Team Tapir Summer Zoo Trip

team tapir

team tapir

Well-Known Member
We are about to embark Friday on our summer zoo trip which is going to consist of the Philadelphia Zoo,a couple of days on the beach at Outer Banks.Followed by the Riverbanks Zoo,Atlanta Zoo,Georgia Aquarium,Knoxville Zoo and possibly Louisville or Cincinnati, maybe both :) on the way back to Cleveland.Any thoughts and or suggestions on these zoos?

Team Tapir
 
Looks like you'll be pretty close to Chattanooga, you may want to check out the Tennessee Aquarium.
 
I would recommend stopping by the Virginia Zoo, nobody on ZooChat has really been to it but the new Asia exhibits are great and the Africa exhibits still stand up well. It's along the way and you could see it in a few hours.
 
Yeah, looking at your photos of the zoo, fkalltheway, it's definitely a zoo I'd want to see sometime in the future.
 
Anyone know anything about the Virginia Aquarium is it worthy of a visit? Also we are debating between a possible second trip to the National Zoo (we were there in march)or the Maryland Zoo which we have never seen.

Team Tapir
 
team tapir said:
Anyone know anything about the Virginia Aquarium is it worthy of a visit? Also we are debating between a possible second trip to the National Zoo (we were there in march)or the Maryland Zoo which we have never seen.

Team Tapir
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I had to rely on public transport when I was there so I don't know how long it takes to drive between NZ and MZ but since you've seen NZ so recently, I would suggest taking both in a day if possible and you fancy doing so. MZ is small, if you're there when it opens at 10.00 you will have seen the entire place maybe before 13.00 and can then jet off for a few hours at National, I think the animals stay out until 18.00 at least and the grounds being open for at least two hours more.
 
fkalltheway is at the Georgia Aquarium today so he can probably tell you.

You may be able to do both zoos in one day but if you take the metro in or drive in, and you go later in the afternoon, you might start hitting D.C. traffic. And I think they start taking some of their animals off exhibit around 4 PM, such as the Big Cats.
 
Maryland Zoo is very nice and I would certainly not skip it. They have done particulary good work on the new Polar Bear exhibit. While the exhibits for the three bears are not the largest, they are very well designed (soil and grass for instance) and the education work is just second to none. I was very impressed by it!
 
I am sure you have all seen sub-human behavior at the zoo from time to time,that being said are day at the Philly Zoo started like this.As we reached the first exhibit of the day we realized we would be dealing with crowds today and thought no big thing we know the drill and we patiently waited to get up front to see the spider monkeys.Then a guy up front turns around and walks right into me,then shoves me and says "What you gotta be up front to see these"I turned to Bonnie and said lets get outta here I am not started out our zoo trip by fighting some degenerate.After a few minutes of feeling really pissed off I realized I am not letting this goofball ruin my day and we went on to enjoy the zoo.

Now on to our thoughts of the Philly Zoo.We found this zoo to be very hit or miss.It was great to see a wide variety of rare species despite some not being in the greatest exhibit.The Douc Languars were off exhibit because they are building a mesh pipe system that comes out of the rare species building and through the trees around the entire front plaza of the zoo and then back into the building.Kind of a cool idea should be interesting how it turns out.We really liked the reptile and bird buildings respectively.Peco Primate Reserve is average at best with yards that need more climbing opts but pretty decent bedrooms.
Without a doubt Big Cat Falls is the best exhibit at the zoo with Carnivore Kingdom a close second.The Giant Otters here were a blast what a great group.While its not quite as good as Miami its still a very nice exhibit.

The new Hippo exhibit is OK for an exhibit without underwater viewing.However zoo staff is constantly monitoring the zoos two females because they are sometimes coming of the water and hanging their heads over a ledge within the exhibit and keepers do not want them doing this.Not sure if moderations might still need to be done if this behavior continues.We were also told that the zoo is still committed to bringing back elephants down the road.It is possible that when the new childrens zoo is finished that the area of the current one could become a new elephant exhibit.
Overall it's a mixed review for Philly but we enjoyed ourselves here at this zoo now on to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.

Marty of Team Tapir
 
team tapir said:
I am sure you have all seen sub-human behavior at the zoo from time to time,that being said are day at the Philly Zoo started like this.As we reached the first exhibit of the day we realized we would be dealing with crowds today and thought no big thing we know the drill and we patiently waited to get up front to see the spider monkeys.Then a guy up front turns around and walks right into me,then shoves me and says "What you gotta be up front to see these"I turned to Bonnie and said lets get outta here I am not started out our zoo trip by fighting some degenerate.After a few minutes of feeling really pissed off I realized I am not letting this goofball ruin my day and we went on to enjoy the zoo.

Now on to our thoughts of the Philly Zoo.We found this zoo to be very hit or miss.It was great to see a wide variety of rare species despite some not being in the greatest exhibit.The Douc Languars were off exhibit because they are building a mesh pipe system that comes out of the rare species building and through the trees around the entire front plaza of the zoo and then back into the building.Kind of a cool idea should be interesting how it turns out.We really liked the reptile and bird buildings respectively.Peco Primate Reserve is average at best with yards that need more climbing opts but pretty decent bedrooms.
Without a doubt Big Cat Falls is the best exhibit at the zoo with Carnivore Kingdom a close second.The Giant Otters here were a blast what a great group.While its not quite as good as Miami its still a very nice exhibit.

The new Hippo exhibit is OK for an exhibit without underwater viewing.However zoo staff is constantly monitoring the zoos two females because they are sometimes coming of the water and hanging their heads over a ledge within the exhibit and keepers do not want them doing this.Not sure if moderations might still need to be done if this behavior continues.We were also told that the zoo is still committed to bringing back elephants down the road.It is possible that when the new childrens zoo is finished that the area of the current one could become a new elephant exhibit.
Overall it's a mixed review for Philly but we enjoyed ourselves here at this zoo now on to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.

Marty of Team Tapir
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Recalling that Snowleopard and his family also had to fight through crowds on their visit to Philly Zoo last summer, I'm delighted when thinking back to that I had the place almost for myself. It was a weekday in early September but Philly Zoo is clearly not a place a dedicated zoo enthusiast wants to visit on a weekend day, at least not in summer.

I'm glad you decided on the Maryland Zoo; it is a nice place but won't take you long to see.
 
Will you be at the Maryland zoo today? I may be going so maybe we'll have a zoo reunion.
 
My partner and I met up with team tapir at the Maryland zoo today. We got lucky as they were right behind us in line. But we actually spent 4 hours there with chatting and admiring the animals - so many were active today! Ill post a review in a new thread tomorrow. But for a humorous preview, a couple male animals were trying to be dads for Fathers Day.
 
Today we were supposed to start the second leg of our Zoo Trip but sadly my Grandfather back in Cleveland has died and we are going to have to make are way back.We are totally bummed about this very sad about our loss.We have a couple days to get back home and might hit up a zoo on the way back no way can we go any further south for the rest of our trip.

Team Tapir
 
On our way back to Cleveland we stopped off at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk and were very pleasantly surprised what a wonderful little zoo this is.Good call by Fkalltheway for recommending it.The Zoo's brand new exhibit Trail of the Tiger is incredible and could be a possible candidate for an AZA award.
The new Asia Zone includes a large grassy hillside for Orangatans complete with ropes,sway poles and a stream running down the center.The Orangs have yet to be outside yet as they come from a zoo where they had never been outside before and are still hesitant.There is a island of Siamangs and the best exhibits we have ever seen for both Binturongs and Red Pandas.There are also nice exhibits for both Asiatic Black Bears and Malayan Tapirs.Then the Malayan Tiger yard very spacious and nicely put together.
The rest of the Zoo is also very nice featuring animals such as Giraffes,Zebras,African Elephants,Mandrill and Lions.

Team Tapir
 
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