Composite Top 25 North American Zoos

mweb08

mweb08

Well-Known Member
Not long ago, I pitched the idea of a composite top 25 zoo rankings similar to what we see in college sports. Link to that thread: ZooChat Composite Top 25 Rankings?

I was hoping to get more participants (and you can still participate), but below are the results of what is hopefully the inaugural yearly composite rankings.

Participants: Pleistohorse, snowleopard, TheWalrus, pachyderm pro, mweb08

Methodology: Each person ranked the top 25 zoos (including considering ones they haven't visited) and then I gave 25 points to each voters #1 ranked zoo, 24 points for #2, down to 1 point for #25. Most possible points: 125.

1. San Diego (124)
2. Bronx (114)
3. St. Louis (109)
4. Henry Doorly (107)
5. SDZ Safari Park (96)
6. Columbus (88)
7. North Carolina (72)
8. Woodland Park (71)
9. Minnesota (60)
10. National (59)
11. Brookfield (56)
12. Dallas (55)
13. Detroit (53)
14. Cincinnati (49)
15. Sedgwick County (46)
16. Denver (43)
17. Houston (41)
18. Miami (37)
19. Toronto (33)
20. Disney's Animal Kingdom (30)
20. Lowry Park (30)
22. Oregon (28)
23. Kansas City (27)
24. Oklahoma City (25)
25. Lincoln Park (24)
 
Not bad for a quick snapshot! I imagine that some folks might prefer to see Dallas and National switch places.

I love list making and rankings. This is pretty cool and I think your composite scoring system is good.

Maybe direct message a few members and invite them directly to participate?

You could also glean data posted in a few other threads, although those typically have bee restricted to ranking Zoos you have visited and on this list, which looks pretty good, I have not visited (other than virtually) 18 of the institutions listed.

Awesome job. Thanks for initiating it.

Chris.
 
This is very interesting to me. North American zoos are slowly starting to creep onto my horizon, and St Louis is definitely one I fancy, so nice to see it’s well rated!
 
Nice list! All the major zoos are represented, although I'm not sure how Minnesota was placed over Detroit!
 
This looks like a pretty good list. The only question might be whether a wildlife park (SD Safari Park) and a theme park (Animal Kingdom) should be included in a list of traditional zoos.
 
Arizona Docent said:
This looks like a pretty good list. The only question might be whether a wildlife park (SD Safari Park) and a theme park (Animal Kingdom) should be included in a list of traditional zoos.
Click to expand...

I don't see much of an issue including the SDZ Safari Park in a list like this. DAK is more complicated IMO, but as long as people are only considering the animal components, then I think it's fine. Ultimately, both of these places appear on many favorite zoo lists on here, so that was a key factor.

If you had participated, you could have gotten Northwest Trek, another non-traditional zoo onto the top 25. ;)
 
Arizona Docent said:
Is that a not-so-subtle hint? :p
Click to expand...

Haha. Well I figured you would have done it if you wanted to. But like I said, there's still an opportunity to submit rankings. You know you want Northwest Trek and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum to make the list!
 
The problem is my interests are so particular, that my subjective 25 favorite would not be anywhere close to a realistic objective 25 best. ;)

I think the reason more people did not participate is that very few ZooChatters are well traveled enough to make a nationwide judgment.
 
Arizona Docent said:
The problem is my interests are so particular, that my subjective 25 favorite would not be anywhere close to a realistic objective 25 best. ;)

I think the reason more people did not participate is that very few ZooChatters are well traveled enough to make a nationwide judgment.
Click to expand...

That’s true. I’ve only been to zoos in California so my list would be extremely limited.
 
mweb08 said:
Not long ago, I pitched the idea of a composite top 25 zoo rankings similar to what we see in college sports. Link to that thread: ZooChat Composite Top 25 Rankings?

I was hoping to get more participants (and you can still participate), but below are the results of what is hopefully the inaugural yearly composite rankings.

Participants: Pleistohorse, snowleopard, TheWalrus, pachyderm pro, mweb08, Zoolover1020

Methodology: Each person ranked the top 25 zoos (including considering ones they haven't visited) and then I gave 25 points to each voters #1 ranked zoo, 24 points for #2, down to 1 point for #25. Most possible points: 150.

1. San Diego (146)
2. Bronx (138)
3. St. Louis (132)
3. Henry Doorly (132)
5. SDZ Safari Park (111)
6. Columbus (109)
7. Woodland Park (88)
8. Minnesota (80)
9. North Carolina (72)
10. Brookfield (70)
11. National (69)
12. Dallas (68)
13. Sedgwick County (64)
14. Detroit (62)
15. Cincinnati (56)
16. Denver (55)
17. Miami (53)
18. Toronto (52)
19. Houston (41)
20. Disney's Animal Kingdom (38)
21. Oregon (32)
22. Lowry Park (30)
22. Kansas City (30)
24. LA (27)
25. Oklahoma City (25)
Click to expand...

Updated.
 
I would participate but I have been to such a limited. Amount of zoos that very few would be anywhere close on that list- except for the 5 on the list.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top