I have just visited the Lewa Savanna for the first time. The enclosures are mostly very impressive: spacious and well structured. Especially the large savannah stands out among the European competition when it comes to structure and vegetation. It will be interesting to see how well the vegetation keeps up in the coming years. Overall the horticultural department has done a great job, as have the team responsible for (cultural) theming. When compared to African reserves, this is easily the most authentic theming I have seen in a zoo. Even the small details (Tusker beer
) are correct.
Unfortunately the choices made in animals are extremely hit-and-miss. Some species like the Hyena, Zebra, Impala, Naked Mole Rat, Guineafowl and Giraffe fit very well, but the inclusion of Meerkats, Scimitar-horned Oryx and especially th Grey Parrots is incomprehensible. For all these species there are plenty of good alternatives available (Banded/Dwarf Mongoose, Beisa Oryx, loads of birds to choose from). The Parrot aviary just doesn't work, with the arid savannah theming. Hopefully the Parrots will be moved to the future Gorilla development and replaced by fitting parrot species, weavers, mousebirds and the like. Overall there are also too little animals imo, there is a lot of space "wasted" with vegetation, rockwork and pathways and hardly any small animals are shown, even though nearby Basel and Gossau show that it is very possible to attractively display smaller Savannah species without needing a lot of extra place.
The last point is my general concern for Zurich, which has a rapidly shrinking bird collection (African Jacana, Madagascar Magpie Robin, Eider, Horned Grebe, Steamer Duck, Lesser Vasa Parrot, Flame-faced Tanager, Hawk Owl, Blue-winged Goose all gone since 2018, with Red Junglefowl the only new bird kept outside of Lewa), and there is little apparent interest in acquiring new non ABC species (reptile department excepted). It risks to become a zoo with a very boring collection in great enclosures and a lot of empty pathways without animals in sight if the current trend continues. That would be a great pity as other serious zoos like Chester, Burgers and Nürnberg show that an interesting collection and great enclosures can go hand in hand.
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