The "Small-Zoo" Charm

The Aquarium at Fair Park (now known as the Dallas Children's Aquarium) is another quite underrated zoological facility within Texas. The aquarium opened for the Dallas World's fair in 1936 with a large freshwater exhibit (now reduced to the right side of the main building), as the cost of importing saltwater and noncorrosive equipment was highly costly at the time. The entrance features a touch pool tank, with a freshwater exhibit to the right and an ocean exhibit to the left. In 2010 Stringray Bay, an outdoor pavilion was constructed behind the main building; this exhibit allows guests to view, blacktip reef sharks, sea turtles, and other aquatic animals, as well as feed and touch cownose rays. As much as it benefits from the State Fair bringing in visitors, this has become a bit of a problem as throughout most of the year the aquarium suffers from a lack of visitors, this became an even larger issue last year when the aquarium was shut down because of little visitors from the cancellation of the State Fair due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was going to be a permanent shutdown, but was luckily renovated this year and reopened on September 24th.
 
Mr.Ivory said:
The Lincoln park definitely has a small zoo charm with the only indoor section dedicated to Africa and it is also free admission. It is also known for being close to Lakeshore Drive and Feild Museum, Shedd a aquarium, Museum of Science and Industry, and Navy Pier
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Lincoln Park has indoor buildings for monkeys, apes, birds, reptiles + small mammals and African wildlife. While it is a small zoo relative to Brookfield, it doesn't have small zoo charm IMO, I view it along with the larger zoos as it is well funded and has a significant species variety.
 
One place I've been to that has small zoo charm is Lake District Wildlife Park in the North of England. I don't know how many acres the site is, but you can get around the whole place and see everything in under two hours, so it's great for a little trip out. It's mostly smaller species, the biggest animals they have are a herd of zebras, but it's still has a pretty good line-up. You have a lot of things that are commonplace in every UK zoo like meerkats, lemurs, squirrel monkeys, otters and red pandas, but also some rarer species that you don't often see, like palm civets and polecats. There are goats and sheep that you can hand-feed, and they're so used to being hand-fed that every time they see someone walking past their paddock they'll run all the way up to the fence and greet them.
 
In my area (Fife) the Deep Sea World, an aquarium relatively close to the land marked Forth Rail Bridge. It compromises of a touch tank, shark tunnel with Sand Tiger Sharks, nocturnal aquarium for Nurse Sharks, a freshwater section with piranhas, amphibians and reptiles area, and seals outside. It does have that charm, and it’s usually people’s go-to aquarium in Fife

:)
 
In my opinion, I really like smaller zoos because they feel less exhausting than some of the larger ones. If you're on a road trip and have at most a day to visit a zoo and want to get photos and videos of the entire place it helps if you're at a small zoo. I do a lot of video filming and now with filming in 4K, I have to be careful as to what I am filming and being careful about battery usage. With a small zoo you can cover all the exhibits and still have time to enjoy the experience other than just "through the lens" of the camera like I have in the past. The Sunset Zoo in Manhattan Kansas is a great example. You can easily see the entire zoo in a morning or afternoon and then in the other part of the day you can visit the K-State Insect Zoo or hike the Konza Prairie and see the wild Bison. I'm looking forward to seeing how their Asian expansion turns out. I suggested that they add Gaur to their collection for their future Asian addition and they could live in a field exhibit where the tiger/crane/old sloth bear exhibit were to highlight K-State's agriculture programs. They want to bring in Bison but it seems like a bit of a waste since they already have them at Konza.

I also like small zoos with historic architecture. Audubon Zoo isn't exactly a "small" zoo but I really enjoyed the WPA era architecture in their Asian section and near the reptile house. I haven't been to Central Park in NYC, but from what I've seen looks really nice for its size. Another I'd like to see is the Capron Park Zoo. Big zoos are fun but can be a hassle to go through in one day, especially if you plan on taking time out for meals.
 
lowland anoa said:
In my area (Fife) the Deep Sea World, an aquarium relatively close to the land marked Forth Rail Bridge. It compromises of a touch tank, shark tunnel with Sand Tiger Sharks, nocturnal aquarium for Nurse Sharks, a freshwater section with piranhas, amphibians and reptiles area, and seals outside. It does have that charm, and it’s usually people’s go-to aquarium in Fife

:)
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I went to Deep Sea World in 2009, it's a lovely little place, and the town it's in was beautiful. You get a great view of the Forth rail bridge from just outside the aquarium's main building and the seal's outdoor area. I keep meaning to go back there, perhaps next year.
 
Jambi said:
I went to Deep Sea World in 2009, it's a lovely little place, and the town it's in was beautiful. You get a great view of the Forth rail bridge from just outside the aquarium's main building and the seal's outdoor area. I keep meaning to go back there, perhaps next year.
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Indeed, North Queensferry provides great views of the Firth of Forth, but I’d suggest giving the Fife Coastal Path a visit, you can walk alongside the Fife coastline, with wildlife permitted. That and Bass Rock, the world’s largest northern gannet colony, is just off the coast of Fife, it’s a great area for marine wildlife. I rather enjoy every time I’ve crossed the rail bridge, the view from inside is wonderful too :)
 
My favourite small zoo is the Welsh Mountain zoo , it doesn’t have all of the normal zoo species but those it does have it does well
The staff are especially friendly and helpful as well
 
LCPete said:
My favourite small zoo is the Welsh Mountain zoo , it doesn’t have all of the normal zoo species but those it does have it does well
The staff are especially friendly and helpful as well
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I wouldn't disagree with you, but is wmz really a 'small zoo' when conpared to the likes of other UK zoos already mentioned eg Shaldon or Hemsley, you could probably fit 5 other UK zoos into wmz!
 
few of my favorite small zoos (not in any order)

Blank Park Zoo - I know it might be biased to praise my state zoo, but Blank Park is something I don't see talked about enough, even amongst people in the area. The zoo has most animals the average visitor would expect to see (lions, tigers, rhinos, sea lions, penguins, giraffes) and an excellent mini indoor rainforest. The zoo's exhibits are very much adequate and the zoo is clean and tidy.

Lowcountry Zoo at Brookgreen Gardens - An incredible smaller zoo in South Carolina inside Brookgreen Gardens. While it focuses on native animals, they are in their natural habitats and multi acre exhibits, even for smaller animals like otters and goats. Absolutely lovely zoo I don't see talked about enough.

Grandfather Mountain - Has five or six Appalachian animals, but the exhibits are very well done. Their black bear exhibit in particular is gorgeous.

Central Park Zoo - Talked about a lot on this forum and definitely very famous, but I feel it is justified as they have a wonderful indoor rainforest, interesting snow monkey exhibit, and beautiful temperate trail.

National Mississippi River Aquarium - Another slightly biased Iowa pick, but I feel it is also justified. I'm not usually a big fan of aquariums as I find them repetitive in their displayed species, but the difference of focusing on freshwater species, as well as providing interactive science and history displays made this one of my favorite aquariums.

Gulf Breeze Zoo - Wasn't expecting to like this zoo as much as I did. I feel like many of their exhibits were a bit outdated but their large safari area and ape islands, while geographically inaccurate, were interestingly one of my favorite exhibits I've seen. Even though they were simple in design, they seemed natural and like you were escaping to the jungle or grasslands in a far off land. I feel like with a redo of the lower zoo, Gulf Breeze could be higher on my list.

Coral World Ocean Park - Really fun place. Great aquarium exhibits as well as a tower that you can walk down to get an underwater view of the reef. The place is very well designed and seems well maintained. It also offers a lot of interesting excursions to get close to wild and captive animals.
 
pipaluk said:
I wouldn't disagree with you, but is wmz really a 'small zoo' when conpared to the likes of other UK zoos already mentioned eg Shaldon or Hemsley, you could probably fit 5 other UK zoos into wmz!
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Yes you’re right there, I’m so used to how big Chester zoo is that anywhere else seems small
 
LCPete said:
Yes you’re right there, I’m so used to how big Chester zoo is that anywhere else seems small
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And yet even Chester could fit about 3 times over in the area of Whipsnade :rolleyes:
Though it is true that there is more animals per space going on in Chester
 
Since I last posted in this thread, I visited two other small zoos in England, Exotic Zoo in Telford, and the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis in Milnthorpe. Both are quite different from one another, but their main similarity is they both manage to do a surprising amount with what little space they have.
Exotic Zoo manages to have four distinct themed zones, each with something unique going on, and even though it's mostly smaller and domestic species, they still have a lot of interesting animals like a dwarf crocodile, an albino Burmese python, and a lovely black fox. Since my last visit the zoo has added capybaras and Asian small-clawed otters, so I'll have to arrange another visit soon.
The Lakeland Wildlife Oasis is only three acres in size but manages to pack in a lot. Their main building has marine fish tanks, a butterfly walkthrough, and a tropical hall where most of the reptiles are kept, with free-flying Rodrigues bats and Javan sparrows. While their outdoor section has the usual stuff you'd expect: meerkats, lemurs, marmosets, wallabies, that kind of thing. But it also features their star attraction, a breeding pair of snow leopards, along with an African aviary, fossa, and Scottish wildcats. I plan another visit this Spring or Summer, because my last visit was on a cold, wet November day.
 
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MonkeyBat said:
Grandfather Mountain - Has five or six Appalachian animals, but the exhibits are very well done. Their black bear exhibit in particular is gorgeous.
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When I was a kid in the 1990s you could toss peanuts to the bears there....probably better that things have changed.
Gulf Breeze Zoo - Wasn't expecting to like this zoo as much as I did. I feel like many of their exhibits were a bit outdated but their large safari area and ape islands, while geographically inaccurate, were interestingly one of my favorite exhibits I've seen. Even though they were simple in design, they seemed natural and like you were escaping to the jungle or grasslands in a far off land. I feel like with a redo of the lower zoo, Gulf Breeze could be higher on my list.
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I went back in the mid 90s and felts the same as you are saying...which sadly means they still just need to redo the lower old part of the zoo. Maybe someday they will be able to do it.

Gulf Breeze is a pretty good zoo, one of the better ZAA only (non-AZA and ZAA) facilities. When I went they were AZA accredited, but lost it in 2006 after inadequate insurance payout from two hurricanes. They have had major financial issues, even closing in 2009 before being purchased by Zoofari Parks. Hopefully they can keep getting renovations.
 
Other New England facilities with the "Small Zoo" charm are:

Stone Zoo (which also had beautiful landscaping and "unconventional" species).
Buttonwood Park Zoo (great place for locals)
Capron Park Zoo (another great place for locals)
Beardsley Zoo (drove 4.5 hours to see their four canid species, including the Grey Fox).

All of these places usually have small crowds, with most going to the Franklin Park Zoo and the Roger Williams Park Zoo.
 
MurphyFox said:
Other New England facilities with the "Small Zoo" charm are:

Stone Zoo (which also had beautiful landscaping and "unconventional" species).
Buttonwood Park Zoo (great place for locals)
Capron Park Zoo (another great place for locals)
Beardsley Zoo (drove 4.5 hours to see their four canid species, including the Grey Fox).

All of these places usually have small crowds, with most going to the Franklin Park Zoo and the Roger Williams Park Zoo.
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I meant to say 2.5 hours. I need sleep.
 
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