In the 1980s, Dr. Theodore Reed, Director of the Smithsonian National Zoo, popularized his concept of the BioPark. The BioPark would be the combination of a zoo, aquarium, botanical garden, and natural history museum, so basically my four favorite things in the world all wrapped up in one place. The concept has always enchanted me, but never really seems to have caught on. There are some zoos which are combined with aquariums, or botanical gardens, but in most of these cases, the aquatic or botanical collection seems small and tacked on, sort of an afterthought. And I've rarely seen a zoo lean into the natural history side of the concept.
One such facility, which has always intrigued me and which I'd been very excited to visit, is the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. To give it its proper name, it's actually the Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History... but I guess that's slated to change soon. For the past forty years, the zoo has housed over 150 mounted specimens, originally collected by hunter-businessman Henry Brockhouse ("Delbridge" was the lawyer who bought the collection at an estate sale and deonated it to the city to enjoy). As was common in that era, specimens were preserved using toxic chemicals, which can be hazardous to humans. The decision has been made to close the Delbridge Museum and ship out the collection in the near future.
Many local residents are sad to see the collection go - as am I. While I greatly prefer seeing live animals, both in the zoo and in their natural environment, seeing preserved specimens also has great educational value. The museum also gives visitors the chance to see animals that the zoo does not/never will have, such as giant panda and walrus, in an educational setting. I still hope to visit the zoo at some point in the future, but I'll admit, I'm a fair bit less excited now. I feel like it's about to lose something that truly made this a unique facility. Sort of like how I felt when the National Zoo closed its unique, incredible Invertebrate House. Granted, the fate of each, individual specimen hasn't been decided yet - maybe a few can be saved for historical/legacy purposes in Sioux Falls, while others could find new homes at other museums?
The BioPark concept won't be completely lost at Great Plains, however - the zoo will be adding an aquarium and insectarium in the near future. Lots of places have done that, though - how many zoos have had something like the Delbridge Museum? I'm sorry to see it go.
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