PREMiERdrum Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 10Besties Best Zoos Winners #1 Situated along the Scioto River, the Columbus Zoo's scenic location is ideal. Its known for its gorilla breeding program and expansive reptilian collection. Surprising are the wonderful aquarium exhibits, including the Manatee House, one of the first outside Florida to house these fascinating sea cows. Visitors also love Zoombezi Bay, a 22 acre water park, with incredible new state-of-the-art slides. 19,138 of 69,491 votes #2 The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, the 2nd oldest in the county, opened in 1875, and has been making animal and plant lovers happy ever since. It boasts over 400 species of animals and 3,000 varieties of plants. Penguin Days, slated in January and February, provide guests with a King's Penguin Parade throughout the park, and zoo-goers can also enjoy more than 12 heated indoor exhibits in the winter. http://www.10best.co...Vote/best-zoos/ Also, Columbus is now home to the largest elephant in North America: Hank! Hank the Asian Elephant is more than 15,000lbs and 9 and a half feet tall! He is the largest elephant in North America and thought to be one of the largest captive elephants in the world. We saw him for the first time today and he is quite impressive. The zoo is also home to three other elephants: Phoebe, Connie, and baby Beco. Some other pictures from this beautiful, sunny Sunday at the zoo: Polar Frontier, one of the zoo's polar bear sisters sleeping in the grass The zoo's other polar bear sleeping on the rocks American Black Bear in the North America region Another view of Hank, who lives in the AsiaQuest region Getting to know an African Lowland Gorilla An Amur Tiger sizes up some young visitors A trip to the zoo isn't complete without a spin on the historic 1914 Mangles Illions Grand Carousel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PREMiERdrum Posted March 11, 2012 Author Share Posted March 11, 2012 Hank also recently celebrated his birthday, and the zoo shared this video. You can really get a sense of his immense size here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersRZ Posted March 11, 2012 Share Posted March 11, 2012 I have never been to the Columbus Zoo. I really need to get up there sometime soon. But there are so many things to do between now and then. Especially with amusement park season upon us in the coming weeks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoaster Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 sandiego for years was # 1, now its the mega plex Columbus zoo, amusement park, water parks , golf courses oh my. Nice to see Cincinnati #2, If they had more land to expand it could be a tie with Columbus eventually, but with sandiego slipping ( and in all sense one of the best zoos), they will come back with something soon, to move back up in the ranks im sure. Kudos to Columbus zoo though way to go!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Excellent article and great pictures. I also want to put in a plug for the Toledo Zoo. I well remember seeing Chinese Pandas there back in 1988. A very nice zoo indeed, but with Columbus and Cincinnati so close... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 I made my way to the Cbus Zoo, last year and man that place is wonderful. Between the Bear area (with the Polar Bears' new digs) and the Tiger encounter, its wonderful. Having visited Cincinnati Zoo last week, I feel that it is great in its own way as well. The Rhino area (which was closed due to the winter) may be the nicest part. However, the new cat enclosure thats being built is sure to be just as nice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdawg1998 Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Excellent article and great pictures. I also want to put in a plug for the Toledo Zoo. I well remember seeing Chinese Pandas there back in 1988. A very nice zoo indeed, but with Columbus and Cincinnati so close... I loved Toledo Zoo when I went when I was around 8. They had a lot of cool exhibits and at the time had a dragons exhibit that was really neat. It was also very clean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastersRZ Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 The Cincinnati zoo has been doing a LOT to reinvest in new exhibits. Heck, from when I was younger and went on school field trips there to now, they`ve essentially built an entire new parking lot and front entrance to the zoo, and scores of new animal exhibits. I haven`t been there in the summer/spring in quite some time. I went there for Festival of Lights back in 2009, and was a little disapointed because of the lack of open animal exhibits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PREMiERdrum Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 sandiego for years was # 1, now its the mega plex Columbus zoo, amusement park, water parks , golf courses oh my. Kudos to Columbus zoo though way to go!!!! This is actually how they're advertising this season: The four different Columbus Zoo "Adventures". Obviously, the Zoo is one, Zoombezi Bay is another, joined by Safari Gold Course (more an adventure for dad, but I digress) and The Wilds (the gigantic wildlife center in Cumberland, which is now under the zoo's management). The ads are great so far. Excellent article and great pictures. Thank you! The pics were taken with my phone, as somebody didn't clear the card in our DSLR before we left. I'll again encourage everyone to consider a trip up to Columbus. It has the "charm", attention to detail, and cleanliness you'd normally only find at a Busch park. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PREMiERdrum Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 The Cincinnati zoo has been doing a LOT to reinvest in new exhibits. Heck, from when I was younger and went on school field trips there to now, they`ve essentially built an entire new parking lot and front entrance to the zoo, and scores of new animal exhibits. I haven`t been there in the summer/spring in quite some time. I went there for Festival of Lights back in 2009, and was a little disapointed because of the lack of open animal exhibits. This is where Columbus is very blessed: The zoo has a separate, "for profit" organization which operates Zoombezi Bay and Jungle Jacks Landing which essentially pumps the profits directly back into the zoo. The last major addition, 2010's Polar Frontier, was a $20Million investment which was spent building "just" three superb habitats (Polar Bears, Alaskan Brown Bears, and Arctic Fox) and an education center. The next major addition, African Savannah, will open in 2014 and complete the zoo's 10 year, $180Million master plan. The new Savannah will be 70 acres, nearly doubling the zoo's current 100 acre size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark6495 Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 sandiego for years was # 1, now its the mega plex Columbus zoo, amusement park, water parks , golf courses oh my. Kudos to Columbus zoo though way to go!!!! This is actually how they're advertising this season: The four different Columbus Zoo "Adventures". Obviously, the Zoo is one, Zoombezi Bay is another, joined by Safari Gold Course (more an adventure for dad, but I digress) and The Wilds (the gigantic wildlife center in Cumberland, which is now under the zoo's management). The ads are great so far. Excellent article and great pictures. Thank you! The pics were taken with my phone, as somebody didn't clear the card in our DSLR before we left. I'll again encourage everyone to consider a trip up to Columbus. It has the "charm", attention to detail, and cleanliness you'd normally only find at a Busch park. I did not realize the wilds are now under their "roof" of zoo exhibits. That place is wonderful, and it alone makes it #1 (in my opinion). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomTheater Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Excellent article and great pictures. I also want to put in a plug for the Toledo Zoo. I well remember seeing Chinese Pandas there back in 1988. A very nice zoo indeed, but with Columbus and Cincinnati so close... Back when Toledo was a dark tunnel, before bridgeing to the future. Ohio it's a Zoo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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