San Diego Zoo What´s So Great About San Diego Zoo?

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Dan

Dan

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The headline is deliberately provocative/eye-catching but my question is serious, so please don´t go crazy anyone...

I have never been to the zoo but I have read a lot about it, not least here on ZooChat. The general consensus seems to be that this is one of the best zoos in the world, perhaps the very best? For instance, forumster snowleopard sees it as the best zoo in North America:

#1 - San Diego Zoo: For me this is a no-brainer, and to be perfectly honest only the Bronx Zoo is even close to being a contender. The beautiful climate, giant pandas, immense reptile collection, excellent polar bear plunge, staggering number of bird species, brilliant Monkey Trails and Forest Tales boardwalk exhibits, gorgeous gorilla and bonobo enclosures, Ituri Forest, Tiger River...and the list goes on and on. I love the fact that I could visit this zoo at any time of the year and everything would be open and accessible, and that the only building on the entire 100 acres is the reptile house. This is truly an open-air, amazing zoo and in my mind without a doubt the best that North America has to offer.

Quoted from his post:
http://www.zoochat.com/22/snowleopards-top-12-zoos-north-america-57773/

But in all honesty, from what I have seen here at ZooChat, there are very few exhibits that have made a lasting impression on me compared to what I see in other zoos documented at ZooChat. (Woodland Park especially comes to mind - I got a "lasting impression" of some of that zoo´s exhibits before I joined ZooChat and had the privilege to check out the tens of thousands photographs here). Many of the exhibits in San Diego Zoo shown in the gallery appear rather ordinary to me. Old style grottoes for bears. That awful, what is it called, "Cat Valley" or something similar to that? And, as has been noticed by many forumsters, the new elephant exhibit isn´t exactly flawless. Not to speak about the adjoning big cat exhibits!

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On the other hand, one of my earliest zoo-memories is actually from San Diego Zoo! I do remember watching a tv-documentary on Swedish television, probably sometime in the mid-sixties, that praised San Diego Zoo as a forerunner in the zoo world. Some 40+ years later, I remember being impressed by what I saw. At this time my only other zoo experiece in the real world would have been one or to visits to Copenhagen Zoo - a very old school zoo at that time.

But that was then.

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I am just wondering, might one of the keys to "San Diego Zoo Being The Best Zoo In The World" be this quote from snowleopard:

"...I could visit this zoo at any time of the year and everything would be open and accessible, and that the only building on the entire 100 acres is the reptile house..."

Are the animals really outdoors 24/7? That would of course be great!

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As always: all opinions are welcome!
 
I have criticized many aspects of the San Diego Zoo in numerous threads, but my strongest feeling is one of disappointment. San Diego is blessed with an almost perfect climate, a varied and interesting site, a wealthy and supportive community and tourist base, and a historic collection and early history of innovation and conservation leadership. With all of that going for it, it SHOULD be by far the world's best zoo. Unfortunately now they are simply content to SAY they are, and to have most people believe it and pay more and more to see exhibits of increasingly poor quality. The thousands of photos on this site tell the story...and it's not a pretty one.

Oh, and very few of the animals are "outdoors 24/7." Most go into holding areas at night just like most zoos in North America.
 
Hi Dan,

I will give you my opinion in relation to what makes this zoo so great.
I had never visited the San Diego Zoo until recently this year, just on April i found myself walking inside this iconic North American zoo for the first time, having visited zoo's like Berlin Zoological Gardens, Antwerp, Frankfurt and a few others in Europe, i believe i have seen the best your continent has to offer, and i have to say that it is a spectacular best, to say the least, in the US i have visited the Bronx Zoo, (in my opinion the second best zoo in North America today) and living in Florida, even though i do not consider this place a Zoo, i have visited DAK close to 20 times, and the landscape and attention to detail in this place is spectacular as you most likely know, so the day i visited San Diego Zoo for the first time in my life, i was afraid to walk out of that place unimpressed.

But i was very much impressed with most of the Zoo, and i can tell you from my experience that the zoo is completely unique in its own way, so much that i went for a second visit on the next day of my trip, leaving the WAP for a future visit.

After reading many different points of views in this forum, i really can understand where a lot of the negative as well as positive angles come from, does the zoo has potential to do some of the areas over, and better, sure, but what zoo doesn't?, i think the question is to what degree?, how many exhibits would need to be redone?, i have a very big imagination and my ways of looking at zoos are sometimes a little different than some of the other members here in the forum, i think in very big terms and as much as i love animals, i also love the actual institutions that are zoos and what they represent.

Key Factor's that in my opinion make San Diego Zoo America's top zoo:

Number of species: Bronx is the only other zoo in the US where i have seen such an interesting and diverse collection.
Exhibits design: Monkey trails, tiger river and the aviarys were my top choices in this place, it sets the zoo apart from any other in the US, other zoos have, excellent exhibits like Artic Ring of Life, Congo, etc, but this are all single jewels for these zoos, SDZ has many jewels.
Zoo size: like it or not, we all know that to be a top zoo, most likely size will come into play at some point, for one reason or the other, and SDZ has plenty of size, not the biggest zoo in the US, but big enough.


The biggest problem i believe San Diego Zoo has, is the Future in my opinion, there is way too many zoos to mention in the US along, moving very quickly towards World Class collections and institutions, and San Diego has to keep up, in my opinion Elephant Odyssey is the biggest dissapointment of any recent new zoo exhibit that comes to mind, how much did they spent again?, it truly broke my heart to see this Giant of a zoo do such a horrible job, who designed this exihbit? i would have done 50 different designs for them free of charge, and i assured you, that each one would have been 10 times better, anyways in my opinion for now
San Diego Zoo is America's best zoo, only because Bronx is cutting back, and in no position to take the lead right now, but there is many strong contenders outhere and they are sprinting towards the lead, San Diego can not afford to keep on walking.
 
An extremely provocative title for a thread Dan, and I love some of the issues that you explore here at ZooChat. Since you quoted me in the opening paragraph I thus feel obliged to contribute!

What's so great about the San Diego Zoo? I'll analyze two aspects of the park.

# 1: Collection. The animal collection is amazing, and perhaps only the 2 Berlin Zoos have the wide variety that is found at San Diego. So immediately in terms of sheer animal species within the grounds this zoo is in the top 3 on the planet. The reptile/amphibian area is massive, the abundance of birds is staggering, there are 6 out of the world's 8 bear species, all sorts of felines and other carnivores, a lot of koalas, pachyderms, rodents and everything else that you can imagine. Since the demise of Horn & Hoof Mesa the hoofstock and pachyderm numbers are mainly concentrated at the Wild Animal Park, but combining the two locations creates an almost unbeatable 1-2 knockout punch.

# 2: Exhibits. One of the newer members of ZooChat emailed about a week ago and said that he/she thought that judging zoos strictly based on photos that Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo was the best zoo in North America. This individual sent me the message as I've been uploading an abundance of photos from that particular zoo, and I suppose that if I were to ask someone who knew absolutely nothing about zoos to go through the extensive ZooChat gallery and choose the # 1 zoo in the world they might well choose Woodland Park. Of the 1,300 photos in the gallery, the majority of them show green, lush, naturalistic exhibits, and sure enough only the Bronx Zoo has won more awards for exhibitry than Woodland Park. However, the animals can be tough to spot at times and the collection pales in comparison to San Diego, so the smallish size limits its ranking to a top 5 or maybe top 10 park.

There are definitely some average to crappy enclosures in San Diego (the names have recently changed but I'll use the older, more familiar headings): Bear Canyon, Cat Canyon, Panda Canyon, Elephant Mesa and the new Elephant Odyssey (judging from photos this is a major disappoint) are all in need of some updates. There are a few small carnivore cages and primate cages that are also quite antiquated. But honestly all of that is perhaps 20% of the entire grounds, while the rest of the zoo is above average.

Monkey Trails & Forest Tales is a mazelike area that is in places hugely impressive, Ituri Forest has amazing exhibits for river hippos, pygmy hippos, slender-snouted crocodiles and other animals. Polar Bear Plunge is above average, Sun Bear Forest is very good, Gorilla Tropics is excellent, Tiger River is very nice, Absolutely Apes is so-so but the interaction between the orangutans and siamangs is hilarious, East African Kopje is borderline brilliant, Reptile Mesa is wonderful, and the aviaries (Owens, Scripps, etc) are some of the best in existence. This sprawling zoo has some fantastic exhibits and an outstanding collection, and I have no problem declaring it as the # 1 zoo in all of North America. The world??? That's for others to decide.:)
 
I think snowleopard answer the question in detail, having visited this zoo recently, and for the first time in my life, i have to agree 100% with everything he just wrote, in my opinion, Monkey Trails and Forest Tales is just expectacular, i remember reading in this forum that when the exhibit first opened, it was not exactly on the same sentence as tiger river, but now it is just brilliant, so maybe there is hope for Elephant Odyssey in the future, i can't believe i'm actually writing this, but i can't help to love San Diego, and i have to keep positive, i think, it could be fixed with time, PLANTS MANY PLANTS, they need to get very creative with the amount of space in this area and the lack of landscape, even if they go away from the theme a little bit, it will be worth it.

Snowleopard i meant to ask you about something related to one of your reviews, but i will open a different thread.
 
I think the San Diego Zoo is so great because they take care of the animals' needs before they make sure that the exhibits are aesthetically pleasing. Yes, many of the new enclosures in EO are rather ugly, but in all of them (with the exception of maybe the lion exhibit) the animals are given enrichment devices that are not common in other zoos i.e. the fish launcher in the jag exhibit and the utilitrees in the elephant exhibit. The elephant exhibit is no doubt one of the best in the country for elephants, although it is probably one of the most ugly exhibits in America. Other parts of the San Diego Zoo accomplish the animals' needs first too, but they are a lot more aesthetically pleasing then EO, which is why I think it is thought to be such an amazing zoo. I think that one has to see it for them self to truly see why it so great.
 
snowleopard said:
An extremely provocative title for a thread Dan, and I love some of the issues that you explore here at ZooChat. Since you quoted me in the opening paragraph I thus feel obliged to contribute!

What's so great about the San Diego Zoo? I'll analyze two aspects of the park.

# 1: Collection. The animal collection is amazing, and perhaps only the 2 Berlin Zoos have the wide variety that is found at San Diego. So immediately in terms of sheer animal species within the grounds this zoo is in the top 3 on the planet. The reptile/amphibian area is massive, the abundance of birds is staggering, there are 6 out of the world's 8 bear species, all sorts of felines and other carnivores, a lot of koalas, pachyderms, rodents and everything else that you can imagine. Since the demise of Horn & Hoof Mesa the hoofstock and pachyderm numbers are mainly concentrated at the Wild Animal Park, but combining the two locations creates an almost unbeatable 1-2 knockout punch.

# 2: Exhibits. One of the newer members of ZooChat emailed about a week ago and said that he/she thought that judging zoos strictly based on photos that Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo was the best zoo in North America. This individual sent me the message as I've been uploading an abundance of photos from that particular zoo, and I suppose that if I were to ask someone who knew absolutely nothing about zoos to go through the extensive ZooChat gallery and choose the # 1 zoo in the world they might well choose Woodland Park. Of the 1,300 photos in the gallery, the majority of them show green, lush, naturalistic exhibits, and sure enough only the Bronx Zoo has won more awards for exhibitry than Woodland Park. However, the animals can be tough to spot at times and the collection pales in comparison to San Diego, so the smallish size limits its ranking to a top 5 or maybe top 10 park.

There are definitely some average to crappy enclosures in San Diego (the names have recently changed but I'll use the older, more familiar headings): Bear Canyon, Cat Canyon, Panda Canyon, Elephant Mesa and the new Elephant Odyssey (judging from photos this is a major disappoint) are all in need of some updates. There are a few small carnivore cages and primate cages that are also quite antiquated. But honestly all of that is perhaps 20% of the entire grounds, while the rest of the zoo is above average.

Monkey Trails & Forest Tales is a mazelike area that is in places hugely impressive, Ituri Forest has amazing exhibits for river hippos, pygmy hippos, slender-snouted crocodiles and other animals. Polar Bear Plunge is above average, Sun Bear Forest is very good, Gorilla Tropics is excellent, Tiger River is very nice, Absolutely Apes is so-so but the interaction between the orangutans and siamangs is hilarious, East African Kopje is borderline brilliant, Reptile Mesa is wonderful, and the aviaries (Owens, Scripps, etc) are some of the best in existence. This sprawling zoo has some fantastic exhibits and an outstanding collection, and I have no problem declaring it as the # 1 zoo in all of North America. The world??? That's for others to decide.:)
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I agree with everything Snowleopard said.

Out of all the things in the zoo, I specially liked the huge aviaries. I was not a fan of birds before my visit to the zoo, but when I first entered Owens Aviary I became one. Each of the three huge aviaries (Owens, Scripps, and Parker) have at least 15 species of birds. Wings of Australasia section was also great.
 
" Does anyone on zoochat read the SDZ blog? "


I do, i read it every, and i think you have made a fine point that Elephant Odyssey might be the best exhibit outhere for elephants, but it might not translate so good with the average visitor, that is very interesting, but i think the Zoo has so much more to offer, that in time it will not matter, having said that i will like to know what is next for this Zoo, they need a new entrance, and they mentioned some time back the plans to built a parking garage, remember Blackrhino? have you heard anything about this?

On a side note Blackrhino Amazon and Beyond is getting really lush, all this rain is helping this exhibit get better, you were right, it needed time, and it has not even being a year, by this time in 2010, the exhibit will look like a tropical Rainforest, i was there the other day, and it was raining, the Jaguar was loving it, i found that interesting to say the least, since i had never seen him swiming before.
 
In agreement, clearly the best thing about San Diego is the amazing animal collection. You are virtually guaranteed to see something here you haven't seen elsewhere (and may have never heard of). And they are strong in every area, not just primates or birds or cats. Reptile mesa is the only large-scale outdoor reptile exhibit I know of (not counting alligator farms). Two of the largest aviaries in the world. Fantastic gorilla exhibit and best bonobo exhibit around.

The lushness of the zoo (excluding Elephant Odyssey which we all hope will "grow in") is also noteworthy. In fact, they are a fully accredited botanical garden and most of the zoo is very well-shaded.

Visitor amenities are another big plus that has not been mentioned. Wide variety of restaurants, top class gift shops (of course $$$), and two show arenas. Summer nighttime zoo is a must-see. Sitting on the treetops patio eating lunch high over panda canyon is one of my favorite experiences.

There is no one truly spectacular exhibit that would be ranked best in the country, and there are several mediocre exhibits (Cat Canyon, and cats are my favorites), but as others have said the overall experience is very good. Out-of-towners visiting San Diego definitely need to combine it with Wild Animal Park, also one of the nation's best, but very different from the zoo.
 
Excellent point Arizona Docent, about the amenities, none of us mentioned this, and is a very strong area of this great zoo, on the first visit, i had lunch in a Kiosk next to the Panda's, it was mexican food, and i tell you i was surpriced about the quality, then on the next day we had a late lunch at the Albert's restaurant i believe, gorgeous place, excellent stake and vegetables, great view, i can't remember a single animal park, or zoo where the food was better, with the exception of DAK, and add to this the fine quality of the stores, i bought a very nice amount of gifts for the rest of the family back home.

Now, just the other day to compare, i went to the Zoo that's 5 minutes from my house, Miami Metrozoo, and we were really hungry, and choices were:
fried chicken
hot dog (an insult to NY's hot dogs)
Burger (last time i had their burger i developed heartburn)
i think that was it, and pretty much only two locations in the zoo for this, in a 300 acres plus zoo, and guess what the two places are conveniently right next to eachother, i wonder who was the genious that came up with this espectacular idea.

So yes Dan, amenities are a very strong point in the World Famous San Diego Zoo, and even though some might say that they do not like this, because is too much like a theme park, not me, other members, they will not say this when they are starving and want good food without leaving the zoo.
 
reduakari said:
I have criticized many aspects of the San Diego Zoo in numerous threads, but my strongest feeling is one of disappointment. San Diego is blessed with an almost perfect climate, a varied and interesting site, a wealthy and supportive community and tourist base, and a historic collection and early history of innovation and conservation leadership. With all of that going for it, it SHOULD be by far the world's best zoo. Unfortunately now they are simply content to SAY they are, and to have most people believe it and pay more and more to see exhibits of increasingly poor quality. The thousands of photos on this site tell the story...and it's not a pretty one.

Oh, and very few of the animals are "outdoors 24/7." Most go into holding areas at night just like most zoos in North America.
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These are exactly my sentiments too, I went in with so much expectation and came out with disappointment, it was like going to the top restaraunt, getting a good meal but needing to stop off on the way home as you were still hungry. I'm about to leave the USA to return to the UK to live and want to make a final trip before I go. I'm debating going back to San Diego as I liked the city and am wondering if going back without the expectation will make me see it through different eyes or whether to go to a different place altogether (got to keep my 5 year old happy too).
 
I would visit San Diego again, take the memory with me, since living in the UK will be a challenge, i think their only zoo that stands out is Chester, and it still looks years behind San Diego, so yes go there and enjoy it one last time.
 
I like 30 minutes away from the Zoo, and I agree with what's been said about the animal diversity, plant collection, amenities, animal care, etc. The aviaries are spectacular and can be easily overlooked, having the birds below and above you and walking through multiple pathways besides tropical waterfalls and streams, experiences like that you can find in almost all of the aviaries. In scripps aviary they have a water system so it rains in half the exhibit, and it just provides a lovely subtle experience. By far the zoos best exhibits are the tropical rainforest ones because the zoo definitely knows how to utilize its superb plant collection outside of the exhibits. The zoo also has awesome conservation and educational outreach, and they also help out around the community.

As for as exhibits go, the animal care is superb in enrichment and veterinary care. The zoo has many of the old mid-20th century concrete exhibits that are slowly fading away, like the concrete bar jungle that was the Heart of the Zoo and Horn and Hoof mesa. The diversity of the zoo's species can be seen in its range of animal ambassadors in the Children Zoo, reptile, primate, bird, and it holds most of the iconic main zoo species(which can be argued for a list but they're there): Lion, Tiger, Bear, Giraffe, Elephant, Rhino, etc.

And also, I read the zoo blogs too, they're fun to read and give a good sense of what is going on in the zoo.
 
I somewhat recently did a "San Diego VS Bronx" comparison, matching up what I consider to be comparable exhibits, exhibit areas, or other things. In addition to exhibits and animals, I also matched up rides, restaurants, and shows. Here's some examples of my match-ups: Tiger River VS JungleWorld; Madagascar & Monkey House VS Monkey Trails; Children's Zoo VS Children's Zoo; Mouse House VS Koalas & Meerkats; World of Reptiles VS Reptile Mesa.

The Results: Before the recent closures at the Bronx, I had San Diego winning 13 matchups, Bronx won 5, and there were 7 Draws. Now, I have it San Diego 14, Bronx 3, with 8 Draws. My point: even if you disagree with me on some of my evaluations, San Diego is still WAY out in front -- at least by this method of evaluation.

Among the key reasons I believe San Diego is easily the nation's best zoo: 2 words, "Pandas and Koalas". These are the 2 most popular and iconic zoo animals, perhaps the only animals that will make NON-zoo fans drive out of their way to see a zoo. San Diego is the only zoo in this Hemisphere with both of them. (Question: what other zoos in the world have both giant pandas AND koalas? The only other one where I've seen them both is Vienna.) Even more amazing, San Diego's giant panda and koala exhibits are among the best anywhere. They've had 3 panda births, which almost guarantees the opportunity to see an adorable panda cub. It's also incredible to walk through the koala exhibit and see nearly 20 of them! That almost guarantees that you'll see a few of them being active, unlike the often sleeping koalas at other exhibits.

snowleopard said:
One of the newer members of ZooChat emailed about a week ago and said that he/she thought that judging zoos strictly based on photos that Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo was the best zoo in North America.
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BlackRhino's excellent points about SD's Elephant Odyssey expose the peril of evaluating zoos simply based on photographs. While he convincingly evaluates this new exhibit as one of the best ever for elephants, it's fairly clear that "photographically" it's (at best) not impressive. This is why some on this thread say EO is "the biggest dissapointment of any recent new zoo exhibit that comes to mind" or "a major disappointment". When Jon and I were putting together our "Top 25 Exhibits" lists, for the exhibits we weren't able to see in person (we visited different zoos), we evaluated mostly based on the other's video of the exhibit. This is far better than evaluating based on still photos, but even video evaluation has its flaws. Were I to do it over, I would change my list slightly.

snowleopard said:
sure enough only the Bronx Zoo has won more awards for exhibitry than Woodland Park.
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I've been outspoken in criticizing the value of these silly awards! There are purely "political" -- in most cases. I compare their legitimacy to the Nobel Peace Prizes (where the murderous terrorist Yassar Arafat won a NPP). While Bronx and Woodland Park have been dominating the annual Exhibit of the Year awards, excellent (and better?) zoos like Omaha, Columbus, and Disney's Animal Kingdom have never won these awards. Even San Diego has rarely won -- 1989 (Kopje) and 1987 (Tiger River). The judges who give these awards evaluate based on (you guessed it) photographs, as well as a packet of information. Rarely have any of the judges gone and physically seen the new exhibit they are evaluating.

Bottom Line: It's a "vogue" thing to do to criticize the San Diego Zoo, and to suggest it's not the best zoo in America, just as it's "cool" to criticize the USA's second-best zoo, Omaha. But being vogue and cool doesn't make you right.
 
ANyhuis said:
Bottom Line: It's a "vogue" thing to do to criticize the San Diego Zoo, and to suggest it's not the best zoo in America, just as it's "cool" to criticize the USA's second-best zoo, Omaha. But being vogue and cool doesn't make you right.
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That is a ridiculous statement. There is certainly enough evidence on this website (and on the Zoo's) to criticize EO's many flaws. And since you have declared Omaha to the "USA's second best zoo," I am supposed to just agree that you are right?
 
reduakari said:
That is a ridiculous statement. There is certainly enough evidence on this website (and on the Zoo's) to criticize EO's many flaws. And since you have declared Omaha to the "USA's second best zoo," I am supposed to just agree that you are right?
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I'm not saying all of the criticism of either zoo is wrong, just that some of it is merely to follow the crowd -- to be "cool". Declaring Omaha the nation's second-best zoo is merely my opinion. That doesn't make me "right", but I'm also not "wrong", though I'm sure there will soon be critics who will say I am.
 
ANyhuis said:
I'm not saying all of the criticism of either zoo is wrong, just that some of it is merely to follow the crowd -- to be "cool". Declaring Omaha the nation's second-best zoo is merely my opinion. That doesn't make me "right", but I'm also not "wrong", though I'm sure there will soon be critics who will say I am.
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Well, I already have! Omaha simply has too many animals crowded into inappropriate, small spaces (bears, cats, small mammal house, Lied Jungle, Desert, Nocturnal, etc.). It also suffers from the common syndrome of "the next big thing," where maintenance of "last years' big thing" is neglected while resources are poured into the latest and greatest--the terrible condition of the aviary and the graphics throughout the park are very noticeable. This may change under new leadership, as already have some of the principles of collection management and adherence to AZA protocols.

Walking on the ground level of Lied Jungle, or going through the cave and swamp areas of Kingdoms of the Night are some of the best zoo visitor experiences anywhere, but that's not enough to make up for the zoos many flaws--or at least to justify calling it one of the very top two or three zoos in the country.
 
reduakari said:
Well, I already have! Omaha simply has too many animals crowded into inappropriate, small spaces (bears, cats, small mammal house, Lied Jungle, Desert, Nocturnal, etc.). It also suffers from the common syndrome of "the next big thing," where maintenance of "last years' big thing" is neglected while resources are poured into the latest and greatest--the terrible condition of the aviary and the graphics throughout the park are very noticeable. This may change under new leadership, as already have some of the principles of collection management and adherence to AZA protocols.

Walking on the ground level of Lied Jungle, or going through the cave and swamp areas of Kingdoms of the Night are some of the best zoo visitor experiences anywhere, but that's not enough to make up for the zoos many flaws--or at least to justify calling it one of the very top two or three zoos in the country.
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That wouldn't be related to an article recently posted here regarding blue monkeys would it?
 
Having pandas and koalas is cool, but I would not say they are some of the best exhibits. The only really good koala exhibit I have seen is at Albuquerque and the only good giant panda exhibit at National D.C. It is amazing that an animal as popular and expensive and crowd-drawing as giant pandas are given poor exhibits from the visitor's standpoint. I know they have extensive off-exhibit areas, but the public space at both San Diego and Memphis is below average (I haven't been to Atlanta).
 
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