Zoo Review: Buffalo Zoo, Part I

The Buffalo Zoo is one of three northeastern zoos - the others being Roger Williams Park, in Providence, RI, and the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore - that frequently makes the claim of being America's Third Oldest Zoo.  Located in Delaware Park, it is a compact facility of hardly more than 20 acres, which still manages to fit a surprisingly large number of large animals onto the campus.  Like many American zoos, it had a history of a small collection of mostly unwanted pets and local wildlife until becoming the beneficiary of funds and construction from the WPA in the 1930s and 1940s.  At about that time, the Zoo also promoted reptile keeper, then curator, Marlin Perkins to the directorship.  Perkins, who would later go on to host Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, lead the zoo to increased growth and success.  

Today, the zoo boasts of a large, diverse collection spread across exhibits of varying quality, from the modern to the archaic.  Perhaps the most valuable asset the Zoo can boast of is its location.  It is only a few miles away from the world famous Niagara Falls, and is able to benefit from tourism drawn to that spectacular natural feature.

At the far end of the zoo from the main entrance is one massive building, which curves along the perimeter of the Zoo.  Dating back to the WPA, the structure, once simply called "The Main Animal Building" houses not only the administrative offices, as well as a cafe, but many of the most iconic animals in the collection.  At one extreme of the building is one of Buffalo's weak points, the gorilla exhibit.  This is one of the last all-indoor gorilla exhibits in North America, and having seen many excellent gorilla exhibits elsewhere, one can understand why the trend has been to move away from this.  The world's largest primates are in a grim, cave-like exhibit, all fake rockwork and glass panels.  It comes nowhere close to being the worst primate exhibit I've ever seen, but I'd be very surprised if the Zoo leadership itself was happy with it anymore, and if there weren't plans for a different future for it.  The gorilla exhibit is joined by habitats for meerkats, naked mole rats, and a few fish and herps, which the Zoo has attempted to tie together thematically as "Diversity of Life."

At the other extreme of the U-shaped Main Animal Building is one of the stronger part of the collection, the reptile house.  When the first reptile house opened in 1942, Perkins declared it the finest in America.  It may since have been overshadowed by a few other facilities (or many facilities, as it may be), but it's still quite a good one, with large, attractive, well-planted, well-designed habitats for a variety of reptiles and amphibians.  The lack of a crocodilian exhibit makes it hard for me to rank this among my favorites, but Komodo dragons are quite suitable as an anchor species (I always enjoy seeing Komodos with outdoor exhibit access, but for a zoo with a local climate like Buffalo's, I can appreciate that it wouldn't be worth the investment of space).  Other notable animals in the gallery include reticulated python, king cobra, bushmaster, matamata (perhaps the first time I ever saw a member of this notably sedentary turtle species actually swimming), and that ever-popular staple of northeastern herp collections, the hellbender.

At the center of the curving Main Animal Building are grottos for the world's largest cat species, lions and tigers.  The cats are visible both across moats or through glass windows.  The yards are respectable, grassy and rocky with some varied terrain, if not being the most exciting I've seen.  Back inside the Main Animal Building, linking the gorilla side and the reptile side, is the EcoStation, which is essentially a modest all-purpose small animal house featuring a few mixed species habitats depicting ecosystems around the world.  Featured here are animals such as sand cat, Brazilian agouti, and laughing kookaburra.

On the outside of the "U" are more outdoor habitats for mid-sized species.  A row of mesh-enclosed habitats feature ring-tailed lemur, red panda, snow leopard, and Japanese macaque.  Like the EcoStation and the Diversity of Life, there's an attempt to group these habitats by lumping them together as Vanishing Animals, but there's not much there to tie them.  This area also contains a row of open yards, mostly featuring hoofstock, such as zebra and roan antelope, but terminating in a fairly nice habitat for spotted hyenas.  As one would expect from the BUFFALO Zoo, there is also a habitat for that species that most visitors would call buffalo, the American bison.

Tomorrow, we'll work our way back towards the entrance of the Buffalo Zoo, including a visit of some of the newer exhibits that the facility has added since the millennium. 

Buffalo Zoo