The winter months of January and February are seldom thought of as a time for leisurely strolls through the park and stops to smell flowers blooming or watch animals scampering around natural habitats. But at the North Carolina Zoo, that’s exactly what’s in store for the savvy zoo-goer.
If fact, winter visits could be the park’s best-kept secret. Although most visitors come in summer, when children are out of school and families are often vacationing, the winter months have much to offer – particularly for those visitors who prefer to see the plants and animals at a more leisurely pace.
During the winter months, zoo visitors will see a noticeable absence of crowds. This means better viewing of the animals, since there will be fewer people at the overlooks.
And many of the zoo’s outdoor animals are more active in the winter months. They are more likely to be moving about in their exhibit areas and more likely to be in an area where visitors can see them.
The polar bear, one of the zoo’s most popular animals, and other cold-climate North American animals are especially more active in the cooler months.
The zoo’s R.J. Reynolds Forest Aviary, one of four climate-controlled indoor exhibits, recreates the wonders of a tropical rain forest.
Inside, visitors can enjoy more than 3,000 tropical plants and dozens of exotic birds.
USA Today selected it as one of the 10 best natural-habitat exhibits in American zoos. Few other places in North Carolina can offer January temperatures of 80 degrees, chirping birds and blooming flowers in a green, lush environment.
In the park, visitors are never far from an indoor exhibit, where temperatures are constant and comfortable year-round.
And since visitors are usually closer to the animals inside, this often means better viewing.
Like the tropical Forest Aviary, the African Pavilion offers a warm respite where visitors can now leisurely stroll through the Tropical Plant Walk and view plants representing a variety of Africa’s major ecosystems.
Additionally there, visitors can view, year-round, the largest collection of baboons in any accredited zoo in the United States – in both the indoor and outdoor exhibits.
The zoo’s Sonora Desert habitat is another indoor escape from the winter chill.
The 14,000-square-foot re-creation of the desert Southwest U.S. offers tarantulas, Gila monsters, roadrunners, ocelots and a host of other desert creatures and plants.
The exhibit’s three separate plant communities represent the desert’s Sonoran Flats, the Saguaro Uplands and the Desert Canyons.
Another indoor exhibit, Streamside in the North America region, is the most North Carolina-oriented of the zoo’s exhibits and was designed to present a look at life in and along the streams that flow through our state.
The 17,000-square-foot complex houses a diverse collection of many of North Carolina’s plant and animal species, including otters, bobcats, songbirds, reptiles and a 27,000-gallon aquarium with many of the state’s game fish.
More than five miles of wooded trails await the more adventurous souls who want to be outside.
But keep in mind that there are temperature and humidity limits for exhibiting some of the animals outside. Some, for example, are brought inside if the temperature is below about 45 degrees.
Central North Carolina’s mild winters mean relief from the sultry days of summer.
So see the zoo without the summer crowds, where fewer park visitors mean shorter lines, not only to see the animals, but also for the restaurants, gift shops, ticket booths and free transportation system.
Few places can offer a day’s worth of entertainment and education at such a low price – and give visitors an escape from winter’s chill.
Tom Gillespie lives in Trinity and is a journalist and public affairs specialist at the North Carolina Zoo. For more information on the zoo’s plant and animal collections, special events and education programs, go to their Web site at www.nczoo.org
Tom Gillespie
Zoo Tales – Winter respite awaits
- Tom Gillespie
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Zoo Tales: Aviary a respite from winter's grasp
January and February are seldom thought of as a time for leisurely strolls along trails and stops to smell flowers blooming or to watch colorful birds. But at the N.C. Zoo's R.J. Reynolds Forest Aviary exhibit, that's what's in store for zoo-goers.
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Zoo Tales: Sitatunga an odd antelope
Mention the words African antelopes and, most likely, images of animals roaming vast, arid drylands would appear. But visitors to the North Carolina Zoo are often surprised to learn that one of the park's antelope species, the sitatunga, is classified as semi-aquatic.
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Zoo Tales: Helping hands
Over the years, the mission of the North Carolina Zoo – to encourage understanding of and commitment to the conservation of the world’s wildlife and wild places – has often meant going beyond the park’s walls.
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Zoo Tales: ‘Good Samaritans’ can unknowingly harm animals
Sometimes, no matter how well-meaning the actions of a “Good Samaritan” are, young, injured and disoriented animals can be harmed simply because the person trying to help the animal does not know the facts and proper procedures.
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Zoo Tales: Aging animals a concern
Although zoos have always faced the problems of aging animals, today it has become an evolving part of their animal husbandry – learning how to care for older animals and to meet their needs
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Zoo Tales: Bats often misunderstood mammals
Bats. It’s likely that only snakes are more feared and more misunderstood than these nocturnal mammals.
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Zoo Tales: Gorillas are treat for Zoo visitors
Though often erroneously called monkeys, gorillas are actually great apes. Gorillas are skilled climbers but spend most of their time on the ground.
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Zoo Tales: Fringe-eared oryx is zoo’s newest antelope
With a nickname like "spear antelope," one could rightly assume that the oryx, one of the N.C. Zoo's newest animal species, would have slender, elongated horns. But then throw in their subfamily name, Hippotraginae (which literally means "horse-goats"), and one might be left guessing.
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Zoo Tales: Ocelots a puzzle to many
Often, visitors to the N.C. Zoo who see ocelots for the first time aren't sure what they are exactly. Larger than a domestic cat but smaller than a leopard or jaguar, the ocelot is a wild cat ranging from South and Central America, through Mexico and into the extreme southern parts of Texas, with rare sightings in Southern Arizona.
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Zoo Tales: Animals beat heat in varying ways
At the N.C. Zoo and at many other zoos and animal facilities, keepers help the animals through a variety of cooling techniques from putting ice into the exhibits for the animals to wallow in to air-conditioned holding areas to ponds within the exhibits.
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