Seoul has two major zoological institutions - COEX and the Seoul Grand Park Zoo. And as we've already covered the former, here's a review of the latter.
Species lists for each section below, species of interest bolded, signed but not seen italicised.
Seoul Grand Park Zoo 04/08 and 07/08 (two separate visits)
Seoul Zoo is the first zoo on the Korean peninsula, founded in 1909 during the period of Japanese rule. The zoo suffered during the Second World War during which many of the animals were killed by the Japanese army or starved when the zookeepers were forced to leave. Originally the zoo was located at the site of an old palace (also destroyed during Japanese rule) but was relocated to the Grand park area in 1984 to give more space and to rebuild a replica of the Changgyeongwon Palace formerly situated there. The zoo has endured a multitude of escapes and accidents, with varying levels of accountability. However since its reopening in the mid-eighties it has maintained a fairly steady growth and the zoo I visited this week showed definite signs of a will to improve and renovate in the less modern areas.
The Grand Park as a whole is a collection of a few different parks, of which one is the zoo. Unfortunately, the zoo is also the park furthest from the subway station, at around 15-20 minutes walk along a very pleasant path. This process can be sped up by purchasing tickets for the Elephant tram, a service that for around 1500 won (about 1 GBP) takes you around to the zoo in a couple of minutes. The zoo itself is great value for money, with an adult ticket only 5,000 won (3.50 GBP). My visits were both on desperately hot days, so for the first day in particular there were very few people relative to normal visitation numbers from what I’ve heard and seen. But only sharing the park with a couple of hundred other visitors had its perks despite the at times overwhelming heat. The area is set in a very mountainous zone, a factor that makes for tremendous views from many areas in the park but also means that combined with the immensity of the park (25 minute walk from end to end) you leave quite exhausted.
The review will not progress in the same manner as the aquarium review. Instead I will borrow the concept used by
@aardvark250 of covering the good, the bad and the ugly (and the excellent as there was some of that too in some areas). However as I don't particularly want to end another review with a negative outlook, I'll be going from ugly to excellent
. Pictures of the exhibits are already up so I recommend opening the media page and reading in conjunction with the images, photos of the animals will be up in due course.
Ugly
The zoo is 40 years old and unfortunately some of the enclosures are really starting to look it. The Pumas and Jaguars are kept in a horribly small cage. The only good thing I have to say about this exhibit is that at least there's a bit of privacy via a little bit of furnishing. The less said the better, but suffice to say these exhibits should absolutely be the next on the list for redevelopment.
The
Oriental Pavilion is in a very similar boat in large parts. The pavilion holds a rather odd lineup of species - a bunch of macaque species, crocodiles, gibbons but also Royal pythons and Yellow anacondas. I don't know when the building was built but I sincerely hope it's also a remainder from the 80s as almost none of it is any good. There are outdoor exhibits for only two of the five macaque species and none of the gibbon species within the pavilion. These outdoor exhibits are themselves miserable and tiny cages for the macaques. Not a good look at all. The inside is very functional for the most part. The majority of the exhibits are below a big Beauval-type glass dome. Gibbons are housed in thin cages which in fairness rise to an impressive height. However, it is far from a good home for the primates, and the macaques have a similar situation indoors. A Chinese giant salamander (a smaller one at least) is in a tank around the right size for a
Hynobius sp. At the very least the rest of the inhabitants of the pavilion generally have passable exhibits, though not without glare issues and lack of furnishings. All around another one that should be slated for demolition.
Ugly zone species lists:
Puma, Jaguar
Oriental Pavilion: Toque macaque, Rhesus macaque (I think, signage was poor here), Crested macaque,
Northern pig-tailed macaque, Crab-eating macaque, Lar gibbon, Yellow-cheeked gibbon, Siamang,
Striped hyena, European beaver, Indian star tortoise, African spurred tortoise, Korean ratsnake, Steppe ratsnake, Corn snake, Milksnake sp., Kingsnake sp., Yellow anaconda Royal python, Reticulated python,
New Guinea crocodile, Giant Asian pond turtle, Green tree python, Green iguana, Burmese python, Chinese giant salamander.
Bad
Wasn't too sure where to put this one really but one little cage very nearly tipped the balance towards ugly. The
Tropical birds pavilion is another old building (think World of Birds-style on the outside) except as opposed to the Oriental Pavilion they've actually done some nice things. There's definitely good ideas here - you have a walkthrough aviary with various turacos and parrots viewable from two levels, another nice little walkthrough predominantly for Budgerigars and some other nice ideas scattered around the place. This scattering is also unfortunately present in the species list, with the lineup seemingly completely random and uncoordinated. Glossy starling in with Monk parakeets and Budgies, Violet turacos and a Catalina macaw... While I don't mind a bit of continent-mixing, it was a bit much. They'd do well to try and rearrange a bit to make things a bit more cohesive. There are not so good elements of course - almost everything is indoors for starters, so that obviously limits things slightly. But with ample sunlight from skylights, I wish there was a bit more of an effort to introduce some natural substrate and try and grow some vegetation. Some of the smaller aviaries in particular are just too barren. The biggest blackmark for me, and I have no idea if this is a temporary or longer term thing was a Ring-necked parakeet in a minuscule cage within a much larger aviary. It made no sense to me and I hope it finds a better home.
I questioned whether to put the
Marine Pavilion here, but it's at the better end of this category I guess. There isn't much to say - it's a series of about six to eight identical pools for Pinnipeds. They're all pretty small and though I couldn't accurately gauge depth they didn't look too great in that respect either. They're nothing shocking though, at least not for me.
Also adding on the flamingo lagoon, which isn't really bad per se but they all appear pinioned and it isn't particularly nice.
Bad zone species lists:
Tropical Birds Pavilion: Common hill myna,
Greater glossy eared starling, Violet turaco, Red crested turaco, Rufous hornbill, Green winged macaw, Blue and yellow macaw, Monk parakeet, Rainbow lorikeet, Coconut lorikeet, Budgerigar, Cockatiel, White cockatoo, Citron crested cockatoo, Salmon crested cockatoo, Australian king parrot, Eclectus parrot, Scarlet macaw, Victoria crowned pigeon, Sun conure, Ring necked parakeet.
Marine Pavilion:
California sea lion, Spotted seal, South American sea lion, South American fur seal, Harbor seal.
Flamingo lagoon: Lesser flamingo, Greater flamingo, American flamingo, Chilean flamingo.
Every exhibit from now on had good elements at the very least or was just ok. The difference between the high end of bad and low end of good is purely arbitrary and so this is now officially the ok zone.
Ok
The
South American Pavilion was less a show of mediocrity than a mix of some dare I say very good and some bad. Bearing in mind the outdoor exhibits for anteaters, capybara, tapir, guanaco and maybe more are currently under construction/renovation, the South American area is currently just this building. It is quite the building. You enter and are immediately faced with a stretch of about 70 metres worth of caging which loops around almost the entire house. It's most distinctive feature however is the fact that the cages rise to about 15-20 metres in height and are viewable from two levels, ground and 'tree' level. There is no vegetation, just a bunch of caging, wooden swings, stairs, logs, buckets, platforms, tires, hammocks, you name it. It isn't pretty, nor is it naturalistic, but it is functional and I honestly kind of love it. In these cages are capuchins, spider monkeys, coatis, toucans, sloths (not all together but in various mixes). Looping around you come to separate pools for some of the largest crocs I've ever seen (salties) and Dwarf crocs, plus additional pools for snapping turtles and pig-nosed turtles. None of these are great, all quite shallow, all viewed from above and completely barren. On the very very edge of the less good end of mediocre for sure. Similar story with the next few exhibits for anacondas. Then come a few more exhibits which the sloths can venture into, an excellent exhibit for armadillos, a good substrate-filled exhibit for an invisible echidna (can always tell if it's a good echidna exhibit by whether you find the animal) and a Radiated tortoise-sloth mix which I found odd but fun. Overall, some very good bits, some not so great bits.
The
Australian Zone was really quite pedestrian and non-descript other than a few Wallaroos which I wasn't exactly expecting. The paddocks were find for most, just wish there was a bit more privacy and protection from direct sunlight in places.
Similar story for the deer, although all of these paddocks had indoor stables and better protection. Species list was nice as well, with Barasingha and Sambar as well as two subspecies of sika deer present. In fact almost all of the hoofstock unless otherwise stated were in paddocks which were fine, often quite green and spacious. Sable antelope exhibit may have had a few too many individuals in it for the space available though. Otherwise zebra, giraffe, eland, etc. all fine. I'll list all the hoofstock other than those in good (or maybe in excellent?) just below.
Fairly pedestrian Red panda exhibit here too, with an overhead pass between two outdoor exhibits being the only thing of note. Also here is
Stork Village, a small grouping of glass aviaries for various storks, ibises and spoonbills. Particularly of note here are the Saunders's gulls. The aviaries are fine, nice and tall with only one viewing window for each aviary and pine trees planted around the other sides for privacy. They're nothing special but they're quality exhibits for the species exhibited.
The Bear area very nearly made it to good but for the Sun bear housing, which I would say is well below par, being quite small and seemingly the only water available on hot summer days being rainwater in a gutter on the side of the exhibit. I'm not sure what the plan is with Sun bears but really they should be going in the newly vacated former American black bear exhibit which is much larger and nicer. The other bear exhibits are essentially converted grottos which give the bears ample space and are complete with pools, shaded areas and a waterfall, all of which came in conveniently for them during the heatwave when I visited. There's also a small run of the mill ASCO exhibit on the side.
Coyotes and wolves are exhibited in also quite nice exhibits, ample privacy and good furnishing. It was nice to see Coyotes as these are few and far between in Europe, particularly given they were very active.
Ok Zone species lists:
South American pavilion: Capybara, Tufted capuchin, Geoffroy's spider monkey, Linnaeus's two-toed sloth, Ring tailed coati, Six banded armadillo,
Short beaked echidna, Toco toucan, Saltwater crocodile,
Bengal slow loris, Dwarf crocodile, Yellow anaconda, Alligator snapping turtle, Pig nosed turtle.
Australian Zone: Southern cassowary, Common wallaroo, Emu, Red kangaroo, Eastern grey kangaroo.
Deer enclosures: Barasingha, Red deer (maybe
hanglu?) Pere David's deer, Sambar, Fallow deer, Yakushima sika deer, Ezo sika deer, Hog deer.
Hoofstock exhibits and adjacent enclosures: Himalayan tahr, Mouflon,
Dall sheep, Nubian ibex, Barbary sheep, Sable antelope, Common eland, Bactrian camel, Dromedary, Przewalski's horse, Fennec fox, Meerkat, Gemsbok, Plains zebra, Giraffe.
Red panda
Stork village: Oriental stork, African sacred ibis,
Saunders's gull, Scarlet ibis, Grey crowned crane, Eurasian spoonbill.
Coyote,
Grey wolf (maybe ssp.
chanco?)
Bear exhibits: Asian small-clawed otter, Ussuri brown bear,
European brown bear, Asiatic black bear, Sun bear.
Indian peafowl
Good
The
Nocturnal Area I found to be quite well done - every species had a sizeable darkened indoor exhibit and a large outdoor exhibit, with sufficient furnishings and privacy. Naked mole rat was one of the most extensive glass tunnel and box networks I've seen and it was all quite well done. Fruit bat exhibit was closed for renovation when I visited though.
The
Large Herbivores Pavilion and associated outdoor exhibits is a lot better than I thought it might be. The inside of the pavilion itself isn't great, with indoor holdings fairly basic, so hopefully the animals aren't all cooped up there in the winter. However the outdoor exhibits, particularly for the elephants, are outstanding in my opinion. Every outdoor exhibit is spacious, has shaded areas, some privacy, lots of different viewpoints at sometimes varying elevations. Other than the elephants they're fairly standard, but the latter exhibit introduces an idea I haven't actually seen at any other zoo. The elephants have a pretty large normal outdoor paddock, but what truly sets it apart is a small but signifcant patch of dense forest penned in by a large gate. I don't know quite how often the elephants are let into this small patch of forest but I understand it is fairly frequent. I know there are sensible reasons for forested elephant exhibits not being commonplace, but it was striking for me that I was surprised that Asian elephants (a primarily forest-dwelling species...) had a patch of forest to themselves in a zoo. I would to love to see the concept at least trialed in Europe, as I think it could be really stimulating for the animals. For an excellent picture of the animals enjoying this forest, please see
this image by
@JAMESTHEGREAT - hope he doesn't mind my linking his photo but post-visit it made me smile.
Also here are the
African carnivores. There are small renovations underway in both their indoor pavilion area and the upper viewing to their enclosures so it's hard to gauge exactly how good the exhibits are but particularly the lions have a nice and large space, with good viewing opportunities from the ground as well as an elevated window in a cafe.
Talking of carnivores, the
Asian carnivore exhibits are similarly good. Seeing abandoned cages very similiar, if not worse than those for pumas and jaguars covered above, I suspect these were the former homes of the cats in question. Now the leopards are in four or five very nice enclosures connected by overhead walkways, with multiple levels, ample furnishing and lots of height to climb. They're nothing massively special, but they cover all the bases and are pleasant for both the visitor and the cats. Exact same story for all the other species - tigers have several exhibits with waterfalls etc. It's all very consistently good.
Finally the
Large Waterfowl Aviary is a massive circular aviary of around 90m in diameter for a bunch of waterfowl, storks, cranes and so on. Lots of water features etc. but the most telling thing was just how far the birds could fly continuously. A couple of storks in particular seemed to enjoy this feature of the exhibit.
Good exhibits species lists:
Nocturnal area: Northern raccoon, Aardvark, Kinkajou, Crested porcupine, Naked mole rat,
Egyptian fruit bat.
Large Herbivores Pavilion: Asian elephant, Southern white rhino, Cape buffalo, Asian water buffalo (signed as wild, almost certainly domestic surely) European bison, Watusi, American bison.
African Carnivores: Lion, Cheetah, Spotted hyena
Asian Carnivores:
Yellow throated marten, Siberian tiger, North Chinese leopard, Amur leopard cat, Eurasian lynx,
Asian badger.
Large Waterfowl Aviary: Black swan, White stork, Demoiselle crane, Sarus crane, Bean goose, Red crowned crane, White naped crane,
Canada goose, Whooper swan, Easter white pelican, Swan goose.
Excellent
The
Raptor Area is probably the best I've seen. Massive, tall aviaries for every species, lots of hiding spaces, so much height and live trees in most of the enclosures. Most notably absolutely giant aviaries for Cinereous vulture and White tailed eagle, the latter having a large pine tree in the middle of it. The height, the natural greenery and the (sometimes maybe a bit too much, particularly for the Tawny owls) space make this an absolutely top drawer area for these birds.
Around here is the
Insectarium. This building’s name is a bit misleading as in fact it holds an impressive range of invertebrates as well as a number of both native and exotic amphibians. Each room had a clear focus, with one room for beetles, another for aquatic invertebrates (diving beetles, water scorpions and shore crabs for example, not jellies) Signage was also excellent, with both scientific and common names listed (though there were occasional lapses in this regard such as the listing of a few vivaria as housing ‘Theraphosidae sp.’. Other than this, the house also contained cabinets full of old invert specimens, reams of educative material on the walls and an outstanding attention to detail with the theming, making it particularly accessible to children. The pictures I've uploaded really don't do the place justice. The house finished off with a large greenhouse supposedly for butterflies, although a somewhat gaping design flaw may or may not have contributed to the apparent lack of the latter within the exhibit. However the lack of butterflies was made up for by the amphibian vivariums scattered along the path through the well-planted hall. The vivariums were generally on the small side but well furnished to the extent that spotting the frogs took a great deal of persistence (some never showed themselves). From someone who has one of the best insect houses in Europe essentially on their doorstep, I was deeply impressed by the Insectarium and it definitely outstripped London’s in some ways.
Excellent zone species lists:
Raptor area: Andean condor, Tawny owl, Harris' hawk, Cinereous vulture, Bateleur, White-tailed eagle, European eagle owl.
Insectarium (by room):
Giant stag beetle, Dorcus titanus castanicolor
Little stag beetle, Dorcus rectus rectus
Rhinoceros beetle, Allomyrina dichotoma (and larvae)
White spotted flower chafer, Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis
Japanese stag beetle, Dorcus hopei binodulosus
Axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum (both black and white)
Guppy, Poecilia reticulata
Japanese giant water bug, Appasus japonicus
Red clawed crab, Chiromantes haematocheir
Kurobenkeigani, Chiromantes dehaani
Chinese water scorpion, Ranatra chinensis
Japanese water scorpion, Laccotrephes japonensis
Diving beetle sp., Cybister brevis
Genji-botaru (firefly), Aquatica lateralis
Two spotted cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus
Superworm, Zophobas morio
Jungle centipede, Scolopendra subspinipes
African giant millipede, Archispirostreptus gigas
Asian forest scorpion, Heterometrus petersii
Theraphosidae sp.
Razorback musk turtle, Sternotherus carinatus
Boreal digging frog, Kaloula borealis
Seoul pond frog, Pelophylax chosenicus
Korean large brown frog, Rana uenoi
Black spotted pond frog, Rana nigromaculata
Japanese tree frog, Rana japonica
White’s tree frog, Litoria caerulea
Cane toad, Rhinella marina
Brazilian horned frog, Ceratophrys aurita
Tomato frog, Dyscophus antongilii
Budgett’s frog, Lepidobatrachus laevis
Conclusion
And that is it for what is now a pretty long review! Hopefully it was fairly engaging throughout. Seoul Zoo is a place full of innovation, of good ideas, of bad ideas, of excellent exhibits but also just as many bad exhibits. The bad exhibits are going to be present in any zoo at some point - what matters is what the zoo does about it, and how fast. At the time of my visit, there was ongoing construction in at least eight different areas of the zoo. While I maybe didn't get to see everything due to this, it is a very welcome sight in the context of a zoo where there is much to be done. Many bad zoos sit on what they have, choosing to ignore or neglect unsuitable exhibits. Seoul Zoo is not one of those, and from my perspective is almost aggressively proactive in its approach to renovation. This year it's the primates that receive a (much needed) new pavilion and outdoor area, but next year it might be the pumas/jaguars or the Oriental Pavilion given the rate at which these changes are made.
Another element I think I should mention is the Native Species Breeding Centre, an area that is currently offshow but looks like it may well be viewable to the public before long - it is essentially a fairly intensive breeding facility for eight endangered Korean species: Seoul frog, Reeves' turtle, Long-tailed goral. Black faced spoonbill, Hill pigeon, Korean red fox, Eurasian otter and Amur leopard cat. These facilities are far from pretty but their do the job and I understand they've had some success in breeding these species.
Either way, Seoul Zoo is clearly a zoo showing its intention to move towards bigger and better, and that is just as well since the zoo is absolutely massive. If the zoo manages to fix up the exhibits that I mentioned at the top of the post and maintains those towards the bottom, I hope it might then become one that is mentioned in the same breath as the best in Asia.
. Handwashing facilities were available nearby. Further on was an adequate Black-tailed prairie dog exhibit, although again lacking much in the way of privacy. Moving on swiftly, you come to Amazonia World, a pretty standard South American area. Ignoring some rather odd wax figures the area was fine although again suffered from overstocking. At least 11 arapaimas and a massive Shark catfish were in tank only really adequate for 2 or 3. And so on.
. Moving on, you come to the Ocean Kingdom, your bog standard ocean tank. Here the issue is depth and overstocking (again!). I've seen figures like 'over 100 sharks' thrown around on the internet about this exhibit and it sure feels that way. Massive numbers of Sand tigers, Blacktips, Sandbars, Nurse, Zebra etc. plus many individuals of about three stingray species, groupers, guitarfish and a massive school of some species of sardine-sized fish in a pool about 4 and a half metres deep at the deepest point makes for a very crowded tank. Several of the Sand tigers also had massive bellies - no clue why but I can't imagine some of the sharks haven't tried snacking on the hundreds of small fish circling the tank. There are a couple of large viewing windows with a seating area and a pair of walkthrough tunnels through both this tank and another for a variety of stingray species. Here the shallow depth of the pool is even more apparent. 
