Continuing yesterday’s start to a tour of the Naples Zoo…
Disembarking from the Primate Expedition Cruise, visitors
continue along a meandering trail.
Animal exhibits are spaced out along it, including two
seldom-encountered African carnivores – honey badgers (in an enclosure that it
looks like you would need a tank to break through, keeping with the
destructive, Houdini-like reputation of the animals) and a striped hyena. For both species, this was only the second
time that I had seen them (and a first for seeing a honey badger on
exhibit).
Right around the corner for the honey badgers is a giraffe
exhibit, including a feeding station.
Unlike every other giraffe feeding station I’ve ever seen, this one has
visitors standing at ground level while the giraffes reach over the fence to
take food. It doesn’t quite give you
that elevated, unobstructed view that I typically enjoy while seeing giraffes,
but watching the world’s tallest animal bend over to take food from you does
give a realization of just how tall they are.
Compared to all of the other exhibits at the Naples Zoo, I found this
one to be kind of bland and uninspired, though to fair giraffes don’t usually
go for lots of complexity in their habitats.
Also, I believe this is one of the areas slated for improvement in the
new master plan.
Further down the trail there are pythons (Burmese and
reticulated – both species of concern in the Everglades due to their invasive
presences), coyotes, sitatunga, duiker, and black-crowned cranes. Malayan tigers inhabit a lush yard with a
pool, and can be viewed up close through windows. Fossa, an arboreal puma-like predator that is
closely related to the mongooses, can be found in what I consider to be one of –
if not the – best exhibit for the species I’ve ever seen. It’s big with lots of climbing opportunities
to encourage activity, while still providing the sometimes-secretive predators
with lots of hiding spaces. Their
natural prey – red-ruffed lemurs – is found in an adjacent exhibit.
The highlights for most visitors are the two exhibits of
Florida’s largest land carnivores. The
first houses Florida panthers. Until
recently, the zoo was home to Uno, a beloved blind Florida panther who was
rescued from the wild (since deceased).
Like Uno, the current cat is also a non-releasable rescue from the
wild. Just north of the zoo is Big
Cypress National Park, the place that gives you probably your best opportunity
in the world to glimpse one of these cats in the wild. Down the path from the panther is Black Bear Hammock. Naples Zoo rivals Turtle Back Zoo in my mind
for the best exhibit of American black bear.
Like Turtle Back, the exhibit here focuses on living with bears – the zoo’s
bears inhabit a replicated backyard, including a picnic table in which (I’m so
mad I didn’t get my camera out in time) one of the bears periodically sits on
the bench with her paws on the tabletop just like a person). Signage surrounding the exhibit focuses on
teaching visitors about human-bear conflict and steps that they can take to
protect bears from people and themselves from bears. The lessons of living with local animals are
further highlighted across the path at the Backyard
Wildlife Habitat and play area.
Complimenting the animals throughout the zoo are the
magnificent gardens. I can imagine how
easy it would have been for the gardens to have been totally lost in the
conversion from botanical garden to zoo, all plowed under to make way for new
habitats. Thankfully much of the greenery
has been preserved, with the animal exhibits incorporated into the plantings
The zoo is in the midst of an ambitious master plan, dubbed
the “Roaring Into Our Future” campaign.
Some projects – like the habitats for Florida panther, clouded leopard,
and ruffed lemur – are already completed.
Others are on the horizon, such as a habitat for American flamingos and
a South American grasslands area. As
befits a zoo that started out as a garden, there will also be lots of
horticultural work, as well as preservation and renovation of some of the
historic structures that predate the zoo.
Most importantly, the zoo will be adding a much-needed hospital. The zoo will continue to grow, but carefully
and cautiously, with plenty of consideration of the lush landscape that it
inhabits, and not losing sight of its origins – as a garden, a place of tranquility
and wonder… with a few animals added in.
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