ZooChat Cup Group A: Los Angeles vs Munich
- Thread starter CGSwans
- Start date
Munich species list:
Arctic fox
Eurasian gray wolf
European golden jackal
European wolverine
Fishing cat
Lion
Maned wolf
Meerkat
Nepalese red panda
Northern lynx
Northern raccoon
Polar bear
Siberian pallas' cat
Siberian tiger
South American sea lion
(15 species)
I don't know what LA has to offer but I will try and find a reliable list
Arctic fox
Eurasian gray wolf
European golden jackal
European wolverine
Fishing cat
Lion
Maned wolf
Meerkat
Nepalese red panda
Northern lynx
Northern raccoon
Polar bear
Siberian pallas' cat
Siberian tiger
South American sea lion
(15 species)
I don't know what LA has to offer but I will try and find a reliable list
Hmmmm couldn't really find many carnivore images for Munich but....
Arctic fox enclosure in Polar world; very good from what I can see...
An all right lion enclosure...
A good meerkat enclosure
An all right sea lion enclosure... I dont really like it from what I have seen...
I couldn't really find many others.
Arctic fox enclosure in Polar world; very good from what I can see...
An all right lion enclosure...
A good meerkat enclosure
An all right sea lion enclosure... I dont really like it from what I have seen...
I couldn't really find many others.
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We'll need someone to post a comprehensive species list for Los Angeles Zoo, but I can point out that L.A. has really poor exhibits for African Lions (one of the worst I've seen in a major zoo), Tigers and American Black Bears. To have three carnivore species in very poor exhibits is inexcusable.
For now I'm voting 2-1 Munich
For now I'm voting 2-1 Munich
The same applies to the Munich exhibit for the same species, so that point cancels itself out:
LA species:
- Jaguar
- African Lion
- Sumatran Tiger
- Snow Leopard
- Serval
- Ocelot
- Fossa
- Meerkat
- African Painted Dog
- Bat-eared Fox
- American Black Bear
- Giant Otter
- Harbor Seal
LA's carnivore exhibits are hit or miss. I agree with @snowleopard about the lions and bears having poor enclosures; I don't know that I'd call the tiger enclosure "poor" - mediocre, maybe - but I've certainly seen many better ones.
Meanwhile, the giant otters have probably the best carnivore exhibit in the entire zoo: a large, sandy enclosure in RotA with a cascading stream and two pools both with underwater viewing, one large enough to fit the 7 or so otters that once lived there. The otters love to slide down their stream into the pool and they're a delight to watch. The jaguar exhibit is also in RotA and relatively new; it's pretty good with a decent area, plantings, and a pool, though I wouldn't call it anything more than pretty good. The painted dogs also have a very nice yard with long grass. The snow leopards have what I think is a very good exhibit as well: it's not the most aesthetically pleasing, but it's almost entirely rocky with hiding spaces and is also a good size.
The remaining species have so-so exhibits. The servals, ocelots, fossa, and bat-eared fox live in roundhouses; none of them are remarkable. The meerkats live in a small sandy grotto that is typical for their species. The seals live in a rocky aquatic exhibit by the entrance that has sufficient depth and size, but nothing impressive; surely in the middle tier of pinniped exhibits (in North America at least).
I'm gonna wait to vote until I hear more about Munich; this isn't LA's strongest category, but it has a lot of cool species with which Munich has little overlap, and I think the giant otter habitat is one of the highlights of the entire zoo. Whether that makes up for its sad lion and bear habitats remains to be seen.
- Jaguar
- African Lion
- Sumatran Tiger
- Snow Leopard
- Serval
- Ocelot
- Fossa
- Meerkat
- African Painted Dog
- Bat-eared Fox
- American Black Bear
- Giant Otter
- Harbor Seal
LA's carnivore exhibits are hit or miss. I agree with @snowleopard about the lions and bears having poor enclosures; I don't know that I'd call the tiger enclosure "poor" - mediocre, maybe - but I've certainly seen many better ones.
Meanwhile, the giant otters have probably the best carnivore exhibit in the entire zoo: a large, sandy enclosure in RotA with a cascading stream and two pools both with underwater viewing, one large enough to fit the 7 or so otters that once lived there. The otters love to slide down their stream into the pool and they're a delight to watch. The jaguar exhibit is also in RotA and relatively new; it's pretty good with a decent area, plantings, and a pool, though I wouldn't call it anything more than pretty good. The painted dogs also have a very nice yard with long grass. The snow leopards have what I think is a very good exhibit as well: it's not the most aesthetically pleasing, but it's almost entirely rocky with hiding spaces and is also a good size.
The remaining species have so-so exhibits. The servals, ocelots, fossa, and bat-eared fox live in roundhouses; none of them are remarkable. The meerkats live in a small sandy grotto that is typical for their species. The seals live in a rocky aquatic exhibit by the entrance that has sufficient depth and size, but nothing impressive; surely in the middle tier of pinniped exhibits (in North America at least).
I'm gonna wait to vote until I hear more about Munich; this isn't LA's strongest category, but it has a lot of cool species with which Munich has little overlap, and I think the giant otter habitat is one of the highlights of the entire zoo. Whether that makes up for its sad lion and bear habitats remains to be seen.
drill
Well-Known Member
That was a mistake.
FunkyGibbon
Well-Known Member
Are the aforementioned roundhouses the rather notorious ones?
This is a real strength of Munich's; the voting is reflecting that.
This is a real strength of Munich's; the voting is reflecting that.
I'm with @Coelacanth18 here, I want to hear more about Munich before I vote.
Yes, although I really don't think they should be. They are notable in their uniformity of design, I guess. They are not aesthetically pleasing and the zoo is planning to replace all of them over the next several years, but I think the degree to which they have been maligned is not really justified. They are poor choices for some of the species they hold, but as it pertains to this match they make adequate enclosures for small carnivores.
I agree. There is nothing inherently wrong with the roundhouses, and they make great enclosures for many of the species housed in them. Unfortunately, there are some species that are just too big to be kept in these older enclosures.
Atm I'm going to vote 2-1 LA simply because I don't see Munich's exhibitry being all too far off from LA's in terms of some being good and others being bad. I know LA also is a major breeder of Giant Otters in the US, a species which has a pretty excellent habitat at the zoo. The Lion enclosure in particular is bad, but the Jaguar habitat is really good. From what's been posted, it sounds like similar comparisons can be made about Munich.
~Thylo
Here are quit a few photos of LA exhibits, and they kinda persuaded me to change my vote to 2-1 LA. I would be interested to see your reactions...
Too images of a decent African wild dog enclosure: the weather in LA is good for the dogs because it is similar-ish to that of the Savanna. Can't really see the enclosure very well, but it seems to be a large-ish paddock for the dogs and seems to be all right.
Now for the roundhouses. I am not a fan of these, like many of the people on this forum, but they do give the animals enough space, and cover, and they would be nice enclosures if they weren't roundhouses... They are going to renovate them soon though...
And some more roundhouse-style enclosures...
Then a good indoor enclosure for ringtail cats, with what I think is an outdoor enclosure next door (which I couldn't find a photo of)
More in the next post
Too images of a decent African wild dog enclosure: the weather in LA is good for the dogs because it is similar-ish to that of the Savanna. Can't really see the enclosure very well, but it seems to be a large-ish paddock for the dogs and seems to be all right.
Now for the roundhouses. I am not a fan of these, like many of the people on this forum, but they do give the animals enough space, and cover, and they would be nice enclosures if they weren't roundhouses... They are going to renovate them soon though...
And some more roundhouse-style enclosures...
Then a good indoor enclosure for ringtail cats, with what I think is an outdoor enclosure next door (which I couldn't find a photo of)
More in the next post
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OK so now we move onto the larger carnivore enclosures:
A very good giant otter enclosure (certainly miles better than that of Pairi Daiza) with underwater viewing, two large lakes with other river wildlife such as stingrays and tetras, and a nicely landscaped land area.
Then another nice enclosure for harbour seals and California sea lions. It is quite large, with a massive pool and good underwater viewing, along with a nicely-landscaped land area with lots of places to hide for the seals.
An all right jaguar enclosure, netted and with a decently-large pool. Quite spacious compared to San Diego's, etc...
Good viewing areas.
And a decent snow leopard enclosure, with lots of rocks, although the weather isn't very suited to their needs....
More in the next post...
A very good giant otter enclosure (certainly miles better than that of Pairi Daiza) with underwater viewing, two large lakes with other river wildlife such as stingrays and tetras, and a nicely landscaped land area.
Then another nice enclosure for harbour seals and California sea lions. It is quite large, with a massive pool and good underwater viewing, along with a nicely-landscaped land area with lots of places to hide for the seals.
An all right jaguar enclosure, netted and with a decently-large pool. Quite spacious compared to San Diego's, etc...
Good viewing areas.
And a decent snow leopard enclosure, with lots of rocks, although the weather isn't very suited to their needs....
More in the next post...
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And some other exhibits:
A good meerkat enclosure, with nice landscaping and a good indoor enclosure in the Nursery for offspring...
Not the best maned wolf enclosure around...
Both Munich and LA have equally bad lion enclosures, so they cancel each other out to some extent...
And finally a decent tiger enclosure which could be more thickly planted, but it is a decent size....
A good meerkat enclosure, with nice landscaping and a good indoor enclosure in the Nursery for offspring...
Not the best maned wolf enclosure around...
Both Munich and LA have equally bad lion enclosures, so they cancel each other out to some extent...
And finally a decent tiger enclosure which could be more thickly planted, but it is a decent size....
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I may be inclined to follow your opinion. Thank you for the images. I always scroll through the galleries, but some are very large and I don't always have time to find everything.
Thanks for posting those photos @amur leopard. A few thoughts and points:
- LA no longer holds ringtails; I'm not sure what's in their enclosure now.
- The seal/sea lion exhibit isn't actually as large as it appears; the back half of the enclosure in the first photo is set lower than the front half, so it gives the illusion of distance where there is none. Still, I can confirm that the pools are deep and the underwater viewing is good.
- Looking back at photos, I might have not given the jaguar habitat enough credit. It needs more vegetation in it I think, but the pool, the lush grass, and the overall size make for a functional and good-looking exhibit.
- I had forgotten about the maned wolf habitat; probably LA's third-worst carnivore exhibit after the lions and bears. Those habitats date back to the 1960's and they're uninspiring at best for all of their inhabitants. I wish the maned wolf had a yard more like the painted dogs, which as you can see from the pics is a good size and very grassy.
- LA no longer holds ringtails; I'm not sure what's in their enclosure now.
- The seal/sea lion exhibit isn't actually as large as it appears; the back half of the enclosure in the first photo is set lower than the front half, so it gives the illusion of distance where there is none. Still, I can confirm that the pools are deep and the underwater viewing is good.
- Looking back at photos, I might have not given the jaguar habitat enough credit. It needs more vegetation in it I think, but the pool, the lush grass, and the overall size make for a functional and good-looking exhibit.
- I had forgotten about the maned wolf habitat; probably LA's third-worst carnivore exhibit after the lions and bears. Those habitats date back to the 1960's and they're uninspiring at best for all of their inhabitants. I wish the maned wolf had a yard more like the painted dogs, which as you can see from the pics is a good size and very grassy.