Zoo Review: The North Carolina Zoo
Since we had a little spare time on the way to Science Online 2009, we decided to stop at the North Carolina Zoo for a few hours. Despite the freezing temperatures and the zoo being not exactly “on the way” (try 1.5 hours past our destination), we still had a blast.
The zoo is divided into two parts: “North America” and “Africa”, which are connected by meandering trails. I was actually shocked at the size of the place. There are large spaces between most of the enclosures, as well as many of the enclosures themselves being quite large. Despite the face that the major of animals, particularly the African ones, were not out due to the cold we still got a good feel for the zoo overall, and both agreed it was one of the better zoos we had ever been to.
The exhibits are laid out in a logical manner, and are arrange in clusters by ecosystem as much as possible. As I mentioned before there is a lot of space between exhibits, which makes for a pleasant walking experience, good crowd control on busy days, and less stress for the animals (Example: At the Bronx Zoo the lions are in plain sight of the Thompson’s gazelle at all times, which I imagine makes the gazelle nervous and the lions frustrated). Much of the space is forest, and a decent attempt is made both at attractive artwork and informative signs in the non-exhibit space.
River otter at the streamside exhibit
Many animals, particularly the grazing and herding animals have simply enormous areas to themselves. The bison and elk share many acres of land and seem to be able to avoid each other when they want to. The chimps and baboons likewise have large three dimensional areas, both inside and outside. The crowning glory, however, was the African savanna/elephant habitat. Despite all the animals being inside in the warm when we were there, the area they have for them is just stunning. We emerged from the African Pavillion to a balcony overlooking what seemed like endless grasslands on which countless grazing animals could roam. This is a far cry from the Philadelphia zoo, where two elephant share a grassless, shadeless, concrete yard.
My only complaint in the habitat size is for some of the larger carnivores, particularly the cougars, lions, and red wolves. I felt that they really could have used some more space to roam around in, although I am ambivilant about keeping large carnivores in zoos at all, even in the best of conditions.
Some of the most memorable attractions were the Sonoran Desert exhibit, a huge glass dome in which many beautiful plants and animals of the American southwest were housed, and the African Pavillion which was a riot of jungle plants and animals, all cleverly seperated but giving the impression that you really were strolling through the jungle with animals all around you. Sadly, we were told the African Pavillion is to be torn down due to problems with the aging structure, but I hope they put something in similar in it’s place, as it was a delight to visit. We did not have time to stop at the aviary, although from what I have heard it was equally spectacular.
Angry humming bird in the Sonoran Desert enclosure
On the whole, it is a zoo definitely worth visiting, and we got a good vibe about how they treat their animals. They even have a school program for high school students, and a wildlife rehab facility on-site. The only real negative was, as I said, a few small enclosures for carnivores (though at least they have plenty of room to expand into someday). Also, the sheer size of the zoo means that it takes a long time to get from one end to the other, and a long time to see everything, so I recommend setting aside most of the day in which to take it all in, and making sure you leave enough time to get back to your car at the end of the visit.
I hope to go back when it’s warm enough to see more of the animals, and with more time to explore all the nooks and crannies.
Size: Large
Cost: $10 for adults, $8 for students, $6 for children
Animal care/health: A
Variety of animals: B (North America and Africa only, but unusual species from each)
Staff helpfulness: A
Enclosure size: B+
Educational value: A
Handicap access: A+
Overall rating: A
What a great review of the zoo! It is my favourite. And the small enclosures, built initially when the zoo opened, are one by one being replaced by bigger enclosures as fast as the money allows. Last year, for several months, the zoo also had an experimental Australia exhibit. Short term goal is to make the two existing continents perfect in terms of enclosure size and welfare of the animals, while loooong-term goals is to expand over thousands of wooded acres that zoo owns and add all the other continents. I think you will enjoy reading the Zoo Director’s blog – that is THE blog to go to when there are zoo-related news (e.g., during natural disasters when people are wondering how the local animals, zoos, aquariums and farms are affected): http://russlings.blogspot.com/
Here is my review from last fall: http://blogs.discovery.com/deep_sea_news/2008/09/asheboro-zoo-is.html.
I thought very highly of it too, sad to hear the Pavillion will be taken down.
Anyways, it great to meet you!
I’ve never been to this zoo but your description of it makes me want to put it on my list for a future visit. Very nice photos.
The fact that the Thompson’s Gazelles are in plain view of the lions is intentional and in fact it is an awesome concept. It causes both gazelle and lion to act very naturally as they would in the wild, so don’t think of it as a bad thing.