sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
I’m glad the restaurant recommendation was a success: animals and good food - a perfect combination!
Suggestions for Polish zoo trip
- Thread starter Dormitator
- Start date
Thanks so much @Dormitator ! These kind of reviews are essential to the lifeblood of ZooChat and they are truly great to refer to when contemplating future zoo trips.
It was excellent, really made up for the bird house being closed! I just walked into the restaurant, smiled at someone who looked a bit confused that they had a customer, and went up the stairs. Made for a very nice lunch break.
Day 7
This was to be a rather busier day than I had anticipated. After squeezing Poznan Nowe into a travel day, I had freed up time to visit the Palmiarnia - after @Arek suggested it, the pictures on the website got me salivating. Tropical freshwater fish are a huge passion of mine, and after having been indulged in Wroclaw, I was very much looking forward to visiting an old school stamp collection.
But first, Poznan Stare zoo. The oldest continuously running zoo in Poland, I was keen to see what the sister zoo to Nowe was like. I couldn't help but compare it in my mind to a time warped version of Bristol Zoo and Wild Place. Both BZG and Stare zoo are about 5ha and have had the larger animals move outside the zoo to more spacious holdings elsewhere, though Stare zoo is somewhat more extreme in this respect. Missing the large, dense buildings of BZG makes Stare zoo feel far smaller, but though the collection is pretty minimal, it makes for a very interesting visit.
Being free to enter, you just wander in, which makes for a odd start to a zoo; no build up of anticipation as you queue or buy a ticket. Though this visit was a year ago, I'm struggling to remember the first animals I saw upon entering (lemurs to the left I think). Still, it made for a refreshing change, and I spent a pleasant hour wandering around soaking it all in. Enclosures aren't exciting here, and I'm struggling to remember anything which stood out in my mind. A large aviary for glossy and scarlet ibis with a trumpeter hornbill and argus pheasant next door was rather nice, as was the retention of the old cat and bear grottos. Though, fortunately, these didn't include the cats they had once housed, they had been put to very good use to promote the Silent Forest EAZA campaign against the East Asian songbird campaign which was great to see.
The majority of the collection (numbers wise) is held in a large central building for "cold-blooded animals". This costs a small fee to enter, and greets you with a small corridor lined with marine fish tanks. There are some nice marine species here, though nothing spectacular, including
black surgeonfish and Mediterranean moray eel (though the only halfmoon triggerfish, Rhinecanthus lunula, listed on Zootierliste eluded me). Eventually you come across a nice exhibit for Komodo dragons, followed by a mix of exhibits for amphibians and reptiles. What I liked was that although the space in some of the areas was limited, the zoo had obviously tried to make the most of it by making very tall vivaria and by incorporating arboreal species alongside the terrestrial. There's a big mix of species on display here, as with the fish running from the mundane to the only specimens listed on ZTL (the Egyptian Square-marked toads (Sclerophrys regularis) were sadly nowhere to be seen). This represents the best of Poznan's Stare zoo, and I very much enjoyed my time in the building. Though certainly not somewhere to book a trip around, the Stare zoo is definitely worth a visit if you are in or around Poznan's town centre.
The second zoo of the day was to be the rather unusual Palmiarnia. Though not to everyone's cup of tea, I had a brilliant time there as it combined three of my favourite outings - a great freshwater aquarium, a diverse and densely planted glasshouse, and a gorgeous restaurant. The Palm House has quite an impressive history - the building itself opened in 1911, and the aquarium in 1922, which makes it Poland's oldest aquarium. The glasshouse is lovely, everything is divided into clear zones as this picture from the website shows:
The plants represent an interesting range of species, and nestled amongst them in certain sections are various animals, including a blue and gold macaw, ocellated lizards, ornate horned toads and a matamata. Enclosures here are sub-par to middling, but the whole palm house is trying to squeeze a lot of species into not terribly much space. Overall the herp enclosures are decent enough, but the fish suffer from a lack of space sometimes.
The aquarium itself is a proper stamp collection. Tanks are a good size in general, but sometimes overstocked. Though this works well to keep the naturally aggressive tendencies of some of the cichlids in check, it did lead to some individuals being visibly harassed, and not in the best health. However, many of the tanks are great, really showing off a diverse range of freshwater species in generally good tanks. Most are well planted and aquascaped, and hopefully the following list helps give an idea of the scope of the place. I make no apologies for simply copying and pasting this from the notes made on my phone, I'd love to have the time to add scientific names, maybe I'll come back to the list once I'm done. If anyone wants any clarified please just shout.
Red bellied piranha
Guppy
Oscar
Lep fasciatus
Stripey lep (arcus?)
Gibbiceps
Brasiliensis
silver Dollar
Texas cichlid
Armoured cats
Black Molly
Ameca splendens
Mono sense
Garra sp
Bronze Cory
Anableps
Yellow plec thing
Standard angelfish
Salt and pepper Cory
Bulldog plec
Jaguar cichlid
Parrot cichlid
Black belt cichlids
Red tail cat
Cichlasoma citrinelum
Channa micropeltes
Black pacu and giant
Hybrid red tail X tiger
Black shark
Giant gorami
Pangasius sanitwongonsei
Silver arowana
Arapaima
Ripsaw cat
Hypostomous
Crenicichla sp
hoplosternum thoracatum
Cichlasoma sajica
Bristlenose plec
Blue jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey
Rainbow cichlid
B. Tigrinum
L. Oculatus
Green terror
Convict
Brown livebearer?
Harry
Red humped earth eater
Heros sp. Severus?
Royal plec
Xenotoxa eiseni
Blind cave fish
Domestic discuss
Domestic ram and normal
Black spot livebearer
Pim pictus
Black ghost
Sterba Cory and others
Silver shark sucker
C. Savini
Panda Cory
African glass cats
Normal glass cats
Rummy tetra
Penguin tetra
Silver and marbled hatchets
Tyre track eel
African knifefish
Upside down cat, 2 sp?
Schilbe mystus
Senegal bichir
Ctenopoma
N. Brichardi
Neolamprologus cylindrical
N. Leleupi
N. Tretocephalus
A. Calvus
T. Moorii
Frontosa
Julidochromis marlieri
Acipenser baeri, gueldenstaedti, ruthenus, huso X ruthenus, short nosed things. Grass carp?
Wels
Congo tetra
Madagascan rainbowfish
Krib
C. Moorii
Aulonocara nyassae
Giant danio
Boesemani, red
S.jardinii Australian bonytongue
Kissing gourami, pearl, 3 spot, microlepis
Endlers
Garra
Celestial danio
Rainbow shark
Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
Loach thing Acantopsis dialuzona
Small eel with spots 3 dorsal
Eel catfish?
Birchir no id, ornatipinnis
Big grey labeo
Clown plec
Red lined, tiger, T, others!, Arulis tinfoil
Pajama, chain link, clown
Aplocheilus lineatus
Hypo pangasius
Distichodus affinis
Silver shark
Koi, goldfish
Talapia buttiko
Argus scat
Argenteus mono
Jaculatrix
Figure of 8
P. aethiopicus aethiopicus
Sun catfish, long brown thing
Brown catfish thing
Humbug cat
For me, some of these were a real treat. Parrot cichlids, Scleropages jardinii arowana and zebra shovelnose catfish were particular highlights, but there were so many species around with hit and miss signage I have no doubt that once I get around to identifying everything I took photographs of there will prove to be plenty of other interesting species in there. In short, a big geeky collection that really should be thinned out a bit, but with plenty to interest most visitors.
Finally, the restaurant here deserves a big mention. Though small, it's a beautiful dining experience as the ancient metal tables are all nestled between large pot plants in a section of the palm house. It's a great feel to the restaurant, and combined with excellent fried perogies and good beer it was probably the best meal I had in Poland. Definitely worth a trip back!
Attachments
It may be better to refer to catfish. When I read armoured cats, I thought of animals in a different kind of tank.
The only Polish zoos I've visited were Old (Stare) Poznan and Wroslaw.
Old Poznan was charming, with at least one of the old animal houses repurposed as a museum. Standout features were the aviary mentioned above, Komodo Dragon (this was maybe ten or eleven years ago, when there weren't so many of these around), Screamers and a nice group of European Pond Terrapins.
Wroslaw was an interesting mix of old and new. Rich bird collection, free range Sloth in the Monkey House had me wondering what might happened if a visitor got overly familiar with it. Wonderfully displayed herp collection. A highlight was excellent Halibut and chips in the restaurant, hundred of miles from the sea. Best zoo meal ever.
Old Poznan was charming, with at least one of the old animal houses repurposed as a museum. Standout features were the aviary mentioned above, Komodo Dragon (this was maybe ten or eleven years ago, when there weren't so many of these around), Screamers and a nice group of European Pond Terrapins.
Wroslaw was an interesting mix of old and new. Rich bird collection, free range Sloth in the Monkey House had me wondering what might happened if a visitor got overly familiar with it. Wonderfully displayed herp collection. A highlight was excellent Halibut and chips in the restaurant, hundred of miles from the sea. Best zoo meal ever.
Yes, there are! For example Crested mangabey, Marsh deer, South American sealion, Moluccan ibis and Taira.
They do not keep Marsh Deer.
Possible confusion with swamp deer... which they do keep.
Neva
Well-Known Member
@JamesB, which are the groups of animals that you're interested in the most?
Cracow has the biggest collection of cats in Poland with Jungle cat, Jaguarundi, Sand cat or North China leopard (in total 15 species). It has an interesting Night House with e.g. New Guinea ground cuscus.
There are a few nice ungulate species like Tajik markhor, Indian swamp deer or Addax.
From birds one of the most interesting species is an Australian ibis (Threskiornis molucca).
Cracow has the biggest collection of cats in Poland with Jungle cat, Jaguarundi, Sand cat or North China leopard (in total 15 species). It has an interesting Night House with e.g. New Guinea ground cuscus.
There are a few nice ungulate species like Tajik markhor, Indian swamp deer or Addax.
From birds one of the most interesting species is an Australian ibis (Threskiornis molucca).
Sorry, I thought of Swamp deer, but I only speak basic English.
Thanks, very kind of you to say!
Is there anything you wouldn't see elsewhere? No, not really. @Neva has picked up on some of the best reasons to visit (the cat collection is pretty amazing), but beyond that it isn't easy to recommend. Would I go again if I was in Krakow? Yes. Would I plan a trip around visiting? No.
Ha, fair point! Conjures up quite the image. I was just writing shorthand on my phone and I'm more used to discussing 'cats' in a Siluriformes sense than I am in a Felid sense, apologies for the confusion.
Unless these can be kept in aquaria?
bandai hobby releases nekobusou, a collection of armoured cats toy figures
I can't remember seeing the screamers, but it is a very smart little zoo to visit for an hour or two. I missed the halibut, next time! Was this in the main restaurant?
The conclusion!
Day 8
This was a bit of a wasted day, unfortunately the train times didn’t help me much and with a 1000 checkout time from my hotel I was stuck mooching around Poznan for a couple of hours before getting the train in the afternoon, which arrived in Warszawa after 1700, effectively stopping from me doing much. Still, the time to reflect on my trip so far was very useful, though I do wish I’d written more notes…
Day 9
I had one appointment for once here, Warszawa zoo. This was to be my final significant zoological attraction and I was determined to do a full day there. The map is wonderful, showing off a beautiful geometric design to all of the enclosures with lots of paths running at 90 degrees to each other. Unfortunately, this is not quite the case on the ground, and there are some very odd paths around which don’t really go anywhere. Still, what is refreshing, and something that as a Brit used to tiny city zoos, is how large Warszawa zoo actually is. At 40ha (according to Sheridan) it is far larger than London (15ha), Budapest (10.8ha), Vienna (17ha) or Madrid (22ha) and as such really has the space to allow for well sized enclosures for most of the inhabitants. Despite this most of the ungulate and carnivore enclosures aren’t exactly vast (though there are very few which are genuinely undersized, and most are larger than average) and a decent chunk of the space is taken up by various buildings not directly associated with animal care, plus lots of landscaping.
I wasn’t hugely impressed by a couple of the newer developments at the zoo, namely the hippo enclosure which was on the small size for a modern exhibit (though still larger than many I’ve seen) and the aquarium next to the monkey house which was very pretty, but too small to really scratch a fish-itch. These both looked expensive, but didn’t really deliver (the current trend in modernising with touch screen displays isn’t one I’d like to continue). I would much rather the money had been spent, in both cases, on larger exhibits, but without so much architectural flair. The ape house and elephant enclosures seemed pretty good however from what I can remember. The reptile and amphibian house was also relatively modern and very well presented in a fairly small space, though the inhabitants certainly didn’t suffer from small enclosures.
Highlights from the ungulate collection included the excellent, side by side pairing of both bison species, the musk ox, and combined Sichuan takin & Chinese goral enclosure [I did see a note from LaughingDove that this was a takin/blue sheep enclosure but I can’t see any blue sheep pics in my album and the map implies they are seperate… can anyone clarify for my fading memory?!]. None of these set the world alight in terms of quality or display, but represented very solid exhibits which would stand up anywhere.
The biggest disappointment for me came pretty early on in the polar bear enclosure, which fits an unfortunately all too familiar trend of being too small, though beautiful in a geometric concrete sort of way. Still, it’s simply too small for a big active carnivore and really needs to be revamped for new inhabitants and the bears moved elsewhere.
The big highlight of the collection is the birds, in particular the bird house itself. This is a gorgeous exhibit with multiple outdoor-only enclosures surrounding the central building (and hosting a range of rarities in nice exhibits), plus a variety of indoor enclosures inside the main building, and a surprisingly large walk-through aviary. Each enclosure is themed, my favourite being, quite unexpectedly, a brilliant exhibit for European farmland birds with turtle doves, rosy starlings, hoopoe & domestic chickens. The walk through is the other highlight, having a relatively small walk way, but two stories of space for the birds, and a ton of species in there, many of whom are only interested in revealing themselves after plenty of peace and quiet which means patience really is a virtue if you want to see some of the shyer species. I think I spent about a third of my whole visit in this enclosure alone, it really is great.
Warszawa ended up as being a very good zoo, but not quite as good as hoped. Though certainly the best bird zoo on my trip, I’d prefer to visit Poznan Nowe, Ostrava or Wroclaw again as I feel the direction these zoos were moving in was simply more interesting. Warszawa’s bird house is one of the nicest I’ve been to, but the rest of the zoo simply doesn’t reach similar highs, despite significant amounts of money being spent on renovations.
Day 10
This was my final day in Poland, and with a late-night flight I had most of the day to enjoy Warszawa itself. I couldn’t not do something natural history-related however, so I ended up finding the rather wonderful natural history museum in the centre (the Museum of Evolution of Polish Academy of Sciences to be precise). Despite the lack of English translations for the text, anyone with an interest in zoology, geology or palaeontology should be able to figure out roughly what’s happening, though the specifics eluded me. Google Translate’s camera function however does a pretty good job of translating the text.
The museum houses a series of small exhibitions, the largest of which is focussed on palaeontological expeditions into the Gobi desert of Mongolia, and includes mounted skeletons of Opisthocoelicaudia and Tarbosaurus, the second being mounted both in a modern, tail-erect pose, and one in the old-school kangaroo-pose – plenty of interp around both skeletons helps explain why scientists considered both of these poses to be the at the cutting edge and why opinion can, and should, change.
Other exhibits focus on Triassic herps from nearby Opole, the oldest known frog from Krakow and a number of sets of dinosaur footprints from the Świętokrzyskie Mountains in south-eastern Poland. My favourite section was probably the one describing the discovery and description (only in 2018) of Lisowicia, the largest non-mammalian synapsid around the size of an elephant with erect limbs, found in southern Poland.
The newest large exhibition (which apparently was incomplete) was on the evolution of life in the sea, which included plenty of invertebrate fossils, as well as models of ichthyosaurs, and some wonderful large posters depicting the evolution of groups like trilobites, brachiopods and graptolites. If the posters had been available for general for general sale I’d have snapped them up, alas the gift shop only had kids toys and a fantastic library section, though inevitably the only language these were offered in was Polish.
The Museum of Evolution was a fun experience for a couple of hours, though I lingered with Google Translate in a few places and I’m sure most people wouldn’t spend that long here. The museum is also part of the public entrance to the Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii (Zoology Museum) most of which is closed to the public (though I found photographs apparently from tourists in apparently public galleries containing taxidermied birds). Unfortunately I couldn’t find any English speakers to try and clarify the situation; though the Palace of Culture and Science is a bit of a tourist destination, the zoological side of things definitely Isn’t so I wasn’t exactly surprised.
After wandering off elsewhere I ended up finding another zoological collection completely by accident. Though content with the Museum of Evolution being an excellent end to my journey through Poland, I was certainly not going to pass up another collection.
After going into a somewhat more public side of the Palace, I saw a huge model spider sitting in a corner away from the bustling crowds. Pushing my way over to it, I found that a small wing of the Palace had been given over to a collection of spiders. Though I could only see a bit of the exhibition, I was suitably intrigued to pay the exorbitant entrance fee and hop on in. How exorbitant? Well I was done after an hour including lots of revisits to various spiders and it cost more to enter than Wroclaw.
Inside were a series of nicely presented vivaria for a variety of spiders (though most were Theraphosid bird eaters) and scorpions, each giving information about the species on show. I’ve given the list below, as before this is copied off my phone with no editing – spelling mistakes and a lack of genera for most species are all entirely my fault.
Phoneutria
Hetrometrus scaber
p. Regalis
l. Parahybana
X immanis
A. Genic
Cyriophagus schioedtei
E. Murinus
P. Imperator
Pamphobeteus vespertinus
H Mac
Chilobrachys huahini
Grammostola alticeps
Haplopelma longipes
Brachypelma vagans
Lasiodorides striatus
Thrixopelma ockerti
M. Robustum
G. Pulchripes
T blondi
Brachypelma albopilosum
G pulchra
P irminia
H arizonensis
Androctonus bicolor
Hadogenes bicolor
Pterinochilus murinus
O boehmi
G rosea
M balfouri
Aphonopelma chalcodes
Latrodectus mactans
Loxosceles reclusa
B smithi
B klaasi
B auratum
Chromatopelma cyaneopibes
Damon diadema
P muticus
Cyclosternum fasciatum
Highlights for me were Androctonus bicolor (black fat-tailed scorpion, potentially lethal), Theraphosa blondi (looked to be a real blondi, not stirmi), Loxosceles reclusa (brown recluse spider, very lethal) and a Phoneutria (Brazilian wandering spider, also very lethal). Most of the theraphosids were fairly standard fare which I could buy in about five minutes, but seeing so many of them presented in species-specific enclosures which aimed to replicate their natural habitat was really excellent.
Later in the airport I found that this was the Fascinating World of Spiders and Scorpions at Palace of Culture and Science which appears to be a toured temporary exhibit which has visited various European museums (FASCINATING WORLD OF SPIDERS AND SCORPIONS - ARANEUS), though it’s based in Poland. I would recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone who happens to find this exhibition on tour, though as with the museum above it isn’t worth a bespoke trip to Warsaw to visit.
Poland (and a detour to the Czech Republic) was a fantastic cultural experience for me. Despite not being able to rely on English being spoken by most people I came across, getting around was still a doddle thanks to Translate, Uber and some excellent public transportation. Everyone I met was friendly and helpful, the beer and food was great, but (almost) most importantly the zoos were superb. Though a clear ranking system evolved in my head in terms of those I most enjoyed as zoological attractions, the seven zoos I visited were each memorable and all had something to commend them. Though money to fund big exhibits seems difficult to come by, clear improvements in husbandry are obviously being made in most of these. Mini reviews in summary:
Krakow – needs serious investment to clear up some of the older enclosures and improve things, but steps in the right direction and some areas (ungulates, nocturnal house) are great. Probably best in summer with birds.
Ostrava – amazing feel to the whole zoo. One or two areas to improve to get it up to standard, and some new exhibits seem like a lot of effort for a very small area, but somewhere I’m looking forward to revisiting.
Wroclaw – one more big Afrikarium-style exhibit and it might be up there in my top three European zoos. Some odd husbandry decisions but overall most balanced, encyclopaedic collection.
Poznan nowe – gorgeous, but probably at its best in Summer. Very mammal centric but an amazing collection in great enclosures, future seems bright.
Poznan stare – more of a living museum to how things used to be than a ‘real’ zoo, but still enjoyable. Don’t expect many changes in the future.
Poznan Palmarium – total freshwater fish geek heaven and well worth a visit for this and tropical plants. Unlikely to ever change and some overstocked tanks, but great fun though niche.
Warsaw – not the inner-city zoo I expected but probably the best birds of the trip. Could be improved but unlikely to get the funding without spending this very strangely on small houses.
Go visit Poland. It’s awesome.
Day 8
This was a bit of a wasted day, unfortunately the train times didn’t help me much and with a 1000 checkout time from my hotel I was stuck mooching around Poznan for a couple of hours before getting the train in the afternoon, which arrived in Warszawa after 1700, effectively stopping from me doing much. Still, the time to reflect on my trip so far was very useful, though I do wish I’d written more notes…
Day 9
I had one appointment for once here, Warszawa zoo. This was to be my final significant zoological attraction and I was determined to do a full day there. The map is wonderful, showing off a beautiful geometric design to all of the enclosures with lots of paths running at 90 degrees to each other. Unfortunately, this is not quite the case on the ground, and there are some very odd paths around which don’t really go anywhere. Still, what is refreshing, and something that as a Brit used to tiny city zoos, is how large Warszawa zoo actually is. At 40ha (according to Sheridan) it is far larger than London (15ha), Budapest (10.8ha), Vienna (17ha) or Madrid (22ha) and as such really has the space to allow for well sized enclosures for most of the inhabitants. Despite this most of the ungulate and carnivore enclosures aren’t exactly vast (though there are very few which are genuinely undersized, and most are larger than average) and a decent chunk of the space is taken up by various buildings not directly associated with animal care, plus lots of landscaping.
I wasn’t hugely impressed by a couple of the newer developments at the zoo, namely the hippo enclosure which was on the small size for a modern exhibit (though still larger than many I’ve seen) and the aquarium next to the monkey house which was very pretty, but too small to really scratch a fish-itch. These both looked expensive, but didn’t really deliver (the current trend in modernising with touch screen displays isn’t one I’d like to continue). I would much rather the money had been spent, in both cases, on larger exhibits, but without so much architectural flair. The ape house and elephant enclosures seemed pretty good however from what I can remember. The reptile and amphibian house was also relatively modern and very well presented in a fairly small space, though the inhabitants certainly didn’t suffer from small enclosures.
Highlights from the ungulate collection included the excellent, side by side pairing of both bison species, the musk ox, and combined Sichuan takin & Chinese goral enclosure [I did see a note from LaughingDove that this was a takin/blue sheep enclosure but I can’t see any blue sheep pics in my album and the map implies they are seperate… can anyone clarify for my fading memory?!]. None of these set the world alight in terms of quality or display, but represented very solid exhibits which would stand up anywhere.
The biggest disappointment for me came pretty early on in the polar bear enclosure, which fits an unfortunately all too familiar trend of being too small, though beautiful in a geometric concrete sort of way. Still, it’s simply too small for a big active carnivore and really needs to be revamped for new inhabitants and the bears moved elsewhere.
The big highlight of the collection is the birds, in particular the bird house itself. This is a gorgeous exhibit with multiple outdoor-only enclosures surrounding the central building (and hosting a range of rarities in nice exhibits), plus a variety of indoor enclosures inside the main building, and a surprisingly large walk-through aviary. Each enclosure is themed, my favourite being, quite unexpectedly, a brilliant exhibit for European farmland birds with turtle doves, rosy starlings, hoopoe & domestic chickens. The walk through is the other highlight, having a relatively small walk way, but two stories of space for the birds, and a ton of species in there, many of whom are only interested in revealing themselves after plenty of peace and quiet which means patience really is a virtue if you want to see some of the shyer species. I think I spent about a third of my whole visit in this enclosure alone, it really is great.
Warszawa ended up as being a very good zoo, but not quite as good as hoped. Though certainly the best bird zoo on my trip, I’d prefer to visit Poznan Nowe, Ostrava or Wroclaw again as I feel the direction these zoos were moving in was simply more interesting. Warszawa’s bird house is one of the nicest I’ve been to, but the rest of the zoo simply doesn’t reach similar highs, despite significant amounts of money being spent on renovations.
Day 10
This was my final day in Poland, and with a late-night flight I had most of the day to enjoy Warszawa itself. I couldn’t not do something natural history-related however, so I ended up finding the rather wonderful natural history museum in the centre (the Museum of Evolution of Polish Academy of Sciences to be precise). Despite the lack of English translations for the text, anyone with an interest in zoology, geology or palaeontology should be able to figure out roughly what’s happening, though the specifics eluded me. Google Translate’s camera function however does a pretty good job of translating the text.
The museum houses a series of small exhibitions, the largest of which is focussed on palaeontological expeditions into the Gobi desert of Mongolia, and includes mounted skeletons of Opisthocoelicaudia and Tarbosaurus, the second being mounted both in a modern, tail-erect pose, and one in the old-school kangaroo-pose – plenty of interp around both skeletons helps explain why scientists considered both of these poses to be the at the cutting edge and why opinion can, and should, change.
Other exhibits focus on Triassic herps from nearby Opole, the oldest known frog from Krakow and a number of sets of dinosaur footprints from the Świętokrzyskie Mountains in south-eastern Poland. My favourite section was probably the one describing the discovery and description (only in 2018) of Lisowicia, the largest non-mammalian synapsid around the size of an elephant with erect limbs, found in southern Poland.
The newest large exhibition (which apparently was incomplete) was on the evolution of life in the sea, which included plenty of invertebrate fossils, as well as models of ichthyosaurs, and some wonderful large posters depicting the evolution of groups like trilobites, brachiopods and graptolites. If the posters had been available for general for general sale I’d have snapped them up, alas the gift shop only had kids toys and a fantastic library section, though inevitably the only language these were offered in was Polish.
The Museum of Evolution was a fun experience for a couple of hours, though I lingered with Google Translate in a few places and I’m sure most people wouldn’t spend that long here. The museum is also part of the public entrance to the Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii (Zoology Museum) most of which is closed to the public (though I found photographs apparently from tourists in apparently public galleries containing taxidermied birds). Unfortunately I couldn’t find any English speakers to try and clarify the situation; though the Palace of Culture and Science is a bit of a tourist destination, the zoological side of things definitely Isn’t so I wasn’t exactly surprised.
After wandering off elsewhere I ended up finding another zoological collection completely by accident. Though content with the Museum of Evolution being an excellent end to my journey through Poland, I was certainly not going to pass up another collection.
After going into a somewhat more public side of the Palace, I saw a huge model spider sitting in a corner away from the bustling crowds. Pushing my way over to it, I found that a small wing of the Palace had been given over to a collection of spiders. Though I could only see a bit of the exhibition, I was suitably intrigued to pay the exorbitant entrance fee and hop on in. How exorbitant? Well I was done after an hour including lots of revisits to various spiders and it cost more to enter than Wroclaw.
Inside were a series of nicely presented vivaria for a variety of spiders (though most were Theraphosid bird eaters) and scorpions, each giving information about the species on show. I’ve given the list below, as before this is copied off my phone with no editing – spelling mistakes and a lack of genera for most species are all entirely my fault.
Phoneutria
Hetrometrus scaber
p. Regalis
l. Parahybana
X immanis
A. Genic
Cyriophagus schioedtei
E. Murinus
P. Imperator
Pamphobeteus vespertinus
H Mac
Chilobrachys huahini
Grammostola alticeps
Haplopelma longipes
Brachypelma vagans
Lasiodorides striatus
Thrixopelma ockerti
M. Robustum
G. Pulchripes
T blondi
Brachypelma albopilosum
G pulchra
P irminia
H arizonensis
Androctonus bicolor
Hadogenes bicolor
Pterinochilus murinus
O boehmi
G rosea
M balfouri
Aphonopelma chalcodes
Latrodectus mactans
Loxosceles reclusa
B smithi
B klaasi
B auratum
Chromatopelma cyaneopibes
Damon diadema
P muticus
Cyclosternum fasciatum
Highlights for me were Androctonus bicolor (black fat-tailed scorpion, potentially lethal), Theraphosa blondi (looked to be a real blondi, not stirmi), Loxosceles reclusa (brown recluse spider, very lethal) and a Phoneutria (Brazilian wandering spider, also very lethal). Most of the theraphosids were fairly standard fare which I could buy in about five minutes, but seeing so many of them presented in species-specific enclosures which aimed to replicate their natural habitat was really excellent.
Later in the airport I found that this was the Fascinating World of Spiders and Scorpions at Palace of Culture and Science which appears to be a toured temporary exhibit which has visited various European museums (FASCINATING WORLD OF SPIDERS AND SCORPIONS - ARANEUS), though it’s based in Poland. I would recommend this wholeheartedly to anyone who happens to find this exhibition on tour, though as with the museum above it isn’t worth a bespoke trip to Warsaw to visit.
Poland (and a detour to the Czech Republic) was a fantastic cultural experience for me. Despite not being able to rely on English being spoken by most people I came across, getting around was still a doddle thanks to Translate, Uber and some excellent public transportation. Everyone I met was friendly and helpful, the beer and food was great, but (almost) most importantly the zoos were superb. Though a clear ranking system evolved in my head in terms of those I most enjoyed as zoological attractions, the seven zoos I visited were each memorable and all had something to commend them. Though money to fund big exhibits seems difficult to come by, clear improvements in husbandry are obviously being made in most of these. Mini reviews in summary:
Krakow – needs serious investment to clear up some of the older enclosures and improve things, but steps in the right direction and some areas (ungulates, nocturnal house) are great. Probably best in summer with birds.
Ostrava – amazing feel to the whole zoo. One or two areas to improve to get it up to standard, and some new exhibits seem like a lot of effort for a very small area, but somewhere I’m looking forward to revisiting.
Wroclaw – one more big Afrikarium-style exhibit and it might be up there in my top three European zoos. Some odd husbandry decisions but overall most balanced, encyclopaedic collection.
Poznan nowe – gorgeous, but probably at its best in Summer. Very mammal centric but an amazing collection in great enclosures, future seems bright.
Poznan stare – more of a living museum to how things used to be than a ‘real’ zoo, but still enjoyable. Don’t expect many changes in the future.
Poznan Palmarium – total freshwater fish geek heaven and well worth a visit for this and tropical plants. Unlikely to ever change and some overstocked tanks, but great fun though niche.
Warsaw – not the inner-city zoo I expected but probably the best birds of the trip. Could be improved but unlikely to get the funding without spending this very strangely on small houses.
Go visit Poland. It’s awesome.
Of course, at least 10ha are taken up by that massive, wide central avenue
It's enormous! I was reminded of Bristol's promenade, just on a vast scale. Shame the benches on either side seemed to only face the other side of the path rather than the enclosures. Still, it was a good place for a sandwich.
