To me, South Dakota is a great setting for a zoo. Most of the exhibits here felt very natural, and by that I mean that the zoo played to its strengths. This zoo had one of the largest bison exhibits I’ve seen – I mean they’re in South Dakota, so they should right? This zoo also participates in AZA program so they were able to showcase a few koalas during the summer we visited – I can’t list this as a highlight as they were only there temporarily…but that was fun.
Highlights:
- Japanese monkeys – there are a few zoos that we’ve encountered that have an island of macaques – Milwaukee and Minnesota to name two – and the island for them at the Great Plains Zoo is near the entrance, and provides visitors the chance to view more than 20 monkeys
- Asia – they did a nice job with their Asia exhibit, displaying the exhibit well; the tiger was very active when we were there
- Rhinos – the rhino exhibit was quite large, giving them plenty of room; we were also lucky enough to see a baby while we were there, and the mother became very protective, shielding the baby from us
Lows:
- Africa – the Africa exhibit at this zoo is probably the worst one we’ve encountered in regards to visibility; the exhibit has large fences around it, preventing views of the giraffes and zebras; they have a safari ride, but even that doesn’t give you good access to them; the ride also takes you around the extra zoo grounds near Africa, which appear to be much wasted space
- Museum – the museum attached to the zoo seemed wildly out of place; after viewing animals in the zoo, you can view previously alive animals indoors. We liked the real animals better
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