St Louis Zoo

The Saint Louis Zoo was started in 1910 on the site of the former 1904 World's Fair grounds in Forest Park.  It is a popular tourist and locals destination as, strangely, there is no entrance fee.  Parking is free if you don't mind walking a bit - you can park along the streets in the park; or if you want to be closer, it's $12 to park in the official zoo parking lot.  I chose to walk - both for exercise and because I was planning on seeing part of the park as well.   Forest Park is one of the largest municipal parks in the U.S. covering 1300 acres (bigger than Central Park).

It was probably not the best day to head to the zoo - blustery, grey and overcast - around 60 degrees.  This meant that most of the animals were either inside by choice or due to the wintery weather - by zoo decree.  The sea lion exhibit and show was closed for the year - as they are renovating the exhibit to a new, bigger, cooler one.  Still, I did manage a few pictures of some of the animals.  I had never seen a Red River Hog before.  It was pretty cool and didn't seem to mind the weather.

Here are a few others:

My absolute favorite exhibit was the hippos.  They have a huge water pond with glass windows down below in the front of the exhibit - so you can see the hippos under the water.  All of the hippos were swimming and it was just mesmerizing.  To see those large grey bodies floating so gracefully through the water... occasionally pushing off with a huge foot from the bottom...  Every now and then a space would clear through the murky water as they went off to each side and then a huge snout and head with small eyes would appear, followed by the massive body - slowly drifting through the water.  Just like the other kids, I found myself reaching out to touch the glass whenever they brushed up against it.  They reminded me of manatees - only these creatures are apparently more deadly in person.  Still, I spend a bit of time watching them float to and fro.  I only wish the pictures had come out better...

So as I walked around the zoo, which was not very crowded for a Saturday, I kept asking myself why and how they got around not charging for admission.  It took a bit of sleuthing work at the Centennial Zoo Exhibit and also from some wall commemorations at the entrance to realize that the zoo is paid for by the taxpayers and by donors to capital campaigns.  There are fees for parking, and for the shows, kids zoo, zoo train, carousel, and for the food and souvenirs.  It's an interesting concept and great for the locals - but I feel it fell a little short for the zoo itself.  Apparently the zoo has won awards for it's conservation and research efforts, as well as being among the first zoos in the country to switch to more naturalistic exhibits, and also counting among it's zookeepers the famous Marlin Perkins of Wild Kingdom television fame.  I grew up watching Wild Kingdom.  But as a visitor, the zoo was not well marked (even with the map, I had a hard time getting around) and signage was disappointing.  Outside the hippo exhibit, for instance, was one sign that mentioned how hippos were good for the environment around them in the wild - but it was a tall sign and not well done.  Children wouldn't see it.  And it only caught my eye by chance.  I would have like to see more at each exhibit on what the zoo was doing on research, or  issues the animals were having in the wild.  There were some signs on the big cats and the apes about possible extinction or endangered status, but it wasn't consistent.  And I never did find the chimpanzees.... Just saying....

So.... after wandering the zoo a while, I decided to take a look at Forest Park and The World's Fair Pavilion.  Again, other than road signs, there wasn't much signage available.  Maybe I just really missed the key places, but as a visitor, you'd think they would make it really easy to find.  I was disappointed that there wasn't more historical information/exhibits about the World's Fair.  Granted, I did not visit the History museum - so maybe that's where it all was.  And the only two remaining structures from the World's Fair are the flight cage and the pavilion.  Such a shame that we've lost so much of history.  The World's Fair Pavilion was just a building where apparently they rent out for private functions.  As I got to the top of the stairs, it was clear that there were catering companies setting up for something.  Again, a shame that you couldn't go inside.  Still, I enjoyed my walk.  And having had enough of the midwest wind for one day, decided to head back and pick up Jane from Doggie Daycare.  Slightly boring sight seeing these past few weeks I know.  But I'm working on a possible job opportunity in New Mexico.  So next week's blog may just be about Albuquerque.  Stay tuned.