Last week I made my first visit of the “summer” to the Red River Zoo.

Posted By Fargo Reviews ~ 8th June 2009

The Red River Zoo is still recovering from the winter and spring we had, so much of it is not as attractive as it might normally be.

In the main building, there have been several changes, and I’m sure there’ll be more.  The Taiwanese beauty snakes are gone, but the impressive skink exhibit has been enlarged to include two different exhibits,  The nightmarishly big toad is still there together with the tropical fish, including some clownfish(Nemo, to the kids) Turtles, chameleons, a Gila monster( the only poisonous animal at the zoo, but probably not toxic to humans), some impressive insects(tarantulas, cockroaches, Indian walking sticks) are among the other exhibits.

I would assume that not all of the farm animals(exotic or otherwise) are out yet.  The camels are present with their fairly young offspring.  Even though it was cold when I was there, there was a meerkat standing guard at the meerkat exhibit.  The red, or lesser, panda was frisky and looked very healthy.  I’m not sure how many pandas the zoo has, I only saw one.

Thre were three takin’s at the Takin Ridge exhibit along with a Caucasian Tur.  I’ve been to a number of zoos, and never seen three takins at the same zoo.  The Tur is probably extinct in the wild: unfortunately, their only native habitat is Chechnia, and hungry soldiers with automatic weapons don’t care if you’re about to go extinct or not.

The Russian red squirrels were not on display, but nest to their enclosure is one for a pallas cat, which hadn’t arrived at the zoo yet.  I understand this critically endangered cat has arrived now.

In the eagle’s exhibit, which contains a nest, there are very attractive bald and golden eagles, one each.  Then there’s the Wolf Den, a very spectacular exhibit.  A must see, even if you don’t like zoos.

The North Dakota Plains exhibit doesn’t seem to be functional yer.  One of my favorites, the exhibit that includes agouti and a red necked crane, a Chinese bird, has all the animals along with some exotic geese, but there isn’t any foliage in the exhibit.  Give it time.

The Asian Aviary isn’t populated, or enclosed, just now.  I don’t know what the plans are for that exhibit.

The Red River Zoo is not a large zoo, but it is very special.  We have many animals on display that are not frequently seen at other zoos.  However, unless you are a member and therefore can go as often as you want, I’d wait until they get their act together before paying the non-trivial entrance fee.