I was quite excited as I planned my visit to Denver Zoo in Colorado. This was my first visit to a zoo in continental North America, and I was anxious to compare it to the zoos that I had already visited in Japan, Korea, Thailand, and India. Spread out over an area of 32 hectares (80 acres), the zoo is bounded on the south by a city park, on the north by a golf course, and on the east and west by residential areas. The Monday of my visit happened to be a national holiday in the United States (Memorial Day), and the zoo was full of families with young children.
This
zoo has a history of more than 100 years, and is said to have originated with a
gift of a black bear to the mayor of Denver City in 1896. With this in mind, perhaps I should have
started my visit at the “Bear Mountain”, but I decided to do a circuit of the
zoo traveling in a clockwise direction starting with the big cats. I will describe the main areas roughly in the
order in which I encountered them.
Benson Predator Ridge
The first complex of
enclosures I saw in this area featured spaces that were commonly used (at
different times) by lions, hyenas, and wild dogs. The occupants are rotated among this group of
connected exhibit areas in order to provide the animals with mental and
physical stimulation. This rotation is
designed to replicate the wild where these three groups of animals take turns
occupying territory in the African savanna.
When the animals enter each space, they smell the odors left behind by
the other groups of animals, and it alerts them to the presence of
the other predators, same as in the wild. The photo below is of one of these shared
spaces. On the day of my visit, it was
the hyenas’ turn to be in this particular space.
Sign explaining the animal rotation.
Striped
Hyena
African
Wild Dog
Next,
I saw the enclosure for the Kirk’s Dik-Dik.
Kirk’s
Dik-Dik, a small and cute animal.
The
below Lion artwork was constructed of 56,408 plastic Lego bricks.
Giraffe
enclosure
Okapi
enclosure
Felines
This area mostly featured indoor exhibits that had large glass windows, housing smaller to medium-sized animals such as Red Pandas, Servals, and an Amur Leopard. Somehow, whenever I see one of these indoor exhibits with glass windows, I am reminded of the fancy department store window displays in the Umeda shopping area. No matter how realistically and skillfully the interiors are decorated, they still look man-made and artificial. Maybe it’s the lighting.
Exhibit for Fossa
Snow Leopard Enclosure: outdoors, but a relatively small caged area
The Siberian (Amur) Tiger enclosure included a large open area that was planted with many shrubs and temperate climate trees.
During my visit, I learned that Denver Zoo will be opening a new, larger tiger area in the Fall of 2016. The new enclosure will include an outdoor area 50% larger than the present tiger exhibit, and will feature elevated walkways where tigers can walk directly above visitors’ heads.
Educational
signs placed around the exhibit were very colorful, eye-catching, and
informational.
Northern Shores
This area was home to a Polar
Bear and North American River Otters.
Educational
signs located at Polar Bear enclosure
Tropical Discovery
Located in a climate-controlled
building, this area showcased various reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. The humidity inside this building was
noticeably higher than outside, a fact that the visitor will notice immediately
when either entering or exiting this structure.
Many of the specimens were housed in enclosures with glass walls that
resembled large terrariums. Judging by
the condensation on some of these glass-walled exhibits, I would venture to say
that the individual exhibits were climate-controlled to a degree even more than
the visitors’ areas.
Simulated
tropical rainforest environment
Tropical
fish aquarium
Komodo
Dragon
Toyota Elephant Passage
Sponsored
in part by Denver area Toyota dealers, this area is described on the zoo
homepage as the “crown jewel of Denver Zoo”, with “two miles of interconnected
trails on 10 acres of varied terrain”…”one of the largest and most-complex
elephant habitats in North America.” It
features five enclosures through which Asian elephants, greater one-horned
rhinos, and Malaysia tapirs can be rotated.
The
photo below shows a bridge which animals use to move from one area to another. I
wish I had been able to see an elephant or rhinoceros walking across that
bridge. It must be quite awesome.
Large
amphitheater where elephant demonstrations are held.
Elephant
enclosures
This
area included a reproduction of a Thai village. There was even a Tuktuk taxi cart.
List
of people who donated to support this exhibit area. There were similar signs throughout the zoo
at various exhibits acknowledging the support of donors.
Gibbon
island
Northern
White-Cheeked Gibbon
Hippopotamus
Bird World
The
main part of this section was contained in a large building.
The
first few exhibits looked like the type of diorama displays you would expect to
see at a museum - except that the specimens here were alive.
Snowy-headed
Robin Chat
Micronesian
Kingfisher
The
more interesting parts of this building were designed as walk-through immersion
exhibits so that visitors could walk in among the birds. These areas included
real trees and flowers (among some artificial trees and plants) and the birds
could fly around with a certain level of freedom. I suppose the minus for the birds would be
the frequent stress of having humans standing at very near proximity.
Nicobar
Pigeon
Golden-breasted
Starling
Blue-crowned
Laughing Thrush
Blue
and Gold Macaw
Another
walk-through immersion exhibit.
In
this area, I met a Crested Wood Partridge.
He
must be quite accustomed to humans at close range. He seemed to want a handout or something,
coming close enough to peck at my shoes.
In
this area, I also spotted another moocher.
This small mouse was eating food that had fallen from the bird feeder
above.
Other
exhibit spaces displayed birds such as this Rhinocerous Hornbill
Inca
Tern
Chestnut-backed
Thrush
Blue-breasted
Kingfisher
Exiting
the building, there was a flock of African Penguins immediately outside.
On
the side of the building, there was an enclosure for the Double-wattled
Cassowary.
Cinereous
Vulture
American
Flamingoes and Chilean Flamingoes
Primate Panorama
The
entrance to this area reminded me of the entrance to the “Jurassic Park” area
of Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka.
Colorful
signs
They
are educational too!
Another
sign acknowledging financial donors and sponsors
Indoor
glass-window exhibits. These exhibits
contained the smaller primates.
The
Orangutan area was quite large and featured very large, fully grown trees.
Orangutan
Sign
comparing primates to humans
Indoor
area for Orangutans
Lowland
Gorilla exhibit
Sign
explaining human-gorilla conflicts that occur in African farming communities.
Bear Mountain
Brown
Bear enclosure
Monkey Island
This island was amazing
because the only barrier preventing a monkey escape was a water moat
surrounding a small island covered with trees and shrubs.
Hooded
Capuchin
Educational Efforts
The
zoo map contained a long list of daily zookeeper narrated shows, demonstrations,
and feedings. Although I didn’t see any
of them, I was told that these were very entertaining and informative. There
were many uniformed volunteers stationed throughout the zoo, and they all seemed
enthusiastic to provide tidbits of information regarding their particular
exhibits. There was a gentleman at the
polar bear enclosure holding a piece of fur that visitors were encouraged to
touch, a man stationed at the elephant enclosure who provided many interesting
details about the display artifacts imported from Thailand, and a woman who had
been a volunteer for about 30 years who gave me a brief history of the zoo.
Many
exhibits featured decorated props that made the messages more interesting and
easier to understand.
And
there were numerous educational signs placed throughout the zoo. The sign below asked visitors to not harass
the animals such as the geese and peafowls that roamed freely throughout the
zoo.
This
sign at the camel’s enclosure explained how to remember the difference between
Dromedary and Bactrian Camels.
This
small sign explained the zoo’s use of recycled water.
There
was a complex of tent structures. I was
told that educational sleepovers for children are very popular.
Rubbish
containers for recycling
There
were also a number of sculptures throughout the zoo grounds.
Opportunities for Animal
Encounters
I
was told by one volunteer that this zoo stopped conducting “petting zoo”
activities because of the stress it placed on the animals. The zoo map does mention opportunities to
hand-feed the Giraffes, a “Be a Zookeeper” zone for children, and the “Lorikeet
Adventure”.
The
“Lorikeet Adventure” was a large walk-in caged enclosure housing dozens of the
small birds. Visitors can put what
appears to be syrup water into a tiny paper cup and hold out their arms to
offer the syrup water to the Lorikeets.
The birds fly to the visitors, perch on their hands, and sip the syrup
water. I don’t know how the birds are
trained to do this, or even if training is required, but it makes for a great
effect. Most visitors are visibly
excited by the experience, and some even forget the staff’s instructions to not
make loud noises, ending up squealing with delight.
Food and Souvenirs
The
zoo map indicates that there are 9 food concessions and 3 souvenir shops within
the zoo. From what I could tell, the
food concessions offered a variety of different types of foods. The photo below shows the exterior of the
“Kamala Café”.
I
had lunch at the “Samburu Grille” where I enjoyed pepperoni pizza at $3.75 per
slice and a bottle of orange juice for $3.50.
Exterior
of the “Kibongi Market”, the souvenir shop adjacent to the zoo entrance/exit.
The
“Soi Street Market”, which is opened only on days when the weather is nice.
Getting There
The
zoo is about 4 miles from the downtown part of Denver where my hotel was
located. Since there weren’t any train
lines near the zoo, and since I was unfamiliar with the local bus lines, I
caught a taxi. I paid about $12 each way.
Admission to the zoo was $17
for people aged 12 to 64, $12 for children aged 3 to 11, and $14 for seniors
aged 65+.
(Note:
The photos used in this post were taken during a visit on May 30, 2016. The comments in this post are based on
observations made on that day.
Conditions may have since changed.
Please check it out for yourself!)
