You really do have a soft spot for Woodland park, right snowleopard? Not that I can´t understand why - so many of the enclosures are obviously brilliantly designed!
Not everyone suppports the awards that are handed out by the AZA (American Association of Zoos & Aquariums) each year, but out of 220 zoos Woodland Park is # 2 in terms of exhibit awards. Only the Bronx Zoo has won more, and so Woodland Park has always been famous for creating fantastic immersion enclosures. I believe in naturalistic animal habitats, and that is why I can't stand to see bars and cages still being used by many zoos worldwide. The number one cause of extinction and the depletion of animal species is habitat destruction, but how can the public be properly educated when they stare at exotic animals in cages? The zoo in Seattle that I like is one that I'd rank as # 5 in North America, and while the collection is not large (1,100 animals of 300 species) the exhibits are top class.
The zoo in Seattle that I like is one that I'd rank as # 5 in North America, and while the collection is not large (1,100 animals of 300 species) the exhibits are top class.
You can tell you come from a continent with a lot of space! And where the zoos have a lot of cash for that matter. That would certainly qualify as a big zoo in the UK. Even Chester has only around 450 species (and that's with a relatively large collection of smaller animals).
There is certainly an abundance of space in North America, as Canada is #2 and the United States is #3 in terms of sheer size. Of the approximately 200 or so nations on the planet they rank higher than anyone but Russia! There are some enormous, brilliantly designed zoos all over the place here, but there can be found some smaller ones as well. A real mixed bag of nuts.
