Zoo Tours: OCEANS at the Indianapolis Zoo

EPISODE 25 REDO

I take you to zoos, I take you to aquariums, but what we don't see enough of are Zoo Aquariums. Very few zoos have them, and when they do, very few are even worth a second look. That can't be said for the Indianapolis Zoo's Oceans exhibit! Opened in 1988 as the 'Waters' building, the attraction was modernized in 2007 to bring you into the depths of the ocean's tropics, coasts, and frigid environments. With every section, comes a new surprise. I can't think of any zoo or aquarium with a massive shark touch pool, seals and sea lions, walruses, penguins, MONKEYS, and the WORLD'S FIRST UNDERWATER DOLPHIN DOME, all within ONE complex. Enjoy.

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SPECIES LIST (Incomplete - Some species not signed)

1. Cownose Ray, Smooth Dogfish, Lookdowns, Planehead Filedish, Saddleback Butterflyfish
2. Tomato Clownfish, Lemon peel Angelfish, Green Moray Eel, Goldstein Damselfish, Sweetlips, Flame Hawkfish, Black Durgeon, Raccoon Butterflyfish, Bignose Unicornfish, Yellowbanded Angelfish, Copperband Butterflyfish, Red Sea Sailfin Tang, Saddleback Butterflyfish, Powder Blue Tang, Pennant Butterflyfish, Asfur Angelfish, Shortnose Unicornfish, Orange Shoulder Tang, Coral Hogfish, Majestic Angelfish, Foxface, Bannerfish, Triggerfish
3. Red Lionfish
4. Smooth Dogfish, Cownose Ray, Southern Stingray
5. Pistol Shrimp, Yellow Watchmen Goby
6. Blood Star, Bat Star
7. Zooxanthelle Algae, (Assorted Coral)
8. Grunt Sculpin, Barnacles
9. Coral Hogfish, Cleaner Shrimp
10. Keyhole Limpet, Green Sea Urchin, Sea Cucumber
11. Ocellaris Clownfish, Anemones
12. Crimson Anemone, Candy Striped Shrimp
13. Spotfin Butterflyfish, Ocellaris Clownfish, Urchins, Majestic Angelfish
14. Potbellied Seahorse
15. Coral Hogfish, Yellow Tang
16. Unidentified Corals, Pink Skunk Clownfish, Green Chromis, Yellow Tang, Bangaii Cardinalfish
17. California Sea Lion, Grey Seal
18. King Penguin, Gentoo Penguin, Southern Rockhopper Penguin
19. Crab-eating Macaque
20. Pacific Walrus
21. Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin

LIVE ANIMAL WEBCAMS for their Macaques, Penguins, Walruses (along with their Tigers and Macaws):

LEARN ABOUT THEIR RESCUED SEA LIONS: (Ivy, Holly, and Joy):

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[JAGzilla-urlh]

Looks like a fairly nice aquarium. The dolphin dome is impressive, the walruses are worth a visit on their own due to their rarity, and the macaques are an unusual but clever inclusion.

[kylgrv]

I just finished a two day trip to Indianapolis to see this zoo, and the Oceans exhibit did not disappoint. It was easily one of the biggest highlights of my trip, with the penguins and dolphins being my favorites from the exhibit. The only thing that was disappointing was that the walruses were temporarily off their exhibit, but apart from that, it was an awesome experience!

[chaseglackman]

I can't wait for the zoo's master expansion. The current 13 acre parking lot will be getting torn out and converted into new animal exhibitions. A chimpanzee center will be one of them; they already live on property in the backstage building behind the rhino barn where the orangutans previously lived prior to their facility being built. The new parking system will consist of two new lots, one 16 acres the other 12 acres, on the other side of Washington street with likely a walkover bridge over the street into the zoo's new entrance plaza, not too different from Cincinnati and St Louis. I also suggested to the employees upon last visit to replace the rollercoaster with camels to ride and feed, as the coaster is showing its age after 20 years and is in need of retirement, which they seemed to like the idea. The coming years for this zoo will be very interesting to say the least!

[ckm]

Dolphins in aquariums tend to get debated a lot which is understandable there are a lot of iffy ones and some just straight up bad ones but between this one and the one at Shedd Aquarium I think it shows it can be done right 🐬

[loganvandyke]

Hey Zach thanks for the showing. Love Indy, been there 3 times now, but my two favorite times were when it was 50° and heavy winds and the other a severe thunderstorm. The thunderstorm was the 3rd year of the orangutan house being open, and the orangutans were actually interacting for over two hours with the 10 people that flocked to the building across the entire zoo, so it was really personal. The second time my mom and I were the only ones there (literally), the zoo was about to close down due to COVID abd weather back in 2020, and so we went into the dolphin dome and it was completely silent except the dolphins vocalizing and interacting with us for an hour. It ended up being one of my top zoo experiences and something I'll never forget.

[ratbones]

Seeing the dolphin dome is on my zoo bucket list. Hopefully one day I will get to go there!

[Zoove]

I love this Zak! The long episodes have really been great lately! Thanks you for putting so much into these tours! One question though. Are you gonna make a Rhino Ridge tour anytime soon cause I have some great video from the area.

[kevinamos]

I have been going to this zoo since I was a kid 😃

[KingJoffreyII]

We used to have an Amazon rainforest exhibit here too

[globalwarmingawareness]

I am volunteering at a zoo here in Minnesota and it ends for the season in august and so I am planning to go on a zoo road trip and Indianapolis zoo is definitely going to be one of my stops 👍

[TheLoreSeeker]

Got thrown off for a while by "anenome".... kept thinking "wait... thats not right.... AH-NE-MO-NE...there we go." XD

[NathanSpies]

Do you plan to do videos on the Newport Aquarium?

[johnbaker]

THANK YOU for calling them Sea Stars and not Star Fish! My kids learned that 25 years age at a zoo. If kids can learn that they are Invertebrate and not fish so can we all. Thanks again.

[the_gaming_hyena]

This is an amazing aquarium. Which is your personal favorite aquarium in a zoo?

[Vic-sefz]

Holy crap, the Dolphin stadium is huge! From the pictures I've seen it looks small. Did they expand the dolphin exhibit, or is this just the first time I'm seeing the full view of it?

[ZoosTravelers]

Great Job! I've always loved the Oceans exhibit

[deanonessimo]

I would predict that they should rename the Oceans zone with "Oceans and Rivers" zone, and should add hippos, beavers, Asian otters, and the return of polar bears in the future.

[lesliechu]

Astounding episode! Also, try visit the Woodland Park Zoo, Sacramento Zoo, Oakland Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, Monterey Bay Aquarium, SeaWorld San Diego, & Disney's Animal Kingdom someday if you come up with future new Zoo Tour episodes! Plus, which zoo are you heading next for Episode 105 soon? Bubbling Timurlengia!🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊

[captainmeg]

"Anything with a Mouth can bite" LMAO

[taylorc]

I enjoy when we go but it needs some updating. The dolphin dome is depressing it’s just a vacant cement pool. On a cold day I went with my son when he was about 1 and a half we ate lunch in the dolphin dome and they just stared at us lol. But we did have the zoo to ourselves.