Visiting zoos in winter

Z

zoogeek

Well-Known Member
Does anyone here visit zoos in the winter? And, by winter, I mean snow on the ground? When I visited St. Louis Zoo on the 4th of July in pouring rain, it occurred to me that indoor exhibits can be a good thing.
 
Hardcore zoo visitors will generally tell you that rough-weather zoo visits are the best ones.You can often almost have the zoo to yourself and imagine it is your private zoo!Also, there is a special atmosphere in any zoo on bad-weather days.Many animals will pay you plenty of attention, as they miss the visitors.Highly recommendable.
 
Have to agree here, Id love to visit the highland wildlife park with a good camera on a day with a thick snow covering!
 
I have mentioned this on other threads, but I feel zoos should specialize in animals that fit their climate. Last January I spent two days at the mountainside zoo in Colorado Springs photographing siberian tiger and grizzly bear in the snow, which was great. In fact, without the snow this zoo would be somewhat dull. I know Minnesota Zoo also specializes in cold climate animals and I think they even let people cross-country ski on the zoo's large grounds. As Meaghan mentioned, I'm sure Toronto is a fantastic winter destination.

Indoor exhibits range from good to awful, but I think OVERALL there are more bad ones than good ones. I would prefer northern zoos forget about tropical animals like gorillas and focus on snow leopards, takins, etc.

Conversely, I think warm climate zoos (like mine) should forget about snow leopards and red pandas and focus on savanna and desert and tropical animals (which my zoo does).
 
Lincoln Park Zoo, my home zoo, has 6 buildings where animals can be viewed indoors during the winter. There are exceptions, mainly the hoof stock area. I love visiting the zoo in the winter because there are fewer visitors (sometimes 0 depending on the time of day and the exhibit), the animals seem more active and I get the place to myself.

@arizona docent, I have never thought about exhibiting animals this way? Food for thought! I plan on visiting the Minneapolis Zoo next year and now I'm thinking I should go in the winter.
 
@zoogeek - Yes I think Minnesota Zoo is the one that perhaps caters more to winter visits than any other (in the U.S.). I too am contemplating a trip there this winter to photograph their new Russia Coast exhibit in the snow (would love to see their amur leopards, since the one at Colorado Springs when I was there would not come down from the back fence).
 
Have yet to see Edinburgh in snow but I have been there when it has been cold enough for icy conditions around the penguin pool. I have been in on a volunteer shift when the wind got so bad that the zoo had to be closed on the grounds of safety. I go every Saturday regardless as zoos, along with the animals, are so different at different times of the year. You also get a different class of zoo visitor in poor weather!

Also, interesting what Arizona Docent says as that is very much the kind of thing that Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park are evolving.
 
I love visiting Dudley Zoo in the winter. As said by someone else you nearly always get the zoo to yourself. Only problem with Dudley it is a bit steep in places so in the winter you can have problems getting to some area's but other wise it's great
 
Winter in zoo is great. No people....I remember last January I spent one hour in "Africa from near" house in Prague zoo...just watching and making photos and only two other people were there in whole that time. It was great.
I feel that I watch different animals during winter zoo visits than in summer. In winter I spend much time with reptiles and small mammals in their houses. And in outer enclosures I watch more goats, sheep, bison, wisent, horse and other cows. You dont have much time to watch these animals during summer visits.
 
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