Snowleopard's 2015 Road Trip

snowleopard said:
Great Cats World Park most definitely has a black African Wildcat (amongst its 4 specimens of that species) and it was pretty cool to see...
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You mention that with such a casual demeanor, as if to say oh yeah my corner ice cream parlor has chocolate ice cream! You have no idea how HUGE, COLOSSAL, EARTHSHATTERING this news is to me. Still I am very, very curious. I have never in all my reading on wild cats heard of any subspecies of wildcat (other than domestic) being melanistic (discounting the so-called Kellas cat as a Scottish-domestic hybrid). I wonder if this African cat could be a hybrid and get the black from domestic genes.

I will cross post this in the black panther thread in hopes of an answer...

Edit - If you have a photo PLEASE POST!
 
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Arizona Docent said:
You mention that with such a casual demeanor, as if to say oh yeah my corner ice cream parlor has chocolate ice cream! You have no idea how HUGE, COLOSSAL, EARTHSHATTERING this news is to me. Still I am very, very curious. I have never in all my reading on wild cats heard of any subspecies of wildcat (other than domestic) being melanistic (discounting the so-called Kellas cat as a Scottish-domestic hybrid). I wonder if this African cat could be a hybrid and get the black from domestic genes.

I will cross post this in the black panther thread in hopes of an answer...

Edit - If you have a photo PLEASE POST!
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Photos are up! Great Cats World Park is very proud of not only the black African Wildcat but also their cloned African Wildcat. The tour guide said that the cloned cat is the highlight of the 54 felines at the small zoo.
 
snowleopard said:
(...) but also their cloned African Wildcat. The tour guide said that the cloned cat is the highlight of the 54 felines at the small zoo.
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Probably originating from ACRES. Played with one of theirs years ago;'s a lovely cat.
 
Very nice read SL:) Thank you for entertaining us and giving us knowledge of these places. (But I am sure you enjoy it as well;))
 
A shame it's over so soon - I really enjoyed reading the mini-reviews, especially Out of Africa, and returns to places like Houston and Fort Worth. :)
 
It is amusing to me when I receive emails or posts on this thread about how the trip is over already or that it seems like I just left. Tell that to my wife...haha. Being home with 4 young children is incredibly busy and there are days where I rarely sit down for more than 10 minutes at a time as it is just go, go, go around here. I am incredibly fortunate that I've been able to venture off on back-to-back solo road trips in the past couple of summers and I try to never take that for granted.

For next year I've tentatively been tinkering away at a California trip as while I've already visited 24 zoos in that state there are still a number of other ones that I've never been to and of course the Sunshine State has some great zoos worth revisiting. If I actually do this trip next summer then the plan is for perhaps two weeks as anything more is far too long for the rest of my family. I can imagine perhaps a couple of small places in Washington that I've never seen, maybe Oregon Zoo as the last stop on the way home as I'm dying to see the $60 million Elephant Lands, and the entire rest of the trip would be between San Francisco and San Diego in southern California. However, here is why scheduling a California zoo trip (even for two weeks) is awkward as there are so many places that are not open daily:

Outback Kangaroo Farm (Arlington, WA) (closed Mon + Tues)
Wolf Haven (Tenino, WA) (closed Mon-Thurs; pre-booked tours only)
Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary (Folsom, CA) (closed Mon)
California Raptor Center (Davis, CA) (closed Sun)
Serpentarium (Lodi, CA) (closed Mon)
Lindsay Wildlife Museum (Walnut Creek, CA) (closed Mon + Tues)
Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo (Palo Alto, CA) (closed Mon)
Project Survival’s Cat Haven (Dunlap, CA) (1.5 hour guided tour only)
Emerald Forest Bird Gardens (Fallbrook, CA) (closed Mon)
Santa Monica Pier Aquarium (Santa Monica, CA) (closed Mon)
Gibbon Conservation Center (Santa Clarita, CA) (only booked tours)
Star Eco Station: Exotic Wildlife Rescue Facility (Culver City, CA) (1-hour guided tour only)
America’s Teaching Zoo: Moorpark College (Moorpark, CA) (closed Mon-Fri)
Hesperia Zoo (Hesperia, CA) (guided tours only)
Feline Conservation Center (Rosamond, CA) (closed Wed)

Try taking those 15 zoos with very specific time-slots and then adding in another 25 for a total of 40 zoos in two weeks...and coordinating the dates and times is an immensely enjoyable but time-consuming task. It is interesting to note (now that I've had 6 big summer road trips in the past 8 years) just how much time each journey takes to organize and plan in order to see the maximum number of zoos without ever being rushed. I spend a year tinkering on-and-off with my schedule and then after the trip is done I have a mountain of zoo maps and memorabilia to sort out and then plenty of lists to update on my laptop. What a life! :)
 
Just an FYI that the guided tours at Cat Haven do not have to be prearranged. They work the same as Great Cats, just show up and they will take you on the next tour (usually within 10-15 minutes).
 
snowleopard said:
The big bear of an owner, Zack Ziesing (complete with braided ponytail and bushy beard), was so excited to have someone at his establishment that had been to hundreds of zoos that he was tickled pink and he became incredibly passionate about his creepy crawler critters. A number of the lizards, snakes and tarantulas he has gone into the Arizona hills and caught himself and he gave me his personal email address, his cellphone number and was astonished that I had sought out his miniscule place of business to add to my lifetime zoo list. I tell you, the characters I have met on this trip…

Zack, a very likeable individual, told me that it is just him and his wife running the business and he claims to have “the smallest zoo in the United States”.
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He and his facility sound like they'd be after my fancy^^. Belated thanks for the description.
 
I'm bumping one of my road trip threads from a decade ago, as it's rather astonishing to see quite a few of the zoos I visited have since closed down (list at bottom of post). Half of the trip saw me tour more than 40 zoos just in the state of Texas, and 39 of those establishments are still standing. As for the redneck Arkansas zoos, I'm not too sad to see them depart the scene.

Summer 2015 Zoo Trip

Zoo List: 81 zoos in 24 days (quite a few are very small facilities)

Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary (Red Lodge, MT)
Zoo Montana (Billings, MT)
Riverside Discovery Center (Scottsbluff, NE)
Oklahoma Aquarium (Jenks, OK)
Tiger Safari (Tuttle, OK)
Arbuckle Wilderness Park (Davis, OK)
G W Exotic Animal Park (Wynnewood, OK)
Amarillo Zoo (Amarillo, TX)
San Angelo Nature Center (San Angelo, TX)
Frank Buck Zoo (Gainesville, TX)
C.A.R.E.: Center for Animal Research & Education (Bridgeport, TX)
Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch (Pilot Point, TX)
Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary (McKinney, TX)
Sea Life Grapevine (Grapevine, TX)
Dallas World Aquarium (Dallas, TX)
Children’s Aquarium at Fair Park (Dallas, TX)
Texas Discovery Gardens: Butterfly House & Insectarium (Dallas, TX)
In Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue & Educational Center (Wylie, TX)
Dallas Zoo (Dallas, TX)
Caldwell Zoo (Tyler, TX)
Wild Wilderness Drive-Through Safari (Gentry, AR)
Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge (Eureka Springs, AR)
Northwest Arkansas Reptile Museum (Springdale, AR)
National Park Aquarium (Hot Springs, AR)
Alexandria Zoo (Alexandria, LA)
Gone Wild Safari (Pineville, LA)
Natchitoches Alligator Park (Natchitoches, LA)
Gators & Friends: Alligator Park & Exotic Zoo (Greenwood, LA)
East Texas Gators & Wildlife Park (Grand Saline, TX)
Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge (Tyler, TX)
Cherokee Trace Drive-Thru Safari (Jacksonville, TX)
Ellen Trout Zoo (Lufkin, TX)
Franklin Drive-Thru Safari (Franklin, TX)
Gator Country (Beaumont, TX)
Bayou Wildlife Park (Alvin, TX)
Moody Gardens (Galveston, TX)
Aquarium Restaurant (Kemah, TX
Downtown Aquarium Houston (Houston, TX)
Bear Creek Pioneers Park & Zoo (Houston, TX)
Houston Zoo (Houston, TX)
Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, TX)
Texas State Aquarium (Corpus Christi, TX)
The Texas Zoo (Victoria, TX)
Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo (New Braunfels, TX)
San Antonio Aquarium (San Antonio, TX)
SeaWorld San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)
Aquatica San Antonio (San Antonio, TX)
Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch (San Antonio, TX)
Exotic Resort Zoo (Johnson City, TX)
Austin Zoo (Austin, TX)
Austin Nature & Science Center (Austin, TX)
Capital of Texas Zoo (Cedar Creek, TX)
Austin Aquarium (Austin, TX)
Fossil Rim Wildlife Center (Glen Rose, TX)
Fort Worth Zoo (Fort Worth, TX)
Abilene Zoo (Abilene, TX)
Hillcrest Park Zoo (Clovis, NM)
Spring River Park & Zoo (Roswell, NM)
Living Desert Zoo (Carlsbad, NM)
Alameda Park Zoo (Alamogordo, NM)
Wildlife West Nature Park (Edgewood, NM)
American International Rattlesnake Museum (Albuquerque, NM)
Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary (Prescott, AZ)
Out of Africa Wildlife Park (Camp Verde, AZ)
Butterfly Wonderland (Scottsdale, AZ)
Reid Park Zoo (Tucson, AZ)
Superstition Serpentarium (Apache Junction, AZ)
Grand Canyon Deer Farm (Williams, AZ)
Bearizona (Williams, AZ)
Keepers of the Wild (Valentine, AZ)
Lion Habitat Ranch (Henderson, NV)
Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden & Mirage Aquarium (Las Vegas, NV)
Springs Preserve (Las Vegas, NV)
Shark Reef Aquarium (Las Vegas, NV)
Sierra Safari Zoo (Reno, NV)
Turtle Bay Exploration Park (Redding, CA)
Sequoia Park Zoo (Eureka, CA)
Ocean World (Crescent City, CA)
Great Cats World Park (Cave Junction, OR)
West Coast Game Park Safari (Bandon, OR)
High Desert Museum (Bend, OR)

Here are the NINE zoos that have ceased to exist:

G W Exotic Animal Park (Wynnewood, OK)
San Angelo Nature Center (San Angelo, TX)
Wild Wilderness Drive-Through Safari (Gentry, AR)
Northwest Arkansas Reptile Museum (Springdale, AR)
National Park Aquarium (Hot Springs, AR)
Superstition Serpentarium (Apache Junction, AZ)
Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden & Mirage Aquarium (Las Vegas, NV)
Sierra Safari Zoo (Reno, NV)
West Coast Game Park Safari (Bandon, OR)
 
Cat-Man said:
Hi Snowmeopard, of those which have since closed, do you think any of them are missed?
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Arguably 8 out of the 9 zoos were dreadful and are not missed, but the one half-decent facility was the San Angelo Nature Center. I provided a comprehensive list of the species in my review and it's amazing that the single building had almost 100 species in total. That includes several rodents rarely seen in captivity and a lot of reptiles and amphibians.
 
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