June 5, 2021

SAINT LOUIS ZOO

1 Government Dr, St. Louis, Missouri 63110

“The Saint Louis Zoo, officially the Saint Louis Zoological Park, is a zoo in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri. It is recognized as a leading zoo in animal management, research, conservation, and education. The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.” Wikipedia

I remember visiting the St. Louis Zoo with my family when I was a young child. I didn’t remember much about that first trip, until I was walking in the Red Rocks area of the zoo, and I went I remember this area. I’m sure the zoo has grown and changed in the fifty or more years since I last visited. Having a membership at Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo I can appreciate the wide variety of animals the St. Louis Zoo houses. Some of the highlights for me were the cheetahs, the hippopotami, the Herpetarium (reptiles, snakes, etc), and the Bird House.

A visit to the St. Louis Zoo is free, though you do need to get an advanced timed ticket. However, parking in one to the two zoo lots costs $15. I arrived at the zoo around 1:00 p.m. on a Saturday (not very good planning on my part), and drove around the parking lot for 30 minutes before I finally found a spot. If I were going again I might look at another way to get to the zoo. Another note, I paid to ride the train thinking it would give me a good orientation to the layout of the zoo and possibly some good view of some of the animals…in the end it wasn’t worth it. I felt like I spent more time sitting at the four or five different train stations than I did touring the zoo, and you only see three or four animals on the trip.

Sorry I haven’t identified all of the animals I took pictures of, but I don’t remember all of the different names.