Culiacan Zoo

[Cross-posted from ZooChat.]  I am an American teaching at a top-notch Mexican university high school or "prepa" in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state on the west coast. Culiacan is about two hours from the popular resort of Mazatlan, also in Sinaloa. This is not a tourist town, possibly because it has a reputation as one of the two biggest centers of the Mexican drug traffic (along with Ciudad de Juarez). But it is actually a quite pleasant city to live in. 

The Culiacan Zoo is only a few blocks from my house, part of a larger park complex, and so I have visited it a number of times, including today. It is a charming and popular small zoo. The animals seem healthy and well cared for; I have not noticed any obviously neurotic behaviors. The enclosures seem generally appropriate, and are full of variety for the animals; there are no bare or depressing enclosures. The enclosures for the big cats could be bigger, but they are no means bad; there are ponds for bathing, plenty of material for climbing and playing, and places to hide and take a break from the public. The whole zoo is pleasantly shady, which is a good thing because it does get quite hot and humid here in the summer.

Here are some of the features and species you will find at the Culiacan Zoo:

Tigers (including a white tiger), lions, jaguars, leopards (very perky today; they looked great), cheetahs, caracals, wolves, hyenas

Chimpanzees, Geoffroy's spider monkeys, lemurs, Hamadryas baboons

A variety of smaller monkeys, including a separate house for titis

I have seen black bears before, but not today

Coatis, raccoons

A large hippo enclosure with a pair who seemed to be having a blast in their pond today

A kangaroo/wallaby enclosure that also houses giant tortoises and Patagonian cavies

The largest enclosure in the zoo includes giraffes, zebras, ostriches, multiple species of deer, antelopes, and wild sheep, and capybaras - not exactly geographically coherent, but pleasant

A flamingo/swan pond

A petting zoo

A herpetarium with a nice array of species, including many snakes and lizards and some tarantulas

A king vultures exhibit

A very large, multi-level, well-designed flight cage (including a pond) with a wide variety of parrots (including a thriving colony of hyacinth macaws), toucans, ground fowl, and waterbirds