Well, you *are* crazy
But in this particular example you are entirely correct, and I'd even argue that Alpenzoo has a pretty good shot at being in the top 20, let alone top 50.
Slender Lorises, Duct Tape, and Whataburger: A Fish on Dry Land
- Thread starter Coelacanth18
- Start date
Well, you *are* crazy
But in this particular example you are entirely correct, and I'd even argue that Alpenzoo has a pretty good shot at being in the top 20, let alone top 50.
I`m reminded that, in compiling the book on America`s Top 100 zoos, that about 90 of them picked themselves,the QUALITY small zoo was much more difficult to come by and WNCNC might be such a place.Having visited around 250 U.S. zoos its nice to come across good establishments that are still waiting for me post-pandemic.
Of course,such road trips mean rather too much fast food(as per reviews) but ,often as not ,when getting behind the wheel is a priority,they are the only option. Cant think of one chain I REALLY like...but Cracker Barrel is reliable(and a search for the worst-taste gift in their shop can be an amusing 5 minutes),Bob Evans is clean and tidy and I have a soft spot for Panda Express. I also liked Red Lobster until they told me they don`t stun their lobsters by a quick freeze prior to boiling them,so i stopped frequenting their establishments . Wendy`s and Sonic are to be avoided at all costs...cheap rubbish! Funnily enough ive never been to a Taco Bell,as i not that keen on Mexican in any shape or form - it occupies the same niche as Indian food in the UK it seems to me,but is nowhere near as nice. Also,re fast food, i could do quite a survey on hotel chains..at a mid-price range a refurbished La Quinta is difficult to beat.
Of course,such road trips mean rather too much fast food(as per reviews) but ,often as not ,when getting behind the wheel is a priority,they are the only option. Cant think of one chain I REALLY like...but Cracker Barrel is reliable(and a search for the worst-taste gift in their shop can be an amusing 5 minutes),Bob Evans is clean and tidy and I have a soft spot for Panda Express. I also liked Red Lobster until they told me they don`t stun their lobsters by a quick freeze prior to boiling them,so i stopped frequenting their establishments . Wendy`s and Sonic are to be avoided at all costs...cheap rubbish! Funnily enough ive never been to a Taco Bell,as i not that keen on Mexican in any shape or form - it occupies the same niche as Indian food in the UK it seems to me,but is nowhere near as nice. Also,re fast food, i could do quite a survey on hotel chains..at a mid-price range a refurbished La Quinta is difficult to beat.
I have tried Wendy's (and agree with you), but I've heard pretty good things about the lemonades & shakes at Sonic.
Loving the fast food content in these reviews I won’t lie! Especially as an Irishman it’s interesting to read about other chains as we aren’t exactly home to a whole host of chains (McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King are widespread, other than that we’ve very little).
There is Mexican and there is Mexican. I imagine the same applies to Indian however I have never eaten Indian in the UK.
Agreed. I drove in once, couldn't figure what was going on and drove out.
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Note: this review is 2 posts – not because of length, but because of the 20 photo per post limit. Wordwise it’s similar in length to some of my other reviews and shorter than my Memphis review.
Chapter 9: Herp Nerd Noah: A Reptilian Retelling of the Biblical Flood
Even if we all love zoos, the truth is that some don’t make the cut; whether it’s distance, cost, collection, exhibits, etc... we prioritize where we want to go. Today is a story about a zoo that was almost one of those that came up short – if it wasn’t for a brand-new complex that flew under the radar for most last year, featuring a personal draw of mine that was ultimately too powerful to ignore.
I can find very few descriptions or representations of what the old reptile area at Knoxville looked like, but from what little I’ve gathered it was a somewhat lacking presentation for a zoo that actually had a sizable collection and a specialty in breeding rare turtles and tortoises. In spring of last year, a new facility – dubbed the Clayton Family ARC – opened its doors to the public. I’d ruled out Knoxville earlier based on cost ($30 admission and parking, before costs of gas and food) and lack of confirmed unusual species, but after confirming the ARC was open (despite their online map implying it’s still unfinished?) I couldn’t resist making the relatively easy day trip over to see it. They probably had some interesting rarities, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to be the one who discovered for all of us what was inside. There was a single day it was supposed to get into the 60’s F (over 15 C) and not thunderstorm, so picking a day was an easy decision.
Zoo Knoxville
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Size: ~25-30 acres
Species Count: 134
Closed Areas: budgie aviary (big whoop), couple of bird cages and empty African yards were blocked off
Noteworthy Species: Silvery Lutung and several herp species
Price: $25 admission + $5 parking = $30 total
Recommended Time: ~3 hours
Species List: Zoo Knoxville Species List - Dec 2021 [Zoo Knoxville]
Media Gallery: Zoo Knoxville - ZooChat
Map (ignore the ambiguous circle where the ARC should be): https://www.zooknoxville.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Zoo-map.pdf
Against the usual grain of logic for me, I decided to do the ARC last; rain was only a couple hours out when I arrived and given the size of the zoo I figured I’d have plenty of time to go look at herps inside (this seemed preferable to trying to photograph chimps and tigers in the rain). I’m glad I made this decision – not because it rained (it got very close, but other than a light drizzle it held off) but because it meant I did the zoo’s highlights at the end and thus came out of the gate feeling great. The rough but accurate truth is that Knoxville probably wouldn’t have been a top pick for anybody on the forum until the ARC. The zoo has fewer than 50 species outside the ARC complex, only one of which – silvery lutung – is particularly rare, and many of the enclosures are old and could use either updating or at least some fresh plantings and spackle.
The East portion – which is predominantly African – is especially so. This half consists of a “savanna” path that dead-ends, a two-species “North American” path that also dead-ends; and an “African forest” loop that doesn’t dead-end, obviously. All of those have a combined total of only 15 species, all mammals except for a Red-tailed Hawk and a pair of ground hornbills. The usual big-ticket African animals – elephant, white rhino, giraffe and zebra – are found in average-sized dusty yards (probably below-average for elephants by this point in time) with cable or iron fencing above head-level.
At the dead-end I found Memphis’s missing Egyptian complex. A pair of enclosures for lion and a few Hamadryas baboons were signed with information about their role in Ancient Egyptian culture and religion, with a bit of Ancient Egyptian artwork thrown in as well. It was a neat idea, but the exhibits aren’t very interesting themselves and not theming the entire path that way seems like a lost opportunity (especially given there’s not much to the rest of the path...)
The North American path is weird; after getting an overhead view of the white rhinos, you walk up a path to a small aviary for Red-tailed Hawk across from a wooded, average-sized yard for Red Wolves behind chain-link. And then that’s it. The African loop it peels off of is fine, though nothing special and very low on species. Chimps and gorillas share large outdoor yards with multiple viewing angles; a pleasant covered walkway gives a view of a grassy and shaded Yellow-backed Duiker yard; and the finale (past an area currently under renovation behind a fence) is an ugly chain-link yard for a pack of Painted Dogs and a glass-fronted side enclosure for Lar Gibbons (the zoo has them elsewhere). I don’t know what the construction is for, but I hope it brings more species and less of that ugly chain-link or cable fencing!
One of the zoo’s more well-known displays, however, is immediately adjacent to the entrance: an American Black Bear exhibit with mock rock for days. Like, a lot of it. Like, enough to bury the rest of the zoo in mock rock if an earthquake happens. Giant fake trees added a vertical aspect to the already sloped enclosure; other interesting features include a pool, a darkened viewing tunnel, and a window seeing inside their den. Thought going into the design? Remarkable. Opinions on the execution? Variable. Cost of all the mock rock and giant trees? Unknown, likely not enviable.
The eastern half of the zoo features two relatively new areas that boosted Knoxville up a couple notches prior to the new herp complex. While I don’t normally pay much attention to children’s zoos, an interesting feature of Knoxville’s is a budgerigar aviary combined with a beaver exhibit, with a bit of Hooded Merganser on the side. I’m curious how that happened; did they want both and ran out of room? I have no idea how the mix works, but I saw two active beavers in two separate enclosures – one swimming and then trying to escape to the closed visitor pathway in the aviary, the other ignoring all of the wood its keepers gave it and going to town with its incisors on the metal pole supporting its shade structure. I suspect these two have to be charity cases, as they don’t seem particularly bright; I guess the zoo decided they could give them a good home with the budgies so they didn’t have to starve to death back in the wild, where they’d be surrounded by wood they’d apparently ignore.
The upstairs portion of the children’s zoo barn is accessed from a higher level (it’s the Appalachians, so as per usual the zoo is on an incline) and has some local historical photos lining the walls inside, along with a Barn Owl and a few other odds ‘n ends. The path winds up from there to the top of the zoo, where you can still find the outside of the old herp area (now home only to a juvenile Komodo Dragon and a few possibly seasonal tortoise yards), a river otter exhibit, and a few mediocre chain-link cages for some of the zoo’s meager bird collection.
In the center of Zoo East, however, is Asia Trek and its accompanying Red Panda Village – easily the best of what the outdoor zoo has to offer. Red Panda Village has been around for many years now; besides its herp collection, Knoxville is probably best known for being the leading Red Panda breeder in the world (over 100 since its founding!). They have two outdoor and one indoor exhibits (plus a side exhibit for Blue-crowned Laughingthrush and Edwards’s Pheasant), with one of the exhibits being a walk-in meshed enclosure – an interesting design I haven’t noted elsewhere. At least one of the pandas was out, making silly faces at the adoring fans.
As for Asian Trek: I’ve been to several American zoos with extreme slopes. Some zoos manage it better than others, but Knoxville *might* be the first one I’ve seen that has used its elevation gradient to its advantage. The complex is tiered down the slope, with species visible from multiple angles and heights. A string of interconnected mesh enclosures for Lar Gibbons and Silvery Lutungs towers over the ground-level paths while the interconnecting gate tubes also hang overhead; a three-story tower allows you to go from staring at the gibbons head-on and getting a birds-eye view of a Malayan tiger, to staring down the tiger and the gibbon watching you safely from above! The height plus the extensive climbing equipment gives the gibbons and monkeys plenty of room to roam and brachiate; meanwhile, ground level offers close-up views at a pair of the beautiful striped cats and a grassy yard for White-naped Cranes and some assorted waterfowl. The theming is strong (this is America, after all) but the design is ingenious and works very effectively.
The following post covers the ARC – two of every reptile and amphibian boarded it, then herp nerd Noah rolled up the red carpet and left the mammals and birds to drown in its wake. Rare turtles and their associates only!
Chapter 9: Herp Nerd Noah: A Reptilian Retelling of the Biblical Flood
Even if we all love zoos, the truth is that some don’t make the cut; whether it’s distance, cost, collection, exhibits, etc... we prioritize where we want to go. Today is a story about a zoo that was almost one of those that came up short – if it wasn’t for a brand-new complex that flew under the radar for most last year, featuring a personal draw of mine that was ultimately too powerful to ignore.
I can find very few descriptions or representations of what the old reptile area at Knoxville looked like, but from what little I’ve gathered it was a somewhat lacking presentation for a zoo that actually had a sizable collection and a specialty in breeding rare turtles and tortoises. In spring of last year, a new facility – dubbed the Clayton Family ARC – opened its doors to the public. I’d ruled out Knoxville earlier based on cost ($30 admission and parking, before costs of gas and food) and lack of confirmed unusual species, but after confirming the ARC was open (despite their online map implying it’s still unfinished?) I couldn’t resist making the relatively easy day trip over to see it. They probably had some interesting rarities, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to be the one who discovered for all of us what was inside. There was a single day it was supposed to get into the 60’s F (over 15 C) and not thunderstorm, so picking a day was an easy decision.
Zoo Knoxville
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Size: ~25-30 acres
Species Count: 134
Closed Areas: budgie aviary (big whoop), couple of bird cages and empty African yards were blocked off
Noteworthy Species: Silvery Lutung and several herp species
Price: $25 admission + $5 parking = $30 total
Recommended Time: ~3 hours
Species List: Zoo Knoxville Species List - Dec 2021 [Zoo Knoxville]
Media Gallery: Zoo Knoxville - ZooChat
Map (ignore the ambiguous circle where the ARC should be): https://www.zooknoxville.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Zoo-map.pdf
Against the usual grain of logic for me, I decided to do the ARC last; rain was only a couple hours out when I arrived and given the size of the zoo I figured I’d have plenty of time to go look at herps inside (this seemed preferable to trying to photograph chimps and tigers in the rain). I’m glad I made this decision – not because it rained (it got very close, but other than a light drizzle it held off) but because it meant I did the zoo’s highlights at the end and thus came out of the gate feeling great. The rough but accurate truth is that Knoxville probably wouldn’t have been a top pick for anybody on the forum until the ARC. The zoo has fewer than 50 species outside the ARC complex, only one of which – silvery lutung – is particularly rare, and many of the enclosures are old and could use either updating or at least some fresh plantings and spackle.
The East portion – which is predominantly African – is especially so. This half consists of a “savanna” path that dead-ends, a two-species “North American” path that also dead-ends; and an “African forest” loop that doesn’t dead-end, obviously. All of those have a combined total of only 15 species, all mammals except for a Red-tailed Hawk and a pair of ground hornbills. The usual big-ticket African animals – elephant, white rhino, giraffe and zebra – are found in average-sized dusty yards (probably below-average for elephants by this point in time) with cable or iron fencing above head-level.
At the dead-end I found Memphis’s missing Egyptian complex. A pair of enclosures for lion and a few Hamadryas baboons were signed with information about their role in Ancient Egyptian culture and religion, with a bit of Ancient Egyptian artwork thrown in as well. It was a neat idea, but the exhibits aren’t very interesting themselves and not theming the entire path that way seems like a lost opportunity (especially given there’s not much to the rest of the path...)
The North American path is weird; after getting an overhead view of the white rhinos, you walk up a path to a small aviary for Red-tailed Hawk across from a wooded, average-sized yard for Red Wolves behind chain-link. And then that’s it. The African loop it peels off of is fine, though nothing special and very low on species. Chimps and gorillas share large outdoor yards with multiple viewing angles; a pleasant covered walkway gives a view of a grassy and shaded Yellow-backed Duiker yard; and the finale (past an area currently under renovation behind a fence) is an ugly chain-link yard for a pack of Painted Dogs and a glass-fronted side enclosure for Lar Gibbons (the zoo has them elsewhere). I don’t know what the construction is for, but I hope it brings more species and less of that ugly chain-link or cable fencing!
One of the zoo’s more well-known displays, however, is immediately adjacent to the entrance: an American Black Bear exhibit with mock rock for days. Like, a lot of it. Like, enough to bury the rest of the zoo in mock rock if an earthquake happens. Giant fake trees added a vertical aspect to the already sloped enclosure; other interesting features include a pool, a darkened viewing tunnel, and a window seeing inside their den. Thought going into the design? Remarkable. Opinions on the execution? Variable. Cost of all the mock rock and giant trees? Unknown, likely not enviable.
The eastern half of the zoo features two relatively new areas that boosted Knoxville up a couple notches prior to the new herp complex. While I don’t normally pay much attention to children’s zoos, an interesting feature of Knoxville’s is a budgerigar aviary combined with a beaver exhibit, with a bit of Hooded Merganser on the side. I’m curious how that happened; did they want both and ran out of room? I have no idea how the mix works, but I saw two active beavers in two separate enclosures – one swimming and then trying to escape to the closed visitor pathway in the aviary, the other ignoring all of the wood its keepers gave it and going to town with its incisors on the metal pole supporting its shade structure. I suspect these two have to be charity cases, as they don’t seem particularly bright; I guess the zoo decided they could give them a good home with the budgies so they didn’t have to starve to death back in the wild, where they’d be surrounded by wood they’d apparently ignore.
The upstairs portion of the children’s zoo barn is accessed from a higher level (it’s the Appalachians, so as per usual the zoo is on an incline) and has some local historical photos lining the walls inside, along with a Barn Owl and a few other odds ‘n ends. The path winds up from there to the top of the zoo, where you can still find the outside of the old herp area (now home only to a juvenile Komodo Dragon and a few possibly seasonal tortoise yards), a river otter exhibit, and a few mediocre chain-link cages for some of the zoo’s meager bird collection.
In the center of Zoo East, however, is Asia Trek and its accompanying Red Panda Village – easily the best of what the outdoor zoo has to offer. Red Panda Village has been around for many years now; besides its herp collection, Knoxville is probably best known for being the leading Red Panda breeder in the world (over 100 since its founding!). They have two outdoor and one indoor exhibits (plus a side exhibit for Blue-crowned Laughingthrush and Edwards’s Pheasant), with one of the exhibits being a walk-in meshed enclosure – an interesting design I haven’t noted elsewhere. At least one of the pandas was out, making silly faces at the adoring fans.
As for Asian Trek: I’ve been to several American zoos with extreme slopes. Some zoos manage it better than others, but Knoxville *might* be the first one I’ve seen that has used its elevation gradient to its advantage. The complex is tiered down the slope, with species visible from multiple angles and heights. A string of interconnected mesh enclosures for Lar Gibbons and Silvery Lutungs towers over the ground-level paths while the interconnecting gate tubes also hang overhead; a three-story tower allows you to go from staring at the gibbons head-on and getting a birds-eye view of a Malayan tiger, to staring down the tiger and the gibbon watching you safely from above! The height plus the extensive climbing equipment gives the gibbons and monkeys plenty of room to roam and brachiate; meanwhile, ground level offers close-up views at a pair of the beautiful striped cats and a grassy yard for White-naped Cranes and some assorted waterfowl. The theming is strong (this is America, after all) but the design is ingenious and works very effectively.
The following post covers the ARC – two of every reptile and amphibian boarded it, then herp nerd Noah rolled up the red carpet and left the mammals and birds to drown in its wake. Rare turtles and their associates only!
PART II OF ZOO KNOXVILLE
My gamble on seeing animals in the outdoor yards surrounding the new herp building turned out to be fruitless; despite there being over a dozen species of chelonian signed outside, all I saw was a single Painted Turtle. The turtle and tortoise yards are all fairly small and simple in design, but in warmer months offer visitors a variety of more unusual species like Ploughshare Tortoise, Forsten’s Tortoise, three subspecies of Spider Tortoise, Yellow-marginated and Southern Vietnamese Box Turtles. Another great design feature was a wetland pond, where I spotted a wild frog. Am I a wildlifer now?
I noticed the first interesting detail of the building when I reached to pull the door handle, and noticed the door handles were actually crocodiles. Nope, you didn’t read that wrong. The door handles to each section were shaped like the animals in that room:
And there were indeed crocodiles behind that door. The first room in the ARC was a simulated tropical environment, with large glass-fronted aquatic enclosures for several tropical turtles, two crocodilians, numerous fish, and an overhead free-roaming sloth I did not witness (the only mammal apparently allowed to board). As someone who doesn’t mind a little bit of heat and humidity, I can assure you the temperatures were set for reptile comfort and not human comfort – it was easily the muggiest room I’d ever been to in a zoo. Bespectacled beware, for there may be fogging of the lenses! Another neat feature was a crawlspace into an underwater view of the Cuban Crocodile habitat; being the age at which I can still manage child-appropriate spaces with only a moderate amount of groaning and cracking, I shuffled inside and found the crocodile rather quickly. Let’s say, immediately.
I passed through the second set of doors – this time pulling on a pair of cobra handles – and found the “meat” of the collection: a room full of floor-to-ceiling glass-fronted displays. Herp central! While the oblong room only had 40 species signed – and a number of these were off-exhibit (it seems like the new building may still be working out some kinks, as missing species seemed to be a trend here) – the displays looked very good and the species they *did* have included some very interesting ones. Highlights here included a Minor’s Chameleon, Ethiopian Mountain Viper, an interesting mixed-species display of local salamanders, and a ringed Lake Titicaca Water Frog tank with a pop-up bubble in the middle. I counted around 50 of the rare frogs in the tank; now I have Andean lake blob photos for days!
The end of the room had another feature I’ve never encountered before: a video game projected on large screens, where someone can design their own herptile and place it in an appropriate pre-made biome where it roams for an unknown period of time. Playing Spore in a reptile house; how the times have changed! Won’t be long before reptile houses have VR helmets that let you swim with alligators, or holograms of spitting cobras hocking out an envenomed loogie on your face. You decide whether that sounds utopian or dystopian; meanwhile, I kept myself distracted from the continual march of technological advancement the only way I know how: by looking for more rare herps.
Fortunately, the third and final room was the ARC’s endangered chelonian greenhouse – accessed, of course, using tortoise handles. The lushly-planted greenhouse contains several small, low-fenced yards ostensibly full of turtles and tortoises; I say ostensibly because finding one is a challenge! Several species are signed (beneath liftable tortoise shells), but at first glance I only saw a small group of Burmese Forest Tortoises in the back; before long I found myself staring down into pools and lifting up fern fronds in an attempt to find what I could. I was able to uncover a couple of Sulawesi Forest Turtles, a Spiny Hill Turtle, and another one or two I haven’t ID’ed yet, but ultimately came up without much to show. The greenhouse is a fairly unique feature for an American zoo and it was cool to see, but this is *definitely* not a place where I can guarantee you’ll see all the rarities you want to. However, if you look closely into their breeding lab you can also find baby versions of some of their rare chelonians.
Although their on-display collection isn’t huge and I didn’t see many of their rarer species (many I suspected were off-exhibit somewhere), the design of the building is one of the best I’ve seen and I feel comfortable saying that Knoxville now arguably possesses a standout herp complex worthy of praise. Even while the rest of the zoo – Asian Trek and red pandas withstanding – was a letdown for me in comparison with other zoos I’ve visited recently, this now rivals nearby Nashville as the best display of herps I’ve seen out of two dozen zoos visited in 2021. Kudos to Knoxville on the step forward for herpkind.
Aside
After considering other fast food places to review, I decided that none of them really merited more than a paragraph at most. I have one more full place review in mind for the future, so besides that please enjoy these shorter “Fast Food Bytes of the Day” for places of mild interest.
Fast Food Byte of the Day: Wendy’s
A widespread chain, known as much for its sassy Twitter account as its square burgers (why they’re square will always be beyond my understanding). The sandwiches are fine for fast food, but let’s be real: the biggest asset are the Frosties. They hit the perfect texture between soft-serve and milkshake, and they’ve stuck to the traditional chocolate-vanilla flavors instead of branching out into weird stuff the way most places in America inevitably do. With Dairy Queen not as ubiquitous and McDonald’s ice-cream machines being so unreliable the feds had to step in, Wendy’s is the best go-to if you need something sweet to fill the gaps between that greasy sandwich in your stomach.
My gamble on seeing animals in the outdoor yards surrounding the new herp building turned out to be fruitless; despite there being over a dozen species of chelonian signed outside, all I saw was a single Painted Turtle. The turtle and tortoise yards are all fairly small and simple in design, but in warmer months offer visitors a variety of more unusual species like Ploughshare Tortoise, Forsten’s Tortoise, three subspecies of Spider Tortoise, Yellow-marginated and Southern Vietnamese Box Turtles. Another great design feature was a wetland pond, where I spotted a wild frog. Am I a wildlifer now?
I noticed the first interesting detail of the building when I reached to pull the door handle, and noticed the door handles were actually crocodiles. Nope, you didn’t read that wrong. The door handles to each section were shaped like the animals in that room:
And there were indeed crocodiles behind that door. The first room in the ARC was a simulated tropical environment, with large glass-fronted aquatic enclosures for several tropical turtles, two crocodilians, numerous fish, and an overhead free-roaming sloth I did not witness (the only mammal apparently allowed to board). As someone who doesn’t mind a little bit of heat and humidity, I can assure you the temperatures were set for reptile comfort and not human comfort – it was easily the muggiest room I’d ever been to in a zoo. Bespectacled beware, for there may be fogging of the lenses! Another neat feature was a crawlspace into an underwater view of the Cuban Crocodile habitat; being the age at which I can still manage child-appropriate spaces with only a moderate amount of groaning and cracking, I shuffled inside and found the crocodile rather quickly. Let’s say, immediately.
I passed through the second set of doors – this time pulling on a pair of cobra handles – and found the “meat” of the collection: a room full of floor-to-ceiling glass-fronted displays. Herp central! While the oblong room only had 40 species signed – and a number of these were off-exhibit (it seems like the new building may still be working out some kinks, as missing species seemed to be a trend here) – the displays looked very good and the species they *did* have included some very interesting ones. Highlights here included a Minor’s Chameleon, Ethiopian Mountain Viper, an interesting mixed-species display of local salamanders, and a ringed Lake Titicaca Water Frog tank with a pop-up bubble in the middle. I counted around 50 of the rare frogs in the tank; now I have Andean lake blob photos for days!
The end of the room had another feature I’ve never encountered before: a video game projected on large screens, where someone can design their own herptile and place it in an appropriate pre-made biome where it roams for an unknown period of time. Playing Spore in a reptile house; how the times have changed! Won’t be long before reptile houses have VR helmets that let you swim with alligators, or holograms of spitting cobras hocking out an envenomed loogie on your face. You decide whether that sounds utopian or dystopian; meanwhile, I kept myself distracted from the continual march of technological advancement the only way I know how: by looking for more rare herps.
Fortunately, the third and final room was the ARC’s endangered chelonian greenhouse – accessed, of course, using tortoise handles. The lushly-planted greenhouse contains several small, low-fenced yards ostensibly full of turtles and tortoises; I say ostensibly because finding one is a challenge! Several species are signed (beneath liftable tortoise shells), but at first glance I only saw a small group of Burmese Forest Tortoises in the back; before long I found myself staring down into pools and lifting up fern fronds in an attempt to find what I could. I was able to uncover a couple of Sulawesi Forest Turtles, a Spiny Hill Turtle, and another one or two I haven’t ID’ed yet, but ultimately came up without much to show. The greenhouse is a fairly unique feature for an American zoo and it was cool to see, but this is *definitely* not a place where I can guarantee you’ll see all the rarities you want to. However, if you look closely into their breeding lab you can also find baby versions of some of their rare chelonians.
Although their on-display collection isn’t huge and I didn’t see many of their rarer species (many I suspected were off-exhibit somewhere), the design of the building is one of the best I’ve seen and I feel comfortable saying that Knoxville now arguably possesses a standout herp complex worthy of praise. Even while the rest of the zoo – Asian Trek and red pandas withstanding – was a letdown for me in comparison with other zoos I’ve visited recently, this now rivals nearby Nashville as the best display of herps I’ve seen out of two dozen zoos visited in 2021. Kudos to Knoxville on the step forward for herpkind.
Aside
After considering other fast food places to review, I decided that none of them really merited more than a paragraph at most. I have one more full place review in mind for the future, so besides that please enjoy these shorter “Fast Food Bytes of the Day” for places of mild interest.
Fast Food Byte of the Day: Wendy’s
A widespread chain, known as much for its sassy Twitter account as its square burgers (why they’re square will always be beyond my understanding). The sandwiches are fine for fast food, but let’s be real: the biggest asset are the Frosties. They hit the perfect texture between soft-serve and milkshake, and they’ve stuck to the traditional chocolate-vanilla flavors instead of branching out into weird stuff the way most places in America inevitably do. With Dairy Queen not as ubiquitous and McDonald’s ice-cream machines being so unreliable the feds had to step in, Wendy’s is the best go-to if you need something sweet to fill the gaps between that greasy sandwich in your stomach.
This is quite easily the best bit of any zoochat review since @snowleopard stepped in a train. Fantastic stuff.
That bear enclosure is so horrible that it is art, if anyone ever does a must see exhibits of America, it deserves to be included without a doubt.
Well im now worried about some of the inclusion.
The reptile house looks great!I really like the appreciation of the details of the door handles, something that i havent seen anyone does.
The reptile enclosures are fantastic, a standard that I only wish other zoos would live up to.
Thou Shalt Not Covet These Door Handles..... the eleventh commandment, specifically written to cover the eventual existence of zoo enthusiasts but long-since forgotten
Chapter 10, Part I: Frantically Flailing My Way Through the Piedmont
Unlike Knoxville, North Carolina Zoo was always on the itinerary. Despite not living *too* far away relative to the average person, I’d never visited it because it was never on my way anywhere and it was just barely further than what I normally consider a reasonable day trip. However, after reading enough people crow, rave, and do other corvid-related praising on here so often, I had to see what the fuss was about – and if that meant a little more driving than usual, maybe one long day of driving was worth it.
I haven’t normally done this, but today I’ll give you my pre-visit perception and prediction about North Carolina: I guessed that I would like it a lot, but that I wouldn’t *love* it, based on its lower species count and sprawling layout. For those who are unaware of the background, North Carolina doesn’t have individual zoos in its major urban areas; instead, the state government took on the responsibility of building a “state zoo” located roughly in the geographic center of the state. As the zoo is built in the countryside, it has a massive footprint of 1,600 acres. How do you get around the zoo? By walking from one end to the other, after which you either have to catch a shuttle back... or walk the whole way back, your legs giving out on the final stretch and crawling to your car hoping not to be found by wild coyotes or a bear. Despite its humongous area, the collection is only ~135 species and is notably smaller even than other zoos on my trip like Memphis and Oklahoma City, let alone the "big" ones like Bronx and San Diego. As a person who likes looking for cool and interesting species – and who likes an efficient layout – I figured I might enjoy my visit but be less gung-ho about it than some other people.
After taking several weeks to reflect before writing this review, I’ve generally settled on this: for the most part, I turned out to be wrong: I *did* love North Carolina, but at the time I was grumpy because of a cosmic coincidence of grave import. One of the parts of the zoo I was most looking forward to was the large tropical forest aviary – one of the two large exhibit buildings in the middle of the zoo. When I arrived, there was a barrier in front of the door. Not seeing any signage explaining what the problem was, I went and found a staff member, who informed me that the aviary was open. Suspicious, I went and got a second opinion from another staff member, who told me that the aviary was closed for that week only to do routine maintenance on the building. Though I thanked them before walking away, I grumbled to myself for much of the remaining visit about how closures like that needs to be on their website. This is my roundabout way of saying, there’s a reason I don’t write my reviews immediately after visiting: I need time to reflect and decide what my actual opinion was.
So sans aviary and aviary-adjacent complaining (mostly), here goes...
North Carolina Zoo
Location: Asheboro, North Carolina (~45 minutes outside Greensboro)
Size: ~1 bajillion acres (exhibit and visitor area: ~150 acres)
Species Count: ~135 species
Closed Areas: Forest Aviary (on my visit only), Hamadryas Baboon exhibit
Noteworthy Species: Parakeet Auklet and Thick-billed Murre, Sand Cat, desert lizards, African hoofstock, tropical birds I didn’t see (this no aviary-adjacent complaining is going really well, I think)
Price: $15 admission
Recommended Time: 5-6 hours or whole day
Species List: I did not make a species list for this zoo, as two were already made in 2020. I will link @nczoofan ’s (North Carolina Zoo: Species List [North Carolina Zoo]) as well as an October 2021 photo of the bird signage for the forest aviary from @Breckenridge (New Aviary Signage with New Species - ZooChat)
Media Gallery: North Carolina Zoo - ZooChat
Map: https://www.nczoo.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/CovidParkMap_November.pdf
While half a bajillion dollars has been approved by the state for the zoo’s upcoming Asian and Australian complexes, for now and for decades prior North Carolina Zoo has been split into two zones: North America and Africa. In the winter, everyone has to start on the former end and catch the tram back all going the same direction. I got a clutch parking space right across from the gates, and in no time flat I was strolling past a lake and wetland near the entrance. I got my first taste of North Carolina’s strength in that area – the naturally wooded conditions and long walks made the whole zoo feel like a pleasant stroll in the forest. Coupled with peak Southern autumn conditions, it was easily the prettiest zoo I’d been to this entire year, even beating out Northwest Trek and its beautiful pines:
The North American section is one of the most holistic I’ve seen, featuring a cypress swamp; a rocky pinniped habitat; a northern seabird exhibit; a large polar bear complex with Arctic foxes on the side; two small buildings filled with native fish and herps; and large outdoor yards for carnivores and ungulates. Not everything I saw impressed me, but honestly most of it did. The Cypress Swamp features one of the most naturalistic alligator pools north of Florida; the Polar Bear exhibit is probably the best I’ve seen before (keeping in mind I’ve never seen the famed Arctic Ring of Life); the other bear yards had plenty of opportunity for roaming and play; and the elk/American bison habitat is so large I’m actually still unclear on where the perimeter is in some places. For those of us who like our natives with feathers, fins, or scales, North Carolina still serves dutifully: puffins and two rarely-held alcids are found here (albeit behind a very condensation-obscured glass window); a small building is dedicated largely to two or three tanks of native fishes; and another small building features a row of snake and lizard habitats with some underwater and underground viewing. Overall, this part of the zoo was great and the epitome of what a complete North American collection should look like. I easily would have forked over $15 just for it alone! (Wait hold on, I can’t tell them that or the price will go up... delete, delete, delete...)
As far as seeing animals, that was a bit of a mixed bag. Polar bears and river otters were no-shows, the zoo was temporarily between grizzly bears, and I didn’t get any good views or action out of the black bears, seals, or puma. As is often the case, the canids were the ones pulling their own weight and shouldering the others’ load; a pack of Red Wolves pacing frantically around their yard waiting for food and occasionally glancing back at me was a treat, while a beautiful pair of Arctic foxes stayed still *just* long enough for some amazing photos.
As I walked away from the Red Wolves and further into the forest towards the center of the zoo, I felt myself relaxed and breathing easy. Knowing that North Carolina was a well-known and frequently reported-on zoo, I felt no need to furiously photograph and document everything – a nice change of pace for me. Additionally, the zoo was one of the most people-free experiences I’d had all year: despite the temps hitting 60 F / 15 C by the time I got past the North American area, the huge zoo was almost devoid of visitors. I easily saw less than 50 non-employees there the whole time. There was absolutely no point at which I felt crowded in by others (except for one particularly large and chaotic family by the red river hogs) and there were countless times when I was taking portrait shots of white foxes and staring down elephants through the bushes, only to turn away and find I was completely alone. The weather and species lineup may be more unpredictable during the winter, but the significantly lessened crowds are often worth that price!
Besides the Forest Aviary, there is another exhibit building in the central area that was mercifully open – the Mangum Desert Dome. This is the third “desert dome” I’ve been to now, along with Omaha and Indianapolis. North Carolina’s is roughly between those two in size – though closer to Indy – and thus hits a happy medium between being too ambitious and too underwhelming. The short path around features mostly open-topped sandy exhibits for a variety of desert herps like chuckwallas, dwarf monitors, and Gorongosa girdled lizards, along with some caged birds like kookaburra, roadrunner, and burrowing owl. White-winged Doves and House Finches flew free in the dome (I know House Finches live in the desert, but really? You can find them outside...) while a Crested Porcupine toddled around a glass-fronted exhibit that was clearly once home to something that can climb. Past that was a rocky corridor with small exhibits for more herps, scorpions, and a tank of desert pupfish. The finale was a darkened hallway for Vampire Bats and Sand Cats. While unfortunately the Sand Cats were no-show (but don’t worry – I’d see one later that day!), the vamps were active and this is a great place to get good looks at them, as they were crawling around right in front of the glass and peering at me as though I’d shown up uninvited to their bloody Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, outside the Dome I found a pair of nicely-done Ocelot enclosures and a wild grasshopper on the wall. Overall experience: A.
The African area is sparse on species for how large its area is, but what it does deliver are very nice panoramic views and a relaxing woodland’s edge aesthetic. Gorillas and chimpanzees lounged in spacious green yards; a small giraffe herd lazily flicked their tails while zebras and ostriches ranged underfoot; and elephants happily wandered around their large grassy paddock, drinking from a watering hole and showing off their impressive statures at me when I looked at them too long. I think I only saw 8 enclosures (not including the Hamadryas troop, whose exhibit is being remodeled) but not a single one of them stood out to me as less than very good. The hoofstock yard was a little frustrating, as it stretches far beyond what is easily visible and that’s apparently where a lot of the hoofstock chose to be (fortunately, my camera’s zoom was powerful enough to substitute for my pathetic human eyeballs) but that’s a minor complaint. A little more filling in could do wonders, though; maybe some hyenas and painted dogs? A crocodile and hippo complex? A walk-through vulture aviary? Food for thought!
Once I hit the dead-end, I decided not to wait for the tram – with so few visitors I had no idea how often they were running – and walked the whole way back. I thought it would be exhausting and take forever, but in fact it only ended up taking me about half an hour to retrace everything; I guess it’s not quite as huge as its top-line numbers would suggest, and the singular path ultimately meant less walking than I'd anticipated. Another thing I guessed wrongly.
Having finished rather early because of the aviary closure, I checked the closing time on Google for another nearby zoo I had ruled out earlier due to time constraints. Google said it closed at 5, and I believed it. That turned out to be a mistake, but at the time it felt like redemption; maybe I’d get to see another target zoo after all!
Tune in next week for the “frantically flailing” part of this two-part review.
Fast Drink Review of the Day: Starbucks
As someone who enjoys drinking good coffee, wearing glasses, and being pretentious on a laptop, it probably comes as no surprise to people that I like coffee shops. Unfortunately the past couple years have changed the calculus on sitting inside a public space with unmasked strangers for hours, so I’ve fell out of the habit; however, I still like finding a local coffee shop to support every now and then wherever I live (much like the mediocre takeout place, but different vibe). It’s a place with drip coffee for simple needs, fancier drinks with fun names for hip young professionals and artist-types, and a creative and relaxing atmosphere that we could really use more of in our country. In short, I’m into the “coffee culture” and what is wrapped up into it.
So let me tell you why Starbucks is the antithesis of what I think coffee culture is and should be. Unlike fast food (which, for its other faults, *is* faster than a sit-down), Starbucks just added itself to a concept that was already fairly convenient. Their holier-than-thou insistence on using Italian words for cup sizes is maddening, and their “creations” have morphed into Taco Bell-esque monstrosities that make a mockery out of creative caffeine blends with common-sense flavor pairings. What is a “Unicorn Frappe” if not a clever marketing gimmick disguised as rainbow clown barf? What is a “Caramel Ribbon Crunch Creme Frappucino” if not a sadistic ploy to make their own customers tongue-tied at the register? But worst of all, Starbucks is coffee commercialized: a staple of a pervasive and empty social media culture, which sees its manifest destiny in dotting every town and neighborhood with a rival to local businesses and creative refuges.
I try hard not to go all 60 Minutes Andy Rooney on people, both in this thread and elsewhere on the forum; we all have things we grump about that others don’t need or want the extended monologue for. And maybe I’m missing the forest for the trees, criticizing Starbucks for a phenomenon that – to some extent – every fast chain I’ve reviewed is a guilty party in. But regardless of my own logical inconsistencies, I implore you: go to your local coffee shop and buy a nice drink. Coffee doesn’t have to be complicated to be good, and you shouldn't have to drink rainbow clown barf to fit in somewhere.
Unlike Knoxville, North Carolina Zoo was always on the itinerary. Despite not living *too* far away relative to the average person, I’d never visited it because it was never on my way anywhere and it was just barely further than what I normally consider a reasonable day trip. However, after reading enough people crow, rave, and do other corvid-related praising on here so often, I had to see what the fuss was about – and if that meant a little more driving than usual, maybe one long day of driving was worth it.
I haven’t normally done this, but today I’ll give you my pre-visit perception and prediction about North Carolina: I guessed that I would like it a lot, but that I wouldn’t *love* it, based on its lower species count and sprawling layout. For those who are unaware of the background, North Carolina doesn’t have individual zoos in its major urban areas; instead, the state government took on the responsibility of building a “state zoo” located roughly in the geographic center of the state. As the zoo is built in the countryside, it has a massive footprint of 1,600 acres. How do you get around the zoo? By walking from one end to the other, after which you either have to catch a shuttle back... or walk the whole way back, your legs giving out on the final stretch and crawling to your car hoping not to be found by wild coyotes or a bear. Despite its humongous area, the collection is only ~135 species and is notably smaller even than other zoos on my trip like Memphis and Oklahoma City, let alone the "big" ones like Bronx and San Diego. As a person who likes looking for cool and interesting species – and who likes an efficient layout – I figured I might enjoy my visit but be less gung-ho about it than some other people.
After taking several weeks to reflect before writing this review, I’ve generally settled on this: for the most part, I turned out to be wrong: I *did* love North Carolina, but at the time I was grumpy because of a cosmic coincidence of grave import. One of the parts of the zoo I was most looking forward to was the large tropical forest aviary – one of the two large exhibit buildings in the middle of the zoo. When I arrived, there was a barrier in front of the door. Not seeing any signage explaining what the problem was, I went and found a staff member, who informed me that the aviary was open. Suspicious, I went and got a second opinion from another staff member, who told me that the aviary was closed for that week only to do routine maintenance on the building. Though I thanked them before walking away, I grumbled to myself for much of the remaining visit about how closures like that needs to be on their website. This is my roundabout way of saying, there’s a reason I don’t write my reviews immediately after visiting: I need time to reflect and decide what my actual opinion was.
So sans aviary and aviary-adjacent complaining (mostly), here goes...
North Carolina Zoo
Location: Asheboro, North Carolina (~45 minutes outside Greensboro)
Size: ~1 bajillion acres (exhibit and visitor area: ~150 acres)
Species Count: ~135 species
Closed Areas: Forest Aviary (on my visit only), Hamadryas Baboon exhibit
Noteworthy Species: Parakeet Auklet and Thick-billed Murre, Sand Cat, desert lizards, African hoofstock, tropical birds I didn’t see (this no aviary-adjacent complaining is going really well, I think)
Price: $15 admission
Recommended Time: 5-6 hours or whole day
Species List: I did not make a species list for this zoo, as two were already made in 2020. I will link @nczoofan ’s (North Carolina Zoo: Species List [North Carolina Zoo]) as well as an October 2021 photo of the bird signage for the forest aviary from @Breckenridge (New Aviary Signage with New Species - ZooChat)
Media Gallery: North Carolina Zoo - ZooChat
Map: https://www.nczoo.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/CovidParkMap_November.pdf
While half a bajillion dollars has been approved by the state for the zoo’s upcoming Asian and Australian complexes, for now and for decades prior North Carolina Zoo has been split into two zones: North America and Africa. In the winter, everyone has to start on the former end and catch the tram back all going the same direction. I got a clutch parking space right across from the gates, and in no time flat I was strolling past a lake and wetland near the entrance. I got my first taste of North Carolina’s strength in that area – the naturally wooded conditions and long walks made the whole zoo feel like a pleasant stroll in the forest. Coupled with peak Southern autumn conditions, it was easily the prettiest zoo I’d been to this entire year, even beating out Northwest Trek and its beautiful pines:
The North American section is one of the most holistic I’ve seen, featuring a cypress swamp; a rocky pinniped habitat; a northern seabird exhibit; a large polar bear complex with Arctic foxes on the side; two small buildings filled with native fish and herps; and large outdoor yards for carnivores and ungulates. Not everything I saw impressed me, but honestly most of it did. The Cypress Swamp features one of the most naturalistic alligator pools north of Florida; the Polar Bear exhibit is probably the best I’ve seen before (keeping in mind I’ve never seen the famed Arctic Ring of Life); the other bear yards had plenty of opportunity for roaming and play; and the elk/American bison habitat is so large I’m actually still unclear on where the perimeter is in some places. For those of us who like our natives with feathers, fins, or scales, North Carolina still serves dutifully: puffins and two rarely-held alcids are found here (albeit behind a very condensation-obscured glass window); a small building is dedicated largely to two or three tanks of native fishes; and another small building features a row of snake and lizard habitats with some underwater and underground viewing. Overall, this part of the zoo was great and the epitome of what a complete North American collection should look like. I easily would have forked over $15 just for it alone! (Wait hold on, I can’t tell them that or the price will go up... delete, delete, delete...)
As far as seeing animals, that was a bit of a mixed bag. Polar bears and river otters were no-shows, the zoo was temporarily between grizzly bears, and I didn’t get any good views or action out of the black bears, seals, or puma. As is often the case, the canids were the ones pulling their own weight and shouldering the others’ load; a pack of Red Wolves pacing frantically around their yard waiting for food and occasionally glancing back at me was a treat, while a beautiful pair of Arctic foxes stayed still *just* long enough for some amazing photos.
As I walked away from the Red Wolves and further into the forest towards the center of the zoo, I felt myself relaxed and breathing easy. Knowing that North Carolina was a well-known and frequently reported-on zoo, I felt no need to furiously photograph and document everything – a nice change of pace for me. Additionally, the zoo was one of the most people-free experiences I’d had all year: despite the temps hitting 60 F / 15 C by the time I got past the North American area, the huge zoo was almost devoid of visitors. I easily saw less than 50 non-employees there the whole time. There was absolutely no point at which I felt crowded in by others (except for one particularly large and chaotic family by the red river hogs) and there were countless times when I was taking portrait shots of white foxes and staring down elephants through the bushes, only to turn away and find I was completely alone. The weather and species lineup may be more unpredictable during the winter, but the significantly lessened crowds are often worth that price!
Besides the Forest Aviary, there is another exhibit building in the central area that was mercifully open – the Mangum Desert Dome. This is the third “desert dome” I’ve been to now, along with Omaha and Indianapolis. North Carolina’s is roughly between those two in size – though closer to Indy – and thus hits a happy medium between being too ambitious and too underwhelming. The short path around features mostly open-topped sandy exhibits for a variety of desert herps like chuckwallas, dwarf monitors, and Gorongosa girdled lizards, along with some caged birds like kookaburra, roadrunner, and burrowing owl. White-winged Doves and House Finches flew free in the dome (I know House Finches live in the desert, but really? You can find them outside...) while a Crested Porcupine toddled around a glass-fronted exhibit that was clearly once home to something that can climb. Past that was a rocky corridor with small exhibits for more herps, scorpions, and a tank of desert pupfish. The finale was a darkened hallway for Vampire Bats and Sand Cats. While unfortunately the Sand Cats were no-show (but don’t worry – I’d see one later that day!), the vamps were active and this is a great place to get good looks at them, as they were crawling around right in front of the glass and peering at me as though I’d shown up uninvited to their bloody Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, outside the Dome I found a pair of nicely-done Ocelot enclosures and a wild grasshopper on the wall. Overall experience: A.
The African area is sparse on species for how large its area is, but what it does deliver are very nice panoramic views and a relaxing woodland’s edge aesthetic. Gorillas and chimpanzees lounged in spacious green yards; a small giraffe herd lazily flicked their tails while zebras and ostriches ranged underfoot; and elephants happily wandered around their large grassy paddock, drinking from a watering hole and showing off their impressive statures at me when I looked at them too long. I think I only saw 8 enclosures (not including the Hamadryas troop, whose exhibit is being remodeled) but not a single one of them stood out to me as less than very good. The hoofstock yard was a little frustrating, as it stretches far beyond what is easily visible and that’s apparently where a lot of the hoofstock chose to be (fortunately, my camera’s zoom was powerful enough to substitute for my pathetic human eyeballs) but that’s a minor complaint. A little more filling in could do wonders, though; maybe some hyenas and painted dogs? A crocodile and hippo complex? A walk-through vulture aviary? Food for thought!
Once I hit the dead-end, I decided not to wait for the tram – with so few visitors I had no idea how often they were running – and walked the whole way back. I thought it would be exhausting and take forever, but in fact it only ended up taking me about half an hour to retrace everything; I guess it’s not quite as huge as its top-line numbers would suggest, and the singular path ultimately meant less walking than I'd anticipated. Another thing I guessed wrongly.
Having finished rather early because of the aviary closure, I checked the closing time on Google for another nearby zoo I had ruled out earlier due to time constraints. Google said it closed at 5, and I believed it. That turned out to be a mistake, but at the time it felt like redemption; maybe I’d get to see another target zoo after all!
Tune in next week for the “frantically flailing” part of this two-part review.
Fast Drink Review of the Day: Starbucks
As someone who enjoys drinking good coffee, wearing glasses, and being pretentious on a laptop, it probably comes as no surprise to people that I like coffee shops. Unfortunately the past couple years have changed the calculus on sitting inside a public space with unmasked strangers for hours, so I’ve fell out of the habit; however, I still like finding a local coffee shop to support every now and then wherever I live (much like the mediocre takeout place, but different vibe). It’s a place with drip coffee for simple needs, fancier drinks with fun names for hip young professionals and artist-types, and a creative and relaxing atmosphere that we could really use more of in our country. In short, I’m into the “coffee culture” and what is wrapped up into it.
So let me tell you why Starbucks is the antithesis of what I think coffee culture is and should be. Unlike fast food (which, for its other faults, *is* faster than a sit-down), Starbucks just added itself to a concept that was already fairly convenient. Their holier-than-thou insistence on using Italian words for cup sizes is maddening, and their “creations” have morphed into Taco Bell-esque monstrosities that make a mockery out of creative caffeine blends with common-sense flavor pairings. What is a “Unicorn Frappe” if not a clever marketing gimmick disguised as rainbow clown barf? What is a “Caramel Ribbon Crunch Creme Frappucino” if not a sadistic ploy to make their own customers tongue-tied at the register? But worst of all, Starbucks is coffee commercialized: a staple of a pervasive and empty social media culture, which sees its manifest destiny in dotting every town and neighborhood with a rival to local businesses and creative refuges.
I try hard not to go all 60 Minutes Andy Rooney on people, both in this thread and elsewhere on the forum; we all have things we grump about that others don’t need or want the extended monologue for. And maybe I’m missing the forest for the trees, criticizing Starbucks for a phenomenon that – to some extent – every fast chain I’ve reviewed is a guilty party in. But regardless of my own logical inconsistencies, I implore you: go to your local coffee shop and buy a nice drink. Coffee doesn’t have to be complicated to be good, and you shouldn't have to drink rainbow clown barf to fit in somewhere.
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It looks like the North Carolina Zoo pricing just went up to $75 for Zoochat reviewers only. Thanks, Coelo...thanks a lot.
Historically the North Carolina Zoo Africa exhibit was much more species with a big species-filled tropic building, which closed down 20 years ago. I'm not sure that anyone here actually saw the building when it had all of those species in it other than @ANyhuis who has a historical record of the species lineup of it in the first edition of his zoo guide book. There are pictures of it in the gallery of when it was just full of plants.
Thanks for your comprehensive review.
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Is that the Africa Pavilion building that is/was over next to the Hamadryas Baboons or a completely different building? I thought I recollected that there was an exhibit building that had been emptied out and eventually left unused or demolished, but I couldn't remember any details.
In any case, they have so much outdoor space over there that more outdoor exhibits would make sense to me as opposed to another building (except for maybe a small one for a few species and winter viewing, like for a crocodile/hippo combo).
Yeah, that was the case. The only species I remember seeing was a colobus monkey, though the Pavilion was also home to meerkats, dik diks, and other critters. I agree, though, that the Africa section could use a good bit of rounding out - there's a picnic section with sculptures akin to its namesake, Hippo Beach. That area could be fenced in, a holding area could be added, and a wetlands filtration system akin to Werribee Open Range Zoo could be implemented for hippos and even nile or slender-snouted crocodiles! I'd also love to see the lions moved to the Watani Grasslands area in a new space, with wild dogs, hyenas, or cheetahs taking up their current exhibit. Alas, a man can only dream...
Well, it's no surprise that @Coelacanth18 loved North Carolina Zoo as it really is a remarkable establishment with very few flaws whatsoever. Everyone likes the zoo and it's just a shame that it's so far out of the way from other major zoos. It's amazing that the facility takes most of a day to tour and yet doesn't have very many species. The zoo is famous for the size of its enclosures, with the 40-acre savanna being larger than literally thousands of zoos across the globe. I like just about everything about the zoo and the review didn't even include the Tropical Aviary (approximately 35 species), the Hamadryas Baboon exhibit (probably 20+ baboons) and the upcoming 10-acre, $40 million Asian complex. Or even the future $30 million Australian complex. For a solo zoo nerd, the facility is able to be seen in 6 hours or more, but for a family it's a daunting prospect. On the North Carolina Zoo TV series, there is mention at one point of how some families with young children choose a continent and spend the day there before heading home...and then doing the following continent during their next visit. With the additions of Asia and Australia, the zoo will have to look at multi-day tickets.
This is what the African Pavilion looked like before it was demolished and it was directly next to the Hamadryas Baboon exhibit. I toured it in 2010 and I don't think that there was anything inside but loads of lush plants and the indoor holding for the baboons.
This is what the African Pavilion looked like before it was demolished and it was directly next to the Hamadryas Baboon exhibit. I toured it in 2010 and I don't think that there was anything inside but loads of lush plants and the indoor holding for the baboons.
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They just demolished the pavilion last year as it became largely outdated since its 1980s grand opening. That's why the baboon exhibit was closed, since the old baboon holding was inside the building and new quarters needed to be constructed.
I remember the pavilion before the animals were removed around 2009. I was 9-10 around that time but I recall seeing meerkats, dwarf crocodiles, trumpeter hornbills, patas monkeys, servals, bateleur eagles, dik-diks, fennec foxes, sulcata tortoises, a rock python, African bullfrog, and colobus monkeys.
Species that I haven't seen but I know were once exhibited in the building due to media and speaking with older zoo employees include leopards, hyenas, caracals, mandrills, wild dogs, gerenuks, bat-eared foxes, slender-snouted crocodiles, springhares, turacos, weaverbirds, bustards, wattled cranes, vulturine guineafowl, spot-necked otters, galagos, chameleons, Lake Malawi cichlids, waterfowl, hooded vultures, duikers, ball pythons, savannah monitors, African turtles, cape porcupines, hyraxes, and cattle egrets.