OKC Zoo

[BrettM2]

Speaking of the zoo does anyone have any pictures or know of a place that has images of the zoo throughout the years? This might be a good thread for the nostalgia forum but, I'd love to see photos of the late 80's early 90's zoo that I grew up with that had the bear exhibits and monkey island and ski lifts throughout the park.

The Metropolitan Library System has a book out with the history of the zoo. It's one of the thin books in the series of Oklahoma History books (really great pictures of OKC/Bricktown/Edmond from 1889 to present).

[Dustin]

Does anybody know what the okc zoo is ranked now, it use to be top 10, then i heard it was top 5, adoes anybody know for sure what the ranking is now?

Number 1?!? *fingerscrossed*

Where are the previous rankings? Source?

[Dustin]

Found one ranking! It's pretty good!

http://www.parents.com/fun/vacation/...r-kids/?page=5

[Dustin]

One of the few things I miss about OKC since moving to Denver is the OKC Zoo. We have a great zoo in Denver, but its nothing compared to the one in OKC, and its twice as expensive.

Speaking of Colorado.. We visited the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, CO last spring break. It was cool. They have an awesome giraffe exhibit that I really wish OKC had. The walk area is high enough to where you can touch and feed the giraffes. It was an awesome experience to say the least!


(not my video)

[Thunder]

That is something we will have when the time comes.

[Jesseda]

THE ZOO OPEN IT ELEPHANT HABITATE THIS YEAR, and that is great, but wait there is more.. they are opening another part of the zoo!!!! the new zooseum.. they spent a lot of time to remodel and convert the old 1935 bathhouse building by that lake intoa new part of the zoo... its will be the first of its kind fora zoo in this country to have a museum inside a zoo!!!! ! http://www.okczoo.com/

[RadioOKC]

Last year I was at the zoo and there was a Zoology convention in town and you saw all these people with name tags from
other zoo's walking around ours and they were blown away. I tried to be a fly on the way and heard a lot of comments like "geez - i wish we could do that??!!" Our zoo is amazing and you really should consider getting a membership. I think ours was $60 last year and it is for a family of 5.

There was some other comment about the food and, really it's pretty fairly priced. The chicken tender basket could feed 2 if your looking for a light lunch and it was less than 5 bucks.

Im excited to see aquatics get a facelift. More dolphins coming?? They are always looking for a place to rehab them and we have plenty of room for a tank exc. Let the kiddos buy the fish and feed them and you have an exibit that could pay for itself and bring up the admissions at the gate.

Chris
www.radiookc.com

[Bigrayok]

I have been to quite a few zoos in this part of the country and some in California and Florida including zoos in Tulsa, Kansas City, Topeka, Denver, Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, St. Louis, New Orleans, Busch Gardens in Tampa, The Las Vegas Zoo which is privatley owned and pretty small, and both the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. I have also been to Disney's Animal Kingdom which is an animal park and amusement park like Busch Gardens.

The Oklahoma City zoo is comparable or better than most, with San Diego, New Orleans, Fort Worth, and St. Louis zoos being a little better. The San Diego Zoo is supposed to be the greatest zoo in the world which it may be, but It was not as different and better than the Oklahoma City Zoo as I thought it would be. The San Diego and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's are the most hilly zoos I have been to and they both wore me out. The St. Louis Zoo has free admission, but on a busy weekend day it is hard to park your car unless you pay a $9.00 parking fee to use a zoo parking lot. The New Orleans Zoo used to be a dump, but the Audubon Institute raised a lot of money in the 80's and 90's to really improve it. It has a really cool Louisiana Swamp exhibit. The zoo is in Audubon Park which is the large beautiful park in the Loyola and Tulane University areas. The Fort Worth Zoo is in a nice neighborhood and has a cool Texas area.

Overall, the Oklahoma City zoo is one of the better zoos I have been to. The Columbus Ohio Zoo is supposed to be good but I have never been there. That is the zoo Jack Hannah made a name for himself at. Some day I will get down to Arbuckle Wilderness and see how it compares. LOL

Bigray in Ok

[cameron_405]

"...the Columbus Ohio Zoo is supposed to be good but I have never been there. That is the zoo Jack Hannah made a name for himself at..."

...lived in Columbus during the 90's and met Jack a few times. Whilst I enjoyed the Columbus zoo, I especially liked the 23 acre waterpark, Wyandot Lake, that was adjacent to the zoo. Looks as though the zoo bought out Wyandot Lake and has opened "Zoombezi Bay Waterpark".

Zoombezi Bay Waterpark

[Dustin]

OKC ZOO LIVE CAM: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-zoos...ad_story_title

Asha the elephant is expected to give birth this week.

[Thunder]

She shrunk since I last saw her years ago. LOL

[Jesseda]

ASHA the elephant has gone into labor, soon we will have a new baby at the zoo, im excited about this they are saying it might be any moment now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dustin]

Its a girl! 304-pounds!!

[Thunder]

How soon will we be able to meet her? Will there be a major celebration party with fireworks and the whole package (including drinks, concerts, etc)?

[TaoMaas]

The only thing I have to say about elephant birth is...."OUCH!" LOL

[Thunder]

The only thing I have to say about elephant birth is...."OUCH!" LOL

I'm sure they gave the mother the longest needle ever in the history of mankind.

[jn1780]

I'm sure they gave the mother the longest needle ever in the history of mankind.

Their not going to interfere with the natural birthing process of an elephant. They may screw something up.

[RadioOKC]

So - who keeps the baby. I understand that the baby normally stays with mom for 10 years or so. So after 10 Years is there an agreement in place as to who gets to keep the baby?

Chris
www.radiookc.com

[Thunder]

So - who keeps the baby. I understand that the baby normally stays with mom for 10 years or so. So after 10 Years is there an agreement in place as to who gets to keep the baby?

Chris
www.radiookc.com

Being that its most logical thing to do, I'm sure we will keep it from birth to death. They obviously expanded the entire place to make life better for them all the while of adding more elephants.

[ljbab728]

Maybe it will get to go visit its daddy in Tulsa every other weekend providing they have joint custody.

[Thunder]

Maybe it will get to go visit it's daddy in Tulsa every other weekend providing they have joint custody.

Good question. Something KFOR or KOCO will need to ask when they do a special story.

[Dustin]

Females stay with females.. The baby will stay with Asha and Chandra. If it was a male, it would stay with mom for about 10 years and then it would go on with life on its own. The new elephant habitat at the zoo can hold up to two males anyway.

[jn1780]

So - who keeps the baby. I understand that the baby normally stays with mom for 10 years or so. So after 10 Years is there an agreement in place as to who gets to keep the baby?

Chris
www.radiookc.com

The zoo has room for 2 bulls and 4 cows plus infants so I guess it all depends on how many babies are born in the future and their gender. If the babies are male they would eventually be sent to another zoo when they grow up. They would not be doing their species any good living with their aunt, mother, sister, or brother.

[BBatesokc]

Took the wife to the OKC Zoo early this morning (before the mass of baby strollers arrived) and really enjoyed the new elephant exhibit - wow, it is really top notch.

Here's a quick pic....

[BBatesokc]

Here's a quick video clip too...