Zoo Leipzig Leipzig zoo news 2010

GONDWANALAND OPENING: July 1st, 2011

The Eastern white-beared wildebeests will leave the zoo next year, the co-housing at the savanna did not work.

One okapi male will leave the zoo, a female is going to arrive.

The first success of Leipzig's Darwin's Frog-breeding program in Chile appeared, 30 polliwogs hatched.
 
@dragonelenerd
Bull "Naing Thein" mated with at least 2 cows since last spring. We will see whether successful or not.

Deaths in december:

- 1,0 dall sheep (9 years old)

The chinese pangolin brace, the only one out of asia, is doing very well. They mated the first time in november, the zoo is hoping for the first pangolin breeding in europe.
 
BjoernN said:
The chinese pangolin brace, the only one out of asia, is doing very well. They mated the first time in november, the zoo is hoping for the first pangolin breeding in europe.
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that would be brilliant!
 
I'm not sure if this has been noted already somewhere, but.....
Leipzig Zoo named best in Germany, runner-up in Europe - The Local
15 Dec 2010

The Leipzig Zoo has been named the best in Germany and the second-best facility in Europe, according to new rankings to be released this week.

According to the new list by European zoo expert Anthony D. Sheridan, the eastern German park, which welcomes one million visitors per year, couldn’t be beat by facilities in the country’s larger cities.

Among other large European zoos, it was surpassed by first-place winner the Vienna Zoo. The third place winner was the Berlin Zoo, home to famous polar bear Knut.

The Cologne Zoo made sixth place, according to the new rankings.

Among smaller zoos that see visitor numbers of around 500,000 per year, France’s St. Aignan Zoo topped the list, with zoos in Germany’s Osnabrück and Wuppertal taking fifth and ninth place respectively.

Sheridan, an animal conservation specialist and member of the Zoological society of London, plans to present the results in Osnabrück on Thursday. The rankings are based on his analysis of some 80 zoos in 21 European countries.

Criteria included animal welfare, visitor numbers, expenditures, nature protection, admission fees, child friendliness, transportation connections and gastronomic offerings.
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I'd be interested to see the full readings on this survey too, as without it it's just a list of someones preference although a very interesting one at that.
 
There's an article, by the author, discussing his methodology and conclusions in International Zoo News (July/August 2010 edition).
 
Shorts said:
There's an article, by the author, discussing his methodology and conclusions in International Zoo News (July/August 2010 edition).
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Thank-you.
 
Shorts said:
There's an article, by the author, discussing his methodology and conclusions in International Zoo News (July/August 2010 edition).
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...and to call it nonsense would be to do it a kindness. In the words of Boris Johnson, it is an inverted pyramid of piffle. And deeply solipsistic piffle at that. We know Leipzig is a wonderful zoo, without needing an absurd survey, in which subjective judgements are used to form a sort of league table. Absolute balderdash.
 
now I wish I'd first seen the link that jwer posted. I must agree with sootymangabey over the survey (and not just because I love that word solipsistic!). Absolute rubbish.
 
sooty mangabey said:
...and to call it nonsense would be to do it a kindness. In the words of Boris Johnson, it is an inverted pyramid of piffle. And deeply solipsistic piffle at that. We know Leipzig is a wonderful zoo, without needing an absurd survey, in which subjective judgements are used to form a sort of league table. Absolute balderdash.
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Chlidonias said:
I must agree with sooty mangabey over the survey (and not just because I love that word solipsistic!). Absolute rubbish.
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Wow, I'm really curious as to why you guys are SO negative about this! While I definitely disagree, and strongly disagree, with some of Sheridan's findings, I also think he's on the right track. I recently did a very informal rating of European zoos and my (again, very informal) list came out very similar (though not exactly the same) as Sheridan's. So I think he's done his homework and deserves some credit, not criticism.

My biggest critique of Sheridan's research is that he includes a lot of things that really have nothing to do with the visitor experience at the zoo.
 
Thanks for providing the link, @jwer.
sooty mangabey said:
We know Leipzig is a wonderful zoo, without needing an absurd survey, in which subjective judgements are used to form a sort of league table.
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Hear, hear! Why some people are so into ranking everything and anything just for the sake of it, is beyond me. The more you understand of the matter, the more you might understand why some subjects are too complex to be rated correctly, if at all.
 
ANyhuis said:
Wow, I'm really curious as to why you guys are SO negative about this!... I also think he's on the right track. I recently did a very informal rating of European zoos and my (again, very informal) list came out very similar (though not exactly the same) as Sheridan's. So I think he's done his homework and deserves some credit, not criticism.
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It's precisely because Mr Sheridan has attempted to give his 'survey' a veneer of formality, to suggest that it has some sort of merit beyond its being the thoughts and opinions of one zoo visitor. We all rank things in our minds - our favourite zoo, our favourite small mammal house, our favourite film, our favourite musician (Berlin Tierpark, Pilsen, Brief Encounter, Merle Haggard - in my case) - but to suggest that, as a matter of fact, these rankings have merit beyond that of a parlour game is nonsensical. If a small child had done it I would be sympathetic, but when it's a bloke in his - I think - 60s.... And this whole exercise has such an air of hubristic pomposity that it merits real negativity!

Does this matter? Yes, i think it does. His top zoos - Leipzig, Vienna etc - are incontrovertible. But it is harmful to a zoo to be placed low down in a list such as this - which has that air of formality, which has been published in a respected journal - and I do not respect the opinions of this man enough to believe that such harm can be justified.
 
sooty mangabey said:
It's precisely because Mr Sheridan has attempted to give his 'survey' a veneer of formality, to suggest that it has some sort of merit beyond its being the thoughts and opinions of one zoo visitor. We all rank things in our minds - our favourite zoo, our favourite small mammal house, our favourite film, our favourite musician (Berlin Tierpark, Pilsen, Brief Encounter, Merle Haggard - in my case) - but to suggest that, as a matter of fact, these rankings have merit beyond that of a parlour game is nonsensical. If a small child had done it I would be sympathetic, but when it's a bloke in his - I think - 60s.... And this whole exercise has such an air of hubristic pomposity that it merits real negativity!

Does this matter? Yes, i think it does. His top zoos - Leipzig, Vienna etc - are incontrovertible. But it is harmful to a zoo to be placed low down in a list such as this - which has that air of formality, which has been published in a respected journal - and I do not respect the opinions of this man enough to believe that such harm can be justified.
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Absolutely. There can be a lot of bad publicity from this sort of thing (didn't London get a beating in his UK list?).
 
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