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
