So I revisited the zoo with
@jayjds2 on November 11 and figured I'd comment on some bits of my previous review. Spoiler alert, I did not enjoy the zoo as much this time around.
So this house has declined a lot since 2014. As most of you know, the nocturnal hall was closed down some time ago and I found that all of the species kept in it bar the vampire bats have gone. The entrance into the section was walled off and replaced by a single bat enclosure- which is much better than the old one to be fair. I also found that all the enclosures on the right-side of the house were all empty and covered over and only Degu, Pygmy Marmoset, Northern Tree-Shrew, and African Pygmy Hedgehog inhabit the rows of enclosures. The Aardvark/Meerkat and sloth/agouti remain unchanged, though there's only one elderly Aardvark left and the Meerkats have an outdoor enclosure now as well. The Okapi has left the collection and the hogs moved to African Plains. Their enclosures were combined and are now home to the kangaroos and some Emus, while the old kangaroo enclosure sits empty.
This house has gone relatively unchanged since my visit, though giant rats were moved to the PECO Primate Reserve, the colobus is gone, the parrot as well as its enclosure are gone, and the mongoose enclosure has been renovated for a pair of Pancake Tortoises. The Emu enclosure is now also home to Domestic Turkeys. The mangabey and douc langur are still alive and both were actually more active this visit than my previous one.
Not much has changed here and the house is still very nice, though I now consider LA's reptile house to be much better. It's worth mentioning that the Nile Crocodiles turned out to be Desert Crocodiles, and the Bog Turtle and Central American River Turtle are both unfortunately gone (or at least not on-exhibit). I also got to see the giant tortoises inside, and as I suspected it's a very cramped set-up.
Within the past year, this exhibit underwent a series of bizarre changes. For one, the penguin flock was moved to a much smaller section and and their old enclosure is now home to a single swan... An Emu now lives here also. Aside from this most of the other species I noted are gone and much of this exhibit sits empty.
This exhibit has gone more or less unchanged since my last visit, though the occupants have changed slightly. The black bear died shortly before my visit, meaning all the bear species can be out at once as before one always had to be off-exhibit with their only being three enclosures (I forgot to mention that in my previous review). The zoo is down to one Polar Bear, who is apparently the oldest one in America. The zoo also now has a mixed pair of Sri Lankan and Indian Sloth Bear.
This exhibit continues to disappoint and the previously very good gazelle enclosure has now been destroyed to an extent with the Red River Hogs now living here. The zoo is also down to a single gazelle (which makes her the last Mhorr Gazelle in an AZA zoo), though she was once again off-exhibit. This makes the third time I've failed at seeing the species
The Addax and Secretary Bird are gone now, as well.
This exhibit has changed very little, though there are now two combined Red Panda enclosures and the zoo keeps both subspecies (not mixed) and the Black-Footed Cats have been replaced by Fossa. The pelican was still a no-show, and the zoo is down to a single elderly mongoose.
The eagle enclosure present during my visit now sits empty and a newer, much larger eagle enclosure was built by the Cheetahs as was a Barn Owl aviary. The ibises are gone and replaced by the Turkey Vultures and Red-Breasted Geese.
This house was still very enjoyable and a lot more birds seemed to be present, though many of the rare ones from my last visit (ie amakihi, fincebill, bulbul, tinamou, tanager) were gone. The amakihi actually died a month after my original visit. The South American aviary seemed to be a bit more mixed with random species, and the trio of enclosures that previously focused on island birds just had a random mix of different animals, though the Guam enclosure remained the same. The African enclosure had a lot more birds present.
The Spectacled Langurs have gone and the Aye-Aye enclosure is now also home to the zoo's remaining Malagasy Giant Rats. There's also a very nice Coquerel's Sifaka enclosure in a separate section of the house from the rest of the animals which I believe I missed last time.
The only change here is the zoo no longer holds Jaguars, which still means they keep one more species than can be displayed.
It was sad to see that the zoo had lost so many of its rarities since my last visit and several of the exhibits had declined in quality, especially the mammal house. When I first visited the zoo, I had it placed in my Top 5 collections I've visited and have kept it there ever since. However, after this visit I'd say it's dropped out of that spot, though it still is a very nice zoo with a great collection and well worth a visit.
~Thylo
). Unfortunately for me, though, the gazelles and Addax were off-show during my visit.... This was, however, compensated a bit by the fact that, while trying to peak at the back of the enclosure to see if they were hiding, I found the off-show Secretary Bird (their enclosure can be seen from main path if you head up towards the McNeil Avian Center on the path on the right side of the gazelle/Addax/stork enclosure). The final enclosure here is probably one of the worst at the zoo: the Common Hippopotamus enclosure. The zoo’s enclosure is one of the old fashioned, run of the mill hippo enclosures with a small, concrete land space and an okay-sized pool that’s a bit shallow. I preferred the hippo enclosure at Adventure Aquarium a lot more despite being indoors tbh.
