After my previous day of the double shot 'Monterey' aquarium and zoo combination, today saw another couple of attractions. Part One will focus on Fresno Chaffee Zoo.
DAY 4: Friday, July 7th
Zoo/Aquarium #6: Fresno Chaffee Zoo (Fresno, California)
This was my
3rd visit to Fresno Chaffee Zoo (2011, 2017, 2023)
Fresno Chaffee Zoo is situated in Roeding Park and it was officially recognized by AZA in 1929, even though there was a motley collection of animals in the park beginning in 1907. Being 39 acres/16 hectares in size, the zoo is similar in land area to its famous counterpart in London. There were Works Progress Administration projects in the 1930s, a first elephant in 1949, finally an admission fee and a surrounding fence in 1963, and when Paul Chaffee (who became Director in 1965) passed away in 1990, the zoo was renamed in his honour. The city of Fresno has approximately 550,000 residents and 50% of them are Hispanic, which is a notable population and a reason why there's a lot of Spanish being spoken at the zoo.
I visited Fresno Chaffee Zoo in 2011 and described it as a “mediocre zoo” on that summer's road trip thread, and the criticism was fully justified. However, it is startling to see the difference a dozen years later, with attendance now reaching one million visitors and some attractions that can only be described as world-class. The zoo has been the recipient of the “Measure Z” sales tax, a voted-on monetary contribution that sees local residents pay one tenth of one percent of their taxes to the zoo. In 2004 and in 2014 and again in 2022, the Fresno community has continually voted to support this endeavor and within the past 20 years the facility has received more than
$140 million in improvements. I can only imagine how other zoos must be jealous of the financial boom that has hit Fresno, as all the changes have been supported by taxpayers. In 2022, the vote was 82% of local citizens voting YES to help pay for a better zoo. Can you imagine your local, mid-sized zoo receiving $140 million? “Measure Z” has now been approved up until
2040, when there will be another vote. Between now and then, the zoo will receive approximately
$15 million per year and the neighbourhood residents are paying for it and the total doesn’t even include philanthropic donations. Extraordinary! Each year, $5 million goes towards maintenance and $10 million is put forward to support new exhibits. This is why Fresno has gone from being an outdated zoo to one of the best in California.
Back in 2017, I toured the zoo with
@Arizona Docent and the zoo’s Director/CEO Scott Barton (now retired). He was a gracious host by getting us into the zoo for free, then going behind the scenes inside the Reptile House, Sea Lion Cove and Elephant Barn. This time around I was all alone and received no special treatment. Ha!
The zoo’s crowning achievement is
African Adventure. This area opened in 2015 and it cost a whopping $62 million and is one of the most visually striking African Savannas that I’ve seen. The centerpiece is an absolutely enormous Safari Lodge that has a huge outdoor eating plaza overlooking the animals. The African Savanna (4 separate habitats that all look as if they are one exhibit) is a scenic setting. While the restaurant is amongst the top handful of places to eat at any American zoo, the animal habitats are phenomenal and arguably slightly more impressive than Giants of the Savanna at Dallas Zoo. There are two African Elephant yards that total 4 acres in size, with currently three animals in residence, and the entire African section is 13 acres. The main savanna yard has Southern White Rhinos rambling amongst the Wildebeest, Common Eland, Greater Kudu, Slender-horned Gazelles, Impala and various birds. The fourth yard has Reticulated Giraffes and the antelope have the ability to wander at will. The Lion exhibit is terrific, with a pile of rocks apparently 20-feet high to give them a lookout, plus a mature tree that the lions climb. There is also a standard Meerkat/African Spurred Tortoise exhibit, a spacious Cheetah yard, a Warthog exhibit (added later in 2019) and a walk-through Butterfly Greenhouse (at an extra cost).
Safari Lodge restaurant:
African Adventure:
African Elephant exhibit:
Lion exhibit:
Sea Lion Cove is one of the most impressive pinniped exhibits I’ve ever seen. Fresno’s California Sea Lion/Harbour Seal exhibit is practically hidden from the public and is accessed via a winding trail through small grassy tussocks modeled after Point Lobos in California. The attention to detail is remarkable, from the barnacles on the superbly crafted rockwork to the filtration system to the visitor areas to the underwater viewing window of the 200,000+ gallon pool. It is world-class, won Best New Exhibit via the AZA awards and immediately the year it opened total zoo attendance rose 28%. Wow. It
only cost $11 million; a paltry sum compared to recent pinniped exhibits in the USA that have regularly been more than double that amount.
Kingdoms of Asia just opened last month, and it cost approximately $40 million. This is a ‘ruined temple’ design that is similar to various zoo exhibits around the globe. A sign near the entrance states that “the structures surrounding you reflect the beautiful ancient architecture of the Khmer (the people of Cambodia). They are inspired by three famous sites, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, and Angkor Wat.” There are two Malayan Tiger exhibits, for a separated male and female, with the larger of the two enclosures having a pool with underwater viewing. There’s another underwater viewing section at the Sunda Gharial/Malaysian Giant Pond Turtle exhibit. A grassy, spacious Sloth Bear enclosure is adjacent to a Small-clawed Otter exhibit, with signage seeming to indicate that the bears and otters will eventually be either placed together or perhaps the species will rotate between the smaller and larger habitats. There is also an aviary with the following 9 species: Chinese Hwamei, Crested Wood Partridge, Red-billed Leiothrix, Bali Myna, Golden-crested Myna, White-throated Ground Dove, Beautiful Fruit Dove, Green-naped Pheasant Pigeon and Indochinese Box Turtle.
Kingdoms of Asia entrance (there were many clouds of water from hidden misters):
Sloth Bear exhibit (my favourite part of this new Asian zone) with a bear standing up:
Sunda Gharial exhibit (also excellent):
Malayan Tiger pool:
Malayan Tiger exhibit (again with water misters everywhere):
Kingdoms of Asia will be an enormously popular addition to the zoo, yet another gift from the “Measure Z” sales tax. But zoo nerds might not love it as much as the African Adventure and Sea Lion Cove complexes and that’s because the ruined temple theme does overshadow the animals. I think that the otter and two tiger exhibits are just okay, the aviary somewhat bizarrely doesn’t have very much height, and the large Sloth Bear habitat is easily my favourite exhibit. The good news is that there is an upcoming Malayan Tapir/Babirusa exhibit (which held elephants for many years and even rhinos most recently) and the remaining part of Kingdoms of Asia is impressive. A huge fake tree has been installed in the existing Orangutan/Siamang exhibit, which originally opened in 2001, with many new climbing opportunities for the 4 gibbons and 3 orangs. It’s an improved experience. Also, there is a really nice Rhinoceros Hornbill aviary that is brand-new, with some pleasant vegetation throughout. The area ends off with an excellent outdoor Komodo Dragon exhibit that’s spacious and with detailed rockwork, and then the pre-existing Australasian walk-through aviary to round out the loop.
Orangutan/Siamang exhibit:
Rhinoceros Hornbill aviary:
Komodo Dragon exhibit:
A major problem with Fresno Chaffee Zoo is that once a visitor has finished with African Adventure, Sea Lion Cove and Kingdoms of Asia, which is at least $113 million in new exhibits, then the rest of the zoo is a little jarring. It will eventually all get modernized, but for now it's a bit awkward. There are badly outdated yards for Giant Anteaters, Capybaras, a lemur island that's okay, and some primate cages that are all eyesores compared to the new stuff. Currently, the Andean Condor exhibit is closed for refurbishment, the old Rhinoceros Hornbill aviary is also empty and closed, there’s a Conservation Action Center under construction, and the Valley Farm is closed down and basically an empty lot. There is a long pathway that leads past Chacoan Peccaries and an ugly old American Alligator pool and ends up at the large Tropical Rain Forest aviary. But that walk-through jungle has hardly any birds left and then a visitor must backtrack all the way through the zoo. So, setting aside the new stuff, most of the old exhibits are subpar.
Built in 1979, the
Reptile House has seen better days but it just about still works and is a nice thing for a zoo to have as it adds time and value to an average visit. It is home to
25 exhibits and the following
29 species: King Cobra, Philippine Pitviper, Emerald Tree Boa, Red Short-tailed Python, Taylor’s Cantil, Gopher Snake, Indigo Snake, Komodo Dragon, Gray’s Monitor, Black Tree Monitor, Biak Island Tree Monitor, Fiji Island Banded Iguana, Blunt-nosed Leopard Lizard, San Esteban Chuckwalla, Baja Blue Rock Lizard, Chinese Crocodile Lizard, Haitian Giant Anole, Prehensile-tailed Skink, Sheltopusik, Madagascar Spider Tortoise, Black-breasted Leaf Turtle, Rote Island Snake-necked Turtle, Indochinese Box Turtle, Giant Monkey Tree Frog, Magnificent Tree Frog, Anthony’s Dart Frog, Yellow-banded Poison Dart Frog, California Tiger Salamander and Boeseman’s Rainbowfish.
It's interesting to note that the zoo has only three venomous snakes on-show to the public. When I visited in 2011 there were far more highly venomous snakes in the Reptile House that are now all gone. I saw these 7 species back then: Eastern Green Mamba, Bushmaster, Gaboon Viper, Eyelash Viper, Armenian Viper, Aruba Island Rattlesnake and Northern Pacific Rattlesnake. None are left.
Reptile House:
@Coelacanth18
Wolf Woods is home to Red Wolves but it’s looking outdated, although there is a grassy yard that's great for Galapagos Tortoises and Crested Screamers across the pathway. Besides the big new exhibit complexes, the zoo has opened smaller areas such as an Australian Walkabout zone (2016), a brilliantly designed ‘Wilderness Falls’ waterpark playground for young children (2018), Stingray Bay, and a Dino Dig (2010) kiddie sand area, but it will be interesting to see what the next large-scale animal project will be. The Master Plan states that there will be a
California area, and there is certainly the money to build something fantastic. The pace of progress at Fresno has been stratospheric and it is now clearly a desirable zoo with high attendance numbers and extraordinary community support. "If you build it, they will come" seems to be the mantra, and a million annual visitors is probably making the zoo consider a brand-new entrance to go along with all the animal exhibits.
I then drove an hour and a half south to CALM (California Living Museum), which will be reviewed in Part Two of this particular day of the trip.
) I can't recall if they had more than one hammerhead at that time, but the one they had was impressive. The pelagic stingray was a highlight in that tank as well. That said, I remember seeing the Ocean Sunfish as a teenager on my first (of three) visit and it was hugely impressive. Getting any good pictures of the big tank is difficult given the lighting and people. 
