Brookfield is absolutely a top 15 US zoo and I'm tired of pretending it's not.
Debatable, but you are probably correct my list currently is
Minnesota is 100% a top-10 zoo in the US, and I think Sedgwick County is also up there. Fast forward fifteen years, however, Brookfield might be a top-3 zoo in the country.
Completely agree, Kansas City, Fort Worth , Sedgwick, Houston, OKC heck even Dallas dwarf Brookfield. If their master plan is complete with everything listed and more than yes it WILL be a top ten zoo. Top five is possible but a stretch but top three is impossible, we have to rember that each zoo will receive expansions too.
The Brookfield Zoo is one of the worst zoos I've ever been to. I don't understand why anyone could view the facility so positively. The conclusion I'm forced to draw for why people rate it so highly is that they overlook how horrible the exhibitry is because they have a few rare species.
While the Roger Williams Park Zoo has a few strengths, I completely disagree with you about it being a contender for one of the best zoos in the country. I love the zoo very much, but it simply isn't that great.
Thanks for your response, based off the map I viewed it higher. Did you prefer Toledo? Also, have you visited Detroit?
I don't think zoo maps reveal a lot about a zoo's caliber very accurately.
This is the kind of insight I appreciate. A lot of zoos are making these kinds of pivots on energy consumption that can have a huge influence on future projects. Definitely don't expect any new mega-buildings. Very good point about polar bears, combined with the rapidly declining captive population. It would, of course, be easy to retool those plans to include the overpopulated brown bears instead while still allowing for potentially regaining polar bears should breeding turn around in the longer future.
Detroit is not a top 10 zoo by any stretch of the imagination.
You clearly haven't been to many zoos then. What exhibits (other than the great apes) do you think are horrible? Brookfield has one of the most undoubtedly comprehensive collections of any US zoo. It's exhibits for the most part aren't as quite as grand a scale as many other zoos, but the massive collection of nice exhibits on the beautiful grounds make it easily among the best in the country.
I don't know how that is the conclusion you reach but it is inaccurate.
Nearly every single big cat enclosure I have seen is better than the grottos the Brookfield Zoo has.
Having a comprehensive collection is only a small factor in what makes a great zoo.
Never said it was
it ranks 13 for me. I don’t understand why you hate Detroit but you love Brookfield, I personally found them on the same level with Detroit having a few heavy hitters and Brookfield only having a few decent habitats all together. The only heavy hitter for Brookfield was Habitat Africa! The forest, wolf habitat and tropic world(I really enjoyed it). The collection don’t seem that impressive to me compared to many other zoos I’ve visited especially Toledo.
Now this belongs in the hot takes thread! What about this collection is impressive aside from the pangolin?
Completely agree on your takes for Brookfield, I’d like to add it’s very outdated and the only reason it recieves such a high praise is the pangolin, location and its certain “negativity” (meant for tropic world and other takes on Brookfield) the zoo is somewhat over hated but that sometimes adds a reason for people to love it. Also, the koala habitats seem horrible to me, it’s just a tree with concrete.
Fair enough with the dolphin and pangolin enclosures, we'll have to agree to disagree on the rest. I never said they were great enclosures, mind you, but they're perfectly acceptable. I generally consider collection to be one of the most important factors when ranking zoos - that being said I rank Brookfield for its collection size and not for the (admittedly very cool) rarities it possesses. Also, what aviary buildings have you been visiting where the birds aren't behind bars? That's very standard stuff.
Sorry, not top 15. Detroit is easily the worst of the "major" US zoos IMO. It's far from bad, and has some impressive stuff, but it has so many glaring problems.Never said it was
I don’t understand why you hate Detroit but you love Brookfield, I personally found them on the same level with Detroit having a few heavy hitters and Brookfield only having a few decent habitats all together. The only heavy hitter for Brookfield was Habitat Africa! The forest, wolf habitat and tropic world(I really enjoyed it). The collection don’t seem that impressive to me compared to many other zoos I’ve visited especially Toledo.
Just curious but what are your issues with it? If you hate so bad I question what you have visited when these major zoos exist they include, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Brookfield, Lincoln Park, Franklin Park, Indianapolis and Cleveland in the mix.
I wouldn't consider Lincoln Park, Indianapolis or Franklin Park to be major zoos. I will fully admit I have not visited all of the zoos you've listed. But I am still at least vaguely familiar with them, and I have visited Detroit. (Also Lincoln Park is still better than Detroit).
But perfectly acceptable isn't what makes a great zoo, is it. That said, what each person defines as a great zoo is based on their own preferences and interests. Bigger, diverse, unique collections are very important, but they just aren't the end-all-be-all in my opinion.
Many bird houses keep their inhabitants behind mesh or bars, yes, but they are less obtrusive. That only matters for zoos' image. Bronx Zoo director Jim Breheny puts it best in the introduction to each The Zoo episode: "When you ask a child to draw a picture of a zoo, chances are they are going to draw an animal behind bars. We got to take that image and change it."
I haven't visited many small non-AZA zoos like the ones that are all over in Wisconsin. However, you probably wouldn't consider any of them to be in contention for top zoos in the country. I have visited most major zoos west of Nebraska/Kansas, those that might be considered top zoos.
I don't know that I'd call the piano wire at Saint Louis not bars, it's just thinner bars. Saint Louis isn't exactly the crowning achievement of bird houses, either.
To be a major zoo I’d say you have to be in a major city (Franklin Park, Central Park, Lincoln Park) or have a good collection (Omaha, SDZ, Toledo) I have not visited all of the facilities listed but I know each of them are worse than Detroit. I understand the argument of the bad viewing, much walking and lack of species but the same can be said for Brookfield. I’d also like to note Detroit has lost only 1 notable species this year being white storks and seems to be gaining a lot of species. Since you’ve visited, the zoo has been a lot better with construction, upgrading the ape habitat and as much as you hate arctic ring of life the new director has seemed to fix it. Every visit now I see polar bears and the other hiding species (aside for aardvark). With the lacking viewing at Detroit the main influence is the spacious habitats and the way they built the enclosures. If you have visited SDZ I wouldn’t be surprised if you preferred other many other zoos, the zoo has horrible viewing.