I will write down my thoughts of the zoo, although it is unfair to thoroughly review it. There were a lot of factors against me yesterday to view all the exhibits and to experience the whole zoo. Some exhibits I rushed through towards the end because I was with fkalltheway and I knew he had to get back to the entrance by noon. Also, by this point with the insane heat, my partner was getting exhausted and zoo-ed out. Also, there were quite a few exhibits closed and paths that were blocked off (more on that later).
Asia Trail: No doubt in my mind that this is the best section in the whole zoo. It’s wonderful to start off your day going through it because it makes you excited to see the rest of the zoo. We were probably at the zoo a little before 9 AM and decided to go to the Panda exhibit first, before it got crazy with people and the Pandas were hiding in the shade. Their exhibits are gorgeous to see, I even joked I wanted to live there. They were a bit smaller than I anticipated. I’m not saying that’s really a bad thing because the smaller the area, the better chance I was able to see the Pandas, but the design gives them plenty of places if they need to hide. I viewed the exhibits on both levels and the male Panda was in his air conditioning cave the whole time. The first time I saw him, he was eating his morning bamboo. The second time he was sprawled out and as if thinking, “Ah, this is the life.” I was a bit disappointed as the whole Panda building was closed off and I was also unable to see the Giant Salamander exhibit. I know I read the female Panda’s indoor bedroom would be closed off, but I thought I also read that the male’s bedroom would still be visible. But because he was outside, I’m sure they decided to close off the whole area for the day. And maybe they are getting more certain she’s actually pregnant and/or they were doing an ultrasound.
I liked the Asian Elephant exhibit. Coming from Buffalo, this exhibit is like a dream. I thought I wouldn’t like the bridge concept as seeing giant animals look like dots below you might not have much of an impact. But what it did was show the amount of space they already have and there were other vantage points where I could get closer to them. One thing the exhibit does lack is enrichment items for the Elephants and shady areas. The exhibit may be suited for visitors, but it could work on being better suited for the Elephants. I saw both sides of the Elephant Trek, the area where they can walk up the hill for exercise. I am not sure if they are using it, but I love the idea and hope one day I could see the Elephants using it while I was at the zoo. The path leading to Elephant Outpost had many informative signs along the way about Elephants and footprints for kids to follow. What I found was a cute touch was some of the signs they had in their bathrooms, which I will post pictures later. A man can use one of the urinals and be educated about Elephants at the same time!
The rest of Asia Trail was a delight. I love all the signage/script, graphics, and the color scheme. It was also nice to walk in the shady bamboo trail and escape the heat. The Sloth Bears have two nice rocky, naturalistic grottoes. Although there may be more rocks than grass, there are different layers and sizes that give the bears exercise and enrichment. I believe I saw the female Sloth Bear who was full of energy in the early morning. She jumped from a rock to a lower level and decided to pick at a log to find a snack. It was the most active I have ever seen of this type of bear. I later saw the male Sloth Bear at the bottom of in his grotto cooling off in a pool area. However, after he was done with that, he started to pace back and forth. The Fishing Cats have two exhibits, one for the male and the other for the female. Both very naturalistic and each having a little pool for the cats to catch fish. I would have loved to see fish thrown in there for them, but I am sure they had an enrichment time later for them in the day. The Clouded Leopards have a very nice exhibit that is nice in size, also giving it plenty of vertical space and so many spots to hide. My partner finally found it hiding right below us. I am torn about the Asian Small Clawed Otter exhibit. It was brilliant, but I also loved the Columbus Zoo exhibit. I’ll have to go back and compare photos. I loved the waterfall at the Columbus Zoo, but thinking about it, the one at the National Zoo might have had more of a naturalistic look to it. I would have loved to finish off this section seeing the wonderful Red Panda exhibit, but that was also closed off with the potential pregnancy of their female.
Bird House: This part of the zoo was a treat because as I mentioned above, I was accompanied by fkallthway. His expertise is in birds and he met me at the zoo as he was heading down to North Carolina the following day. He’ll be working with the birds at Zoo Atlanta this summer and I wish him the best of luck that the job becomes long termed. I really admired the outside trail of some of the bigger birds and seeing them in naturalistic exhibits. Along the way I saw Cranes, Flamingoes, Kori Bustards, and a few more. I’ve always loved the look of the Great Flight Exhibit, but it was closed off to the public. I have heard in the past that it doesn’t have a lot of birds in it anymore so maybe they are closing it off until they figure out what to do with it or acquire more birds. As for the actual Bird House, I enjoyed it. Maybe not the most modern when you’re inside, but it had a good collection of birds in spacious, naturalistic exhibits. I loved the indoor aviary section and trying to find all the birds. It reminded me a little of the aviary in the Australian section of the Columbus Zoo.
Small Mammal House: This is one of the last sections I saw for the day and I rushed through it. The architecture of the building it beautiful and I admired the older exterior look of many of the zoo’s buildings. The exhibits were decent and pretty naturalistic, but they tended to repeat. At one point I almost felt like I went back to a previous exhibit as I saw the third Prehensile Tail Porcupine exhibit. There were probably five for the Golden Lion Tamarins, which I assume is where they all went, as they don’t roam freely around the zoo anymore. The bigger mixed species exhibits were more enjoyable for me.
Great Apes/Think Tank: I desperately wanted to see one of the Orangutans use to the O-Line, but with the hot weather, I knew my chances were slim. Although I did not see this, I did enjoy one of the Orangutans, in one of the outside exhibits in front of the Think Tank, as she hit a button to mist guests watching her. The Orangutan’s keeper was near by and throwing her treats whenever she decided to hit the button. The Great Ape building was another area where I sort of went through it quickly as I saw it at the end of my visit. Nothing too spectacular. I almost wonder if there are any decent indoor Great Ape exhibits out there, besides big themed jungle ones like the Bronx Zoo and Brookfield Zoo. I haven’t been to either zoo so I can only go off of photos. Each indoor exhibit at this zoo had artificial tree limbs for the Apes to climb on, but the whole look off them wasn’t very pleasing to me. I don’t think I saw the outdoor Gorilla exhibits, but the Orangutans’ one wasn’t that spacious, but thankfully they have the O-Line so they have the choice to go back and forth as they please. When I went by the Think Tank the first time I skipped it wanting to go to another section of the zoo first. When I returned, it was temporarily closed off to the public.
Reptile Discovery Center: I felt it was an average building. Not too modern, but a good collections of inhabitants. I enjoyed seeing a little bit of the enrichment session with one of the Aldabra Tortoises who kept getting a treat when it targeted its nose to the keeper’s pole. The Komodo Dragon has a small, but nice grassy exhibit outside.
Invertebrates House: Another building with an older exterior and it had a cool sculpture of an Octopus right next to the sign. I have never been to a zoo that had an Invertebrate section so I can’t really compare. But I loved these animals and not being able to experience this in the past, I found this section to be quite enjoyable. You can get lost in thought as you watch one of the water creatures gracefully float around in their tank. I found the Giant Octopus to be so mesmerizing. They also had tubes for the Cutter Ants to ventured along to their exhibits. When I left this area, I was surprise to see an open area with a type of Spider in their webs. Can anyone tell me if these Spiders are fake? There was no glass or barrier to stop a visit to touch the spider and pull it out of its exhibit.
Great Cats: Two grottoes for the Sumatran Tigers and one for the Lions. Not the most groundbreaking or visually beautiful exhibits, but certainly not horrible either. They reminded me of the ones at the Buffalo Zoo, except here they upgraded it giving the Big Cats different levels for them to climb on. I would be interested to go in the employee only area where there are windows right by the waterline where you can look up into the exhibit. I got to catch Luke, the Lion and his cubs when I was there, which was the rotating set I was hoping for when I came. Also in this section was an area for Caracals and Coatimundis that I skimmed through, as I didn’t see the inhabitants in their exhibits.
Mixed Section: This area consisted of the Gibbons, Lemur Island, Giant Anteaters, and the Prairie Dogs. I skipped the area where the Gibbons were and didn’t see any of the Lemurs on the island. I was really hoping to see Pablo, the baby Giant Anteater, but he wasn’t out when I checked. I believe he and his mother come out later in the day. Probably the next time I go he will be almost the size of his parents, but at least I got to see photos of him. The Prairie Dog exhibit was a cute little area with holes in the ground for the animals to pop their heads out of and a playground behind the exhibit for children to play.
Kids Farm: I made sure to pay a little bit of attention to this exhibit as I know eventually it will be gone due to budget cuts. It was a cute little area, but certainly not the best Children’s Zoo I have ever seen and I can see why it was considered an area to get rid of. It will be odd though to walk to Amazonia in the future and see the Farm exhibit still there, but empty. Being a Cow lover though, I did enjoy seeing Tulip and Daisy.
Amazonia: I was disappointed in this area because it didn’t live up to its full potential. This could really be a great area. The first floor consists of tanks of Amazonian fish and turtles. As you venture up to the second floor, you are surrounded by trees and are supposed to see animals in this level of the Rainforest. I saw one Roseate Spoonbill and that was about it. I believe this area used to have the Golden Lion Tamarins jumping around freely. But where they are now, I do not know. I also couldn’t find the sloth and other types of birds it was supposed to have. If they could fill the section with more visible inhabitants, it would be a fun experience for visitors. But now you walk through the trail, see the trees, and move on. The second part of this building looks like a library set up with desks, tanks of frogs, and a globe in the center of the room showing us the progression Earth’s heat from the past to the future.
Andean Bears: Closed off. The thing about the closed off exhibits, besides the Sea Lions/Seals and Elephants, is that new guest have no idea that there’s actually an exhibit behind the barrier. A sign simply says, “Zoo Staff Beyond This Point” and you think it’s always like that. But then you see these sections on your map and wonder how did you miss them? At this point I joked how I read recent reviews of people saying half the zoo is closed. My partner said it was and I thought it was an exaggeration, but then I started adding up all the areas that were closed off at this time and it was quite a bit.
Cheetah Preserve: I forgot to mention this section above. An area that has a path that circles around it with three paddocks for cheetahs, one for Dama Gazelles, one for Manned Wolves, and one for Grevy’s Zebras. The Cheetahs exhibits were nice and each had a little cave for the cats to rest in on hot days. Except I didn’t see any of them when I looked at each exhibit. The Manned Wolf was hiding out in its cave as I walked by. There is also an area for Emus/Wallabies and Prez. Horses near by.
So is it worth it to go to this zoo? For the chance to see Pandas and the whole Asian Trails, that alone is worth the trip! Not to mention it is free admission. But if you had other zoos in mind to go to soon, I’d go to them first. I think the zoo will be so much better when the Seal and Sea Lion exhibit opens. Also when all of Elephant Trails is completed and people are able to view their barn. Then some paths will open up again and it will be easier to navigate. Right now there are a lot of dead ends and back tracking. However when I return in the fall, I know some of these exhibits will open up again for me to see; Giant Pandas indoor area, Red Pandas, Think Tank, and Andean Bears. I look forward to the visit them as the weather will be cooler and I can spend more time in areas that I missed and those that I loved.
Asia Trail: No doubt in my mind that this is the best section in the whole zoo. It’s wonderful to start off your day going through it because it makes you excited to see the rest of the zoo. We were probably at the zoo a little before 9 AM and decided to go to the Panda exhibit first, before it got crazy with people and the Pandas were hiding in the shade. Their exhibits are gorgeous to see, I even joked I wanted to live there. They were a bit smaller than I anticipated. I’m not saying that’s really a bad thing because the smaller the area, the better chance I was able to see the Pandas, but the design gives them plenty of places if they need to hide. I viewed the exhibits on both levels and the male Panda was in his air conditioning cave the whole time. The first time I saw him, he was eating his morning bamboo. The second time he was sprawled out and as if thinking, “Ah, this is the life.” I was a bit disappointed as the whole Panda building was closed off and I was also unable to see the Giant Salamander exhibit. I know I read the female Panda’s indoor bedroom would be closed off, but I thought I also read that the male’s bedroom would still be visible. But because he was outside, I’m sure they decided to close off the whole area for the day. And maybe they are getting more certain she’s actually pregnant and/or they were doing an ultrasound.
I liked the Asian Elephant exhibit. Coming from Buffalo, this exhibit is like a dream. I thought I wouldn’t like the bridge concept as seeing giant animals look like dots below you might not have much of an impact. But what it did was show the amount of space they already have and there were other vantage points where I could get closer to them. One thing the exhibit does lack is enrichment items for the Elephants and shady areas. The exhibit may be suited for visitors, but it could work on being better suited for the Elephants. I saw both sides of the Elephant Trek, the area where they can walk up the hill for exercise. I am not sure if they are using it, but I love the idea and hope one day I could see the Elephants using it while I was at the zoo. The path leading to Elephant Outpost had many informative signs along the way about Elephants and footprints for kids to follow. What I found was a cute touch was some of the signs they had in their bathrooms, which I will post pictures later. A man can use one of the urinals and be educated about Elephants at the same time!
The rest of Asia Trail was a delight. I love all the signage/script, graphics, and the color scheme. It was also nice to walk in the shady bamboo trail and escape the heat. The Sloth Bears have two nice rocky, naturalistic grottoes. Although there may be more rocks than grass, there are different layers and sizes that give the bears exercise and enrichment. I believe I saw the female Sloth Bear who was full of energy in the early morning. She jumped from a rock to a lower level and decided to pick at a log to find a snack. It was the most active I have ever seen of this type of bear. I later saw the male Sloth Bear at the bottom of in his grotto cooling off in a pool area. However, after he was done with that, he started to pace back and forth. The Fishing Cats have two exhibits, one for the male and the other for the female. Both very naturalistic and each having a little pool for the cats to catch fish. I would have loved to see fish thrown in there for them, but I am sure they had an enrichment time later for them in the day. The Clouded Leopards have a very nice exhibit that is nice in size, also giving it plenty of vertical space and so many spots to hide. My partner finally found it hiding right below us. I am torn about the Asian Small Clawed Otter exhibit. It was brilliant, but I also loved the Columbus Zoo exhibit. I’ll have to go back and compare photos. I loved the waterfall at the Columbus Zoo, but thinking about it, the one at the National Zoo might have had more of a naturalistic look to it. I would have loved to finish off this section seeing the wonderful Red Panda exhibit, but that was also closed off with the potential pregnancy of their female.
Bird House: This part of the zoo was a treat because as I mentioned above, I was accompanied by fkallthway. His expertise is in birds and he met me at the zoo as he was heading down to North Carolina the following day. He’ll be working with the birds at Zoo Atlanta this summer and I wish him the best of luck that the job becomes long termed. I really admired the outside trail of some of the bigger birds and seeing them in naturalistic exhibits. Along the way I saw Cranes, Flamingoes, Kori Bustards, and a few more. I’ve always loved the look of the Great Flight Exhibit, but it was closed off to the public. I have heard in the past that it doesn’t have a lot of birds in it anymore so maybe they are closing it off until they figure out what to do with it or acquire more birds. As for the actual Bird House, I enjoyed it. Maybe not the most modern when you’re inside, but it had a good collection of birds in spacious, naturalistic exhibits. I loved the indoor aviary section and trying to find all the birds. It reminded me a little of the aviary in the Australian section of the Columbus Zoo.
Small Mammal House: This is one of the last sections I saw for the day and I rushed through it. The architecture of the building it beautiful and I admired the older exterior look of many of the zoo’s buildings. The exhibits were decent and pretty naturalistic, but they tended to repeat. At one point I almost felt like I went back to a previous exhibit as I saw the third Prehensile Tail Porcupine exhibit. There were probably five for the Golden Lion Tamarins, which I assume is where they all went, as they don’t roam freely around the zoo anymore. The bigger mixed species exhibits were more enjoyable for me.
Great Apes/Think Tank: I desperately wanted to see one of the Orangutans use to the O-Line, but with the hot weather, I knew my chances were slim. Although I did not see this, I did enjoy one of the Orangutans, in one of the outside exhibits in front of the Think Tank, as she hit a button to mist guests watching her. The Orangutan’s keeper was near by and throwing her treats whenever she decided to hit the button. The Great Ape building was another area where I sort of went through it quickly as I saw it at the end of my visit. Nothing too spectacular. I almost wonder if there are any decent indoor Great Ape exhibits out there, besides big themed jungle ones like the Bronx Zoo and Brookfield Zoo. I haven’t been to either zoo so I can only go off of photos. Each indoor exhibit at this zoo had artificial tree limbs for the Apes to climb on, but the whole look off them wasn’t very pleasing to me. I don’t think I saw the outdoor Gorilla exhibits, but the Orangutans’ one wasn’t that spacious, but thankfully they have the O-Line so they have the choice to go back and forth as they please. When I went by the Think Tank the first time I skipped it wanting to go to another section of the zoo first. When I returned, it was temporarily closed off to the public.
Reptile Discovery Center: I felt it was an average building. Not too modern, but a good collections of inhabitants. I enjoyed seeing a little bit of the enrichment session with one of the Aldabra Tortoises who kept getting a treat when it targeted its nose to the keeper’s pole. The Komodo Dragon has a small, but nice grassy exhibit outside.
Invertebrates House: Another building with an older exterior and it had a cool sculpture of an Octopus right next to the sign. I have never been to a zoo that had an Invertebrate section so I can’t really compare. But I loved these animals and not being able to experience this in the past, I found this section to be quite enjoyable. You can get lost in thought as you watch one of the water creatures gracefully float around in their tank. I found the Giant Octopus to be so mesmerizing. They also had tubes for the Cutter Ants to ventured along to their exhibits. When I left this area, I was surprise to see an open area with a type of Spider in their webs. Can anyone tell me if these Spiders are fake? There was no glass or barrier to stop a visit to touch the spider and pull it out of its exhibit.
Great Cats: Two grottoes for the Sumatran Tigers and one for the Lions. Not the most groundbreaking or visually beautiful exhibits, but certainly not horrible either. They reminded me of the ones at the Buffalo Zoo, except here they upgraded it giving the Big Cats different levels for them to climb on. I would be interested to go in the employee only area where there are windows right by the waterline where you can look up into the exhibit. I got to catch Luke, the Lion and his cubs when I was there, which was the rotating set I was hoping for when I came. Also in this section was an area for Caracals and Coatimundis that I skimmed through, as I didn’t see the inhabitants in their exhibits.
Mixed Section: This area consisted of the Gibbons, Lemur Island, Giant Anteaters, and the Prairie Dogs. I skipped the area where the Gibbons were and didn’t see any of the Lemurs on the island. I was really hoping to see Pablo, the baby Giant Anteater, but he wasn’t out when I checked. I believe he and his mother come out later in the day. Probably the next time I go he will be almost the size of his parents, but at least I got to see photos of him. The Prairie Dog exhibit was a cute little area with holes in the ground for the animals to pop their heads out of and a playground behind the exhibit for children to play.
Kids Farm: I made sure to pay a little bit of attention to this exhibit as I know eventually it will be gone due to budget cuts. It was a cute little area, but certainly not the best Children’s Zoo I have ever seen and I can see why it was considered an area to get rid of. It will be odd though to walk to Amazonia in the future and see the Farm exhibit still there, but empty. Being a Cow lover though, I did enjoy seeing Tulip and Daisy.
Amazonia: I was disappointed in this area because it didn’t live up to its full potential. This could really be a great area. The first floor consists of tanks of Amazonian fish and turtles. As you venture up to the second floor, you are surrounded by trees and are supposed to see animals in this level of the Rainforest. I saw one Roseate Spoonbill and that was about it. I believe this area used to have the Golden Lion Tamarins jumping around freely. But where they are now, I do not know. I also couldn’t find the sloth and other types of birds it was supposed to have. If they could fill the section with more visible inhabitants, it would be a fun experience for visitors. But now you walk through the trail, see the trees, and move on. The second part of this building looks like a library set up with desks, tanks of frogs, and a globe in the center of the room showing us the progression Earth’s heat from the past to the future.
Andean Bears: Closed off. The thing about the closed off exhibits, besides the Sea Lions/Seals and Elephants, is that new guest have no idea that there’s actually an exhibit behind the barrier. A sign simply says, “Zoo Staff Beyond This Point” and you think it’s always like that. But then you see these sections on your map and wonder how did you miss them? At this point I joked how I read recent reviews of people saying half the zoo is closed. My partner said it was and I thought it was an exaggeration, but then I started adding up all the areas that were closed off at this time and it was quite a bit.
Cheetah Preserve: I forgot to mention this section above. An area that has a path that circles around it with three paddocks for cheetahs, one for Dama Gazelles, one for Manned Wolves, and one for Grevy’s Zebras. The Cheetahs exhibits were nice and each had a little cave for the cats to rest in on hot days. Except I didn’t see any of them when I looked at each exhibit. The Manned Wolf was hiding out in its cave as I walked by. There is also an area for Emus/Wallabies and Prez. Horses near by.
So is it worth it to go to this zoo? For the chance to see Pandas and the whole Asian Trails, that alone is worth the trip! Not to mention it is free admission. But if you had other zoos in mind to go to soon, I’d go to them first. I think the zoo will be so much better when the Seal and Sea Lion exhibit opens. Also when all of Elephant Trails is completed and people are able to view their barn. Then some paths will open up again and it will be easier to navigate. Right now there are a lot of dead ends and back tracking. However when I return in the fall, I know some of these exhibits will open up again for me to see; Giant Pandas indoor area, Red Pandas, Think Tank, and Andean Bears. I look forward to the visit them as the weather will be cooler and I can spend more time in areas that I missed and those that I loved.
