Europe's 100 must see exhibits

[jwer]

45. Hippo aviary
Zooparc de Beauval, Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, France
Opened: 2016
Size: 6000 square metres
Inhabitants: Common hippo, nyala, red river hog. a wide selection of African wetland birds, including Pink-backed pelican, African openbill and European fish species

This aviary seems to be built to impress, and impress it does. With a height of close to 30 metres, two towering fake baobab trees and multilevel viewing this aviary is one of a kind. Add a large hippo tank with full underwater viewing, and rather unique in Europe: clear water, and one understands why this is a crowd-favourite. And while it is an impressive bird display, how could one tire of seeing pelicans 20 metres above the ground and storks flying, the aviary is not without significant flaws. There is no separation option for the hippos and the impressive land area is strangely divided into smaller 3 enclosures, instead of one large area which the hippo can use. Despite these criticisms there is still a lot to love about this aviary, visitor amenities are great and the hippo pool is really spacious. Ignoring the great grey blobs the real stars are the birds here, stocking levels might be a bit high, but admiring all these larger African bird species in free-flight is fascinating.

@lintworm

@antonmuster

@Maguari

@Maguari

@Maguari

Similar exhibits: A second large walkthrough with a famous African mammal and many birds is located in Zoo Antwerp, Belgium. The African buffalo aviary might be quite a bit smaller than the counterpart in Beauval, but is still one of the better large walkthroughs around. They even managed to incorporate a monumental building, which is quite a strange sight among all the mock rock.

@KevinB

@KevinB

@lintworm

To be honest, I didn’t think this exhibit would make this (your) list. You have shown me the oddness of how the hippo’s are kept and I agreed to the point I picked Antwerps aviary as the one for the list and the Beauval aviary as the alternative…

It’s truly awesome though, so I don’t mind at all. Just didn’t think you would. But now you did, you might as well chuck in their manatee pond for good measure

 

[pachyderm pro]

This enclosure is the primary reason why Beauval is one of my most anticipated overseas zoos. Large megafauna aviaries are a concept that has yet to spread to America, which is a shame as the two examples mentioned above plus the okapi aviary at Doué are absolutely fantastic looking.

What's that glass building in Antwerp's buffalo aviary? Looks really cool but definitely contrasts with the house and mock rock.

A brief follow up to my original post. After finally getting around to reading our revered thread starters 2020 France travel report - great stuff by the way - I suddenly have very mixed feelings about this exhibit. The fact that some of the hippos are forced to be inside and only occasionally get the chance to come outdoors is absurd. That seems like such a basic animal husbandry decision that the zoo blatantly ignored, when the nyala could have easily been dropped to fix this. I will say now that I think about it, I don’t recall any zoo besides maybe Werribee having more than one hippo yard for separation, although that’s hardly the worst issue with most modern hippo exhibits.

Side note: the zoos of Western France thread put Doué way higher on my bucket list. What an awesome looking place!

 

[lintworm]

@lintworm
Two really beautiful enclosures, in terms of visitor experience and animal welfare.
I can't say too much about the aviary in beauval, since i unfortunately haven't been there so far, but the one in Antwerpen really stood out in this overall extroardinary zoo. One important aspect that really contributes to the great visitor experience is the placement within the zoo, aswell as the composition it creates with the neighboring enclosures. The savannah-aviary lies within a complex of the zoo housing mostly African animals. Directly to the aviary leads a twisted path surrounded by bamboo meandering between the big and overnetted chimpanzee and gorilla enclosures. The path leads to a cave with one final panorama view into the gorilla enclosure and ends with a first view through glass into the savannah-aviary. Finally to top off the great experience, the path leads directly to the renowned historic egyptian temple. Last but not least there is a restaurant on top of said cave with two glass walls, one looking over the gorilla enclosure and one the savannah aviary.

To be honest, I didn’t think this exhibit would make this (your) list. You have shown me the oddness of how the hippo’s are kept and I agreed to the point I picked Antwerps aviary as the one for the list and the Beauval aviary as the alternative…

It’s truly awesome though, so I don’t mind at all. Just didn’t think you would. But now you did, you might as well chuck in their manatee pond for good measure

The Antwerp aviary suffers from some of the same problems all of these large mammal aviaries suffer from: limited space for the big mammal in question. In Antwerp due to the long and narrow look of the buffalo paddock, I am worried what happens when there are conflicts...

Overall I think Beauval's aviary is easily the most impressive of the two and I would rather spend an hour there than in Antwerp.

A brief follow up to my original post. After finally getting around to reading our revered thread starters 2020 France travel report - great stuff by the way - I suddenly have very mixed feelings about this exhibit. The fact that some of the hippos are forced to be inside and only occasionally get the chance to come outdoors is absurd. That seems like such a basic animal husbandry decision that the zoo blatantly ignored, when the nyala could have easily been dropped to fix this. I will say now that I think about it, I don’t recall any zoo besides maybe Werribee having more than one hippo yard for separation, although that’s hardly the worst issue with most modern hippo exhibits.

Some design choices in modern exhibits are just plain weird, especially in some of the most "modern" zoos like Beauval and Pairi Daiza.

That said I can only think of 2 of the 30+ hippo enclosures I have seen that have multiple outdoor enclosures + Vienna + Zoom Gelsenkirchen.

Side note: the zoos of Western France thread put Doué way higher on my bucket list. What an awesome looking place!

Doue would easily be one of the top 10 zoos to visit on the continent, possibly even top-5, Beauval would certainly not be

 

[amur leopard]

Doue would easily be one of the top 10 zoos to visit on the continent, possibly even top-5, Beauval would certainly not be

Saying Beauval is 'certainly not' top 10 is an exaggeration. You didn't like it, and I understand that, but that is personal preference, not objectivity. Objectively speaking, Beauval is one of the largest zoos in Europe, with lots of great exhibits, no bad ones (anymore) and a pretty massive collection. I agree it isn't at the level of Prague or Berlin but it is absolutely at least in the conversation for top 10, maybe top 5. But yes, if we spoke about which zoo was more exciting, more interesting, Doue would surpass it but then again I can't actually think of a zoo that is more exciting and innovative than Doue. Doue is obviously spectacular, but the place only has ~40 enclosures in the entire zoo, and almost no herps or fish. I do love the place, I think it's a trailblazer pulling in the opposite direction to Beauval but I think saying that it is top 5 in Europe is quite misleading. I'm genuinely not looking for a debate here, but I'd like to hear your reasoning.

Incidentally, if you don't put Beauval anywhere near your top 10 I'd like to see which zoos you put above it...

 

[lintworm]

Saying Beauval is 'certainly not' top 10 is an exaggeration. You didn't like it, and I understand that, but that is personal preference, not objectivity. Objectively speaking, Beauval is one of the largest zoos in Europe, with lots of great exhibits, no bad ones (anymore) and a pretty massive collection. I agree it isn't at the level of Prague or Berlin but it is absolutely at least in the conversation for top 10, maybe top 5. But yes, if we spoke about which zoo was more exciting, more interesting, Doue would surpass it but then again I can't actually think of a zoo that is more exciting and innovative than Doue. Doue is obviously spectacular, but the place only has ~40 enclosures in the entire zoo, and almost no herps or fish. I do love the place, I think it's a trailblazer pulling in the opposite direction to Beauval but I think saying that it is top 5 in Europe is quite misleading. I'm genuinely not looking for a debate here, but I'd like to hear your reasoning.

Incidentally, if you don't put Beauval anywhere near your top 10 I'd like to see which zoos you put above it...

With top-10/top-5 to visit I meant that if you could hypothetically only visit 5/10 zoos on the continent, which combination would give you the most highlights and best representation of what Europe has to offer. When excluding specialist collections, for top-5 I think it would be fairly easy to put together a hypothetical itinerary:
- Zoo Berlin (history, collection)
- Zoo Prague (enclosures, collection)
- Tiergarten Schoenbrunn (history, enclosures)
- Zoo Zuerich (enclosures)
- Burgers' Zoo (innovative enclosures)

One could argue here to include Doue, Pairi Daiza or Chester, but I would struggle to leave any of the 5 out. Zuerich, Schoenbrunn, Burgers' and Berlin all stand out in particular ways and Prague is a zoo that basically every zoo nerd loves, because regardless of preferences it has something to offer for anyone.

For top-10, 8 slots would be filled in, with Berlin, Prague, Schoenbrunn, Zuerich and Burgers'. And then Doue for it's exhibitry, Pairi Daiza for it's extravagance, theming and collection and Chester for all-round strength and enclosures. That leaves only two slots for which I would personally pick Tiergarten Nuernberg and Tierpark Berlin. But obvious other contenders would be Antwerp, Wilhelma, Cologne, Zlin-Lesna, Plzen, Wroclaw, Diergaarde Blijdorp and then probably Beauval. But this leaves out aquaria and specialist collections like Apenheul and Walsrode.

Beauval has little to love for me personally and a lot that has to do with quantity over real quality and horrendous landscaping. Yes there is a good collection, but apart from ABC-ticks not many rarities and enclosure-wise there is little world-class and still quite some outdated stuff in the lower part of the zoo...

More interesting would be to put together a big small top-5/top-10 with smaller zoos that excel in certain ways or have great specialities. In such a case I would put together a list like this:
- Alpenzoo Innsbruck
- Tierpark Bern
- Gaiazoo
- Apenheul
- Parc de Branfere
- Paris JdP
- Zoo Helsinki
- Nordens Ark
- Highland Wildlife Park
- Parc des Oiseaux, Villars-les-Dombes

But here there would be plenty of other "contenders" too like Goerlitz, Sainte-Croix, Auvergne, Cotswold, Odense etc.

 

[amur leopard]

With top-10/top-5 to visit I meant that if you could hypothetically only visit 5/10 zoos on the continent, which combination would give you the most highlights and best representation of what Europe has to offer. When excluding specialist collections, for top-5 I think it would be fairly easy to put together a hypothetical itinerary:
- Zoo Berlin (history, collection)
- Zoo Prague (enclosures, collection)
- Tiergarten Schoenbrunn (history, enclosures)
- Zoo Zuerich (enclosures)
- Burgers' Zoo (innovative enclosures)

One could argue here to include Doue, Pairi Daiza or Chester, but I would struggle to leave any of the 5 out. Zuerich, Schoenbrunn, Burgers' and Berlin all stand out in particular ways and Prague is a zoo that basically every zoo nerd loves, because regardless of preferences it has something to offer for anyone.

I would totally agree here.

For top-10, 8 slots would be filled in, with Berlin, Prague, Schoenbrunn, Zuerich and Burgers'. And then Doue for it's exhibitry, Pairi Daiza for it's extravagance, theming and collection and Chester for all-round strength and enclosures. That leaves only two slots for which I would personally pick Tiergarten Nuernberg and Tierpark Berlin. But obvious other contenders would be Antwerp, Wilhelma, Cologne, Zlin-Lesna, Plzen, Wroclaw, Diergaarde Blijdorp and then probably Beauval. But this leaves out aquaria and specialist collections like Apenheul and Walsrode.

I guess that's fair enough - I can't really fault that logic, particularly given I haven't actually visited the majority of the above.

Beauval has little to love for me personally and a lot that has to do with quantity over real quality and horrendous landscaping. Yes there is a good collection, but apart from ABC-ticks not many rarities and enclosure-wise there is little world-class and still quite some outdated stuff in the lower part of the zoo...

I really do understand your problem with Beauval, because I agree that it has little charisma but I think that is partly due to the fact that it is a fairly recent collection growing at pace and trying to churn out massive, showpiece developments. Honestly it's not exactly my cup of tea either but I think that different people could have vastly different views of Beauval - I'd think that people from the other side of the pond might enjoy it more than some of us who are less used to the swathes of mock rock that can be found in many American zoos. In the end it does come down to a preference but while Beauval doesn't really fit into the European mold necessarily I still think it is up there with the best on the continent. That being said I respect your opinion far more than my own given you are far better travelled .

More interesting would be to put together a big small top-5/top-10 with smaller zoos that excel in certain ways or have great specialities. In such a case I would put together a list like this:
- Alpenzoo Innsbruck
- Tierpark Bern
- Gaiazoo
- Apenheul
- Parc de Branfere
- Paris JdP
- Zoo Helsinki
- Nordens Ark
- Highland Wildlife Park
- Parc des Oiseaux, Villars-les-Dombes

But here there would be plenty of other "contenders" too like Goerlitz, Sainte-Croix, Auvergne, Cotswold, Odense etc.

Can't help but smile at the inclusion of numerous French zoos .

 

[snowleopard]

With top-10/top-5 to visit I meant that if you could hypothetically only visit 5/10 zoos on the continent, which combination would give you the most highlights and best representation of what Europe has to offer. When excluding specialist collections, for top-5 I think it would be fairly easy to put together a hypothetical itinerary:
- Zoo Berlin (history, collection)
- Zoo Prague (enclosures, collection)
- Tiergarten Schoenbrunn (history, enclosures)
- Zoo Zuerich (enclosures)
- Burgers' Zoo (innovative enclosures)

One could argue here to include Doue, Pairi Daiza or Chester, but I would struggle to leave any of the 5 out. Zuerich, Schoenbrunn, Burgers' and Berlin all stand out in particular ways and Prague is a zoo that basically every zoo nerd loves, because regardless of preferences it has something to offer for anyone.

For top-10, 8 slots would be filled in, with Berlin, Prague, Schoenbrunn, Zuerich and Burgers'. And then Doue for it's exhibitry, Pairi Daiza for it's extravagance, theming and collection and Chester for all-round strength and enclosures. That leaves only two slots for which I would personally pick Tiergarten Nuernberg and Tierpark Berlin. But obvious other contenders would be Antwerp, Wilhelma, Cologne, Zlin-Lesna, Plzen, Wroclaw, Diergaarde Blijdorp and then probably Beauval. But this leaves out aquaria and specialist collections like Apenheul and Walsrode.

You mentioned exactly 20 famous zoos in these paragraphs, but I do see a couple of major omissions in the form of Leipzig and Hellabrunn (Munich). Both those zoos are highly regarded by many people and they each have huge attendance numbers. Other than that, your list of 20 great European zoos seems reasonable, although everyone would have a slightly different order.

As for Doue, it must be envious of Beauval's 1.6 million annual visitors. Why does Doue consistently have only 250,000 visitors each year? The exhibits are amazing and unique, the animal collection contains a few ABC's (maybe not enough?), zoo nerds love the atmosphere, and yet not a lot of people actually visit the place. Is it the location?

 

[CGSwans]

As for Doue, it must be envious of Beauval's 1.6 million annual visitors. Why does Doue consistently have only 250,000 visitors each year? The exhibits are amazing and unique, the animal collection contains a few ABC's (maybe not enough?), zoo nerds love the atmosphere, and yet not a lot of people actually visit the place. Is it the location?

Must it be, though? I didn’t get to Doue but one of the outstanding impressions I drew from Beauval is that it cannot cope with its popularity. The site is crowded and the village is buckling under the strain of that 1.6million - even on a midweek in April, a traffic jam formed more than 2 kilometres away from the zoo.

Doue has been owned and run by the same family for decades, I believe, and has managed to grow slowly but steadily in that time. I suspect they’re quite happy with how they’re going.

 

[snowleopard]

Must it be, though? I didn’t get to Doue but one of the outstanding impressions I drew from Beauval is that it cannot cope with its popularity. The site is crowded and the village is buckling under the strain of that 1.6million - even on a midweek in April, a traffic jam formed more than 2 kilometres away from the zoo.

Doue has been owned and run by the same family for decades, I believe, and has managed to grow slowly but steadily in that time. I suspect they’re quite happy with how they’re going.

There is definitely a concern when a zoo grows too quickly, and Beauval with its 1.6 million annual visitors is a prime example. There are always issues with parking, toilets, restaurants and other visitor amenities being insufficient when a zoo surges in attendance.

However, I've probably read at least a thousand articles talking about how zoos do everything in their power to increase visitor numbers. Whether that is via new exhibits, animatronic dinosaurs, LEGO animals, or any number of other examples, I'm not sure that any zoo owners are ever content with what they have. My initial question was "why does Doue consistently have only 250,000 visitors each year?" and it's a valid point. A decade ago, Doue had 250,000 through the gates and with probably 90%+ of all major European zoos having gone up in attendance since then, Doue is still at the same number. Fascinating.

 

[amur leopard]

There is definitely a concern when a zoo grows too quickly, and Beauval with its 1.6 million annual visitors is a prime example. There are always issues with parking, toilets, restaurants and other visitor amenities being insufficient when a zoo surges in attendance.

However, I've probably read at least a thousand articles talking about how zoos do everything in their power to increase visitor numbers. Whether that is via new exhibits, animatronic dinosaurs, LEGO animals, or any number of other examples, I'm not sure that any zoo owners are ever content with what they have. My initial question was "why does Doue consistently have only 250,000 visitors each year?" and it's a valid point. A decade ago, Doue had 250,000 through the gates and with probably 90%+ of all major European zoos having gone up in attendance since then, Doue is still at the same number. Fascinating.

This is because Doue has a more set visitor pool than Beauval. It tends to be the same people visiting Doue every year, the vast majority of which are from Western France, while Beauval is a much better known, larger and better publicised zoo. You will only really see advertisement for Doue within a fairly small radius around the zoo, yet I've seen advertising for Beauval in Paris and beyond. Beauval has expanded its 'clientele' at an (alarming?) rate while Doue is more of a family day out than a tourist attraction. Plus Beauval is right in the middle of the web of famous Loire castles while Doue is just outside.

 

[snowleopard]

This is because Doue has a more set visitor pool than Beauval. It tends to be the same people visiting Doue every year, the vast majority of which are from Western France, while Beauval is a much better known, larger and better publicised zoo. You will only really see advertisement for Doue within a fairly small radius around the zoo, yet I've seen advertising for Beauval in Paris and beyond. Beauval has expanded its 'clientele' at an (alarming?) rate while Doue is more of a family day out than a tourist attraction. Plus Beauval is right in the middle of the web of famous Loire castles while Doue is just outside.

A perfect explanation...thank you!

 

[Antoine]

@amur leopard is right regarding Doué's visitors. They are not looking for millions of visitors but 50.000 more would be a great gift.

45. Hippo aviary
Zooparc de Beauval, Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, France
Opened: 2016
Size: 6000 square metres
Inhabitants: Common hippo, nyala, red river hog. a wide selection of African wetland birds, including Pink-backed pelican, African openbill and European fish species

Similar exhibits: A second large walkthrough with a famous African mammal and many birds is located in Zoo Antwerp, Belgium.

I fully agree with you about Beauval's hippos aviary which is, in my opinion, the most impressive exhibit of the zoo. It's a shame they added the red river hogs and nyalas. Another issue is that the aviary is not completely round because a quarter is missing (where the hippo house is) which prevents the birds to fly full round.

On the contrary, Antwerp's one is nothing to compare for me. It is narrow with strange sides and the buffalos' space is just horrible. Seeing grazers just on hard stand without any view outside is ununderstable. And visitors path and views are not great.

 

[Rayane]

@amur leopard is right regarding Doué's visitors. They are not looking for millions of visitors but 50.000 more would be a great gift.

Maybe if France was a bit more german, it'd be easier getting to the zoo using only public transports. That would probably do it for the 50 000 bonus visitors

 

[lintworm]

You mentioned exactly 20 famous zoos in these paragraphs, but I do see a couple of major omissions in the form of Leipzig and Hellabrunn (Munich). Both those zoos are highly regarded by many people and they each have huge attendance numbers.

Hellabrunn in Munich is a fine zoo, a pleasant day out with many pretty exhibits, but as discussed earlier, there is little remarkable. So I would not count it as a must-see, it could easily belong in a "best zoo" list, whatever that may mean. Leipzig could have been in my original post, but while it was the number 1 zoo to watch from 2000-2012, its later developments aren't exactly eye-catching and the original enclosures from the masterplan are showing their age. I have been visiting this zoo regularly since 1996 and seen this place change from a large outdated GDR facility to a modern popular zoo and the zoo is so much better then it was. But during my later visits I increasingly got the idea that Leipzig is stuck in 2010, with enclosures being outdated or just too mock rock heavy from day 1. But it still probably belonged in the earlier post given it's history, collection and interesting enclosures.

 

[lintworm]

46. African aviary
Réserve Africaine de Sigean, France
Opened: 2018
Size: 9000 square metres
Inhabitants: Roughly 30 African bird species and Mississippi alligator

If you happen to have close to one hectare of Mediterranean shrub- and wetland, it couldn’t be easier to create a fantastic new zoo exhibit. Just call Doue-la-Fontaine to provide you with the necessary netting et c’est ca!. The result is one of Europe’s largest aviaries, focusing on African, mainly wetland, species in a fantastic environment. The birds didn’t mind the idea either and with breeding goliath herons there has been some notable success already. The wonder of large flying birds never ceases to amaze and with vultures, herons, storks, hornbills and a wide array of other species, there is always something going on. Remarkably the two ancient Mississippi alligators don’t seem to look for snacks, as they seem to live quite peacefully in this avian bonanza.

@Antoine

@Antoine

@Antoine

Similar exhibits: The Parc des Oiseaux, Villars-les-Dombes, France also has a massive African themed aviary, but here the landscaping is not as nice. This aviary is unfortunately not represented in the gallery and this stunning bird park is in general underrepresented here. A pioneer in the keeping of large (African) birds in freeflight is Odense Zoo, Denmark, which has another large, 3000 square metre, aviary with flamingos and a breeding group of pink-backed pelicans and some smaller birds.


Odense Zoo:

@Toddy

@Toddy

@Toddy

 

[aardvark250]

The concrete fan club is dissolved. It's the French Revolution all over now.

That aviary does look really big. Remind me of the old Tampa(?) aviary.

 

[Batto]

Maybe if France was a bit more german (...)

Several wars and conflicts have taught us that this might not be such a good idea...

I agree with the assessments of both Munich and Leipzig. Despite my potential localism.

 

[Mr. Zootycoon]

46. African aviary
Réserve Africaine de Sigean, France
Opened: 2018
Size: 9000 square metres
Inhabitants: Roughly 30 African bird species and Mississippi alligator

If you happen to have close to one hectare of Mediterranean shrub- and wetland, it couldn’t be easier to create a fantastic new zoo exhibit. Just call Doue-la-Fontaine to provide you with the necessary netting et c’est ca!. The result is one of Europe’s largest aviaries, focusing on African, mainly wetland, species in a fantastic environment. The birds didn’t mind the idea either and with breeding goliath herons there has been some notable success already. The wonder of large flying birds never ceases to amaze and with vultures, herons, storks, hornbills and a wide array of other species, there is always something going on. Remarkably the two ancient Mississippi alligators don’t seem to look for snacks, as they seem to live quite peacefully in this avian bonanza.

@Antoine

@Antoine

@Antoine

Similar exhibits: The Parc des Oiseaux, Villars-les-Dombes, France also has a massive African themed aviary, but here the landscaping is not as nice. This aviary is unfortunately not represented in the gallery and this stunning bird park is in general underrepresented here. A pioneer in the keeping of large (African) birds in freeflight is Odense Zoo, Denmark, which has another large, 3000 square metre, aviary with flamingos and a breeding group of pink-backed pelicans and some smaller birds.


Odense Zoo:

@Toddy

@Toddy

@Toddy

Another fitting comparable exhibit to this African Aviary is the large (7000 square metres) Selva Tropicale aviary in Parco Faunistico le Cornelle, in Bergamo, Italy. It is basically a huge walk-through aviary with storks, pelicans, ibises, cormorants, flamingos and cranes, all seen from a boardwalk through a lush wetland landscape. And it also has crocodiles and alligators in with the birds, and from memory quite a few of them! There are also lemurs and muntjac, but they don't share with the crocodiles at least.

Alas, while we rightfully talk about under-representation from French zoos on this forum, Italian zoos receive even less attention. Though, to be honest, while Le Cornelle is a decent zoo, it is also a decisively ordinary zoo, and I do not think any of their enclosures warrant inclusion in this thread. There are no interesting concepts there that are not executed better elsewhere.

 

[Antoine]

46. African aviary
Réserve Africaine de Sigean, France
Opened: 2018
Size: 9000 square metres
Inhabitants: Roughly 30 African bird species and Mississippi alligator

I added some pictures of this exhibit to better show how wonderfull it is. I spend easily 3 hours in it !

 

[Jurek7]

Interesting is that Arnhem, Doue or Zurich each have several must-see exhibits, but most zoos have none. A handful of zoos are very innovative. Other zoos, if they have a remarkable exhibit, it is usually a historical memory from several decades ago.

It is also interesting that big zoos with big budgets do not necessarily have best exhibits. Besides Zurich, innovative zoos are smallish to mid-sized.