Continuing our tour of the Sedgwick County Zoo, we'll start with two of the more unique exhibits of the zoo, essentially forming one complex - Australia and South America.
At most zoos, South America is largely synonymous with the Amazon, and the exhibit is often an indoor rainforest with a tank of Amazon river fish and turtles and a walk-through forest with some birds, monkeys, and sloths. Australia is usually a kangaroo walkabout. Here, both exhibits are vast, outdoor, walk-through aviaries, Australia feeding into South America, inhabited by a vast variety of birds, with waterfowl and parrots being especially prominent. Each aviary is lined with large side-habitats for other animals, as well as aviaries for birds that benefit better from separate housing. In Australia, there is a yard of southern cassowary (a bird that you decidedly don't want in a walk-through), along with wallabies, wallaroos, and emus. South American side exhibits include giant anteater, Chacoan peccary, and maned wolf. The trails provide a good cross-section of wildlife of both continents without simply repeating what out zoos have done.
Compared to those continents, representation of Asia is fairly limited (though birds and herps from that continent are well-represented elsewhere in the zoo). The Slawson Family Asian Big Cat Trek provides attractive habitats mesh-enclosed habitats for Amur leopard and snow leopard, as well as a spacious yard for Amur tigers (complete with a pool) and well-perched habitats for red panda.
The zoo's North American area is considerably more comprehensive, albeit with a focus on local Kansas wildlife - including some species no longer found in the Sunflower State. Among these are the grizzly bears, which inhabit a towering, hillside yard, visible from multiple angles. A life-sized statue of the bears nearby makes a fun photo op. Their smaller cousins, American black bears are found nearby. Down the trail are aviaries for waterfowl and eagles, yards for elk, white-tailed deer, and American bison (the later visible for a high boardwalk overlooking their paddock), and a sprawling yard for Mexican gray wolves, which, like the grizzlies, are no longer found in Kansas. A side-trail that I almost missed leads to one of the most attractive cougar exhibits I've ever seen - it took me a while to find them, but once I spotted them, perched up high, peering down at me, it was a thrill. A small exhibit highlights the endangered black-footed ferret with underground viewing, while rattlesnakes are nearby. And, of course, where the ferret can be found, it's primarily prey is seldom far. In one of the most memorable exhibits of the whole zoo, the largest zoo colony of black-tailed prairie dogs I've ever seen stretches out beneath an overhead net, presumably to deter avian predators. Prairie dogs are among the most common of zoo mammals, but I don't think I've ever seen them exhibit to such excellent effect.
Not surprisingly, the largest geographic area in this zoo, as it is in most zoos, is Africa. Much of the African area is fairly boilerplate, dusty paddocks for giraffes, warthogs, Grevy's zebra, and black rhino, as well as a few tall birds. Nile hippos were also here at the time of my visit, though I believe that species is aging out and won't be replaced after the current animals are gone. What's truly special about Africa are its three adjacent sub-regions. Pride of the Plains is a spectacular habitat for lions (with side exhibits for meerkat, African wild dog, and red river hog), based around a research camp in the African bush. The five-acre Reed Family Elephants of the Zambezi River Valley is one of America's largest elephant exhibits. Sedgwick County was one of a handful of zoos which, in recent years, took in elephants that were slated for culling in southern Africa, and is now home to one of the most successful breeding herds of these giant mammals in the country and is well-designed for managing the social flexibility of a breeding elephant herd. Exhibit highlights include a half-million gallon pool, inside views of the elephant barn to help visitors learn how the animals are cared for, and one of the shipping crates used to the transfer the elephants from Africa to Kansas.
Passing an enclosure of colobus monkeys and a lagoon of pelicans, a bridge leads across the water to the Downing Gorilla Forest. A troop of western lowland gorillas lives in a well-forested yard, and can be viewed from either outside or from a holding building which also serves as a viewing blind into the outdoor yard. Nearby, okapi, black crowned crane, and saddle-billed stork live in lovely wooded yards.
I've seldom visited a zoo that was so overall-excellent as Sedgwick County Zoo - many of the exhibits were of the highest quality that I've seen for animals of their species, including many bold, fresh takes on concepts that are somewhat cliché or dull at other facilities, such as the prairie dog town and the children's farm (perhaps one of the only farm exhibits I've seen where I felt like kids might actually learn something about agriculture). There were a small number of exhibits which seemed perhaps a little tired, but I believe these are all slated for removal or freshening up. The zoo's commitment to conservation is impressive, and as it demonstrated with the elephant project, it has the resources and the wherewithal to make decisive moves for animal welfare. It's a shame that this fantastic facility isn't better known, but I'm sure it's reputation will spread and more folks outside of the dedicated zoo-enthusiasts will come to recognize it as the true gem of a zoo that it is.
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