Europe's 100 must see exhibits

[Fallax]

Great post,.I decided to go back and see which Chester exhibits were mentioned out of interest.

• Realm of the Red Ape
  Spectacled Bear Enclosure
  Fruit Bat Forest
  Spirit of the Jaguar
  Islands
  Tsavo Black Rhino Experience
  Giant Otter Enclosure

I think I would agree that these are certainly in the "top 10" for the zoo. If I had to pick 3 more... It would probably be quite difficult and I'm not sure there is any more I would have considered for the list...

One exhibit that no longer exists but I think could have been considered if it still existed is the Europe on the Edge aviary.

 

[ralph]

My next zoo trip will include Stuttgart, Munich and Nuremberg, and seeing these zoos being mentioned so often in this thread is adding to the excitement.

 

[lintworm]

I have been praising the design of Burgers' Ocean in this thread before, especially on their immersion design and landscaping.

85. Burgers’ Ocean
Burgers’ Zoo, Arnhem, the Netherlands
Opened: 2000
Size: 3600 square metres, 8 million litres
Inhabitants: roughly 150 fish species, >100 coral species and many other invertebrates

This aquarium is a triumph and while it contains multiple great tanks, the core strength lies in the overall design. While former director Antoon van Hooff gets a lot of credit for his vision on zoo design, it would not have been possible without Tom de Jongh, the now retired curator and exhibit designer of the zoo. The Ocean is not only conceptually strong, by following a clear journey through a clearly defined ecosystem: the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific, but even more so by its execution. The Ocean was designed in such a way that, bar a few small blips, visitors see exactly what the designer wants them to see and that is all natural. There is no cross-viewing here or obvious empty tank walls. Additionally the rock work and artificial corals are of a high quality, with a great eye for detail. The deeper part of the lagoon tank shows the craftsmanship of Mr. de Jongh the best. There are no less than 6 viewing areas at different levels into the tank, but each gives an unique view into this large tank, which through smart landscaping and complete lack of cross viewing seems even bigger than it is. The obvious highlight is however the living coral reef tank, with 750.000 litres the largest on the continent. Three viewing panels invite you to look at this ecosystem from different perspectives. As much as possible this tank maintains its own water quality and food for the inhabitants, and while filtration and fish feeding is still necessary, this tank can partly do it itself. With nearly 50 fish species, 100 species of coral, of which multiple reproduce sexually due to an artificial moon, and countless invertebrates (including over 50 species of foraminifera, to everyone’s surprise), this tank always has something new to discover. The remainder of the aquarium has highlights for the casual visitor with a large shark tank and an acrylic tunnel with a breeding group of ocellated eagle rays. It is a pity that most do not consciously appreciate the skill that went into designing this aquarium, just make sure you take a good look at the design at your next visit.

@lintworm

@KevinVar

@lintworm

@Mr Gharial

@KevinB

Similar exhibits: I do not know any other aquarium that combines a clear concept, strong design and exhibit quality at this scale.

The coral reef tank is large with 750.000 litres and has 3 main viewing panels, but they are placed in such a way that there is no crossviewing at all. That is not because the tank is so big, but because landscaping is smart. That becomes very visible when one can appreciate the tank from above:

The 3 viewing panels are remarkably close to each other and as a visitor you walk around 3 sides of the tank. From a regular visitor perspective you see this when walking "below". The pictures correspond to the viewing window left, then top and then right:

Left window:

Top window

Right window

The main indicator when "below" that you are looking at the same tank is the colony of staghorn corals that is visible from all 3 windows.

Also worth highlighting is how smart lighting and the use of something as simple as a huge cloth makes the shark tank so effective. When below the sharks seem to disappear into the deep and it is hard to impossible to see how deep the tank actually is:

As can be seen from above, the distance between the viewing panel and the back wall is not much more than 10 metres:

But by only lighting the part closest to the viewing panel and blocking out lighting the rest of the tank with a huge cloth, one gets the impression that you are really looking into the blue. This relatively simple measure means that sharks can actually disappear into the deep.

While it is always nice to have a look behind the scenes, it can really help in appreciating just how big the effect of thoughtful design can be and what simple tricks can be used to deliver effective immersion.

That this is a lesson other zoos have not always learnt shows this picture from Wroclaw, where horrible lighting and bad landscaping, enabling crossviewing, destroys the potential of what could be a great tank. The bad lighting even makes the crossviewing even more apparent. It wouldn't even be much more expensive than what is there now.

 

[lintworm]

82. Giant salamander house
Zoo Prague, Czechia,
Opened: 2014
Size: 200 square metres
Inhabitants: Chinese giant salamander, Mangshan pit viper, impressed tortoise

From a zoo that takes pride in displaying unusual species, this might be the best example of how to highlight the unknown. From the outside this unobtrusive house blends in perfectly into the landscape. The inside is managed in a slightly different day-night cycle than outside, with darkness coming in the early afternoon, giving a higher chance to see active salamanders. The salamanders themselves are kept in 5 tanks, which can be connected, and together these tanks form a small stream. Several impressive specimens are kept and viewing options are good, so even regular visitors should be able to get good views of this species, which can be surprisingly hard to properly see despite its size. Prague would not be Prague if they would not cram in some more rarities. Here two terraria showcase endangered and rarely kept Chinese reptiles: Impressed Tortoise and Mangshan Pit Viper. Unfortunately for us, but probably better for the salamander, photography is officially forbidden inside and this is normally well policed. Only in the Czech republic could one probably find someone whose job it is to tell people not to take pictures of rare ectotherms…

@lintworm

@Nasua

@Nasua

@Nasua

Similar exhibits: Good large salamander displays are hard to find, but the hellbender exhibit in Zoo Basel, Switzerland is excellent. Replicating a little stream, water flows through 3 connected tanks, of which the middle one consists of 4 separate enclosures for breeding purposes. No pictures have been uploaded to the gallery yet, but there are some on their website (Schlammteufel – eine selten in Zoos gehaltene Amphibienart). Zoo Prague has two more houses with plenty of terraria and a giant tortoise house in the lower part alone, but the other ectotherm highlight here is clearly the Gharial house. Another fine small house showing rarely displayed reptiles, including several critically endangered turtle species. And fortunately photography is not forbidden there.

Zoo Prague:

@Robaque

@zootiger

Back in 2022 I mentioned the hellbender exhibit in Zoo Basel as a similar exhibit as Prague's giant salamander house. That was solely based on info and pictures from the zoo, but today I was fortunate enough to see it for myself and it is indeed a triumph.

The hellbender enclosure is the former monitor / tegu enclosure and it took some time to get refurbished.

The design is quite complex with 4 separate tanks which are on 3 different levels and are connected via waterfalls. That probably keeps the hellbenders and the rainbow shiners that share the water put, but it makes for a complex environment replicating a stream.

The highest tank isn't visible from the main viewing window, but can be seen from the side.

The lowest level has the largest tank and I counted 3 hellbenders in it. The other 3 tanks appeared to have 1 hellbender each.

You can just see a hellbender head on the ledge on the right.

While 5 hellbenders were quite easy to find, it seems that the general public didn't think so and many failed to locate these gorgeous creatures. This is now the 4th European zoo where I have seen this species and it is by far the nicest looking enclosure I have seen for them. Basel eventually hopes to breed them too, but that hasn't happened yet.

 

[Chlidonias]

That Hellbender tank has the terrestrial part displayed as tropical and the aquatic part as coldwater stream. It's a confusing look.

 

[lintworm]

That Hellbender tank has the terrestrial part displayed as tropical and the aquatic part as coldwater stream. It's a confusing look.

I was also wondering about those bromeliads. I just learnt there are native bromeliad species in the southeast of the USA, but I don't think they would occur in hellbender habitat. There were also North-American plants in the exhibit such as floating pennyworth. But I agree it looks somewhat weird.

 

[birdsandbats]

I was also wondering about those bromeliads. I just learnt there are native bromeliad species in the southeast of the USA, but I don't think they would occur in hellbender habitat. There were also North-American plants in the exhibit such as floating pennyworth. But I agree it looks somewhat weird.

Yeah, none of our native bromeliads looks anything like those though, and you are right that none overlap with Hellbender range at all (even if you ignore elevation). Nearly all of our native species are in the genus Tillandsia, and most are fairly small and unassuming. Our few more extravagant species are basically limited to far southern Florida and Texas.

 

[Jurek7]

Basel invests much care into careful theming inside exhibits. Several pools are probably a way to separate individuals. Although I wonder why they did not make water slightly deeper and keep giant salamanders themselves!

 

[Gibbonsagainstgravity]

19. Aquarium
Zoo Berlin, Germany
Opened: 1913
Size: 3000 square metres (ground floor)
Inhabitants: over 700 species of reptile, amphibian, fish and invertebrates

Europe’s most species rich zoo building really is a parade of the ectotherm diversity that life has to offer. The building has 185 separate enclosures (thank you @snowleopard for counting them), neatly separated by taxonomy: fish and aquatic life on the ground floor, reptiles on the first floor and amphibians and terrestrial invertebrates on the second floor. This is no place for huge immersive enclosures, but rather an overload of smaller well-designed tanks and terraria. The literal centrepiece of the building is the tropical crocodile hall, which can be viewed from all floors and is the only attempt at immersion. Even if one doesn’t care about the immense diversity, this is still a lovely building. From the iconic Iguanodon statue at the entrance, to all the intricate glasswork above the aquariums, one could spend hours alone appreciating the details of the building. But it is certainly worth paying at least as much attention to the collection, it is hard to find a better building to celebrate the diversity of ectotherm life from tuatara to jellyfish. And after the Shedd aquarium there is no zoo building houses more species anywhere in the world.

@Tarsius

@Tarsius

@lintworm

@lintworm

@Goura

@lintworm

Similar exhibits: more on that later.

I was there recently , and unfortunately the entire top floor was closed for construction!

 

[lintworm]

17. Gibbon cage
Wilhelma, Stuttgart, Germany
Opened: 1973
Size: 100 square metres
Inhabitants: Lar gibbon

This bold piece of architecture was both a perfect representation of its time, as well as far ahead of it. Situated on a steep slope this was the perfect location for a tall cage with lots of concrete for an arboreal species such as gibbons. What makes this cage unique is that there is two-level viewing: A large bridge has been built for perfect viewing at gibbon level high above the ground. Its interior is still very much unchanged from the 1970s, but does offer its inhabitants a lot of climbing options, arguably more so than several modern “naturalistic” islands. Apart from a lack of privacy (except an indoor enclosure that is always accessible), this exhibit has held up remarkably well. That is rather the exception when compared to all the other concrete-heavy mammal enclosures that were built en-masse in the 1970s and 1980s.

@lintworm

@lintworm

@lintworm

Similar exhibits: another older gibbon cage of different design has also held up very well at Zoo Saarbruecken, Germany.

@wstefan

@wstefan

@wstefan

Unfortunately the gibbon cage in the Wilhelma will cease to be an exhibit with live animals within days and this unique building will be demolished next winter. That means there are 99 must see exhibits left of the original list. I could easily replace one German gibbon cage with another, the one in Saarbrücken, but while impressive it lacks the architecture that makes the one in Stuttgart so appealing as a choice. I could also choose another Wilhelma exhibit as successor, such as the Freiflugvolieren a set of walkthrough bird exhibits of close to 35 years old that is another architectural highlight of concrete and steel. I am not convinced the new Australia house, Terra Australis, as an exhibit is good enough, though its collection is certainly must see and the nocturnal areas are of a high quality. So instead, I picked a house somewhat to the south of Stuttgart:

17. Bird house
Zoo Basel, Switzerland
Opened: 1927 - completely renovated in 2023
Size: 1600 square metres
Inhabitants: 35-40 mostly neotropical and SE-Asian bird species

The original bird house in the Zolli was opened in 1927 and designed by the aptly named Heinrich Flügel (Henry Wing). In the early years it also housed apes and other creatures, but in recent times it was just the birds. It was already a fine historic building, with a spacious free-flight area, but after a 30 million CHF renovation it has been completely transformed. The original house shows that there is nothing wrong with an old-fashioned bird house approach of smaller side aviaries and a larger free-flight area. The modern steel outdoor aviaries fit surprisingly well with the century old building behind, in which the intricate historic details were preserved. But it is the inside where this building truly shines. The visitor areas are kept simple and with minimal barriers present a clear contrast to the lush tropical vegetation for the free-flying birds. Optimal use has been made of the height of the building and the birds can be seen from 3 levels. The renovated house alone is worth seeing, but the newly added wing for small Neotropical birds is the real gem. The visitor area shows straight angles, lots of bare concrete and is extremely empty. This means all attention goes to the lush tropical vegetation across the waist-high barrier. With a bit of patience this exhibit reveals a good number of small flying jewels from hummingbirds to euphonias and tanagers. This way of displaying is in a way a homage to the museum-rich and arts dominated city that Basel is. There is no room for thematization or any attempt at immersion, the whole building is designed so that the birds can shine in while doing what they do best, without any distraction. Such a clever design is a worthy successor of the Stuttgart gibbon cage.

@twilighter

@twilighter

@lintworm

@twilighter

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Unfortunately the gibbon cage in the Wilhelma will cease to be an exhibit with live animals within days and this unique building will be demolished next winter. That means there are 99 must see exhibits left of the original list. I could easily replace one German gibbon cage with another, the one in Saarbrücken, but while impressive it lacks the architecture that makes the one in Stuttgart so appealing as a choice. I could also choose another Wilhelma exhibit as successor, such as the Freiflugvolieren a set of walkthrough bird exhibits of close to 35 years old that is another architectural highlight of concrete and steel. I am not convinced the new Australia house, Terra Australis, as an exhibit is good enough, though its collection is certainly must see and the nocturnal areas are of a high quality. So instead, I picked a house somewhat to the south of Stuttgart:

Let me know how you'd like the addition to be formatted, and I'll edit the thread index to include this entry too

 

[BenFoxster]

The only 3 zoos in the United States that mix elephants with anything else are Dallas, Omaha and Tampa...a paltry amount compared to Europe. On a side note, there are only a handful of zoos that allow visitors in with primates in North American zoos, while in Europe it's rare to find a zoo that doesn't allow one to mingle with lemurs or monkeys!

I like your choice of Wisent paddock, @lintworm, although I enjoyed my visit to the Dutch facility Natuurpark Lelystad, because there is an opportunity for visitors to wander through the Wisent/Przewalski's Horse enclosure. The chance of being gored to death elevates the quality of the habitat in my opinion. Here's a photo of the multi-acre exhibit:

As for Polar Bear exhibits, I never tire of showcasing Canada's Assiniboine Park Zoo:

very old comment but Fresno Chaffee has been mixing their African Elephants with slender-horned gazelle since 2015 but barely stopped a few months ago when their elephants had two babies. Most likely once the young ones are old enough the gazelle will be reintroduced to the exhibit.

 

[jwer]

Considering this thread is almost halve-way the second page (and probably should be pinned) and I just visited Schönbrunn for the first time, I think it deserved a bump

Schönbrunn is on the list three times;
- The “rotunda”
Standing on top of the stairs of the breakfast pavillion, looking around and seeing a perfect circle of exhibits is an extraordinary experience. The pavillion itself is incredible as well. I just fail to see it as “an exhibit” though, and therefore wouldn’t add it to my personal “best exhibits” list?
- the bird house
Very well done and well designed building. Both walk-through areas are designed in a way that the interior of the building is completely covered. In that respect I think Artis has done a better job in keeping the architecture on show inside and outside. Vienna’s species choice is better and I think it set the trend, but I like Artis better. And looking at the pictures, Basel might have blown them both out of the water by now?
- Tirolerhof
“Einzigartig” is the right word. A very fine place indeed and in all honesty well-deserving of a mention here.

I like to break a lance for the Haus des Meeres. Situating a zoo in an 11 story high concrete tower creates two things;
- quite a few too small enclosures;
- a unique experience and opportunities.

Two exhibits there I would consider for this thread;
- Australian walk-through exhibit. Yup, budgies. Creating a rather narrow 70m long walk-through aviary for 5 australian birds (swift parrots, rosella’s, budgies, bourkes parrots and elegant parrot) is already something odd but perhaps not exciting. Add in a tank for australian lungfish halveway and free roaming bettong and it’s a little more funky. But creating one on the outside of the 9th floor of a WWII “flakturm” (anti-aircraft tower), circumventing the entire building in the middle of Vienna with stunning vista’s of the entire city is something else. I never thought budgies could be this exciting. I also appreciate the fact that it only houses wild-coloured budgerigars and no breeding-forms.
- the tropical house is build on one side of the tower, from the 2nd floor 15 meters up (I think you exit on floor 6?) and was fully renovated in 2023. Brown-mantled tamarins, goeldi’s monkey, white-faced saki’s and egyptian fruit bats share this slice of jungle with a variety of birds and fish. Visitors take several flights of stairs up through the canopy, which is nice on it’s own. But seeing the monkeys from above, then seeing them effortlessly climbing up and then seeing them jumping from branche to branche, 15 meters off the floor while your dealing with vertigo makes you realise that’s what these monkeys do in the wild, every day. The glass backdrop with views over Vienna makes it less “Amazone” but adds to the experience nonetheless. A unique zoological experience.

I’ll make my own list one day

 

[Philipine eagle]

Haus des meeres's Tropenhaus extend from floors 2 to 4. This 'hanging' greenhouse is indeed very spectaculair. The Australian walk-through is similar, and I found the two “hanging” aviaries at the corners to be particulary unique.

 

[DDcorvus]

It seems I just missed Jwer at Schonbrunn. I was also very impressed with the Artenschutzhaus which has an amazing reptile collection all from confiscated animals and very good education around wildlife trade. It was a real highlight for me. Theme wise they could have added the 2 Jamaican amazon species but i see that would have been a challenge space wise.

 

[jwer]

28. Mandrill and grivet
Tierwelt Herberstein, Austria
Opened: ?
Size: 6000 square metres
Inhabitants: Mandrill, grivet

Creating a great primate enclosure does not need to be extremely difficult, there is no need for expensive climbing equipment or use of mock rock in any form. What sets the great primate enclosures apart from all others is that they give their inhabitants access to living trees, preferably a large number. Not only do they offer a more complex environment than artificial climbing can offer. They also form enrichment as they attract countless invertebrates, which especially for smaller species are an addition to their diet. In the case of mandrill they also offer natural behaviour most other enclosures do not offer: the big males are too heavy to climb and are largely ground-bound, whereas females and youngsters do forage up high. There is fortunately an increasing number of zoos giving primates access to living trees, sometimes by connecting a tree to a cage. These exhibits are great for the primates, but also for visitors, as the one in Herberstein shows by having a large number of active primates in a naturalistic setting.

@Maxime

@Maxime



Similar exhibits: Examples including mandrill can be found in the Zoo de Jurques and la Vallee des Singes, Romagne, both in France. A non-mandrill example would be the Diana guenon enclosure in Zoo Ostrava, Czechia. Fortunately more and more examples become available. Even an existing cage can be easily upgraded if one makes a passage to nearby trees, as Zoo Wroclaw, Poland, among others, shows.

Zoo de Jurques

@lintworm

La Vallee des Singes

@lintworm

Zoo Ostrava

@lintworm

Zoo Wroclaw

@lintworm

I wasn’t planning on going to Herberstein, but we had time to spare and my wife saw the Schloss and insisted, so who am I to argue?

It gave me the opportunity to knock another off @lintworm to do list he gave us

This exhibit fell a bit dud, as almost all the monkeys were on the concrete in front of the indoor housing and none were using the space given. I also only saw 1.1 mandrill, which didn’t do the whole thing justice.

As a celebration of using woodland, I like to point out that many of the pine trees are now gone and the exhibit now contains at least 7 small decidious trees, each heavily protected by it’s own circle of electric wire. It still contains quite a few mature trees, but the effect of having monkeys in a true forest will be back in 20 odd years. Still, it’s a very nice exhibit.

But if it’s the use of tall trees we’re celebrating, Herberstein’s siamang enclosure still is a slice of forest with easily the tallest trees I’ve seen in any ape enclosure yet, with ropes leading up towards the top of some of the tallest. Considering siamangs often get the short end of the stick, this is easily the best gibbon exhibit I’ve seen yet. The indoor quarters alone are bigger than some zoos manage (looking af you Krefeld, I don’t care they were old, that cage was rediculous). There’s even a viewing platform on top of the indoor quarters of the squirrel monkeys so that even if the siamang are high up, you can still get a decent view of them.

Pictures are in the gallery, courtesy of @Philipine eagle.

 

[jwer]

58. Tiny giants (formerly known as B.U.G.S.)
ZSL London Zoo, Uk
Opened: 1999
Size: 1200 square metres
Inhabitants: wide variety of invertebrates and some fish

The smaller the zoo, the more it will need to focus on smaller species to maintain a diverse species roster. It is therefore maybe somewhat surprising that so few zoos maintain a diverse non-marine invertebrate collection. Most zoos make do with a few tarantulas, some cockroaches and a giant African snail, but that is a joke when compared to the insane diversity invertebrates have to offer. Despite recent modifications, and a silly new name, this is still the most diverse standalone display of terrestrial invertebrates in a European zoo. It is also more than just a row of small exhibits, but has a heavy educational message as well and some innovative displays like a spider walkthrough. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that otherwise ignored species like mosquitos are also displayed here. Additionally this building also shows that a zoo does not need a lot of space to function as a modern Ark with its breeding program for multiple Partula snail species. If less zoos would focus on solely large endangered species, which often already have a robust captive population and more on smaller species. This would not only save a lot of money, but also greatly enhance the conservation role zoos could play ex situ. London Zoo might have quite some issues to find its way in the 21st century, but when it comes to conservation of ectotherms it is an example for many.

@yousuf89

@yousuf89

@LaughingDove

@LaughingDove


Similar exhibits: the only other large standalone invertebrate house, except the soon to close one in Bristol Zoo, is in Artis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. A former food warehouse was completely renovated and now houses a diverse set of invertebrates. Wilhelma, Stuttgart, Germany and Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Vienna, Austria, also have a sizeable invertebrate house in a historic building, though the latter focuses mainly on grasshoppers, stick insects and praying mantises. There are naturally also zoos that cram an insane amount of tarantula etcetera in many small tanks without any story around it, but they don't deserve to be mentioned in a list of must see exhibits.

Artis

@vogelcommando

@vogelcommando

Wilhelma

@Maguari

Tiergarten Schönbrunn

@Maguari

@Maguari

I am rereading some of this thread and am I correct that Schonbrunn’s insect house is now converted into the “artenschutzzentrum” and holds and impressive array of chameleons and other vertebrates?

That house is worth a mention on it’s own in this thread, but no longer a “similar exhibit”?

Else I just missed it