Zoo Review: Dickerson Park Zoo, Part II

Continuing the tour of Springfield, Missouri's Dickerson Park Zoo...

From the Missouri Habitats, we cross into Tropical Asia, a somewhat grandiose name for an exhibit area that consists of three exhibits.  There is a habitat for siamangs with indoor and outdoor viewing, as well as a habitat for Malayan tigers.  The largest habitat is for Asian elephants.  Dickerson Park is in that nebulous space in which I'm not sure if they plan on maintaining elephants following the passing of their current animals.  The habitat itself was fairly unremarkable, though not inadequate for the current occupants, I can't imagine that the zoo would want something larger and more complex if they wanted to continue with the species.  

Incidentally, I first heard of Dickerson Park in 2013, when John Bradford, the zoo's elephant manager, was killed by Patience, the elephant (who still resides at the zoo).  One of Patience's companions had been euthanized for health reasons shortly before, and there had been some speculation that Patience blamed Bradford for the death of her herdmate.

The largest of the geographic regions is Africa.  Big cats are represented by cheetahs and lions.  Ostriches, plains zebras, and red river hogs have separate yards.  The centerpiece of the region is the giraffe exhibit, which itself is attached to a barn that provides not only indoor viewing of the animals (I've seldom seen an attractive giraffe barn interior, and this one doesn't make that short list) during the colder months, but also a few reptile habitats.  Outside is a habitat for black-and-white colobus monkeys.

The remainder of the zoo is a small patchwork of exhibits, including ring-tailed lemurs, white storks, capybaras (occupying a comparatively-large habitat originally built for hippos), king vulture, and meerkats.  Tucked into the corner of the zoo is a decently-large reptile house (Diversity of Life), a nice cross-section of exotic and native species, with outdoor habitats for American alligators and tortoises.  Kids will enjoy the train ride and splash park.

I found Dickerson Park to a pleasant mid-sized zoo.  There was little in it that was really exciting or extraordinary to me (but keep in mind I go to a lot of zoos and am harder to dazzle these days), but nothing that really struck me as very bad.  The South American area struck me as a strongest section; some of the other areas were a little weak on cohesion, to say nothing of a big megafauna-heavy, especially lacking in birds.  The departure of hippos and the likely (or so it seems to me) phase out of elephants may change the dynamic of the collection.  It was a nice enough place to visit, and worth keeping an eye on if you're in the area.