Zoo/Museum Hybrids
- Thread starter MurphyFox
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The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a classic and excellent example.
I’ve never been, but it looks like Action Wildlife in Goshen, Connecticut might be an example.
The Trailside Zoo in Bear Mountain State Park, New York and Space Farms in New Jersey as well?
The Trailside Zoo in Bear Mountain State Park, New York and Space Farms in New Jersey as well?
Turtle Bay Exploration Park, large number of animals and a variety of non-living exhibits as well as a botanical garden across the river.
I'll throw Johnny Morris' Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium into the ring. This place may be a bit unconventional for a modern facility for it is pro-utilitarian and is owned by Bass Pro Shops (or at least to my knowledge.) The aquarium seems good but some of the mammal enclosures seem small and while I didn't see footage of it, the inclusion of live black bears sound concerning. Despite that this facility is still applying for AZA membership and is already collaborating with some AZA zoos (they obtained a Orinoco crocodile hatchling from Gladys Porter)
Montgomery Zoo & Mann Wildlife Learning Museum is a pretty good example of a zoo with museum. They had AZA accreditation and are working on getting it again, they are ZAA accredited as well.
The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium is a great example. Interestingly, while most of the facilities on this thread are combinations of a zoo and a natural history museum, NMRMAA is a combination of a zoo and a history museum, specifically focusing on human use of the Mississippi River.
Discovery World in Milwaukee is a combination of an interactive science museum and an aquarium.
Discovery World in Milwaukee is a combination of an interactive science museum and an aquarium.
I know that St Augustine Alligator farm wouldn’t count for most people, but the artifacts displayed in the Maximo, New Guinea, Gomek, and Egypt sections did impress me despite the fact that there wasn’t any signs to explain most of the items.
Would Greensboro Science Center also count as a museum as well?
Would Greensboro Science Center also count as a museum as well?
Yes, the GSC is anchored by a museum building, and I believe it started out as one with the zoo and aquarium not coming until later.
Speaking of NC, I would also consider the Museum of Life and Sciences in Durham and the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh to be zoo/museum hybrids, as both facilities have significant live animal collections (albeit only the former is AZA-accredited and the latter is entirely indoors; both are nonetheless quality facilities).
It's obviously not a full-on zoo/museum hybrid, but the Toledo Zoo and Aquarium's Promedica Museum of Natural History would fall into this category. The building includes statues of Pleistocene animals from Ohio, taxidermy of native species, and a "taxidermy shop" full of mounted exotic animals. However, there's also a venom-themed exhibit that includes a komodo dragon, multiple venomous snakes including the rarely displayed yellow-lipped sea krait, and lionfish among others, a room full of invertebrates, a native Ohio wildlife section of herps and fish, a prairie butterfly greenhouse, and a walk-through poison dart frog exhibit.
Do you have a source for the Ecotaroum working towards AZA accreditation? I've never heard that they were trying before.
Thank you! It'll be very interesting to see what comes out of these proposed changes. If they're trying to increase their local wildlife collection, I hope they consider Beavers, Grey Fox, Canadian Lynx, and White-tailed Deer as possibilities. Some sort of waterfowl/songbird aviary would also be nice. I also agree with more Turtles, bears, and either Wolves or coyotes as the article mentions. And then maybe a left-field pick, something like fisher or wolverine (extirpated in the state). Looking forward to whatever it is!
Bobcats would be a nice addition, and so would Fishers (I even once saw a wild Fisher on the grounds there).
The Cleveland Natural History museum, like in its title, is a natural history museum and has a medium-sized area for many local animals native to Ohio, like bobcats, coyotes, foxes, falcons, river otters, and many other species.