"The Omaha zoo has received another big accolade: “largest” in the world.
Our Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium is not the world's biggest zoo in area, but the travel website touropia.com ranks it as the largest by combining geographic size with number of species.
It's an unusual methodology, but Omaha zoo Director Dennis Pate said: “We'll take it.”
Touropia ranks the Columbus Zoo in Ohio as eighth-largest, the Moscow Zoo seventh and the San Diego Zoo sixth.
The Toronto Zoo is No. 5, the Bronx Zoo is No. 4, the Beijing Zoo is No. 3 and the Beijing Zoological Garden is No. 2.
And there at the top sits Omaha.
“Although there are bigger zoos in terms of acreage or species numbers,” the site says, “none rank as high as the Henry Doorly Zoo if both these categories are combined. For this reason, it is listed here as the largest zoo in the world.”
Touropia also notes that the Omaha zoo features the largest cat complex in North America, the world's largest indoor desert and the largest geodesic dome.
Pate, who has led the zoo for four years, paid tribute to his predecessor, Dr. Lee Simmons. “Doc built something special here.”
The zoo, which also has been ranked best by TripAdvisor, Huffington Post and Family Fun magazine, is listed as having 130 acres and 17,000 animals of 962 species.
Last year it set its attendance record, exceeding 1.7 million visitors.
With the razing of nearby Rosenblatt Stadium, Dennis said, parking spaces are increasing by nearly 50 percent, to about 3,000...."
Kelly: Travel website hails Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo as largest in world - Omaha.com
~Thylo
Our Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium is not the world's biggest zoo in area, but the travel website touropia.com ranks it as the largest by combining geographic size with number of species.
It's an unusual methodology, but Omaha zoo Director Dennis Pate said: “We'll take it.”
Touropia ranks the Columbus Zoo in Ohio as eighth-largest, the Moscow Zoo seventh and the San Diego Zoo sixth.
The Toronto Zoo is No. 5, the Bronx Zoo is No. 4, the Beijing Zoo is No. 3 and the Beijing Zoological Garden is No. 2.
And there at the top sits Omaha.
“Although there are bigger zoos in terms of acreage or species numbers,” the site says, “none rank as high as the Henry Doorly Zoo if both these categories are combined. For this reason, it is listed here as the largest zoo in the world.”
Touropia also notes that the Omaha zoo features the largest cat complex in North America, the world's largest indoor desert and the largest geodesic dome.
Pate, who has led the zoo for four years, paid tribute to his predecessor, Dr. Lee Simmons. “Doc built something special here.”
The zoo, which also has been ranked best by TripAdvisor, Huffington Post and Family Fun magazine, is listed as having 130 acres and 17,000 animals of 962 species.
Last year it set its attendance record, exceeding 1.7 million visitors.
With the razing of nearby Rosenblatt Stadium, Dennis said, parking spaces are increasing by nearly 50 percent, to about 3,000...."
Kelly: Travel website hails Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo as largest in world - Omaha.com
~Thylo
