Today I’m leaving for a 3 day excursion to Kansas.  This afternoon I’ll be taking a nice break from the road by visiting the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri.  Tomorrow (Saturday) I’ll be at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita.  The following day, Kansas City is my destination.  I’ll be doing a book signing at both Kansas zoos so if you’re in the neighborhood – please stop by!  Back with interviews and pictures early next week!

Bruce Bohmke, Deputy Director of Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo is my guest for episode #2. Woodland Park opened a spectacular new penguin exhibit on May 1st! Penguins adds to the rich history of stunning habitats already found at the zoo. The exhibit itself, and the story of its construction are fascinating and we discuss both. Bruce also touches on the elephant controversy at the zoo, as well as the upcoming new West Entry. Enjoy!

No photos to post this time! The zoo has their own site with great pictures and video. The media kit is also an extensive resource. To find out what else is going on at Woodland Park, check out their blog.

In addition to Brookfield, I had the pleasure of visiting the wonderful St. Louis Zoo last week as well. I went on a photographic safari with a good friend, and we had success – over 1,500 shots between us! It had been 3 years since my last visit, and it was great to be back. St. Louis has an intimate charm around the grounds, mixing the creative architectural structures of Historic Hill with cutting edge habitats like River’s Edge and Penguin/Puffin Coast. The collection is tough to beat, with only an extensive aquarium missing. We had heard about a few zoo babies and weren’t disappointed. Most, like the kudu, takin, and camel were in the Red Rocks area, but the otter, sifaka, prairie dog, and penguin youngsters were just as cute.

Even better was the opportunity to see both of the zoo’s elephant calves – Maliha and Jade. Both contracted the deadly EEHV virus, a mysterious disease of which the origins are unknown and survival rates are dismal. Amazingly, despite past minimal success in zoos, through intense care and antibiotics, both elephants recovered.

Jade has an especially difficult early life, as first time mom Rani refused nursing. Jade is now growing up with grandma Ellie and her daughter Maliha. When the zoo opened, the elephant area of River’s Edge was off limits, so Jade could be re-introduced to the herd. Keepers had set aside 2 hours for them to once again settle together. It took less than 45 minutes for caretakers to allow visitors to view the re-united pair.

No new exhibits opening this year, but a seasonal stingray touch pool is set near the zoo’s center.  These touch areas have been a temporary treat at many zoos around the country, but not all offer feeding.  Stingrays of Caribbean Cove at St. Louis presents that opportunity and no matter how many times I do it, having a stingray gently suck a shrimp from between my fingers is always exhilarating.  Don’t pass it up if you get the chance!

A few photos from the safari:

River's Edge starts off with an energetic quartet of rarely seen bush dogs

Maliha, Jade, and Ellie in the herd yard

The smallest species of bear, the sun bear

The famous 1904 Flight Cage has been renovated into a lush Cypress swamp

Underwater viewing at Hippo Harbor presents intense photographic opportunities

A huge Reticulated python resides in the Reptile House

We caught feeding time for the penguins!

Monsanto Insectarium has one of the best collections of insects and arachnids around.

Every spring or fall, Brookfield Zoo hosts a series of lectures. The latest series: Making Natural Connections perked my interest, so I purchased a ticket to each of the three talks. The connections in question where those of children, and each speaker discussed at length the importance of children developing a healthy and consistent relationship with nature.

The first lecture was by Richard Louv, whose book, Last Child in the Woods uses the phrase “nature deficit disorder” to characterize the drastic shift of nature’s presence in young children. Last Child is a wonderful read, even if you don’t have children. I highly recommend picking it up.

In April, Dr. Ruth Wilson addressed how the aforementioned “disorder” adversely affects kids and ultimately our planet. Her research made it abundantly clear the importance of creating a strong ecological identity at a very young age.

Finally, Dr. Robin Moore and Dr. Nilda Cosco, co-founders of North Carolina State University’s Natural Learning Initiative spoke on creating child friendly nature spaces. Citing several case studies, including Brookfield’s own Hamill Family Play Zoo (a stunning, revolutionary idea), Dr’s. Moore and Cosco identified the aspects of public spaces which help create the natural sense of wonder in kids.

Even though the series focus was not directly on zoos, there is a direct connection to why zoos are so important. Education is at the forefront of a zoos purpose, and not just teaching about animals, but all facets of nature. Quite a bit of perspective gained from three angles of the same issue.

After the final lecture, I had the great honor of presenting a book to Dr. George Rabb. As longtime head, Dr. Rabb brought Brookfield into prominence as one of the world’s foremost conservation organizations. Despite knowing him personally only through a couple brief encounters, it is amazing how much he has impacted my life.

As for the actual visit to my beloved Brookfield, it was partly saddened by the loss of Affie. Brookfield certainly has a history of iconic animals – Ziggy the elephant, Samson the gorilla, Cookie the cockatoo, and Olga the walrus – and Affie belongs near the top of that list. Just one month shy of her annual public birthday celebration, Affie passed away. It comes at an unfortunate time since the zoo is nearly finished with an expanded outdoor elephant yard, serving as the new space until the completion of the future Elephant Trails project. Nevertheless, Brookfield remains a magical place for any visitor and a leader in conservation education in world zoos.

Here are a few photos from the day!

Lee Ehmke, Director of the Minnesota Zoo has the distinction of being the first interview guest for the blog! As will be the case for most of the interviews which take place in the near future, the focus was on the new exhibits opening this year at the zoo. At this fabulous Apple Valley institution, that would be Woodland Adventure, a brand new children’s play area, and Africa on the Savanna, a temporary Southern Hemisphere addition to the zoo’s Northern Trail.

I also had the pleasure of discussing:

Grizzly Coast, an extraordinary exhibit added in 2008
Lee’s career path and how he ended up in Minnesota
Future projects at the zoo……..and more!

Here are a few photos taken at the Minnesota Zoo which show some of the things Lee and I talk about.

Underwater viewing of bears at Grizzly Coast

Sichuan takin on Northern Trail

Wild boar in Grizzly Coast

Grizzly Coast finishes with rare Amur leopards

Central Plaza Fountain with gold sculptures of Grizzly Coast species

Welcome to the America’s Best Zoos blog and podcast site! This blog is intended to serve as a continuing update to the book America’s Best Zoos: A Travel Guide. A brief description of the book and link to the website is below. I’ll be blogging on all my zoo visits, with plenty of pictures of course, as well as interviewing zoo experts and leaders on the latest news at their zoos and more. Look for more visual changes and weekly updates very soon. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions for future posts. Enjoy the blog as we get ready for the summer zoo season!

Jon

ABZ was published in May of 2008 by the Intrepid Traveler as a companion for visiting zoos all around the United States. A total of 97 zoos are in the book, with 60 featured in several page chapters. There are also tips for visiting zoos, lively photographs, 21 lists to help steer guests toward their animal preferences, and plenty of tips to make each zoo visit unforgettable. Check out our website and if you haven’t bought the book yet, you can go right to Amazon.