No trip to Omaha, Nebraska would be complete without a visit to the city's number one tourist destination, the Henry Doorly Zoo. At over 130 acres, this impressive zoo is the home to over 17,000 animals from 962 different species, with 44 of those being on the endangered species list. Henry Dorrly Zoo's sheer size is only climaxed by the records held by the numerous exhibits and buildings within its confines combined with the fact that it started out as a humble park founded by the City of Omaha in 1894.
Riverview Park; as the zoo was originally named; became the Henry Doorly Zoo following a $750,000 donation from Margaret Hitchcock Doorly in 1963 who requested the park be named after here late husband. The city was more than happy to grant her this humble request.
General Information:
Location: 3701 South 10th Street
Hours: 8:30 to 5:00
Admission: Kids 3-11 are $7.75 & Others 12+ are $11.50
Where to Get Food:
The Henry Doorly Zoo offers three different ways to enjoy a nice meal while inside the park. The first and most inexpensive way to eat some food is by bringing your own food from home and sitting down at one of the comfortable picnic tables available at a first-come-first-serve basis throughout the zoo.
The next choice available to zoo goers is to grab a hot dog, pretzel, or ice cream from one of the many concession stands periodically along the zoo's walkways. The last and by far the most fun way to eat at the Henry Doorly Zoo is to go to the Durham's Tree Top Restaurant which serves cafeteria style food and overlooks the largest indoor rainforest in the world.
Fun Things to Try:
Most zoos in the United States offer an array of animal exhibits and occasionally some shows and some hands-on experiences but that's all. The Henry Doorly Zoo goes above and beyond the normal zoo standards by offering its visitors some one of a kind activities that suit those of all ages. For a small fee of two dollars you can take the little ones for a ride on the beautiful Wildlife Carousel where they can ride a giraffe, lion, tiger, and of course the zoo's version of a horse, the zebra.
Omaha Zoo Railroad and Skyfari:
The whole family can hop on the Omaha Zoo Railroad that will take you on a two and a half mile ride through the zoo and allow you to see all the exhibits without having to lift a foot off the ground. If lifting your feet of the ground is something you like to do and you have two bucks, then you need to take a ride on the Skyfari. This aerial chairlift ride will take you over the entire zoo providing you breathtaking aerial views of the animals over the span of twenty minutes; giving you an access to the animals that most zoos dream of being able to offer.
Lozier IMAX Theater:
When its a hot day outside or the skies have opened up and the rain is pouring down and you need a break from the outside, head on over to the Lozier IMAX Theater where you can watch one of two 3-D movies that will blow your mind. The current selection of IMAX features at the theater are Under the Sea 3-D and the Wild Ocean 3-D; both movies you want to see before leaving the zoo.
Record Holding Exhibits:
As this article previously stated, the Henry Doorly Zoo is large and impressive, but one of the most impressive things about it is all the records its exhibits hold and the amazing animals one can see within them.
THE CAT COMPLEX
The Cat Complex is the largest of its kind in all of North America coming in at an impressive 37,000 square feet which allows the complex the ability to hold one hundred large cats. Currently the Cat Complex only has about 40 cats that roam its ten outside enclosures with eleven inside viewing areas. The Cat Complex is the home to African lions, Bengal tigers, jaguars, snow leopards, clouded leopards, and the North American Puma.
THE DESERT DOME
The next record holding exhibit is the Desert Dome which actually holds two world records as the largest indoor desert in the world with the world's largest glazed geodesic dome sitting on top of it. This 84,000 square foot exhibit is split onto two levels with desert representations of three real-world deserts: the Namibian Desert in Africa, the Red Center of Australia, and the Sonora Desert of the United States. The dome sitting on top of this world-class desert exhibit is a major landmark in Omaha and it alone draws visitors to the Henry Doorly's gates, never mind the fact that it rests on top of perhaps the best desert exhibit in the world.
KINGDOMS OF THE NIGHT
Located directly underneath the Desert Dome is the world's largest nocturnal exhibit, the Kingdoms of the Night. This is by far the most unique exhibit in the entire zoo as visitors get to walk through what is a live cave that has been pain-stakingly created and maintained by the zoo staff to give one the feel of what it would be like to explore one of the great cave ecosystems in the world. Some of the seventy-five species located in the exhibit include numerous species of bats, blind cave fish swimming in an open pool in the center of the exhibit that appears to go on for ever into the depths of the Earth, and the extremely rare Japanese Giant Salamander.
SIMMONS AVIARY
For those of you who like birds, you need to go on over to the Simmons Aviary which is the world's second largest free-flight aviary. This impressive bird-cage stretches eight hundred feet in length and towers at a whopping seventy-five feet tall and is the home to over 500 species of rare and exotic birds as well as some hometown favorites.
THE LIED JUNGLE
By far the most impressive record-holding exhibit at the Henry Doorly Zoo has to be the Lied Jungle. The Lied Jungle is the world's largest indoor rainforest covering one and a half acres with 123,000 square feet of floor space and its canopy is an jaw-dropping eighty feet above the floor.
This exhibit is was the zoo's first total immersion exhibit and has set the standard for all exhibits of its kind in America. Visitors utilize all their senses as they walk through perfect representations of Asian, African, and South American rainforests where they can view the second largest waterfall in the state of Nebraska and walk across a river on a wooden suspension bridge. Some of the hundreds of species one can see, hear, smell, and perhaps touch in the Lied Jungle are the Malayan Tapir, Goliath herons, pygmy hippos, Black Howler monkeys, pacu, and red-tailed catfish.
Other Exhibits at the Zoo:
Not all the exhibits at the Henry Doorly Zoo hold records but they are all still very impressive in their own right. After taking ample time to visit the ones above, make sure to take the time to visit the remainder of the zoo's twenty-five plus exhibits to include Cheetah Valley, the Butterfly and Insect Pavilion, Durham's Bear Canyon, the Garden of the Senses, and Dairy World.
HUBBARD GORILLA VALLEY
One of the more unique exhibits that doesn't hold a record is the Hubbard Gorilla Valley. This three acre site is set-up so that the Gorilla's feel like they are the one's observing the human visitors to the zoo and not the other way around. Interspersed throughout the two acre area dedicated to the roaming of the twenty-five gorillas who live there are small clear domes and bubbles that allow visitors to peer into the world of these might apes. In affect the zoo visitor actually feels like they are the ones in the cage instead of the gorillas and it offers them unparalleled access to the goings-on of gorilla life.
SCOTT AQUARIUM
The other major draw to the Henry Doorly Zoo is that it also contains an aquarium, the Scott Aquarium to be exact. This 71,000 square foot building offers visitors a look into the habitats of the polar regions of Earth, deep oceans, coral reefs, and the mighty Amazon River. The major attraction of this one of a kind aquarium within a zoo is the Shark Tunnel. This steel-reinforced clear glass tunnel is at the bottom of a seventeen foot deep ocean exhibit and winds for seventy feet while it is surrounded by over 900,000 gallons of saltwater and some of the world's most deadly sharks.
SHORT LIST OF ANIMALS AT THE ZOO
No zoo review would be complete without a short list of some of the animals one can see while there, and here is that short, and very non-comprehensive list of the animals at the Henry Doorly Zoo: Sea Turtle, Lionfish, North Pacific Gian Octopus, jellyfish, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, deer, antelope, orangutans, spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, emu, wallabies, sea lions, elephants, rhinos, penguins, otters, and puffins.
No matter what you are going to Omaha, Nebraska for you must make sure you put aside at least a day to explore the zoo that all zoos aspire to become, the Henry Doorly Zoo.