The Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse is a little zoo that can easily be compared to other New York zoos near by; Seneca Park Zoo and Buffalo Zoo. It's fairly small with quite a few outdated exhibits, but the new exhibits that they are being built/just been built show future potential for this zoo. It also seems they built exhibits around the landscape they already had as the Wildlife Trails section is all designed on hills. I will review the zoo highlighting their different sections.
ENTRANCE: The ticket booths are actually in the lobby of the main building, something I've never seen at another zoo that I've visited. They also had a nice gift shop that have many windows displaying the stuff animals and souvenirs on the shelf as you walk by. The area also has a food cafe, classrooms, and connects to the veterinary hospital where visitors can look through the windows to see an animal if it is getting a procedure done that day.
USS ANTIQUITES: To paraphrase the map description of this exhibit, it shows the diversity of life from early forms to present day. The entrance is shaped as a yellow submarine and as you go in it, there are fish tanks on the left side and pictures of prehistoric animals on the right. This section featured most of the zoo's fish, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. When I post pictures later on, you can see some of the exhibits featured in this section.
DIVERSITY OF BIRDS: A typical bird aviary with exotic birds. My favorite was the hybrid macaw they have, which has beautiful coloring. There's also another section of the building you can see from the outside that features peafowl. Although I do enjoy peafowl roaming the zoo grounds, but maybe it's safer for them in there.
ADAPTATION OF ANIMALS: You get to this section by exiting the bird aviary through nylon stripes you walk through. At the entrance are naked mole rats in a bunch of different tunnels. The rest of the area seemed to feature nocturnal creatures in dimly lit exhibits. The sloth exhibit had about six sloths and it was amazing to see so many in one exhibit. Most of them were bundled up in a bedding area in the branches and I wasn't sure how many there were until they started to move a little. They were all quite active for being sloths and it was so interesting to see their slow movements. They also had a fennec fox, ocelot, bat, green tree python, and a sand cat. The ocelot exhibit was an example of those intimate exhibits where you can see the animal up close. A disadvantage of the exhibit is there's no hiding areas for the animal. Even though I don't see the ocelots a lot at the Buffalo Zoo, I definitely prefer their exhibit over this one. The otter had a lackluster outside exhibit, but there's an underwater viewing window next door which made the experience quite more enjoyable. There's a layer of fish in front of the otter glass pane. So it's wonderful enrichment for the otter, who always thinks it's going to get one of the fish. I liked that feature.
ECOSYSTEMS: This area features a fossa, meerkats, ring tailed and ruffed lemurs, squirrel monkeys, mandrills, anole, vervet monkeys, golden lion tamarins, vampire bats, siamangs (featured in Primates Park), lions, and other species of monkeys I'm not remembering. The exhibits are a little outdated and I'm sure to some here on this message board would think are too small for their inhabitants. The biggest exhibits for a primate was probably for the squirrel monkeys who had a lot of space to move around. But all exhibits had limbs to climb and swing on, along with some other enrichment items. The lion exhibit is outside, but there are painted scenic walls around the exhibit that makes it almost look like an indoor bedroom. Another intimate exhibit where you can see animals up close.
PRIMATE PARK: A nice new exhibit to the zoo which benefit the featured primates. It reminds me a little of the gorilla exhibit at the Columbus Zoo. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the siamangs take advantage of their exhibit as they were all huddled in one corner grooming themselves. I bumped into a zoo volunteer in this area who gave me some information about this zoo which I wasn't was sure was that accurate. He said the elephant barn is going to be 10,000 square feet and will be the biggest elephant barn in the country. With all the new elephant exhibits being built, I'm not sure how true this is. He said that someone from the National Zoo came to this zoo and was surprised to see the elephant barn here being bigger than their new renovated barn. Another fact he listed, which I wasn't sure was accurate, was that the Humboldt Penguin exhibit was the biggest exhibit in the country for that particular type of penguin. But with the new penguin exhibit built at Woodland Park Zoo, I'm unsure about this as well. But I don't know the dimensions of either exhibit. One fact he did tell me which I think is actually true is the young male tiger at Buffalo Zoo will be transported to this zoo soon. Apparently their male tiger is the oldest in captivity (??) and they needed a new male to mate with their female.
WATERFOWL POND: A pond area for local ducks and a flock of flamingos. It's a nice, attractive area right behind the main building.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS: I'm anxious for the new elephant exhibit as I feel their old exhibit is sub par. I didn't think this could ever happen, but their yard seems to be smaller than the one at the Buffalo Zoo. The main yard is smaller than the one next door which they only use for demonstrations. I saw the lone male elephant, which was a nice treat, although I was hoping to also see the females Romani and Siri as they both came from the Buffalo Zoo. I'm not sure how big their barn is as there's no access to visitors and a wall in seen in the back of their exhibit. The board walk section where their new exhibit is going to be was closed today. So I could only see the progress of their barn, but none of their yard. But I look forward to its completion. This area also had a stage area for their seasonal bird show (I was informed all their birds of prey were rescued birds), and a typical barn with goats, sheep, and donkeys. Also a yellow lab takes residence there during the zoo day.
PENGUIN COVE: Although this exhibit is a part of Wildlife Trails, I believe it deserves it's own section. It's one of the zoos newest exhibits and I think one of their best. The Humboldt penguins have plenty of room to move and swim around. The first viewing window is at the bottom of the exhibit which shows the birds underwater. If you walk up the hill a little, you can see another window which sort of looks more down into their pool. If you climb up a little more, there's big viewing area for visitors to see the penguins on land and some swim right up to the glass. There's also some interesting music playing, different species of penguins painted on the wall, and a window showing their indoor viewing area. I hope my pictures can somewhat show you a better idea how the exhibit looks.
WILDLIFE TRAILS: As I said before, the exhibits are on hills and all the animals feature are ones you can see frolicking about in the wintertime. The Spectacled Bear exhibit seems to be an upgrade on the basic bear grottoes. The exhibit is in the shape of a circle and it's has different walking levels where you're looking through a small window at the top of the exhibit and then looking up into the exhibit at the bottom of the hill it is built on. Two spectacled bears were sleeping on the rocks enjoying the cool day. The condor had a decent size enclosure, but I pity the snow leopard next door. I'll let my photo do the talking, but it's another small, poorly designed snow leopard exhibit. At least in my opinion. Across the way is the red panda exhibit. There seemed to be two red pandas who have a nice yard to walk around with limbs and trees for them to climb on. There's no mesh or a cage around them. There's a fence in front of their exhibit and then there's some hot wiring at the side of the exhibit to discourage them from climbing out. There were holes built in the back of their exhibit for them to crawl into and hide/sleep. They seemed to going back and forth. The newly added muntjacs were next door in a small exhibit and I only got to see one of them. At this point, I had to turn around as I couldn't go on the board walk linking the rest of trail because of construction on the elephant exhibit. I saw the massive yard for the white lipped deer, but saw none of them in their exhibit. On the other side of the trail, you start off with a nice yard for caribou across from the penguins. Further on there's a type of predator/prey exhibits with guanacos up on a hill with grey wolves right below them in their own exhibit. The next two exhibits you have to look up the hill to see Bighorn Sheep and Markhor. The Amur Tigers have a beautiful exhibit full of foliage and room to roam. For this exhibit you look down the hill to see them. The first viewing window has a huge rock, probably heated, where the tigers can lay on and get close up to visitors. At the center of the exhibit, there's an open shed area for visitors to walk into, sit down, and see the tigers below them. At these windows is a pool area for the tigers to swim in. Of course with these features to encourage animals to come near the window, they are never used when I come to their exhibit. The rest of the exhibits reminded me of the Canadian section of the Toronto Zoo, full of local animals in outdated cages in a beautiful woodland area. The cages featured owls, red fox (I saw one of them with its gray coat), lynx, bald eagle, and a fisher (which I've never seen before). I didn't get to see the red wolf, as it was the boardwalk area which is closed off to the public.
I completed the zoo in about and hour and a half. It's a nice small zoo that I think has potential in the future. But having a local zoo that's also small, I know it all has to do with and $$$ and getting funding. So future changes may take awhile. But I'd definitely visit again when some new additions have been added.
ENTRANCE: The ticket booths are actually in the lobby of the main building, something I've never seen at another zoo that I've visited. They also had a nice gift shop that have many windows displaying the stuff animals and souvenirs on the shelf as you walk by. The area also has a food cafe, classrooms, and connects to the veterinary hospital where visitors can look through the windows to see an animal if it is getting a procedure done that day.
USS ANTIQUITES: To paraphrase the map description of this exhibit, it shows the diversity of life from early forms to present day. The entrance is shaped as a yellow submarine and as you go in it, there are fish tanks on the left side and pictures of prehistoric animals on the right. This section featured most of the zoo's fish, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. When I post pictures later on, you can see some of the exhibits featured in this section.
DIVERSITY OF BIRDS: A typical bird aviary with exotic birds. My favorite was the hybrid macaw they have, which has beautiful coloring. There's also another section of the building you can see from the outside that features peafowl. Although I do enjoy peafowl roaming the zoo grounds, but maybe it's safer for them in there.
ADAPTATION OF ANIMALS: You get to this section by exiting the bird aviary through nylon stripes you walk through. At the entrance are naked mole rats in a bunch of different tunnels. The rest of the area seemed to feature nocturnal creatures in dimly lit exhibits. The sloth exhibit had about six sloths and it was amazing to see so many in one exhibit. Most of them were bundled up in a bedding area in the branches and I wasn't sure how many there were until they started to move a little. They were all quite active for being sloths and it was so interesting to see their slow movements. They also had a fennec fox, ocelot, bat, green tree python, and a sand cat. The ocelot exhibit was an example of those intimate exhibits where you can see the animal up close. A disadvantage of the exhibit is there's no hiding areas for the animal. Even though I don't see the ocelots a lot at the Buffalo Zoo, I definitely prefer their exhibit over this one. The otter had a lackluster outside exhibit, but there's an underwater viewing window next door which made the experience quite more enjoyable. There's a layer of fish in front of the otter glass pane. So it's wonderful enrichment for the otter, who always thinks it's going to get one of the fish. I liked that feature.
ECOSYSTEMS: This area features a fossa, meerkats, ring tailed and ruffed lemurs, squirrel monkeys, mandrills, anole, vervet monkeys, golden lion tamarins, vampire bats, siamangs (featured in Primates Park), lions, and other species of monkeys I'm not remembering. The exhibits are a little outdated and I'm sure to some here on this message board would think are too small for their inhabitants. The biggest exhibits for a primate was probably for the squirrel monkeys who had a lot of space to move around. But all exhibits had limbs to climb and swing on, along with some other enrichment items. The lion exhibit is outside, but there are painted scenic walls around the exhibit that makes it almost look like an indoor bedroom. Another intimate exhibit where you can see animals up close.
PRIMATE PARK: A nice new exhibit to the zoo which benefit the featured primates. It reminds me a little of the gorilla exhibit at the Columbus Zoo. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the siamangs take advantage of their exhibit as they were all huddled in one corner grooming themselves. I bumped into a zoo volunteer in this area who gave me some information about this zoo which I wasn't was sure was that accurate. He said the elephant barn is going to be 10,000 square feet and will be the biggest elephant barn in the country. With all the new elephant exhibits being built, I'm not sure how true this is. He said that someone from the National Zoo came to this zoo and was surprised to see the elephant barn here being bigger than their new renovated barn. Another fact he listed, which I wasn't sure was accurate, was that the Humboldt Penguin exhibit was the biggest exhibit in the country for that particular type of penguin. But with the new penguin exhibit built at Woodland Park Zoo, I'm unsure about this as well. But I don't know the dimensions of either exhibit. One fact he did tell me which I think is actually true is the young male tiger at Buffalo Zoo will be transported to this zoo soon. Apparently their male tiger is the oldest in captivity (??) and they needed a new male to mate with their female.
WATERFOWL POND: A pond area for local ducks and a flock of flamingos. It's a nice, attractive area right behind the main building.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS: I'm anxious for the new elephant exhibit as I feel their old exhibit is sub par. I didn't think this could ever happen, but their yard seems to be smaller than the one at the Buffalo Zoo. The main yard is smaller than the one next door which they only use for demonstrations. I saw the lone male elephant, which was a nice treat, although I was hoping to also see the females Romani and Siri as they both came from the Buffalo Zoo. I'm not sure how big their barn is as there's no access to visitors and a wall in seen in the back of their exhibit. The board walk section where their new exhibit is going to be was closed today. So I could only see the progress of their barn, but none of their yard. But I look forward to its completion. This area also had a stage area for their seasonal bird show (I was informed all their birds of prey were rescued birds), and a typical barn with goats, sheep, and donkeys. Also a yellow lab takes residence there during the zoo day.
PENGUIN COVE: Although this exhibit is a part of Wildlife Trails, I believe it deserves it's own section. It's one of the zoos newest exhibits and I think one of their best. The Humboldt penguins have plenty of room to move and swim around. The first viewing window is at the bottom of the exhibit which shows the birds underwater. If you walk up the hill a little, you can see another window which sort of looks more down into their pool. If you climb up a little more, there's big viewing area for visitors to see the penguins on land and some swim right up to the glass. There's also some interesting music playing, different species of penguins painted on the wall, and a window showing their indoor viewing area. I hope my pictures can somewhat show you a better idea how the exhibit looks.
WILDLIFE TRAILS: As I said before, the exhibits are on hills and all the animals feature are ones you can see frolicking about in the wintertime. The Spectacled Bear exhibit seems to be an upgrade on the basic bear grottoes. The exhibit is in the shape of a circle and it's has different walking levels where you're looking through a small window at the top of the exhibit and then looking up into the exhibit at the bottom of the hill it is built on. Two spectacled bears were sleeping on the rocks enjoying the cool day. The condor had a decent size enclosure, but I pity the snow leopard next door. I'll let my photo do the talking, but it's another small, poorly designed snow leopard exhibit. At least in my opinion. Across the way is the red panda exhibit. There seemed to be two red pandas who have a nice yard to walk around with limbs and trees for them to climb on. There's no mesh or a cage around them. There's a fence in front of their exhibit and then there's some hot wiring at the side of the exhibit to discourage them from climbing out. There were holes built in the back of their exhibit for them to crawl into and hide/sleep. They seemed to going back and forth. The newly added muntjacs were next door in a small exhibit and I only got to see one of them. At this point, I had to turn around as I couldn't go on the board walk linking the rest of trail because of construction on the elephant exhibit. I saw the massive yard for the white lipped deer, but saw none of them in their exhibit. On the other side of the trail, you start off with a nice yard for caribou across from the penguins. Further on there's a type of predator/prey exhibits with guanacos up on a hill with grey wolves right below them in their own exhibit. The next two exhibits you have to look up the hill to see Bighorn Sheep and Markhor. The Amur Tigers have a beautiful exhibit full of foliage and room to roam. For this exhibit you look down the hill to see them. The first viewing window has a huge rock, probably heated, where the tigers can lay on and get close up to visitors. At the center of the exhibit, there's an open shed area for visitors to walk into, sit down, and see the tigers below them. At these windows is a pool area for the tigers to swim in. Of course with these features to encourage animals to come near the window, they are never used when I come to their exhibit. The rest of the exhibits reminded me of the Canadian section of the Toronto Zoo, full of local animals in outdated cages in a beautiful woodland area. The cages featured owls, red fox (I saw one of them with its gray coat), lynx, bald eagle, and a fisher (which I've never seen before). I didn't get to see the red wolf, as it was the boardwalk area which is closed off to the public.
I completed the zoo in about and hour and a half. It's a nice small zoo that I think has potential in the future. But having a local zoo that's also small, I know it all has to do with and $$$ and getting funding. So future changes may take awhile. But I'd definitely visit again when some new additions have been added.
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