The Bronx Zoo: One of the Best Zoos in the World

If you’ve ever watched the TV show, The Zoo, on the Animal Planet channel, you’ve been behind the scenes at the Bronx Zoo, which is currently celebrating its 125th year. Covering 265 acres, it’s one of the largest and oldest zoos in the United States. But did you know that you can go there and have an in-person experience behind the scenes?

In the last few years, the zoo started offering up close experiences (called “Wild Encounters” on their website) with certain animals in a small room in the veterinary facility on the grounds. Each experience includes only about ten people, and in some cases, you can pet the animals.

Before you get up in arms about this, let me educate you about the Bronx Zoo. It’s managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which does a lot of great conservation work around the world. The zoo doesn’t take animals from the wild anymore, and in accordance with New York law, it houses no domestic animals unless they’re injured and unable to live in the wild. (They have two injured bald eagles, for example.)

They are adamant that they don’t force animals to participate in these close-up experiences with visitors. The animals do spend a lot of time in the same room where the experiences are held, so they have positive associations with the room. They get treats and training in there, for example.

Last year, I participated in the penguin experience, which included three Magellanic penguins, a species that hails from Patagonia in South America. We were allowed to pet one of them, who enjoys the pets down his back only. These birds were adorable and funny to watch. They’re even possessive of their human handlers and make lots of noise if they think another penguin is getting too much attention.

The penguins that participate in the visitor experience were known to be especially friendly with humans. In fact, they were so friendly that they had to be removed from the penguin exhibit within the zoo, as too many visitors tried to take them home.

This year, I took advantage of the cheetah experience. Of course, we did not pet this animal, and it was on a leash. But the cheetah named Triton was very calm because he trusts his human handlers and his companion dog. That’s right – zoos have learned that cheetahs respond well to companion dogs, which are usually golden retrievers, since they tend to be a calm breed.

Triton’s companion, Finn, entered the room first and assessed that there was no danger. He then lay down on the floor and started licking himself. That way, when Triton entered, he took a cue from Finn that all was well. He soon lay down, too, licked one of his human handlers’ hands, and started purring loudly.

We were told that cheetahs don’t roar, as their larynx isn’t equipped to make that sound, but their purr is deep and loud enough to sound like a growl. Of course, Triton was stunning, and he did lock eyes with me a couple of times, boring into my soul. It was all I could do not to cry in his presence because of the thrill of being so close to such a gorgeous animal. I had seen cheetahs on safari in South Africa at a pretty close distance, but at the zoo, I was within four feet of Triton.

When Triton walked to the door, his handlers knew he was ready to leave, so they opened the door and let him. That was Finn’s cue to get pets and love from everyone in the room – his favorite part. So we all got to spend a little more time with Triton’s golden retriever companion.

Before they brought Triton into the room, we were treated to a surprise – a fennec fox, which is a species from North Africa. This female fox has taken part in the visitor experiences for a long time, and she gets treats in the room. So she seemed very happy to be with us. She took a stroll around the room, sniffing shoes and had the zoomies part of the time. We got to pet her back as a handler held her and brought her to each of us. Her fur was extraordinarily soft.

I trust the Bronx Zoo to be good to their animals. They’ve come a long way from the days in the early 1980s when the big cats were still held in cages. My first visits to the zoo were back during those times, so I remember them well. Now, all of the large animals have big habitats that are reminiscent of where they would live in the wild.

The zoo also has breeding programs, often of endangered species, that help to keep the species alive. They watch the DNA carefully to make sure there isn’t in-breeding that would damage the blood lines. In order to do this, they have relationships with other zoos around the world that are also breeding animals. This allows them to send an animal to another location or receive one from a different zoo to breed with one of their animals.

It’s hard to visit all of the exhibits in a single day. There are African animals in large habitats, as well as a separate gorilla habitat in which you can view them behind glass. There are lots of Asian animals with a separate building housing Asian jungle animals (called Jungle World), also in fairly large natural-looking habitats even though it’s indoors.

Other special exhibits include a butterfly house, the “World of Birds,” an indoor free-flying budgie exhibit in recent years for which they give you sticks with seeds to feed the birds, a treetop rope course, a monorail, a Madagascar exhibit, a tiger exhibit, a building that houses nocturnal animals, a carousel made up of bugs and butterflies, and more.

If you visit New York City, I strongly urge you (no matter your age) to visit the Bronx Zoo. From midtown Manhattan, the subway ride will take 45 minutes to an hour, but it’s worth the trek. The walk from the subway is less than 10 minutes.

If you want an up close animal experience, however, you will need to book it in advance on the zoo’s website. They publish a calendar for at least a month or two in advance, and they fill up fast.