyenne Mountain) while there is a sprawling elephant complex in Los Angeles but it badly needs more than 3 elephants to be considered excellent. National Zoo, Saint Louis, Oklahoma City and Oregon (opening soon) all have terrific Asian Elephant exhibits and new ones coming next year for Africans will be at top-rated Sedgwick County and Fresno Chaffee (possibly opening this fall). San Diego Zoo Safari Park seems to have a new baby elephant every other year and while the herd dynamics are amazing the 1970’s enclosure (while large) is not aesthetically pleasing. The list could go on, with zoos like Cleveland and Indianapolis also having good elephant exhibits.

I’m not sure what elephant exhibit I’d consider America’s “best” or my personal favourite, but I will point out that one could make a great argument for Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, Arizona. The elephants have exactly 3.8 acres to roam plus a barn with sandy stalls in a 7 acre section of the zoo; the exhibit is slightly curved so that at any point a visitor can be very close to elephants; there is a herd of 6 and the bull for most hours of the day has access to his family members; the elephants spend 23 hours per day outside in a warm, always sunny climate; the interpretative graphics are all top-notch; the animals only have to be locked in their barns for approximately 3 days per year due to cold weather; there are 8 elephant keepers at the zoo; it seems that the overall combination of the multi-acre habitat together with the herd of 6 elephants makes Reid Park a strong candidate for having the greatest elephant exhibit in the nation. It is certainly up there amongst the best of its kind and for a medium-sized zoo with 600,000 annual visitors that is a stunning fact."
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Your comment reminds me how interesting it is to think of which zoos have decided to go big (build large, modern habitats) or go home (phase out the species) in terms of elephants. For instance, smaller zoos (Reid Park, Fresno Chaffee, Rosamond Gifford, Birmingham, Seneca Park, Dickerson Park) have chosen to keep them while some of the big guns (Woodland Park, Detroit, soon Bronx) have given up on them. Some (most notably Omaha) have brought them back after a longish absence while others (Birmingham, Fresno, in the future San Antonio) have phased out Asians and brought in Africans. In general, larger zoos have kept them while smaller zoos have given them up with about 85% of elephants being at major zoos in the U.S. The decision about the future exhibitry of elephants in collections has been dealt with urgency and it seems the number that will have them for years to come has more or less stabilized. Brookfield and Nashville plan on having them back but are there any other zoos that have the desire or resources to bring back elephants in upcoming years. There are now a number of very good to great elephant exhibits in the country, which as much as we hate to say it has been driven at least partially by the controversy surrounding the species. This has justified keeping the giants in captivity and has put lesser exhibits to shame. I often say it has a lot of parallels to the shifts that have happened in exhibitry of polar bears (many zoos have built modern habitats while many others have phased the species out.) I think part of why both species have seen such a shift is how much the quality of exhibits for them has changed- two decades ago a fairly barren one-acre exhibit for elephants was seen as good while now it's subpar. Some other major prominent species (chimpanzees, hippos, bison, snow leopards, jaguars, etc.) have also been phased out of a number of major collections but in those cases there hasn't been the same shift, possibly since the species need space and enrichment but are not as popular as some of the other superstars. I agree that number of elephants on display is a huge factor in the strength of an elephant exhibit- part of why San Diego Safari Park, Reid Park, Oregon and Saint Louis got ranked so high is the impressive family units found at each institution. Now that it has 10 elephants Dallas might give North Carolina a run for its money. I'm going to be seeing the elephant exhibits at Saint Louis, Omaha, Kansas City, Indianapolis and possibly Cleveland and Sedgwick for the first time in the next six months so should be able to give a more accurate assessment of those exhibits then.
 
Frankly I think that ranking exhibits is at least somewhat foolhardy, seeing as rankings are largely subjective. I would prefer, say, grading them or at least ranking them as "A" quality, "B" quality, etc. Of course that comes with ts own problems.
 
GraysonDP said:
My list (primary factors are naturalism, size, enrichment, detail, number of elephants, viewing, pools, backdrops, education and immersion)
* means I've seen it in person

1. North Carolina Zoo*
2. Dallas Zoo*
3. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
4. San Diego Safari Park*
5. Sedgwick County Zoo
6. Disney's Animal Kingdom*
7. Reid Park Zoo
8. Saint Louis Zoo
9. Fresno Chaffee Zoo
10. National Zoo*
11. Indianapolis Zoo
12. Oregon Zoo
13. Denver Zoo
14. Birmingham Zoo
15. Kansas City Zoo
16. Los Angeles Zoo
17. Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
18. Oklahoma City Zoo
19. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
20. Zoo Miami*
21. Rosamond Gifford Zoo
22. Lowry Park Zoo*
23. Oakland Zoo
24. San Diego Zoo
25. Columbus Zoo*
26. Toledo Zoo*
27. Houston Zoo*
28. Bronx Zoo*
29. Audubon Zoo*
30. African Lion Safari
31. Jacksonville Zoo*
32. Pittsburgh Zoo*
33. Rio Grande Zoo
34. Cincinnati Zoo*
35. Cameron Park Zoo
36. Zoo de Granby*
37. Roger Williams Park Zoo
38. Montgomery Zoo
39. Phoenix Zoo
40. Honolulu Zoo
41. Tulsa Zoo
42. Zoo Atlanta*
43. Knoxville Zoo*
44. Busch Gardens*
45. Caldwell Zoo
46. Riverbanks Zoo*
47. Seneca Pak Zoo
48. Hogle Zoo
49. Maryland Zoo*
50. El Paso Zoo
51. Louisville Zoo
52. Point Defiance Zoo
53. Fort Worth Zoo
54. Santa Barbara Zoo
55. Little Rock Zoo
56. Dickerson Park Zoo
57. Memphis Zoo
58. Wildlife Safari
59. San Antonio Zoo
60. Milwaukee County Zoo
61. Topeka Zoo
62. Buffalo Zoo
63. Buttonwood Park Zoo
64. Natural Bridge*
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A few additional comments:

So...you have personally visited 22 of the 64 elephant exhibits on your list? :) To be honest your rankings are actually quite respectable even though there are loads of zoos that you haven't toured. It is understandable that there is some criticism of your rankings as there are many zoos that you need to see, but your various zoo trips this year will add to your all-time total and I'm intrigued to see how you alter your rankings later in 2017.

Since you included African Lion Safari and Granby Zoo in Canada I should point out that both Parc Safari and Edmonton Valley Zoo include elephants in their collection as well.

Lastly, I wonder which zoos might possibly not have any elephants in the future. Strong candidates would include: Bronx, Point Defiance, Santa Barbara, El Paso, Natural Bridge, Wildlife Safari, Buttonwood Park, Buffalo and perhaps even Utah's Hogle Zoo.
 
snowleopard said:
A few additional comments:

So...you have personally visited 22 of the 64 elephant exhibits on your list? :) To be honest your rankings are actually quite respectable even though there are loads of zoos that you haven't toured. It is understandable that there is some criticism of your rankings as there are many zoos that you need to see, but your various zoo trips this year will add to your all-time total and I'm intrigued to see how you alter your rankings later in 2017.

Since you included African Lion Safari and Granby Zoo in Canada I should point out that both Parc Safari and Edmonton Valley Zoo include elephants in their collection as well.

Lastly, I wonder which zoos might possibly not have any elephants in the future. Strong candidates would include: Bronx, Point Defiance, Santa Barbara, El Paso, Natural Bridge, Wildlife Safari, Buttonwood Park, Buffalo and perhaps even Utah's Hogle Zoo.
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Thank you snowleopard. Yes I clearly mark which ones I have visited since I feel those ranking are more accurate. The other ones should be taken with a grain of salt since I like to see an exhibit first idealy.

Same! Natural Bridge should NOT have elephants as that place is abusive crap. I'm surprised you mentioned Hogle since I think I heard they're planning on phasing out rhinos to make more room for the elephants. I would love to see Bronx keep elephants but I'm beginning to give up hope. I DO still believe Brookfield will bring the species back. I recently heard a rumor Busch Gardens might phase them out but don't necessarily know if that's accurate. Fresno Chaffee will probably phase out Asians. Topeka, Dickerson Park and San Antonio have inadequate exhibits but I believe they intend on building new ones. Other zoos that haven't publicly committed to exhibiting elephants long-term and have at least somewhat outdated exhibits are Phoenix, Cameron Park, Memphis, Riverbanks, Maryland and Montgomery. Could you see those zoos phasing them out?
New elephant exhibits we KNOW are coming:
- Atlanta
- Caldwell
- Milwaukee
- Nashville
- Cincinnati
-Houston
-Tulsa
 
[QUOTE="GraysonDP, post: 1010352, member: 11398"}- Cincinnati
[/QUOTE]
Wouldn't exactly refer to the unconfirmed/"still on the drawing board" plans as a plan for a 'new' exhibit. From my understanding, it's just renovations.
 
Moebelle said:
[QUOTE="GraysonDP, post: 1010352, member: 11398"}- Cincinnati
Click to expand...
Wouldn't exactly refer to the unconfirmed/"still on the drawing board" plans as a plan for a 'new' exhibit. From my understanding, it's just renovations.[/QUOTE]
Is there any chance Cincinnati will phase out instead or are they permanently committed to exhibiting elephants?
 
GraysonDP said:
Wouldn't exactly refer to the unconfirmed/"still on the drawing board" plans as a plan for a 'new' exhibit. From my understanding, it's just renovations.
Click to expand...
Is there any chance Cincinnati will phase out instead or are they permanently committed to exhibiting elephants?[/QUOTE]
They aren't going anywhere any time soon
 
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