It's a zoo out there

[aome]

Do you like going to the zoo? Which zoo has been your favorite, of different ones you’ve visited? Do you have a favorite wild animal (or three) that you always prioritize seeing?

For me, hands down, the best zoo I’ve been to is the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. So many different viewing points, there were hardly any times when you couldn’t see the target animal at all, and the enclosures were spacious, natural-feeling, and generally thoughtfully done for the animal’s comfort. Pity it’s several thousand miles away at the moment. :-P

As for favorite animals – I’ll see pretty much anything, and usually go along for other people’s favorites. My teen son has always adored penguins, so if those are available, we have to see them. My SIL loves cats, so we always make sure to see those. (My favorite big cat is the cheetah.) But I also enjoy elephants, giraffes, strange little rodents, reptiles/amphibians, primates, otters, kangaroos – pretty much anything.

What about you?

Comments

[shadowhive]

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a zoo, but I love seeing stuff like penguins 🖤 I went to the sea life centre a few months back (which is an aquarium) and they usually have some but their enclosure was being improved so they weren’t there.

That sounds great! I’d love to go to that

I’d love to see koalas cause I’ve never seen any yet. Or platypus. It’s funny you mention otters, the last time went went to a zoo we went inside a building to escape the rain and as soon as we went in we heard loud noises. It turned out they were coming from two otters on the other side of the building! I had no idea they could be so loud!

[aome]

I remember one time we were at the Philadelphia Zoo (the nearest one to me) and, as we were approaching the River Otters' enclosure, there was a HUGE racket. Like you, I had no idea otters could be so screechy!

The only times I've seen koalas in zoos, they've been sleeping all curled up on a branch somewhere, so I've never gotten a good look. I'd love to see a platypus, too someday - they're just such fascinating creatures.

[naath]

I love zoos! My favourite animal is the red panda; and I have visited zoos across Europe to see them (favourite zoo fact, Berlin has two).

[aome]

My son has a stuffed red panda, which his sister gave to him (from a visit to another zoo on a field trip). They definitely look neat!

Berlin has two zoos? Wow!

[naath]

I have, uh.... a dozen red panda plush? I luff red pandas.

Berlin has 2 zoos for historical reasons. The East Berlin zoo has red pandas (but is generally a less nice zoo), the West Berlin zoo does not.

[aome]

That's ok - my son has about a zillion plush penguins. :D

And, duh - I should have realised why Berlin would have two zoos. :P

[naath]

It's obvious once you know it

[sorchasilver]

Red pandas are one of my favourites too.

[petrea_mitchell]

I love my local zoo! It wound up being the last thing I visited on a day out before my region went to stay-at-home. While it's closed, the keepers have been doing talks of Facebook Live three times a week and then posting them on their YouTube channel along with shorter videos.

My favorite animals are all the cats, but my favorite exhibits at that zoo are its aviaries, where you are inside the habitat with no walls between you and the birds.

The most impressive zoo I've ever been to has to be Disney's Animal Kingdom. Marketing for it has tried to turn focus on the other attractions in recent years, but... it's still a pretty damn impressive zoo.

[aome]

The Philadelphia Zoo has been doing videos, too - I think my SIL has been watching them.

And good point; I tend not to think of AK as a zoo, but of course it is, just a cleverly disguised one. The safari ride is one of my favourites, but the nature walks are nice, too.

[ninetydegrees]

I love seeing all kinds of animals but I hate them being a zoo or an aquarium, no matter how much space or whatever they have and even when they're endangered species or extinct in the wild because it's a reminder that *we* did that, so I have a love-hate relationship with zoos :)

I find all animals beautiful and fascinating but some of my favorite ones are reptiles, antelopes (particularly oryxes and kudus), foxes, lynxes, water mammals (like otters!) and sharks. I've seen some vultures a couple years ago which looked very different from the ones I'd seen before and they were so gorgeous. Didn't expect to love them so much. :)

[light_of_summer]

I also generally feel saddened by the thought of animals confined in zoos.

I'm more able to enjoy small fish and (most) invertebrates in aquariums, perhaps because I imagine (most of) them have less capacity for suffering than vertebrates. (Octopi are an exception.)

My favorite creatures to watch in aquariums are rays, because they move like they are dancing in slow motion.

[ninetydegrees]

This is a very good way of describing rays. They truly look majestic and graceful.

[aome]

I know - it's a tough thing, the whole zoo concept, which is why I started off with "Do you like going to the zoo" because I know for some people, it's NOT a happy thing to see animals enclosed, no matter how nice the enclosure.

Have you had the opportunity to see some of those animals in the wild? Vultures, I imagine, and maybe foxes? What else? :)

[ninetydegrees]

Nope, I haven't actually. Some of them don't live in my country, others naturally shy away from humans or are nocturnal.

[autobotscoutriella]

Not precisely a zoo, but I've been to Shedd Aquarium several times and it's always on my list of Places I Need To Go Visit Again! I always have to see the sharks and the otters. Really, no matter what zoo I go to, I need to see their aquarium. Penguins! Otters! Sharks! Rays!

When I was a kid, my favorites were the ring-tailed lemurs. I have no memory as to why, but they're super fun to watch. We always have to go see the cats, too, and for my sister, if there's budgies or parrots, we have to go see them. (Which, since I'm slightly afraid of large birds, is my least favorite part of the zoo, especially when it's an open aviary and they tend to fly past your head--but she's my little sister and I can't say no!)

[light_of_summer]

😃 Rays!

[autobotscoutriella]

Rays are lovely to watch--very soothing. I used to live (relatively) near a zoo that had a shark and ray tunnel, where you could just watch them swim by overhead, and my family used to leave me in the shark tunnel, go do something else, and come back to collect me once they decided I'd had enough aquarium for the day :D

[light_of_summer]

😃/\😃

[aome]

I once saw a ray feeding time and it was the weirdest thing ever - because apparently they use suction against the walls of their tank to nab their food, so it looks literally like a giant wall of rays as they all slurp all over the glass wall at the same time!

[aome]

I agree - sharks, rays, otters and penguins are all awesome. :D (Hammerhead sharks are my favorite sharks - they're just so strange-looking!)

I know the Camden aquarium (only about an hour from me) is supposed to be awesome, but Camden isn't the greatest town, so I've never ventured down to see it.

[autobotscoutriella]

Hammerheads are so weird they're amazing! I've spent a lot of time lately watching the Monterey Bay Aquarium livecams--they have some smaller hammerheads in their Open Sea exhibit. (And also a dedicated Shark Cam, which provides endless entertainment for both me and the cat. She can't tell how big the fish are from the screen...)

I hope you get a chance to go see it someday!

[brumeier]

That's a tough question. I've been to a few zoos in my day, and I generally have a good time. I like the big cats, and little weirdos like lemurs. Not sure I can say which has been my favorite.

What I can tell you is my least favorite zoo. When my family went to Las Vegas in 1993 we took a day to drive to Oatman, Arizona to wander around and pet the wild donkeys. On the way back we stopped at a roadside zoo. And it was awful. Just a random collection of tiny cages with too-big animals stuffed inside them. I've never forgotten it, or how bad I felt for all those poor animals.

A good zoo does a lot for education and rehabilitation, and even helping bring some species back from the endangered list. They give the animals plenty of space and a habitat that mimics the one they'd have in nature. But bad zoos need to be shut down, and those animals rescued.

[aome]

I haven't been for a number of years, but one zoo that is surprisingly not-great is the National Zoo in DC - and I'm not sure how much they can do about that because it's in a city and thus limited for space. But the last time I went, maybe a decade ago, the animals still had pretty small, uninteresting enclosures. Not cages, necessarily, but definitely not big enough for what they deserved.

[brumeier]

Poor animals. This is why I can't watch that Tiger King show. Hurts my heart.

[green_knight]

I don't know that I have a favourite zoo. But I have a favourite conference (this year: cancelled) which takes place all over the world, alternating the US with a non-US location. When I can attend (every few years at best), I go to the conference... and I go to a zoo. It has become the Thing I Do.

I was unlucky in Sienna; but I've been to Washington DC, Berlin, and Paris in that way. If this year had happened (Oxford; I used to live there), I would have gone to the Cotswolds wildlife park and garden, which I adore. Their wolf enclosure puts you on a walkway high above, so you don't just see a fence, and you can observe the pack dynamics without disturbing them.

While I definitely like zebras, big cats, and tapirs, my main criterium is 'able to photograph'. I'll take a smaller zoo with good access over a large one with small and heavily fenced enclosures.

One of the most memorable installations was the orang-utan ropeway in Washington, DC. It's a bunch of cables that connects two parts of their enclosure and goes right over the head of visitors. Some take it sedately, some swing along and grapple and jump. Absolutely mesmerizing. And free!

[aome]

Clearly the National Zoo has done some updates in recent years because I don't remember the orangutan ropeway at all! The Philly zoo has something similar - mesh tubes that criss-cross certain parts of the zoo and allow the big cats (and I think there's a separate set for the big apes) to wander around, right over your heads. :)

[kelly_chambliss]

I am a major zoo fan from years back. I know the very idea of them can be controversial these days, but I will never lose my love for them. And I think they can be done humanely and ethically. Giraffes, elephants, gorillas, cats, reptiles. . .I like them all.

Pick a favorite? I'm not sure I can. I suppose I feel closest to the zoo of my childhood, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in Ohio; I always feel a sense of homecoming when I visit.

[aome]

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Clearly the quarantine has eaten my brain cells because I first read this as the Cleveland Muppets Zoo, lol!

I think it's lovely that you have a zoo "home." :-)

[magnetic_pole]

I've just recently discovered how much I enjoy watching animals via video. There's something very calming about watching sentient beings go about their business while completely ignoring ours. I've been enjoying:

The Oregon Zoo in Intagram:
https://www.instagram.com/oregonzoo/

The web cams at the National Zoo:
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams

And a few years ago I watched the eaglets here in DC like it was my job (click for highlights):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wl3qRBbsJI&list=PL9GASeDrFe3IAIAVkfKuLGsDfWukNH6o9&index=6&t=0s

[aome]

Thanks for the links!

I imagine it's rather nice being a wild animal (or even a zoo animal) at the moment - fewer people around to harass you (I've heard animals are having a virtual party in national parks at the moment) and you can be completely oblivious to the global pandemic. Wouldn't that be nice? :P

[ruuger]

One of the biggest online events in Finland every year is the launch of Norppalive, which is a webcam of a rock where endagered freshwater seals like to hang out :)

And if you like birds nesting, you might like these osprey nest cams: https://www.luomus.fi/fi/luomuksen-saaksikamerat

[write_out]

I've always loved the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle; I grew up in the area and trips there were always a special treat. The otters and elephants were always my favorite exhibits. I last went a few years ago and was pleased at the many improvements in the various habitats.

I live in Maine now and I'm partial to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray; they take in wild animals that can no longer live in the wild (they've been injured or raised by humans, kept as illegal pets). I've only been once, but really enjoyed it.

[aome]

Those sound like two very different but wonderful experiences!