Best 100 Animals We Have Seen In Zoos (70-61)

Before we continue on with this countdown, let's recap.
100-91
90-81
80-71

And he we go, on with the Top 70.

70. Wildebeest

Wildebeest are really cool animals and there are several places to get really close to them. Eventhough, they killed Mufasa, you are able to see them in most animal safaris. They can be seen at Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA, at Disney's Animal Kingdom and at Busch Gardens Tampa like these guys sitting behind the Zebras.

69. Capybara

Jacksonville Zoo has a great deal of South American animals. They have the best selection of animals from South America that I have seen. One of those South American animals that they have is the Capybara. These Capybaras are pretty rare in zoos and I have only seen them in one other place besides Jacksonville. However, they were on display at the Montgomery Zoo that our friend Kinsi did a guest post on.

68. Pigs

You may think this is incredibly high for ordinary pigs, but look at how adorable these pics are from the Reston Zoo. After finding our old pics from this zoo, this will be the next zoo we review. These pigs are a really neat sight to behold.

67. Addax

Disney's Animal Kingdom is by far the best place to see Addax like these. This photo was taken of a group of Addax taking shelter in the rain. It is about a weak old. While the photo is not of the highest quality due to the rain, it still shows how majestic these animals are. I highly recommend heading to the Animal Kingdom to see these animals at the end of Kilimanjaro Safaris.

66. Walrus

SeaWorld Orlando is a great place to see lots of marine life. The review for SeaWorld is coming up soon (I know it has been promised for a while, but it is coming). In that review, you will see that the coolest thing about Sea World is the Sea Lion show. This sea lion show features an awesome Walrus like the one pictured from the same show at Sea World. 

65. Anaconda

Jacksonville Zoo also had this crazy Anaconda in their South American exhibit. It is one of the reasons that we ranked the Jacksonville Zoo as a Top 5 zoo in the United States. I recommend you check out our review of the Jacksonville Zoo here. If you are in the area, check it out.

64. River Otter

This photo is from the Atlanta Zoo which we ranked as the best zoo in the country. This is the best picture I could track down of otters unfortunately though, go figure! However, I do have a video of my son following the otter at Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. That Tampa exhibit is the best Otter exhibit I have seen.

63. Albino Squirrel

These pure white squirrels are not your typical squirrel. I never thought I would be impressed with a squirrel until I saw these guys at the Tallahassee Museum. They cannot exist in the wild because they are an easy target for predators, but at the Tallahassee Museum in the protected environment, they flourish. I recommend checking that museum out if you have the chance and are in the area.

62. Reindeer

I do not remember this picture or when/where it was taken. I think it was from a Christmas lights display in Dover, FL because it was a picture from this blog and we went there. These animals can routinely be seen around Christmas time and are very neat to look at.

61. Chimpanzee

Busch Gardens has this particular Chimpanzee which is the best picture I could find of one. Unfortunately, there is a glare off of the screen, but you can still see how neat Chimpanzees are. This was one of the better Chimp exhibits we have seen. However, they are at several of the zoos we have been to. They are not that rare, but rather impressive still.

We are getting close to the Top 50. Hope you have enjoyed the countdown so far and recognize that it is getting better.

-Noland

Jacksonville Zoo

Jacksonville Zoo
Jacksonville, FL
Date of Visit: April 15, 2012

Cost: $14.95 person (50% of for FONZ Members)

Website

This zoo was awesome! It was one of the coolest zoos we have been to. Everything about this zoo was great and we didn't even see everything about it because we were on a tight schedule.

Highlights: Jaguar exhibit! The black jaguar was really neat looking and I bet you will agree when you look at our photos. The jaguar wasn't even the coolest part, because we got to see a komodo dragon feeding! Those two things alone made this a 5 star zoo and it had so much more to offer. There was an awesome penguin exhibit, lots of African animals, Australian animals, South American animals and even a wild FL exhibit. That just scratches the surface of what Jacksonville Zoo has to offer. You have got to check this place out. We will definitely be going back.

Disappointments: You had to pay for the sting ray tank. AKA we didn't go. Also the cheetah didn't seem to be in a good place. It was mostly swamp water and the cheetah didn't appear to have a lot of room to roam. The cheetah exhibit appeared like it should have been a crocodile exhibit and the cheetah should be elsewhere. Two of our favorite animals elephants and rhino were there, but we didn't get good pictures. That is our fault though and not the zoos and we loved this place.

Pictures

Beautiful Jaguars. This is one of the coolest exhibits we have seen.

Komodo Dragon Feeding! Very Cool!

Anaconda

Snapping Turtle

Flamingos

Bald Eagles

Anteaters

Giraffe and Young Giraffe

More Giraffes

Kangaroos

Penguins

Rating

We gave this zoo a 5 out of 5 rating

Can not ask for much more out of a zoo.

What a cool place to go. We highly recommend it.

-No & Jenna

Top Ten Zoos In the Southeast

It is my birthday today and one of my favorite things on this earth are countdowns and countdown shows. Because of that I decided that I would do a countdown of the top 10 zoos in the southeast. We live in Florida and I grew up in Virginia so the majority of the zoos I have been to are in the southeast. For purposes of this assignment we will call the southeast anything south of Baltimore on the east coast.

Add in Maryland and take out the non coastal states and then this map is where we are going off. MD, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL. We will count theme parks and aquariums as part of this countdown. Unfortunately if we have not been to the zoo it can not be included on the countdown.

10) Florida Aquarium, Tampa, FL
Review to come soon. Visit in 2011.

9) National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD
Review here

Main Tank at the National Aquarium

8) National Zoo, Washington DC
Review Here

The biggest draw at the National Zoo, their Giant Panda Exhibit. Well other than the fact that it is free!

7) Sea World, Orlando, FL
Review coming soon. Trying to wait for a return visit to get an updated review before posting.

Shamu

6) Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa, FL
Review Here

Penguin Feeding at Lowry Park Zoo

5) Jacksonville Zoo, Jacksonville, FL
I've been to this zoo many times in the past, but Jenna and I just went together last week. Our review is coming very soon.

4) Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, MD
Review Here.

Arctic Fox @ Maryland Zoo

3) Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL
Review posted 3 days ago. Click on the FL tab for more on Busch Gardens Tampa.

This picture was not in the review. It is a Gorilla napping @ Busch Gardens Tampa.

2) Disney's Animal Kingdom, Kissimmee, FL
Review Here

Tree of Life @ Disney's Animal Kingdom

And the number one animal attraction in the southeast is.....
Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Full Review Here

They had close views of my favorite the Rhino!

They also had a baby komodo dragon feeding when we went.

Zoo Atlanta is very deserving of #1. It was so close between it and Animal Kingdom though.

However, if this was talking about each park and not just the animal portion, I would go with Busch Gardens Tampa. I suggest you check out all of these places if you can!

Let us know if you think we missed anything or if we need to check another zoo out. Also if you have different rankings please share.

-Noland