I recognize that ZooChatter (he loves responding with exclamation points in every single post!!!) and I also recognize the ZooChatter with the red backpack who was with him and appears in a few photos. You guys must have had fun in Berlin as the two zoos are enormous and I'm going to have to venture over to Europe once I win the lottery. I'd just do another enormous road trip like I do in the U.S. each summer, and I'd visit loads of countries and probably have even less driving than normal as the zoos are packed closer together in Europe. Anyway, how many days were you there? Did you also spend more than a couple of days in Leipzig for the Zoo Historica meeting and Gondwanaland tour?
Monday - flight
Tuesday - Tierpark Berlin
Wednesday - Zoo Berlin
Thursday - Tierpark Berlin
Friday - Leipzig Zoo
Saturday - Leipzig Zoo (Zoohistorica)
Sunday - Halle Zoo
Monday - Berlin SeaLife/Zoo Berlin - evening flight home
With a few bits of general sight-seeing and a certain amount of consumption of fermented vegetable drinks thrown in. Scarcely the highest zoo count of our trips, but full of animals! Fantastic trip.
With both the Berlin zoo's considered amongst the best in Germany (if not Europe), how did you find Leipzig holds up in comparission with the opening of new exhibits? And do you think it could be regarded as better than Zoo Berlin in a few years time?
(I've not been to Leipzig as yet so cant comment).
Monday - flight
Tuesday - Tierpark Berlin
Wednesday - Zoo Berlin
Thursday - Tierpark Berlin
Friday - Leipzig Zoo
Saturday - Leipzig Zoo (Zoohistorica)
Sunday - Halle Zoo
Monday - Berlin SeaLife/Zoo Berlin - evening flight home
With a few bits of general sight-seeing and a certain amount of consumption of fermented vegetable drinks thrown in. Scarcely the highest zoo count of our trips, but full of animals! Fantastic trip.
With both the Berlin zoo's considered amongst the best in Germany (if not Europe), how did you find Leipzig holds up in comparission with the opening of new exhibits? And do you think it could be regarded as better than Zoo Berlin in a few years time?
(I've not been to Leipzig as yet so cant comment).
Leipzig's very, very good - but whether it's better than the Berlins is tricky. For me, the problem is that outside three or four big exhibits it's a bit insubstantial - it's not a big site and is deceptively quick to tour round. For me, however high quality a zoo's exhibits are, a zoo that doesn't fill the day will struggle to be the 'best'* (others may disagree!). Leipzig can fill a day perfectly well, but you get the feeling that it doesn't need a day. I think it depends a bit what style you like - Leipzig's new exhibits are all bells and whistles but often hold suprisingly few animals. There's also a hefty dose of indoor-only animals, which is somewhat controversial. I think it would also help if I were more into apes, given the proportion of the zoo swallowed up by Pongoland!
One thing Leipzig has started to share with Berlin is an eye for a unique species - as the Chinese (strictly-speaking, Taiwanese ) Pangolins and Eastern Quolls would testify.
We had a quick tot-up while we were there and could think of about 10 European zoos we liked as much or better quite readily, but probably not too many more than that. I would say at the moment it's on the cusp of my personal top ten, while the Berlins are comfortably within it.
Leipzig clearly has momentum though, and it's opened more major new exhibits in the last decade than the Berlins combined. It has more or less 'finished' though, in that about three-quarters of the whole zoo has now been upgraded. Where it goes from there will be interesting.
*this is why I always find it hard to rank zoos - smaller collections can be superb but their size prevents me from thinking of them as the best - exhibit-by-exhibit Living Coasts may well be the highest-quality British zoo - but very few if asked 'what's the UK's best zoo?' would think of Living Coasts!
Only the animals at Gondwanaland (a few birds at the New Birdhouse, the pangolins and the reptiles and fish at the aquarium) are kept indoor-only, I would not call that a hefty dose...
The number of species is lower than the number at Berlin (Zoo or Tierpark), no doubt, the quality of husbandry is comparible, ofter much better.
Only the animals at Gondwanaland (a few birds at the New Birdhouse, the pangolins and the reptiles and fish at the aquarium) are kept indoor-only, I would not call that a hefty dose...
Perhaps 'hefty' is a little strong, but Gondwanaland includes a good number of animals that would more usually be kept outside (tapirs, hippos, guenons, small cats, squirrel monkeys, even giant otters). I actually don't have a strong opinion either way on the 'indoor-only' issue, but I know some people feel very strongly about it.
Absolutely. And Leipzig is one of the best zoos in Europe - as I said, for all my niggling criticisms, it's still borderline top ten (of well over 250 European zoos I've visited) - not yet firmly in my top ten in terms of favourites to visit, but very nearly. But it is an excellent zoo.
