Paris Zoological Park Paris Zoological Park Species List 28/03/2023

StoppableSan

StoppableSan

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Paris Zoological Park Species List

Patagonia
Vicuña, Darwin's Rhea

Guanaco, Patagonian Mara, Greater Rhea

South American Sea Lion, South American Fur Seal

Humboldt Penguin

Puma

Southern Pudu

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Patagonia is a short but sweet area that basically acts as the zoo's marine animal section. There's a really nice, open space for the vicuña, guanaco, maras and rheas to comingle. The sea lion/seal and penguin pools are quite deep, and even though there's slight glare on some of the underwater viewing panes, there's ample viewing opportunities at these exhibits. The inclusion of puma is a unique touch, and the pudu space is short but sweet. Overall a 7/10, maned wolf would be a nice addition to this section.

Africa/Sahel-Soudan
Southern White Rhinoceros, Grevy's Zebra, Red Lechwe, Southern Ground Hornbill

African Lion

Roan Antelope

Addax

Kordofan Giraffe, Mhorr Gazelle, Vulturine Guineafowl

Kordofan Giraffe, Greater Kudu, Mhorr Gazelle, Red-Necked Ostrich, Marabou Stork, Grey Crowned Crane

Guinea Baboon

Greater Flamingo, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, African Spoonbill, Hamerkop, Common Redshank, Spur-Winged Lapwing, Black-Winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Abdim's Stork, Northern Bald Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Speckled Pigeon, White-Cheeked Turaco, Squacco Heron

Meerkat, Bat-Eared Fox

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The foliage grew in and enveloped what was once a desolate landscape into a sea of grass and bush. A legitimate masterclass in zoo landscaping. The antelope enclosures had nice height variation/design quirks, the rhinos had a decent setup with the zebras and the lechwe. The lion exhibit.... is kind of underwhelming. I get why the zoo went away with the moated lion habitat, but I do think there are possibilities as far as making the lion habitat much more exciting. The main giraffe savanna is the highlight, seeing a whole herd of mhorr gazelles here made me miss Moira Abby the gazelle in Philly all the more. Paris' giraffe herd is genuinely impressive, and it is an amazing feat how they renovated the entire zoo with the giraffes and a single hippo still residing at the zoo. The baboons were ridiculously active, the meerkat and bat-eared fox exhibit was short but sweet, and the aviary.... I have to see this exhibit again in the summer when everything's lush but even then, this was a legitimate highlight. This was genuinely one of the finest aviaries I've ever seen, although the only other aviaries I have for reference are Antwerp's buffalo aviary and the Scripps Aviary. Genuinely well-done.

Europe
Yellow-Bellied Toad (juvenile) (NOT SEEN)

Horned Viper (juvenile)

European Green Toad (juvenile) (NOT SEEN)

Majorcan Midwife Toad (juvenile) (NOT SEEN)

European Pond Turtle, Common Roach

Marsh Frog

Cane Toad

Pool Frog (NOT SEEN)

American Bullfrog

European Tree Frog

Slime Mold

Common Starfish

Ocellated Lizard, Hermann's Tortoise

Ladder Snake

Asp Viper

Nose-Horned Viper

European Crayfish

Unsigned Tank

Violet Rose Chafer, French Stick Insect

Eurasian Otter (NOT SEEN)

Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Black Kite

Iberian Wolf

Wolverine (NOT SEEN)

European Lynx (NOT SEEN)

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Although this zone had legitimate highlights (e.g. vulture aviary and some neat design ideas), it was a bit of a dud. The otters had a nicely designed stream with some clunky rockwork... except there were no otters to romp around the exhibit. The vivarium had some nicely designed tanks in an otherwise austere and unsettling concrete hallway. The blob/slime mold exhibit was an interesting concept. The wolf exhibit had a nice running stream but was otherwise underwhelming, the wolverine exhibit was incredibly large... if only I saw wolverines on my visit! :mad: The lynx exhibit was OK.

Amazon-Guyana
Chacoan Peccary, Crested Screamer

Bush Dog

Jaguar

Lowland Tapir, Capybara

Woolly Monkey

Guianan Brown Capuchin

Hyacinth Macaw (indoors/outdoors)

Green Vine Snake

Emerald Tree Boa, Dyeing Poison Dart Frog

Green Iguana, Ocellate River Stingray, Common Pleco, Leopard Pleco

Green Basilisk, Colombian Black Tegu

Goliath Birdeater

Amazon Tree Boa

Kokoe Poison Frog, Dyeing Poison Dart Frog

Brazilian Rainbow Boa

Horsehead Grasshopper (juvenile)

Mata Mata (juvenile)

Black-Legged Poison Dart Frog (tadpoles/juvenile)

Leafcutter Ant

Green Anaconda (NOT SEEN), Mata Mata, Geoffroy's Side-Necked Turtle, Cutter's Blue-Eye Cichlid, Lowland Cichlid, Wolf Fish (Hoplias malabaricus)

Six-Banded Armadillo (can primates enter this exhibit?)

Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, Red-Bellied Piranha, Banded Leporinus

Linne's Two-Toed Sloth, Military Macaw, Sun Parakeet, Blue-Throated Piping Guan, Yellow-Knobbed Curassow, Scarlet Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black-Necked Stilt, Striated Heron, Sunbittern, Black-Spotted Barbet, Chestnut-Bellied Seed-Finch, Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Painted Bunting, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Black-Headed Grosbeak
(Note: Madagascar birds also comingle with Amazon/Guyana birds)

Antillean Manatee, Arapaima, Black Pacu, unsigned cichlid, unsigned Ripsaw Catfish

Guyana Caiman Lizard

White-Faced Saki, Red Titi, Pied Tamarin, Linne's Two-Toed Sloth

Giant Anteater

Toco Toucan

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The species list is phenomenal, and this area is where I saw some design highs and design lows. All the animals had ample room, and seeing my first bush dogs was a genuinely fun experience. The peccary and tapir exhibits were understandably bare, however the tapir space especially gave off MAJOR Elephant Odyssey vibes. Not in a terrible way, but in a noticable way. The jaguar exhibit was quite nice... save for the HORDE of screaming kids that came and went. Poor thing's just trying to sleep. The actual greenhouse had some genuinely fantastic exhibitry, although this is both where the modern architecture angle both succeeds and fails. It succeeds with an incredibly vast tropical greenhouse and one of the deepest manatee/freshwater fish exhibits I've ever seen, (my other point of reference is EPCOT's manatee tank and that tank is incredibly depressing), and kinda falls flat with some otherwise nice terrariums for herptiles embedded inside black boxes that can only be described as... austere. There was one terrarium for vine snakes and tree boas/dyeing poison dart frogs that had some artwork on the side... genuinely, more of that please! It is also odd that the giant anteaters are all-indoors, though they do at least have ample room. I'd need to see the foliage grow in as well for the intended exhibitry to fully shine. A mix of genuine highlights and some genuinely good modern architecture and utterly pretentious modern architecture.

Madagascar
Rodriguez Flying Fox, White-Winged Ibis, Red Fody, Madagascar Teal, Greater Vasa Parrot
(Note: Amazon/Guyana birds also comingle with Madagascar birds)


Straw-Colored Fruit Bat, Black Lemur (NOT SEEN)

Greater Bamboo Lemur

Panther Chameleon (NOT SEEN)

Malagasy Tree Boa, Tomato Frog

Spider Tortoise, Madagascar Girdled Lizard

Malagasy Ground Boa, Mantidactylus

Madagascar Giant Day Gecko

Blue Green Chromis, Bristle-Tail Filefish, Bluestreak Cleaner-Wrasse, Magnificent Sea Anemone, Longhorn Cowfish, Red Sea Sailfin Tang, Ribbon Eel, Giant Anthelia, Foxface Rabbitfish, Longspine Porcupinefish, Blue-Eyed Hermit Crab (Calcinus laevimanus), Caulastrea echinulata, Chocolate Surgeonfish, Two-Spined Angelfish, Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, Pacific Cleaner Shrimp, Yellow Finger Coral, Copperband Butterflyfish, Pacific Orange-Spine Unicornfish, Maxima Clam, Mushroom Coral, Sea Goldie, Blue Tang, Globular Sea Urchin, Leaf Plate Montipora, Yellowtail Clownfish, Yellowbar Angelfish, Blue Sea Star, Sea Star (sign is way too blurry no thanks to my camera)

Fossa

White-Belted Ruffed Lemur (NOT SEEN)

Ring-Tailed Lemur, Crowned Lemur

Radiated Tortoise

Crowned Sifaka

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Probably the most ambitious zone designwise. An overall decent execution of a dry forest and rainforest in a temperate environment, the rare lemur species are a genuine highlight, and the lemur islands were actually quite nice. The fossa viewing was tad awkward (especially when I noticed it was in a branch ABOVE the glass viewing area), but that was nothing compared to the crowned sifaka viewing. I had to put my hand above my phone camera as a makeshift visor, the glare was that bad on the indoor dayroom.

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Overall, a genuinely well-rounded collection in some generally nicely designed habitats!
 
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I did enjoy your review. While I did see comparisons to some American exhibits how do you feel about this collection when compared with American collections?
 
Thanks for the review. I enjoyed your tour of the Paris Zoo very much. I doubt that I will ever get over to Europe to visit the zoo, but the slime-mold and the herd of Kordofan giraffes look like highlights.

Are you visiting the sister zoo in Paris at the botanic garden also?
 
PossumRoach said:
I did enjoy your review. While I did see comparisons to some American exhibits how do you feel about this collection when compared with American collections?
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Compared to American collections, there were a ton of rarities that I doubt will become prevalent due to current SSP needs as well as a general lack of interest (e.g. vicuña, South American pinnipeds, rarer lemurs). Understandable, and it makes this trip all the more special.
 
DavidBrown said:
Thanks for the review. I enjoyed your tour of the Paris Zoo very much. I doubt that I will ever get over to Europe to visit the zoo, but the slime-mold and the herd of Kordofan giraffes look like highlights.

Are you visiting the sister zoo in Paris at the botanic garden also?
Click to expand...
Not this trip unfortunately - definitely the next time I go to Paris!
 
Great list, I was thinking about having a trip to Paris to do the zoo and Jardin De Plantes sometime in the future. They have quite a lot of animals I've never seen before like the Peccary and Manatee so fingers crossed.
 
Enjoyed the review, and can agree with a lot on there, but a few comments:
  • The puma in the Patagonian area is the only South American puma outside its native range on the continent, so I hope you saw it. It's quite distinctive looking, with a noticeably longer coat and thicker tail.
  • I don't think I necessarily agree with some of the evaluation put forward with regards to the European area in particular. I don't think you can call an exhibit a 'dud' because the otters didn't show themselves - the enclosure is still great for them in my opinion. The terrarium is honestly one of the best showcasing underappreciated European fauna that I can think of, and I think calling it 'unsettling' is a bit of a stretch :P. I'd agree that some of the larger exhibits for carnivorans in this area have design flaws but I still see the Iberian wolves and lynxes most visits.
  • I missed the part where you talked about 'utterly pretentious modern architecture' in the Amazon part - where was this pretentious architecture? You describe a lot of things as 'austere' - I don't understand why showing the back of terrarium as well as the front makes it 'fall flat' or a 'failure'. I don't disagree that parts of the rainforest hall are not great, but the aspects you pick out are certainly very different to mine. I assume you know that most terraria are in fact embedded in black boxes to some degree, just the structural integrity is hidden most of the time. Just a thought.
Pretty must everything else was on the money, so good review overall, but just a few things to consider maybe.
 
amur leopard said:
Enjoyed the review, and can agree with a lot on there, but a few comments:
  • The puma in the Patagonian area is the only South American puma outside its native range on the continent, so I hope you saw it. It's quite distinctive looking, with a noticeably longer coat and thicker tail.
  • I don't think I necessarily agree with some of the evaluation put forward with regards to the European area in particular. I don't think you can call an exhibit a 'dud' because the otters didn't show themselves - the enclosure is still great for them in my opinion. The terrarium is honestly one of the best showcasing underappreciated European fauna that I can think of, and I think calling it 'unsettling' is a bit of a stretch :p. I'd agree that some of the larger exhibits for carnivorans in this area have design flaws but I still see the Iberian wolves and lynxes most visits.
  • I missed the part where you talked about 'utterly pretentious modern architecture' in the Amazon part - where was this pretentious architecture? You describe a lot of things as 'austere' - I don't understand why showing the back of terrarium as well as the front makes it 'fall flat' or a 'failure'. I don't disagree that parts of the rainforest hall are not great, but the aspects you pick out are certainly very different to mine. I assume you know that most terraria are in fact embedded in black boxes to some degree, just the structural integrity is hidden most of the time. Just a thought.
Pretty must everything else was on the money, so good review overall, but just a few things to consider maybe.
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Appreciate the reply! To address these points:
  • Saw the puma, it was right up against the glass.
  • The terrariums themselves are fantastic, I have no issue with that. It's the concrete hallways surrounding the terrariums that do give me an eerie feeling - like I'm in a bunker.
  • Compared to the other parts of the zoo, I did find Europe exhibitwise to be a tad underwhelming, at least past the otters, vivarium terrariums and vulture aviary. I do agree "dud" is harsh, but even past the no-shows, there were a couple design choices that did seem pretty odd compared to the rest of the zoo - like the wolf yard being split in three in such a way, that there's two larger spaces flanking a very small space. Unless that's for pups, the whole concept just seems bizarre to me.
  • The modern art sculpture the leafcutter ants inhabited, along with the black boxlike structures that housed the terrariums. I should reiterate that the terrariums themselves are genuinely fantastic - it's the surroundings that are quite in-your-face. At least, that's how that came across to me.
 
Did you see that list of birds in the tropical house? Last time I was there, I think the only passerines that I saw were red fodys.
 
StoppableSan said:
  • The terrariums themselves are fantastic, I have no issue with that. It's the concrete hallways surrounding the terrariums that do give me an eerie feeling - like I'm in a bunker.
Click to expand...

Just out of interest did you go to any other zoos during your time in Europe? Just wondering as such concrete-dominated 'bunker' like structures as you describe it are fairly commonplace in zoos whose development primarily took place in latter half of the 20th Century over here so maybe you saw other examples of it around.

StoppableSan said:
  • Compared to the other parts of the zoo, I did find Europe exhibitwise to be a tad underwhelming, at least past the otters, vivarium terrariums and vulture aviary. I do agree "dud" is harsh, but even past the no-shows, there were a couple design choices that did seem pretty odd compared to the rest of the zoo - like the wolf yard being split in three in such a way, that there's two larger spaces flanking a very small space. Unless that's for pups, the whole concept just seems bizarre to me.
Click to expand...

I do get what you mean that's broadly speaking fair. I do think the big aviary as well is a real highpoint, with a lovely mix of species.
 
StoppableSan said:
Compared to American collections, there were a ton of rarities that I doubt will become prevalent due to current SSP needs as well as a general lack of interest (e.g. vicuña, South American pinnipeds, rarer lemurs). Understandable, and it makes this trip all the more special.
Click to expand...
I was asking more about the park itself such as the layout, theming, signs etc. But this answer works out as well.
 
amur leopard said:
Just out of interest did you go to any other zoos during your time in Europe? Just wondering as such concrete-dominated 'bunker' like structures as you describe it are fairly commonplace in zoos whose development primarily took place in latter half of the 20th Century over here so maybe you saw other examples of it around.
Click to expand...

The other two zoos I visited on this trip were Antwerp and ARTIS; Antwerp had some wood paneling along the walls to make the building feel more organic, and Artis had quite a bit of historical charm along with the greatest tomistoma exhibit I think I've ever seen. Genuinely - the way the foliage is allowed to organically grow and the transition from simple, historic architecture to natural jungle landscape is absolutely well done. Antwerp's alligator exhibit was also a *major* vibe - I love theatrical lighting in exhibits that still allows good viewing of the animals in question.
 
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