So, is Limassol Zoo: a) pet shop b) Third biggest collection c) even worse than that?
A Guide to Europe's Zoos
- Thread starter amur leopard
- Start date
So, is Limassol Zoo: a) pet shop b) Third biggest collection c) even worse than that?
Species-wise, option b. However due to it being an outdoor collection Limassol is larger I believe.
Denmark:
Ah, Denmark, the land of Lego, Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, modern design, smørrebrød, and Carlsberg beer. For its size, Denmark actually has a fair amount of zoos (and just as many non-zoo-licensed animal attractions like farm zoos, park aviaries etc.), but most of the zoos outside Copenhagen remain fairly obscure and rarely visited by Zoochatters and tourists in general.
Part of the reason for this may be that Denmark - unlike Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic or many of the countries to come - has extremely few zoos that truly stand out on an international (or European) level, but there are plenty that are good on a national level, and almost every zoo is worth a visit if you find yourself within 30 minutes drive from it. That's why I had trouble picking the zoos for my list, and maybe I ended up with too many entries. Oh well...
I'll split my post in two and start with Jutland which has the highest concentration of zoos and arguably the highest ratio of good zoos.
Part 1 - Jutland:
Aqua Akvarium & Dyrepark:
Translating into “Aqua Aquarium & Animal Park” and located in the town of Silkeborg, this place is noted for being Denmark’s only dedicated freshwater aquarium (and one of only a very few to display Danish freshwater fish at all).
It only keeps species that can be encountered in Denmark. While housing a big chunk of all Danish freshwater fish species, it’s not nearly as fish-centric as your average aquarium as it keeps a decent range of other animal groups as well. The “Dyrepark” part of the name was added as Aqua is gradually expanding its focus to include land animals as well. Aqua also functions as a freshwater museum and has quite a few panel exhibitions on the rivers and lakes of Denmark.
The round main building is instantly recognizable and features most of the fish on the ground floor, with a “night aquarium” for eels in the basement and exhibits for reptiles and amphibians on the first floor. There’s a sizable outdoor area with exhibits for mammals and birds. Aqua stands out by housing most of its fish not in man-made tanks, but instead in natural lakes and ponds that can be viewed through indoor windows. There are four lakes representing each their habitat.
Aqua also has a major focus on education about invasive species, and most of their mammals are in fact not native to Denmark, e.g. raccoons and coypu. That may be a thing of the past, however, given EU’s phase out of invasive species from captivity.
Aqua is slated to expand in the upcoming years, and the expansion area will feature an exhibit for wolves among other things.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? No.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: European badger, brook lamprey, occasionally other Danish species that are rarely seen in captivity.
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Givskud Zoo:
Givskud Zoo, located in the outskirts of the village of the same name, is the first of Denmark’s two safari parks and arguably the most recommendable one.
The park’s full name is “Givskud Zoo Zootopia” (the park’s trademark of this name was in fact one of the reasons why the Disney movie with the same name had to change name in some European countries) which refers to a project that aims to transform the park into an entirely walkable zoo with the animals split by continent. They’re already getting close to this goal, as four out the six drive-through exhibits (one for South American animals, one for North American animals, three for African hoofstock, and one for lions) can be seen at foot. In fact, most of the park’s animals can only be seen when you leave your car and explore at foot.
Givskud mostly focuses on big mammals, with very few birds, no mammals smaller than red pandas, and no ectotherms, and they are noted for building huge exhibits; the spectacled bear enclosure is the biggest in Europe’s, and the exhibits for gorillas, Barbary macaques, wolves and giant otters are also enormous. Combined with a generally pleasant atmosphere and a big focus on conservation and education, this is easily one of Denmark’s most agreeable zoos (but it might disappoint the species collectors somewhat).
Givskud Zoo is often referred to as “Givskud Løvepark” (“Givskud Lion Park”) by the locals because lions were the only animals in the entire park when it opened and are still among the stars.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, it has a bus stop by the entrance, and it even has a “safari bus” that takes carless visitors around the drive-through exhibits. A car is needed if you want to see the drive-through exhibits in your own pace, of course.
Is it near any other zoos? Relatively close to Skærup Zoo.
Priority: When visiting Europe? Maybe not right now, but it’s arguably getting there. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: No really rare species. Brown spider monkey or giant otter probably come closest.
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Kattegatcentret:
Kattegatcentret (“The Kattegat Center”) is located by the ferry harbor of the town of Grenå and used to be Denmark’s largest tropical aquarium for two decades until the National Aquarium in Copenhagen opened in their new building, Den Blå Planet – and for many years, it was also the only place in the country that featured a shark tunnel.
It still has a solid collection of tropical saltwater fish which are spread between the shark tank, a big “coastal lagoon”, an oblong reef tank and maybe a dozen small tanks.
Kattegat, the namesake of the aquarium, is the sea between Jutland and Sweden, and as such Kattegatcentret also features a department with a collection of Danish saltwater fish. Most of this department doesn’t stand out compared to what you can see in other Danish native-species aquaria, though there is one huge 1.5 million liter “oceanarium” with sharks, sturgeons, cod, and other large fish.
Of other attractions, Kattegatcentret has a basement exhibition on “dangerous fish” (mostly venomous fish like stonefish, but also piranhas) and an outdoor terrace with ocean views and a seal exhibit.
Currently, Kattegatcentret is building an expansion area with an exhibit for gentoo penguins, slated to open later in 2022. All in all, this aquarium is nothing to prioritize if you’ve already visited Den Blå Planet, but it made the cut to my list because it’s impressive by Jutlandic standards.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, it’s close to no less than three other zoos: Munkholm Zoo, Ree Park, and Skandinavisk Dyrepark.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you haven’t visited Den Blå Planet yet.
Notable rarities: None currently.
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Nordsøen Oceanarium:
Nordsøen Oceanarium, in the harbor town of Hirtshals, was the largest Danish aquarium for a great many years until the National Aquarium in Copenhagen opened in their Den Blå Planet building, and it’s still the second-largest aquarium in Denmark and easily among the largest aquaria in Northern Europe. Contrary to Den Blå Planet, Nordsøen Oceanarium only keeps Danish saltwater species, so while it doesn’t feature as much diversity as the former, it’s an amazing place to see North Atlantic sea life (“Nordsøen” means “North Sea”).
Nordsøen Oceanarium consists of two big buildings, and the namesake attraction is the “Oceanarium” in the new building which is a 4.5-million-liter tank which houses an immense number of shoaling fish like herring and mackerel as well sharks, rays, and – most of the time – the aquarium’s stars, which are ocean sunfish (unfortunately, they don’t keep this species currently, but they’re working to source new individuals). While the new building doesn’t have other animal exhibits, it features many exhibitions on life in the North Sea.
The old building features four big and well-furnished fish tanks (in the 100,000-liter range) that represent each their habitat in the North Sea. Furthermore, there are various exhibitions on fishery. In the hallway between the two buildings, there are a lot of small tanks for fish and invertebrates that the aquarium wants the guests to see up close.
There’s a relatively big outdoor area with Denmark’s biggest seal pool, a maritime-themed playground, and a big exhibition on whales where you among other things can see an intact fin whale skeleton.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, but there is no bus stop by the entrance. You have to walk a few hundred meters from the nearest train station.
Is it near any other zoos? Just south of Hirtshals, there’s a farm zoo named Farm Fun that mostly keeps domestic animals, but also a few exotics.
Priority: When visiting Europe? Yes, if aquaria are your thing. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: None currently (but most of the time they have ocean sunfish in their collection).
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Randers Regnskov:
Randers Regnskov (meaning “Randers Rainforest”) is located smack in the middle of its namesake town and has become one of the local landmarks that you quickly spot when driving into the town.
The reason it’s become such a landmark is because the three huge domes stand out compared to ordinary town buildings. These three domes represent each their continent: Africa, Asia, and South America. Each dome has a wide range of free-ranging animals as well as several exhibits for choice species that cannot range freely.
The African dome is the smallest one (500 square meters), and almost half of it taken up by a night zoo with aardvarks, pottos, and fruit bats among others. The Asian dome is a bit larger (700 square meters) and is the one with the least room for free-ranging animals, given that it’s dominated by exhibits for gibbons, Komodo dragons and porcupines. The South American dome is bigger than the two others combined (2000 square meters) and is centered around a manatee pool, but also features exhibits for animals like rheas, margays, and bush dogs as well as a hidden night zoo with bats and anacondas.
Connecting the African and Asian domes is a hallway with venomous snakes and a night zoo for Asian animals. Next to this hallway is the arguably most unique attraction of Randers Regnskov: A greenhouse with free-ranging snakes and a few other animals such as land crabs and archerfish (to any ophidiophobes out there, this greenhouse can easily be skipped).
The huge entrance building has – besides the shop and a cafeteria – a basement aquarium for Caribbean reef fish that connects to the South America dome.
In recent years, Randers has mainly focused on expanding its outdoor areas with prehistory-themed exhibitions, Danish farm animals and exhibits for big carnivores like jaguars and hyenas.
Randers Regnskov is one of those places that you can visit several times a year and still see something new, because new species are constantly added to the collection (of course with others leaving).
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? No, but Randers does have a deer garden as well as a park (Doktorparken) with some bird aviaries if you’re very keen on seeing more animals.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: West Indian manatee, potto, springhare, feathertail glider, margay.
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Ree Park:
Ree Park, which is located in what feels like the middle of nowhere, though still fairly close to the little town of Ebeltoft, is the largest entirely walkable zoo in Denmark.
It follows Givskud Zoo’s example by almost solely focusing on large (exotic) mammals and building huge and impressive exhibits. Ree Park has one edge over Givskud Zoo; while Givskud Zoo is located between flat and boring fields, Ree Park is located in some of the Denmark’s most beautiful (and hilly) nature, and that makes building exhibits an easier endeavor as they can often just fence in a piece of nature without any major landscaping.
Ree Park has many commendable things about it; for example the enormous savanna where they as one of only extremely few zoos have managed to cohabit black rhinos with other species, the monkey islands, and the North American prairie.
While everything in Ree Park can be seen on foot, the zoo does have Land Rover trips going through the African savanna as well as an old-fashioned steam train going through the North American prairie.
Ree Park takes its from name from its current owner, Danish billionaire Carsten Ree. Being owned by a billionaire who doesn’t work at the zoo has been a double-edged sword. On the positive side, it allowed the zoo to build many big-budget exhibits during the first years of his ownership. On the negative side, he decided to phase out almost all non-mammalian species that the previous owners had amassed, and in recent years, he has practically ignored the zoo, causing the development to stagnate and the collection to lose several species every year. But as of now, the zoo still has enough good exhibits and animals to warrant a visit.
Accessible by public transport? No.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, it’s close to no less than three other zoos: Kattegatcentret, Munkholm Zoo, and Skandinavisk Dyrepark.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: No truly rare species. American black bear or sandcat probably come closest.
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Skandinavisk Dyrepark:
Skandinavisk Dyrepark by the village of Kolind has a name that means “Scandinavian Animal Park” and does indeed focus almost exclusively on Scandinavian animals, though it also keeps a couple of other cold climate species.
It had a modest beginning as a deer park, and while it still has two huge walkthrough exhibits for fallow deer and red deer, these animals are no longer the true drawcards. Instead, Skandinavisk Dyrepark has become famous for “Ulveparken” (The Wolf Park), “Bjørneparken” (The [Brown] Bear Park), “Isbjørneparken” (The Polar Bear Park), and “Elgparken” (The Moose Park). These are enormous (at least 1 hectare) exhibits for the aforementioned species where the guests view the animals from a raised footbridge. Another recent highlight is the world’s biggest aviary (3600 square meters) for Steller’s sea eagles.
Skandinavisk Dyrepark has chosen to only keep easily viewable and charismatic species, so there’s less than 20 species in total, and the only small animals are adders, grass snakes, and polecats. Despite this, Skandinavisk Dyrepark is big enough that you can easily spend a couple of hours here, and like Ree Park, it has pleasant, natural surroundings.
The owner and founder of the park is about to retire this year, and Skandinavisk Dyrepark will instead become a self-governing institution, so time will tell if this will change the concept and collection.
Accessible by public transport? No.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, it’s close to no less than three other zoos: Kattegatcentret, Munkholm Zoo, and Ree Park.
Priority: When visiting Europe? Only if you like bears and wolves. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: None.
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Skærup Zoo:
Denmark has several tiny, family-owned zoos that all came into the existence when the family in question built a large animal collection around their farms and eventually got a zoo license and opened to the public.
Skærup Zoo is one of these, and it’s the only one that made the cut to my list. The reason for this is that the zoo stands out by having owners that strive for exhibiting as many species as possible that cannot be seen anywhere else in Denmark. They have established good connections to several zoos in Germany and elsewhere in Central Europe, and every year they manage to import species that most Danish people aren’t likely to have seen before. Sometimes, they even get their hands on species that are very rare in Europe as a whole – for example, they kept a mountain anoa for a few years.
Skærup Zoo is very small, and because they try to cram in a lot of relatively large mammals and birds, a lot of the exhibits are admittedly on the small side, but better and bigger exhibits are continually being built, and enrichment is done well.
All in all, Skærup Zoo feels like a zoo that is made as much with zoo nerds in minds as with families with young children in mind which is a contrast to practically every other zoo in the country.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, but there is no bus stop by the entrance. You have to walk about 500 meters from the bus stop in Skærup proper.
Is it near any other zoos? It’s fairly close to Madsby Legepark in the town of Fredericia which is mostly a big playground, but also has several exhibits for exotic birds and domestic animals. Givskud Zoo is also within reach.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you are a species collector.
Notable rarities: Toque macaque, plains viscacha, pygmy falcon, wild budgerigar, southern bald ibis, bobcat.
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Aalborg Zoo:
Aalborg Zoo is one of the zoos that only barely made the cut to my list, because it’s not gonna stand out that much to a foreign visitor, but it’s one of only three city zoos here in Denmark and arguably the one that who comes closest to having a “traditional”, old-school zoo feel.
Aalborg Zoo’s collection isn’t big, but it’s decently all-around when it comes to mammals (most of the ABC’s can be seen here) and ectotherms; birds are more lacking, though you can find a few species in the tropical houses and the free-flight aviary by the entrance.
Aalborg Zoo's specialty is African exhibits; the savanna is huge and green for a tiny city zoo, and the so-called “African village” is very well-done with hoofstock stables, warthogs, and a tropical house for pygmy hippos. Among the other exhibits, there’s nothing world-class, but except for the orangutan exhibit (which is currently getting a makeover and expansion) there’s nothing bad either, and some of the old exhibits hold up surprisingly well.
Aalborg Zoo unfortunately stagnated an awful lot in the 2010s when the director had a phase where he was more interested in animatronic dinosaurs than actual animals, and while there are still animatronic exhibitions (this year it's bugs) to attract the families, the focus finally seems to be switching back to the animals.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? No.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you are in the general area.
Notable rarities: Black caiman, African sharptooth catfish.
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To be continued in my next post - Part 2 - the islands...
Ah, Denmark, the land of Lego, Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, modern design, smørrebrød, and Carlsberg beer. For its size, Denmark actually has a fair amount of zoos (and just as many non-zoo-licensed animal attractions like farm zoos, park aviaries etc.), but most of the zoos outside Copenhagen remain fairly obscure and rarely visited by Zoochatters and tourists in general.
Part of the reason for this may be that Denmark - unlike Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic or many of the countries to come - has extremely few zoos that truly stand out on an international (or European) level, but there are plenty that are good on a national level, and almost every zoo is worth a visit if you find yourself within 30 minutes drive from it. That's why I had trouble picking the zoos for my list, and maybe I ended up with too many entries. Oh well...
I'll split my post in two and start with Jutland which has the highest concentration of zoos and arguably the highest ratio of good zoos.
Part 1 - Jutland:
Aqua Akvarium & Dyrepark:
Translating into “Aqua Aquarium & Animal Park” and located in the town of Silkeborg, this place is noted for being Denmark’s only dedicated freshwater aquarium (and one of only a very few to display Danish freshwater fish at all).
It only keeps species that can be encountered in Denmark. While housing a big chunk of all Danish freshwater fish species, it’s not nearly as fish-centric as your average aquarium as it keeps a decent range of other animal groups as well. The “Dyrepark” part of the name was added as Aqua is gradually expanding its focus to include land animals as well. Aqua also functions as a freshwater museum and has quite a few panel exhibitions on the rivers and lakes of Denmark.
The round main building is instantly recognizable and features most of the fish on the ground floor, with a “night aquarium” for eels in the basement and exhibits for reptiles and amphibians on the first floor. There’s a sizable outdoor area with exhibits for mammals and birds. Aqua stands out by housing most of its fish not in man-made tanks, but instead in natural lakes and ponds that can be viewed through indoor windows. There are four lakes representing each their habitat.
Aqua also has a major focus on education about invasive species, and most of their mammals are in fact not native to Denmark, e.g. raccoons and coypu. That may be a thing of the past, however, given EU’s phase out of invasive species from captivity.
Aqua is slated to expand in the upcoming years, and the expansion area will feature an exhibit for wolves among other things.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? No.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: European badger, brook lamprey, occasionally other Danish species that are rarely seen in captivity.
-----
Givskud Zoo:
Givskud Zoo, located in the outskirts of the village of the same name, is the first of Denmark’s two safari parks and arguably the most recommendable one.
The park’s full name is “Givskud Zoo Zootopia” (the park’s trademark of this name was in fact one of the reasons why the Disney movie with the same name had to change name in some European countries) which refers to a project that aims to transform the park into an entirely walkable zoo with the animals split by continent. They’re already getting close to this goal, as four out the six drive-through exhibits (one for South American animals, one for North American animals, three for African hoofstock, and one for lions) can be seen at foot. In fact, most of the park’s animals can only be seen when you leave your car and explore at foot.
Givskud mostly focuses on big mammals, with very few birds, no mammals smaller than red pandas, and no ectotherms, and they are noted for building huge exhibits; the spectacled bear enclosure is the biggest in Europe’s, and the exhibits for gorillas, Barbary macaques, wolves and giant otters are also enormous. Combined with a generally pleasant atmosphere and a big focus on conservation and education, this is easily one of Denmark’s most agreeable zoos (but it might disappoint the species collectors somewhat).
Givskud Zoo is often referred to as “Givskud Løvepark” (“Givskud Lion Park”) by the locals because lions were the only animals in the entire park when it opened and are still among the stars.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, it has a bus stop by the entrance, and it even has a “safari bus” that takes carless visitors around the drive-through exhibits. A car is needed if you want to see the drive-through exhibits in your own pace, of course.
Is it near any other zoos? Relatively close to Skærup Zoo.
Priority: When visiting Europe? Maybe not right now, but it’s arguably getting there. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: No really rare species. Brown spider monkey or giant otter probably come closest.
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Kattegatcentret:
Kattegatcentret (“The Kattegat Center”) is located by the ferry harbor of the town of Grenå and used to be Denmark’s largest tropical aquarium for two decades until the National Aquarium in Copenhagen opened in their new building, Den Blå Planet – and for many years, it was also the only place in the country that featured a shark tunnel.
It still has a solid collection of tropical saltwater fish which are spread between the shark tank, a big “coastal lagoon”, an oblong reef tank and maybe a dozen small tanks.
Kattegat, the namesake of the aquarium, is the sea between Jutland and Sweden, and as such Kattegatcentret also features a department with a collection of Danish saltwater fish. Most of this department doesn’t stand out compared to what you can see in other Danish native-species aquaria, though there is one huge 1.5 million liter “oceanarium” with sharks, sturgeons, cod, and other large fish.
Of other attractions, Kattegatcentret has a basement exhibition on “dangerous fish” (mostly venomous fish like stonefish, but also piranhas) and an outdoor terrace with ocean views and a seal exhibit.
Currently, Kattegatcentret is building an expansion area with an exhibit for gentoo penguins, slated to open later in 2022. All in all, this aquarium is nothing to prioritize if you’ve already visited Den Blå Planet, but it made the cut to my list because it’s impressive by Jutlandic standards.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, it’s close to no less than three other zoos: Munkholm Zoo, Ree Park, and Skandinavisk Dyrepark.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you haven’t visited Den Blå Planet yet.
Notable rarities: None currently.
-----
Nordsøen Oceanarium:
Nordsøen Oceanarium, in the harbor town of Hirtshals, was the largest Danish aquarium for a great many years until the National Aquarium in Copenhagen opened in their Den Blå Planet building, and it’s still the second-largest aquarium in Denmark and easily among the largest aquaria in Northern Europe. Contrary to Den Blå Planet, Nordsøen Oceanarium only keeps Danish saltwater species, so while it doesn’t feature as much diversity as the former, it’s an amazing place to see North Atlantic sea life (“Nordsøen” means “North Sea”).
Nordsøen Oceanarium consists of two big buildings, and the namesake attraction is the “Oceanarium” in the new building which is a 4.5-million-liter tank which houses an immense number of shoaling fish like herring and mackerel as well sharks, rays, and – most of the time – the aquarium’s stars, which are ocean sunfish (unfortunately, they don’t keep this species currently, but they’re working to source new individuals). While the new building doesn’t have other animal exhibits, it features many exhibitions on life in the North Sea.
The old building features four big and well-furnished fish tanks (in the 100,000-liter range) that represent each their habitat in the North Sea. Furthermore, there are various exhibitions on fishery. In the hallway between the two buildings, there are a lot of small tanks for fish and invertebrates that the aquarium wants the guests to see up close.
There’s a relatively big outdoor area with Denmark’s biggest seal pool, a maritime-themed playground, and a big exhibition on whales where you among other things can see an intact fin whale skeleton.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, but there is no bus stop by the entrance. You have to walk a few hundred meters from the nearest train station.
Is it near any other zoos? Just south of Hirtshals, there’s a farm zoo named Farm Fun that mostly keeps domestic animals, but also a few exotics.
Priority: When visiting Europe? Yes, if aquaria are your thing. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: None currently (but most of the time they have ocean sunfish in their collection).
-----
Randers Regnskov:
Randers Regnskov (meaning “Randers Rainforest”) is located smack in the middle of its namesake town and has become one of the local landmarks that you quickly spot when driving into the town.
The reason it’s become such a landmark is because the three huge domes stand out compared to ordinary town buildings. These three domes represent each their continent: Africa, Asia, and South America. Each dome has a wide range of free-ranging animals as well as several exhibits for choice species that cannot range freely.
The African dome is the smallest one (500 square meters), and almost half of it taken up by a night zoo with aardvarks, pottos, and fruit bats among others. The Asian dome is a bit larger (700 square meters) and is the one with the least room for free-ranging animals, given that it’s dominated by exhibits for gibbons, Komodo dragons and porcupines. The South American dome is bigger than the two others combined (2000 square meters) and is centered around a manatee pool, but also features exhibits for animals like rheas, margays, and bush dogs as well as a hidden night zoo with bats and anacondas.
Connecting the African and Asian domes is a hallway with venomous snakes and a night zoo for Asian animals. Next to this hallway is the arguably most unique attraction of Randers Regnskov: A greenhouse with free-ranging snakes and a few other animals such as land crabs and archerfish (to any ophidiophobes out there, this greenhouse can easily be skipped).
The huge entrance building has – besides the shop and a cafeteria – a basement aquarium for Caribbean reef fish that connects to the South America dome.
In recent years, Randers has mainly focused on expanding its outdoor areas with prehistory-themed exhibitions, Danish farm animals and exhibits for big carnivores like jaguars and hyenas.
Randers Regnskov is one of those places that you can visit several times a year and still see something new, because new species are constantly added to the collection (of course with others leaving).
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? No, but Randers does have a deer garden as well as a park (Doktorparken) with some bird aviaries if you’re very keen on seeing more animals.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: West Indian manatee, potto, springhare, feathertail glider, margay.
-----
Ree Park:
Ree Park, which is located in what feels like the middle of nowhere, though still fairly close to the little town of Ebeltoft, is the largest entirely walkable zoo in Denmark.
It follows Givskud Zoo’s example by almost solely focusing on large (exotic) mammals and building huge and impressive exhibits. Ree Park has one edge over Givskud Zoo; while Givskud Zoo is located between flat and boring fields, Ree Park is located in some of the Denmark’s most beautiful (and hilly) nature, and that makes building exhibits an easier endeavor as they can often just fence in a piece of nature without any major landscaping.
Ree Park has many commendable things about it; for example the enormous savanna where they as one of only extremely few zoos have managed to cohabit black rhinos with other species, the monkey islands, and the North American prairie.
While everything in Ree Park can be seen on foot, the zoo does have Land Rover trips going through the African savanna as well as an old-fashioned steam train going through the North American prairie.
Ree Park takes its from name from its current owner, Danish billionaire Carsten Ree. Being owned by a billionaire who doesn’t work at the zoo has been a double-edged sword. On the positive side, it allowed the zoo to build many big-budget exhibits during the first years of his ownership. On the negative side, he decided to phase out almost all non-mammalian species that the previous owners had amassed, and in recent years, he has practically ignored the zoo, causing the development to stagnate and the collection to lose several species every year. But as of now, the zoo still has enough good exhibits and animals to warrant a visit.
Accessible by public transport? No.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, it’s close to no less than three other zoos: Kattegatcentret, Munkholm Zoo, and Skandinavisk Dyrepark.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: No truly rare species. American black bear or sandcat probably come closest.
-----
Skandinavisk Dyrepark:
Skandinavisk Dyrepark by the village of Kolind has a name that means “Scandinavian Animal Park” and does indeed focus almost exclusively on Scandinavian animals, though it also keeps a couple of other cold climate species.
It had a modest beginning as a deer park, and while it still has two huge walkthrough exhibits for fallow deer and red deer, these animals are no longer the true drawcards. Instead, Skandinavisk Dyrepark has become famous for “Ulveparken” (The Wolf Park), “Bjørneparken” (The [Brown] Bear Park), “Isbjørneparken” (The Polar Bear Park), and “Elgparken” (The Moose Park). These are enormous (at least 1 hectare) exhibits for the aforementioned species where the guests view the animals from a raised footbridge. Another recent highlight is the world’s biggest aviary (3600 square meters) for Steller’s sea eagles.
Skandinavisk Dyrepark has chosen to only keep easily viewable and charismatic species, so there’s less than 20 species in total, and the only small animals are adders, grass snakes, and polecats. Despite this, Skandinavisk Dyrepark is big enough that you can easily spend a couple of hours here, and like Ree Park, it has pleasant, natural surroundings.
The owner and founder of the park is about to retire this year, and Skandinavisk Dyrepark will instead become a self-governing institution, so time will tell if this will change the concept and collection.
Accessible by public transport? No.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, it’s close to no less than three other zoos: Kattegatcentret, Munkholm Zoo, and Ree Park.
Priority: When visiting Europe? Only if you like bears and wolves. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: None.
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Skærup Zoo:
Denmark has several tiny, family-owned zoos that all came into the existence when the family in question built a large animal collection around their farms and eventually got a zoo license and opened to the public.
Skærup Zoo is one of these, and it’s the only one that made the cut to my list. The reason for this is that the zoo stands out by having owners that strive for exhibiting as many species as possible that cannot be seen anywhere else in Denmark. They have established good connections to several zoos in Germany and elsewhere in Central Europe, and every year they manage to import species that most Danish people aren’t likely to have seen before. Sometimes, they even get their hands on species that are very rare in Europe as a whole – for example, they kept a mountain anoa for a few years.
Skærup Zoo is very small, and because they try to cram in a lot of relatively large mammals and birds, a lot of the exhibits are admittedly on the small side, but better and bigger exhibits are continually being built, and enrichment is done well.
All in all, Skærup Zoo feels like a zoo that is made as much with zoo nerds in minds as with families with young children in mind which is a contrast to practically every other zoo in the country.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, but there is no bus stop by the entrance. You have to walk about 500 meters from the bus stop in Skærup proper.
Is it near any other zoos? It’s fairly close to Madsby Legepark in the town of Fredericia which is mostly a big playground, but also has several exhibits for exotic birds and domestic animals. Givskud Zoo is also within reach.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you are a species collector.
Notable rarities: Toque macaque, plains viscacha, pygmy falcon, wild budgerigar, southern bald ibis, bobcat.
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Aalborg Zoo:
Aalborg Zoo is one of the zoos that only barely made the cut to my list, because it’s not gonna stand out that much to a foreign visitor, but it’s one of only three city zoos here in Denmark and arguably the one that who comes closest to having a “traditional”, old-school zoo feel.
Aalborg Zoo’s collection isn’t big, but it’s decently all-around when it comes to mammals (most of the ABC’s can be seen here) and ectotherms; birds are more lacking, though you can find a few species in the tropical houses and the free-flight aviary by the entrance.
Aalborg Zoo's specialty is African exhibits; the savanna is huge and green for a tiny city zoo, and the so-called “African village” is very well-done with hoofstock stables, warthogs, and a tropical house for pygmy hippos. Among the other exhibits, there’s nothing world-class, but except for the orangutan exhibit (which is currently getting a makeover and expansion) there’s nothing bad either, and some of the old exhibits hold up surprisingly well.
Aalborg Zoo unfortunately stagnated an awful lot in the 2010s when the director had a phase where he was more interested in animatronic dinosaurs than actual animals, and while there are still animatronic exhibitions (this year it's bugs) to attract the families, the focus finally seems to be switching back to the animals.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? No.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you are in the general area.
Notable rarities: Black caiman, African sharptooth catfish.
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To be continued in my next post - Part 2 - the islands...
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Sorry for a bit of a delay, but now I'm ready to share the last Danish zoos...
Part 2 - the islands:
Jutland of course doesn't lay claim to all the country's zoos - the islands east of Little Belt also have quite a few. Zealand has surprisingly few zoos (and even fewer noteworthy zoos) despite being our largest island with the capital and several large towns. Funen is probably the most diverse zoo area in Denmark with a traditional city zoo, a bird park, a reptile zoo, and an aquarium close to each other on the same island. The "Southern Sea islands" Lolland and Falster also have a few collections. As does the easternmost island of Bornholm, though none of them made the cut to my list (but Bornholm is plenty worth a visit for other reasons).
Fjord & Bælt:
Fjord & Bælt (translating into “Fjord & Belt”, “belt” being a type of Danish strait) is located at the harbor in the Funen town of Kerteminde. It’s one of several Danish native-species aquaria, but it stands out in the crowd for one particular thing: Keeping harbor porpoises. This species can only be seen in two places in Europe, and Fjord & Bælt was first the place in the world to breed it in captivity.
While keeping cetaceans in captivity will always be a controversial topic, I feel like Fjord & Bælt come closest to doing it in an uncontroversial way; the porpoises have a big pool with natural sea water, and they’re staunchly kept for the sake of research, not for the sake of tourist entertainment. In fact, Fjord & Bælt’s research on porpoises is among the most influential on a global level. The porpoise feedings are also much less of a circus show than a typical dolphin feeding.
Besides the porpoises, Fjord & Bælt has a series of fine (but not truly noteworthy) tanks for Danish saltwater fish, touch pools, exhibitions on marine ecology, a long tunnel with underwater view to the porpoises and various invertebrates, and an outdoor seal exhibit.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Relatively close to Odense Zoo.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you’re particularly interested in porpoises.
Notable rarities: Harbor porpoise, sea lamprey.
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Odense Zoo:
Odense Zoo, located in Denmark’s third-largest city on Funen, is often considered to be the best zoo in Denmark. Your mileage may vary on this, as the zoo has a very small area, an equally small collection, and very few noteworthy rarities – you can find several Danish zoos that exceed it in at least one of these categories. Especially if you’ve just visited one of Europe’s big showstoppers like Chester, Schönbrunn or Burgers, Odense may indeed a bit underwhelming.
However, when you measure it bit for bit, it really is a great zoo that has many obvious strengths and not many obvious weaknesses. It’s for sure the best of Denmark’s three city zoos. The giraffes, tigers, lions, chimpanzees, and antelopes have surprisingly big exhibits for such a small zoo, and among other highlights there’s two huge free-flight aviaries for African and South American birds respectively, walkthrough exhibits for kangaroos and squirrel monkeys, a small but well-done tropical house for manatees (one of Europe’s most productive breeding groups), and Denmark’s (until later this year) only exhibit for sub-Antarctic penguins.
When Odense builds new exhibits, you can always trust them to be high quality and often innovative. Odense is mostly held back by its lack of diversity – the focus is clearly on mammals and large birds, so other than the fish in the manatee pool, there are very few ectotherms and even fewer small birds.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Not extremely close to other zoos, but Funen is small enough that Terrariet Vissenbjerg, Danmarks Fuglezoo and Fjord & Bælt are within reach.
Priority: When visiting Europe? If you like the type of zoo (small, but with consistent quality) that Odense Zoo is, then yes. If you’re more into big and speciose zoos, then no. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: West Indian manatee.
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Terrariet Vissenbjerg:
Vissenbjerg is a small town on Funen, and it lays claim to one of only two reptile zoos in the country, of which Terrariet Vissenbjerg by far has the largest and most diverse collection. There are plenty of representatives for both chelonians, lizards, and snakes, as well as one crocodilian and a few amphibian species. Besides the herps, there are a handful of mammals and birds as well as several fish.
Terrariet Vissenbjerg is located in an old, worn-down farm building, and there are still some hallways where both the exhibits and surroundings are very much substandard. However, there is a thriving modernization process underway to turn the hallways into new, modern, and thematized areas.
You enter through one of these areas, the rainforest, which is small but nice, and houses quite a few free-ranging birds and reptiles. The next area is the desert which feels more like cheaply done, but still has rare species and fine exhibits. You exit through a greenhouse based on the Indonesian islands (with Komodo dragons as the main attraction), and currently, a Madagascar-themed room with lemurs is being built. Terrariet Vissenbjerg also has an outdoor area for European and North American reptiles that can stand the fickle Danish weather.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, it’s quite close to Danmarks Fuglezoo, and these two can easily be seen in the same day.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you’re particularly interested in reptiles.
Notable rarities: Philippine crocodile, Lichtenstein’s short-fingered gecko, sandfish skink (well, they’re rare in public collections), several species of venomous snakes.
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Den Blå Planet:
Okay, this is an embarrassing one to admit, but… I’ve haven’t actually gotten around to visit Den Blå Planet yet (it’s in the other end of the country from where I live)… So don’t take my description completely at face value. I hear lots of good things about the place, though, so I have no doubts that it’ll make the cut to my list.
Den Blå Planet (“The Blue Planet”), Denmark’s national aquarium, was housed in cramped, unassuming surroundings in a northern suburb of Copenhagen until 2013 when it was moved to its current, huge building in a southern suburb. Other than being huge, the building is also an interesting piece of modern architecture with a shape like a maelstrom.
Den Blå Planet basically consists of three areas: “Northern lakes and seas” (temperate species, with a reconstructed Faroese bird cliff, and an outdoor sea otter exhibit), “Tropical lakes and rivers” (tropical freshwater species, with a tropical house with free-flying birds), and “The ocean” (tropical saltwater species, with a big, oblong reef tank as well a 4-million-liter ocean tank with a shark tunnel). Den Blå Planet generally doesn’t sort its species by geographical location, but instead by habitat and occasionally behavior.
The tanks are beautifully decorated, and rare species abound, with Den Blå Planet being the most speciose collection in Denmark. Of course, you need to find fish at least somewhat interesting to enjoy Den Blå Planet, but if you do, I hear and get the impression that it’s the one zoological institution in Denmark that comes closest to being a world-class facility instead of only impressive by national standards.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance and metro station nearby.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, Copenhagen Zoo. You’re also not far from the Swedish city of Malmö which has an aquarium as part of the Malmöhus Museums as well as a small reptile zoo.
Priority: When visiting Europe? Yes. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: Sea otter, black-legged kittiwake, quite a few fish species.
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København Zoo:
København Zoo is located in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen (yes, “København” is the Danish name for Copenhagen) between two large parks.
It’s pretty much the de facto national zoo of Denmark and surely the most visited animal collection. That doesn’t mean that Copenhagen is that much grander than some of the other zoos of the country. It is the largest of our city zoos, though (but at only 11 hectares big, that’s not saying much), and has one of the country’s largest and most diverse animal collections.
Copenhagen Zoo’s claim to fame is probably its large amount of contemporary architecture. The elephant house is designed by none other than Norman Foster, and some of the other exhibits like the Arctic Ring and the giant panda exhibit are the works of famous Danish architect practices.
Due to Denmark having an Australian crown princess, Australian animals are also something of a focus area for Copenhagen; the zoo was gifted a pair of Tasmanian devils for the aforementioned princess’s wedding in 2006 and was for several years the only zoo outside of Australia to keep the species. The zoo also has a walkthrough exhibit for kangaroos, a side exhibit for wombats, and a new aviary for rock wallabies, Australian birds, and echidnas is soon to begin construction.
Otherwise, Copenhagen keeps a lot of the typical ABC animals in mostly fine (but generally not world-class) enclosures – the big drawcard right now are the giant pandas. There is a tropical house with free-flying birds, reptiles, and chimpanzees, a monkey house, and a tiny night house.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, Den Blå Planet is also in Copenhagen.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: Giant panda, Tasmanian devil, Philippine crocodile, Congo peafowl.
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Nordsjællands Fuglepark:
Nordsjællands Fuglepark (“Northern Zealand’s Bird Park”), near the town of Esbønderup, is one of only two bird parks in Denmark and the only one that I consider noteworthy enough to make the cut to my list.
In delightful park surroundings, you can see a myriad of bird species (I believe it’s the second-most speciose zoo in Denmark, only surpassed by Den Blå Planet) in countless rows of aviaries. Nordsjællands Fuglepark mostly focuses on parrots and passerines, though there are also other traditional aviary birds like turacos, toucans, hornbills, and pheasants. Except for saddle-billed storks and emus, there are no large birds or wading birds – you need to visit Denmark’s other bird park for these.
The owner used to be an avid hobby keeper for many years before founding the bird park, and despite it being a licensed zoo, he still sources many (if not most) of the birds from private keepers which means that you will encounter a lot of species that are only rarely shown in public collections.
The bird park has a philosophy of letting the plants in the aviaries grow wild which means that it’ll take a lot of patience (and occasionally be impossible) to spot some of the birds. Nordsjællands Fuglepark doesn’t only keep birds; there are a few mammals like wallabies and callithricids around, and the entrance building features a surprisingly large reptile collection as well as some fish. Next to the entrance building is a small tropical house, stocked with free-flying rarities.
The owner has stated a wish to build a new and bigger tropical house similar to the domes in Randers Regnskov, though to my knowledge this is still only in the idea phase.
Accessible by public transport? No.
Is it near any other zoos? Relatively close to the town of Helsingør which has a small aquarium named Øresundsakvariet.
Priority: For both Denmark and Europe, I said it depends on your interest in your birds.
Notable rarities: Yellow-rumped tinkerbird, red-throated bee-eater, quite a few passerines and parrots.
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Knuthenborg Safaripark:
With its 400 hectares, Knuthenborg Safaripark on the island of Lolland – the other of Denmark’s two safari parks – is Denmark’s largest zoo, no contest, and features no less than 23 km worth of paths and roads. It’s located on the grounds of the titular manor of Knuthenborg and is in fact owned by the count and countess.
Knuthenborg’s primary drawcard is indeed its immense size; there are enormous drive-through enclosures for African hoofstock, tigers, wolves, and domestic animals like camels and llamas (in the hoofstock enclosures, you can even get out your car and see the animals up close). The on-foot exhibits for elephants, baboons, and lemurs are also the biggest in Denmark.
Knuthenborg Safaripark is the zoo on my list with the smallest collection – less than 30 species – but when the area is this big, you can probably still spend a few hours in the park. Knuthenborg also has very pleasant surroundings in the form of woods without animal exhibits, ornamental gardens, and water features.
What may disappoint many of us, however, is that Knuthenborg Safaripark has become as much of an amusement park as it is a zoo. They aren’t phasing out the animals, but practically all their new projects and investments in the last decade have been amusement rides like rollercoasters. They even demolished the many aviaries that housed the entirety of their bird collection (except for ostriches) for an animatronic dinosaur park. This has in turn made Knuthenborg Safaripark the most expensive zoo to visit in Denmark, and while the animal areas are certainly nice, you may not feel you’re getting your money’s worth unless you’re bringing kids or am a theme park enthusiast yourself.
Accessible by public transport? No. You can enter and ride around the park on bike, but you need a car to access several of the drive-through exhibits, so with a bike you won't get the full experience.
Is it near any other zoos? No.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you are in the general area.
Notable rarities: None currently.
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Krokodille Zoo:
Krokodille Zoo (“Crocodile Zoo”), located near the town of Eskilstrup on the island of Falster, is the other of Denmark’s two reptile zoos, and it’s far more specialized than its Funen equivalent. You won’t find a particularly good collection of lizards, snakes, or most other cold-blooded groups, but never mind that when this is a zoo that keeps almost every species of crocodilian, including the only Orinoco crocodiles in Europe!
In fact, the zoo did amass every single species of crocodilian at one point, but then taxonomists screwed them over by making West African crocodile (which they still don’t keep) a separate species. It helps that the director has been a crocodile enthusiast for his entire life and thus have established good connections to crocodile farms and keepers outside of Europe.
Krokodille Zoo doesn’t make do with just exhibiting the crocodiles; they also have amazing breeding results with many of the species. Unfortunately, there are almost always a few crocodile species off-exhibit, but you can try calling in advance and ask if you can go behind the scenes to see them (they sometimes allow that).
Krokodille Zoo is rapidly developing, and throughout the last decade they have managed to transform the stable buildings that the zoo is located in from dusty hallways with very functionalistic exhibits to modern tropical houses.
The zoo also has an outdoor area for tortoises, alligators, and three carnivores that cannot be seen elsewhere in Denmark: Cougar, clouded leopard, and tayra. They are currently building a brand new tropical house for the Orinoco crocodiles, and among long-term plans the zoo wants to move its entire collection to a new location elsewhere on Falster.
Accessible by public transport? No.
Is it near any other zoos? Nykøbing Falster, the main town of Falster, has a small zoo named Guldborgsund Zoo.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you’re particularly interested in crocodilians.
Notable rarities: Orinoco crocodile. Some of the other crocodilians are also rare in captivity.
Part 2 - the islands:
Jutland of course doesn't lay claim to all the country's zoos - the islands east of Little Belt also have quite a few. Zealand has surprisingly few zoos (and even fewer noteworthy zoos) despite being our largest island with the capital and several large towns. Funen is probably the most diverse zoo area in Denmark with a traditional city zoo, a bird park, a reptile zoo, and an aquarium close to each other on the same island. The "Southern Sea islands" Lolland and Falster also have a few collections. As does the easternmost island of Bornholm, though none of them made the cut to my list (but Bornholm is plenty worth a visit for other reasons).
Fjord & Bælt:
Fjord & Bælt (translating into “Fjord & Belt”, “belt” being a type of Danish strait) is located at the harbor in the Funen town of Kerteminde. It’s one of several Danish native-species aquaria, but it stands out in the crowd for one particular thing: Keeping harbor porpoises. This species can only be seen in two places in Europe, and Fjord & Bælt was first the place in the world to breed it in captivity.
While keeping cetaceans in captivity will always be a controversial topic, I feel like Fjord & Bælt come closest to doing it in an uncontroversial way; the porpoises have a big pool with natural sea water, and they’re staunchly kept for the sake of research, not for the sake of tourist entertainment. In fact, Fjord & Bælt’s research on porpoises is among the most influential on a global level. The porpoise feedings are also much less of a circus show than a typical dolphin feeding.
Besides the porpoises, Fjord & Bælt has a series of fine (but not truly noteworthy) tanks for Danish saltwater fish, touch pools, exhibitions on marine ecology, a long tunnel with underwater view to the porpoises and various invertebrates, and an outdoor seal exhibit.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Relatively close to Odense Zoo.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you’re particularly interested in porpoises.
Notable rarities: Harbor porpoise, sea lamprey.
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Odense Zoo:
Odense Zoo, located in Denmark’s third-largest city on Funen, is often considered to be the best zoo in Denmark. Your mileage may vary on this, as the zoo has a very small area, an equally small collection, and very few noteworthy rarities – you can find several Danish zoos that exceed it in at least one of these categories. Especially if you’ve just visited one of Europe’s big showstoppers like Chester, Schönbrunn or Burgers, Odense may indeed a bit underwhelming.
However, when you measure it bit for bit, it really is a great zoo that has many obvious strengths and not many obvious weaknesses. It’s for sure the best of Denmark’s three city zoos. The giraffes, tigers, lions, chimpanzees, and antelopes have surprisingly big exhibits for such a small zoo, and among other highlights there’s two huge free-flight aviaries for African and South American birds respectively, walkthrough exhibits for kangaroos and squirrel monkeys, a small but well-done tropical house for manatees (one of Europe’s most productive breeding groups), and Denmark’s (until later this year) only exhibit for sub-Antarctic penguins.
When Odense builds new exhibits, you can always trust them to be high quality and often innovative. Odense is mostly held back by its lack of diversity – the focus is clearly on mammals and large birds, so other than the fish in the manatee pool, there are very few ectotherms and even fewer small birds.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Not extremely close to other zoos, but Funen is small enough that Terrariet Vissenbjerg, Danmarks Fuglezoo and Fjord & Bælt are within reach.
Priority: When visiting Europe? If you like the type of zoo (small, but with consistent quality) that Odense Zoo is, then yes. If you’re more into big and speciose zoos, then no. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: West Indian manatee.
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Terrariet Vissenbjerg:
Vissenbjerg is a small town on Funen, and it lays claim to one of only two reptile zoos in the country, of which Terrariet Vissenbjerg by far has the largest and most diverse collection. There are plenty of representatives for both chelonians, lizards, and snakes, as well as one crocodilian and a few amphibian species. Besides the herps, there are a handful of mammals and birds as well as several fish.
Terrariet Vissenbjerg is located in an old, worn-down farm building, and there are still some hallways where both the exhibits and surroundings are very much substandard. However, there is a thriving modernization process underway to turn the hallways into new, modern, and thematized areas.
You enter through one of these areas, the rainforest, which is small but nice, and houses quite a few free-ranging birds and reptiles. The next area is the desert which feels more like cheaply done, but still has rare species and fine exhibits. You exit through a greenhouse based on the Indonesian islands (with Komodo dragons as the main attraction), and currently, a Madagascar-themed room with lemurs is being built. Terrariet Vissenbjerg also has an outdoor area for European and North American reptiles that can stand the fickle Danish weather.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, it’s quite close to Danmarks Fuglezoo, and these two can easily be seen in the same day.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you’re particularly interested in reptiles.
Notable rarities: Philippine crocodile, Lichtenstein’s short-fingered gecko, sandfish skink (well, they’re rare in public collections), several species of venomous snakes.
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Den Blå Planet:
Okay, this is an embarrassing one to admit, but… I’ve haven’t actually gotten around to visit Den Blå Planet yet (it’s in the other end of the country from where I live)… So don’t take my description completely at face value. I hear lots of good things about the place, though, so I have no doubts that it’ll make the cut to my list.
Den Blå Planet (“The Blue Planet”), Denmark’s national aquarium, was housed in cramped, unassuming surroundings in a northern suburb of Copenhagen until 2013 when it was moved to its current, huge building in a southern suburb. Other than being huge, the building is also an interesting piece of modern architecture with a shape like a maelstrom.
Den Blå Planet basically consists of three areas: “Northern lakes and seas” (temperate species, with a reconstructed Faroese bird cliff, and an outdoor sea otter exhibit), “Tropical lakes and rivers” (tropical freshwater species, with a tropical house with free-flying birds), and “The ocean” (tropical saltwater species, with a big, oblong reef tank as well a 4-million-liter ocean tank with a shark tunnel). Den Blå Planet generally doesn’t sort its species by geographical location, but instead by habitat and occasionally behavior.
The tanks are beautifully decorated, and rare species abound, with Den Blå Planet being the most speciose collection in Denmark. Of course, you need to find fish at least somewhat interesting to enjoy Den Blå Planet, but if you do, I hear and get the impression that it’s the one zoological institution in Denmark that comes closest to being a world-class facility instead of only impressive by national standards.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance and metro station nearby.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, Copenhagen Zoo. You’re also not far from the Swedish city of Malmö which has an aquarium as part of the Malmöhus Museums as well as a small reptile zoo.
Priority: When visiting Europe? Yes. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: Sea otter, black-legged kittiwake, quite a few fish species.
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København Zoo:
København Zoo is located in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen (yes, “København” is the Danish name for Copenhagen) between two large parks.
It’s pretty much the de facto national zoo of Denmark and surely the most visited animal collection. That doesn’t mean that Copenhagen is that much grander than some of the other zoos of the country. It is the largest of our city zoos, though (but at only 11 hectares big, that’s not saying much), and has one of the country’s largest and most diverse animal collections.
Copenhagen Zoo’s claim to fame is probably its large amount of contemporary architecture. The elephant house is designed by none other than Norman Foster, and some of the other exhibits like the Arctic Ring and the giant panda exhibit are the works of famous Danish architect practices.
Due to Denmark having an Australian crown princess, Australian animals are also something of a focus area for Copenhagen; the zoo was gifted a pair of Tasmanian devils for the aforementioned princess’s wedding in 2006 and was for several years the only zoo outside of Australia to keep the species. The zoo also has a walkthrough exhibit for kangaroos, a side exhibit for wombats, and a new aviary for rock wallabies, Australian birds, and echidnas is soon to begin construction.
Otherwise, Copenhagen keeps a lot of the typical ABC animals in mostly fine (but generally not world-class) enclosures – the big drawcard right now are the giant pandas. There is a tropical house with free-flying birds, reptiles, and chimpanzees, a monkey house, and a tiny night house.
Accessible by public transport? Yes, bus stop by the entrance.
Is it near any other zoos? Yes, Den Blå Planet is also in Copenhagen.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? Yes.
Notable rarities: Giant panda, Tasmanian devil, Philippine crocodile, Congo peafowl.
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Nordsjællands Fuglepark:
Nordsjællands Fuglepark (“Northern Zealand’s Bird Park”), near the town of Esbønderup, is one of only two bird parks in Denmark and the only one that I consider noteworthy enough to make the cut to my list.
In delightful park surroundings, you can see a myriad of bird species (I believe it’s the second-most speciose zoo in Denmark, only surpassed by Den Blå Planet) in countless rows of aviaries. Nordsjællands Fuglepark mostly focuses on parrots and passerines, though there are also other traditional aviary birds like turacos, toucans, hornbills, and pheasants. Except for saddle-billed storks and emus, there are no large birds or wading birds – you need to visit Denmark’s other bird park for these.
The owner used to be an avid hobby keeper for many years before founding the bird park, and despite it being a licensed zoo, he still sources many (if not most) of the birds from private keepers which means that you will encounter a lot of species that are only rarely shown in public collections.
The bird park has a philosophy of letting the plants in the aviaries grow wild which means that it’ll take a lot of patience (and occasionally be impossible) to spot some of the birds. Nordsjællands Fuglepark doesn’t only keep birds; there are a few mammals like wallabies and callithricids around, and the entrance building features a surprisingly large reptile collection as well as some fish. Next to the entrance building is a small tropical house, stocked with free-flying rarities.
The owner has stated a wish to build a new and bigger tropical house similar to the domes in Randers Regnskov, though to my knowledge this is still only in the idea phase.
Accessible by public transport? No.
Is it near any other zoos? Relatively close to the town of Helsingør which has a small aquarium named Øresundsakvariet.
Priority: For both Denmark and Europe, I said it depends on your interest in your birds.
Notable rarities: Yellow-rumped tinkerbird, red-throated bee-eater, quite a few passerines and parrots.
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Knuthenborg Safaripark:
With its 400 hectares, Knuthenborg Safaripark on the island of Lolland – the other of Denmark’s two safari parks – is Denmark’s largest zoo, no contest, and features no less than 23 km worth of paths and roads. It’s located on the grounds of the titular manor of Knuthenborg and is in fact owned by the count and countess.
Knuthenborg’s primary drawcard is indeed its immense size; there are enormous drive-through enclosures for African hoofstock, tigers, wolves, and domestic animals like camels and llamas (in the hoofstock enclosures, you can even get out your car and see the animals up close). The on-foot exhibits for elephants, baboons, and lemurs are also the biggest in Denmark.
Knuthenborg Safaripark is the zoo on my list with the smallest collection – less than 30 species – but when the area is this big, you can probably still spend a few hours in the park. Knuthenborg also has very pleasant surroundings in the form of woods without animal exhibits, ornamental gardens, and water features.
What may disappoint many of us, however, is that Knuthenborg Safaripark has become as much of an amusement park as it is a zoo. They aren’t phasing out the animals, but practically all their new projects and investments in the last decade have been amusement rides like rollercoasters. They even demolished the many aviaries that housed the entirety of their bird collection (except for ostriches) for an animatronic dinosaur park. This has in turn made Knuthenborg Safaripark the most expensive zoo to visit in Denmark, and while the animal areas are certainly nice, you may not feel you’re getting your money’s worth unless you’re bringing kids or am a theme park enthusiast yourself.
Accessible by public transport? No. You can enter and ride around the park on bike, but you need a car to access several of the drive-through exhibits, so with a bike you won't get the full experience.
Is it near any other zoos? No.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you are in the general area.
Notable rarities: None currently.
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Krokodille Zoo:
Krokodille Zoo (“Crocodile Zoo”), located near the town of Eskilstrup on the island of Falster, is the other of Denmark’s two reptile zoos, and it’s far more specialized than its Funen equivalent. You won’t find a particularly good collection of lizards, snakes, or most other cold-blooded groups, but never mind that when this is a zoo that keeps almost every species of crocodilian, including the only Orinoco crocodiles in Europe!
In fact, the zoo did amass every single species of crocodilian at one point, but then taxonomists screwed them over by making West African crocodile (which they still don’t keep) a separate species. It helps that the director has been a crocodile enthusiast for his entire life and thus have established good connections to crocodile farms and keepers outside of Europe.
Krokodille Zoo doesn’t make do with just exhibiting the crocodiles; they also have amazing breeding results with many of the species. Unfortunately, there are almost always a few crocodile species off-exhibit, but you can try calling in advance and ask if you can go behind the scenes to see them (they sometimes allow that).
Krokodille Zoo is rapidly developing, and throughout the last decade they have managed to transform the stable buildings that the zoo is located in from dusty hallways with very functionalistic exhibits to modern tropical houses.
The zoo also has an outdoor area for tortoises, alligators, and three carnivores that cannot be seen elsewhere in Denmark: Cougar, clouded leopard, and tayra. They are currently building a brand new tropical house for the Orinoco crocodiles, and among long-term plans the zoo wants to move its entire collection to a new location elsewhere on Falster.
Accessible by public transport? No.
Is it near any other zoos? Nykøbing Falster, the main town of Falster, has a small zoo named Guldborgsund Zoo.
Priority: When visiting Europe? No. When visiting Denmark? If you’re particularly interested in crocodilians.
Notable rarities: Orinoco crocodile. Some of the other crocodilians are also rare in captivity.
Thank you @Hvedekorn for your analysis of the major zoological facilities of Denmark. I've been intrigued with the Nordic nations for a while, even though a zoo trip through Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway would be far more expensive than a similar road trip through Poland and the Czech. Republic. While Finland and Norway have one 'national' zoo each, Denmark and Sweden are appealing and more manageable in terms of renting a car and driving around the nations visiting zoos.
The three Danish zoos listed in Anthony Sheridan's latest hardcover book are all small in geographical size. Aalborg Zoo (9 hectares/22 acres), Odense Zoo (also 9 hectares/22 acres) and Copenhagen Zoo (12 hectares/30 acres) aren't huge by modern standards, even though they all have some splendid-looking exhibits and would be must-sees for a zoo nerd heading to Denmark. It is fascinating that both Aalborg and Odense opened in the 1930s and both have between 410,000 and 460,000 annual visitors. Copenhagen opened in 1859 and has almost 1.6 million annual visitors, but of course the black-and-white blobs and ABC lineup of species helps immensely in that major city.
Isn't Den Bla Planet Aquarium one of the largest aquariums in all of Europe? I'm not sure if that is based on gallons/liters of water, or the actual footprint of the facility, but it is certainly a significant aquarium. I knew about Ree Park and Givskud, as well as the reptile zoos, but it was a joy to read about the aquariums that I didn't know much about, such as Nordsoen Oceanarium, Aqua Aquarium and Kattegat Center. If I ever set off for Denmark, I'll certainly do my best to visit a large selection of the zoological offerings. Plus, there is always Malmo, Sweden, only 30 minutes away!
The three Danish zoos listed in Anthony Sheridan's latest hardcover book are all small in geographical size. Aalborg Zoo (9 hectares/22 acres), Odense Zoo (also 9 hectares/22 acres) and Copenhagen Zoo (12 hectares/30 acres) aren't huge by modern standards, even though they all have some splendid-looking exhibits and would be must-sees for a zoo nerd heading to Denmark. It is fascinating that both Aalborg and Odense opened in the 1930s and both have between 410,000 and 460,000 annual visitors. Copenhagen opened in 1859 and has almost 1.6 million annual visitors, but of course the black-and-white blobs and ABC lineup of species helps immensely in that major city.
Isn't Den Bla Planet Aquarium one of the largest aquariums in all of Europe? I'm not sure if that is based on gallons/liters of water, or the actual footprint of the facility, but it is certainly a significant aquarium. I knew about Ree Park and Givskud, as well as the reptile zoos, but it was a joy to read about the aquariums that I didn't know much about, such as Nordsoen Oceanarium, Aqua Aquarium and Kattegat Center. If I ever set off for Denmark, I'll certainly do my best to visit a large selection of the zoological offerings. Plus, there is always Malmo, Sweden, only 30 minutes away!
Glad you enjoyed it @snowleopard! As for Den Blå Planet, it has a total of 7 million liter water - I can't remember how that compares to the other major aquaria in Europe.
And yeah, I'd say Denmark is a good destination for a road trip. The roads are usually not too crowded (as long as one avoids the larger cities and the motorways around Copenhagen during rush hour), the distances are manageable, and compared to Central Europe, it's still very easy to find free parking in most places. Public transport in Denmark is surprisingly terrible outside of the four largest cities, and even in the few places where it's good, it's horribly expensive, so I for one wouldn't recommend touring Denmark without a car.
But you're right that it's far more expensive than Central Europe. I'm pretty sure the three Scandinavian countries have the most expensive zoos in the world on average, and then there's things like hotels, food, gas...
And yeah, I'd say Denmark is a good destination for a road trip. The roads are usually not too crowded (as long as one avoids the larger cities and the motorways around Copenhagen during rush hour), the distances are manageable, and compared to Central Europe, it's still very easy to find free parking in most places. Public transport in Denmark is surprisingly terrible outside of the four largest cities, and even in the few places where it's good, it's horribly expensive, so I for one wouldn't recommend touring Denmark without a car.
But you're right that it's far more expensive than Central Europe. I'm pretty sure the three Scandinavian countries have the most expensive zoos in the world on average, and then there's things like hotels, food, gas...
A shame this thread seems to have gone inactive, @amur leopard any plans on bringing it back?
It's still happening but I think I'm taking it a bit slower now just to give the authors more time. Having said that the next installment shouldn't be too far away
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I think I will be doing the Baltic States as a single entity owing to their size - granted, I did do Cyprus separately but it isn't really near anything else. France should be next.
In the meantime before this thread will continue with next country, allow me a little sidenote to my text:
After visiting Prague's SeaWorld (Mořský svět Praha) few weeks ago, I would like to scratch the word "luckily" and I certainly don't recommend visiting it. For an entry fee of 15€ (the highest in Czechia's animal attractions) they don't really offer much, with some of the aquariums looking way past its best and few interesting species are not enough to make it worth.
How come this thread is in general zoo discussion section of the forum instead of Europe - General?
Most likely for ZC people who are interested but don’t frequent the European section.
Bengal Tiger
Well-Known Member
I hate to be a bother and bump the thread, but I am curious if there are any plans of continuation for this project.
As far as I know, it has been stopped due to several reasons, especially lack of time for the authors to write the articles. I don't think it will ever continue...