A Great Summer Destination: The Fort Worth Zoo

Sometimes the best summer attractions are right in your own backyard. That's certainly true in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, which has Six Flags, multiple water parks, and Texas Rangers baseball (which is actually fairly good this year). But one great local destination that is often overlooked: the nationally acclaimed Fort Worth Zoo.

I know some reading this will say "a zoo is a zoo, they're all the same." Not true at all. While a large number of zoos around the country have upgraded and renovated their facilities to make the experience a pleasant one for both man and beast, the Fort Worth Zoo has really gone the extra mile. Long gone are the days of concrete enclosures with steel bars (think of the zoo in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Each exhibit is constructed to mirror the particular animal's natural habitat as closely as possible.

The animals are also grouped by the geographical region in which you would find them in the wild. This makes the educational aspect, especially for kids, much easier to follow. The main exhibit areas are:

The World of Primates. This 2.5-acre area has, well, primates. It features both indoor and outdoor exhibits (the indoor part is air-conditioned, which is nice in the Texas summer), and definitely has a rainforest feel to it, complete with tropical foliage and several waterfalls. The various sections of the exhibit feature chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons, mandrills, and a group of gorilla's, including a very impressive silverback male.

Asian Falls. This exhibit was carved out of an existing hillside, and is home to six elephants (including the first ever born at the zoo, 9 year old Bluebonnet. Moving away from the elephants on a winding boardwalk, you will see rhinos and various birds before coming to my personal favorite exhibit, the white tigers and Indochinese tigers. The two groups are separated by a ravine and 40-foot waterfall that adds to the beauty of the exhibit while preventing tiger-on-tiger violence.