Like a Rhinestone Cowboy: FunkyGibbon in Europe

TeaLovingDave said:
In my limited experience I've found that Deutsche Bahn beats anything available in the UK hands-down when it comes to cost, speed, reliability and common sense
Click to expand...
And you suggested me to take the train from Manchester to Liverpool?! ^^

Anyway, I won't let you all defend DB; disliking them has become an unifying element in German culture. Just as disliking Berlin. And its residents. And its inability to build an international airport...If German trains were on time like the Swiss (just as they used to be when I was younger) and no inefficient stomping grounds for vandals, the general dislike could be focused more constructively on Berlin. And they might finally finish that airport...
 
Last edited:
TeaLovingDave said:
You say hilarious.... I say it's pretty damning :(
Click to expand...

sooty mangabey said:
: A fantastic place and, as you say, one which outscores another zoo of limited acreage, a little closer to home.
Click to expand...

It's instructive to compare London and Frankfurt I think. If London hadn't touched the Clore, still had Sloth Bears on the Mappins and Black Rhinos in the Casson and Sealions in the current penguin pool (I assume this is where they used to be?) then you'd have two fairly similar zoos, with different strengths and weaknesses.

The main difference today is not just that Frankfurt has kept more traditional exhibits, and of course there's a case to be made that's a bad thing, but also that Frankfurt has almost literally no dead space: no lawns, no steep slopes that aren't used, no giant walkthoughs, and no large historic buildings that are currently under utilised.

I actually like what London is turning into, although I never really saw what it was before. But I'm really glad that Frankfurt is doing things differently, and I'm glad there's room within modern zookeeping for many different visions of 'the zoo'.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
True, but to the best of my knowledge no zoochatter has written about seeing one this millenium, including those of us who spend much of time wandering aimlessly around Asia. It's good to have goals though.
Click to expand...

I've heard rumours that there might be one in the Pata Zoo in Bangkok. I decided not to support a place like Pata Zoo on my current Thai trip though (and I didn't have time anyway).
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Sealions in the current penguin pool (I assume this is where they used to be?)
Click to expand...

The sea lions' old pool is now lost under the tiger enclosure - it was last used as a pool for the Pygmy Hippos. :)
 
FunkyGibbon said:
http://mammalwatching.com/Oriental/Otherreports/PaulCarter-Sabah-Apr_2014.pdf

According to this trip report one was seen on the night drive at Danum Valley Field Centre in Sabah. Given that I took that very night drive in January I suppose I have more of a shot than I originally thought.
Click to expand...

On my second night at Danum, I chose a drive rather than a walk. The people on the walk saw a linsang and a tarsier. I saw a common palm civet.

Anyway, I've enjoyed your thoughts so far. Frankfurt is a lovely zoo, which I'm looking forward to visiting in a few days. Hannover is far from perfect, but absolutely deserves visiting. At the risk of forever alienating Sooty Mangabey, on a good day it might make my top five zoos in Germany.
 
Giant Panda said:
At the risk of forever alienating Sooty Mangabey, on a good day it might make my top five zoos in Germany.
Click to expand...

Whereas for me, it didn't even make my top five zoos visited when I was in that *area* of Germany in 2016 :p
 
Zoo am Meer, Vogelpark Niendorf and Wildpark Schwartz-Berge :) though this is largely a judgement based on overall enjoyment rather than a statement that they are all *better* collections than Hannover.

I also visited Wildgehege Klovensteen and enjoyed *that* collection more or less equally to Hannover as a whole; it was more consistently good but given the significantly lesser scale of Klovensteen one cannot really compare it to Hannover. Were it not for the fact I rather enjoyed the Yukon at Hannover, however, I would nonetheless rank Klovensteen higher :P
 
Giant Panda said:
Hannover... absolutely deserves visiting.
Click to expand...

I'd wholly agree with this - although there are other places that deserve visiting more! Hannover is certainly an interesting place to see if one is interested in zoo design - although, possibly, the need to see it would be less if one had been to Gelsenkirchen.

Giant Panda said:
At the risk of forever alienating Sooty Mangabey, on a good day it might make my top five zoos in Germany.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm..... Each to their own (even those who rate Wildgehege Klovensteen as being amongst Germany's best zoos*!) but Hannover would be a long way from my own top 5 (or even my top 30)...

(*deliberate misrepresentation of @TeaLovingDave's comment above.....)
 
sooty mangabey said:
(*deliberate misrepresentation of @TeaLovingDave's comment above.....)
Click to expand...

Cheeky :p for the record, my ranking of German collections visited by myself is roughly as follows:

1) Tierpark Berlin
2) Zoo Berlin
3) Weltvogelpark Walsrode
4) Wilhelma
5) Zoo Magdeburg
6) Tierpark Hellabrunn
7) Tierpark Hagenbeck
8) Zoo Augsburg
9) Zoo Leipzig
10) Vogelpark Niendorf
11) Zoo am Meer
12) Tiergarten Nurnberg
13) Wildpark Schwartze-Berge
14) Erlebnis-Zoo Hannover
15) Wildgehege Klovensteen
16) Vogelpark Olching

However, this list is flawed to some extent given the fact it tries to compare smaller and/or highly focused collections to big name stars. That said, I fully stand by my assertion that Magdeburg, despite being a small-to-midsize collection, merits inclusion among the top tier of German collections.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
12) Tiergarten Nurnberg
Click to expand...

I've only been here three times, over the past 25 years, and have felt lukewarm about the place on each occasion; however, I rather thought this was a reflection of me, and my state of mind on each visit, rather than the zoo itself, which scores highly amongst many nerds. Why was it that you were similarly unenamoured of the zoo, Dave?
 
sooty mangabey said:
I've only been here three times, over the past 25 years, and have felt lukewarm about the place on each occasion; however, I rather thought this was a reflection of me, and my state of mind on each visit, rather than the zoo itself, which scores highly amongst many nerds. Why was it that you were similarly unenamoured of the zoo, Dave?
Click to expand...

It wasn't a bad place by any stretch of the imagination, and I *did* enjoy it, but it just felt a little missing something to me - the fact there were huge expanses with nothing to see didn't help, of course :p Pretty good but a bit dull would sum it up, methinks, although there *are* a few very good exhibits - the underwater viewing for manatee and dolphin, for a start.

I'm aiming to get my full thoughts about the collection posted before too much longer, in any case :)
 
Chlidonias said:
Anyway, back on topic, Frankfurt was the first European zoo I visited, back in 2004. I haven't visited a second yet. I very much remember the "eye-wateringly small" exhibits in the Bird House (but also the much larger ones, including one for shoebills, one for Picathartes, and the big walk-in forest one at the end of the house).
Click to expand...

Seeing Shoebill at Prague last year for the first time was really fantastic; I have to confess that sometimes a 'must-see' species disappoints me, but they really lived up to the hype. Very reptilian in their stillness. Obviously I wish I could have seen the Picathartes, I understand Frankfurt had some breeding success with them and I wonder if somewhere will try again one day.The walk-in aviary is very much just that. I didn't particularly enjoy it. I think it might have been understocked; it certainly left very little impression.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Seeing Shoebill at Prague last year for the first time was really fantastic; I have to confess that sometimes a 'must-see' species disappoints me, but they really lived up to the hype. Very reptilian in their stillness. Obviously I wish I could have seen the Picathartes, I understand Frankfurt had some breeding success with them and I wonder if somewhere will try again one day.The walk-in aviary is very much just that. I didn't particularly enjoy it. I think it might have been understocked; it certainly left very little impression.
Click to expand...
I believe (but certainly don't quote me on this) that the Picathartes were kept originally in the walk-in hall and that is where they bred. When I visited they just had one left I think, and it was in one of the glass-fronted aviaries.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Interesting. What did the penguins replace?
Click to expand...

I think the last animals there pre-penguins were the pelicans, prior to their move to Three Island Pond - though if I recall the penguins had already moved in for a time before the current pool was built.
 
Tim May said:
The old Parrot House (built in 1869, originally as a restaurant) was also demolished as part of the new Penguin Pool development.
Click to expand...
...and, of course, a part of it is incorporated into the 'new' penguin enclosure, rather pleasingly - as is the (listed) phone box which once st
 
Tim May said:
The old Parrot House (built in 1869, originally as a restaurant) was also demolished as part of the new Penguin Pool development.
Click to expand...

sooty mangabey said:
...and, of course, a part of it is incorporated into the 'new' penguin enclosure, rather pleasingly - as is the (listed) phone box which once st
Click to expand...

So then the next question is what was previously in the current parrot aviaries? :p

I will look out for the part remaining next time I'm at London.

Another question: When Frankfurt held elephants were they kept in the Rhino House?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top