Wouldn't be surprised if a moderator removed it.
What is the best zoo in new england
- Thread starter Dyl0526
- Start date
Makes sense. It did get really heated near the end.
Don't get me wrong, Southwicks is much better than most non-accredited zoos that hold exotic species. And I would love to see the zoo improve its enclosures, but more needed is a change of animal welfare. As this thread has so focused on issues that seem to be widespread there. Hence why I wish they would never get another elephant
I think this is something that was lost in last nights "conversation". Southwicks was a better zoo than I was expecting it to be when I visited, and it's probably the best non-accredited 'standard zoo' I've visited in the US. That doesn't mean there still aren't many areas to improve upon, however.
FPZ is a zoo I really need to revisit to get a feel on. I remember visiting and feeling disappointed in my visit, but I'm not quite sure why. I don't remember hating the bird house, it just felt a little dated and smaller than expected but not bad. The condor aviary is cool, though. I was hoping to visit all the Boston collections some time this year but..
As @nczoofan noted, Mystic is great. They have one of the largest and best Beluga Whale exhibits around, and they have a superb pinniped collection. I'd disagree that they're less fish focused, however, because despite the fact that their indoor gallery is a lot smaller than most major aquariums, they still have a lot of odd fish and I've seen a lot of cool species I've never seen before (and sometimes since) on my visits. In recent years they've clearly been working on updating the indoor galleries with further species from around the world, and in particular have added a lot of unique invertebrates. They also have a permanent amphibian exhibit now which is nice to see.
Maritime is definitely more fish-focused with an eye on the Northwest Atlantic but they do it very well. I think it's a pretty underrated aquarium tbh, though they don't have any massive draws like many other well-known aquariums do. The aquarium actually does a lot of jellyfish breeding for institutions around the country, and part of their breeding set-up is on-show which is unique. They had a really great amphibian room for a long time, but unfortunately they've gotten rid of it in favor of an awful new exhibit with tiny basic enclosure filled with more ABC animals for public enjoyment (skunks, owls, parrots, etc.). I believe they're working on a new Meerkat enclosure, at which point it'll be interesting to see what happens to the current enclosure. I'd like to see them stick with the overall reptile-centric theme of that room.
Beardsley is tiny but solid. They don't have the best exhibits out there but they're slowly but surely improving one step at a time. My biggest problem with them is the horrible raptor cages and the supposed permanent destruction of their native reptile house/the phasing out of their reptile collection in general. That said, they do still have a pretty solid collection: Mexican Wolf, Red Wolf, Maned Wolf, Grey Fox, Amur Leopard, Amur Tiger (only pure ssp tigers in New England I believe), Brazilian Ocelot, Nepali Red Panda, Black Howler, White-Faced Saki, Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, Golden Lion Tamarin, Goeldi's Monkey, Common Vampire Bat, Giant Anteater, Hoffmann's Two-Toed Sloth, Chacoan Peccary, Greater Rhea, Andean Condor, Sandhill Crane, White-Naped Crane, four native owl species, American Alligator, Yacare Caiman, Hispaniolan Slider, Amazon Tree Boa, and Eastern Hellbender among others. They sometimes bring in giant tortoises as a seasonal display, and I do hope they one day make them permanent residents. I do miss their Pronghorn and Canada Lynx, but I do look forward to seeing them expand their currently very small Asian complex and especially the tiger exhibit. A new aviary for condor and Andean Bears are upcoming projects as well. Should everything continue to come together as it has been, the zoo will undoubtedly become a bigger contender for NE's best as they update the handful of poorer areas and expand both their collection and the zoo as a whole.
(Livingstone) Ripley Waterfowl Conservatory is a mainly bird zoo with a waterfowl focus, but it's still one of my favorite zoos in New England. It's small and privately run, but it also breeds a lot of waterfowl and cranes for AZA zoos. The place also boasts six first breeding records which are displayed proudly in their nursery barn. These include rarities like New Zealand Scaup and well-known endangered birds such as Hawaiian Goose. The place also has a couple of sea duck aviaries, where they keep scoters, eiders, mergansers, Harlequin Duck, and Long-Tailed Duck. While the focus is mainly ducks, I know the center has been expanding their sights on birds in general in the past couple years. A handful of exotic raptors now call the center home, as well as a few lapwing and dove/pigeon species. I know 2020 was supposed to be the years they built a brand new row of aviaries to be used as a pheasantry but I don't know if that ever happened for obvious reasons.
Action Wildlife is "drive-through" zoo in the middle of nowhere, CT. Despite their website advertising a wide variety of rare hoofstock (Barbary Sheep, West Caucasian Tur, Indian Hog Deer, European Wild Boar) they place is almost entirely domestics. American Bison, European Fallow Deer, generic elk, generic red deer, a single zebra, and a single oryx made up pretty much the entire exotic collection. They do have hybrid boarXpig, though, which they pass off as pure boar. The place also isn't drive-through, it's drive around. Basically there are no paths, just dirt roads winding around the outside of the pens. You can park on the side and get out if you'd like, but there's not much reason to. There is an additional section of the zoo specifically labeled as their "drive-thru", but that is also just a long loop that goes around the outside of a large track of fenced in forest filled with White-Tailed Deer and maybe Japanese Sika. They also have a small museum filled with dozens upon dozens of taxidermy animals which are all way more interesting a collection than the zoo itself. Here you can find a single live display featuring a boa and a couple of tortoises in a surprisingly large enclosure.
SeaQuest Trumbull is the one I forgot to add last night and it is probably at the bottom of my list because it is awful. It is an aquarium in a mall, which insists on keeping rather larger animals like goats, wallabies, full frown suclata tortoise, sloths, coatis, otters, lorikeets, caimans, and rays in absolutely tiny half-assed "enclosures". They even keep a kookaburra in a pet store Cockatiel cage. They also promote themselves as a "hands-on experience" and "better than zoos" because they allow pretty much all of their non-aquatic animals to be played with (either supervised or unsupervised by staff) by all members of the public upon request. This is apparently better for the animals somehow (but we won't get into that again
). I have some photos to post soon, but not many because upon being spotted taking photos by staff, I was jumped on by the "mammal and bird manager" and followed around the entire rest of my visit to ensure I didn't take any photos of anything other than the animals themselves (most of which are unlabeled). The place has many small and overstocked tanks featuring animals way too large for them in the first place. They claim they rescued all of their animals but this is almost certainly a lie and, if true, they need to be rescued again.~Thylo
I've paired up Trevor and Ripley before, though they're about an hour apart. Also done Beardsley and Maritime together. One could theoretically pair Mystic and RWPZ, too.
Thing about LEO is it was never actually open. It was a private breeding center and as such I was never allowed to visit unfortunately. I'd have liked to, though. You'd think Greenwich of all places would be able to support a proper zoo, but I suppose being so close to NYC and also having Beardsley not terribly far away makes that difficult.
~Thylo
I think this is something that was lost in last nights "conversation". Southwicks was a better zoo than I was expecting it to be when I visited, and it's probably the best non-accredited 'standard zoo' I've visited in the US. That doesn't mean there still aren't many areas to improve upon, however.
FPZ is a zoo I really need to revisit to get a feel on. I remember visiting and feeling disappointed in my visit, but I'm not quite sure why. I don't remember hating the bird house, it just felt a little dated and smaller than expected but not bad. The condor aviary is cool, though. I was hoping to visit all the Boston collections some time this year but..
As @nczoofan noted, Mystic is great. They have one of the largest and best Beluga Whale exhibits around, and they have a superb pinniped collection. I'd disagree that they're less fish focused, however, because despite the fact that their indoor gallery is a lot smaller than most major aquariums, they still have a lot of odd fish and I've seen a lot of cool species I've never seen before (and sometimes since) on my visits. In recent years they've clearly been working on updating the indoor galleries with further species from around the world, and in particular have added a lot of unique invertebrates. They also have a permanent amphibian exhibit now which is nice to see.
Maritime is definitely more fish-focused with an eye on the Northwest Atlantic but they do it very well. I think it's a pretty underrated aquarium tbh, though they don't have any massive draws like many other well-known aquariums do. The aquarium actually does a lot of jellyfish breeding for institutions around the country, and part of their breeding set-up is on-show which is unique. They had a really great amphibian room for a long time, but unfortunately they've gotten rid of it in favor of an awful new exhibit with tiny basic enclosure filled with more ABC animals for public enjoyment (skunks, owls, parrots, etc.). I believe they're working on a new Meerkat enclosure, at which point it'll be interesting to see what happens to the current enclosure. I'd like to see them stick with the overall reptile-centric theme of that room.
Beardsley is tiny but solid. They don't have the best exhibits out there but they're slowly but surely improving one step at a time. My biggest problem with them is the horrible raptor cages and the supposed permanent destruction of their native reptile house/the phasing out of their reptile collection in general. That said, they do still have a pretty solid collection: Mexican Wolf, Red Wolf, Maned Wolf, Grey Fox, Amur Leopard, Amur Tiger (only pure ssp tigers in New England I believe), Brazilian Ocelot, Nepali Red Panda, Black Howler, White-Faced Saki, Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, Golden Lion Tamarin, Goeldi's Monkey, Common Vampire Bat, Giant Anteater, Hoffmann's Two-Toed Sloth, Chacoan Peccary, Greater Rhea, Andean Condor, Sandhill Crane, White-Naped Crane, four native owl species, American Alligator, Yacare Caiman, Hispaniolan Slider, Amazon Tree Boa, and Eastern Hellbender among others. They sometimes bring in giant tortoises as a seasonal display, and I do hope they one day make them permanent residents. I do miss their Pronghorn and Canada Lynx, but I do look forward to seeing them expand their currently very small Asian complex and especially the tiger exhibit. A new aviary for condor and Andean Bears are upcoming projects as well. Should everything continue to come together as it has been, the zoo will undoubtedly become a bigger contender for NE's best as they update the handful of poorer areas and expand both their collection and the zoo as a whole.
(Livingstone) Ripley Waterfowl Conservatory is a mainly bird zoo with a waterfowl focus, but it's still one of my favorite zoos in New England. It's small and privately run, but it also breeds a lot of waterfowl and cranes for AZA zoos. The place also boasts six first breeding records which are displayed proudly in their nursery barn. These include rarities like New Zealand Scaup and well-known endangered birds such as Hawaiian Goose. The place also has a couple of sea duck aviaries, where they keep scoters, eiders, mergansers, Harlequin Duck, and Long-Tailed Duck. While the focus is mainly ducks, I know the center has been expanding their sights on birds in general in the past couple years. A handful of exotic raptors now call the center home, as well as a few lapwing and dove/pigeon species. I know 2020 was supposed to be the years they built a brand new row of aviaries to be used as a pheasantry but I don't know if that ever happened for obvious reasons.
Action Wildlife is "drive-through" zoo in the middle of nowhere, CT. Despite their website advertising a wide variety of rare hoofstock (Barbary Sheep, West Caucasian Tur, Indian Hog Deer, European Wild Boar) they place is almost entirely domestics. American Bison, European Fallow Deer, generic elk, generic red deer, a single zebra, and a single oryx made up pretty much the entire exotic collection. They do have hybrid boarXpig, though, which they pass off as pure boar. The place also isn't drive-through, it's drive around. Basically there are no paths, just dirt roads winding around the outside of the pens. You can park on the side and get out if you'd like, but there's not much reason to. There is an additional section of the zoo specifically labeled as their "drive-thru", but that is also just a long loop that goes around the outside of a large track of fenced in forest filled with White-Tailed Deer and maybe Japanese Sika. They also have a small museum filled with dozens upon dozens of taxidermy animals which are all way more interesting a collection than the zoo itself. Here you can find a single live display featuring a boa and a couple of tortoises in a surprisingly large enclosure.
SeaQuest Trumbull is the one I forgot to add last night and it is probably at the bottom of my list because it is awful. It is an aquarium in a mall, which insists on keeping rather larger animals like goats, wallabies, full frown suclata tortoise, sloths, coatis, otters, lorikeets, caimans, and rays in absolutely tiny half-assed "enclosures". They even keep a kookaburra in a pet store Cockatiel cage. They also promote themselves as a "hands-on experience" and "better than zoos" because they allow pretty much all of their non-aquatic animals to be played with (either supervised or unsupervised by staff) by all members of the public upon request. This is apparently better for the animals somehow (but we won't get into that again
~Thylo
I noticed that you did not include the New England Aquarium, Buttonwood Park, or Capron Park in your rankings. Have you visited those collections, and if so, where would they fall?
The collections I left out were simply because I've not visited them yet, though I've been due a visit to them all for some time now. The aquarium I planned to visit back in January but didn't due to personal things getting in the way and then I've obviously not had time to since. As far as Buttonwood and Capron go, I've owed them a visit with @Bird Lover for some time now. Once things start fully opening up again, I think I'll have to go for a jaunt around that region and mop up those zoos as well as revisit Southwicks and RWPZ to see where they still stand. I need to visit the Forest Park Zoo some time as well, just to see. Pretty sure there's one more place in CT I need to visit as well. Earth Place or something like that. Then I'll move onto mopping up the more central and northern Massachusetts collections, including NEAQ and hopefully revisits to the Zoo New England parks. Anyone have any info. on that insect place that was mentioned upthread?
~Thylo
Ok so basically it’s a museum that has a decent animal collection which apparently has one of the biggest puma enclosures in the Nation. They’ve got mostly native stuff but up until 2011 they had a polar bear! It’s definitely not a full day thing but I’d say it’s worth a visit. I haven’t gone in about 2 years so I haven’t seen the pumas yet but I think I’m gonna try to go sometime soon.
I do remember going/sleeping over at the Ecotarium like 10 years ago. My memory is hazy but I do remember it being a snowy day when we went down to see the wildlife section and I believe I saw Kenda but I don’t entirely know
Yeah that was her name, Her father also lived in New England at Stone up until 2001 when he passed.
Photograph the new Caribbean area if you can! Also a species list of what's on-show would be helpful, thanks!
~Thylo
definitely will try to get some pictures of the Caribbean area and I’ll see what I can do for a species list!
This species list contains any species I've seen at Stone over the past year or so and isn't organized by zone or anything like that, but hopefully is helpful:
- Marbled Salamander Ambystoma opacum
- Panamanian Golden Frog Atelopus zeteki
- Green and Black Poison Dart Frog Dendrobates auratus
- Dying Poison Dart Frog Dendrobates tinctorius
- Splendid Tree Frog Littoria splendida
- Mossy Frog Theloderma corticale
- Emperor Newt Tylototriton shanjing
- Hyacinth Macaw Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus
- Blue and Gold Macaw Ara ararauna
- Scarlet Macaw Ara macao
- Barrow's Goldeneye Bucephala islandica
- Rhinoceros Hornbill Buceros rhinoceros
- Silvery Cheeked Hornbill Bycanistes brevis
- Mute Swan Cygnus olor
- Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae
- Scarlet Ibis Eudocimus ruber
- Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
- Chicken Gallus domesticus
- Roadrunner Geococcyx californianus
- Whooping Crane Grus americana
- Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis
- Black Necked Crane Grus nigricollis
- Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
- Inca Tern Larosterna inca
- Bali Mynah Leucopsar rothschildi
- Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus
- Caribbean Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber
- Barn Owl Tyto alba
- Desert Tarantula Aphonopelma chalcodes
- Western Honey Bee Apis mellifera
- Chilean Rose Tarantula Grammostola rosea
- Vinegaroon Mastigoproctus giganteus
- Spider Monkey Ateles geoffroyi
- Ring Tailed Cat Bassariscus astutus
- Yak Bos grunniens
- Caucasian Zebu Bos Indicus
- Mexican Gray Wolf Canis lupus baileyi
- Nigerian Dwarf Goat Capra aegagrus hircus
- Markhor Capra falconeri
- Seba's Short Tailed Bat Carollia perspicillata
- Chacoan Peccary Catagonus wagneri
- Linne's Two Toed Sloth Choloepus didactylus
- Prehensile Tailed Porcupine Coendou prehensilis
- Black and White Colobus Monkey Colobus guereza
- Red Rumped Agouti Dasyprocta leporina
- North American Porcupine Erethizon dorsatum
- Puma / Cougar Felis concolor
- North American River Otter Lontra canadensis
- Canada Lynx Lynx canadensis
- White Nosed Coati Nasua narica
- White Cheeked Gibbon Nomascus leucogenys
- Jaguar Panthera onca
- Snow Leopard Panthera uncia
- Rock Hyrax Procavia capensis
- Reindeer / Caribou Rangifer tarandus
- Cotton Top Tamarin Saguinus oedipus
- Bush Dog Speothos venatious
- Pig Sus scrofa
- Black Bear Ursus americanus
- Arctic Fox Vulpes lagopus
- American Alligator Alligator mississippiensis
- Boa Constrictor Boa constrictor
- African Spurred Tortoise Centrochelys sulcata
- Yellow Footed Tortoise Chelonoidis denticulata
- Jamaican Iguana Cyclura collei
- Blanding's Turtle Emydoidea blandingii
- Leopard Gecko Eublepharis macularius
- Gila Monster Heloderma suspectum
- California King Snake Lampropeltis getula californiae
- Milk Snake Lampropeltis triangulum
- Rosy Boa Lichanura trivirgata
- Corn Snake Pantherophis guttatus
- Box Turtle Terrapene carolina
I went to Stone Today:
Although the Bush dogs were a no show, the Zoo was great! It had one of the best collections in New England and the Exhibits IMO looked really nice. Their was one area that was an exception to this which was the "Windows to the Wild". Most of the exhibits in this area looked very empty and the floors were made of Concrete with nothing covering it which wasn't very ascetically pleasing. Overall though I think I'd say Stone is the Second best zoo in New England. I'll post pictures later
Although the Bush dogs were a no show, the Zoo was great! It had one of the best collections in New England and the Exhibits IMO looked really nice. Their was one area that was an exception to this which was the "Windows to the Wild". Most of the exhibits in this area looked very empty and the floors were made of Concrete with nothing covering it which wasn't very ascetically pleasing. Overall though I think I'd say Stone is the Second best zoo in New England. I'll post pictures later