Zürich Zoo Zoo Zurich Walkthrough/Review

[Kalaw]

Zoo Zürich Walkthrough/Review:

Zoo Zürich is one of the greatest zoological gardens on the planet, and is considered by some to be the outright best. Founded in 1929, it is the third oldest zoo in Switzerland, but was rather unremarkable for much of its early years. But in 1992, an ambitious masterplan was launched which propelled Zurich into Europe’s elite. Zoo enthusiasts around the world will recognise the names and images of the Masoala Regenwald, or the Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark, and it should go without saying that, since I first heard of the zoo a few years ago, a visit had been a goal of mine. A family holiday to Strasbourg, with three nights in Zurich towards the end, therefore presented the ideal opportunity to visit one of Europe’s finest zoological gardens.

This thread will be where I post my walkthrough/review of Zoo Zurich, broken down into different parts (I will aim to release one per day, but they may be more or less frequent depending on how much time I get to write). This is partly to make it more manageable for readers who may only want to find out about a particular exhibit, or do not have time to read an entire review, and partly so that I can release it quicker and apply any corrections/feedback from my one post to the next one.

It is worth noting that I am not an expert at writing, or about Zoo Zurich, so any corrections / further information relating to anything that I say about Zoo Zurich by members more familiar with the collection than myself will be much appreciated.

I would also like to apologise if photos or of a poor quality. All photos were taken from my phone, although I did use my camera for photos from Voliere Zurich, which can be seen in the gallery, for any who are interested.

On that note, enjoy the review!

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A little bit of preamble, which may not be of interest to some, but feels worth sharing. To get to Zurich from Strasbourg, we had to change at Bahnhof Basel SBB, which, it turned out, was immediately beside Basel Zoo, considered by many to be a strong runner-up behind Zurich for the title of ‘best zoo in Switzerland.’ It was exciting to see several aviaries and even live pinnipeds from the train window as we approached the zoo. It did leave myself wishing that I had the chance to visit the zoo, although any such thoughts were put to bed when I made it to Zurich.

Our visit to the zoo was on the 10th August 2023, and we were staying in the Industriequartier in the west of the city. Zurich is proud of its efficient and extensive public transport system, which is, indeed, far more reliable and comprehensive than what the majority of British cities have on offer. However, it was pricey, and, in our foolishness, difficult to use! After spending far longer than we should have done messing about with ticket machines which we could not comprehend, being overly cautious so as to not risk paying extra, we missed two buses, and arrived at the zoo half an hour late. Our fault for not researching the city’s public transport system prior, or at the very least not leaving earlier so as to allow for this. Thankfully, once we were on board, the journey was very smooth-sailing, featuring both a bus and a tram with no waiting times in between them due to the frequency of the latter. We arrived at the zoo by 9:30 AM, half an hour after its opening time.

On our way to the zoo, the impressive structure of Masoala Regenwald could be seen from beyond the trees, an allusion as to what was to come. The road that we were on split the zoo in half (and was, inconveniently, only able to be crossed at one tunnel at the north of the zoo), with the east featuring the majority of exhibits, while the west only featured a few, but with all of the big new exhibits, such as Kaeng Krachan and Masoala, among them. The obvious decision would have been to make my way there first, but instead, I started at the entrance, and tried to get the western half done before lunchtime, have my meal in the restaurant as Masoala, do the other major eastern exhibits, then return to the west to see anything that I missed by virtue of rushing. In the end, this actually worked perfectly fine, although it did require staying at the zoo right up until its 18:00 closing time.

And thus begins the review proper. If anybody wants to follow along on a map, then here is the link to the page of the zoo’s website where one can be found. Enjoy the review!

Part 1 - The Exotarium:

Upon entering Zurich Zoo, the first exhibit that one sees is the Exotarium. Among the older structures in the zoo, as evidenced by its almost brutalist exterior design, this would not be obvious if one were only to see the exhibits within, thanks to a 2016 renovation. In a sense it feels somewhat confused, trying to serve as an aquarium, reptile house, rainforest house, bird walkthrough, and the indoor accommodation for its South American species all in one, three-storey building. This jack of all trades sort of exhibit is entirely absent from the UK, I believe, at least on this scale. I was expecting to dislike it, on the basis that trying to fit so much in may take away the character, and coherency. But instead, I loved it. Whether it was the many rarities, the scale of it, or the quality and attention that was present in every enclosure, there was something very special about this exhibit.

Before entering the walkthrough itself, there were two external bird enclosures to appreciate. The first was a delightful walkthrough aviary for Scarlet Ibis and Boat-billed Heron. Around as tall as the entirety of the Exotarium, this aviary was wonderfully designed, with several open areas reaching well above the canopy where the ibis could perch and nest. However, it was also very densely vegetated in places, which, for the Boat-billed Heron (in my experience, an unusually elusive pelecaniforme), is no doubt much appreciated. For the visitors, it is slightly less well-designed, with the pathway only covering a very small portion of the aviary, but of course, this offers much privacy, and there is also a second viewing area (one of the entrances to the Exotarium) that is slightly more elevated and peers into the foliage. As usual, the Boat-billed Herons evaded me, but the Scarlet Ibis, including a chick, were much more visible.

Humboldt Penguin followed, a species which, having London as my local zoo, I see very often, and usually set rather high standards for in terms of how they are exhibited. While Zurich’s enclosure was by no means poor, it did feel somewhat lacking when compared to other fantastic penguin enclosures that I have seen when it comes to the water area and (although it was difficult to judge with the quality) depth, but it still deserves much credit for a fantastic variety of natural substrate, and being an aesthetic triumph with several trees, grasses and rocks. Although things could have changed, I believe that they and the King Penguins rotate between the indoor and outdoor enclosures, with the Humboldts outside during my visit.

We then entered the Exotarium itself, which begins with two very impressive paludariums, in which the main body of water (equipped with underwater viewing) is surrounded by land, hanging branches, dense vegetation and even trees, so as to give the impression of their pool being part of a greater rainforest. It is a wonderful exhibit style for zoos to attempt, although these instances felt like something of a wasted opportunity. They were the largest landscape aquaria that I had ever seen, and yet featured no terrestrial species in the above portion, although I feel that some sort of lizard, butterfly or even a small primate would have worked perfectly.

The first (and smaller) of the two was sadly empty during my visit, with a sign stating that the inhabitants were moved off-display while repairs took place (although it did not specify what). I later found out that among the species that I missed as a result was one of my biggest target species of the day, the Electric Eel. Although relatively common in captivity, the majority of their European holders (including all of the ones in the UK) are aquariums, which I don’t visit near as frequently as zoos - as such, they are a long-overdue lifetick of sorts for myself, and they remain such after Zurich. As for the larger of the aquaria, it housed Burmese Archerfish, Banded Archerfish, Diamond Moonfish and Atlantic Mudskipper. The latter species was the highlight, as the individual which I saw was by far the biggest mudskipper which I have personally seen, and I struggled to believe that it was of the same Atlantic species which I am used to seeing in zoos! Their paludarium was also the most interesting by virtue of having a water level which varies throughout the day, and (if the water marks present are anything to go by) quite considerably at that. During both my visits to the building, it was rather shallow, although far more so on the second visit.

Next was a very large coral reef tank, featuring several live stony and soft corals. It is not as big as other coral reef tanks which I have seen across Europe, such as Burgers’ and Hagenbeck (but is still bigger than anything that I have seen in the UK, both in terms of size and the number of living corals), but may be very nearly as charming, the corals expertly placed to create tunnels and caves. Fish aren’t a particular interest of mine, although I am always captivated by their gracefulness when displayed well. This is a prime example of how to display fish well. It housed:

Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray
Coral Catshark
Epaulette Shark
Humpback Grouper
Leopard Moray
Lookdown Fish
Longhorn Cowfish
Long-spine Porcupinefish
Pennant Coralfish
Red Lionfish
Snowflake Moray

Several marine invertebrates were also signed, although not at a species level. Despite being lacking in rarities, there is something about seeing sharks, stingrays and lionfish all in one tank, peering out of dens created by live corals or hovering in plain view, while a moray peers patiently from between the rocks, that feels truly special.

Another coral tank, slightly more barren and considerably smaller (more species feature, in fact, although the majority of them are somewhat small), is present nearby. Hardly as mesmerising, but still delightful, it housed:

Andaman Damsel
Banana Fusilier
Banded Sleeper Goby
Blackstriped Angelfish
Blue-green Chromis
Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray
Bluestreak Cleaner-wrasse
Bristle-tail Filefish
Chocolate Surgeonfish
Clown Anemonefish
Convict Surgeonfish
Common Foxface
Copperband Butterflyfish
Crescent-tail Hogfish
Dark-banded Fusilier
Elegant Unicornfish
Flame Angelfish
Golden Damselfish
Goldtail Demoiselle
Longnose Hawkfish
Ornate Angelfish
Pajama Cardinalfish
Palette Surgeonfish
Powder-blue Surgeonfish
Sixline Wrasse
Staghorn Damselfish
Two-tone Surgeonfish
Yellowtail Angelfish
Yellow Surgeonfish

With the likes of Banana Fusilier, Crescent-tail Hogfish, Staghorn Damselfish and Yellowtail Angelfish, there are several rarities in this tank, although regretfully I did not pay much attention to them - as mentioned above, I love watfish, but am far less interested in the differences between species than I am in other orders, and as such, don’t have all that much interest in seeing new species of them.

Those first few tanks were wonderful, but nothing else really stood out to me as truly great in the aquarium section of the Exotarium. There is a Southeast Asian tank housing Amano Shrimp, Dwarf Clown Roach, Harlequin Rasbora, Moonlight Gourami, Pearl Gourami, Reticulated Siamese Algae-eater and Siamese Algae-eater, which was very densely vegetated, and offered quite a lot of entertainment while searching for the algae-eaters and Moonlight Gourami, the latter in particular a European rarity, among the plants. Perhaps I was unphased by the exhibitry as the choices of plants looked almost identical to what is used in my own aquarium tank at home, although the bamboo sticks that hung into the tank, and were comfortably wide enough for certain fish to hide behind, were an interesting feature which I had not seen elsewhere.

There were also Red-bellied Piranha, hardly a rarity, nor is their enclosure all that spectacular, but what interested me is that they are mixed with two species of armoured catfish, the Spotted Sailfin Suckermouth Catfish and Columbian Blue-eyed Panaque. Aside from the latter species being both a rarity in Europe and a lifetick for myself, this was an exhibitry lifetick by virtue of being the first time that I have ever seen piranhas mixed with another species, never mind one as large as these catfishes. It was very interesting to say the least. There was also a dimly lit Madagascar tank (pictured below), featuring Reticulated Siamese Algae-eater and Pinstripe Damba, and an Indo-Pacific tank featuring several types of seagrass and corals, along with Bluestripe Pipefish, Spotted Garden Eel, Bristle-tail Filefish, Razorfish, Copperband Butterflyfish and Pinkbar Goby.

The final exhibit in the aquarium is for King Penguin. Among the rarer penguin species in European zoos, although still somewhat common (held at 20 collections), I was beyond excited when I first saw the world’s second largest penguin two years ago at Edinburgh, but have now seen them at four zoos and am beginning to take them for granted. I wasn’t all too impressed by Zurich’s enclosure, however, with the indoors being rather barren, small and unimaginative, but had the advantage of a pool deep enough to allow proper diving and porpoising behaviours, while the outdoors (if they still rotate) is the complete opposite. Having said all that, during cold weather, the penguins are treated to walks across the zoo, which are surely somewhat enriching in terms of offering them more land to explore, surfaces to walk upon, sights to see, and smells to investigate. I do wish that I had visited while the parades were happening, but alas it was not the case.

On that note, the aquarium section of the Exotarium was finished. Despite being just a few exhibits as part of a much larger complex, were this in a British zoo, it would easily be the greatest zoo aquarium in the country, given that London’s is now closed. Not only due to the species inventory, but due to the creativity, attention to detail and genius when it comes to designing aquaria.

You then have the option to either enter the indoors for the zoo’s Pantanal species, or take the stairs into the reptile and amphibian room. Glass-topped, heated and decorated with plants, several of which feature vines that hang down into the visitor space, it gave a wonderful illusion of you being in the same rainforest environment as the reptiles themselves, in a way that reminded me very much of the old reptile house at Bristol Zoo, which, with the closure of the zoo, I will sadly never get to visit again, and although slightly smaller than Bristol’s, it made up for this with a far greater number of exciting rarities. The following species were housed (in alphabetical order, given that the room can be s ieenn any order and from any starting point):

African Egg-eating Snake
Anchichaya Poison Dart Frog
Baja Blue Rock Lizard
Blue-spotted Tree Monitor
Broad-snouted Caiman
Colorado River Toad + Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizard
Desert Locust
Dyeing Poison Dart Frog
Fiji Banded Iguana
Lesser Antillean Iguana
Marañon Poison Dart Frog
Red-backed Poison Dart Frog
Red-tailed Ratsnake
Reticulated Python
Sidewinder
Strawberry Poison Dart Frog
Tiger Chameleon
Yellow Anaconda
Yellow-headed Day Gecko
William’s Electric Blue Gecko

The above collection is absolutely brilliant, and for a lover of amphibians such as myself, having two dendrobate lifeticks, one of which (the Anchichaya Poison Dart Frog) is not held at any other public collection in Europe, was a real treat. And, as I would later find out, this wasn’t even the full extent of the zoo’s dendrobate collection! Although I don’t believe this is the case on the continent, in the UK, Yellow Anacondas are far rarer than Greens, so it was a treat to see one, especially an individual as large and active as Zurich’s. The Baja Blue Rock Lizard was also a lifetick, and the African Egg-eating Snake and Sidewinder would have been, but unfortunately I missed them. I was also disappointed not to see the newborn Broad-snouted Caiman, and to see that the adult was at the far end of the enclosure, only barely visible between the trees. I had seen the species before, at Crocodiles of the World and Burgers’ Zoo, but they are among the nicer crocodilian taxa in my opinion, and it is not every day that you see caiman hatchlings in zoos.

The real highlight of the reptile exhibits, however, was the Tiger Chameleon. The only individuals of their species on public display in Europe (I only saw one, although I believe there are more), everything about this curious species is interesting. The pronounced spikes below their skull which culminate in a hook-like projection on its chin, and its delightful colouration, pale green, with orange patches throughout and black specs on their spines. Even still, it's mostly green appearance and small size does make me wonder what their namer was thinking when he compared them to tigers.

The remainder of the Exotarium is a rather strange, two-storey structure that displays small mammals, birds and amphibians of the rainforest. As mentioned, the Exotarium is a rather brutalist structure, and it was in these corridors which was most evident, and although I am not a particular fan of this architectural style, I liked the contrast between the concrete and the rainforest foliage. The multi-level viewing was also quite nice, offering many different views of the inhabitants. In the order that I saw them, the enclosures held:

Goeldi’s Monkey + Azara’s Agouti
Linnaeus’ Two-toed Sloth + Channel-billed Toucan
Red-legged Honeycreeper
Red Siskin
Cuban Grassquit
Common Flat-tailed Gecko
Golden Lion Tamarin
Ultramarine Grosbeak
Red-tailed Amazon
Blue-headed Quail-dove + Crested Quail-dove
Amazon Milk Frog
Dyeing Poison Dart Frog
Green-and-black Poison Dart Frog
Golden Poison Dart Frog + Trinidad Anole

There were also free ranging Blue-headed Quail-dove, Crested Quail-dove, Montserrat Oriole, Ultramarine Grosbeak and Brazilian Tanager, who could, in theory, access the entire building, but I suspect the darkness and concrete of the visitor walkways keeps them in the greenhouse-like portion at the far end,

Exhibit-wise, the highlight was the Amazon Milk Frog enclosure (pictured below). Huge, covering two stories, and with the upper viewing being entirely open-fronted (I suspect only the comfort of a densely vegetated enclosure keeps the frogs inside, although given that there are free-ranging birds, frogs cannot leave the building should they escape). Having seen this species so many times in minute vivariums with a couple of leaves and a small pool, this was a real treat. Sadly, I had no luck finding the frogs, however, so perhaps this enclosure is a little too good for its own good.

In terms of lifeticks, both quail-dove species and the Common Flat-tailed Gecko would have been such, although sadly, I only saw the Crested Quail-dove. I was disappointed by not seeing the geckos, an abnormally large gecko, although, similarly to the milk frogs, their enclosure is simply too large and dense to hope to find such a well-camouflaged species. Thankfully, the only Trinidad Anoles in a European zoo were far more co-operative, held in a conventional terrarium, alongside poison dart frogs, on the upper level of the building. Ironically, they were the only of the four who did not serve as a lifetick, given that London Zoo housed them until as recently as 2017, but it was still nice to see them for what may well be the last time. Sadly, however, it appeared that the Green-backed Trogon are no longer present. I was informed they share with the Goeldi’s Monkeys, but it appears as though they have either been moved elsewhere or departed the collection, as there was neither a sign for them nor an actual animal in sight.

It was then back to the lower level of the building to see the indoor area for the species in the zoo’s Pantanal zone. All the indoors, for Giant Anteater, Brazilian Tapir and Capybara, were of an exceptionally high quality, in my opinion. It's rare to see onshow indoors for these species in general, and in the few instances when this is the case, they are typically rather small, barren and unimaginative. At Zurich, there are pools, natural substrate, logs for them to search among, trees with hanging branches and leaves for naturalism, and multiple stalls. Unfortunately, I saw no animals indoors (which will be covered in the next post), with the tapir and capybara only visible outside and the anteaters not visible at all, but I was very impressed by the effort that has gone into these stalls.

As well as those three species, there were also Burrowing Owl within the building, although sadly they were offshow during my visit. I don’t recall ever seeing an all-indoor Burrowing Owl enclosure in the past, and wasn’t sure what I thought of the idea, but Zurich’s enclosure seemed to be of a fairly high standard, spacious, and with flight room and a variety of substrates - the real highlight was the onshow burrows, with glass walls so as to ensure that the inhabitants were visible should they display their unusual troglodyte nature.

Thankfully, the other burrowing species, in an almost identical enclosure, was visible. I saw my first Plains Viscacha, bizarre South American rodents, entirely absent from British collections and decently rare in Europe as a whole. Small mammals all look so bizarre and distinct from one another to me, and although they lack the beauty of birds, serenity of fish or the impressiveness of larger mammals, they are typically the lifeticks that I value and target the most. As such, seeing a viscacha in one of the onshow burrows was a real treat, and one that I did not exactly expect.

On that note, we left the Exotarium, and made our way towards the Pantanal.

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Thank you all for reading!

The second part will be out either tonight or tomorrow (most likely the latter) and will cover Pantanal, Australia and the Ape House.

 

[Kalaw]

Part 2 - Pantanal, Australia and the Ape House:

As we were leaving the Exotarium, we went down a slope surrounded by foliage, relatively near the zoo entrance. Along it were aviaries for Patagonian Conure and Red-tailed Amazon. The former are a lovely-looking species, and one that I am very familiar with, given that they are displayed at London Zoo. As such, I was very impressed to see that Zurich held a very large group, at least ten by my count, compared to just a pair at London, yet in an aviary large enough that it did not feel remotely overstocked. There also appeared to be sizable indoor areas, although it was difficult to judge given that there was no indoor viewing. This would not be the last time at Zurich, however, when I was impressed by the group size of parrots.

The amazons were yet another example of the unnecessary repetition of species at Zurich, with several birds and fish in the Exotarium having already been displayed multiple times. Thankfully, this wasn’t really an issue anywhere else in the zoo, at least no more than is the case with the majority of other zoos. And I can be grateful that, unlike at London and several other zoos, the ubiquitous meerkat was not among the repeated species!

The next area of the zoo was the Pantanal, which is noteworthy for being among the more extensive South American displays in a European zoo not to focus on a rainforest setting, rather a wetlands one. But the execution of this was equally delightful. The Pantanal has multiple enclosures, separated by moats, almost all of which can be accessed by a wonderful selection of waterfowl (unfortunately, as the Pantanal is open-topped, they are pinioned, but more on this shortly), and all of the enclosures themselves are gorgeous - so well-planted, thoughtfully designed, and spacious that they appear to have been taken directly from Brazil. And, to help with immersion, the spaces between habitats are also thoughtfully planted, mostly with bamboo. Given that the British zoos I am familiar with insist on filling their grounds up with lawns (a national obsession of sorts) and open spaces (with a few exceptions, such as Colchester, coming to mind), this was a real treat. The ‘free-ranging’ birds are:

American Comb Duck
Black-necked Swan
Chiloe Wigeon
Rosy-billed Pochard
Southern Screamer
Spectacled Duck

The first enclosure seen is the outdoors for the Giant Anteater, Brazilian Tapir and Capybara whose indoors was in the Exotarium. Mixes between these three species are common, but in terms of both spaciousness and aesthetics, this puts every similar enclosure which I have seen to shame. The large pool, dappled shade, scattered rocks, eroding logs, live trees, abundance of grass, the swans paddling about in front, the ducks who ventured within metres of the capybara; it all added up to make a dirt common mix of dirt common species (in zoos, at least) something very memorable indeed. The photo below only shows about half the enclosure, as well, as I saw two Capybara and a nesting Southern Screamer in a similarly sized enclosure on the other side of the boardwalk.

Continuing down the pathway, one comes to the Chilean Flamingo enclosure. I don’t recall any sort of barrier to prevent the flamingos from exploring further down the moats, similarly to the other waterfowl, although I also didn’t see any elsewhere and strongly suspect that a barrier is hidden among the bamboo. It may be the most aesthetically triumphant flamingo enclosure I have ever seen, the bamboo, bushes and trees getting increasingly dense, the grasses getting increasingly tall, to give the illusion of an endless enclosure.

Next were the monkey islands, with one housing Bolivian Squirrel Monkey, and the other housing Yellow-breasted Capuchin. The former is intended to be a walkthrough, although sadly, it is only such on certain days, and Thursday, it turned out, was not one of them. A themed shelter was in place, from which the island can be viewed, but the number of live trees and bushes mean that, unless one of the primates is climbing on the network of dead trees and ropes that hang high above the enclosure, the chances of you seeing an animal is slim. Later in the day, with ten minutes before closing, I rushed around the middle of the zoo to clean up some enclosures that I had missed earlier on, and in doing so, I found the indoors for the Squirrel Monkeys, between the storks and camels. For such a small primate, phenomenal effort had been put into designing it appropriately, in terms of vegetation, climbing and lighting. Where many zoos in cold climates create a barren concrete box and call it a day, seeing a zoo that understands the importance of genuine indoors for tropical species, even those as small as squirrel monkeys, is so nice. It was also while doing this that I managed to locate one of the capuchins, sitting on a log near the edge of the enclosure. A lovely species, and one that I gather has bred rather well at Zurich over the years, but now only three remain, and they most likely won’t remain at the zoo for long

On that note, I had finished the Pantanal (although the South American offerings continued). This feels like an appropriate time to mention the zoo’s future plans for the zone - the Pantanal Aviary. The capuchins will leave, tamarins and Giant Otters will arrive, and the entire thing will be netted over, allowing the waterfowl, as well as new birds, to take flight, in what I believe will be the second largest aviary in Europe after the new one at Beauval. A fantastic idea on paper, and allowing the birds flight alone will be a vast improvement, but I have no doubt that the character of the area will change quite considerably. This is one of many areas of the zoo which will change in the coming years, and although I look forward to the advancement of European zoo exhibits, I am very glad that I saw these iconic enclosures, the likes of which I fantasised about seeing growing up, while I still could. In a way, I suppose I visited at the perfect time, with nothing closed for construction, and only one major species (the tigers) absent as a result of future projects.

Rant finished. Back to the review. As mentioned, the Pantanal was finished, but South America was not, and what came next was one of the greatest zoo exhibits that I had ever seen, and the enclosure that made me immediately realise that Zurich would live up to my absurdly high expectations.

Near the flamingos, a small flight of stairs led to the zoo’s Spectacled Bear and South American Coati enclosure, Sangay Bergnebelwald (Sangay Cloud Forest). As soon as I saw it, I was very impressed. Tree trunks and rope hammocks created extensive climbing, the overgrown, moss-covered rock walls were a beautiful alternative to visible barriers, the steepness of the terrain, which varies quite considerably, gave a decent impression of their natural mountainous habitat, while the sheer number of trees and bushes reminded the visitor of the tropical nature of this species. I thought this was at least as good as the similar enclosure for the species at Chester, but had the advantage that, this time around, I could actually see one of the bears (in the centre of the image below). Then the bear walked towards the front of the enclosure (the best view which I had ever gotten of this particular species), and went beyond the rocks to the right.

Not realising that it went beyond them, I followed it along the path, and found another viewing area, with another bear visible. This enclosure was absurdly big, more so than Chester’s, it would appear, and very well stocked, too, with four bears in total. But the bear kept going, and so did I, only to find a third viewing area, for a third portion of the enclosure - it was at least thrice as big as I had anticipated, and with a second, towering climbing structure, hidden by mature trees, it was becoming difficult to deny that this was the greatest tropical bear enclosure which I had ever seen, possibly the greatest in all of Europe. By the time that I had made it to the Ape House later in the day, to discover a fourth and fifth viewing area (one of which with logs immediately in front of it, among which a bear was foraging), I was certain that this was one of the greatest zoo exhibits that I had ever seen. I even saw the first of several wild lizards of that day basking on the rocks below the enclosure, something which I had never seen before in any zoo (the second picture below shows said rocks at the bottom of the image). Such space, such landscaping, such beauty, such enrichment, and so many options to see it without any cross-viewing - this enclosure is a work of art.

Coming off the back of one of the most extensive South American zones which I have ever seen, is one of the most extensive Australian zones that I have ever seen. In most zoos, Australian zones are reduced to just kangaroos, wallabies and emus. But Zurich’s is far greater in scale, the rarity of the species, and the quality of the enclosures. However, one disadvantage is that it isn’t all that Australian. Of its 8 species, 3 are not native to the country in question, and although one of them is justified by being an invasive species, and thus a useful educational tool, the other two are not. It also feels past its prime - had I visited last year, I would have seen Europe’s only Perentie, and there were even plans to display Thorny Devils at one point, although in the end, they were held off display for a short while, and nothing more came off it (I assume they passed away, but they may have been sent elsewhere).

Before providing a walkthrough account, it feels appropriate to address one major point about Australia - the theming. The soil, gravel and sand are all red, to represent the iron-rich rock found in Australian deserts. It's obviously mock rock, which can feel synthetic when done as excessively as here, but I actually liked it. It's something different, and the contrast with the genuine, grey, moss-covered rock of the Pantanal and Sangay was nice. The plants appeared to mostly be native lookalikes, as opposed to Australian plants, but they also worked very well. All things considered, although I can understand why one may not like this excessive theming, I was personally rather fond of it all.

It started off with Bell’s Hinge-back Tortoise, in a lovely open-topped enclosure, with tiered red rock and many grasses, although sadly, and despite the heat, the tortoises were nowhere to be seen. There were also Laughing Kookaburra in a nice aviary, designed in such a way that trees with their roots in the enclosure can grow beyond it and branch out, while several branches and hollow logs covered the floor. Exhibit-wise, it was off to a good start, but sadly, the geographical theming had already been ruined with the placement of an African tortoise species in an Australian exhibit. Fortunately, this was the only such offence in the area.

Australia centres around one, large greenhouse-like building, which commences with Northern Koala. My fifth time seeing koalas (fourth with the Northern subspecies), this was yet another instance in which the koalas seemed reluctant to show any more activity than sleeping in their eucalyptus tree. However, with natural sunlight, three such trees for them to choose from and a sizeable outdoor area (connected by mesh tunnels), and the presence of four enclosures (two indoors and two outdoors, although I assume that no one individual can access all four at any one time?) it is hard to deny that this is among the best koala enclosures that I have personally seen - a far better outdoors than Edinburgh or Beauval, more height than Antwerp (which I don’t recall even having an onshow outdoor area) and a more convincing attempt at recreating their natural habitat than Longleat (of course baring in mind that said collection holds a different subspecies altogether).

The next species was the invasive one alluded to above - the European Rabbit. A small burrow within the rock walls that separated the house’s enclosures was all that they had in terms of indoor areas, but they had a sizable outdoors elsewhere and, I believe, access to one of the outdoor koala exhibits. The next animal was another non-Australian, the Exuma Island Iguana. Not sure why they were present, given that they are neither native or invasive, but I was hardly complaining, given that this species is only displayed in three European collections and was a lifetick. I counted four individuals, most of them basking in the sunlight created by the numerous skylights in the building’s roof, although I believe that a fifth is in fact present. I thought it was a pleasant enclosure, with the raised (and I assume heated) rock immediately in front of the grass, the hollow logs and, in particular, the red rock overhangs at the back to create small caves, all being lovely features.

Upon exiting the building, you are greeted by two walkthrough exhibits, with the first housing Rainbow Lorikeet. Yes, lorikeet walkthroughs are among the most common styles of exhibit in any zoo, but they are still fun exhibits for most visitors, and do offer some entertainment for more regular zoo-goers with colourful and active birds being quite entertaining in general. My only wish is that zoos will add more variety, as opposed to simply using Rainbow Lorikeets in every exhibit, although much disappointment in that regard was made up for by seeing both Dusky Lories and even my first Ornate Lorikeet at Voliere Zurich the following day. Zurich’s is also among the more pleasant such walkthroughs that I have seen, with the signature red sand and pebbles making up the floor, while a sizeable outdoor aviary (engulfing the entire greenhouse) offers the birds an escape from visitors and additional space where many zoos don’t offer any such thing.

The final part of Australia was the Bennett’s Wallaby and Common Emu walkthrough. Two species that are very common in zoos, with the former often held in walkthroughs or even free-ranging, but the latter was the real highlight. I don’t recall ever seeing the species in a walkthrough setting before (although I have seen rhea used as substitutes several times in the past), and being so close to a bird as tall as I am, almost dinosaur-like in its appearance and demeanour, was a unique experience. I also saw several eggs (seen in the centre of the image below) in the centre of the enclosure - gorgeous, dark turquoise ovals, in some ways reflecting the colour of the bird itself, which I had never seen in person aside from glass cases in museums and the like. Exhibit-wise, it embodied everything I liked about the Australia complex as a whole - wonderful landscaping, and nice theming. Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I was thoroughly impressed by the Australian zone. If only it were to focus on actual Australian species, it could be another one of Zurich’s famous exhibits.

At this point, I had been consistently amazed by Zurich, and exhibit-wise, it had given me little to complain about. But sadly, that would change with the Ape House.

When I walked up to the House and saw a Sumatran Orangutan swinging on the mesh and between the hanging logs, I was somewhat impressed by it. The enclosure was on the small side, but the use of mesh to allow additional climbing, the straw encouraged foraging and the ropes allowed for brachiating. Indoors, it was even better. Plenty of enrichment in the form of bags for them to rip open, and a mesh roof for scatter feeds, in which the orangutans climb to the roof to pick out select food items - it was really nice. By this time I was wondering where the large, naturalistic island-type exhibit which most zoos had was. But I never found it, and that is where the problem arose. Zurich’s outdoors is tiny and ugly but enriching, and the indoors is excellent, but together they are surely some of the smallest and worst orangutan enclosures in all of Europe. Just a slight expansion into neighbouring enclosures and you have something excellent, but as it stands, it is far too small for such a large, intelligent and social primate. For any zoo, never mind one of the best in Europe, this low standard of enclosure is shameful.

The Western Gorilla enclosure is a similar situation. The indoors is brilliant, and the outdoors would be good, but only if it were several times larger. The fact that this House has survived so long, and managed to maintain a large, functional family group, is a miracle, but not the good kind. While looking at the zoo’s upcoming developments, I was very happy to see that both the orangutans and gorillas have new exhibits coming soon. A new exhibit known as ‘Kongo’ will be constructed for the latter, while the former will be getting the ‘Sumatra Regenwald,’ on the location of the current Ape House. That’s all well and good, but the issue is that Kongo won’t open until 2029, and Sumatra Regenwald until at least 2031. The zoo doesn’t plan on rebuilding them until after they have renovated the already excellent big cat exhibits (which will be covered in the next part) and the already world-class Pantanal. The truth is that the zoo needs to get its priorities straight. Zurich is an incredible zoo (this review will get even more positive as we progress), but in order to be truly perfect, it cannot continue to keep orangutans and gorillas in such small and outdated enclosures.

And thus another rant comes to a close, and we can get back to the review. Also within the Ape House are Pileated Gibbon, who, similarly to the orangutans, benefit quite a bit for an enclosed habitat, with mesh walls to climb and several options to brachiate. Unlike the orangutans, however, they are small enough not to suffer from the House’s severe spatial constraints, and have the advantage of multiple outdoor enclosures, something which the orangutans seem to be lacking. A pleasant side effect of the gibbons being less destructive than the orangutans, I assume, is that their enclosure still has many plants.

Another very nice species within the building is the Savu Python, which, had I visited Zurich a couple of weeks prior, would have been a lifetick, although, having seen the species rather recently at Shaldon Zoo, that wasn’t the case. There are also Crested Wood Partridge, a fairly common species, who it is rare to see held in anything other than a mixed species setup, although it did feel strange and a little unfortunate to see them kept behind glass. Also within the Ape House was the fairly random European Harvest Mouse, who inhabited a nice, grassy enclosure with several hollow logs and pieces of bark for them to hide under, although as is often the case with small but hyperactive rodents, it felt a little short of space. On that note, I finished the Ape House.

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Hope all readers are enjoying the review so far!

Part 3 will hopefully be out tomorrow, but potentially Wednesday. It will cover Galapagos, the Seal and Otter Enclosures, Himalaya and the Mongolian Steppe.

 

[snowleopard]

This analysis of Zurich is phenomenal and the finalized, epic review will be a tremendous reference for zoo nerds. I visited this Swiss gem in October 2003 and I've never been back since, but without a doubt it is one of the world's great zoos. A major flaw is the valid criticism of the great ape exhibits, which stand out amidst the long list of amazing other animal habitats there. I look forward to the rest of your comments, as Zurich in many ways sets the standard for excellent new zoo exhibits. Thanks for taking the time to type out such a wealth of information!

 

[lintworm]

Part 2 - Pantanal, Australia and the Ape House:

As we were leaving the Exotarium, we went down a slope surrounded by foliage, relatively near the zoo entrance. Along it were aviaries for Patagonian Conure and Red-tailed Amazon. The former are a lovely-looking species, and one that I am very familiar with, given that they are displayed at London Zoo. As such, I was very impressed to see that Zurich held a very large group, at least ten by my count, compared to just a pair at London, yet in an aviary large enough that it did not feel remotely overstocked. There also appeared to be sizable indoor areas, although it was difficult to judge given that there was no indoor viewing. This would not be the last time at Zurich, however, when I was impressed by the group size of parrots.

The amazons were yet another example of the unnecessary repetition of species at Zurich, with several birds and fish in the Exotarium having already been displayed multiple times. Thankfully, this wasn’t really an issue anywhere else in the zoo, at least no more than is the case with the majority of other zoos. And I can be grateful that, unlike at London and several other zoos, the ubiquitous meerkat was not among the repeated species!

The next area of the zoo was the Pantanal, which is noteworthy for being among the more extensive South American displays in a European zoo not to focus on a rainforest setting, rather a wetlands one. But the execution of this was equally delightful. The Pantanal has multiple enclosures, separated by moats, almost all of which can be accessed by a wonderful selection of waterfowl (unfortunately, as the Pantanal is open-topped, they are pinioned, but more on this shortly), and all of the enclosures themselves are gorgeous - so well-planted, thoughtfully designed, and spacious that they appear to have been taken directly from Brazil. And, to help with immersion, the spaces between habitats are also thoughtfully planted, mostly with bamboo. Given that the British zoos I am familiar with insist on filling their grounds up with lawns (a national obsession of sorts) and open spaces (with a few exceptions, such as Colchester, coming to mind), this was a real treat. The ‘free-ranging’ birds are:

American Comb Duck
Black-necked Swan
Chiloe Wigeon
Rosy-billed Pochard
Southern Screamer
Spectacled Duck

The first enclosure seen is the outdoors for the Giant Anteater, Brazilian Tapir and Capybara whose indoors was in the Exotarium. Mixes between these three species are common, but in terms of both spaciousness and aesthetics, this puts every similar enclosure which I have seen to shame. The large pool, dappled shade, scattered rocks, eroding logs, live trees, abundance of grass, the swans paddling about in front, the ducks who ventured within metres of the capybara; it all added up to make a dirt common mix of dirt common species (in zoos, at least) something very memorable indeed. The photo below only shows about half the enclosure, as well, as I saw two Capybara and a nesting Southern Screamer in a similarly sized enclosure on the other side of the boardwalk.

Continuing down the pathway, one comes to the Chilean Flamingo enclosure. I don’t recall any sort of barrier to prevent the flamingos from exploring further down the moats, similarly to the other waterfowl, although I also didn’t see any elsewhere and strongly suspect that a barrier is hidden among the bamboo. It may be the most aesthetically triumphant flamingo enclosure I have ever seen, the bamboo, bushes and trees getting increasingly dense, the grasses getting increasingly tall, to give the illusion of an endless enclosure.

Next were the monkey islands, with one housing Bolivian Squirrel Monkey, and the other housing Yellow-breasted Capuchin. The former is intended to be a walkthrough, although sadly, it is only such on certain days, and Thursday, it turned out, was not one of them. A themed shelter was in place, from which the island can be viewed, but the number of live trees and bushes mean that, unless one of the primates is climbing on the network of dead trees and ropes that hang high above the enclosure, the chances of you seeing an animal is slim. Later in the day, with ten minutes before closing, I rushed around the middle of the zoo to clean up some enclosures that I had missed earlier on, and in doing so, I found the indoors for the Squirrel Monkeys, between the storks and camels. For such a small primate, phenomenal effort had been put into designing it appropriately, in terms of vegetation, climbing and lighting. Where many zoos in cold climates create a barren concrete box and call it a day, seeing a zoo that understands the importance of genuine indoors for tropical species, even those as small as squirrel monkeys, is so nice. It was also while doing this that I managed to locate one of the capuchins, sitting on a log near the edge of the enclosure. A lovely species, and one that I gather has bred rather well at Zurich over the years, but now only three remain, and they most likely won’t remain at the zoo for long

On that note, I had finished the Pantanal (although the South American offerings continued). This feels like an appropriate time to mention the zoo’s future plans for the zone - the Pantanal Aviary. The capuchins will leave, tamarins and Giant Otters will arrive, and the entire thing will be netted over, allowing the waterfowl, as well as new birds, to take flight, in what I believe will be the second largest aviary in Europe after the new one at Beauval. A fantastic idea on paper, and allowing the birds flight alone will be a vast improvement, but I have no doubt that the character of the area will change quite considerably. This is one of many areas of the zoo which will change in the coming years, and although I look forward to the advancement of European zoo exhibits, I am very glad that I saw these iconic enclosures, the likes of which I fantasised about seeing growing up, while I still could. In a way, I suppose I visited at the perfect time, with nothing closed for construction, and only one major species (the tigers) absent as a result of future projects.

Rant finished. Back to the review. As mentioned, the Pantanal was finished, but South America was not, and what came next was one of the greatest zoo exhibits that I had ever seen, and the enclosure that made me immediately realise that Zurich would live up to my absurdly high expectations.

Near the flamingos, a small flight of stairs led to the zoo’s Spectacled Bear and South American Coati enclosure, Sangay Bergnebelwald (Sangay Cloud Forest). As soon as I saw it, I was very impressed. Tree trunks and rope hammocks created extensive climbing, the overgrown, moss-covered rock walls were a beautiful alternative to visible barriers, the steepness of the terrain, which varies quite considerably, gave a decent impression of their natural mountainous habitat, while the sheer number of trees and bushes reminded the visitor of the tropical nature of this species. I thought this was at least as good as the similar enclosure for the species at Chester, but had the advantage that, this time around, I could actually see one of the bears (in the centre of the image below). Then the bear walked towards the front of the enclosure (the best view which I had ever gotten of this particular species), and went beyond the rocks to the right.

Not realising that it went beyond them, I followed it along the path, and found another viewing area, with another bear visible. This enclosure was absurdly big, more so than Chester’s, it would appear, and very well stocked, too, with four bears in total. But the bear kept going, and so did I, only to find a third viewing area, for a third portion of the enclosure - it was at least thrice as big as I had anticipated, and with a second, towering climbing structure, hidden by mature trees, it was becoming difficult to deny that this was the greatest tropical bear enclosure which I had ever seen, possibly the greatest in all of Europe. By the time that I had made it to the Ape House later in the day, to discover a fourth and fifth viewing area (one of which with logs immediately in front of it, among which a bear was foraging), I was certain that this was one of the greatest zoo exhibits that I had ever seen. I even saw the first of several wild lizards of that day basking on the rocks below the enclosure, something which I had never seen before in any zoo (the second picture below shows said rocks at the bottom of the image). Such space, such landscaping, such beauty, such enrichment, and so many options to see it without any cross-viewing - this enclosure is a work of art.

Coming off the back of one of the most extensive South American zones which I have ever seen, is one of the most extensive Australian zones that I have ever seen. In most zoos, Australian zones are reduced to just kangaroos, wallabies and emus. But Zurich’s is far greater in scale, the rarity of the species, and the quality of the enclosures. However, one disadvantage is that it isn’t all that Australian. Of its 8 species, 3 are not native to the country in question, and although one of them is justified by being an invasive species, and thus a useful educational tool, the other two are not. It also feels past its prime - had I visited last year, I would have seen Europe’s only Perentie, and there were even plans to display Thorny Devils at one point, although in the end, they were held off display for a short while, and nothing more came off it (I assume they passed away, but they may have been sent elsewhere).

Before providing a walkthrough account, it feels appropriate to address one major point about Australia - the theming. The soil, gravel and sand are all red, to represent the iron-rich rock found in Australian deserts. It's obviously mock rock, which can feel synthetic when done as excessively as here, but I actually liked it. It's something different, and the contrast with the genuine, grey, moss-covered rock of the Pantanal and Sangay was nice. The plants appeared to mostly be native lookalikes, as opposed to Australian plants, but they also worked very well. All things considered, although I can understand why one may not like this excessive theming, I was personally rather fond of it all.

It started off with Bell’s Hinge-back Tortoise, in a lovely open-topped enclosure, with tiered red rock and many grasses, although sadly, and despite the heat, the tortoises were nowhere to be seen. There were also Laughing Kookaburra in a nice aviary, designed in such a way that trees with their roots in the enclosure can grow beyond it and branch out, while several branches and hollow logs covered the floor. Exhibit-wise, it was off to a good start, but sadly, the geographical theming had already been ruined with the placement of an African tortoise species in an Australian exhibit. Fortunately, this was the only such offence in the area.

Australia centres around one, large greenhouse-like building, which commences with Northern Koala. My fifth time seeing koalas (fourth with the Northern subspecies), this was yet another instance in which the koalas seemed reluctant to show any more activity than sleeping in their eucalyptus tree. However, with natural sunlight, three such trees for them to choose from and a sizeable outdoor area (connected by mesh tunnels), and the presence of four enclosures (two indoors and two outdoors, although I assume that no one individual can access all four at any one time?) it is hard to deny that this is among the best koala enclosures that I have personally seen - a far better outdoors than Edinburgh or Beauval, more height than Antwerp (which I don’t recall even having an onshow outdoor area) and a more convincing attempt at recreating their natural habitat than Longleat (of course baring in mind that said collection holds a different subspecies altogether).

The next species was the invasive one alluded to above - the European Rabbit. A small burrow within the rock walls that separated the house’s enclosures was all that they had in terms of indoor areas, but they had a sizable outdoors elsewhere and, I believe, access to one of the outdoor koala exhibits. The next animal was another non-Australian, the Exuma Island Iguana. Not sure why they were present, given that they are neither native or invasive, but I was hardly complaining, given that this species is only displayed in three European collections and was a lifetick. I counted four individuals, most of them basking in the sunlight created by the numerous skylights in the building’s roof, although I believe that a fifth is in fact present. I thought it was a pleasant enclosure, with the raised (and I assume heated) rock immediately in front of the grass, the hollow logs and, in particular, the red rock overhangs at the back to create small caves, all being lovely features.

Upon exiting the building, you are greeted by two walkthrough exhibits, with the first housing Rainbow Lorikeet. Yes, lorikeet walkthroughs are among the most common styles of exhibit in any zoo, but they are still fun exhibits for most visitors, and do offer some entertainment for more regular zoo-goers with colourful and active birds being quite entertaining in general. My only wish is that zoos will add more variety, as opposed to simply using Rainbow Lorikeets in every exhibit, although much disappointment in that regard was made up for by seeing both Dusky Lories and even my first Ornate Lorikeet at Voliere Zurich the following day. Zurich’s is also among the more pleasant such walkthroughs that I have seen, with the signature red sand and pebbles making up the floor, while a sizeable outdoor aviary (engulfing the entire greenhouse) offers the birds an escape from visitors and additional space where many zoos don’t offer any such thing.

The final part of Australia was the Bennett’s Wallaby and Common Emu walkthrough. Two species that are very common in zoos, with the former often held in walkthroughs or even free-ranging, but the latter was the real highlight. I don’t recall ever seeing the species in a walkthrough setting before (although I have seen rhea used as substitutes several times in the past), and being so close to a bird as tall as I am, almost dinosaur-like in its appearance and demeanour, was a unique experience. I also saw several eggs (seen in the centre of the image below) in the centre of the enclosure - gorgeous, dark turquoise ovals, in some ways reflecting the colour of the bird itself, which I had never seen in person aside from glass cases in museums and the like. Exhibit-wise, it embodied everything I liked about the Australia complex as a whole - wonderful landscaping, and nice theming. Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I was thoroughly impressed by the Australian zone. If only it were to focus on actual Australian species, it could be another one of Zurich’s famous exhibits.

At this point, I had been consistently amazed by Zurich, and exhibit-wise, it had given me little to complain about. But sadly, that would change with the Ape House.

When I walked up to the House and saw a Sumatran Orangutan swinging on the mesh and between the hanging logs, I was somewhat impressed by it. The enclosure was on the small side, but the use of mesh to allow additional climbing, the straw encouraged foraging and the ropes allowed for brachiating. Indoors, it was even better. Plenty of enrichment in the form of bags for them to rip open, and a mesh roof for scatter feeds, in which the orangutans climb to the roof to pick out select food items - it was really nice. By this time I was wondering where the large, naturalistic island-type exhibit which most zoos had was. But I never found it, and that is where the problem arose. Zurich’s outdoors is tiny and ugly but enriching, and the indoors is excellent, but together they are surely some of the smallest and worst orangutan enclosures in all of Europe. Just a slight expansion into neighbouring enclosures and you have something excellent, but as it stands, it is far too small for such a large, intelligent and social primate. For any zoo, never mind one of the best in Europe, this low standard of enclosure is shameful.

The Western Gorilla enclosure is a similar situation. The indoors is brilliant, and the outdoors would be good, but only if it were several times larger. The fact that this House has survived so long, and managed to maintain a large, functional family group, is a miracle, but not the good kind. While looking at the zoo’s upcoming developments, I was very happy to see that both the orangutans and gorillas have new exhibits coming soon. A new exhibit known as ‘Kongo’ will be constructed for the latter, while the former will be getting the ‘Sumatra Regenwald,’ on the location of the current Ape House. That’s all well and good, but the issue is that Kongo won’t open until 2029, and Sumatra Regenwald until at least 2031. The zoo doesn’t plan on rebuilding them until after they have renovated the already excellent big cat exhibits (which will be covered in the next part) and the already world-class Pantanal. The truth is that the zoo needs to get its priorities straight. Zurich is an incredible zoo (this review will get even more positive as we progress), but in order to be truly perfect, it cannot continue to keep orangutans and gorillas in such small and outdated enclosures.

And thus another rant comes to a close, and we can get back to the review. Also within the Ape House are Pileated Gibbon, who, similarly to the orangutans, benefit quite a bit for an enclosed habitat, with mesh walls to climb and several options to brachiate. Unlike the orangutans, however, they are small enough not to suffer from the House’s severe spatial constraints, and have the advantage of multiple outdoor enclosures, something which the orangutans seem to be lacking. A pleasant side effect of the gibbons being less destructive than the orangutans, I assume, is that their enclosure still has many plants.

Another very nice species within the building is the Savu Python, which, had I visited Zurich a couple of weeks prior, would have been a lifetick, although, having seen the species rather recently at Shaldon Zoo, that wasn’t the case. There are also Crested Wood Partridge, a fairly common species, who it is rare to see held in anything other than a mixed species setup, although it did feel strange and a little unfortunate to see them kept behind glass. Also within the Ape House was the fairly random European Harvest Mouse, who inhabited a nice, grassy enclosure with several hollow logs and pieces of bark for them to hide under, although as is often the case with small but hyperactive rodents, it felt a little short of space. On that note, I finished the Ape House.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope all readers are enjoying the review so far!

Part 3 will hopefully be out tomorrow, but potentially Wednesday. It will cover Galapagos, the Seal and Otter Enclosures, Himalaya and the Mongolian Steppe.

Excellent review until now, some small clarifications:
- The Australia house is slowly re-themed into something like a house for endangered island species, even though the house itself was renovated only a few years ago. So expect more shuffles in the coming years. Quite a strange priority, but I guess a change of directorship often leads to such changes so that the new director can show off (their priorities a bit).
- It is indeed quite bizarre that the ape house is still standing as the last black spot in an otherwise high level zoo. Already at my first visit back in 2014 we were questioning why it wasn't a priority. The only thing I can think of is that the planned ape investment are huge and require an enormous amount of funds, which takes several years to secure, so one has to do with smaller projects in between. It still doesn't make sense to prioritize netting over the whole Pantanal area to create a fancy aviary first though.... That area is fine as it is.
- The doubling issue of parrots is likely because these animals are already kept for the future Pantanal aviary in larger numbers so the aviary can be stocked from moment one. They have literally dozens of hyacint macaws behind the scenes too....

 

[Jurek7]

You may be interested in some advice - some stuff in Zurich is easy to miss completely. It took me 5 or so visits to Zurich to learn about the Mythenquai aviary or the rescued microbats:
https://www.zoochat.com/community/threads/zurich-visit-advice.487983/#post-1476216

 

[Kalaw]

Part 3 - Tortoise House, Asian Carnivores and Mongolian Steppe

By the entrance/exit to the Ape House are two porthole-like windows that peer into a clear blue pool. It was here where I saw the zoo’s Eastern Atlantic Harbour Seal rolling over as they swam throughout the blue. It is a shame that the underwater viewing is so limited, as it made it impossible to admire the seals in crowds, but thankfully there was also rather good viewing of their pool from above. Just beyond the Ape House, the hill on which the zoo is set becomes noticeably more steep, allowing the visitor to access the seal pool simply by following the path around the zoo, and not having to divert with any stairs. Although Harbour Seals are the most commonplace pinniped in European zoos, they are far less common at mainstream zoos than sea lions, with the majority of their holders being aquariums or seal sanctuaries. As such, it is always rather nice to see them, and admire the differences which they, as earless seals, have between other pinnipeds.

It was at this point, after looking at a map, that I realised I was entirely missing the zoo’s Giant Tortoise enclosure, just beyond the lorikeets and near one of the entrances to the Australia House, forcing me to backtrack along the zoo’s perimeter pathway.

Along the way, I passed the zoo’s Eurasian Otter enclosure. I suspect, judging by the high concrete walls of the enclosure, that this is among the zoo’s older exhibits. While such walls should take away from any attempt at naturalism, that did not stop Zurich from trying, and the result was actually a lovely otter enclosure, with a large pool and stream, an overgrown feeling, conveyed by the many plants and mosses in strange places, and the convincingly random placement of fallen logs and rocks around and within the stream. It is also among the larger otter enclosures that I have seen, allowing for all sorts of natural substrates to be present. Another highlight was the heron, perched on top of the concrete in one corner of the structure. The zoo’s map seems to suggest that there is another enclosure beyond the concrete at one end, although I sadly could not locate it.

From a visitor perspective, this enclosure is particularly strong. The photo above was taken from the raised viewing at one side, but the window among the concrete, just about visible at the very back of the image, can also be accessed. Not only does it provide views into the main enclosure and their dimly lit dens, but it also features the highlight for me, a European aquarium. Native wildlife displays for ectotherms are very scarce in zoos, and even though the two species that it displays, the European Perch and the European Eel, are decently common in captivity, the signage drawing attention to the fact which they can be found in Swiss waters, and the aesthetic of the aquarium, contrasting with the tropical Exotarium tanks to clearly indicate that these are cold water, native species, was quite nice. The eel was even a lifetick, and my first encounter with any freshwater eel in general, again due to their rarity in conventional zoos when compared to aquariums (at least in the UK).

For the longest time, Zurich was the only zoo in Europe to breed the Galapagos Giant Tortoise, a notoriously difficult species. Now, three zoos (Servion Tropiquarium, also in Switzerland, and Crocodiles of the World in England) have done so, but even still, nowhere has been anywhere near as successful over the years as Zurich. Sadly (and I may not be understanding this fully, so please correct me if I have made any errors), this breeding is slightly problematic, as Zurich’s subspecies-pure individuals, including several Santa Cruz and even one male Volcan Wolf, are hybridising with one another. Very few subspecies-pure Galapagos Giant Tortoise remain, and I am not sure if Zurich, Servion or CotW have ever produced subspecies-pure offspring.

Even still, walking into the Tortoise House to see several tiny Galapagos Giant Tortoises, knowing that one day they will mature and become the monstrous creatures seen beside them, was a strange realisation to come to. Exhibit-wise, the moderate-sized indoors with concrete and soil floor, a small pool and plants just out of the tortoise’s reach reminded me of the old enclosure at London Zoo. The outdoor enclosure, on the other hand, I thought to be far nicer, with more space, shade, privacy and variety in the vegetation.

Also within the Tortoise House was an aquarium for Mata-Mata, a bizarre turtle species, whose tubercles and flaps of skin, coupled with its earthy colouration, offers it incredible camouflage. Indeed, this species has evaded me at every collection I visited to house it, and it was at Zurich where (after quite some time spent searching) I finally managed to see the species, in yet another beautifully landscaped terrarium. I recall them sharing with two species of fish, although sadly I forgot the species and did not photograph the signage. If any members can confirm or deny whether or not fish were present, and if so state which species they were, that would be much appreciated.

Upon leaving the Giant Tortoise House, we followed the rest of the zoo’s perimeter pathway up the hill towards Himalaya. We passed several other mountainous exhibits along the way, including enclosures for four different species of camelid, the Llama, Alpaca, Vicuna and Guanaco. Along with the Bactrian Camels elsewhere in the zoo, which I will describe later in this post, the zoo surely has one of the most comprehensive collections of camelids in Europe! The Llama enclosure is quite out-of-the-way, up a decently steep hill to the left of the perimeter path. In their stables, there was an empty terrarium, which I believe was where the Harvest Mouse resided before being moved to the Ape House. However, as it stands, this enclosure was completely empty, with no signage or sign of life. The rest of the enclosures are visible from the main pathway, and are all of a fairly high standard, the terrain and height varying quite considerably, gorgeously green grass maintained well in many areas, but with sand also present, and a very natural aesthetic thanks to many trees.

Continuing up the pathway, one comes to four aviaries, with the first housing Egyptian Vulture, the second being a mix with Northern Bald Ibis and Eurasian Spoonbill, and the final aviary housing Ural Owl. All three species are admittedly somewhat common in captivity, but I still rather enjoyed them. Although the size of the exhibits isn’t exceptional, it is far too common to see birds of prey such as Ural Owls and Egyptian Vultures placed in inadequate aviaries with next to no flight space, so seeing such height, both in terms of size and branches to perch on, was really nice. They are also among the most densely vegetated aviaries that I have ever seen, all wonderful aesthetically, and, particularly in the case of the wading birds, doing well to represent their natural habitat. There was also extensive signage detailing the conservation projects that the zoo supports with the species in question, including re-introducing Ural Owls to Austria, which, I was rather surprised to learn that, despite their namesake mountain range being Russian, is indeed part of their native range!

Thus begins the Asian Carnivores zone of the zoo, which represents the Gir Forest of India, Siberia in Russia, Mongolia, and finally the Himalayas, taking advantage of the zoo’s hillside by placing the Himalayan exhibits at the highest point in the zoo, and the Indian exhibits quite considerably below. For multiple reasons, which I will get onto shortly, this was one of the areas of the zoo that I looked forward to seeing the most, and as such, I was quite concerned when I heard that the entire area was going to be renovated to create ‘Panterra,’ a series of rotational exhibits for the carnivores, beginning in August 2023, with the exhibit opening in 2025. Thankfully, I timed my visit almost perfectly, with the majority of animals leaving later in the month. However, ‘almost,’ is an important word there, with the Derbyan Parakeet, Swinhoe’s Striped Squirrel and Siberian Tiger all having left a couple of weeks before my visit.

There are views of the Asiatic Lion enclosure from near the owls and red pandas, however they are extremely limited. As such, I went past the enclosure rather hurriedly, with this being among the enclosures that I rushed around during the final minutes before closing time so as to ensure that I saw everything. The enclosure was by no means bad, but it was also by no means good. It would have been far too small for a pride, but I saw no harm in displaying two lionesses. Perhaps the Panterra renovations will allow for the arrival of a breeding group of this Critically Endangered subspecies (recent taxonomic changes that I cannot get my head around notwithstanding). Small size aside, it is a very nice enclosure aesthetically, with many logs, plants, and trees for shade, and a perfectly adequate indoor area.

It was at this point that I noticed Zurich’s commendable obsession with filling its moats with Koi Carp. It made the ponds, and by extension the exhibits, feel much livelier, and is something that I wish more zoos with moats in their enclosures would apply.

Another one of the remaining species was the Nepalese Red Panda. They had a pair of enclosures, which were probably among the best which I have seen. For a shy, arboreal species, the most important thing, for me at least, is that both height and cover are offered, both of which can easily be achieved by offering live trees for the pandas to have access to, which Zurich does, with several of them, many featuring inter-connecting branches, offering plenty of climbing space. There are multiple viewing angles (some from the main pathway, and another from the Snow Leopard viewing), and yet they do well to prevent cross-viewing, and from certain points the trees even give the impression to never end, leaving one wondering where it ends and what is preventing them from escaping.

Then one comes to what is, for me, one of the greatest exhibits at Zurich Zoo - the Snow Leopard enclosure. I had seen photos, but had never been particularly impressed. The truth is that it is very difficult to appreciate how big this thing is until you see it in person. To the left of the enclosure is a tremendously steep rocky cliff face, which gradually becomes more subtle as you head rightwards, with more and more ledges and a smoother decline. Allowing the snow leopards to climb it is not only fantastic enrichment for the animals, but fantastic entertainment for the guests, and does leave one fearing that the rocky walls of their enclosure may not be much more of a challenge. It has a sizable forest-like area at the back, allowing the snow leopards to hide from the visitors should they choose, but with an impressive number of animals (I counted 4), you are still likely to see one. With the random scattering of pebbles and grasses, its an aesthetic triumph, and with two viewing areas (one ground level, and one that is about level with the top of the cliff face), yet no cross viewing, it is wonderful for visitors as well. The only Snow Leopard enclosure that I have seen which is comparable is Highland Wildlife Park, which is very similar to Zurich in terms of size, the height of the drop, viewing, privacy and naturalism. I could be mistaken, but I believe HWP’s enclosure is considerably bigger, but even still, I actually prefer Zurich. I think it is a combination of recency bias, better viewing of the cliff, and a steeper gradient, but perhaps the Snow Leopards would prefer HWP for size alone.

However, this brings me onto one of my biggest concerns for Zurich’s future. Panterra sounds like it will be an excellent development, offering more space for all the species involved, and a more thrilling experience for the visitors, with the rotational exhibits connected by overhead tunnels. But this Snow Leopard enclosure is so ridiculously perfect for snow leopards. But for lions or tigers? I struggle to see them benefitting from a steep, barren, rocky cliff face in the slightest. This means one of two things; either we end up with lions and tigers in an enclosure when they look and feel out-of-place (not the end of the world, as the enclosure is still massive, but won’t be the best scenario either), or the zoo rebuilds this enclosure almost entirely to make it more versatile. And it is the latter scenario which I fear the most. I am glad that I saw this world-famous enclosure while I still could, but I do worry for its future.

Beyond that, however, I think Panterra will be nothing short of excellent. The zoo has confirmed that an Insect House (I believe featuring a walkthrough, although this could be a mistranslation) will feature, and the plans also state that Red Pandas will benefit, although I am unsure as to exactly how. And of course, rotational exhibits are excellent enrichment, the smells of the other cats providing simulation for hunting animals.

The final Asian carnivore was the Mongolian Wolf. Although ZTL lists two wolf parks (in in Germany and one in France) to display this subspecies, given that they are relatively obscure places that I (sadly) will most likely never visit, and that Zurich’s individuals would be departing after the Panterra renovations to never return, I knew that (unless these individuals are sent to another major zoo) this could be the only chance I ever got to see the subspecies, and it was one that I certainly planned to take full advantage of. Given that the tigers had departed shortly before my visit, however, the wolves not only had access to their enclosure, but both the former tiger exhibits, too, tripling their space (excellent for the wolves, which is of course more important, but not so excellent for a zoo enthusiast desperate to tick of a new subspecies). On my first visit to the area, there weren’t any in sight, but thankfully, when I returned to the area later in the day to see the lions, three individuals were climbing across the rocks of the smaller of the two former tiger exhibits. They are a lovely subspecies, with an almost reddish tint on much of their coat, and it is a shame that Zurich will no longer be displaying the species. Their enclosure is very well landscaped and wooded, but I can imagine that, without access to the tiger enclosure, it would have been quite a bit on the small side.

From there, we entered the Mongolian Steppe, which is where Zurich keeps several Central Asian species of ungulate. This is also where Zurich tries its hand in excessive cultural theming. I became acquainted with this type of theming when London Zoo incorporated it massively into Land of the Lions in 2016, and since then have seen it quite a bit more often. Zurich’s yurts and colourful banners aren’t anywhere near as excessive as some other examples, and they deserve commendation for the signage that educates visitors about the objects in question, rather than using them as nothing more than decoration. In short, it didn’t seem distasteful, when compared to select other zoo’s attempts.

The first enclosure holds some very impressive Himalayan Yak, along with Kashmir Goat, a rather nice breed which is uncommon in captivity. Exhibit-wise, I really enjoyed this exhibit. Where so many zoos place their yaks on generic, grassy fields, Zurich acknowledges that they are Himalayan, and gives them a sloping, rocky enclosure, covered in moss and lichen. All four yak were at the very top of the enclosure, which not only allowed visitors to get rather close to them, but suggested which they feel at home in such a steep setting, something that you will never gather from an endless, dull, flat field.

I wasn’t quite as impressed by the second enclosure in the Mongolian Steppe, but was far more excited by the species list. Bactrian Camel and Burmese Brow-antlered Deer are joined by my first ever Persian Goitered Gazelle. Held in just ten European zoos, this delightful small antelope is a rarity in Europe, sadly. I am not sure whether this exhibit was intended to be part of the Mongolian Steppe, but either way, having Central Asian, Southeast Asian and Persian species in the same exhibit throws the geographical accuracy of the area out of the window. Exhibit-wise, it isn’t quite as exciting as the previous exhibit, and in some ways, consisting mostly of sand, but with patches of grass and sticks. Looking at the map that the zoo uses to represent its masterplan on the website, it seems to suggest that this area is due to be demolished after 2031 to make way of the Meerenkuste, the zoo’s future penguin and sea lion exhibit, although it could be referencing the nearby stork enclosure instead?

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Hope that everyone enjoyed this post, and I would like to thank all the members who have posted so far, both for their compliments and for their further information, which is useful.

Part 4 will be out tomorrow, and will focus mostly on Masoala Regenwald, but may also cover Zoolino and the Stork Walkthrough.

 

[FBBird]

Part 2 - Pantanal, Australia and the Ape House:

As we were leaving the Exotarium, we went down a slope surrounded by foliage, relatively near the zoo entrance. Along it were aviaries for Patagonian Conure and Red-tailed Amazon. The former are a lovely-looking species, and one that I am very familiar with, given that they are displayed at London Zoo. As such, I was very impressed to see that Zurich held a very large group, at least ten by my count, compared to just a pair at London, yet in an aviary large enough that it did not feel remotely overstocked. There also appeared to be sizable indoor areas, although it was difficult to judge given that there was no indoor viewing. This would not be the last time at Zurich, however, when I was impressed by the group size of parrots.

The amazons were yet another example of the unnecessary repetition of species at Zurich, with several birds and fish in the Exotarium having already been displayed multiple times. Thankfully, this wasn’t really an issue anywhere else in the zoo, at least no more than is the case with the majority of other zoos. And I can be grateful that, unlike at London and several other zoos, the ubiquitous meerkat was not among the repeated species!

The next area of the zoo was the Pantanal, which is noteworthy for being among the more extensive South American displays in a European zoo not to focus on a rainforest setting, rather a wetlands one. But the execution of this was equally delightful. The Pantanal has multiple enclosures, separated by moats, almost all of which can be accessed by a wonderful selection of waterfowl (unfortunately, as the Pantanal is open-topped, they are pinioned, but more on this shortly), and all of the enclosures themselves are gorgeous - so well-planted, thoughtfully designed, and spacious that they appear to have been taken directly from Brazil. And, to help with immersion, the spaces between habitats are also thoughtfully planted, mostly with bamboo. Given that the British zoos I am familiar with insist on filling their grounds up with lawns (a national obsession of sorts) and open spaces (with a few exceptions, such as Colchester, coming to mind), this was a real treat. The ‘free-ranging’ birds are:

American Comb Duck
Black-necked Swan
Chiloe Wigeon
Rosy-billed Pochard
Southern Screamer
Spectacled Duck

The first enclosure seen is the outdoors for the Giant Anteater, Brazilian Tapir and Capybara whose indoors was in the Exotarium. Mixes between these three species are common, but in terms of both spaciousness and aesthetics, this puts every similar enclosure which I have seen to shame. The large pool, dappled shade, scattered rocks, eroding logs, live trees, abundance of grass, the swans paddling about in front, the ducks who ventured within metres of the capybara; it all added up to make a dirt common mix of dirt common species (in zoos, at least) something very memorable indeed. The photo below only shows about half the enclosure, as well, as I saw two Capybara and a nesting Southern Screamer in a similarly sized enclosure on the other side of the boardwalk.

Continuing down the pathway, one comes to the Chilean Flamingo enclosure. I don’t recall any sort of barrier to prevent the flamingos from exploring further down the moats, similarly to the other waterfowl, although I also didn’t see any elsewhere and strongly suspect that a barrier is hidden among the bamboo. It may be the most aesthetically triumphant flamingo enclosure I have ever seen, the bamboo, bushes and trees getting increasingly dense, the grasses getting increasingly tall, to give the illusion of an endless enclosure.

Next were the monkey islands, with one housing Bolivian Squirrel Monkey, and the other housing Yellow-breasted Capuchin. The former is intended to be a walkthrough, although sadly, it is only such on certain days, and Thursday, it turned out, was not one of them. A themed shelter was in place, from which the island can be viewed, but the number of live trees and bushes mean that, unless one of the primates is climbing on the network of dead trees and ropes that hang high above the enclosure, the chances of you seeing an animal is slim. Later in the day, with ten minutes before closing, I rushed around the middle of the zoo to clean up some enclosures that I had missed earlier on, and in doing so, I found the indoors for the Squirrel Monkeys, between the storks and camels. For such a small primate, phenomenal effort had been put into designing it appropriately, in terms of vegetation, climbing and lighting. Where many zoos in cold climates create a barren concrete box and call it a day, seeing a zoo that understands the importance of genuine indoors for tropical species, even those as small as squirrel monkeys, is so nice. It was also while doing this that I managed to locate one of the capuchins, sitting on a log near the edge of the enclosure. A lovely species, and one that I gather has bred rather well at Zurich over the years, but now only three remain, and they most likely won’t remain at the zoo for long

On that note, I had finished the Pantanal (although the South American offerings continued). This feels like an appropriate time to mention the zoo’s future plans for the zone - the Pantanal Aviary. The capuchins will leave, tamarins and Giant Otters will arrive, and the entire thing will be netted over, allowing the waterfowl, as well as new birds, to take flight, in what I believe will be the second largest aviary in Europe after the new one at Beauval. A fantastic idea on paper, and allowing the birds flight alone will be a vast improvement, but I have no doubt that the character of the area will change quite considerably. This is one of many areas of the zoo which will change in the coming years, and although I look forward to the advancement of European zoo exhibits, I am very glad that I saw these iconic enclosures, the likes of which I fantasised about seeing growing up, while I still could. In a way, I suppose I visited at the perfect time, with nothing closed for construction, and only one major species (the tigers) absent as a result of future projects.

Rant finished. Back to the review. As mentioned, the Pantanal was finished, but South America was not, and what came next was one of the greatest zoo exhibits that I had ever seen, and the enclosure that made me immediately realise that Zurich would live up to my absurdly high expectations.

Near the flamingos, a small flight of stairs led to the zoo’s Spectacled Bear and South American Coati enclosure, Sangay Bergnebelwald (Sangay Cloud Forest). As soon as I saw it, I was very impressed. Tree trunks and rope hammocks created extensive climbing, the overgrown, moss-covered rock walls were a beautiful alternative to visible barriers, the steepness of the terrain, which varies quite considerably, gave a decent impression of their natural mountainous habitat, while the sheer number of trees and bushes reminded the visitor of the tropical nature of this species. I thought this was at least as good as the similar enclosure for the species at Chester, but had the advantage that, this time around, I could actually see one of the bears (in the centre of the image below). Then the bear walked towards the front of the enclosure (the best view which I had ever gotten of this particular species), and went beyond the rocks to the right.

Not realising that it went beyond them, I followed it along the path, and found another viewing area, with another bear visible. This enclosure was absurdly big, more so than Chester’s, it would appear, and very well stocked, too, with four bears in total. But the bear kept going, and so did I, only to find a third viewing area, for a third portion of the enclosure - it was at least thrice as big as I had anticipated, and with a second, towering climbing structure, hidden by mature trees, it was becoming difficult to deny that this was the greatest tropical bear enclosure which I had ever seen, possibly the greatest in all of Europe. By the time that I had made it to the Ape House later in the day, to discover a fourth and fifth viewing area (one of which with logs immediately in front of it, among which a bear was foraging), I was certain that this was one of the greatest zoo exhibits that I had ever seen. I even saw the first of several wild lizards of that day basking on the rocks below the enclosure, something which I had never seen before in any zoo (the second picture below shows said rocks at the bottom of the image). Such space, such landscaping, such beauty, such enrichment, and so many options to see it without any cross-viewing - this enclosure is a work of art.

Coming off the back of one of the most extensive South American zones which I have ever seen, is one of the most extensive Australian zones that I have ever seen. In most zoos, Australian zones are reduced to just kangaroos, wallabies and emus. But Zurich’s is far greater in scale, the rarity of the species, and the quality of the enclosures. However, one disadvantage is that it isn’t all that Australian. Of its 8 species, 3 are not native to the country in question, and although one of them is justified by being an invasive species, and thus a useful educational tool, the other two are not. It also feels past its prime - had I visited last year, I would have seen Europe’s only Perentie, and there were even plans to display Thorny Devils at one point, although in the end, they were held off display for a short while, and nothing more came off it (I assume they passed away, but they may have been sent elsewhere).

Before providing a walkthrough account, it feels appropriate to address one major point about Australia - the theming. The soil, gravel and sand are all red, to represent the iron-rich rock found in Australian deserts. It's obviously mock rock, which can feel synthetic when done as excessively as here, but I actually liked it. It's something different, and the contrast with the genuine, grey, moss-covered rock of the Pantanal and Sangay was nice. The plants appeared to mostly be native lookalikes, as opposed to Australian plants, but they also worked very well. All things considered, although I can understand why one may not like this excessive theming, I was personally rather fond of it all.

It started off with Bell’s Hinge-back Tortoise, in a lovely open-topped enclosure, with tiered red rock and many grasses, although sadly, and despite the heat, the tortoises were nowhere to be seen. There were also Laughing Kookaburra in a nice aviary, designed in such a way that trees with their roots in the enclosure can grow beyond it and branch out, while several branches and hollow logs covered the floor. Exhibit-wise, it was off to a good start, but sadly, the geographical theming had already been ruined with the placement of an African tortoise species in an Australian exhibit. Fortunately, this was the only such offence in the area.

Australia centres around one, large greenhouse-like building, which commences with Northern Koala. My fifth time seeing koalas (fourth with the Northern subspecies), this was yet another instance in which the koalas seemed reluctant to show any more activity than sleeping in their eucalyptus tree. However, with natural sunlight, three such trees for them to choose from and a sizeable outdoor area (connected by mesh tunnels), and the presence of four enclosures (two indoors and two outdoors, although I assume that no one individual can access all four at any one time?) it is hard to deny that this is among the best koala enclosures that I have personally seen - a far better outdoors than Edinburgh or Beauval, more height than Antwerp (which I don’t recall even having an onshow outdoor area) and a more convincing attempt at recreating their natural habitat than Longleat (of course baring in mind that said collection holds a different subspecies altogether).

The next species was the invasive one alluded to above - the European Rabbit. A small burrow within the rock walls that separated the house’s enclosures was all that they had in terms of indoor areas, but they had a sizable outdoors elsewhere and, I believe, access to one of the outdoor koala exhibits. The next animal was another non-Australian, the Exuma Island Iguana. Not sure why they were present, given that they are neither native or invasive, but I was hardly complaining, given that this species is only displayed in three European collections and was a lifetick. I counted four individuals, most of them basking in the sunlight created by the numerous skylights in the building’s roof, although I believe that a fifth is in fact present. I thought it was a pleasant enclosure, with the raised (and I assume heated) rock immediately in front of the grass, the hollow logs and, in particular, the red rock overhangs at the back to create small caves, all being lovely features.

Upon exiting the building, you are greeted by two walkthrough exhibits, with the first housing Rainbow Lorikeet. Yes, lorikeet walkthroughs are among the most common styles of exhibit in any zoo, but they are still fun exhibits for most visitors, and do offer some entertainment for more regular zoo-goers with colourful and active birds being quite entertaining in general. My only wish is that zoos will add more variety, as opposed to simply using Rainbow Lorikeets in every exhibit, although much disappointment in that regard was made up for by seeing both Dusky Lories and even my first Ornate Lorikeet at Voliere Zurich the following day. Zurich’s is also among the more pleasant such walkthroughs that I have seen, with the signature red sand and pebbles making up the floor, while a sizeable outdoor aviary (engulfing the entire greenhouse) offers the birds an escape from visitors and additional space where many zoos don’t offer any such thing.

The final part of Australia was the Bennett’s Wallaby and Common Emu walkthrough. Two species that are very common in zoos, with the former often held in walkthroughs or even free-ranging, but the latter was the real highlight. I don’t recall ever seeing the species in a walkthrough setting before (although I have seen rhea used as substitutes several times in the past), and being so close to a bird as tall as I am, almost dinosaur-like in its appearance and demeanour, was a unique experience. I also saw several eggs (seen in the centre of the image below) in the centre of the enclosure - gorgeous, dark turquoise ovals, in some ways reflecting the colour of the bird itself, which I had never seen in person aside from glass cases in museums and the like. Exhibit-wise, it embodied everything I liked about the Australia complex as a whole - wonderful landscaping, and nice theming. Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I was thoroughly impressed by the Australian zone. If only it were to focus on actual Australian species, it could be another one of Zurich’s famous exhibits.

At this point, I had been consistently amazed by Zurich, and exhibit-wise, it had given me little to complain about. But sadly, that would change with the Ape House.

When I walked up to the House and saw a Sumatran Orangutan swinging on the mesh and between the hanging logs, I was somewhat impressed by it. The enclosure was on the small side, but the use of mesh to allow additional climbing, the straw encouraged foraging and the ropes allowed for brachiating. Indoors, it was even better. Plenty of enrichment in the form of bags for them to rip open, and a mesh roof for scatter feeds, in which the orangutans climb to the roof to pick out select food items - it was really nice. By this time I was wondering where the large, naturalistic island-type exhibit which most zoos had was. But I never found it, and that is where the problem arose. Zurich’s outdoors is tiny and ugly but enriching, and the indoors is excellent, but together they are surely some of the smallest and worst orangutan enclosures in all of Europe. Just a slight expansion into neighbouring enclosures and you have something excellent, but as it stands, it is far too small for such a large, intelligent and social primate. For any zoo, never mind one of the best in Europe, this low standard of enclosure is shameful.

The Western Gorilla enclosure is a similar situation. The indoors is brilliant, and the outdoors would be good, but only if it were several times larger. The fact that this House has survived so long, and managed to maintain a large, functional family group, is a miracle, but not the good kind. While looking at the zoo’s upcoming developments, I was very happy to see that both the orangutans and gorillas have new exhibits coming soon. A new exhibit known as ‘Kongo’ will be constructed for the latter, while the former will be getting the ‘Sumatra Regenwald,’ on the location of the current Ape House. That’s all well and good, but the issue is that Kongo won’t open until 2029, and Sumatra Regenwald until at least 2031. The zoo doesn’t plan on rebuilding them until after they have renovated the already excellent big cat exhibits (which will be covered in the next part) and the already world-class Pantanal. The truth is that the zoo needs to get its priorities straight. Zurich is an incredible zoo (this review will get even more positive as we progress), but in order to be truly perfect, it cannot continue to keep orangutans and gorillas in such small and outdated enclosures.

And thus another rant comes to a close, and we can get back to the review. Also within the Ape House are Pileated Gibbon, who, similarly to the orangutans, benefit quite a bit for an enclosed habitat, with mesh walls to climb and several options to brachiate. Unlike the orangutans, however, they are small enough not to suffer from the House’s severe spatial constraints, and have the advantage of multiple outdoor enclosures, something which the orangutans seem to be lacking. A pleasant side effect of the gibbons being less destructive than the orangutans, I assume, is that their enclosure still has many plants.

Another very nice species within the building is the Savu Python, which, had I visited Zurich a couple of weeks prior, would have been a lifetick, although, having seen the species rather recently at Shaldon Zoo, that wasn’t the case. There are also Crested Wood Partridge, a fairly common species, who it is rare to see held in anything other than a mixed species setup, although it did feel strange and a little unfortunate to see them kept behind glass. Also within the Ape House was the fairly random European Harvest Mouse, who inhabited a nice, grassy enclosure with several hollow logs and pieces of bark for them to hide under, although as is often the case with small but hyperactive rodents, it felt a little short of space. On that note, I finished the Ape House.

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Hope all readers are enjoying the review so far!

Part 3 will hopefully be out tomorrow, but potentially Wednesday. It will cover Galapagos, the Seal and Otter Enclosures, Himalaya and the Mongolian Steppe.

Great review,apart from referring to Spectacled (Bronze-winged) Duck as ‘dirt common’!

 

[Kalaw]

Great review,apart from referring to Spectacled (Bronze-winged) Duck as ‘dirt common’!

Apologies for the confusion - I was describing the mammals (Capybara, Brazilian Tapir, and Giant Anteater), and specifically to how common they are in captivity. Poor choice of woods on my part.

Excellent review until now, some small clarifications:
- The Australia house is slowly re-themed into something like a house for endangered island species, even though the house itself was renovated only a few years ago. So expect more shuffles in the coming years. Quite a strange priority, but I guess a change of directorship often leads to such changes so that the new director can show off (their priorities a bit).

That makes sense, and actually seems like a rather nice idea. My only worry is that it will make the very Australian theming with the red rocks feel somewhat out-of-place. Also leaves me wondering why a tortoise from continental Africa (Bell's Hinge-back) is present, but perhaps they are only temporary?

You may be interested in some advice - some stuff in Zurich is easy to miss completely. It took me 5 or so visits to Zurich to learn about the Mythenquai aviary or the rescued microbats:
https://www.zoochat.com/community/threads/zurich-visit-advice.487983/#post-1476216

I visited Voliere Zurich/Mythenquai as well, and liked it quite a bit, but sadly, the outdoor aviaries were closed for renovation. Visited the Bat House, but sadly did not see any bats. Along with the elephant baths, which I see you also mention in your post, they will be one of my priorities should I ever return to Zurich.

This analysis of Zurich is phenomenal and the finalized, epic review will be a tremendous reference for zoo nerds. I visited this Swiss gem in October 2003 and I've never been back since, but without a doubt it is one of the world's great zoos. A major flaw is the valid criticism of the great ape exhibits, which stand out amidst the long list of amazing other animal habitats there. I look forward to the rest of your comments, as Zurich in many ways sets the standard for excellent new zoo exhibits. Thanks for taking the time to type out such a wealth of information!

Thank you for your kind words. Looking at the dates of recent developments, quite a lot has changed since 2003, although I was surprised when I found out which Masoala Regenwald actually opened that year, and still puts most more recent attempts at recreating a rainforest to shame.

 

[Kalaw]

Part 4 - Masoala Regenwald and Lewa Savanne

In 1995, Zoo Zurich began its in situ conservation work in the Masoala National Park, a 2,300 square kilometre peninsula in the northwest of Madagascar, that is one of the country’s most biodiverse regions. They help both by donating directly to the conservation, contributing around 110,000 Swiss Francs annually, and having donated a total of 7.4 Million francs since the project commenced. The zoo also tackles the problem at its source, with projects that provide local communities with sustainable agriculture, water quality and school education, so as to provide economic alternatives to deforestation.

In 2003, in what the zoo describes as “a milestone event in Zoo Zurich’s journey to becoming a conservation centre,” the zoo spent 52 Million francs to build an exhibit directly linked to the zoo’s conservation projects in Masoala. This marked the beginning of a rather successful trend at Zurich Zoo in which their in situ conservation projects are directly partnered with an ambitious exhibit within the zoo, clearly demonstrating what the zoo is donating its money to, why it is significant, and encouraging visitors to donate. And, because this is Zurich, the resultant exhibit just had to be one of the best in the world.

Masoala Regenwald is 1.1 hectares in area, 30 metres tall, and exists with the clear goal of representing the rainforest in question. 4/5 of its plant life are Madagascan plants, and nearly all of its animals are from Masoala (with just 3 exceptions). The height of the structure allows the trees to grow to maturity, which many zoos do not offer, which combines with the geographical accuracy of the species selection, the variety of vegetation, the limited views of certain parts of the exhibit and the brief glimpses of pools of water through the trees to create what is arguably the greatest and most convincing interpretation of a rainforest at any zoo in the world.

The build-up to the reveal of the greenhouse is very well-done, and as you walk through a dark tunnel under yet another road (the depictions of whales on the walls reminding the visitor that, despite what the display may lead you to believe, Masoala’s biodiversity extends beyond the rainforest), it is difficult not to be extremely excited. As you open the doorway into the rainforest, the roof disguised by the canopy, the fact that you are surrounded by fodies and geckos slowly becoming more apparent, the occasional open spaces that provide glimpses of the terrapins and egrets on the distant lakes, before you climb the Treetop Walkway to the view pictured below, and it is difficult to feel anything other than a sense of awe.

The following species were signed:

African Pygmy-goose
Blue-billed Teal
Cattle Egret
Crested Coua
European Bee-eater
Greater Vasa Parrot
Grey-headed Lovebird
Hamerkop
Lesser Vasa Parrot
Little Bittern
Madagascar Crested Ibis
Madagascar Partridge
Madagascar Red Fody
Madagascar Teal
Malagasy Turtle-dove
Meller’s Duck
Pitta-like Ground-roller
Red-billed Teal
Wattled Jacana
White-faced Whistling-duck

Black Lemur
Goodman’s Mouse Lemur
Red-ruffed Lemur
Rodrigues Flying Fox

Aldabra Giant Tortoise (the only species in the building that isn’t free-ranging)
Bell’s Hinge-back Tortoise
Black-bellied Slider
Common Flat-tailed Gecko
Gold Dust Day Gecko
Madagascar Girdled Lizard
Panther Chameleon

Sambava Tomato Frog

Black Diamond Cichlid
Grandidier’s Cichlid
Powder-blue Pachypanchax
Red-tailed Silverside

In total, it houses 20 species of bird, 4 species of mammal, 7 species of reptile, 1 species of amphibian and 4 species of fish as well as (according to the zoo’s website, although they were not signed) 50 species of invertebrate. The fish were not signed, so the species list provided comes from research and my (admittedly rather poor) identification, so feel free to correct me.

A wonderful selection of species, only four of which (the European Bee-eater, Wattled Jacana, Aldabra Giant Tortoise and Bell’s Hinge-back Tortoise) do not have the Malagasy Peninsula as part of their range. There are also several Madagascar endemics, and the inevitable result is several species that are found at very few other European collections. The highlight is, of course, the only Pitta-like Ground-roller in Europe. Despite spending quite some time searching, and hearing what I believe was their call on a few occasions, I sadly did not see the species. I had a fleeting glimpse of what I am fairly sure is a Crested Coua, but it feels like cheating to count this lifetick without knowing for certain. I did, however, see my first Madagascar Partridge and Lesser Vasa Parrot.

It feels unfair to compare, but it is difficult to describe Masoala without comparing it to one of the other major rainforest houses of the world, in this case, the only other that I have seen on the same scale, Burgers’ Bush. Bush is the larger of the two (although not by quite as much as I had anticipated), but is slightly shorter, meaning that many trees will never get to grow to their full height. The selection of plants in Masoala is unrivalled - surely it is one of the greatest botanical displays on the planet, and a rare instance where I was just as transfixed by the beauty and oddity of certain plants than that of the animals. And the sheer number of smaller animals (the zoo’s website states that over 50 invertebrate species live in the building, some of which being there for plant protection, although I saw very few), such as geckos, chameleons and tortoises, that appear if you stop to admire life on the branches, or among the undergrowth, creates a liveliness and level of detail that the Bush is just lacking in. And, of course, Masoala has the advantage of recreating just one rainforest habitat, while Bush is a zoogeographical mess, trying to fit in species from three continents. I am not the biggest fan of geo-zoo, so this didn’t upset me, but it is hard to deny that Masoala feels accurate in a way that Bush simply does not.

When it comes to which of Masoala and Bush does a better job at recreating a rainforest, it really isn’t a debate. But when it comes to which is more enjoyable for the visitor, it is far harder to decide. At Bush, there are countless hidden paths through the undergrowth, bridges across the ponds, trails behind the waterfalls, where you can completely lose yourself in the foliage, or above the lakes. That simply isn’t a thing at Masoala, where you have to stick to one pathway almost the entire time. There are exceptions, like the trail towards the main viewing area for the Aldabra Giant Tortoises, or, of course, the Treetops Walkway, which takes visitors through the canopy, and offers fantastic views, particularly of the lemurs and parrots. Speaking of the giant tortoise, they are the only animal in the entirety of Masoala which is not free-ranging, while Bush has several, with Leafcutter Ants, Broad-snouted Caimans and otters among others. While not seeing any captive animals does help with the immersion at Masoala, it does decrease your chances of getting good views of select species, and (with the exception of the Aardvark enclosure, which I was not so fond of) the barriers at Bush are so well-disguised that it doesn’t really matter. One more advantage of Masoala, however, is the Restaurant, which serves some of the best food that I have ever had in a zoo (although the standard is admittedly low), and may be the only restaurant in the world where you can enjoy your meal while admiring rarities such as Wattled Jacana and Black-bellied Slider.

I think that of the two, I preferred Masoala as an exhibit, but enjoyed my time in Bush more. It could be that Masoala is almost too good for its own good - the heat so antagonising and the building so dense that I could not find most of my target species, while I saw nearly all of them. And as nice as it was to see Straw-necked Ibis, Cattle Egrets and parrots be allowed to take flight in such a gorgeously natural-looking setting, or watch two geckos fight on a branch in a seemingly endless forest, it couldn’t compare to having a Wrinkled Hornbill swoop down within just a few inches of my head. One highlight of Masoala, however, was spending ages looking for the Red-ruffed Lemur (a species that I had seen before, but was such an icon of the exhibit that it would feel wrong to leave without having seen one), only to hear rustling in the trees below me from the Treetop Walkway. After a few seconds of nervous anticipation, a lemur looked out, its red colours and wide-eyed stare looking even more impressive in this setting. A very rewarding experience, perhaps one of the most unforgettable offered by any zoo.

(apologies for the poor quality)

After wondering at the beauty of Masoala on my way to the restaurant, you are taken into the zoo’s new Conservation Centre, which begins with a depiction of the building almost entirely burnt down. This, followed by a claim that, in Madagascar, an area of rainforest the size of the building is destroyed every three seconds, was very moving and terrifying indeed. More than anything else, such imagery as this is inspirational when it comes to conservation. The centre then continues with another dark room that features a 360 panoramic screen, displaying the zoo’s major conservation project, for Masoala in Madagascar, Kaeng Krachan in Thailand and Lewa in Kenya, as well as their Sumatran Orangutan project and the research that they contribute to with Antarctic penguins. Finally, there are a few themed displays about saving Masoala, before you enter the restaurant and gift shop area of the building.

I was absolutely amazed by Masoala. The effort that has gone into creating a mini-ecosystem of sorts within a zoo is incredible. I would be surprised if the keepers even know how many geckos or cichlids there are at the moment for certain, and if the claims made about 50 species of invertebrates are true, then I am even more certain that the numbers are unknown. It's the sort of exhibit that I would fantasise about London Zoo building when I was younger, convinced that no such thing could ever exist, but hoping that one day I would be proven wrong. Exactly a week ago, that day came about.

After having lunch, I spent quite a bit more time in Masoala, before making my way towards the Lewa Savanne. The newest of the zoo’s three huge, ecosystem-themed projects, Lewa Savanne was also the one that I knew least about. I knew that it was themed (and named after) a nature reserve in Kenya that the zoo had been supporting for many years, but that was it. While I had longed to see Masoala and Kaeng Krachan my entire life, admiring images and learning about them, I had no expectations for Lewa, which, in a way, was a huge advantage for it.

Making our way towards the savannah, I found a huge space right besides the elephant house which I assumed was it, but it turned out was actually the home of Dahomey Dwarf Cattle, with the impressive rocks and baobab trees that marked the beginning of the savannah way off in the distance. In front of it, was a similarly sized area, currently entirely empty, and indeed, the walk around the cattle towards Lewa is mostly more empty space, with a few huts and a double-decker bus for theming, as well as a mist machine, which although random was very much appreciated given the extreme heat. Looking at the map, this apparent waste of space is the future sight of the aforementioned Kongo, the zoo’s upgraded gorilla enclosure, which will also house Okapi (I assume in separate exhibits). Perhaps they are kept here to keep the grass short until construction commences, or is it to offer more grazing options for the cattle’s sake? The map only signs them as being in the smaller yard in the background, which also has much shorter grass, but they were certainly present in the foreground enclosure during my visit.

The main savannah in Lewa is nothing short of incredible. At over 2 hectares (around 5 acres), it is among the largest such savannahs I have ever seen, but it is very well-designed. There are several bushes and other such plants that are separated from the animals by well-disguised fences. It is strange seeing a white rhino next to perfectly intact bushes and seemingly fragile trees that should have certainly been destroyed by now. Equally well-disguised are the barriers at the back, which in places seem easy for a giraffe to step over, and in others are entirely impossible to see. These hidden fences, fallen logs and raised rocks all make the enclosure more complex, in turn encouraging more activity from the animals, and offering them space to evade both other animals and visitors.. With a large field just behind the zoo, there are times when the illusion is given of said field being part of the exhibit. The large waterhole at the front is lovely, there are wonderful viewing points (with a boardwalk through the enclosure which the animals can walk underneath, resulting in multiple zebra jumpscares).

Yet again, the most comparable exhibit which I have seen is the one at Burgers’, which (not wanting to waste any more of this review comparing the two exhibits) is nearly twice the size, has a proper crash of rhinos and a restaurant overlooking it, but fails to give the impression of a true African savannah due to the clearly European woodland which surrounds it on all sides. Zurich almost goes too far in the opposite direction, with fake baobabs and mock rock (again using the colour and shape of rocks to convey what area of the world you are in immediately), but at least you know you are supposed to be on a Kenyan savannah without even having to see the animals. It is still massive although a lot smaller, has onshow indoor viewing for all the species, and lets you get much closer to the animals with multiple viewing angles and the aforementioned boardwalk. I know this will be a very controversial opinion, but I preferred Zurich’s. By a lot.

(Credit to @antonmuster for the image above - I somehow forgot to take one of the main savannah, which seems like too important a thing not to have a photo of)

It housed:

Grevy’s Zebra
Impala
Reticulated Giraffe
Scimitar-horned Oryx
Southern White Rhinoceros
Helmeted Guineafowl
South African Ostrich

A fairly standard selection of species, although due to their frustrating absence from Britain, it was still nice to see Impala on a proper savannah.

A glance at the map suggested that the African exhibits extended beyond the savannah to the right, and indeed, following the pathway around, towards the rocks, led to several other enclosures. Although they are obviously mock rock, the boulders were still tremendously impressive, and searching for exhibits among them was rather enjoyable. The first housed Crested Porcupine in a lovely enclosure. Shade was provided by one of the rocks, the indoors was enormous and visible to the public through a glass window, there were hollow logs for the porcupines to enter, several other fallen branches, and a nice mix of grass and other substrates (the picture below depicts less than half of the enclosure, I would say, and it becomes far grassier to the right). A highlight was seeing a baby porcupine (a porcupette?), who was large enough to have developed quills and colouring like the adults, but was still quite a bit smaller and facially very different - the contrast between that and its deadly quills was both cute and comical, to say the least.

Next, embedded in the rocks, was a delightful selection of terrariums. The largest of these was a mix of Pancake Tortoise and Giant Plated Lizard, the latter a particularly impressive and interesting species. Between the wonderful rockwork, the sand substrate and the abundance of logs, it was a very thoughtfully decorated terrarium - a nice surprise, given that it is hardly the focus of the area, instead a side-exhibit of sorts. There were also three invertebrate terrariums, all let down by awful signage which stated nothing more than ‘scorpion,’ ‘beetle,’ and ‘millipede,’ although in several different languages. It was odd, as for the most part, Zurich’s signage was of a very high quality, with animal names in four languages (German, French, Italian and English). Given that Italian is spoken in parts of Switzerland (although very small parts), is this a common thing in Swiss collections, or is Zurich unique?

There was also a Spotted Hyena enclosure. This species has been growing in popularity across British collections lately, but is still decently rare, and far more exciting in my opinion than several other African carnivores that are present in zoos. Sadly, I only caught a very brief glimpse of the hyena, with much of their enclosure being a narrow stretch behind the rocks that is invisible to visitors. Of course, this is good for the hyenas, who have much more privacy, but it was unfortunate. It's a lovely enclosure, though, very well-vegetated, enormous (easily the largest hyena enclosure I have seen), with several shelters and perfectly green grass, and even a predator-prey setup with the savannah in the background (although since the viewing of this particular enclosure is quite low down, there is no way of seeing any of the ungulates except the giraffes).

You then have to backtrack past the main viewing of the savannah to enter the other half of the exhibit, in which the housing for the savannah species can be found, although there are a few other species to make it worth visiting. The first species seen is the Meerkat, which despite generating quite a crowd, I drifted past within a matter of seconds. Their enclosure did appear to be rather nice, with onshow indoors (not guaranteed with this species, despite how popular they are), plenty of space, decent burrows and soil for them to dig in.

On an unrelated note, the zoo deserves credit for providing free-to-use fountains where bottles can be refilled. In such extreme heat, and in the most expensive country that I have visited, I was more than grateful for this.

Somehow missing the main pathway to the indoor area entirely, I used the entrance next to the elephant house instead, which appeared to have been the intended entrance to the exhibit complex as a whole. It led to a wonderful walkthrough aviary for African Grey Parrot, a wonderful species, which despite being very common in captivity, and as a pet, is sadly endangered in the wild, and always fascinates me. And this aviary may just be the best display of them that I have ever seen. As mentioned with Masoala, it is always a treat to see parrots fly in zoos, but to see so many of them in one, walkthrough aviary, all extremely loud and active, in an aviary with multi-level viewing (from a boardwalk and ground level, although very few individuals could be seen from the latter) was nothing short of incredible. Of course, it is hard for a zoo enthusiast to see this and not wish for a rarer species, but for me, it served as a reminder that, when displayed well, even the most common of species can be exciting in one way or another.

Another interesting exhibit was the Naked Mole-rat enclosure, found within the House itself. Another common species, which, as usual, was displayed in a network of glass-fronted burrows, covered in straw. But, unlike elsewhere, it was not in a nocturnal room, and allowed you to view the rodents under daylight, as opposed to artificial red light. It also at least tried to give the impression of the burrows being at least somewhat natural by embedding them into the mock rock walls of the House, with only the foreground wall, used the view the animals, being made out of glass (where other zoos are creating glass tunnels, but are so obviously artificial that it almost feels disrespectful to the animals). Not the most natural display, but it's a better effort than most zoos.

However, it did leave me wondering why no zoo (at least none that I have seen) allows them to dig for themselves, instead creating some burrows for them, throwing in some straw and calling it a day. Seeing their extremely impressive incisor teeth by daylight served as a reminder that they are built to dig, and that not allowing them to do so just feels wrong. How hard is it to give them some hard-packed soil, or some sort of substrate that they can dig in, as is done for nearly every other rodent species? If somebody more familiar with zoos can inform me as to why they always seem to be treated worse than other species, I will appreciate it massively.

Apologies for ranting yet again! This House also provides the stables for the animals on the main savannah. A highlight was getting very close to a Southern White Rhino in the lower viewing area, shaded by a cave and covered with wonderful thematic features, such as statues of all 5 extant rhino species. The stables are among the most beautiful that I have seen for ungulates, with Zurich, as ever, excelling with making enclosures look more natural through simple but brilliant exhibit design changes. More plants (some of which are in reach, although not close enough to be trampled, and given that rhinos are grazers, I doubt the plants are at any risk), natural sunlight, very deep sand on the floor and the wooden fencing as opposed to metal all add up to create a much more naturalistic feeling. And although it's not too spacious, I don’t think any indoor ungulate enclosure is, and it is still far larger than anything I have seen in the UK. Having seen rhinos and giraffes (the latter enclosure pictured below) on barren concrete stalls so many times, this was a real treat.

Overall, it's difficult to say exactly what I thought of Lewa. On one hand, it has my favourite mixed-species African exhibit, my favourite indoor ungulate enclosure, my favourite hyena exhibit, my favourite porcupine exhibit, my favourite parrot exhibit and several other fantastic enclosures in between. It's objectively brilliant and there is no way around that, and on a personal note, several enclosures really stood out to me. The problem is the theming. I have praised how impressive the mock rock and fake baobab trees are throughout this review, but the truth is that they are very obviously fake. Maybe seeing this right after the best attempt by a zoo at recreating an ecosystem on the planet didn’t help, but something about the character of the exhibit felt off. Where Australia, Mongolian Steppe and Masoala (and Kaeng Krachan, which will be covered in the next part) perfectly found the balance between pure enclosures and themed elements, Lewa felt like it has leant too far to one side. Another problem is the species selection. I already addressed the African Grey Parrots, but can be forgiving in that regard due to the exhibitry - but Scimitar-horned Oryx, a desert antelope, in a savannah, just feels wrong. All that criticism aside, it's still the best African exhibit which I have ever seen, however, and were it in any other zoo, I would not have a bad word against it.

So, both extremely impressed and mildly disappointed, I made my way towards Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark...

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Thank you to all readers, yet again!

Just one part remains, which will focus on Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark, but will also cover a selection of miscellaneous exhibits which I have missed so far, and my thoughts on Zurich as a whole.

 

[lintworm]

A wonderful selection of species, only four of which (the European Bee-eater, Wattled Jacana, Aldabra Giant Tortoise and Bell’s Hinge-back Tortoise) do not have the Malagasy Peninsula as part of their range

It is nitpicking but the black lemurs, the mouse lemurs, Madagascar teal & Meller's duck also don't occur on the Masoala Peninsula and several of the most common species in the hall aren't true rainforest species such as the Madagascar partridge, hamerkop and red fody. But given the lack of possible species it is hard to complain too much. I wonder though why the Madagascar blue pigeons never took of in the hall, having been kept 2x this century in Zurich, but never long. They are a true rainforest species that would fit perfectly.

Quite a number of plants might occur in Masoala but are not native to the area, like Stachytapheta and Psidium and that is just the ones I can recognize . Still a colossal effort, but when it comes to plant diversity the supposedly 1000 plant species in the Bush are fair competition.

Yet again, the most comparable exhibit which I have seen is the one at Burgers’, which (not wanting to waste any more of this review comparing the two exhibits) is nearly twice the size, has a proper crash of rhinos and a restaurant overlooking it, but fails to give the impression of a true African savannah due to the clearly European woodland which surrounds it on all sides. Zurich almost goes too far in the opposite direction, with fake baobabs and mock rock (again using the colour and shape of rocks to convey what area of the world you are in immediately), but at least you know you are supposed to be on a Kenyan savannah without even having to see the animals. It is still massive although a lot smaller, has onshow indoor viewing for all the species, and lets you get much closer to the animals with multiple viewing angles and the aforementioned boardwalk. I know this will be a very controversial opinion, but I preferred Zurich’s. By a lot.

I don't think that is a controversial opinion, design wise this is the best savanna I know of and I don't mind the theming at all. I am disappointed too with the uninspiring line-up though...

 

[Swampy]

Further nitpicking of a stellar review- think you missed Rodrigues fruit bat off your list of species not native to Masoala. Really enjoying this writing so far, looking forward to the next installment!

Side note, as I am ashamedly unfamiliar with Zurich and their layout- did you see their mountain chicken frogs? Are they on display?

 

[Kalaw]

Further nitpicking of a stellar review- think you missed Rodrigues fruit bat off your list of species not native to Masoala. Really enjoying this writing so far, looking forward to the next installment!

Side note, as I am ashamedly unfamiliar with Zurich and their layout- did you see their mountain chicken frogs? Are they on display?

Thanks for your kind words.

Now you mention it, I do remember seeing Mountain Chicken Frogs in the Exotarium, next to the caimans, but forgot to photograph their signage, which is how I remember species lists (my memory isn't that good, to say the least). Sadly, its too late to edit the initial post.

 

[Kalaw]

Part 5 - Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark:

Before even entering Kaeng Krachan itself, I was already impressed by it thematically. The growingly dense plants, especially bamboo, and the change in the rockwork made the transition from an African Savannah to a Southeast Asian rainforest a very subtle one, which was nice. Throughout the exhibit, the theming was brilliant, with the ruined huts and other structures, attempting to draw links to the human-elephant conflict which happens in Thailand, the prevention of which being one of Zurich’s main aims with its conservation projects in the area. There were some cultural elements, such as a small portion of the fencing, but not for a moment did it feel irritating or exaggerated.

Opened in 2014, Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark was yet another masterstroke of the modern Zurich zoo, and is by far the greatest elephant enclosure which I have personally seen. Housing Asian Elephants, the outdoors is around 4,800 square metres (1.18 acres), while the indoors is even bigger, at 5,400 square metres (1.33 acres). While a combined area of barely over a hectare may not seem like much, this enclosure was, in terms of design, unparalleled by any other zoo.

Both the bull and cows have access to three different basins (one outdoors and one indoors), most of which are deep enough for the elephants to fully submerge themselves into, with one of them (the indoor cow pool) even being equipped with underwater viewing. Throughout the exhibit, there are 40 different feeding stations in total, with holes in the rocks and bags hanging from branches throughout the enclosure offering an incredible amount of options. The trees and fences throughout the enclosure, much like in the savannah, break it up so as to offer the animals places to escape one another, and, yet again, more options. There are even offshow enclosures for both the bulls and the cows, both indoors and outdoors. I seem to remember a study conducted on captive elephants that proves structural complexity is far more important than size when it comes to increasing elephant activity, and when it comes to structural complexity I’m not sure there is any elephant enclosure on the planet that has had as much thought put into it as Zurich.

(Credit to @Gil for this photo - yet again I forgot to photograph a crucial part of one of the zoo’s exhibits)

The indoors is simply phenomenal. Architecturally, it may be one of my all-time favourite buildings in a zoo, with 271 skylights in a 6,800 square metre roof, designed to cast shadows on the enclosure that dapple it, recreating the type of forests that the elephants would inhabit in the wild. As mentioned earlier, the underwater viewing is brilliant, and, contrary to what I expected, half of the enclosure’s perimeter can actually be explored, with multiple viewing angles for the elephants - another example of Zurich hiding cross-viewing phenomenally well. There were even feeders on the tiers of the moat at the foreground of the enclosure, which encouraged the elephants to come very close to the main viewing. Sadly, the upper level viewing was fenced off and not accessible to the public, but this may normally be the case

At first, I was worried, as I could not find a single elephant. I asked a keeper, who told us that the zoo’s elephants aren’t too fond of the sunlight, so spend much of their time in the two most shaded enclosures, which happen to be the two offshow ones. After quite a lot of waiting, two elephants appeared indoors, and I never thought I would see such impressive animals look so small in a building such as this. Surely this is the largest elephant house in the world? It's certainly over twice the size of Whipsnade’s house, which I thought to be ridiculously big when I first saw it. I also found a bull in his outdoor enclosure, from the upper viewing area near the Geladas.

Another wonderful element of this enclosure is the presence of a herd of Blackbuck who share with the bull, with several spaces to evade the elephant should need be. The House also features additional species, such as the Black-breasted Leaf Turtle, a very peculiar animal, one of which was rather active in a terrarium at the far end of the house, near the underwater viewing. There were also several insect species near here, although I sadly don’t recall what they were, and yet more Crested Partridge. I spent quite a lot of time here (elephants are one of those animals that I can admire all day, at every zoo I visit, and still never get tired of watching them, especially when displayed like this), but after a lot of time and a cold drink (after having been absurdly rainy for most of our time in Strasbourg, the heat during our two days in Zurich was out of hand), I reluctantly moved onwards.

The pathways around the elephant outdoor enclosures are a bit of a labyrinth, but the best kind of labyrinth. One where wild lizards scurry across your pathway, elephants roam the greatest enclosure for them in a European zoo, and dense bamboo surrounds you on all sides. After spending far longer helplessly searching than I am willing to admit, I found the final major exhibit at Zurich Zoo, and what an exhibit it was - Semien Highlands.

(Photo credit to @twilighter - by this point my phone battery had died, so at least I have an excuse this time around!)

One of two mixes between Gelada, Nubian Ibex and Rock Hyrax that I had seen in continental Europe this year after Magdeburg, this is yet another exhibit that proves landscaping and creative mixed species exhibits are the easiest way to achieve something world-class. Taking advantage of Zurich’s steep, hillside setting, Semien has taken a sloping patch of grass, covered it in rocks and pebbles (including a large pillar in the centre, which several young Geladas took joy in climbing) and then mixed primates, ungulates and hyraxes together in one enclosure, with all three of them being tremendously active, and yet contrasting one another in their behaviour.

And, it is another example of perfectly subtle theming, with the main viewing area being a hut with a straw-thatched roof, and several education elements relating to Ethiopian culture, being enough to convey an Ethiopian theme, but not so much that it detracts from the exhibit, and mainly has a conservational focus. If it wasn’t for those obviously fake and rather silly looking palm trees, this would surely be recognised as another one of Zurich’s great exhibits.

By this time, I had two hours left before closing, and started off by returning to highlights from across the day. I returned to the Spectacled Bears, who were just as active as they were that morning, but sadly there was no sign of the coatis, and to the apes, only to find both the gorillas and orangutans regularly being teased by visitors. It was heart-breaking, but I am not sure what zoos can do to stop it, except putting up more signs, unless they are well-staffed enough to monitor enclosures? A lot of members of the public, whose German was better than my own, confronted the people teasing the animals, but it turned out that they were tourists as well, and kept on going. Thankfully, some extremely cute Harbour Seals were just around the corner to provide therapy of sorts!

As mentioned earlier, I saw the wolves active, while trying to find the lion enclosure, and I also returned to watch the Persian Goitered Gazelle. Opposite their enclosure, I found a single cable car, which I believe is a model for what will be used in one of the zoo’s future developments, which will add a cable car line to the zoo? And, hidden behind it, in a bush surrounded by vegetation, was the entrance to the zoo’s stork walkthrough, Selenga Eurasian Wetlands.

(Credit to @twilighter once again)

Selenga feels out-of-place at Zurich. Members more familiar with the zoo can correct me, but it almost feels like it was never meant to be an enclosure in the first place. A lovely, shaded pond, surrounded by reeds and tall grass, with towering nests for native European White Storks (I think I was too late in the year to see any, sadly), filled with native wildlife. It remains open-topped to allow for them, and yet randomly, the zoo has placed several other animals, including captive storks and waterfowl, on the lake. However, to allow it to remain open-topped, all the birds are pinioned. As I am personally against the practice of preventing birds from flying, I feel as though Zurich should choose between either having it exclusively for native wildlife, and removing the captive birds, or to net it over and have it exclusively for the captive animals (which I assume will be problematic given how many native animals live there). It's not awful, but it’s also not ideal. And it is a very difficult decision to make, as the number of native animals on the lake are what made it so lovely, but seeing species which are equally common at a local park (or at the Zurichsee, the major lake in the middle of the city where the water was so clear that you could watch grebes and ducks dive) does seem to make the existence of a zoo somewhat redundant.

The following species were signed:

Black Stork
White Stork
Red-breasted Goose
Bar-headed Goose
Northern Shoveller
European Goldeneye
Mandarin Duck
European Pond Turtle

I then made my way back to Masoala, on my way passing through Zoolino. I had intended on skipping this area of the zoo, as it mainly held domestics, but in the end, decided it was worth investigating. At the end, I found the zoo’s Bat House, which is operated by the Swiss Bat Conservation Foundation. A two-story house that provides a lot of educational, and sometimes interactive, displays on the life of the bats in question. The bats themselves are kept behind-the-scenes, but at 2 PM on weekdays (and Sundays, but only in January and February), they are fed in an onshow portion of the House, where visitors can see them. Sadly, I missed this, but I will make a point of seeing it should I ever return to Zurich.

Another such thing is the Masoala Express, a train which takes visitors from the zoo entrance to that of Masoala Regenwald. I thought little of it while at the zoo, but in retrospect, the zoo’s map suggests that its route leads through the Betriebszentrum (Operations Centre), which I believe may be home to several of the zoo’s behind-the-scenes species. Perhaps members more familiar with Zurich can inform me better, but I do wonder if any of said species are onshow to visitors who take the train?

With 15 minutes remaining, I visited what was, as far as I was aware, the only enclosure in the entire zoo that I am yet to have seen - the Arabian Oryx enclosure. Among the rarer oryx species, and held at only one British collection, it was a delight to see them for the first time in over three years. Multiple enclosures, each with a mix of grass and sand, plenty of logs and shade, onshow stables and a sheltered area, made for a pleasant exhibit, but hardly as standout as some of Zurich’s others, and clearly one of the older ones at the zoo. I believe this is also the location of the zoo’s former zebra enclosure, which appears to have been combined with the oryx one when the equids moved to Lewa, which certainly improved the living conditions of the oryx, as well. It was now that I also found the indoor squirrel monkey enclosure, and saw a capuchin, as mentioned earlier. And on that note, I had seen the entirety of Zoo Zürich, and made my way to the gift shop. I was unable to find the zoo’s guidebook, so purchased a magazine instead, which, in and of itself, was 129 pages of phenomenal information and pictures, and is better than the majority of genuine guidebooks which I had seen!

And on that note, I reluctantly made my way back to the hotel, convinced which I had just seen one of the very greatest zoos on the planet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now I will devote these last few paragraphs to some final thoughts to complete the review. The best thing about spending nearly a week writing this, is that it has given me plenty of time to think about what I want to say in this section.

So far, I have seen four zoos which are unanimously considered ‘world-class,’ with those being (in the order that I visited) Beauval, Chester, Burgers’ and Zurich, and although you could argue that Antwerp and Magdeburg also meet that description, it does feel like a little bit of a stretch. Before I explain why, I am just going to get this out of the way - Zoo Zürich is the greatest zoo that I have ever visited by far.

I know that a lot of people on this site have one characteristic, or criteria, that they look for in a zoo. Whether it's the number of lifeticks on offer, the quality of the enclosures, the quirkiness and creativity in their newer exhibits, the history and older buildings, the breadth and comprehensiveness of the collection or the overall atmosphere. For a long time, I have been trying to find what my characteristics are - in other words, which stereotype I would meet from this brilliant thread. And the conclusion that I have come to is that I don’t really have one criteria, except that a zoo has something special about it. Something, whether it's a particularly ambitious or fun exhibit, or a particular theme that is subtly present. I don’t really care if it is hyper-modern greenhouses or 18th Century architecture - if a zoo has something unique about it, embraces that as its characteristic, and does it well, then, as far as I am concerned, it has succeeded as a zoo.

And Zurich has so much special about it. Zurich understands that, when done subtly and respectfully, cultural theming can really elevate an enclosure, especially when linked to conservation projects. It also understands how to design an enclosure that encourages the animals to be active, while also creating an illusion of their natural habitat. This is Zurich’s formula, and without failure they have used it to create world-class enclosures. In a zoo that is far smaller than other major European collections in terms of area, this level of skillfulness and space efficiency is important, too. It is this masterful exhibit design and outstanding enclosure quality which made Zurich unique, and made me fall in love with the place. I also mentioned that certain zoos have individual enclosures that are good enough in and of themselves to win me over, and Zurich had multiple. Give any other zoo Sangay Bergenebelwald, Himalaya, Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark or, of course, Masoala Regenwald, and they will already merit an honourable mention in a list of the top five zoos in its nation. Put them all in one zoo, and you have a collection so incredibly good that it almost feels unfair to compare it to any other zoo. I suppose what I love about Zurich is that it dares to be different. It fills a sea of concrete with ridiculously naturalistic enclosures, and lets the contrast between the two stand out. It builds the largest elephant house on the planet and fills it with 200 skylights. It gives Snow Leopards a steep, rocky cliff face to climb, equips it with multi-level viewing, and lets them scale it in front of the watchful visitors.

If I had to criticise Zurich, I could - the Ape House is awful and outdated, and in the entire zoo, I only counted 62 bird species, 61 fish, 53 mammals, 30 reptiles and 10 amphibians, for a total of just 216 onshow vertebrate species in the entire zoo. That number isn’t bad, but is completely shattered by just about every other major zoo that I have visited. I am aware that the zoo has several species offshow, and it is entirely possible that I missed some (I am also not counting the many invertebrates), but that number just feels far too low for a zoo of its calibre. I can criticise Zurich, but I can also criticise just about any zoo, regardless of how good and well-received they are. And I wouldn’t want to criticise Zurich. The ape enclosures are being renovated in the next decade, and if any zoo can absolutely perfect Kongo and Sumatra Regenwald, it's Zurich. And I’ve never been one to really care for how many species are onshow (one of my favourite zoos, Highland Wildlife Park, has just 26!). And, above all, as guilty as I feel in admitting this, Zurich completely blinded me to any of its flaws with Masoala and Kaeng Krachan.

Just imagining what it will be like in a decade or so, when Panterra, the Pantanal Voliere, Kongo, Sumatra Regenwald and the Meeresküste are all open, is exciting. I really hope to return around then, to see all the new developments.

It was a lot of fun for me as the writer, and I hope that all readers found it to be equally so. Thank you to all for reading my review of the incredible place that is Zoo Zürich.

 

[FBBird]

Part 5 - Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark:

Before even entering Kaeng Krachan itself, I was already impressed by it thematically. The growingly dense plants, especially bamboo, and the change in the rockwork made the transition from an African Savannah to a Southeast Asian rainforest a very subtle one, which was nice. Throughout the exhibit, the theming was brilliant, with the ruined huts and other structures, attempting to draw links to the human-elephant conflict which happens in Thailand, the prevention of which being one of Zurich’s main aims with its conservation projects in the area. There were some cultural elements, such as a small portion of the fencing, but not for a moment did it feel irritating or exaggerated.

Opened in 2014, Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark was yet another masterstroke of the modern Zurich zoo, and is by far the greatest elephant enclosure which I have personally seen. Housing Asian Elephants, the outdoors is around 4,800 square metres (1.18 acres), while the indoors is even bigger, at 5,400 square metres (1.33 acres). While a combined area of barely over a hectare may not seem like much, this enclosure was, in terms of design, unparalleled by any other zoo.

Both the bull and cows have access to three different basins (one outdoors and one indoors), most of which are deep enough for the elephants to fully submerge themselves into, with one of them (the indoor cow pool) even being equipped with underwater viewing. Throughout the exhibit, there are 40 different feeding stations in total, with holes in the rocks and bags hanging from branches throughout the enclosure offering an incredible amount of options. The trees and fences throughout the enclosure, much like in the savannah, break it up so as to offer the animals places to escape one another, and, yet again, more options. There are even offshow enclosures for both the bulls and the cows, both indoors and outdoors. I seem to remember a study conducted on captive elephants that proves structural complexity is far more important than size when it comes to increasing elephant activity, and when it comes to structural complexity I’m not sure there is any elephant enclosure on the planet that has had as much thought put into it as Zurich.

(Credit to @Gil for this photo - yet again I forgot to photograph a crucial part of one of the zoo’s exhibits)

The indoors is simply phenomenal. Architecturally, it may be one of my all-time favourite buildings in a zoo, with 271 skylights in a 6,800 square metre roof, designed to cast shadows on the enclosure that dapple it, recreating the type of forests that the elephants would inhabit in the wild. As mentioned earlier, the underwater viewing is brilliant, and, contrary to what I expected, half of the enclosure’s perimeter can actually be explored, with multiple viewing angles for the elephants - another example of Zurich hiding cross-viewing phenomenally well. There were even feeders on the tiers of the moat at the foreground of the enclosure, which encouraged the elephants to come very close to the main viewing. Sadly, the upper level viewing was fenced off and not accessible to the public, but this may normally be the case

At first, I was worried, as I could not find a single elephant. I asked a keeper, who told us that the zoo’s elephants aren’t too fond of the sunlight, so spend much of their time in the two most shaded enclosures, which happen to be the two offshow ones. After quite a lot of waiting, two elephants appeared indoors, and I never thought I would see such impressive animals look so small in a building such as this. Surely this is the largest elephant house in the world? It's certainly over twice the size of Whipsnade’s house, which I thought to be ridiculously big when I first saw it. I also found a bull in his outdoor enclosure, from the upper viewing area near the Geladas.

Another wonderful element of this enclosure is the presence of a herd of Blackbuck who share with the bull, with several spaces to evade the elephant should need be. The House also features additional species, such as the Black-breasted Leaf Turtle, a very peculiar animal, one of which was rather active in a terrarium at the far end of the house, near the underwater viewing. There were also several insect species near here, although I sadly don’t recall what they were, and yet more Crested Partridge. I spent quite a lot of time here (elephants are one of those animals that I can admire all day, at every zoo I visit, and still never get tired of watching them, especially when displayed like this), but after a lot of time and a cold drink (after having been absurdly rainy for most of our time in Strasbourg, the heat during our two days in Zurich was out of hand), I reluctantly moved onwards.

The pathways around the elephant outdoor enclosures are a bit of a labyrinth, but the best kind of labyrinth. One where wild lizards scurry across your pathway, elephants roam the greatest enclosure for them in a European zoo, and dense bamboo surrounds you on all sides. After spending far longer helplessly searching than I am willing to admit, I found the final major exhibit at Zurich Zoo, and what an exhibit it was - Semien Highlands.

(Photo credit to @twilighter - by this point my phone battery had died, so at least I have an excuse this time around!)

One of two mixes between Gelada, Nubian Ibex and Rock Hyrax that I had seen in continental Europe this year after Magdeburg, this is yet another exhibit that proves landscaping and creative mixed species exhibits are the easiest way to achieve something world-class. Taking advantage of Zurich’s steep, hillside setting, Semien has taken a sloping patch of grass, covered it in rocks and pebbles (including a large pillar in the centre, which several young Geladas took joy in climbing) and then mixed primates, ungulates and hyraxes together in one enclosure, with all three of them being tremendously active, and yet contrasting one another in their behaviour.

And, it is another example of perfectly subtle theming, with the main viewing area being a hut with a straw-thatched roof, and several education elements relating to Ethiopian culture, being enough to convey an Ethiopian theme, but not so much that it detracts from the exhibit, and mainly has a conservational focus. If it wasn’t for those obviously fake and rather silly looking palm trees, this would surely be recognised as another one of Zurich’s great exhibits.

By this time, I had two hours left before closing, and started off by returning to highlights from across the day. I returned to the Spectacled Bears, who were just as active as they were that morning, but sadly there was no sign of the coatis, and to the apes, only to find both the gorillas and orangutans regularly being teased by visitors. It was heart-breaking, but I am not sure what zoos can do to stop it, except putting up more signs, unless they are well-staffed enough to monitor enclosures? A lot of members of the public, whose German was better than my own, confronted the people teasing the animals, but it turned out that they were tourists as well, and kept on going. Thankfully, some extremely cute Harbour Seals were just around the corner to provide therapy of sorts!

As mentioned earlier, I saw the wolves active, while trying to find the lion enclosure, and I also returned to watch the Persian Goitered Gazelle. Opposite their enclosure, I found a single cable car, which I believe is a model for what will be used in one of the zoo’s future developments, which will add a cable car line to the zoo? And, hidden behind it, in a bush surrounded by vegetation, was the entrance to the zoo’s stork walkthrough, Selenga Eurasian Wetlands.

(Credit to @twilighter once again)

Selenga feels out-of-place at Zurich. Members more familiar with the zoo can correct me, but it almost feels like it was never meant to be an enclosure in the first place. A lovely, shaded pond, surrounded by reeds and tall grass, with towering nests for native European White Storks (I think I was too late in the year to see any, sadly), filled with native wildlife. It remains open-topped to allow for them, and yet randomly, the zoo has placed several other animals, including captive storks and waterfowl, on the lake. However, to allow it to remain open-topped, all the birds are pinioned. As I am personally against the practice of preventing birds from flying, I feel as though Zurich should choose between either having it exclusively for native wildlife, and removing the captive birds, or to net it over and have it exclusively for the captive animals (which I assume will be problematic given how many native animals live there). It's not awful, but it’s also not ideal. And it is a very difficult decision to make, as the number of native animals on the lake are what made it so lovely, but seeing species which are equally common at a local park (or at the Zurichsee, the major lake in the middle of the city where the water was so clear that you could watch grebes and ducks dive) does seem to make the existence of a zoo somewhat redundant.

The following species were signed:

Black Stork
White Stork
Red-breasted Goose
Bar-headed Goose
Northern Shoveller
European Goldeneye
Mandarin Duck
European Pond Turtle

I then made my way back to Masoala, on my way passing through Zoolino. I had intended on skipping this area of the zoo, as it mainly held domestics, but in the end, decided it was worth investigating. At the end, I found the zoo’s Bat House, which is operated by the Swiss Bat Conservation Foundation. A two-story house that provides a lot of educational, and sometimes interactive, displays on the life of the bats in question. The bats themselves are kept behind-the-scenes, but at 2 PM on weekdays (and Sundays, but only in January and February), they are fed in an onshow portion of the House, where visitors can see them. Sadly, I missed this, but I will make a point of seeing it should I ever return to Zurich.

Another such thing is the Masoala Express, a train which takes visitors from the zoo entrance to that of Masoala Regenwald. I thought little of it while at the zoo, but in retrospect, the zoo’s map suggests that its route leads through the Betriebszentrum (Operations Centre), which I believe may be home to several of the zoo’s behind-the-scenes species. Perhaps members more familiar with Zurich can inform me better, but I do wonder if any of said species are onshow to visitors who take the train?

With 15 minutes remaining, I visited what was, as far as I was aware, the only enclosure in the entire zoo that I am yet to have seen - the Arabian Oryx enclosure. Among the rarer oryx species, and held at only one British collection, it was a delight to see them for the first time in over three years. Multiple enclosures, each with a mix of grass and sand, plenty of logs and shade, onshow stables and a sheltered area, made for a pleasant exhibit, but hardly as standout as some of Zurich’s others, and clearly one of the older ones at the zoo. I believe this is also the location of the zoo’s former zebra enclosure, which appears to have been combined with the oryx one when the equids moved to Lewa, which certainly improved the living conditions of the oryx, as well. It was now that I also found the indoor squirrel monkey enclosure, and saw a capuchin, as mentioned earlier. And on that note, I had seen the entirety of Zoo Zürich, and made my way to the gift shop. I was unable to find the zoo’s guidebook, so purchased a magazine instead, which, in and of itself, was 129 pages of phenomenal information and pictures, and is better than the majority of genuine guidebooks which I had seen!

And on that note, I reluctantly made my way back to the hotel, convinced which I had just seen one of the very greatest zoos on the planet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now I will devote these last few paragraphs to some final thoughts to complete the review. The best thing about spending nearly a week writing this, is that it has given me plenty of time to think about what I want to say in this section.

So far, I have seen four zoos which are unanimously considered ‘world-class,’ with those being (in the order that I visited) Beauval, Chester, Burgers’ and Zurich, and although you could argue that Antwerp and Magdeburg also meet that description, it does feel like a little bit of a stretch. Before I explain why, I am just going to get this out of the way - Zoo Zürich is the greatest zoo that I have ever visited by far.

I know that a lot of people on this site have one characteristic, or criteria, that they look for in a zoo. Whether it's the number of lifeticks on offer, the quality of the enclosures, the quirkiness and creativity in their newer exhibits, the history and older buildings, the breadth and comprehensiveness of the collection or the overall atmosphere. For a long time, I have been trying to find what my characteristics are - in other words, which stereotype I would meet from this brilliant thread. And the conclusion that I have come to is that I don’t really have one criteria, except that a zoo has something special about it. Something, whether it's a particularly ambitious or fun exhibit, or a particular theme that is subtly present. I don’t really care if it is hyper-modern greenhouses or 18th Century architecture - if a zoo has something unique about it, embraces that as its characteristic, and does it well, then, as far as I am concerned, it has succeeded as a zoo.

And Zurich has so much special about it. Zurich understands that, when done subtly and respectfully, cultural theming can really elevate an enclosure, especially when linked to conservation projects. It also understands how to design an enclosure that encourages the animals to be active, while also creating an illusion of their natural habitat. This is Zurich’s formula, and without failure they have used it to create world-class enclosures. In a zoo that is far smaller than other major European collections in terms of area, this level of skillfulness and space efficiency is important, too. It is this masterful exhibit design and outstanding enclosure quality which made Zurich unique, and made me fall in love with the place. I also mentioned that certain zoos have individual enclosures that are good enough in and of themselves to win me over, and Zurich had multiple. Give any other zoo Sangay Bergenebelwald, Himalaya, Kaeng Krachan Elefantenpark or, of course, Masoala Regenwald, and they will already merit an honourable mention in a list of the top five zoos in its nation. Put them all in one zoo, and you have a collection so incredibly good that it almost feels unfair to compare it to any other zoo. I suppose what I love about Zurich is that it dares to be different. It fills a sea of concrete with ridiculously naturalistic enclosures, and lets the contrast between the two stand out. It builds the largest elephant house on the planet and fills it with 200 skylights. It gives Snow Leopards a steep, rocky cliff face to climb, equips it with multi-level viewing, and lets them scale it in front of the watchful visitors.

If I had to criticise Zurich, I could - the Ape House is awful and outdated, and in the entire zoo, I only counted 62 bird species, 61 fish, 53 mammals, 30 reptiles and 10 amphibians, for a total of just 216 onshow vertebrate species in the entire zoo. That number isn’t bad, but is completely shattered by just about every other major zoo that I have visited. I am aware that the zoo has several species offshow, and it is entirely possible that I missed some (I am also not counting the many invertebrates), but that number just feels far too low for a zoo of its calibre. I can criticise Zurich, but I can also criticise just about any zoo, regardless of how good and well-received they are. And I wouldn’t want to criticise Zurich. The ape enclosures are being renovated in the next decade, and if any zoo can absolutely perfect Kongo and Sumatra Regenwald, it's Zurich. And I’ve never been one to really care for how many species are onshow (one of my favourite zoos, Highland Wildlife Park, has just 26!). And, above all, as guilty as I feel in admitting this, Zurich completely blinded me to any of its flaws with Masoala and Kaeng Krachan.

Just imagining what it will be like in a decade or so, when Panterra, the Pantanal Voliere, Kongo, Sumatra Regenwald and the Meeresküste are all open, is exciting. I really hope to return around then, to see all the new developments.

It was a lot of fun for me as the writer, and I hope that all readers found it to be equally so. Thank you to all for reading my review of the incredible place that is Zoo Zürich.

I’ve much enjoyed this detailed and thoughtful review of such a fine zoo, that I visited last autumn, but two points occur to me:
*the Snow Leopards on a rock face totally blew me away, especially being able to turn round from them to eyeball a Red Panda in a tree
*wonderful pure bred Red Junglefowl sharing the elephants’ indoor space

 

[Jurek7]

Very nice review!

The magnificent snow leopard exhibit does not continue much into the forest behind - the fence is just behind the first bushes up the slope.

Of plant life in Masoala hall, only about one third are native to Madagascar, according to the keeper.

Regarding apes, the current modernization plan of the zoo (on the zoo website) foresees grandiose exhibits, but unfortunately much to the future. This means that apes will live for 10 years or more in their current place, unfortunately. it looks like, with the modernization of the zoo, giant apes building really started to stick out as bad.

There is a mystery building with plaque saying off-show rescue centre for wild animals between the savanna and the Masoala. It would be interesting to hear from any zoochatter who knows something about it.

 

[lintworm]

An excellent review!

Very nice review!

The magnificent snow leopard exhibit does not continue much into the forest behind - the fence is just behind the first bushes up the slope.

Of plant life in Masoala hall, only about one third are native to Madagascar, according to the keeper.

Regarding apes, the current modernization plan of the zoo (on the zoo website) foresees grandiose exhibits, but unfortunately much to the future. This means that apes will live for 10 years or more in their current place, unfortunately. it looks like, with the modernization of the zoo, giant apes building really started to stick out as bad.

There is a mystery building with plaque saying off-show rescue centre for wild animals between the savanna and the Masoala. It would be interesting to hear from any zoochatter who knows something about it.

I imagine you mean the building from Zürcher Tierschutz which houses rescued pets.

 

[LARTIS]

Like everyone else, am I enjoying the review a lot.
Just wanted to add a short note I had also posted some while ago on the news thread, the number invertebrates is sadly outdated, that refered to the hall including the reef tank, therefor the vast majority of the invertebrates were corals, anemones and shrimp.

quote from my original post

Note that it can not be determined for certain if the species are still present or actualy died out as free roamers in relation to the sheer size of the hall and possibilities to hide.

Intentionaly introduced
Termite species (plural) not given
Technomyrmex sp., potentialy other ants not intentionaly introduced
Archispirostreptus gigas und Spirostreptus spec Millipede
several cockroach species with specificaly mentioned with latin names Periplaneta australasiae and Pycnoscelus surinamensis
European earwig intentionaly supported

Accidentally established due to the imports of the plants from different local realms, once again species not specificaly named, because they sadly did not get to study them yet.

Failed attempt
Parasphendale affinis praying mantis

 

[snowleopard]

Thanks again for your glowing, incredibly detailed review. Zurich is regarded as an amazing zoo, even though it's not got the massive animal collection that some of its peers have. But as you point out, it's exciting to ponder what Zurich will look like in the future, with Panterra, the huge Pantanal Aviary, new habitats for gorillas and orangutans, etc. If the upcoming exhibits are as impressive as what's been built in the past 20 years (since Masoala Rainforest), Zurich will remain one of the premier zoos in the world without a shadow of a doubt.

 

[Kalaw]

Thanks again for your glowing, incredibly detailed review. Zurich is regarded as an amazing zoo, even though it's not got the massive animal collection that some of its peers have. But as you point out, it's exciting to ponder what Zurich will look like in the future, with Panterra, the huge Pantanal Aviary, new habitats for gorillas and orangutans, etc. If the upcoming exhibits are as impressive as what's been built in the past 20 years (since Masoala Rainforest), Zurich will remain one of the premier zoos in the world without a shadow of a doubt.

The future is, indeed, very bright for Zurich. I wonder if any European zoos (perhaps Pairi Daiza?) have as exciting a masterplan as Zurich, at the moment.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you think of Zurich? Was it still considered one of Europe's greatest zoos even before Kaeng Krachan, Pantanal, Semien and Lewa?

Very nice review!

The magnificent snow leopard exhibit does not continue much into the forest behind - the fence is just behind the first bushes up the slope.

Of plant life in Masoala hall, only about one third are native to Madagascar, according to the keeper.

Regarding apes, the current modernization plan of the zoo (on the zoo website) foresees grandiose exhibits, but unfortunately much to the future. This means that apes will live for 10 years or more in their current place, unfortunately. it looks like, with the modernization of the zoo, giant apes building really started to stick out as bad.

There is a mystery building with plaque saying off-show rescue centre for wild animals between the savanna and the Masoala. It would be interesting to hear from any zoochatter who knows something about it.

You are right about the Snow Leopards (the fencing was just about visible in places), but there was still more tree cover than what most zoos offer, and there was enough for the Snow Leopards to vanish into it. It took a lot of waiting and before I realised that there were four cats in that enclosure!

Interesting, and a little unfortunate, about the plants in Madagascar being less accurate than I suspected. I got my 80% statistic from the zoo's website, but I suppose the keepers will be more up-to-date.

@lintworm is correct about the Zurcher Tierschutz. There were a few signs describing it, which seemed to imply that it was a separate organisation to the zoo, but I could have been misunderstanding.

I’ve much enjoyed this detailed and thoughtful review of such a fine zoo, that I visited last autumn, but two points occur to me:
*the Snow Leopards on a rock face totally blew me away, especially being able to turn round from them to eyeball a Red Panda in a tree
*wonderful pure bred Red Junglefowl sharing the elephants’ indoor space

I knew I was forgetting another bird species in the elephant house, thanks for reminding me. I only caught brief glimpses of the junglefowl, but agree that they made a wonderful addition to an excellent building.

 

[snowleopard]

The future is, indeed, very bright for Zurich. I wonder if any European zoos (perhaps Pairi Daiza?) have as exciting a masterplan as Zurich, at the moment.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you think of Zurich? Was it still considered one of Europe's greatest zoos even before Kaeng Krachan, Pantanal, Semien and Lewa?

When I visited Zurich in October 2003, the Masoala Rainforest complex had recently opened and it was stunning to see it in all its "freshness", although arguably it is better now with the foliage having grown in. The Andean Bear/Coati exhibit was revolutionary, the Exotarium was splendid, and it was an excellent zoo. The last 20 years has seen Zurich become one of the best zoos on the planet and I fully expect it to retain that status far into the future. I'll have to return one day!