Biggest zoos by both species count and area

MurphyFox

MurphyFox

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5+ year member
Some zoos have a high abundance of species but don't take up that much space. Some take up a lot of space but don't have a very diverse collection. That's why when factoring in zoos I want to visit, and how big they really are, I factor in both.

I know, in the world, with both in mind, some of the largest will include.

Tierpark Berlin (160 hectares, 700 species)
Zoo Berlin (35 hectares, 1200 species)
Henry Doorly Zoo (53 ha, 962 species)
Beijing Zoo (90 ha, 950 species)
National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (85 ha, 700 species)
Bronx Zoo (100 ha, 650 species)
Pairi Daiza (65 ha, 800 species)

Which ones can you also think of that have both a high species count and take up a large amount of area?
 
Berlin Zoo is 35 h. If this size is big enough, all of the follows belong to your list:
San Diego Zoo
Beauval
Prague
Plzen
Wroclaw
Poznan Nowe
Chester
Burgers' Zoo
Hellabrunn Zoo

There are some smaller zoos, but with big and diverse collections:

Rotterdam Zoo
Leipzig
Budapest
Cologne
Wilhelma
etc
 
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birdsandbats said:
Except aquariums are generally smaller in area. Shedd Aquarium has around 1500 species, more than any other zoo in the world, yet only takes up 8 acres (that's 3.26 hectares).
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This is why I combine the two, because it gives a fair comparison between "traditional" zoos and aquariums, as well as zoo/museum hybrids (e.g. Curiodyssey, Ecotarium).
 
I’m not sure on exact size, but DAK is pretty big, especially when you consider the safari.
 
Jude T said:
I’m not sure on exact size, but DAK is pretty big, especially when you consider the safari.
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It's really big in area but the collection doesn't really live up to the size.

We really get to get a mathematical definition of what we're trying to find here. Number of species/number of acres? Something else?
 
birdsandbats said:
It's really big in area but the collection doesn't really live up to the size.

We really get to get a mathematical definition of what we're trying to find here. Number of species/number of acres? Something else?
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number of species TIMES number of acres to give a number.
 
Kalaw said:
Tierpark Berlin would have a score of 112,000, and Toronto (if their website's statistics are to be trusted) would surpass it with 141,500.
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From some online measuring, Tierpark would be the winner (basically all of it's 160 ha are developed) while only about half of Toronto's ha are developed as part of the zoo.

Converted to HA, Zoo Berlin would have a score of 4900.

Also up there would be Beijing at 85500
 
Jude T said:
I’m not sure on exact size, but DAK is pretty big, especially when you consider the safari.
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birdsandbats said:
It's really big in area but the collection doesn't really live up to the size.

We really get to get a mathematical definition of what we're trying to find here. Number of species/number of acres? Something else?
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Never mind, I was very wrong. I just worked it out and DAK would have a score of around 126440.
 
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MurphyFox said:
If done by hectares, it would be about 200,000, making it the winner.

Now I understand why the San Diego Zoo is considered the largest in the world.
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MurphyFox said:
number of species TIMES number of acres to give a number.
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You said we were using acres. So what's the number with acres so we can compare it to the other numbers on the thread so far?

Minnesota Zoo works out to a shocking 119310.
 
birdsandbats said:
You said we were using acres. So what's the number with acres so we can compare it to the other numbers on the thread so far?

Minnesota Zoo works out to a shocking 119310.
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If done by acres, it's more than 540,000, making it the winner.

I used hectares because someone else had used em, so I wanted to compare it with their findings.

By "acreage" I meant overall area which can be determined in acres or hectares. My Americanness is just used to saying "acreage". Old habits are hard to break.
 
MurphyFox said:
If done by acres, it's more than 540,000, making it the winner.

I used hectares because someone else had used em, so I wanted to compare it with their findings.

By "acreage" I meant overall area which can be determined in acres or hectares. My Americanness is just used to saying "acreage". Old habits are hard to break.
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It is essential that one specific unit of area measurement is picked so that the numbers all work out the same. The specific unit used doesn't really matter, acres work perfectly fine.
 
birdsandbats said:
It is essential that one specific unit of area measurement is picked so that the numbers all work out the same. The specific unit used doesn't really matter, acres work perfectly fine.
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So Tierpark Berlin, mentioned earlier, is like 280,000, when done by acres.

Beijing is 210,000.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park is 540,000, maybe the biggest with all of this factored in. Being a hybrid of a safari park and a regular zoo really helps.
 
Also I just measured, the SDZSF is only really 400 acres of exhibits, which means it's really more 120,000.

Tierpark Berlin so far is the winner at almost 30,000 (definitely will get close to that as more species move in).
 
This only makes me want to visit San Diego more. Slightly more achievable than Tierpark Berlin in terms of travel, anyways.
 
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