Europe's 50 must see zoos

Do the Canary Islands count for Europe? Zoo Barcelona has a kind of charm I can't really describe and could make the list, but I think Loro Parque is the most beautiful zoo in Spain.

I guess one or maybe both of the Iberian oceanariums will make the list (I prefer that of Lisbon, but belugas and walrusses are a strong argument for that of Valencia).
 
My tips:
Netherlands - Burgers, Rotterdam, Beekse Bergen
Poland - Wroclaw
Russia - Moscow
Spain - Cabarceno, Loro Parque (assuming it falls within the definition of ‘Europe’), Oceanografic
Switzerland - Zurich
UK - Bristol, Chester, Howletts (or Port Lympne), Whipsnade

Still leaves a few complete mysteries, though.
 
CGSwans said:
My tips:
Netherlands - Burgers, Rotterdam, Beekse Bergen
Poland - Wroclaw
Russia - Moscow
Spain - Cabarceno, Loro Parque (assuming it falls within the definition of ‘Europe’), Oceanografic
Switzerland - Zurich
UK - Bristol, Chester, Howletts (or Port Lympne), Whipsnade

Still leaves a few complete mysteries, though.
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I agree that the above are worthy contenders but I think honourable cases could be made for London and Highland WP (UK), Boras (Sweden) and Faunia (Spain). That should (by my count) take us to 50.
 
Netherlands - Burgers' Zoo, Arnhem

Founded: 1913 (On current location since 1923)
Size: 45 hectares
Species and subspecies (including domestics):
Mammals 56
Birds 82
Reptiles & amphibians 24
Fish 203

It is never easy to be different. When starting to keep a large group of Chimpanzees on an island or building a 13.000 square meter rain forest, Antoon van Hooff was declared stupid. Both projects and many other of his brainchild's were however a tremendous success and have been copied many times since. Under his rule a provincial family-owned Dutch zoo full of Hagenbeck style rocks and carnivores has developed into one of the most innovative in the European zoo landscape. Still family-owned, but with hardly any Hagenbeck rocks left, Antoon’s son is continuing in his footsteps. Building a dome for Manatees and butterflies is hardly groundbreaking, but creating a large mudflat for hundreds of Fiddler crabs in the same dome is something his father would have approved of. Apart from two older sections the whole zoo has been changed into a series of "ecodisplays", both indoors and outdoors. Next to the indoor rain forest and the largest indoor desert in the world, the Ocean is the most eye-catching of them. Containing 8 million liters of salt water it is the largest aquarium away from the sea in Europe. When it opened in 2000 the 20x5 meter acrylic panel of the shark tank was the largest in the world, now it is just the largest in the Netherlands. The most special tank is a 750.000 liter living coral reef, the largest outside the tropics. It is relatively extensively managed, as the artificial reef provides some of the food and filtering a natural reef would also do. The outdoor parts are less special than the indoors. Both the Safari and Rimba (Malayan for forest) are characterized by mixed hoofstock and primate enclosures, as well as spacious enclosures for larger carnivores. Then there is an older birdhouse, two large islands for Gorilla and Chimpanzee, an Asian elephant geriatric yard and some Hagenbeck remnants. It is not a typical zoo, but it has most of the ABC’s and a lot of rarities to spice it up for the zoonerd, set in some amazing enclosures.

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@lintworm , Burgers' Mangrove

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@Toddy, Living coral reef tank

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@Maguari , Burgers' Desert

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@Toddy , Chimpanzee enclosure

Zoochat gallery:
Burgers' Zoo | ZooChat

www.burgerszoo.nl

Zoo map: https://www.burgerszoo.nl/media/1857838/2017-Plattegrond-NL-A3.jpg
 
For Switzerland I would assume that Zurich is set. I am unsure about Basel. But based on the list so far I would assume that also Bern, Goldau, or Kerzers could make the list - each arguably has its claim for excellence or uniqueness. A list of Europe's must see zoos with a zoo in a castle but without the Bern bear 'pit', hard to imagine.
 
Okapipako said:
Wait, were they serious? This couldn't have been a sound idea.
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This was a serious plan and in those days (~1975) the keepers played with the gorillas in the enclosure...

TZDugong said:
Burgers looks excellent! If I were to do a Europe Zoo trip, Burgers would be the zoo I’d like to see the most.
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Of Europe's top-9: Burgers', Berlin Zoo, Berlin Tierpark, Chester, Prague, Wroclaw, Zurich, Vienna, Beauval, Burgers' is certainly the odd one out, so I can understand you if you are not too focused on seeing insane amounts of species.
 
I loved so Arnhem... It is really more than a zoo, a real travel in the nature. The eco displays are impressives and the reflexion of the exhibit is unique.
With Beauval, that's my favourite zoo ! And I'm glad to find the both on this list !
 
Netherlands - Diergaarde Blijdorp, Rotterdam

Founded: 1857 (on current location since 1940)
Size: 28 hectares
Species and subspecies (including domestics):
Mammals 60
Birds 107
Reptiles & amphibians 51
Fish 241

The Diergaarde Blijdorp was originally designed by Sybold van Ravestein, a Dutch architect of whom most other creations are destroyed by now. Many of the zoo’s older buildings and main infrastructure are now protected heritage. Though the Geo-Zoo concept was developed in Munich, Blijdorp has best managed to create the most complete Geo-zoo, including birds and ectotherms. Coming from both entrances the journey starts in Europe, the Oceanium, a huge aquarium complex begins in Scotland and ends up in California, though the theming has slightly changed recently. On the other entrance you start with European Greater flamingo and are quickly propelled into Africa or Asia. Though practically all enclosures were all built or renovated in the past 25 years, they are consistent in not standing out, though the vast majority looks good and is spacious. The highlights include a large Vulture aviary, a Butterfly hall, a Dutch speciality, and a rather unique Giraffe house. Blijdorp was hit hard by the last financial crisis and the collection was downsized considerably, with rarities like Malayan civet and Rusty-spotted cat leaving and severely downsizing the excellent reptile and amphibian collection. Though new rarities have arrived since, most notably Black-and-rufous sengi, the collection is nowhere near the level it used to be. With a stronger economy Blijdorp has started to expand again, with renovations in the Oceanium complex and the new Okapi aviary as standouts.

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@KevinVar , Okapi aviary

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@Maguari , Polar bear and Bison enclosure

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@gulogulogulo , Tunnel through 3 million liter ocean tank

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@Toddy , Amur leopard enclosure

Zoochat gallery:
Rotterdam Zoo | ZooChat

www.diergaardeblijdorp.nl

Zoo map:
https://www.diergaardeblijdorp.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DB_plattegrond-1606.pdf
 
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lintworm said:
the collection was downsized considerably ( ) the collection is nowhere near the level it used to be.
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I agree with that.

I won't compare the current collection with that of the early nineties, when I first visited the zoo. Tasmanian devils, a large collection of cats, multiple species of rare caprine and ovibovine ungulates, a great collection nocturnal mammals... but that was a different zoo, with beside a few Asian exhibits mostly old style houses and enclosures.

Compared to ten years ago, around the time that Artica, the Giraffe House and the "Crocodile River" were opened, the collection is significantly downsized. A couple of years ago I was very disappointed when I visited Blijdorp after some years and so many animals were no longer kept. Next to the losses due to the restyling the Riviera Hall, Blijdorp lost quite a few mammals in the last decade, including several rarities: echidna, agile wallaby, onager, Vietnamese sika deer, lowland anoa, Sichuan takin, klipspringer, sea otter, rusty-spotted and Asian golden cat, jaguarundi, desert hedgehog, variegated rock squirrel and bamboo lemur, among others.

However, in recent years the level is going up again with the arrival of species like Balabac mouse deer, slender loris and elephant-shrew.
 
Poland - Zoo Wrocław

Founded: 1865
Size: 35 hectares
Species and subspecies (including domestics):
Mammals 130
Birds 209
Reptiles & amphibians 284
Fish 341

Wrocław is one of the rising stars in the European zoo world. Until recently the main draw of Poland’s largest zoo was its immense reptile house. On multiple floors this building houses the Europe’s largest on-show collection of reptiles and amphibians. The new drawing card is the Afrykarium complex which shows the diversity of the waters in and around Africa. On the outside are gigantic enclosures for African penguin and Fur seal, while on the inside there is Europe’s largest manatee tank, several large saltwater tanks, Nile crocodiles and a rather out of place all-indoors Common hippo enclosure. There is more to this encyclopedic zoo than these two houses and the newer complexes stand in stark contrast to the few remaining remnants of an outdated Eastern Bloc zoo. Among the smaller highlights is an excellent complex highlighting Polish freshwater systems. Some of the hoofstock enclosures, the primate and bird house might be somewhat outdated; they are all inhabited by a high number of rarities and interesting species, like the only breeding pair of Bear cuscus in Europe. Not for nothing is Wrocław one of the most species-rich zoos in Europe, just behind the Berlin and Czech giants. This is a zoo of which whose developments should be watched very closely as it’s current development sets a quite high bar for the future.

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@Robaque , Pachyderm house

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@LaughingDove , Part of the terrarium

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@LaughingDove , Fur seal enclosure at the Afrykarium

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@Tomek , Mountain ungulate enclosures


Zoochat gallery:
Zoo Wroclaw | ZooChat

zoo.wroclaw.pl

Zoo map:
ZOO map
 
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lintworm said:
Not for nothing is Wrocław one of the most species-rich zoos in Europe, just behind the Berlin and Czech giants.
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What is incredible too, is that according to zootierliste, all three hold more than 1000 species. :P
 
Reading about manatees in an Afrykarium, I was thinking about a real rarity for Europe. I checked it on ZTL, but no African manatee or dugong. I think Caribbean manatees are still special, though.
 
Spain - Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabárceno, Obregon

Founded: 1989
Size: 800 hectares
Species and subspecies (including domestics):
Mammals 71
Birds 25
Reptiles & amphibians 48
Fish 0

Cabarceno presents itself as not being a zoo, but for all intents and purposes it is exactly that, just one that operates on a slightly different scale. Located in a former mine there was an opportunity to develop a zoo that was larger than any other in the EU, so big that biking and driving are the only feasible options to see the zoo. The collection is relatively small for its size, but that gives the opportunity to have a Brown bear enclosure of 35 hectares, an African elephant enclosure larger than Zoo Madrid. Most other mammal enclosures are also the largest of their kind in Europe. This size gives the zoo the opportunity to keep huge groups of animals, the 40ish Brown bears are just one indication of that. The enclosures might be large, but they are not necessarily the most complex environments, many enclosures feature large hilly lawns flanked by cliffs. For the baboons it could not have been any better, but for a group of Jaguars it seems a bit bare. Given the way this zoo is set up it is largely mammal focused and it sports a good collection of especially Ungulates and Carnivores. Other groups are largely absent, though Cabarceno has a sizeable venomous snake collection. Rather untypically these are kept in tanks that are smaller than the length of the inhabitant. This zoo is so completely different than all the others that you will have to visit to appreciate the actual size.

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@robmv , Elephant paddock

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@Maguari , Baboon enclosure and general view

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@Maguari , Jaguar enclosure

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@Maguari , Reptile house

Zoochat gallery:
Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabarceno | ZooChat

www.parquedecabarceno.com

Zoo map:
https://www.parquedecabarceno.com/docs/planoAnimales.pdf
 
Spain - Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz Tenerife

Founded: 1972
Size: 13.5 hectares
Species and subspecies (including domestics):
Mammals 19
Birds 289
Reptiles & amphibians 13
Fish 153

Loro Parque is Europe’s most popular zoo according to Tripadvisor, which in a large part is thanks to it’s location in a tourist hotspot. Loro Parque is however also an interesting zoo. It started out as a parrot park and in terms of species numbers, they still make up the bulk of the collection. The parrot collection is the largest in Europe and includes highlights like Lear’s macaw. Though there are still many smaller parrot cages spread around the zoo, part of the collection is housed in large walk-through aviaries. To the general public it is however not the parrots that are the main reason to visit but the Dolphin and Orca. Another highlight is the Penguinarium one of the largest penguin enclosures in the world, which houses large groups of King penguins, Chinstrap penguins, Gentoo penguins and Rockhopper penguins. Adjacent are enclosures for Magellanic penguin and Atlantic puffin. Loro Parque also houses some of the standard ABC’s, but far from the complete package with Gorilla, White tiger and Lion and Chimpanzee. Aided by the sub-tropical location Loro Parque is a very lush zoo full of palm trees and other tropical plants. Though Loro Parque is not really Europe’s best zoo, certainly not for zoonerds, it still boasts a huge parrot collection and a Penguin enclosure that is unique in Europe’s zoo landscape.

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@Maguari , Penguinarium

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@devilfish , Katandra treetops, Australian walkthrough aviary

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@Maguari , Smaller parrot aviaries

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@kiang , Orca show

Zoochat gallery:
Loro Parque | ZooChat

www.loroparque.com
 
CGSwans said:
My tips:
Netherlands - Burgers, Rotterdam, Beekse Bergen
Poland - Wroclaw
Russia - Moscow
Spain - Cabarceno, Loro Parque (assuming it falls within the definition of ‘Europe’), Oceanografic
Switzerland - Zurich
UK - Bristol, Chester, Howletts (or Port Lympne), Whipsnade

Still leaves a few complete mysteries, though.
Click to expand...

Brum said:
I agree that the above are worthy contenders but I think honourable cases could be made for London and Highland WP (UK), Boras (Sweden) and Faunia (Spain). That should (by my count) take us to 50.
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I've been thinking and I reckon Slimbridge could be on there, maybe Vasco da Gama as well, replacing Bristol and (obviously) Beekse Bergen.
 
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