Stop Fifteen - Fort Worth Zoo
The final stop of our Texas swing was to one of the other so-called Up-and-Comers of the American zoo world at the moment, the Fort Worth Zoo. I'll be honest, before this zoo was voted #1 in the USA Today's annual popularity contest voting, I knew next to nothing about this zoo, so when it got the top spot, it certainly raised eyebrows of folks in Omaha, mine included.
As I researched the zoo in the years that followed, and then followed along once I joined this site, it certainly made sense how it could move up the ranks pretty quick, it looked like a lot of investment had been made as of late. But it wasn't until we visited, that absolutely I could see this zoo joining the upper echelon of zoos in our country. Between immersive exhibits, rare species, and a lot of modern facilities, this zoo has a lot for everyone, even though some on here might not like the extent that theming has been included throughout its newer exhibits. I for one massively enjoyed my time here, and I found the theming awesome, but understand that it isn't for everyone.
Very much like Nashville, entering the zoo felt very much like entering into a smaller version of Disney's Animal Kingdom, and certainly inside the zoo itself, it feels more akin to a theme park than most zoos. I will get into more detail a little later on this, but you become very aware of the different parts of the zoo as you move throughout, similar to many amusement parks, but very much like the newer exhibits Memphis, Omaha, and others have started to incorporate.
After crossing a bridge shortly after going through the gates of the zoo, you pass by a large netted over Flamingo exhibit featuring Caribbean Flamingo, but most guests I would guess focus more on the Western Lowland Gorilla exhibit that is seemingly front-and-center after the bridge crossing. I can't think of too many American zoos that have gorilla this close to the entrance of the zoo, and really only London comes to my mind right away. This gorilla exhibit is part of a larger complex called World of Primates, and includes outdoor grotto-style moated exhibits, but indoor viewing around a large indoor aviary. While some of the outdoor areas may seem smaller, we saw all the apes or monkeys that were outside interacting with their environments or climbing structures, with the Mandrill really the only exhibit that I myself thought could be a little larger. For the most part, I liked the visuals of this complex on the outside, with the mockrock backdrops (as opposed to flat concrete walls) and one that was very aware of visitor sightlines.
Inside, I equally enjoyed being able to see the animals that chose to not be outside, but also the large tropical aviary within. It looks like it was an indoor exhibit back in the day for gorilla, and I was thinking about what it would be like to see them in there with the deep moats surrounding the island and varied terrain. Now however it is only an area for the various bird species that wander freely in here.
Following our journey through the indoor portion (we backtracked to where we entered instead of going out the back by the Orangutan just so we didn't miss any exhibits on the outside portion of Primate World), you pass by a large yard for Bongo and West Africa Crowned Crane opposite the Bonobo outdoor exhibit. After you get around the outside of the Primate World exhibits, you can start to enter the new Elephant Springs complex, or take a right toward the African Savanna exhibit.
We ended up going to the right to the African area and this was the first part where the theming was kicked up a notch on our visit. You enter this area into an African styled village that resembles Harambe from Disney's Animal Kingdom, and it very much looks like the Disney style of attention to detail took root here. While some may view this as over-the-top, I appreciate the willingness of a design team to research foreign places to get a feel right. What I really like is when the various structures include references to regions or places from the target setting. While probably not paid attention to by most zoo-goers, for me who loves geography and learning about places all over the world, I find it very educational, especially when it is a reference to a place I've not heard of before or uses "local" language into its presentation.
Just on the edge of this faux-African village is the large savanna exhibit with giraffe, springbok, Lesser Kudu, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Cape Vulture, and pink-backed pelican, and I found this exhibit to be fantastic. Since it is essentially surrounded by the guest path that circulates this complex, you would think cross-views would be distracting, but with all the activity in the exhibit, along with its undulating and well vegetated terrain, you don't really notice it. What it does do however is that since it is surrounded by the guest path, you can get tons of great views from many angles. It was also refreshing to see a giraffe yard with quite a few mature trees within it.
Continuing around the main exhibit, several other smaller exhibits dot the edges, a small aviary with various species including Blue Bellied Roller and Superb Starling, a small pond with both African species of flamingo and Old World Comb Duck, two straightforward yards for Eastern Black Rhino, a small Meerkat yard, and a hippo exhibit featuring massive underwater viewing windows similar to those at Saint Louis but with most of the land area set behind the main viewing areas. Overall, this African area of the zoo is pretty well done, and I really like that the complex is its own self-contained loop. Another thing that adds to the more theme-park like setting is that each new exhibit pretty much has its own gift shop. While this may seem more like a distraction, I like it when zoos have these satellite shops that have things you can only find at that spot, and not one catch-all at the entrance. While parents with small children certainly don't like them, as someone who likes collecting exhibit specific trinkets, I welcome them.
After spending some time in the African Savannah, we ventured into the couple year old Elephant Springs exhibit which is heavily styled after portions of Southeast Asia, yet the theming here is more muted than the savanna area. I liked the cultural touches added here, and while viewing for the north habitat is awkward, the main viewing for the south yard is fantastic. Brazos was extremely entertaining to watch on our visit, playing around in the massive pool with a branch he claimed.
The complex as a whole is impressive from both a visitor perspective, and a husbandry perspective with the multiple offshow yards. While you are mainly only able to properly view whichever group is in the south habitat as the north habitat seems like you are looking through the brush to see the yard, you can see the other elephants occasionally through the back of the exhibit in the offshow yards. However, over time I can see that foliage growing more dense to completely block any view to these and the holding building behind. As far as the Indian Rhino exhibit goes, once the new carnivore complex is open, it will add a lot more viewing of the two yards, as right now you are pretty much limited to one viewing area.
Speaking of the upcoming Asian Predators and African Hunters exhibit complex, we certainly could see a lot of the construction going on, as well what has been completed, and it looks to be another great addition to the zoo. The standard set with the African Savanna and Elephant Springs looks to be continued with what we saw on our visit.
With another mega-complex joining this area near the front of the zoo, it definitely is going to have its fair share of heavy hitters in terms of "ABC" species right off the bat. It's not surprising that this zoo has a lot of support in that families that visit on a weekday can pop in, see all the general zoo draws for most folks, and then get out quick. In comparison, most of these crowd pleasers at Omaha are at the far reaches, in which most of the general public during the winter don't go and visit, thus the indoor portions at the front get most of the attention during the off-peak season.
Once you get out of the front portion and west portion of the zoo, you embark upon a narrow string of the zoo that features a number of exhibits that are older, and one major modern complex, Museum of Living Art (MOLA). I more or less consider the somewhat attached Crocodile Cafe the start of MOLA, as inside the restaurant you get some great views into the Saltwater Crocodile and Indian Gharial exhibits. These two exhibits I found quite attractive and certainly engaging as each crocodilian species certainly loved to show out on our visit.
Really got to feel how immense Saltwater Crocodiles can be when they are this close.
Getting up close and personal with an Indian Gharial is always a treat.
MOLA itself is an fascinating complex. While it is more or less a vast and modern herpetarium, it does have a fair amount of fish, a few bird species, and has one of the most underwhelming ring-tail lemur exhibits found in a zoo. The outdoor portion seems completely like an afterthought, and really doesn't feel like it is actually part of MOLA.
The indoor portion however is almost a fever dream for anyone who likes reptiles or amphibians. You take the museum-style classics like Dallas and Saint Louis, make it super modern and sleek, and you get MOLA. While the two houses mentioned are seemingly in a room where you can more or less see the extents of the building, MOLA is one long super hallway filled to the brim with stacked exhibits throughout, but also has its fair share of floor to ceiling exhibits, and of course massive terrarium/aquarium hybrid tanks that feature river dioramas really well, much like Nashville's Amazon exhibits in Unseen New World.
Something that overwhelmed me a little bit about this building, is just how many terrariums are in here. About halfway through, I felt like it had to be close to ending, but still had a long way to go. Granted, I was photographing each terrarium, which quickly turned into each pair for the stacked exhibits as shown in the photo above. Again, those of you who are big reptile or amphibian fans will love this place, but you really can get tired out of looking at similar-seeming terrariums after a bit! Don't get me wrong, I did love this building, but it could give you feelings on both ends of the spectrum. First, not seeing the end or extents of the building while in it can make you excited about what is around every turn. Second, you can feel dread that you have been in here for an extremely long time, and you see no end in sight.
After spending an inordinately amount of time in MOLA, the next several areas of the zoo feature various waterfowl ponds, many bird aviaries that feature some interesting species like Sunda Wrinkled Hornbill and Ocellated Turkey and some netted over larger aviaries with Abdim's Stork and Demoiselle Crane as well as Red Crowned Crane. There are also a couple macaw-on-a-stick exhibits scattered in here with various macaws and Galah. The absolute highlight of this area to me though is Raptor Canyon.
Raptor Canyon sits along the base of a cliff face and offers a tunnel through the wire-mesh exhibits that allow the impressive species list fly above you in spacious aviaries. Speaking of the species list, it has African Fish Eagle, Palm Nut Vulture, African Crowned Eagle, Cinereous Vulture, King Vulture, Andean Condor, and Harpy Eagle. I guess the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro area is the Harpy Eagle Capital of the USA with three facilities having them. This exhibit complex became quite interactive especially when an African Fish Eagle landed on top of the pathway area with its carrion prey (a white rat) and began to pick it apart as pieces of its meal fell through to the pedestrian path below.
Continuing down the upper portion of the narrow section of the zoo, you would pass through an Australian Outback section that surprisingly is not a walkabout, and I think that is a good thing here. The funny thing about this area is that the largest exhibit yard in this area is an expansive bamboo forested area for a single Australian Brush Turkey. Otherwise, the outdoor portions are fine, but I'm a little baffled at the Great Barrier Reef portion in the building inside this exhibit. It totally looks like a temporary stopgap, and not a permanent display. Was this originally a house for either Koala or Tree Kangaroo? Just near the east entrance of Australian Outback is a small aviary house built for Edwards' Pheasant and Lesser Bird-of-Paradise.
The next exhibit along this route is the Penguin House, with outdoor enclosures on either end, one for White-necked Raven, the other a pool for African Penguin. Inside you will find Rockhopper Penguin and some Common Eider. This area is beginning to show its age, as so many new African Penguin exhibits across the country that are getting built continue to pass this one by in terms of quality. This whole stretch of zoo in between the new exhibits at the west end and Texas Wild can easily be seen as the oldest parts of the zoo that are left, and I know there is a new rainforest area that is on the horizon, but looking at the website, it isn't clear what of this stretch is going to eventually be demolished. I can see the Australian area and hopefully Raptor Canyon staying, so if anyone who is more familiar with how that project fits in could elaborate, I would appreciate it.
This brings us to Texas Wild, which seeing it with my own eyes is quite possibly one of the most interesting themed areas in a zoo that I've ever seen. Interesting in that there is a lot of really good but some head scratchingly bad things set in an area that is the most theme-park like setting in any zoo I've visited (No, I haven't been to Columbus or Tampa, or any other zoo with rides other than Disney). While this area doesn't have huge rollercoasters or rides, it does have a highly stylized western town setting, full of corporate restaurant chains, and even has a sit-down attraction. I couldn't help but feel like I was in a zoo version of Main Street USA, set in the 1880s.
I know I bring it up a lot, but there was something similar to this at the Grand Island Heritage Zoo, a small railroad town set in the 1800s, but this is on a much larger scale. This town features a jail, a barnyard complex, a pretty large gift shop, a dedicated candy store, a massive restaurant featuring Pizza Hut, among many other things, and their Hall of Wonders that features Texas history and information. Inside this Hall of Wonders is a sit-down attraction that we were told was almost like a weather simulator that shows how violent Texas storms could be, so I was naturally in, and expected something similar to the old Twister Experience at Universal Studios Orlando. It was not that, it was pretty tame comparatively speaking.
Aside from this Old West Town, there is a long trail that features North American wildlife of varying degrees of quality, mostly good. I've said it before in this thread, I don't get too excited for a lot of North American species in zoos, but the way you present them can greatly impact the way I view them. Well, the exhibits along the Wild Texas Tour pulled me in. We started just outside the restaurant at the small exhibits of Swift Fox, Black Tailed Prairie Dog, Burrowing Owl, and Green Jay. These small exhibits are fairly well done, the Swift Fox exhibit may seem on the small size, but the fox we saw only had three legs, so it felt appropriately sized, and the fox was super active. From this building, it also provides views into the adjacent White-Tailed Deer, Sandhill Crane, and Wild Turkey exhibit, a large yard that is a decent start to your trail.
I'll admit, the next two parts of the exhibit are what essentially sold this whole trail to me. Had we started on the other end, my feelings might be different, but I thought Piney Woods & Swamps and Texas Gulf Coast were excellent. Before I get too much into the rest of the trail, I really liked how they broke out each section more or less by the biome. I really enjoyed the change in scenery and architecture from one area to the next and added to the experience, to me at least.
Piney Woods & Swamps is seemingly set in a warehouse next to the bayou and features Red Wolf, Alligator, North American River Otter, and American Black Bears. I liked how the otter and gator exhibits seemed to be connected as a mixed species habitat. As you pass through to the Texas Gulf Coast building, a small shack that looks like it was a wharf picked up straight off the coast, you enter in a small room with some fish tanks, as well as a touch tank with various starfish as well as Horseshoe Crab. You can also find a tank for Texas Diamondback Terrapin in here as well. However, the showstopper here, and my favorite exhibit in the whole complex is the Gulf Coast Aviary, featuring a dock scene and tons of waterfowl including Roseate Spoonbill, Scarlet Ibis, Brown and White Pelican, Black-necked Stilt, and Laughing Gull. Being able to stand in here amongst all these birds was quite the experience.
Following Texas Gulf Coast is Brush Country that is an area that has some great species, but a couple of exhibits that I feel could be reworked. Some of the species highlights here are Ringtail, Plain Chachalaca, and Crested Caracara, even though the caracara seems like it is in an exhibit for rescues. I feel like the Mountain Lion exhibit, while decorated nicely, is a little cramped for a pair of cougars, and the pair of exhibits for Bobcat and Coyote might be better off combined into one larger exhibit for one of the two. The one truly abysmal exhibit was the tiny Ocelot 'room'. I really hope that they rotate the Ocelot outside in either the Bobcat or Coyote exhibit, but it was signed only for Ocelot, so I'm not sure they do. That being said, I really like the Southwestern Adobe architecture in the area. Rounding out the tour trail is Mountains and Desert, but it was closed for construction into a new learning area it seems.
I'd be remiss to note that if you take the train, you would see two exhibits that are only visible from the train, one each for Secretary Bird and Kori Bustard. We did not take the train, it might not have even been running on the random December Monday we were there. I was able to see a Secretary Bird from a path farther to the west, but albeit I had to zoom in quite a ways with my camera.
Overall, I would reiterate that after having now been to this zoo, I definitely can see why it continues to rise up the ranks of American Zoos. They have a decent number of rarities, but also have been investing a lot of money to improve the zoo as a whole. I definitely feels it is on the trajectory that Omaha was on in the 2000s and 2010s as massive chunks of the zoo have been getting facelifts.
As far as comparing Fort Worth to Dallas, I feel like the two are completely different experiences and your opinion will vary on what type you prefer. Dallas is very much more of a classical zoo experience in that there are some immersion or themed exhibits but relies more on some taxonomical grouping or minimal themed geographic areas. Fort Worth is way more of an immersion-based facility and highly themed areas akin to a Disney park, even down to some corporate based chain restaurant representation. I would hate to say that the two are running in opposite directions, with Fort Worth gaining tons of momentum due to a lot of new projects, and Dallas seemingly in a decline. I would rather say Dallas seems just a tad stagnant at the moment, as they haven't had a major project since Giants of the Savanna it feels like, but hard to argue that there isn't some decline with the monorail stopping operation. Just my personal preference, I would probably have to put Fort Worth slightly ahead, and I have no doubt if the new carnivores complex was open on my visit, it wouldn't be a competition. Sure, I really liked the classic feel of Dallas's Herpetarium, the large tiger exhibit, and I feel the great ape exhibits are better at Dallas, but just the overall quality and feel of Fort Worth is more of what I've been drawn to the last couple of decades. Again though, I enjoyed them both greatly.
That being said, I feel like if any of you are in the DFW metro, you almost should visit both and compare them on your own terms. To me, both are a great representation of the American Zoo landscape: you have an older and more historically known collection that shows off what zoos were with some newer style exhibits thrown in, and the other is a more modern and highly themed experience, which is seemingly the new trend at a lot of places. What preference you have is totally up to you, but these two have two completely different experiences in my opinion that makes them both well worth the visit.
