The Essex County Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange is offering a pair of new attractions this summer: a bear exhibit and a renovated farm/petting zoo.
The new "Black Bear Trail" exhibit features several large, glassed viewing areas, attractive landscaping and benches. "Jim's Place" is a cute little house where kids can watch a video about bears or look into a refrigerator stocked with fish, fruit and vegetables to learn what bears like to eat.
Two young, playful black bears are in residence. Visitors who drove through the Six Flags Great Adventure Wild Safari in Jackson Township last summer may recognize the bruins, who frolicked in a stream there and wrangled over pieces of fruit thrown to them by safari staff. A year later, the bears are just as spunky and fun to watch as they chase each other and climb trees.
The new barnyard, the site of a petting zoo of horses, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, guinea pigs and other animals, is a year-round home. In the past, the zoo had a small barn and outdoor area for the animals, but had to send the farm animals to Connecticut for the winter months. The barnyard is now a permanent shelter for the 50 animals.
Both attractions were popular with families on a recent visit. Kids hand-fed nibbles to the animals, many of which sought shade inside the barn to escape the day's heat and humidity.
Another zoo highlight is the prairie dog exhibit, which opened in 1991, but later closed for safety reasons. The renovated exhibit now allows kids to "burrow" through rounded clear viewing areas, stick their heads up, and come face-to-face with the black-tailed prairie dogs, who are relatives of the squirrel and native to the West.
The zoo still has its free train ride, which children have enjoyed for generations. Other favorite stops at the zoo include the penguins, wolves, bald eagle and squirrel monkeys.
