San Diego Zoo The Greatest Or Most Overrated?

[reduakari]

I mostly agree with what Otter Lord says.

As far as the most sunny days comment, how about the most sunny days that people would actually want to be outside in.

Anyway, concerning the pace of improvement...

What was good about the SDZ before 1980 other than the inherent advantages of being in San Diego?

Haven't the vast majority of the exhibits that make the zoo considered among the best been completed since then?

Pre-1980 features of the Zoo that were/are noteworthy include the two giant walk through aviaries, the skyride, several of the open-air reptile enclosures, the former "Cascade Canyon," the Birds of Prey aviaries, the moving sidewalks, the hummingbird aviary, the siamang and gibbon islands, Fern Canyon and the now-closed Goat and Sheep Canyon.

 

[AnaheimZoo]

Pre-1980 features of the Zoo that were/are noteworthy include the two giant walk through aviaries, the skyride, several of the open-air reptile enclosures, the former "Cascade Canyon," the Birds of Prey aviaries, the moving sidewalks, the hummingbird aviary, the siamang and gibbon islands, Fern Canyon and the now-closed Goat and Sheep Canyon.

Was the Goat and Sheep Canyon and/or the Cascade Canyon similar to the former Horn and Hoof Mesa?

 

[reduakari]

Was the Goat and Sheep Canyon and/or the Cascade Canyon similar to the former Horn and Hoof Mesa?

Not really. Goat and Sheep Canyon still exists, but it is used for off-exhibit holding. It was/is basically a series of very steep fenced paddocks in the bowl-shaped canyon behind the polar bear complex. As I recall, there were moats at the front of the enclosures, which displayed rarities like Blue sheep and Cretean wild goats, and also I believe wolves. The best thing about the exhibits was their size and steep terrain.

Cascade Canyon was unlike the cookie-cutter exhibits of Horn and Hoof Mesa, but instead was a lushly planted, highly detailed habitat with waterfalls and a rushing stream, a suspension bridge and an interesting mixed species collection (the main one I remember were sitatunga). At the time it opened, I think it was the most naturalistic and beautiful exhibit in the whole zoo.

 

[Arizona Docent]

The huge hillside exhibits of goat and sheep canyon, which still hold ungulates (visible briefly from the aerial tram), is a great area and it is a shame that it has been closed to the public for so many years. Hopefully they will open it again some day. With only minor modifications, it could be a nice exhibit area.

 

[Ituri]

Does anyone know approximately when they closed off access to the Goat Turnaround (aka Goat and Sheep Canyon)? I remember it being there, but it was already closed off by the time I knew about it.

 

[Otter Lord]

Not really. Goat and Sheep Canyon still exists, but it is used for off-exhibit holding. It was/is basically a series of very steep fenced paddocks in the bowl-shaped canyon behind the polar bear complex.

From what I have seen over the fence, that's what it still is today. Except the landscape of the exhibits seem rather similar to most of the exhibits in SDZ. One is devoid of plantlife and the other is over grown. It would be great if the area could be reused as the topography is rather interesting. The area would have to be ADA'ed and it would have similar problems of Horn and Hoof mesa because it is so far.

Also, does anyone have some pictures for the youngin's to see some of these old exhibits? I had actually never heard of cascade canyon until reading about it here.

@AnaheimZoo. OKC and St. Louis have brand new entrances that are really well done. OKC does have a waterfowl exhibit in the beginning that is good but not spectacular. St. Louis has a spectacular entrance that was still under construction in the front, but had a great plaza area. It was really easy to move from the parking lot to the entrance, and the best part was that they didn't take tickets when you entered.

 

[DavidBrown]

Does anyone know approximately when they closed off access to the Goat Turnaround (aka Goat and Sheep Canyon)? I remember it being there, but it was already closed off by the time I knew about it.

I visited the zoo in 1988 and vaguely remember seeing this area. It was not open by the time the new polar bear exhibit opened (can't remember what year that was...early 1990s?).

 

[gerenuk]

Goat and Sheep Canyon closed between 1991 and 1993. Polar Bear Plunge wasn't opened until 1996.

 

[geomorph]

Cascade Canyon also had a later addition at the top of the canyon, a Malayan tapir exhibit. I think it was added in the early 80's. It featured the most realistic mock rockwork at the zoo at the time, and a rather large waterfall - I think it was the 'source' of the waterway that meandered down the canyon through the main hoofstock/waterfowl exhibit. When Tiger River was built, the backwall of the Malayan tapir exhibit's rockwork was left intact and integrated as the rocky wall still visible next to the path before it reaches the exhibits. In the main hoofstock exhibit, I remember the sitatunga, and the only photo I have of the habitat is a close-up of a male Nile lechwe lying down in the dirt with a male junglefowl lying down a few feet away.

Goat and Sheep Canyon was definitely on the bus tour in the late 70's, but relatively few visitors made the trek down there on the sidewalk. My grandmother would always take me down there when we visited, on foot, and we loved looking at the panorama of steep narrow paddocks filled with hoofstock. When the bus tour stopped going down this cul-de-sac in the 80's, it was definitely the quietest area of the zoo. I seem to remember an exhibit with Himalayan tar specifically, but I am cloudy on the other species I saw. I do remember that the first exhibit reached down the roadway became a wolf exhibit in the later years. I was dismayed when they closed off access to this area and when they started cramming sheep and goats into some of the dog and cat canyon exhibits.

 

[Shirokuma]

The book 'A World of Animals: The San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park' has pictures of Cascade Canyon and the tapir enclosure.

What is now where Cascade Canyon was?

 

[DavidBrown]

The book 'A World of Animals: The San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park' has pictures of Cascade Canyon and the tapir enclosure.

What is now where Cascade Canyon was?

The Tiger River exhibit complex replaced Cascade Canyon from what reduakari was saying.

 

[snowleopard]

- I have a 72-page, colourful San Diego Zoo guide book from 1976 that has a large fold-out map containing Cascade Canyon and a tapir exhibit where the current Tiger River area is.

- The cul-de-sac slightly to the right/west of the Skyfari station near the current Polar Rim area had sheep/goats and wolves in 1976.

- The 1983 book "A World of Animals" serves as a terrific history publication to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, and my copy is around 300 pages and hardcover. A photo of Cascade Canyon shows a beautiful waterfall (one of three in that area) with a nearby sitatunga exhibit. On a side note there is a photo of a Hanuman langur exhibit at the Wild Animal Park, and is that the current gibbon exhibit? Does anyone know where the langurs were located in the early 1980's and how long they were in the collection?

 

[reduakari]

- I have a 72-page, colourful San Diego Zoo guide book from 1976 that has a large fold-out map containing Cascade Canyon and a tapir exhibit where the current Tiger River area is.

- The cul-de-sac slightly to the right/west of the Skyfari station near the current Polar Rim area had sheep/goats and wolves in 1976.

- The 1983 book "A World of Animals" serves as a terrific history publication to the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, and my copy is around 300 pages and hardcover. A photo of Cascade Canyon shows a beautiful waterfall (one of three in that area) with a nearby sitatunga exhibit. On a side note there is a photo of a Hanuman langur exhibit at the Wild Animal Park, and is that the current gibbon exhibit? Does anyone know where the langurs were located in the early 1980's and how long they were in the collection?

I believe langurs were the original inhabitants of the same wood-framed exhibit now occupied by the gibbons. So it was never a logical African primate species. Don't know when the switch occured.

 

[Ituri]

I believe langurs were the original inhabitants of the same wood-framed exhibit now occupied by the gibbons. So it was never a logical African primate species. Don't know when the switch occured.

When it held Hanuman langurs, it had the rather lofty name of "Sagar Tal". In between the langurs and gibbons it held Angolan colobus monkeys.

 

[Tim Brown]

Re AnaheimZoos query on the size of various collections the latest International Zoo Yearbook[45] gives San Diego as mammals sp.192,birds sp.365,herps sp.238-Zoo Berlin,mammals sp.177,birds sp.354[but awaiting new bird house],herps sp.125,fish sp.235,inverts sp.133-Tierpark Berlin,mammals sp.191,birds sp.389,herps 106,fish sp.128,inverts sp.83.Just out of interest Walsrode has 627 sp. of bird and Pilsen 241 sp. mammal,505 sp. of bird,307 sp.of herp,fish 91 sp.,inverts 237 sp.They do have two locations though-one being a town centre vivarium.

 

[AnaheimZoo]

Re AnaheimZoos query on the size of various collections the latest International Zoo Yearbook[45] gives San Diego as mammals sp.192,birds sp.365,herps sp.238-Zoo Berlin,mammals sp.177,birds sp.354[but awaiting new bird house],herps sp.125,fish sp.235,inverts sp.133-Tierpark Berlin,mammals sp.191,birds sp.389,herps 106,fish sp.128,inverts sp.83.Just out of interest Walsrode has 627 sp. of bird and Pilsen 241 sp. mammal,505 sp. of bird,307 sp.of herp,fish 91 sp.,inverts 237 sp.They do have two locations though-one being a town centre vivarium.

Thanks Tim Brown! Very helpful! But doesn't that put Pilsen well over Berlin's total [1024, according to your species numbers] at 1,381? [I added on my computer calculator ]

I see that you've said it has a town center vivarium, but is that still considered part of the zoo?

 

[AnaheimZoo]

To Otter Lord, reduakari, snowleopard, David Brown and whoever knows of the previous San Diego Zoo exhibits (sorry if you're not that old, just assumptions ), I'M A YOUNGIN!... as Otter Lord puts it; I do hope you'll post some old pictures of Cascade Canyon and/or the Goat and Sheep Canyon!

 

[condor]

Re AnaheimZoos query on the size of various collections the latest International Zoo Yearbook[45] gives
Zoo Berlin,mammals sp.177,birds sp.354[but awaiting new bird house],herps sp.125,fish sp.235,inverts sp.133
Pilsen 241 sp. mammal,505 sp. of bird,307 sp.of herp,fish 91 sp.,inverts 237 sp.They do have two locations though-one being a town centre vivarium.

Thanks Tim Brown! Very helpful! But doesn't that put Pilsen well over Berlin's total [1024, according to your species numbers] at 1,381?

The numbers for Berlin Zoo match what they had on their homepage, animal statistics 2009 section, except they listed 123 (not 125) herps, 511 (not 235) fish and 303 (not 133) inverts = 1468 species in total. The difference in herps is insignificant and could be minor adjustment. Perhaps the very large differences in fish and inverts are because the aquarium that is part of the Berlin Zoo complex (same location) is treated as separate in the International Zoo Yearbook? Then it is just strange the herps are about the same because some of the species are in the aquarium complex. Or has there been a huge fall in fish and inverts between 2010 (where the Berlin total was 1554 species, including 586 fish and 340 inverts) and 2011?

 

[AnaheimZoo]

Sorry if you've already answered this question, snowleopard, but are you for or against animal houses? In your review, you stated that the Reptile House is the lone animal building at the San Diego Zoo.

I simply love animal houses. Yes, I've been told that if the zoo's location and climate are warm and tropical and sunshine-y like in southern California, then there's pretty much no need to have indoor exhibits. But to me, there was no other feeling like entering the Bronx Zoo's "World of Darkness" (Rest in Peace ), and rounding that first corner, not knowing what was on the other side.

Yeah, it's debatable that you can get that feeling at an outdoor exhibit, too. So be it. Animal houses are just fun, in my opinion, whether they're complete habitats like Lied Jungle/Desert Dome at Henry Doorly Zoo and Jungleworld at Bronx Zoo, or individual exhibits behind glass like Night Hunters at Cincinnati Zoo.

So, again, would you prefer that zoos have animal houses? Or would you like all (or most) enclosures to be outdoors?

 

[ANyhuis]

AnaheimZoo,
Snowleopard can (and probably will) answer your question for himself, but I know him pretty well and I have a good idea what you was saying. Does he (and I) like animal houses? Absolutely -- if they're well done. And in places like the Bronx, Omaha, the rest of the northern USA and Europe, then animal houses are an absolute necessity, as the climate makes it necessary for visitors to see the animals in anything but warmest few months of the year.

But on the other hand, seeing animals outdoors -- in a naturalistic and spacious outdoor habitat -- is still preferable. What Snowleopard may have been alluding to is that the San Diego Zoo has a natural (and perhaps unfair) advantage over the Bronx Zoo. Simply because of its gorgeous climate, San Diego can exhibit its animals outside, in a tropical setting, year-round. Meanwhile, the Bronx's very best exhibit (Congo Gorilla Forest) is half-closed and only half as good for 4-5 months of the year (the cold winter months). I think that both SnowLeopard and I feel this is one huge reason why San Diego is preferable to Bronx. (Another reason is that San Diego's warm evenings allow them to stay open late, while the Bronx is closing up at 5pm year-round).

In the past year, over in Europe, I've seen some magnificent gigantic elephant houses in Copenhagen, Rotterdam, and Amersfoort. I was blown away, as we have nothing like them over here in the USA. All winter long, visitors can go inside, stay warm, and see elephants in spacious and somewhat natural habitats. Fantastic! But as nice as they are, it is still better to see elephants roaming the natural multi-acre outdoor habitats in North Carolina, Dallas, or even Beauval.