ZooChat Cup Match #5: Cotswold v Doue-la-Fontaine

[CGSwans]

And the category is... hoofstock. Do you like your rhinos in an English manor garden or a French quarry?

Remember this category includes elephants. I'll also accept sirenians and cetaceans, in deference to their relationships to elephants and ungulates respectively (plus, they don't really fit anywhere else).

The concept behind this poll is explained here:
ZooChat Cup

In summary, the rules of the game are as follows:
- You may choose whatever criteria you like to decide how to vote, as long as it only relates to the category above.
- You can use whatever resources you like to inform your vote, including Zoolex, Zootierliste, the ZooChat gallery, trip reviews, zoo maps, books and wherever else. You don't have to have visited both zoos to vote.
- Votes are public and can be changed at any time before the poll closes.
- The aim of the game is to provoke debate. Post explaining why you voted the way you did, and why others should join you.
- The one thing you can't do is vote based on anything other than the relevant category.
- Voting closes in seven days.

 

[Mehdi]

If it was primates, I would have voted for Cotswold but even though I haven't visited either collection, just taking a look at ztl; Doué has a really great collection of ungulates (including Nubian red-necked gazelle which is one of my favourites) and when you consider the fact they have great exhibits for most of them too (Rhino/gazelles exhibit, Okapi aviary), voting gets easy. Doué for me.

 

[SabineB]

crystal clear - Doue La Fontaine hands down
Rhino Area, Okapi enclosure, and the Muntjac enclosure

 

[pipaluk]

After a quick look at ZTL for Doue La Fontaine, I can't see how Cotswold can win, ungulates ( along with large carnivores) was the worst category it could have been judged on against almost any zoo.

I don't think the scenic Rhino enclosure can make up for Okapi, Markhor, Pygmy Hippo, Red Duiker , 3 gazelle species, Vicuna. Excluding domestics, I make it only 6 species for Cotswold against 14.

 

[migdog]

Agree, Doue La Fontaine hands down, the Okapi exhibit is amazing. This is the first I've voted for as I have visited both zoos.

 

[FunkyGibbon]

It's a pity because Cotswold's rhino exhibit is totally iconic, and would probably make any European 'must-see' top five. But the consensus does seem quite clear.

 

[Dassie rat]

Both: Chapman's zebra;
Cotswold: Arabian rock hyrax*; Brazilian tapir; giraffe; Kirk's dik-dik; Negros warty pig; Rothschild's giraffe; southern white rhinoceros; Bactrian camel
Doue La Fontaine: Tajik markhor; Grevy's zebra; Kordofan giraffe; Addra gazelle; okapi; eastern black rhinoceros; red duiker; Nubian red-necked gazelle; Saharan dorcas gazelle; southern pudu; vicuna; western pygmy hippopotamus; Reeve's muntjac

Doue La Fontaine has a larger and arguably more interesting collection.

 

[TheGerenuk]

I've based my vote on the amount of species each collection has. Doue-la-Fontaine has 13 species; Cotswold has 8 species.

 

[NigeW]

In true sporting tradition I am expressing my bias, being totally partisan, and voting Cotswold, despite the evidence seeming to point to their opposition being stronger.

I can't bring myself to vote against the place.

And that's without taking the Rhino setting into account.

 

[CGSwans]

In true sporting tradition I am expressing my bias, being totally partisan, and voting Cotswold, despite the evidence seeming to point to their opposition being stronger.

I can't bring myself to vote against the place.

And that's without taking the Rhino setting into account.

- The one thing you can't do is vote based on anything other than the relevant category.

I understand where you’re coming from (I’d find it wrenching to vote against a couple of the zoos that are in the field) but this rule is really the only one that matters. Other than that, I’ve deliberately designed this game to be as freeform as possible. There may be matches when an overall much superior zoo simply draws the wrong category against the wrong zoo, and for the game to avoid becoming simply ‘what is your favourite zoo’, especially as we get into later rounds, you need to stick to the golden rule.

If you can sustain an argument for why Cotswold gets your vote that is strictly related to *ungulates* and associated species, then Cotswold deserves your vote. Otherwise... Doue it must be.

 

[NigeW]

OK, point taken. Voting against CWP here is like betting against your own football team, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

However, as far as backdrops for Rhinos go, Cotswold takes some beating. So that's my reasoning.