Saint Louis Zoo Visit Report, 06/09/23
I’ve been meaning to finish this report for months. Life has been getting the way, but now I’m really glad I’m finally getting around to writing about one of my all time favorite zoos.
Saint Louis may be the most well-rounded zoo I’ve ever seen in the sense that there is truly something for everyone here. Whether you're a rarity hunter, an exhibit enthusiast, or an amateur zoo historian, chances are you’ll walk away from the zoo feeling more than satisfied. The only major discrepancies I encountered during my visit were a matter of circumstance. I broke several of the cardinal rules of zoo-going by visiting on a saturday, at the beginning of the summer, with a heat index of nearly 100°. Why so many parents thought it would be a good idea to bring their toddlers to the zoo in this weather I have no clue, but safe to say the screaming children (and parents), constant stroller jam, and the humidity beating down on me like a hammer to a nail certainly made things a bit hectic at times. In spite of all of that though, It did little to deter me from enjoying my visit because this is truly an amazing zoo.
It's also a bit of an anomaly in the American zoo landscape, as besides River’s Edge, the entire zoo is sorted taxonomically: apes, monkeys, ungulates, cats, bears, birds, reptiles and insects. It’s rather refreshing to find a zoo of this caliber that doesn’t have an African Savanna or an Australian Walkabout, and while this style of exhibitry is seen as out-of-date it’s all done in a very modern style. I’ve also never visited a collection that feels more all encompassing than this one. Here is one of the only major American zoos that still hold the big four - elephants, giraffes, rhinos, hippos - comfortably, as well as 4 species of bear, 7 (soon to be 8) species of cat, 3 species of great ape, at least a dozen other primates, more than 15 other ungulates, 4 species of penguin, 100+ birds, 90+ herps, countless insects etc, etc, etc. Few other collections do such a better job striking a balance between ABCs and rarities and the only major megafauna missing I can think of are wolves and tapirs. Otherwise, this is the most complete collection I've ever seen.
Recently I’ve been paying close attention to the aesthetics of zoos and I’ve concluded that having a strong presentation is what separates the good zoos from the truly great. I believe it’s ideal to have a style that is professional and avoids a theme park atmosphere, while at the same time being engaging and vibrant. The presentation of Saint Louis is exceptional in these regards. While there is scarcely a poor enclosure anywhere on the grounds, this goes far beyond just the animal habitats. In fact, the most memorable example of good presentation, at least for me, had little to do with the animals at all. Lakeside Crossing is the name of the zoo's central plaza for dining and shopping and is composed of various modern buildings surrounded by scenic forest and several large lakes viewed from above. It's all incredibly well done and strikes that perfect balance between being colorful and fun, without being overwhelming. Located behind the in-zoo starbucks (you heard me) is an eating and rest area dubbed the Solar Pavilion. A large modern overhang is lined with solar panels that power fans to keep guests cool. It’s secluded enough to provide a nice escape from crowds without being so hidden it’s difficult to find. Not to mention it overlooks a beautiful lagoon habitat for flamingos and various water birds. It’s a simple, but brilliant piece of design that really makes one feel like they’re at a high quality insulation.
photo by @geomorph
Located nearby is Sea Lion Sound, one of America’s premiere pinniped habitats. While I cannot deny it is excellent, it didn’t wow me like I had quite hoped. I think it only suffers from me having just seen Omaha’s new sea lion exhibit which completely knocked my socks off, so it’s only inevitable this would look less impressive by comparison. Obviously the underwater tunnel is a huge hit with guests and a silver medal is nothing to scoff at. Nearby are also two miscellaneous enclosures for red pandas and prairie dogs that are just sort of dropped in haphazardly adjacent to the ape complex. They are both perfectly good habitats, just very out of place without much thought put into them. Judging from the rock walls at the back of both enclosures, they appear to be converted versions of small carnivore grottos and these are definitely well done repurposments.
River’s Edge is the zoos only major attempt at tackling immersion design, focusing on river-inhabiting species from Africa, Asia, South America and Missouri (one of these things is not like the other) and it is really quite masterful. The atmosphere is wonderful and the vegetation is really able to dominate the space. I’ve never seen such a densely forested series of habitats in a midwestern zoo. There is a great combination of popular megafauna and more unusual species to be found here, although it is mostly mammal centric. I went through this complex three times over the course of my time at the zoo and I liked it better each time I went through. My first time through was, well, overwhelming to say the least. The amount of people that rushed to this exhibit made it a pain to get a good look at things sometimes. I don’t think I've ever seen so many strollers and electric chairs in my life which did not bode well with the narrow, sloped pathways. The second and third times were much more pleasant. The crowds had subsided and I was able to linger around for much longer than I was able to previously and really take in the beauty of the area.
There’s so much to love here. The elephants were the obvious highlight and this is easily the greatest set of Asian elephant exhibits I’ve personally seen. It actually took me a few minutes to notice a hidden moat that divided two of the yards and until then I was genuinely convinced it was just one large yard. There were many other high points of this complex: a pair of active spotted hyenas gnawing on bones scattered throughout their enclosure, a trio of hippos sleeping against one another underwater, and the tank for native fish species which is a gem. Sadly I didn’t have the best luck for my target species, only catching a glimpse of the foot of a sleeping sun bear. Overall though, Rivers Edge is superb. However, I do have one very big gripe with this complex. The signage here is complete garbage and is some of the worst I’ve ever seen in any zoo. Almost all of the exhibits here had nothing but a single wooden plank with the name of the species they held. That is all. No additional information about diet, geographical range, not even scientific names. It was horrible and it blows my mind that such an incredibly detailed complex at such a highly respected zoo omitted such a basic part of exhibit design. One of the biggest purposes of the modern zoo is education so to see this ignored was really disappointing. The only exhibits that did have significant signage were the 2014 carnivore enclosures, and as a side note you can definitely tell those three enclosures were added well after the rest of the exhibits. I don’t mean that in a good or bad way, but they just stick out being the only habitats with glass windows instead of hidden moats and have a bit more obvious fencing by comparison.
Note the elephants in this photo are in separate paddocks.
Finally moving on from Rivers Edge, the next stop was the insectarium. Once again the crowds made it near impossible to get a good look at just about anything in here so unfortunately I rushed this building and never got the chance to return. I’m not someone who’s personally the most concerned about covid, but even I was getting a bit anxious in this building. However, even with the amount of people, I was so happy to see so many guests genuinely interested in insects. There was real learning going on in here, and I think that’s a testament to how well designed this house is. Many guests were reading the signs and interacting with the interpretive displays. The one spot of this house I did take my time in was the connected butterfly dome which was wonderful and similarly did great in engaging guests.
During my visit the remnants of the old children’s zoo were being used as a temporary dinosaur attraction which I believe has since run its course. I’m a bit disappointed to have missed it as there was a rather impressive collection of Australian mammals on display that I would have loved to see. As an aside, I have been hearing of plans to construct a brand new children’s zoo on the same site. While it’s nothing that is going to amaze the average zoo nerd, there should be at least one species being added that is going to be of interest to enthusiasts and I’m confident it’s going to be a great project.
The somewhat recent bear exhibits were an interesting case. Neither were particularly impressive, both sharing a similar design - narrow, glass-fronted yards with grass and medium-sized pools. However, I found the grizzly bear enclosure was far more excusable than the similar one for polar bears. The grizzly bear exhibit is one of the more subtle homages to the zoo's history, utilizing the facades of the old bear grottos as the backdrop. It’s hardly anything special, but it's rather tastefully done and works for its inhabitants. For the polar bear exhibit, I can safely say it was absolutely, undeniably, positively… fine. It’s nothing more than that though, and quite frankly is perhaps one of the weakest polar bear exhibits in the US. With only a single enclosure there is no opportunity for breeding and the space is pretty small even for a single bear. Unlike the grizzly enclosure, this exhibit did not use the old grottos facades as a backdrop, but instead completely new rockwork which I found to be hideously ugly. With the well documented decline of polar bears in American collections, this enclosure is already obsolete and will not be sustainable long term. However, for a single individual that cannot breed, it works for the time being.
Sandwiched in between the bear yards was sweet relief, aka Penguin and Puffin Coast. Kept at temperatures no higher than 45-50°, so this building was my escape from the blistering Missouri heat. Because there was a limit on how many guests could be in the building at one time, that also meant I was able to briefly escape the crowds. This house is absolutely wonderful and as soon as I walked in I glanced up to see a rockhopper penguin glaring down at me. I was extremely impressed at the moment, but after seeing Detroit’s penguin house a few months later, I realized that this building is a bit more flawed than meets the eye. There really isn’t a whole lot of room for the penguins themselves and the amount of water space in particular is extremely limiting. There are definitely objectively better penguin habitats from the animals perspective, but for visitors it is an absolute triumph. I actually found the puffin exhibit to work much better. Just about every puffin exhibit I’ve seen (which to be fair isn’t very many) is such a pain to peer into as the condensation fogs up the glass. The pool here is completely open and a puffin swam right up to the glass so close to me that I had to resist the urge to give it a pat on the head. I was literally looking directly down on it without any visible barriers which was wonderful.
The great ape exhibits continued to impress. The gorilla and chimpanzee enclosures were both really good, although not the most inspiring I’ve seen personally. They were plenty varied in elevation and climbing opportunities, although they didn’t really interest me like other exhibits I’ve seen for the same species at other zoos. What really stood out here was the orangutan exhibit, which is the best I've seen for the species by far. So many zoos have failed to provide good homes for orangutans in spite of much creativity, yet Saint Louis has managed to put together a really good accommodation by just going back to the basics. No expensive gimmicks, no artificial structures, no mega-churches, just a lushly planted enclosure with a ton of opportunities to climb. It's what I hope Brookfield's upcoming orangutan exhibit will turn out like and clearly it’s working, as I witnessed the most energetic orangutan behavior I’ve ever seen in a zoo. One of the younger apes wrapped their entire body around a rope and built momentum swinging back and forth before lunging itself several feet horizontally towards a large tree. I’d never seen anything like that before and it's a testament to the excellence of this enclosure.
Now we arrive at my personal favorite section of the zoo: the entire historical district. The pillars of this section are a trio of historical animal houses that have been excellently maintained after a century of use. There’s a large valley at the center of the area which is beautiful and creates an amazing atmosphere. I’ve yet to visit any collections in Germany, but I imagine what zoos there feel like and I loved it. The strongest of the houses is the Herpetarium, which is far and away the greatest reptile house I have ever seen. Nearly 100 reptiles and amphibians on show including several personal favorites - I’ll never tire of seeing the manshang pit viper. Exhibit quality is consistently very good all around with a few particularly spacious greenhouse enclosures which are much larger than the rest. There are also a trio of outdoor yards connected to the building for both alligator and giant tortoise species which are simple, but perfect for what they hold. The only questionable areas would probably be the central turtle ponds which are slightly tight on space, but are hardly anything too egregious.The house is a century old and while it has received upgrades through the years, the original aspects of the building are extremely well maintained and celebrated. The only disappointment of the building was that the lower level of the house was closed for maintenance so I did miss out on the false gharial. I spent a good two minutes deliberating if I should sneak down there anyway to catch a glimpse, but ultimately decided it would be in my best interest to not risk being kicked out of the zoo.
Beyond its imposing architecture, I don’t have very much to say about the primate house. I spent very little time in the building as the only thing indoors was a pair of Geoffry’s marmosets and a slumbering sloth. That’s because all of the other primates were outside in the newly constructed Primate Canopy Trails complex. I’m not sure if this is a hot take or not, but in my opinion, this is one of the most innovative zoo exhibits built in the last few years. It’s essentially seven or eight netted enclosures that are all connected via overhead-tunnels. The larger enclosures were built around large mature trees and from my memory, almost every primate I saw was off the ground, active, and in many cases interacting with visitors. One of the purest moments of connection was seeing a group of school children enthralled with an infant colobus monkey who was pressing himself against the glass. Moments like this are what zoos are all about, and to me it’s an indication of this exhibits’ success. Seeing a pair of coquerel's sifakas hopping through one of the transfer chutes was also a highlight. This exhibit should be a model going forward for any zoos still keeping primates indoors year round, and I should know, I live by two of them.
At the time of my visit, bird flu was still running rampant throughout the US and I was extremely worried that I would miss out on the zoos extensive avian collection as a result. Thankfully I was blessed by the zoo-gods, as just three days before my visit the zoo reopened all of their bird exhibits just in time. The bird house is enormous and has a stunning exterior. The inside was fascinating. The carmine bee-eater aviary was my personal favorite and the amount of horned guans on display was impressive in itself. Overall however, I found the exhibit quality to be a bit spotty. Many of the displays seemed just a tad tight on space and I can safely say the bird house had the weakest set of the exhibits in the whole zoo. In the east hall of the building is a series of shocking cages for king vulture, red-legged seriema and balteur (although I’ve heard the latter may have been removed since my visit). These exhibits were downright bad. I love seeing species as striking as a king vulture and bateleur, but not when they're squeezed into exhibits the size of a walk-in closet. These enclosures are perhaps the one and only black mark on the zoo, but this is a fairly easy fix. Simply swapping these out with smaller birds would be much better in my opinion and if the recent removal of the balteur is any indication, perhaps the zoo would agree.
Just behind the bird house is a quaint outdoor trail known as the bird gardens. It’s essentially a short, densely wooded path with about a half-dozen harp wire bird cages and a medium-sized walk-in aviary which was closed for non bird flu related reasons. It was fine I suppose, although it feels like untapped potential. This feels like the perfect area to constrict some larger outdoor aviaries for the raptors currently in the bird house, but instead the inhabitants are a little random.
While most of the bird exhibits at this point were rather underwhelming, there is one that shines brightly above the rest. The 1904 World’s Fair Flight Cage is fantastic and perfectly encapsulates what makes Saint Louis such an amazing zoo. A masterful conversion of a historic structure that is both a clear celebration of the zoo's history and beautiful environment. 20 years ago the interior was redone into a cypress swamp environment with dozens of species of North American birds on display. I do have to nitpick that the signage here was pretty mediocre. I almost went through the whole thing before finally finding a single signpost IDing the residents and even then information was minimal. Like River’s Edge, a slight blemish on an otherwise brilliant exhibit.
I don't have very much to say about Cat Country. Quite frankly, I found it so boring that I forgot to take any photos of it. The enclosures were perfectly fine for their inhabitants, but were essentially just pits with grass which isn't the ideal way to exhibit animals in this day and age. The leopard enclosures in particular were really difficult to view and the whole thing was just awkward. Great collection, fine exhibits, poor visitor experience.
That brings me to the final curtain. Listen, I get it. In an age where zoos all over the country are downsizing their hoofstock collections, areas like Red Rocks become much easier to appreciate. There is an incredibly diverse selection of ungulates on display here including some very nice nice choice species like Chinese goral, Transcaspian urial, and a personal favorite, Javan banteng. The zoo is also actively breeding these species which is great, but my goodness it is an entirely uninteresting way to exhibit animals. It’s essentially just a different variation of the same yard over and over and over again and is downright boring. It’s a maze to get through as well which makes it easy to miss certain species. Red Rocks as a whole likely has a rather uncertain future, but it’s a substantial chunk of land that could make for a very ambitious development if the zoo so choses. Plus, with the zoo moving and expanding their ungulate collection to their upcoming sister location in the next several years, that’s just more incentive to replace this area at some point.
In case I haven't made it clear after 18 paragraphs, I loved my time at Saint Louis. There are very few major flaws, a packed collection of interesting species and a proud history which has been maintained gloriously. It's not perfect, obviously those horrendous raptor cages in the bird house need to go ASAP, but otherwise there isn’t anything else in immediate need of fixing. I’d like to see the east end of the zoo get reworked, which I imagine is something that will happen eventually. The best thing about Saint Louis Zoo isn’t one particular area, but like I said, it has the most exceptional presentation of any zoo I’ve ever visited. No roller coasters, no shoddy picnic areas, no overgrown pathways or rusted fencing. Instead there's clean, well kept grounds, superbly maintained historic buildings, a consistently good to great standard of exhibitry and a highly professional environment that is relentlessly interesting. I think I still prefer Omaha and the San Diego parks over Saint Louis, but when it comes to celebrating its history, I'm not sure there's a better zoo on the continent.
I’ve been meaning to finish this report for months. Life has been getting the way, but now I’m really glad I’m finally getting around to writing about one of my all time favorite zoos.
Saint Louis may be the most well-rounded zoo I’ve ever seen in the sense that there is truly something for everyone here. Whether you're a rarity hunter, an exhibit enthusiast, or an amateur zoo historian, chances are you’ll walk away from the zoo feeling more than satisfied. The only major discrepancies I encountered during my visit were a matter of circumstance. I broke several of the cardinal rules of zoo-going by visiting on a saturday, at the beginning of the summer, with a heat index of nearly 100°. Why so many parents thought it would be a good idea to bring their toddlers to the zoo in this weather I have no clue, but safe to say the screaming children (and parents), constant stroller jam, and the humidity beating down on me like a hammer to a nail certainly made things a bit hectic at times. In spite of all of that though, It did little to deter me from enjoying my visit because this is truly an amazing zoo.
It's also a bit of an anomaly in the American zoo landscape, as besides River’s Edge, the entire zoo is sorted taxonomically: apes, monkeys, ungulates, cats, bears, birds, reptiles and insects. It’s rather refreshing to find a zoo of this caliber that doesn’t have an African Savanna or an Australian Walkabout, and while this style of exhibitry is seen as out-of-date it’s all done in a very modern style. I’ve also never visited a collection that feels more all encompassing than this one. Here is one of the only major American zoos that still hold the big four - elephants, giraffes, rhinos, hippos - comfortably, as well as 4 species of bear, 7 (soon to be 8) species of cat, 3 species of great ape, at least a dozen other primates, more than 15 other ungulates, 4 species of penguin, 100+ birds, 90+ herps, countless insects etc, etc, etc. Few other collections do such a better job striking a balance between ABCs and rarities and the only major megafauna missing I can think of are wolves and tapirs. Otherwise, this is the most complete collection I've ever seen.
Recently I’ve been paying close attention to the aesthetics of zoos and I’ve concluded that having a strong presentation is what separates the good zoos from the truly great. I believe it’s ideal to have a style that is professional and avoids a theme park atmosphere, while at the same time being engaging and vibrant. The presentation of Saint Louis is exceptional in these regards. While there is scarcely a poor enclosure anywhere on the grounds, this goes far beyond just the animal habitats. In fact, the most memorable example of good presentation, at least for me, had little to do with the animals at all. Lakeside Crossing is the name of the zoo's central plaza for dining and shopping and is composed of various modern buildings surrounded by scenic forest and several large lakes viewed from above. It's all incredibly well done and strikes that perfect balance between being colorful and fun, without being overwhelming. Located behind the in-zoo starbucks (you heard me) is an eating and rest area dubbed the Solar Pavilion. A large modern overhang is lined with solar panels that power fans to keep guests cool. It’s secluded enough to provide a nice escape from crowds without being so hidden it’s difficult to find. Not to mention it overlooks a beautiful lagoon habitat for flamingos and various water birds. It’s a simple, but brilliant piece of design that really makes one feel like they’re at a high quality insulation.
photo by @geomorph
Located nearby is Sea Lion Sound, one of America’s premiere pinniped habitats. While I cannot deny it is excellent, it didn’t wow me like I had quite hoped. I think it only suffers from me having just seen Omaha’s new sea lion exhibit which completely knocked my socks off, so it’s only inevitable this would look less impressive by comparison. Obviously the underwater tunnel is a huge hit with guests and a silver medal is nothing to scoff at. Nearby are also two miscellaneous enclosures for red pandas and prairie dogs that are just sort of dropped in haphazardly adjacent to the ape complex. They are both perfectly good habitats, just very out of place without much thought put into them. Judging from the rock walls at the back of both enclosures, they appear to be converted versions of small carnivore grottos and these are definitely well done repurposments.
River’s Edge is the zoos only major attempt at tackling immersion design, focusing on river-inhabiting species from Africa, Asia, South America and Missouri (one of these things is not like the other) and it is really quite masterful. The atmosphere is wonderful and the vegetation is really able to dominate the space. I’ve never seen such a densely forested series of habitats in a midwestern zoo. There is a great combination of popular megafauna and more unusual species to be found here, although it is mostly mammal centric. I went through this complex three times over the course of my time at the zoo and I liked it better each time I went through. My first time through was, well, overwhelming to say the least. The amount of people that rushed to this exhibit made it a pain to get a good look at things sometimes. I don’t think I've ever seen so many strollers and electric chairs in my life which did not bode well with the narrow, sloped pathways. The second and third times were much more pleasant. The crowds had subsided and I was able to linger around for much longer than I was able to previously and really take in the beauty of the area.
There’s so much to love here. The elephants were the obvious highlight and this is easily the greatest set of Asian elephant exhibits I’ve personally seen. It actually took me a few minutes to notice a hidden moat that divided two of the yards and until then I was genuinely convinced it was just one large yard. There were many other high points of this complex: a pair of active spotted hyenas gnawing on bones scattered throughout their enclosure, a trio of hippos sleeping against one another underwater, and the tank for native fish species which is a gem. Sadly I didn’t have the best luck for my target species, only catching a glimpse of the foot of a sleeping sun bear. Overall though, Rivers Edge is superb. However, I do have one very big gripe with this complex. The signage here is complete garbage and is some of the worst I’ve ever seen in any zoo. Almost all of the exhibits here had nothing but a single wooden plank with the name of the species they held. That is all. No additional information about diet, geographical range, not even scientific names. It was horrible and it blows my mind that such an incredibly detailed complex at such a highly respected zoo omitted such a basic part of exhibit design. One of the biggest purposes of the modern zoo is education so to see this ignored was really disappointing. The only exhibits that did have significant signage were the 2014 carnivore enclosures, and as a side note you can definitely tell those three enclosures were added well after the rest of the exhibits. I don’t mean that in a good or bad way, but they just stick out being the only habitats with glass windows instead of hidden moats and have a bit more obvious fencing by comparison.
Note the elephants in this photo are in separate paddocks.
Finally moving on from Rivers Edge, the next stop was the insectarium. Once again the crowds made it near impossible to get a good look at just about anything in here so unfortunately I rushed this building and never got the chance to return. I’m not someone who’s personally the most concerned about covid, but even I was getting a bit anxious in this building. However, even with the amount of people, I was so happy to see so many guests genuinely interested in insects. There was real learning going on in here, and I think that’s a testament to how well designed this house is. Many guests were reading the signs and interacting with the interpretive displays. The one spot of this house I did take my time in was the connected butterfly dome which was wonderful and similarly did great in engaging guests.
During my visit the remnants of the old children’s zoo were being used as a temporary dinosaur attraction which I believe has since run its course. I’m a bit disappointed to have missed it as there was a rather impressive collection of Australian mammals on display that I would have loved to see. As an aside, I have been hearing of plans to construct a brand new children’s zoo on the same site. While it’s nothing that is going to amaze the average zoo nerd, there should be at least one species being added that is going to be of interest to enthusiasts and I’m confident it’s going to be a great project.
The somewhat recent bear exhibits were an interesting case. Neither were particularly impressive, both sharing a similar design - narrow, glass-fronted yards with grass and medium-sized pools. However, I found the grizzly bear enclosure was far more excusable than the similar one for polar bears. The grizzly bear exhibit is one of the more subtle homages to the zoo's history, utilizing the facades of the old bear grottos as the backdrop. It’s hardly anything special, but it's rather tastefully done and works for its inhabitants. For the polar bear exhibit, I can safely say it was absolutely, undeniably, positively… fine. It’s nothing more than that though, and quite frankly is perhaps one of the weakest polar bear exhibits in the US. With only a single enclosure there is no opportunity for breeding and the space is pretty small even for a single bear. Unlike the grizzly enclosure, this exhibit did not use the old grottos facades as a backdrop, but instead completely new rockwork which I found to be hideously ugly. With the well documented decline of polar bears in American collections, this enclosure is already obsolete and will not be sustainable long term. However, for a single individual that cannot breed, it works for the time being.
Sandwiched in between the bear yards was sweet relief, aka Penguin and Puffin Coast. Kept at temperatures no higher than 45-50°, so this building was my escape from the blistering Missouri heat. Because there was a limit on how many guests could be in the building at one time, that also meant I was able to briefly escape the crowds. This house is absolutely wonderful and as soon as I walked in I glanced up to see a rockhopper penguin glaring down at me. I was extremely impressed at the moment, but after seeing Detroit’s penguin house a few months later, I realized that this building is a bit more flawed than meets the eye. There really isn’t a whole lot of room for the penguins themselves and the amount of water space in particular is extremely limiting. There are definitely objectively better penguin habitats from the animals perspective, but for visitors it is an absolute triumph. I actually found the puffin exhibit to work much better. Just about every puffin exhibit I’ve seen (which to be fair isn’t very many) is such a pain to peer into as the condensation fogs up the glass. The pool here is completely open and a puffin swam right up to the glass so close to me that I had to resist the urge to give it a pat on the head. I was literally looking directly down on it without any visible barriers which was wonderful.
The great ape exhibits continued to impress. The gorilla and chimpanzee enclosures were both really good, although not the most inspiring I’ve seen personally. They were plenty varied in elevation and climbing opportunities, although they didn’t really interest me like other exhibits I’ve seen for the same species at other zoos. What really stood out here was the orangutan exhibit, which is the best I've seen for the species by far. So many zoos have failed to provide good homes for orangutans in spite of much creativity, yet Saint Louis has managed to put together a really good accommodation by just going back to the basics. No expensive gimmicks, no artificial structures, no mega-churches, just a lushly planted enclosure with a ton of opportunities to climb. It's what I hope Brookfield's upcoming orangutan exhibit will turn out like and clearly it’s working, as I witnessed the most energetic orangutan behavior I’ve ever seen in a zoo. One of the younger apes wrapped their entire body around a rope and built momentum swinging back and forth before lunging itself several feet horizontally towards a large tree. I’d never seen anything like that before and it's a testament to the excellence of this enclosure.
Now we arrive at my personal favorite section of the zoo: the entire historical district. The pillars of this section are a trio of historical animal houses that have been excellently maintained after a century of use. There’s a large valley at the center of the area which is beautiful and creates an amazing atmosphere. I’ve yet to visit any collections in Germany, but I imagine what zoos there feel like and I loved it. The strongest of the houses is the Herpetarium, which is far and away the greatest reptile house I have ever seen. Nearly 100 reptiles and amphibians on show including several personal favorites - I’ll never tire of seeing the manshang pit viper. Exhibit quality is consistently very good all around with a few particularly spacious greenhouse enclosures which are much larger than the rest. There are also a trio of outdoor yards connected to the building for both alligator and giant tortoise species which are simple, but perfect for what they hold. The only questionable areas would probably be the central turtle ponds which are slightly tight on space, but are hardly anything too egregious.The house is a century old and while it has received upgrades through the years, the original aspects of the building are extremely well maintained and celebrated. The only disappointment of the building was that the lower level of the house was closed for maintenance so I did miss out on the false gharial. I spent a good two minutes deliberating if I should sneak down there anyway to catch a glimpse, but ultimately decided it would be in my best interest to not risk being kicked out of the zoo.
Beyond its imposing architecture, I don’t have very much to say about the primate house. I spent very little time in the building as the only thing indoors was a pair of Geoffry’s marmosets and a slumbering sloth. That’s because all of the other primates were outside in the newly constructed Primate Canopy Trails complex. I’m not sure if this is a hot take or not, but in my opinion, this is one of the most innovative zoo exhibits built in the last few years. It’s essentially seven or eight netted enclosures that are all connected via overhead-tunnels. The larger enclosures were built around large mature trees and from my memory, almost every primate I saw was off the ground, active, and in many cases interacting with visitors. One of the purest moments of connection was seeing a group of school children enthralled with an infant colobus monkey who was pressing himself against the glass. Moments like this are what zoos are all about, and to me it’s an indication of this exhibits’ success. Seeing a pair of coquerel's sifakas hopping through one of the transfer chutes was also a highlight. This exhibit should be a model going forward for any zoos still keeping primates indoors year round, and I should know, I live by two of them.
At the time of my visit, bird flu was still running rampant throughout the US and I was extremely worried that I would miss out on the zoos extensive avian collection as a result. Thankfully I was blessed by the zoo-gods, as just three days before my visit the zoo reopened all of their bird exhibits just in time. The bird house is enormous and has a stunning exterior. The inside was fascinating. The carmine bee-eater aviary was my personal favorite and the amount of horned guans on display was impressive in itself. Overall however, I found the exhibit quality to be a bit spotty. Many of the displays seemed just a tad tight on space and I can safely say the bird house had the weakest set of the exhibits in the whole zoo. In the east hall of the building is a series of shocking cages for king vulture, red-legged seriema and balteur (although I’ve heard the latter may have been removed since my visit). These exhibits were downright bad. I love seeing species as striking as a king vulture and bateleur, but not when they're squeezed into exhibits the size of a walk-in closet. These enclosures are perhaps the one and only black mark on the zoo, but this is a fairly easy fix. Simply swapping these out with smaller birds would be much better in my opinion and if the recent removal of the balteur is any indication, perhaps the zoo would agree.
Just behind the bird house is a quaint outdoor trail known as the bird gardens. It’s essentially a short, densely wooded path with about a half-dozen harp wire bird cages and a medium-sized walk-in aviary which was closed for non bird flu related reasons. It was fine I suppose, although it feels like untapped potential. This feels like the perfect area to constrict some larger outdoor aviaries for the raptors currently in the bird house, but instead the inhabitants are a little random.
While most of the bird exhibits at this point were rather underwhelming, there is one that shines brightly above the rest. The 1904 World’s Fair Flight Cage is fantastic and perfectly encapsulates what makes Saint Louis such an amazing zoo. A masterful conversion of a historic structure that is both a clear celebration of the zoo's history and beautiful environment. 20 years ago the interior was redone into a cypress swamp environment with dozens of species of North American birds on display. I do have to nitpick that the signage here was pretty mediocre. I almost went through the whole thing before finally finding a single signpost IDing the residents and even then information was minimal. Like River’s Edge, a slight blemish on an otherwise brilliant exhibit.
I don't have very much to say about Cat Country. Quite frankly, I found it so boring that I forgot to take any photos of it. The enclosures were perfectly fine for their inhabitants, but were essentially just pits with grass which isn't the ideal way to exhibit animals in this day and age. The leopard enclosures in particular were really difficult to view and the whole thing was just awkward. Great collection, fine exhibits, poor visitor experience.
That brings me to the final curtain. Listen, I get it. In an age where zoos all over the country are downsizing their hoofstock collections, areas like Red Rocks become much easier to appreciate. There is an incredibly diverse selection of ungulates on display here including some very nice nice choice species like Chinese goral, Transcaspian urial, and a personal favorite, Javan banteng. The zoo is also actively breeding these species which is great, but my goodness it is an entirely uninteresting way to exhibit animals. It’s essentially just a different variation of the same yard over and over and over again and is downright boring. It’s a maze to get through as well which makes it easy to miss certain species. Red Rocks as a whole likely has a rather uncertain future, but it’s a substantial chunk of land that could make for a very ambitious development if the zoo so choses. Plus, with the zoo moving and expanding their ungulate collection to their upcoming sister location in the next several years, that’s just more incentive to replace this area at some point.
In case I haven't made it clear after 18 paragraphs, I loved my time at Saint Louis. There are very few major flaws, a packed collection of interesting species and a proud history which has been maintained gloriously. It's not perfect, obviously those horrendous raptor cages in the bird house need to go ASAP, but otherwise there isn’t anything else in immediate need of fixing. I’d like to see the east end of the zoo get reworked, which I imagine is something that will happen eventually. The best thing about Saint Louis Zoo isn’t one particular area, but like I said, it has the most exceptional presentation of any zoo I’ve ever visited. No roller coasters, no shoddy picnic areas, no overgrown pathways or rusted fencing. Instead there's clean, well kept grounds, superbly maintained historic buildings, a consistently good to great standard of exhibitry and a highly professional environment that is relentlessly interesting. I think I still prefer Omaha and the San Diego parks over Saint Louis, but when it comes to celebrating its history, I'm not sure there's a better zoo on the continent.
