www.zoo.org
The primary links on the website are under the titles of Visit the Zoo, Animals & Plants, Conservation, For Educators, Camps & Programs, and Membership. This is a good selection as it makes it easy to access and clear that the zoo is involved in conservation programs. The animal fact sheets are not completely comprehensive, but they do feature mammals, birds, invertebrates, plants, reptiles and amphibians. The fact sheet pages include many of the animals featured in the zoo, but the bird section is the least complete list.
A downloadable and viewable PDF of the zoo map is available on the website.
Prices and hours:
May 1 - Sept 30 9:00am-6:00pm
Adult (13-64 years) $19.95
Child (3-12) $12.25
Toddler (0-2) Free
Senior (65+) & disabled, discount of $2 off regular admission.
October 1 - April 30 9:30am-4:00pm
Adult $13.75
Child $9.25
Toddler Free
Senior & disabled, same discount.
Zoo:
There is a bus stop very close to the entrance of the zoo, as well as returning ones right across the street, both are stops with shelters and places to sit. A sheltered bike rack is located right next to the entrance and there is a close parking option though it costs some money to park there. The entrance to the zoo is easily accessible for wheelchairs, though the ticket buying booths are a bit high up.
You are given a handheld map of the zoo upon ticket purchase.
Several conservation projects the zoo is involved in are pointed to immediately upon purchase of tickets. With your ticket you are given a little coin token to use to "vote" for one of six conservation projects displayed on what is essentially a huge donation box. The projects are for wild elephants, snow leopards, tigers, hornbills, and Oregon spotted frogs.
The amenities in the zoo are fairly evenly spaced out. There are two primary places to purchase and eat food, plus several snack carts spread around the zoo, though those are not always open. There are four-five separate picnic areas in the zoo for those who bring their own food and want to eat it outside. Nine bathrooms are scattered around the zoo, many in the food or entertainment/education buildings. The map has all of these things clearly marked and labeled. What is not labeled are all the small playground and statue areas where kids can play when they are tired of viewing animals. All these areas are themed with the exhibits they are near, like the hippo statue next to the hippo exhibit.
The playground near the tiger exhibit.
Exhibits:
Almost all the exhibits were appropriate for representing the animals' habitats, with plants and other structures depicting aspects of the wild areas in which they live.
Signage of the exhibits was fairly good, but not evenly so.
Exhibits with the best signs were the Humboldt penguins, snow leopards, Malayan tigers, grizzly/brown bears, northern river otters, Stellar's sea eagles, elk, orangutan, siamangs, meerkats, Komodo dragons, Chilean flamingos, Jaguars, and Gorillas.
The only places with bad or inconsistent signs were in the family farm area, tropical house and the day exhibit/reptile house. The tropical house had signs for almost all the species of birds, but they were often not located near the exhibits with those birds. The toucans had a sign with several species labeled on it, but none of those species were the ones in the exhibits. Very frustrating. The reptile house had a sign for every species, but several were obscured almost completely by the plants in the exhibit.
A fraction of the signs in the conservation area of the tiger exhibit.
There were areas of extra signs focused on the conservation aspects of the zoo and what people can do to help in a variety of ways. The signs are not always particularly obvious and sometimes out of the way of most people walking around, so I do not know how effective they are. The ones that were effective were the more interactive conservation focused signs and areas attached to exhibit viewing areas, like at the Malayan tiger exhibit. Though there were not many of these.
Disabled access for exhibit viewing was quite varied. Almost all of the newer exhibit areas were very accessible with many having glass windows all the way down to the ground. Older exhibits were more likely to have a higher railing that a tall person in a wheelchair could see over, but a shorter person or a child would not be able to.
Scattered around the zoo and regularly moving from place to place were zoo docents, both volunteer and staff, who were always happy to answer questions about exhibits and animals. They had the information on the animals they were near and not once did I feel like they were not approachable or not helpful. The only disappointment was them not being in the areas with the worst signs, like the tropical house.
The keeper talks/animal shows were also very competent and educational. Every keeper talk and show I attended included the conservation information on the animals and, if applicable, what organizations the zoo works with to help endangered species in the wild and how they do that. The talks were engaging and informative without being either dumbed down or going over the average person's comprehension. Some included props that could be passed around, and the bird of prey flight program catches the audience's attention with the birds flying from post to post around a small field and even right over the audience's heads. The flight program show was put together in a way that the trained tricks performed by the birds were more about exercise and showing the animal's natural abilities than about entertaining the crowd.
A keeper with a barn owl during the flight program.
There were various hands-on activities for kids and adults to participate with around the zoo, mostly attached to signs. There were also several staffed carts with educational materials such as animal skulls, furs, and claws where people can touch and learn about them from the staff member at the cart.
I noticed very little stereotyping behavior in the animals at the zoo. As I have said in my introductory post on this blog, what I observe in my single visit to each exhibit is not a complete understanding of the animals in it. There may be stereotyping behaviors I missed due to the animal sleeping or hiding off view. I can't really help that.
The animals I did observe repetitive behavior from were one of the two grizzly bears, several of the meerkats, and one sloth bear out of two. I saw possible stereotyping behaviors in the northern river otter (it would swim back and forth against the glass, but would also obviously follow and play with kids while doing so), one of the two Malayan tapirs (it would get up, shift, lie down and repeat, but the sign also stated the animals were currently under veterinary care, so possibly it was uncomfortable for some medical reason), one of the two southern screamers (it would pick up and toss sticks in a consistent way, but did not do so the entire time I watched).
Now the section for photographers.
Exhibits with an open air view of the animals (many of these also have glass viewing): penguins, wallaby & emu, bird feeding station (Willawong Station), small-clawed otters, sloth bears, gray wolves, grizzly bears, elk, raptor flight program, orangutan, siamang, Malayan tapir, warthogs, lions, patas monkeys, hippos, savannah aviary, African savannah exhibit, Family Farm area, orb weaver spider in the insect house, conservation aviary, waterfowl aviary, white-naped crane, hooded crane & bar-headed goose, red panda, Chilean flamingos, tropical aviary, red ruffed lemur, ring-tailed lemur, yellow-spotted side-necked turtle, African dwarf crocodile, Asian brown tortoise & three-banded armadillo, and radiated tortoise.
Exhibits with a view through glass (some also have chain link): kookaburra & others, snow leopard, Malayan tigers, northern river otters, Indian python, lion-tailed macaque, meerkats, flying foxes & springhare, two-toed sloth & tamandua anteater, Komodo dragon, insect house exhibits, jaguar, ocelot, emerald tree boa, poison dart frogs, tiger rat snake, golden lion tamarins, black and white colobus monkeys, gorillas, tree kangaroo, and most species in the day exhibit/reptile house.
Exhibits with view through mesh or just chain link: Asian aviary, porcupine, snowy owl, Stellar's sea eagles, kea, great gray owl, knobbed hornbill, conservation aviary, red-crowned crane, maned wolf, pudu, southern screamer, and many tropical house exhibits.
Overall I think this zoo does a pretty good job of informing the visitors of the conservation involved with the zoo. The signs are for the most part accurate and informative, and if people want more information the website has many animal fact sheets with all the accurate info. The docents and keepers are helpful and friendly and regularly move around from exhibit to exhibit so most places will at some point have someone there to answer questions. The animal shows and keeper talks are based in education over entertainment. Few animals exhibit stressed or stereotyping behaviors, and many exhibits are good for those who take photographs.
Last but not least, you do not have to exit through the gift shop.
Tiger sniffing face :)
