I have wanted to go to the Omaha Zoo since I was a child. There used to be a TV series called “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” and was hosted by Marlin Perkins. If you have read the About Me page of this website, you already know how that show really got me interested in animals. The Wild Kingdom series would also sometimes visit the Omaha Zoo, and as a kid I thought it was probably the best zoo in the world. I have since learned that Marlin Perkins was involved for several years with the St. Louis Zoo, that was the first zoo I posted about on this website.

So, I guess we’re ready to explore the Henry Doorly Zoo of Omaha:

This trip I will be saying “we” instead of “I”. My wife, Jennifer, joined me for this zoo visit.

Before we start, I want to point out that much to my disappointment the Lied Jungle, the Hubbard Orangutan Forest and Simmon’s Aviary were closed when I went. They were doing construction on thee Hubbard Orangutan Forest. Simmon’s Aviary was closed due to issues with the Avian Flu being found in the area. I don’t recall why the Lied Jungle was closed. I hope to get back to the Omaha Zoo in the next year or so to visit the closed sites.

We start with the Desert Dome, which the photo of it above is from outside the Omaha Zoo. It is just huge! If you look at the outside of the dome you can see stairs and ladders going to the top. I would be exhausted trying to climb to the top.

Within the Desert Dome, the deserts are divided by continent with the first desert being the Namib Desert of Africa.

I found it interesting the number of ducks that are found in deserts. There were more but I didn’t get good photos. I found it kind of strange the way the blacksmith plover was resting on it’s knees. That just looks weird to me, and backwards from us. I have seen the white-buffalo weaver at several zoos, but I still find them attractive. You will see the same photo of the masked lapwing and Cape thick-knee in the Australia Red Center because the masked lapwing is from Australia and the Cape thick-knee is from Africa. The Cape thick-knee as well as the yellow-billed duck and Cape teal can fly around to the other areas.

The dwarf mongooses were not as active as I am use to seeing them. So, if when we talk about more than one goose then we say geese. Why isn’t it mongoose and mongeese? Our language can be funny at times. The klipspringer is a type of antelope that tends to live in the rocky areas of deserts. I often think the klipspringer’s feet look like it is a ballerina on its tip-toes. It’s hard to believe that they are incredibly sure-footed (won’t slip on rocks, even steep ones). The bat-eared fox was sleeping and that makes a lot of sense. They are nocturnal (active at night) and they use those great big ears to listen for rodents and insects moving around. It is amazing to me that they can hear that well. This summer when you are in your yard or at the park, try listening for the grasshoppers. If a squirrel comes toward you, close your eyes and try to hear it.

The Omaha Zoo has both kinds of hyraxes. This is the first time I’ve seen a bush hyrax. The rock hyrax is very sure-footed like the klipspringer. What animal group are hyrax closely related to? Squirrels, rats, and mice? Nope. Rabbits? Nope. Uhhh weasels? Nope. If you said elephants then you are right. Yes these furry little mammals are one of the closest living relatives to elephants! If you look at the rock hyrax you can see he has little tusks.

All the snakes in the Namib Desert portion are venomous. We have some cobras, including a spitting cobra. The black mamba which I have read is not only venomous but aggressive. And last but not least a puff adder which has huge fangs. At least they have a couple of lizards and a turtle that are not dangerous.

The Henry Doorly Omaha Zoo Desert Dome has the birds, mammals, and reptiles mixed together (not in the same cages) but I couldn’t remember who went where. As you are walking on the path, on the right might be an area with birds, and on the left a small area with a snake. So I put groups of animals (birds, mammals, and reptiles) together so I could talk about the animal groups.

We now head to the Australian outback (not to be confused with the “Outback®” restaurant), called the Red Center.

The Australian wood duck we actually saw in the Namib Desert area. Like the other ducks it can fly around between deserts. I guess the food was better in the African desert than the Australian desert. The tawny frogmouth is called a frogmouth because it’s mouth is so big. You can get a better idea of how big from the picture of one at the St. Louis Zoo.

Though Australia has mammals, none were displayed in this area, we move directly to reptiles. This starts with some pythons. The two pythons they have are not as long as some of their African and Asia cousins but still a respectable size with the carpet python reaching up to 9 feet. All three of the other snakes are venomous with the inland taipan and king brown having very strong venom. In fact, the inland taipan has the most toxic venom of any snake. I had seen the perentie monitor lizard before but the other two monitor lizards were new ones to me. I think of monitor lizards mostly on the ground, but I now know they also climb trees especially when young.

The last desert area is our own (United States and Mexico) Sonoran Desert:

I thought the white-winged dove was actually a ringed-necked dove that somehow got into the Desert Dome. The ringed-necked dove was introduced and has done quite well in several areas including Missouri (where I live), and Nebraska where the Omaha Zoo is located. It, like the ducks and thick-knee, can fly around between areas. I saw the white-winged dove in the Namib Desert area. As usual, I was pleased to see some turkey vultures. They were very close, so I was able to get some good photos. When I think of American deserts, I think of the roadrunner. I learned while writing this section there are two kinds (separate species) of roadrunner: the greater roadrunner and the lesser roadrunner. When I visit my mom in Arizona, I will need to look carefully to see which one is around her house. I think burrowing owls are one of the cutest owls. Screech owls are also cute and the Omaha Zoo also had one of those, but I didn’t get a good photo.

The collard peccary is a common peccary found in both the United States, Mexico, and Central and South America. They are interesting because they look like a pig but they are considered in a separate group. Domestic pigs, wart hogs (from Africa), wild boar (Asia and Europe), and other pigs of Asia, Africa, and Europe are closely related, but the peccary is distantly related. They may look a lot like the other pigs, but they are more different than a horse and a donkey.

When I was young I really liked the ocelot. It is a medium sized wild cat. A little smaller than a bobcat but bigger than most domestic cats. They live in both the desert and the jungle! They are very agile on rocks and trees. There is a small population that occurs in Texas, however they use to roam as far east as Arkansas and Louisiana.

Just like in the Namib Desert area, all the snakes displayed are venomous. In fact they are all rattlesnakes! I have often heard of people talk about “rattlesnakes” and I think which kind? Some have stronger venom than others, and some can be more aggressive than others. Rattlesnakes are famous for their long fangs. There are also rattlesnakes that don’t live in the desert and are found in forests of the east, like the timber rattlesnake. Many of the rattlesnakes have similar coloration and patterns but the Arizona black rattlesnake looks a lot different to me. The zoo even has a venomous lizard, the beaded lizard. The other three lizards are not venomous. I have seen the chuckwalla at other zoos, and it is supremely adapted for desert life. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen the Baja blue rock lizard. There is a population of the common collared lizards in Missouri, where I live.

All of the above areas are for animals often seen in deserts during the day. The next section is the nocturnal section of deserts. In this area I had a lot of trouble getting good photos. However, I found that taking movies provided better images of the animals. So some of the “photos” were taken from clips from the movies. I apologize for the poor quality. However, there are some very interesting animals in the night area.

The night area doesn’t have sections broken down by continent. So lets do things by groups. First we have mammals, and when I think of night mammals I think of bats.

The Seba’s short-tailed bat is from South America. The greater Indian flying fox is from Asia, it is one of the largest bats. It is also in the upper center of the fourth photo of bats. The Ruwenzori long-haired fruit bat comes from Africa and can be seen in the bottom right corner of the fourth photo. I am not sure what species the bat in the middle of the fourth photo is. All of these bats eat fruit. This is different than the bats we have in the United States which are almost all insect eaters. There are a few fruit and nectar eating bats in the southern states, both east and west. However, they are all a lot different than the large fruit bats and flying foxes of Asia, Africa, and Australia. The last group of bats are the common vampire bat. It is hard to see but there a lot of vampire bats in this exhibit.

Beyond the bats, there are a few other mammals in the night area. First is two Australian species, the Tammer wallaby and echidna. The echidna, like the platypus, is a mammal that lays eggs. Both still suckle their young, so are definitely mammals. The echidna also has a small pouch like kangaroos and opossums to carry their young after it is born. Very unusual mammal. With the echidna is a Tammer wallaby. They both live in the deserts of Australia.

Though the name is “springhare”, the south African springhare is not a rabbit but rather a rodent that looks like a rabbit. Though not seen well in this photo they have a long tail that helps them balance when hopping like a kangaroo. There was one exhibit that had two kinds of armadillos, a nine-banded armadillo and a three banded armadillo. The nine-banded armadillo is the one found in much of the southern United States. When they get scared, they jump straight up about 2-3 feet! The three-banded armadillo completely wraps itself in a ball when scared. Some people think all armadillos do that but there are only a few that can roll completely in a ball.

The last mammal is incredibly unique. The aye-aye is a type of lemur from Madagascar. It is nocturnal, which is why it is in the night area, and has great big eyes to see in the dark. What makes the aye-aye so unique is it’s third finger is very slender and elongated. It uses this finger to dig into holes in trees to get larvae and grubs. The joints on this finger are different than any other mammal joints. Also, it has two thumbs, which means it is also the only mammal with six fingers on each hand! I included the information poster to show how weird they look. I’ve often thought how they could be in a scary movie: The Night of the Giant Aye-Aye!!

The last area has mammals, reptiles, and fish with the reptiles being the stars.

Just outside of the water is an American crocodile and in the water are American alligators. The Omaha Zoo has a very large albino (all white) alligator but I did not get a good photo. Next to the alligators is an area with beavers. I really like beavers, because they are so important in the environments they live in. Once a beaver makes a beaver pond, lots of animals are dependent on that pond. However, I have not seen many beavers in zoos. Lastly off to the side, is the woma python. This area was very hot and humid, just like the Florida everglades or Louisiana swamps. It also marks the end of the trail through the Desert Dome.

I was very impressed with the Desert Dome, and there were as many different kinds of animals in it as can be seen at medium sized zoos. The entire building is kept quite warm, so it would probably be a good place to visit in the winter.

After the Desert Dome we head towards the African Grassland area. With the first stop to look at an okapi, one of my favorite African mammals. Okapi’s don’t actually occur in the grasslands of Africa, but in the jungles of Africa.

Next up is a rocky area that has meerkats, klipspringers, leopard tortoises, and a white-throated monitor. My wife and I use to like to watch an Animal Planet^® series called Meerkat Manor. They acted like a troupe of monkeys rather than a type of mongoose. We continue to enjoy watching them at zoos, because they are often very active, just like in the wild. As mentioned about the klipspringer in the Desert Dome these antelopes are very sure-footed. The leopard tortoise lives extensively throughout non-jungle sub-Saharan areas. Rock monitors, for which the white-throated monitor is a kind of rock monitor, have a similar distribution as the leopard tortoise. The white-throated monitor mainly occurs in South Africa.

In the open grassland area the zoo has giraffes, lesser kudu, impala, and an ostrich all together I like it when zoos have an open area like this, with multiple types of animals in it. It lets me imagine I am in Africa on a photo safari. Of course the animal that stands out is the long-necked giraffe. The giraffe, even though it has a very long neck, has the same number of bones in its neck as we do. However, their tongue is much longer.

The lesser kudu has interesting and impressive horns. It seems two of the males were doing a bit of jousting. The impala is one of the speedsters of the African grasslands. However, they are also known to jump very high. The ostrich is off by itself. This is a female ostrich, a male has black and white feathers. It’s sometime easy to forget that the ostrich, just like a cardinal or chicken is covered in feathers not fur, though some ostrich feathers are very long.

Off by themselves, away from the other animals, are a pair of white rhinoceros. The white rhinoceros is the largest of the 5 different kinds of rhinoceros, though the Indian rhinoceros is close in size. I was very impressed by how long both horns were on the rhinos. It is hard to believe a rhinoceros, despite it’s size, can run faster than most people.

On the other side of the path, is the elephant exhibit.

These are African bush elephants. Which is the largest land animal. There is also an African forest elephant, that looks similar to the African bush elephant but smaller. I do not believe there are any African forest elephants in North American zoos. I like watching elephants, it amazes me how they can use their trunk almost like a hand. I was also pleased to see a baby elephant, since they are just so darn cute, and often clumsy. When young, they really don’t know what to do with that trunk in front of them.

Right next to the African bush elephants are some plains zebras. Zebras have the striped coat to confuse predators, like lions, when they are chasing them. Though closely related to horses and donkeys, they have never been completely domesticated. You may see the occasional zebra being ridden or pulling a cart, but these are the exceptions. Even with professional trainers, zebras can be extremely hard to work with.

As we walk on, we stop and take a look at the mammoth sculpture. My wife and I met in Alaska, and Alaska has a “State Fossil”: The Woolly Mammoth. So we both like mammoths.

We now head to another African area, and first up are the cheetahs. When I was younger, cheetahs were my favorite animals because they could run so fast.

I thought about putting African cheetah as the caption for the photos, because, though very rare, there is an Asian cheetah as well. I follow a site that talks about a group that is re-introducing cheetahs into India. They tend to hunt deer more often than antelope in India.

The area right next to the cheetahs is supposed to have African lions. However, all three times I’ve come to the Omaha Zoo I’ve never seen their lions.

Next are some more African animals. First the bongo, which like the okapi, actually lives in the forests and jungles of Africa.

The sable antelope lives on the grasslands of Africa. I think the horns on the sable antelope look really cool. Sable antelopes are one of the larger antelopes, with only the eland and the greater kudu being larger in Africa. There is also an African spurred tortoise, which isn’t as big as the giant Galapagos tortoises but still very large.

We now leave Africa and head over to Asia. This is a nice stroll, with a stingray petting pool along the way. It wasn’t open the day we were at the zoo.

Upon entering the Asia area, there were a couple of deer and a crane.

The first up was a Chinese muntjac, which is also called Reeve’s muntjac. These are small deer that live in woodlands of Asia. They have been introduced to several countries outside of Asia including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, and Japan. Then there is the tufted deer which is closely related to the muntjac, but lives further north. Both of these deer have large canine teeth, which you can see in the one under the tree. They are complete vegetarians but the long teeth are used for protection and when fighting one another.

I often get the white-naped crane confused with the saurus crane, which is at the St. Louis Zoo. I think cranes look a bit like storks, however they are not closely related. Cranes are closely related to rails (like the American coot).

We are now walking toward several carnivores, a bear and two big cats. First is the sloth bear, which is the kind of bear Baloo from the Jungle Book is.

The Omaha Zoo has an Amur tiger, which used to be called the Siberian tiger. The tiger in the Jungle Book was called Shere Khan, however Shere Khan was likely a Bengal tiger, which is actually a little smaller than the Amur tiger. Some day I would like to visit a zoo that has most of the cast from the jungle book: a bengal tiger, a black leopard, a sloth bear, an Asian wolf (very rare wolves), an orangutan, and a large reticulated python. Most zoos I’ve visited have Amur tigers. Like the Amur tiger, the snow leopard lives in a cold climate, however it is not due to being far north but rather living in the high mountains. I am guessing neither the Amur tiger nor the snow leopard like the hot Nebraska summers.

The Asian highlands have an animal called a takin. I have heard people call them the largest animal you’ve never heard of. Though they look a bit like an ox, they are actually more closely related to sheep. However, their closest living relative is the musk ox, which is also more closely related to sheep than cows or oxen.

Just like with the tiger, there are different kinds of takin. The one at the Omaha Zoo and the St. Louis Zoo are Sichuan takins (sometimes called Tibetan takins). There is also a golden takin, which is thought to have inspired the story of the golden fleece in Greek mythology. Like the snow leopard they live in mountainous regions of Asia.

As mentioned earlier, the great Indian rhinoceros is only slightly smaller than the white rhinoceros. In Asia, these rhinos can be a problem when they get lost and end up in the middle of a town! With as big as they are, they can sometimes knock over small cars. The greater Indian rhinos horn doesn’t get as large as the African rhino horns.

Last of the Asian Highland area is Père David’s deer. As I mentioned during my Lincoln Park Zoo visit, the Père David’s deer was saved from extinction by people bringing the last of them into captivity. After over 80 years of all Père David’s deer being in captivity, Père David’s deer were released back into the wild of China.

My wife and I now take a stroll to the Hubbard Expedition Madagascar, which is home to several types of lemurs. However, it also houses the straw-colored fruit bat.

I have seen the ring-tailed lemur in several zoos, as well as the red-ruffed lemur. The other lemurs were new to me. So, how many different kinds of lemurs are there? There are over 100 different kinds of lemurs, some look like the lemurs here but others look quite different like the aye-aye in the night area of the Desert Dome. All lemurs come from the island of Madagascar off the east coast of Africa. It is believed that lemurs are the most primitive of all primates.

Outside of Hubbard Expedition Madagascar, is a fossa. This is the only kind of mammal predator on Madagascar. They are quick on land as well as in the trees. Fossa often hunt lemurs.

There were also a few birds and reptiles in the Hubbard Expedition Madagascar building.

There are both greater and lesser vasa parrots (sometimes called black parrots) in Madagascar. Both occur over much of Madagascar with the greater found also on the island of Comoros, which is a smaller island north west of Madagascar. The flat-tailed tortoise is sometimes called the flat-tailed spider tortoise. They are called spider tortoise because the pattern on its back looks like a spider web. The Madagascar spiny-tailed iguana is only found on Madagascar.

We continue to walk, now towards the Hubbard Gorilla Valley. On the way we pass by Simmon’s Avairy, which was closed when we visited due to the Avian Flu being detected in the area.

As you might guess, the Hubbard Gorilla Valley has gorillas.

The gorillas are western lowland gorillas, which are the most common gorillas in zoos. There are also a group called mountain gorillas or eastern gorillas. Both species are critically endangered, due mostly to habitat loss and past hunting.

In the building with the gorillas are some colobus monkeys. I believe all the colobus monkeys I’ve seen before have been the Guereza colobus monkeys, sometimes called the black and white colobus monkeys. This is the first time I’ve seen an Angola colobus monkey. Whereas the black and white colobus monkey is fairly common, the Angola colobus monkey is threatened.

Last up are a crowned crane and white stork. Because they both have long legs and necks and kind of look the same, they put them together. However, as I discussed before cranes and storks aren’t closely related. There was a myth that white stork delivered people’s babies. It is still popular in cartoons. What I find interesting about white storks is they nest in places in Europe like Germany, Poland and Hungary then migrate to Africa. Some of the white storks stop just south of the Sahara Desert but many go all the way to South Africa!!

Inside the Hubbard Gorilla Valley they have some skeletons of different primates. The skeletons are of humans, gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutan, and gibbons. It is amazing how similar the bone structure is between us and chimpanzees, though the skeleton of the bonobo shows it better.

By the Hubbard Gorilla Valley the Omaha Zoo was improving the Hubbard Orangutan Forest exhibit. It is scheduled to be completed by Summer 2024!

We then check out the Owen Sea Lion Shores. This exhibit has sea lions as you might guess. However it also had harbor seals with them. In the wild, California sea lions are often seen in the same area as harbor seals. Both these marine mammals are common on the Pacific coast. California seal lions occur from the very south of Alaska down to Baja California, while harbor seals occur from western Alaska to Baja California. I lived in Alaska for several years and I always liked seeing sea lions and seals. Seeing them in the zoo reminds me of Alaska.

Something the Omaha Zoo has that is incredibly unique is an Alaska play area and town.

Unfortunately, the places to eat in this area were closed. Earlier in the day, there were lots of kids playing in the water area with humpback whales, killer whales, and sea lions.

The first time I visited the Omaha Zoo, the float plane was in a small pond. This time it looks like it’s flying. I like both of the displays.

As we head back to the entrance, we walk by the Children’s Adventure Trails. I believe this is a children’s/petting zoo area.

That was it for the first day. Yep, this zoo took two days to really explore.

On the second day we started with the Bernice Grewcock Butterfly and Insect Pavilion. First the butterfly area, which my wife really likes.

As you can see I don’t know my butterflies. The first 6 wonderful photos my wife took. She is a good photographer. I did like the display cases to look at butterflies versus moths. The non-butterfly insects had signs so I was able to identify them. I included the sign for the jumping stick because it seemed to be saying “Yeah, this is me!”

From the insects we head under water to the Suzanne and Walter Scott Aquarium. First up were penguins and puffins.

I think king and emperor penguins look very similar. In zoos it is easy to tell the difference, since only the San Diego Zoo has emperor penguins. I also have trouble telling rockhopper penguins from macaroni penguins, I hope I got it right in the photos.

I always enjoy viewing windows with penguins swimming underwater, because they look so graceful underwater and it amazes me how fast they can swim. Because of the wings being flippers, they actually travel faster underwater than on top of water.

Next up are puffins. My wife and mom love puffins, though we have never seen the Atlantic puffin in the wild. Atlantic puffins are well, in the North Atlantic Ocean whereas the other two kinds of puffins (horned and tufted puffins) are in the North Pacific Ocean (both Pacific puffins can be seen at the St. Louis Zoo). So, you would never see Atlantic puffins around tufted puffins in the wild. However, the common murre lives in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, so they probably act as a monitor for the two kinds of puffins in the Omaha Zoo.

I often think that puffins rather than penguins should be in Christmas decorations and cards. Penguins live in the southern oceans, and puffins live in the northern oceans. In fact, at Christmas in the southern hemisphere it’s summer at Christmas time!

Now we go to the rest of the aquarium. I will just have photos, since there are so many fish and other animals!

I like the way they have some areas that are shallower than others. This is how the ocean is and different fish live at different depths. The dark blue would be deeper water fish.

There were a few displays and animals I wanted to point out that I particularly like.

I have seen giant Pacific Octopi in the wild. It is amazing how they can blend in with their environment. I have seen nurse sharks while snorkeling in Florida. They are called nurse sharks because when they eat it kind of sounds like a baby nursing. The bonnethead sharks are sometimes confused with hammerhead sharks. Bonnethead sharks only get to 3 feet, while the great hammerhead shark can reach 20 feet!!

I really liked the underwater tunnel. It is like you are swimming with the fishes. I have only been to a few zoos that have underwater tunnels.

I don’t do it very often but my wife and I took a ride on the zoo train.

The Henry Doorly Omaha Zoo has a lot of animals. In fact, it is one of the top five zoos in the country in terms of the number of different kinds of animals (species)!! It helps to have an aquarium with lots of different types of fish.

I was very excited to see the aye-aye, Pere David’s deer, the fossa, beavers, the three-banded armadillo, and the echidna. The Desert Dome was grand and I hope to go back there, maybe in the winter. So this is the Zoo Guy to all the Zoo Folk, I hope you get a chance to visit a zoo soon, maybe the Henry Doorly Omaha Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska.