I have a feeling it won't make much of a difference but I figured I'd repost the relevant sections of my long climate comparison post found
here:
"... For primates, SDZ may be considered one of the best zoos around, but both zoos keep the same number of species. The difference is that Bronx keeps mostly smaller species from Strepsirrhini and Platyrrhini that can be exhibited very well indoors, with most of their lemur enclosures being larger and taller than many outdoor enclosures. For example, the zoo’s spiny forest lemur habitat is about 3,200sqft in size with both of SDZ’s outdoor lemur enclosures being similar in size at ~3,500sqft and ~2,700sqft respectively, and the sifaka enclosure at Bronx being around 30-35ft in height. Several of the New World Monkeys have sizeable seasonal outdoor habitats as well. The all-indoor gibbon, langur, and guenon enclosures are also pretty huge and very tall and all allow for natural light to be filtered through the ceilings. As discussed before the zoo’s gorilla habitat is arguably the best in the world and their indoor accommodations are better than most zoos’ at 6,000sqft in size and much of it being two stories tall. The seldom talked about Mandrill enclosure is also at least on-par with SDZ’s in size and height and I'm fairly certain it's actually larger, though I haven’t found exact dimensions for these. ..."
"As for herptiles, I think a lot of people here are assuming Bronx has no outdoor herp displays but they actually have 12 (and they have three Komodo Dragon yards and two giant tortoise yards, but I’m counting them all as just two displays), only
three less than SDZ. Two of them display native species. As for the others, yes they have to be brought indoors when it gets too cold (though I’ve seen giant tortoises out in the high 40s so I think some reptiles’ tolerance is another thing people sometimes assume is much lower than it is) but that’s why the zoo makes sure it has top notch indoor enclosures. The zoo has one of the best indoor Komodo Dragon enclosures in the country (miles ahead of SDZ’s indoor habitat in size and design; I did not see an outdoor one), and imo their indoor Indian Gharial enclosure beats SDZ’s outdoor enclosure in almost every way- including in size, design with an underwater viewing window, a more impressive mixed species list, and the animals have to climb up and down rock structures if they want to get to the lower pools and as such they get the added benefit of more than just a flat beach area (something seldom found in crocodile exhibits)- other than the benefit of natural heat. Obviously that does matter a great deal with reptiles and outdoors will almost always be better, but remember that the vast, vast majority of SDZ’s reptiles are kept indoors year-round and, for the most part, Bronx’s enclosures are either on-par or much better. Not to mention that SDZ also has to bring their outdoor reptiles inside sometimes as well. I’ve heard that the majority of the species kept outdoors are completely off-exhibit during parts of December and January. What are their indoor accommodations like? I personally managed to see most of them on my visit at the end of the latter month, but there were still a couple enclosures that sat empty (yes I counted those in my total earlier)."
"... Thankfully for both birds and herps,
@snowleopard has been so kind as to share the International Zoo Yearbook stats with us so we can have much more definite numbers here. ... For herps Bronx also sits in a close second place with ~220 species while San Diego is tied for fifth at exactly 190 species. Omaha is the zoo in first place with ~240 species, Nashville is in third with ~210, Dallas and St. Louis are tied for fourth with ~200, and Houston ties with SDZ in fifth with ~190 species. Note that four out of the five zoos that beat SDZ in collection size are all northern zoos. ..."
Also worth mentioning the all-indoor room the gibbons are kept in is about 20,000sqft in size, and while they obviously can't access all of that like the birds can, they still have plenty of room to swing around. The enclosure features full-size live trees and is roughly 50ft tall at its highest point with a mostly glass ceiling allowing for natural light to be filtered through. The animals are also given plenty of enrichment opportunities by being mixed with tapirs, a wide variety of birds, various tortoises and turtles, and gharial, with all of the above animals also having plenty of room to escape from the others if they so choose.
I don't think I need to get into details about how great CGF is but before anyone starts screaming it like on my San Diego Zoo thread, no Bronx's gorillas are not locked indoors for six months out of the year. Baboon Reserve is also worth mentioning as it's about an acre in size at least and is home to the only breeding group of Geladas in the US. This exhibit was also previously home to the only Geladas in the US until SDZ was inspired to create their own exhibit in Africa Rocks, which also has them mixed with Nubian Ibex.
On the herp side of things, Bronx's fantastic conservation work is enough to more then put them over the top for me but I have a feeling it's going to be dismissed for some reason so I'll just focus on the captive aspect. It's definitely worth mentioning that Bronx is the main zoo that imports Indian Gharial from Madras Crocodile Bank and distributes them to other zoos, SDZ's entire group having come from one such import. The zoo has an absolutely fantastic collection of highly endangered freshwater turtles, which includes various rarely seen species such as at least five
Cuora species, at least two
Batagur species, Egyptian Tortoise, Forsten's Tortoise, Mary River Turtle, Big-Headed Amazon River Turtle, Southern New Guinea Giant Softshell Turtle, Sulawesi Forest Turtle, Bael's Four-Eyed Turtle, and Yellow-Headed Temple Turtle among others. Most of these are on-exhibit, though some are kept strictly off-show, however the reptile house has a window into their nursery room in where visitors can see many of the highly endangered species the zoo hatches. As for the giant tortoises, yeah SDZ has multiple species of Galápagos on-exhibit and yes their enclosures for them are larger than Bronx's, but SDZ isn't breeding any of those tortoises afaik, meanwhile Bronx has an active breeding program for Aldabra Giant Tortoise on-exhibit, and Volcán Darwin Giant Tortoise (
C. microphyes) off-exhibit. I know the zoo has also reintroduced at least Chinese Alligators and Puerto Rican Crested Toads back into the wild.
To be honest, if none of the rest were true, Bronx still wins in herps for me for one very important reason: They single-handedly saved the Kihansi Spray Toad from extinction. Yes SDZ does excellent work with the Critically Endangered Southern Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs off-exhibit, but Bronx was the zoo that actually grabbed some of the last wild spray toads from Tanzania before they went Extinct in the Wild. Yes Toledo was also instrumental in this program being the only other zoo to keep the founders alive and has had tremendous breeding success, but Bronx was the zoo that actually established the captive population. They then went on to crack captive breeding of them and have bred thousands since, now holding more individuals of this species than SDZ has of herps in general. The zoo also displays the species now, something SDZ does not do with their endangered amphibians, and has signage discussing their excellent success with the species. Their work isn't done, though, as the zoo continues to work in the Kihansi Gorge attempting to establish a reintroduced population back into the wild. They have experimented with solar powered misters and I believe have even sent a few frogs back into the wild already.
SDZ has an outstanding collection of herps, but the majority of them are there just for the sake of having a big collection. Bronx on the other hand, has a larger collection and the vast majority of them are present with a conservation message and for a captive breeding program.
~Thylo
) is correct! Incidentally, Bronx Zoo is 10th for annual attendance in the USA.