ZooChat Cup Group B: Detroit vs Wroclaw

Detroit vs Wroclaw

  • Detroit 3-0 Wroclaw

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Detroit 2-1 Wroclaw

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Wroclaw 2-1 Detroit

    Votes: 17 65.4%

  • Wroclaw 3-0 Detroit

    Votes: 9 34.6%
  • Total voters
    26
  • Poll closed .
C

CGSwans

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Both zoos were first-match winners, so they can all but book a spot in the next round with a win here. The topic at hand? Birds.

The rules:
  • You have three votes to award. If you think it's a tight match, award 2 votes to the stronger zoo and 1 to the weaker one. But if you think it's a wider margin than that, award all 3 votes to the winner.
  • Your criteria for how you make your decision is entirely up to you, *except* that you must stay only within the given category. That includes ignoring the results of the other match: no strategic voting.
  • All votes are public, and all votes can be changed. The purpose of the game is to provoke debate, so make your case for why people should vote the same way as you do. Be open to reconsidering your vote.
 
A 2/1 vote for Wroclaw as a placeholder until I hear more about Detroit on this matter :)
 
I've visited Detroit Zoo twice (2008 and 2018) and it is a great zoo for mammals, reptiles and amphibians...but not birds. The stand-out exhibit is the $30 million penguin complex, which honestly is one of the best penguin exhibits that I've ever seen, but pinioned species in the African area is something that you'd not see in European zoos and it leaves a bad taste in the modern zoo era. I've never visited Wroclaw, but judging from zoo nerd comments it would seem to be a 2-1 winner here. A point for Detroit's outstanding penguin complex is warranted.
 
I am not adicted to birds, but have been in Wroclaw 4 days ago. Bird house was closed, but the Skeleton cost , Madagascar, the Bear Castle, Palawan hornbill, Steller's eagle and @snowleopard's opinion are enough to place my vote for Wroclaw. 2:1
 
Wroclaw's bird house has been non-public for quite some time, though I believe there are plans to eventually renovate and reopen it. Birds are still exhibited in oldfashioned aviaries around the outsi, though. There are also owls exhibited in an old castle-structure, Madagascar birds in a walk-through, various aviaries and ratite pens spread out around the zoo, and of course the Afrikaryium houses a large outdoor African Penguin habitat and two large indoor free-flight aviaries. I just went through my notes and counted 68 bird species seen at Wroclaw, including some real oddities like Patagonian Crested Duck, Malay Black Hornbill, Palawan Hornbill, Cheer Pheasant, Mrs. Hume's Pheasant, Wattled Starling, Spot-Billed Pelican, and Luzon Lowland Scops Owl. The real number of birds they keep is likely a bit higher, as I definitely missed species kept in the Afrikaryum and I'm sure they have more species bts.

I don't really know anything about Detroit so I'm going 2-1 Wroclaw for now.

~Thylo
 
Detroit doesn't have much for birds. They have a very large free-flight aviary... and that's about it. The aviary has many species but none are that special. They have a world-class penguin house, but that's currently closed. Other than that they have a few larger wing-clipped birds in hoof stock paddocks. And that's it.
 
birdsandbats said:
Detroit doesn't have much for birds. They have a very large free-flight aviary... and that's about it. The aviary has many species but none are that special. They have a world-class penguin house, but that's currently closed. Other than that they have a few larger wing-clipped birds in hoof stock paddocks. And that's it.
Click to expand...

What species are wing-clipped?
 
FunkyGibbon said:
What species are wing-clipped?
Click to expand...
Saddle-billed Stork, Pink-backed Pelican, White Stork, Greater Flamingo, Chilean Flamingo, Gray Crowned Crane, Sandhill Crane, Lappet-faced Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Cinereous Vulture, Eurasian Griffon Vulture
 
Last edited:
So, my thinking is that Wroclaw's penguin enclosure is superior to Detroit's (from photos I just looked at on Google); the Wroclaw general bird collection sounds much better; and in particular the number of pinioned birds at Detroit, especially all those vultures, renders them very much the loser. So I'm going 3-0 for Wroclaw.
 
FunkyGibbon said:
Sadly for Detroit wing-clipped vultures are probably enough to tilt me towards a 0-3 score.
Click to expand...

Tbh I'm feeling similarly, though I really don't like not giving any credit to what the losing zoos do well unless they really are completely overtaken. I'm still on the fence as to whether Wroclaw fully trumps Detroit yet but I may be changing my vote to a 3-0 Wroclaw score.

~Thylo
 
birdsandbats said:
Detroit doesn't have much for birds. They have a very large free-flight aviary... and that's about it. The aviary has many species but none are that special. They have a world-class penguin house, but that's currently closed. Other than that they have a few larger wing-clipped birds in hoof stock paddocks. And that's it.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you are not confusing wing-clipped for pinioning?
 
I originally voted 2-1 Detroit, but then changed to 2-1 Wroclaw.

Birds aren’t really a specialty of Detroit. They don’t have many species; I’m not sure of the actual amount, but I’d hazard a guess somewhere between 30-50 species. A lot of these species are in a walk-through aviary of the Wildlife Interpretive Gallery, which is fairly large, but feels a little dated. It’s ultimately average. The big drawback is the wing-clipped birds, I changed my vote because I didn’t realize just how many species of birds are pinioned. In Detroit’s defence, having wing-clipped birds like vultures is commonplace, in fact I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a vulture that didn’t have its wings clipped. Still an obvious negative however.

Anyways, almost the sole reason why I voted 2-1 Detroit is the Pol Penguin Center which I absolutely adore. It’s probably my favourite zoo exhibit, and it’s worth visiting Detroit just to see this one house. To start off, the exhibit is huge. According to the website, the Penguins have a 25-foot deep, 330,000 gallon pool as well as a pretty decent amount of land area. In person the exhibit feels huge, the zoo has around 75 penguins, but at no point did it feel like the exhibit was crowded. Viewing is also incredible. Above-water viewing is solid, with large glass panels on two sides, but the underwater viewing really shines. There are two underwater tunnels, some generic viewing areas and then my personal favourite, a long glass panel that gives tremendous viewing of the Penguins. A species list of Gentoo, Macaroni, Southern Rockhopper And King penguins is nothing to scoff at either.

So overall while no one has given a real argument as to why Wroclaw should win, I’ll give them the slight 2-1 victory. The Polk Penguin Center alone merits at least a point imo, it’s just a shame the rest of the bird section doesn’t live up to its excellence.
 
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