The Best Zoo Country In The World (2023 Edition)

What is the best zoo country in the world?

  • Total voters
    89
I would think France, together with Czechia & Poland, would be the country that has made the largest progress since 2010. Arguably it has even made the most progress of them all. It has seen new very good (mammal-focused) zoos popping up and expanding greatly (Sainte-Croix, Auvergne, Branfere), the creation of many huge walkthrough aviaries that have set a new standard, created Europe's largest aquarium tank and the further transformation of Beauval and especially Doué have put it in the spotlight too. Doué's Okapi sanctuary may well be the most consequential new enclosure in Europe since 2010. But that wouldn't make it the best zoo country just yet.

Last time I voted for the Netherlands, but development has somewhat stagnated and while still developing I feel the main zoos are more mainstream, with an increasing focus on mammals only, these days.

Germany would be the easiest choice given how many good zoos are around, many of them combining the old-fashioned with the modern. Pound-for-pound Switzerland would be a good option as a country with only 9 million inhabitants (though that country also has some (very) poor privately owned zoos). But I don't think it has surpassed the Netherlands just yet... Czechia is a good option too, being probably the most zoo crazy country of Europe when looking at attendance. It is the country for rarely kept animals, but unsurprisingly there is some catching up to do left. I will still settle with Germany though, it is still the place where most is happening and where some of the most exciting developments are taking place, both in small and large zoos.
 
snowleopard said:
Japan is a treasure trove for species hunters, especially when it comes to fish and primates, but the quality of many of the exhibits leaves a lot to be desired. Perusing the gallery photos, some of the animal enclosures at Japanese zoos and aquariums are appalling and as bad as many of the roadside American zoos I've seen in Wisconsin and Arkansas.
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I cannot speak for fish but I wouldn’t count on the primate diversity in Japan due to the bio security laws making it harder for zoos to import primates. I can see the primate scene in Japan ending up sort of similar to that of Australia with a handful of reoccurring species many of them such as capuchins, and spider monkeys being hybridized. That is not counting small species such as galagos and lorises being smuggled into the private trade.
 
While it feels nice to see my country being discussed in positive way, I disagree with placing it anywhere near TOP10 countries. Please, don´t arrive with too high expectations - you will be dissapointed. A few passionate curators with quirk in obtaining strange critters can do only so much for your zoo experience. In quality of exhibits and overall Czech zoos are still behind Germany, Netherlands or Austria (even Prague zoo has some pretty bad enclosures). And that doesnt even touch myriad of small private petting or contact zoos that emerged in last decade or so, most comparable in misery with bad US roadside zoos.
 
Jana said:
While it feels nice to see my country being discussed in positive way, I disagree with placing it anywhere near TOP10 countries. Please, don´t arrive with too high expectations - you will be dissapointed. A few passionate curators with quirk in obtaining strange critters can do only so much for your zoo experience. In quality of exhibits and overall Czech zoos are still behind Germany, Netherlands or Austria (even Prague zoo has some pretty bad enclosures). And that doesnt even touch myriad of small private petting or contact zoos that emerged in last decade or so, most comparable in misery with bad US roadside zoos.
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Don't be too hard on your country's zoos. Yes, there are some bad private Czech zoos and there are exhibits and aspects in dire need of improvement even at Prague, Plzen, Zlín, Brno, Jihlava etc. But there's something refreshing about the originality of Czech zoos: who else has a pavillon dedicated to giant salamanders, a Chitwan exhibit complex or a chocolaterie within a zoo? And the only Australia-themed zoo exhibit complex in Europe with the guts to keep an Australian venomous snake within (yeah, you heard me, Stuttgart, Zürich, Duisburg and Hanover; no guts, no glory, you zoological milksops!). So I think that the praise is well-deserved.

...unlike Austria. With the exception of the accredited zoos in Vienna, Innsbruck as well as Salzburg and Herberstein on a good day, a few specialist institutions and NHMs keeping animals, a lot of the zoos here are quite uninspired, provincial and even downright bromidic (I do start to sound like Capt. Holt from Brooklyn Nine-Nine now, don't I?). Therefore, Switzerland does deserve the preference.

I would also nominate Hungary as a zoo country deserving a recommendation.
 
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Jana said:
While it feels nice to see my country being discussed in positive way, I disagree with placing it anywhere near TOP10 countries.
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I'd be interested to hear which other countries you think outstrip Czechia to the point it doesn't get close to the top 10 - you've already said that you feel USA, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland are among them, so I'd be interested to hear six more country arguments! :)

Spain definitely shouldn't be included though - I reckon Madrid Zoo is the second-worst capital city zoo I have ever visited :p and my other experiences in the country are highly variable with no true highs.

Batto said:
...unlike Austria. With the exception of the accredited zoos in Vienna, Innsbruck as well as Salzburg and Herberstein on a good day, a few specialist institutions and NHM museums keeping animals, a lot of the zoos here are quite uninspired, provincial and even downright bromidic (I do start to sound like Capt. Holt now, don't I?). Therefore, Switzerland does deserve the preference.
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I reckon that Tiergarten Wels rises above "uninspired, provincial and even downright bromidic" too, to be fair :)
 
Batto said:
It's...neat. Unlike its neighbour, that weird real life version of a Zoo Tycoon / Planet Zoo sandbox mode game.
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DDcorvus said:
And although China overall is not a major zoo country, there is the behemoth of Chimelong. I do feel Asia will be the up and coming region for the next decade.
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China is definitely trying to improve its zoo quality, with nanjing and the new wuhan zoo looking quite nice. Truth to be told though, the real problem lies within the greater issue, with management problem and encouraging feeding behaviour still really common. These are issues that cannot be changed in a short period of time, and it will be hard to shake off these accusation even when they're significantly better.
Japan dont suffer from these issues as much, but the quality is definitely less than ideal. They do excel in aquariums though, the breeding success of hard and lesser known species are a proof of that.
I dont really see Asia to be on par with the USA and Europe though, especially with a huge gap of quality and a lack of "proper" organization like the AZA or EAZA. That's also one of the reasons why Mandai and Taipei joined EAZA. Not to discredit the work done by say SEAZA or JAZA though, they do a lot of work as well, but other factors may force them to be less successful.

Back to the main question, i would say Germany. With a plethora of world class zoos, filled with different styles and unique history, together with the amount of species in said zoos, I don't think any country is better for zoos than Germany.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
I'd be interested to hear which other countries you think outstrip Czechia to the point it doesn't get close to the top 10 - you've already said that you feel USA, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore and Switzerland are among them, so I'd be interested to hear six more country arguments! :)
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Germany - the El Dorado zoo country of Europe. Sooo many good and interesting places to visit. Their hunsbandry standard is at high professional level, 100% of their zoo keepers get 3 years of intensive training at job together with theoretical studies. I was deciding if I should mention DE or NL in my previous post, NL won it by mouse tail only.

Australia - fantastic country with high quality of exhibits, good husbandry, constantly improving. Good number of large zoos compared to their low total population. The only downside seems to be dwindling diversity of non-native species.

Austria - if I take Prague with Vienna, our and their middle-sized zoos, or our and their tierparks, Austria wins direct comparisons. I recollect my first visit to Schönbrunn two decades ago and still consider it my best zoo day ever.

Some other countries ranking above Czechia - Belgium, Denmark, France, the UK, Canary islands, Canada, South Africa, maybe New Zealand (not in collection but in exhibitry). Poland is on par, Hungary maybe little lower. I don´t dare to make comparison with Latin American countries, Russia or most of Asia due to lack of info. Africa is terra incognita.


Personaly I think we will observe significant evolution in many countries that today might not be known for good quality zoos (China is already underway). In age of smartphones and online translators, vital info has never been so easily obtained and shared. (and AZA/EAZA might support it further by posting maximum number of hunsbandry manuals freely online.)
 
Jana said:
Austria - if I take Prague with Vienna, our and their middle-sized zoos, or our and their tierparks, Austria wins direct comparisons. I recollect my first visit to Schönbrunn two decades ago and still consider it my best zoo day ever.
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Austria before CZ? Objection! :p:D Zoo Vienna isn't representative of the majority of the Austrian zoo landscape.
 
My vote is for Germany: many good zoos if we compare the size of the country with others. But I love Czechia and USA too.
 
Singapore's Zoos, especially Mandai facilities are world class. They balance the wild species that naturally resided in the parks with the Captive species. All the species look healthy, and many species are really rare.
 
Dr. Wolverine said:
Singapore's Zoos, especially Mandai facilities are world class. They balance the wild species that naturally resided in the parks with the Captive species. All the species look healthy, and many species are really rare.
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But in Singapore there are very few zoos, in other countries on the list there are dozens, even hundreds, and many spectacular ones. That is to say, as good as the zoos are in Singapore, I don't think the country as a whole can be compared to many in Europe or North America.
 
A country that has come on in leaps and bounds during the last 15 years would be United Arab Emirates. I've never been there, but I do know a couple of zoo nerds who went to UAE last month and they visited facilities that they really enjoyed, such as Al Ain Zoo, Al Hefaiyah Conservation Center, Sharjah Safari, Arabian Wildlife Centre, Dubai Safari Park, Al Bustan Zoological Center, Lost Chambers Aquarium at Aquaventure World and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi. They toured around a dozen zoos in total, but highly recommended those 8 establishments to me.
 
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