On the sixth day of my cross-country Total Eclipse of the
Sun road trip day (August 15th) I made an adjustment in my plans. Originally, I'd planned to visit the
Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha before getting on the road to Rapid City, South
Dakota. But the museum didn't open
until mid-morning and I was in a zoo modality. So I nixed Joslyn and added the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota into my itinerary.
After all this is my year of living zoologically, and when am I ever
going to get back to Sioux Falls?!
The Great Plains zoo is a medium small zoo in a city of
about 110,000 people. It's located
in a central city park space (Sherman Park) and covers 45 acres. Antecedents to the present zoo can
trace their history all the way back to the 1880's; however, the present
incarnation can trace it's history back to June 30, 1963.
The zoo has maintained a steady series of improvements after
a dark period of decline that ended in 2005 with a recommitment from the
community and the investment in a new leadership team. There Japanese Macaque exhibit which
was inaugurated in 2013 has won awards for it's design, and is only one of a
handful of innovative up-grade since 2005 that include the Hy-Vee Farm (Hy-Vee,
I learned on this trip, is a grocery/gas chain in the upper plains with a
considered investment in cultural/environmental/arts organizations like this
zoo), the Rare Rhinoceros Habitat, an up-grade to the Cats of Asia, and the
present redesign of the Bear Canyon portion of the zoo--a project that limited
my access to some areas and required the relocation of some animals.
When you visit a smaller zoo like this one, you have to tone
down your "wow" factor expectations. The budget that a zoo like Henry Doorly in Omaha deals with
is on a scale of factors greater than what the Great Plains Zoo. And just knowing this can restore your
WOW to the experience in spades! I
certainly found this to be true.
And so great were the opportunities to see and enjoy a wide range of species,
that I have decided to break down my visit into a series of regions to better
manage the photos and my thoughts.
You enter to a beautiful fountain that celebrates the
Japanese Macaque.
On a cool summer morning, these two/three Japanese Macaque,
Macaca fuscata, are intent on cuddling and napping. At first when viewed with the naked eye, I thought this was
two monkeys, but upon examining the close-up image, I pretty sure it's
three. What do you think? Others in this habitat were active and
exploring other areas.
Two young Bighorn Sheep, Ovis canadensis, shared and enjoyed
a red limestone "mountain".
A snoozey Red Kangaroo, Marcopus rufus. The overcast and cool temps gave all
the animals a reason to chill, too.
The zoo has a little herd of Caribou, Rangifer
tarandus. There are five. Three are females, one is a Buck and
one is a calf.
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