Snowleopard's Favourite American Zoos

snowleopard

snowleopard

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I've mulled over posting my list of America's best zoos for some time now, as I completed my rankings before Christmas and I've only tweaked a couple of positions in the almost two months since then. For some folks on ZooChat the notion of producing a list of favourite zoos is abhorrent and downright rude, as attempting to do so is purely subjective and thus arbitrary and possibly contentious. On the other hand, there are countless threads on this site with the "best" zoos, aquariums, specific exhibits, etc, and thus there is obviously an interest in such offerings.

To create the list I took the book "America's Best Zoos" and analyzed the 60 zoos that made the cut for that 2008 book. These zoos are regarded by many as the "best of the best", and with around 220 AZA establishments in North America there are a number of zoos of very high quality. I've visited 56 of the zoos in the book (all in the past few years) and the 4 that I'm missing and so omitted from reckoning are Oakland, Honolulu, Busch Gardens and Lowry Park. There is a wealth of criteria when it comes to evaluating zoos, and categories such as exhibit quality and animal collection appear high on most people's lists. Below the 56 zoos is a series of threads where I've reviewed the establishments on this list, as in the past I've spent many hours compiling detailed reviews of American zoos and aquariums.

Lastly, please remember that this list is somewhat fluid. Some zoos spend a decade refurbishing themselves and thus if a zoo opened a spectacular new exhibit then they naturally would rise a few places in my rankings. For example, Minnesota Zoo has come a long way in the past 5 years with back-to-back award-winning exhibits, and suddenly an exciting future is on the horizon with other attractions planned. By contrast Milwaukee County Zoo has not opened any large-scale, major animal exhibits in close to 20 years and thus that zoo is fairly static and outdated.

AMERICA’S BEST ZOOS:

The year in brackets is the date of my most recent visit.

1- San Diego Zoo (2008)
2- Bronx Zoo (2008)
3- Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo (2008)
4- Columbus Zoo (2008)
5- Sedgwick County Zoo (2010)
6- Saint Louis Zoo (2010)
7- North Carolina Zoo (2010)
8- Woodland Park Zoo (2011)
9- Zoo Miami (2008)
10- San Diego Zoo Safari Park (2006)
11- Minnesota Zoo (2008)
12- Dallas Zoo (2010)
13- Oklahoma City Zoo (2008)
14- Detroit Zoo (2008)
15- Brookfield Zoo (2008)
16- Audubon Zoo (2010)
17- Denver Zoo (2006)
18- Kansas City Zoo (2010)
19- National Zoo (2008)
20- Jacksonville Zoo (2008)
21- Oregon Zoo (2010)
22- Disney’s Animal Kingdom (2008)
23- Phoenix Zoo (2008)
24- Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (2008)
25- Nashville Zoo (2010)
26- Memphis Zoo (2008)
27- Fort Worth Zoo (2008)
28- Caldwell Zoo (2010)
29- Zoo Atlanta (2008)
30- Cleveland Zoo (2010)
31- Cincinnati Zoo (2008)
32- Houston Zoo (2010)
33- Indianapolis Zoo (2008)
34- Toledo Zoo (2008)
35- Philadelphia Zoo (2010)
36- Point Defiance Zoo (2010)
37- Maryland Zoo (2010)
38- Montgomery Zoo (2010)
39- Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo (2010)
40- Gladys Porter Zoo (2010)
41- Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (2010)
42- Louisville Zoo (2010)
43- Lincoln Park Zoo (2008)
44- Knoxville Zoo (2008)
45- Binder Park Zoo (2010)
46- Roger Williams Park Zoo (2010)
47- Rio Grande Zoo (2010)
48- Los Angeles Zoo (2008)
49- Pittsburgh Zoo (2008)
50- Tulsa Zoo (2010)
51- Utah’s Hogle Zoo (2010)
52- San Antonio Zoo (2010)
53- San Francisco Zoo (2006)
54- Riverbanks Zoo (2010)
55- Milwaukee County Zoo (2010)
56- Buffalo Zoo (2010)

Other than San Diego Zoo Safari Park, San Franciso and Denver (all visited solely in 2006) the other 53 zoos have all been extensively reviewed on these threads: (it seems bizarre to refer to myself in the 3rd person in the titles, but it aids in locating a particular thread on ZooChat)

Snowleopard's 2010 Road Trip (39 zoos/aquariums in 46 days):

http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-2010-road-trip-160988/

Snowleopard's Epic Road Trip (30 zoos/aquariums in summer 2008):

http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-epic-road-trip-20316/

Snowleopard's Florida Road Trip (4 zoos in winter 2008)

http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-florida-road-trip-28418/
 
Thanks for posting your rankings.Being from Ohio its nice to see Columbus rank so high.I am wondering however what kept Dallas out of the top 10

Marty from Team Tapir
 
I'm quite surprise you put the Jacksonville Zoo so high on your list and especially higher than DAK, Cincinnati, and Phoenix
 
Very nice list snowleopard. I am suprised about Kansas City's high postion over zoos such as Smithsonian, Jacksonville, and ASDM, but what really suprises me is that Sedgwick County is higher than Saint Louis, as imo there is no comparison between the two. It is not simply an issue of trading places, but I personally think St. Louis is much better than Omaha, and SCZ is not a top ten zoo. But that is the beauty of an opinionated list, it only matters what the creator believes. Well done snowleopard.
 
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I thought about commenting about how some of snowleopard's rankings are quite different than mine, but I've decided not to. The fun part about lists like this, is they are very subjective and everyone ranks and judges things on a completely different set of criteria and experiences. Nice work putting this list together snowleopard, you've worked hard for it. Maybe some day we'll get a ranking of snowleopard's favorite European zoos!
 
A very interesting list, snowleopard, made more so by its differences to previous lists. In particular, Washington, Memphis, Disney and ASDM seem to have gone backwards a little? If I remember correctly, all 4 were in your top 12 pre-2010 trip, yet a few others from that year have edged past them since. Is there possibly a difference between "favourite" and "best" here?
 
Thanks for the 5 responses, and I'll address them each briefly and individually. Of course my low placement of Disney's Animal Kingdom has been referenced here as well as with a private message, but having it just outside the top 20 is still impressive.

@team tapir: Dallas is at #12 but like many of the positions there is a very fine line between several zoos. Dallas really needs a major addition to ZooNorth to become a top 10 American zoo, and there are even a couple of ZooChatters that think it isn't the best zoo in the state of Texas.

@JaxElephant: Jacksonville Zoo for me is a clear candidate for the top 20, and I know a fellow ZooChatter who places that zoo in his top 8! Everyone has their own methods of ranking zoos.:) I personally think that Jacksonville has perhaps the best South American section of any zoo, plus the African area is also top-notch.

@KCZooFan: Sedgwick County and Saint Louis are both outstanding zoos and whether one is a single place above another is irrelevant. I have spent two full months thinking about my list as I knew that it would be discussed "in public", and thus I am confident of where I placed each and every zoo.

@Ituri: perhaps your best post ever mate! Thanks for putting my list into perspective, and one day I'd love to go on a European road trip to see 30-40 zoos...but I'd probably need to win the lottery or inherit some big bucks first.

@CGSwans: you must be mistaking me for someone else, as below I've posted my top 12 list from way back in 2008. Neither Disney, Washington or Memphis made the cut, although you were right about tiny yet brilliant ASDM. That top 12 list from 2008 was long before my summer road trip in 2010 when I saw 39 zoos/aquariums in 46 days, and now that I've seen practically every single major American zoo I feel more confident with my selections. This old list is remarkably similar to my updated one, but at the time I had not seen major zoos such as Sedgwick County, Saint Louis, North Carolina, or Dallas.

http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-top-12-zoos-north-america-57773/
 
I think it's pretty easy to see what SL values most in zoo exhibitry from his road trip threads, and so there's few surprises for me in his list. No matter how people feel about the rankings, it's a very impressive list of zoos seen in 5 years! I'd love to be able to see all those zoos in such a short amount of time.

One question: Cameron Park didn't make the cut? You seemed pretty high on it from your review - higher than Caldwell it seemed. Did you forget it in the list?
 
Wurm said:
I think it's pretty easy to see what SL values most in zoo exhibitry from his road trip threads, and so there's few surprises for me in his list. No matter how people feel about the rankings, it's a very impressive list of zoos seen in 5 years! I'd love to be able to see all those zoos in such a short amount of time.

One question: Cameron Park didn't make the cut? You seemed pretty high on it from your review - higher than Caldwell it seemed. Did you forget it in the list?
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I think that you and others realize that I much prefer zoos with natural landscapes, and large aesthetically attractive enclosures have become the norm at most major American zoos. Just look at all of the gorilla exhibits that now are an acre in size or larger, and all fairly lush and green...or the multi-acre elephant paddocks that have emerged during the past decade.

For my rankings I used the book "America's Best Zoos" as my blueprint, as there are 60 zoos that are extensively profiled in that collection. If I were to analyze all the zoos and aquariums that I've visited just in Canada and the United States I'd be at around 100, but there aren't that many other great institutions that would crack the exclusive group of 56 at the beginning of this thread.

Three establishments that would be on the list if I were to include absolutely everything would be Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, El Paso Zoo (both of those places would be in the #40-50 range as they are very good but small) and Cameron Park Zoo (I'd rank that zoo around the #28 position to create a trio of Texas zoos on my list). Cameron Park is definitely a hidden treasure and it opened to the pubic on its current site in 1993 and has doubled in size since 2005. I have no problem calling it one of the 30 best zoos in America.
 
As usual, SnowLeopard has done a great job of putting together a very good and accurate list of his Top Zoos. I consider him (Scott) a friend, but I would say this even if I didn't. He and I both know of our differing opinions with regards to some zoos, and we do have slightly different things that we value when evaluating zoos. For example, zoos that I would rate higher than SnowLeopard: Brookfield, Memphis, Fort Worth, and especially Disney's Animal Kingdom (a Top 5 zoo for me). While I wouldn't rate Sedgwick County as high as #5, I wish I could! Like SL, I love that zoo! It is a zoo without any real weaknesses.

I'll point out that the 3 zoos with SL says would make his list, but were not in our book (America's Best Zoos), 2 of these zoos (Cameron Park and El Paso) have opened major new exhibits since our book came out, so both of these would likely have made our book -- with these new exhibits. As for Northwest Trek, I definitely love this place too! In fact my own brother lives less than a mile from Northwest Trek. But the reason it was not in our book was because: (a) we weren't quite sure if it fit the definition of "Zoo" for our book; and (b) it's just a little bit too specialized -- only animals of one part of the world.

What's most impressive is the number of zoos which SnowLeopard has been to in the past few years. I've written a travel book about zoos and I've barely been in more than he has -- so that's impressive!
 
Very impressive list. Without actually counting them, I would say off the top of my head I have been to about half of these (and that is over a 20 year period). Based on my experiences and the feeling I get from the websites of zoos I have not been to, I would agree with this ranking almost in its entirety. My main difference would be to rank Memphis and Nashville higher - I think both are probably in my top ten.

And I doubt I would put San Diego at number one, although it certainly ranks high. As for the mention of where Norhtwest Trek would be if it was included, I can't believe it would be in the 40-50 spot??? It is the best zoological park in America. A clear number one for me and I can't imagine any ZooChatter not including it in their top ten or at the absolute worst, top twenty.

As for Disney Animal Kingdom, it should be at the bottom :p.

I also don't know why ANyhuis says he couldn't include Northwest Trek because it was too specialized with animals from one region, but then he includes Arizona Sonora Desert Museum? And if it is because it is a wildlife park, well you included San Diego Wild Animal Park.
 
I have to agree with AZ Docent on several points. Northwest Trek would personally make my top 25 as well, as much for the scenery as anything. But there's a huge difference between the regional approach of NWT and ASDM. The ASDM endeavors to showcase ALL endemic sonoran fauna - birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, invertebrates, etc. and does it very well. The Pacific northwest also has a tremendous diversity of birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and invertebrates, but you'd never know it by seeing NWT.
 
Wurm said:
I have to agree with AZ Docent on several points. Northwest Trek would personally make my top 25 as well, as much for the scenery as anything. But there's a huge difference between the regional approach of NWT and ASDM. The ASDM endeavors to showcase ALL endemic sonoran fauna - birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, invertebrates, etc. and does it very well. The Pacific northwest also has a tremendous diversity of birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, and invertebrates, but you'd never know it by seeing NWT.
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While NW Trek doesn't have a lot of herps, insects etc, their selection of small mammals is among the most "complete" of any North American zoo. I don't see why this institution should not be considered in a list of top zoos. ASDM certainly qualifies (and ranks very high on my personal list), and Monterey Bay Aquarium's focus on native species certainly doesn't keep it off lists of the very best aquariums.

In the future, zoos are almost certainly going to need to become more specialized and focused. NW Trek has a huge head start on this trend. It absolutely deserves a place among the best 60 zoos in North America.
 
I have visited Northwest Trek on 3 occasions, and it is a wonderful establishment. It is definitely not visitor friendly due to difficult driving conditions to arrive at the park, the fact that it is only open on weekends for about 5 months of the year, and that being set in a dense forest often makes for a cold, crisp visit. Also, other than an addition of coyote and red fox exhibits in 2003 there hasn't been a single significant animal exhibit added in almost 20 years. Even with those debits it is not a typical "zoo" in the true sense of the word and so comparing it to many larger institutions is tricky. Having said that, I'd much prefer to re-visit NWT than many zoos that were quite far down on my list.

After seeing that there had been 5 consecutive replies on this thread that all referenced Northwest Trek I thought that I'd dig out my short review on ZooChat from a 2007 visit:

Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is located about 1 hour south of Seattle, in the U.S. State of Washington. It is what many would call an open-range zoo, but it caters specifically to North American animals. There are no exotic creatures, but it is a terrific place to visit for those that wish to see naturalistic, spacious enclosures.

The entire site is over 700 acres (284 hectares) in size, and there is a one hour tram ride that drives through a more than 400 acre (162 hectare) exhibit. Inside the 400 acres visitors are in an enormous area of forest, meadows, and a large lake. There are herds of bighorn sheep, roosevelt elk, moose, rocky mountain goats, bison, caribou/reindeer, and black-tailed deer. These animals can be easily spotted, as they tend to stay within their group and thus travel as a herd within the area. It is terrific for photographers, as at times the wildlife is extremely close to the tram and unworried about the noise from visitors. It is important to remember that summer is the best time to visit as all of the windows in the trams are removed, while in the winter taking photos is much more difficult on the long journey.

There is more to see here than at many other open-range zoos, as a few more hours can then be spent along the 5 miles of walking trails that range through dense forests. There are large exhibits for lynx, bobcat, cougar, red fox, grey wolves, grizzly and black bears. A bird section has bald and golden eagles, as well as at least 3 species of owl. Another group of exhibits contain beavers, fishers, raccoons, badgers, porcupines, skunks and wolverines. The wildlife park has had a lot of success with the wolverines, with a number of kits born over the years. There is also a small discovery center with a few reptiles and invertebrates.

The decision to only keep North American animals might disappoint people expecting to see exotic creatures from Africa or Asia, but the reality is that the animals at this park have enormous enclosures that are realistic settings of their natural environment. The 400 acre, gated area contains small mountains where the wildlife can hide in the thickly forested hills, and the walk-around exhibits are equally spacious. The entire wildlife park is built in a dense woodland, and the enclosures have literally been built inside the center of a massive forest.
 
I am always intrigued to go back and reread this list as I think it is amazing. I will say I agree with most of it, however I have only been to a fraction of these zoos. After recently seeing Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Jacksonville Zoo I do think your rating of Jacksonville seems extremely high as besides the jaguar exhibit there is nothing to out of the ordinary there. Rating the zoo as a whole it is particularly small, and can easily be seen in depth in 3-4 hours. I also think you rated Disney too low as judging their exhibitry, their only real competition is the Bronx Zoo and maybe Woodland Park. I also tend to rank the Bronx Zoo higher than San Diego because I think there is no better zoo that replicates natural habitats better, and focuses so much on conservation. I would love to see St. Louis, SCZ, and Omaha so I could truly get a grasp of all of your top 6 zoos. Denver Zoo I suspect will go up after the opening of Asian Tropics or the Toyota Elephant Passage haha. I love your ranking of Brookfield in the top 15 as I thought that was a fantastic zoo even though they are a little behind in terms of exhibitry. They do a lot of great conservation work and their collection is fantastic. They also have so many black rhinos (my favorite animal) another reason why they are one of my personal favorites. I have been finding myself not liking my home Cleveland Zoo as much, and in reality the new African Elephant Crossing is a major disappointment in terms of aesthetics. Giants of the Savannah is so much better all the way around. The one thing I do love about my home zoo is its immense size.
 
@snowleopard: That's a very nice list. Because of some of your reviews, I now really want to visit some of those zoos. I am a bit surprised, however, that the Buffalo Zoo is ranked last and right below Milwaukee. In my opinion, I think that Buffalo just edges out Milwaukee. Though Milwaukee has the larger collection, Buffalo's is smaller, yet makes up for it by having a few more rarer creatures (maned wolf, giant anteater, roan antelope, etc.) Also, I think that Buffalo has a few more naturalistic exhibits than my home zoo. Lastly, while Buffalo has an exciting master plan in the works, nothing is in the near future for Milwaukee.
 
Thanks for the kind words guys, and I love lists as they invite compliments, ridicule and loads of debate. For the most part I believe that my list is authentic, realistic and not that much different from the lists of many other North American zoo fans. There will always be at least a good handful of zoos that folks think are placed either too high or too low, but such is the wonder of life. There are 6 zoos on the list that I re-visited in 2011 (San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Woodland Park Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo, Phoenix Zoo and Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum) and after touring them again I agree with their placement.

The only change to be made would be to place Oakland Zoo somewhere around the #45 position, as I visited that zoo for the first time last summer. That means that I have seen 57 out of America's 60 best zoos, and now I just need to find a way to get to Honolulu and Tampa!
 
I have seen this with many people's lists but I don't understand why LA is always ranked so low. I would think Los Angeles would be much higher than Point Defiance, Cleveland, and Rio Grande (esp Rio Grande.) Los Angeles seems much larger and have a bigger collection. LA doesn't have great exhibit design, but it is much better than Rio Grande, and I would say it averages out higher than Cleveland and Point Defiance. What was your reasoning on those zoos?
 
Otter Lord said:
I have seen this with many people's lists but I don't understand why LA is always ranked so low.
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Otter Lord,
I would agree with you that the LA Zoo is very underrated. I think that part of the reason is that, in many of the past few years, this zoo has been a construction zone, with lots of new exhibits being built. When they're all done, I think this will once again be a highly-rated zoo.
 
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