Best small zoo?

I think that Topeka Zoo in Kansas and Cougar Mountain Zoo in Washington are pretty nice. Cougar Mountain has a nice collection of macaws and cranes and Topeka has the first indoor tropical rainforest exhibit and a nice selection of African animals.
 
St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park is less than one acre, yet they manage to cram in all 24 species of crocodilian, some of which have multiple exhibits per species. There is also a unique African bird exhibit, lemurs, an Australasian complex, New World exhibits, and begind-the-scenes enclosures for juvenile crocodilians (such as the baby gharial) and at least one adult tomistoma (they received one from Virginia Aquarium and have bred them in the past, but there's only a juvenile on exhibit).

Most others that I've been to don't stand out.
 
I'd be hard pushed to pick between Shaldon and Shepreth. Both are very small (Shaldon especially so!), and both have individual character.

Shaldon would rank higher for the conservation work it does with small mammals, plus it has a lovelt collection in aincluding Owston's Palm Civets, Margays and more Lorises than you can shake a stick at (small mammals are my thing!). Great staff too who really know their stuff.

Shepreth is more of an all-round zoo, with Tigers, Maned Wolves, larger monkeys, and a larger bird and reptile collection, plus more Lorises. I think the place really has character, really takes conversion seriously, and the staff are really helpful and happy to talk.

Both zoos also have great nocturnal houses, always a plus for me :)
 
I enjoyed my visit to Newquay Zoo, which has an interesting collection of animals, some of which are not common in zoos.

One of the things I liked about Shepreth is the way it promotes conserving animals that it does not hold in its collection. I have read several statements that imply that zoos need to hold certain species in order to promote their conservation, even though the captive animals will never be part of a reintroduction programme. Shepreth shows that zoos can promote in-situ conservation for a wide range of species.
 
- Otorohanga kiwihouse in NZ is a vary good little park
- Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney is vary good as well

- Wingspan in Rotorua NZ is vary good

Lots of smaller native species parks around Australia that are pretty awesome.
 
I like a decent small zoo and two I consider to be well done are Shaldon and Living Coasts. Both are about an acre or so and both have very nice collections including rarities galore. An added bonus is they are extremely close together and can easily be done on the same day.

Other noteworthy small collections are Bristol, Newquay and Birmingham nature centre but they are a lot larger than the previous two.

Other small collections that I've not visited but heard good things about would be Exmoor and Hamerton. Both aren't readily accessible by public transport but have very impressive collections and are quite different from mainstream collections.
 
Brum said:
I like a decent small zoo and two I consider to be well done are Shaldon and Living Coasts. Both are about an acre or so and both have very nice collections including rarities galore. An added bonus is they are extremely close together and can easily be done on the same day.

Other noteworthy small collections are Bristol, Newquay and Birmingham nature centre but they are a lot larger than the previous two.

Other small collections that I've not visited but heard good things about would be Exmoor and Hamerton. Both aren't readily accessible by public transport but have very impressive collections and are quite different from mainstream collections.
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That's a pretty good summation of most of the best of small(er) UK zoos to which I'd also add Five Sisters (which is growing at a rapid pace and, I believe, may have more species than Edinburgh now) and Wingham (which generally lacks in aesthetics but has quite a nice collection). Monkey Haven on the Isle of Wight is also very well done.
 
Shorts said:
That's a pretty good summation of most of the best of small(er) UK zoos to which I'd also add Five Sisters (which is growing at a rapid pace and, I believe, may have more species than Edinburgh now) and Wingham (which generally lacks in aesthetics but has quite a nice collection). Monkey Haven on the Isle of Wight is also very well done.
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Five Sisters is a collection that flies under the radar, I'm not overly familiar with it so refrained from mentioning it. Wingham doesn't get a lot of comments either way but, as you allude to, seeems quite bland appearance wise whilst having a lot of "essential" animals as well as some truly unusual species like pardine genets, Spix night monkeys and little red flying foxes. I didn't think Monkey Haven had much going on, maybe I need to look into it more! ;)
 
David Fleay Wildlife Park an awesome small park. It is the size of around 2 acres but has some awesome mammal gems, I am talking bilbys, platypus, black footed tree rat, koala (not very exciting for me but exciting for the tourists), bridled nail tail wallaby and prospine Rock wallaby.
 
I think of Monkey Jungle in Florida as a small zoo. It's rather large, but the area accessible to the public isn't exceptionally so. And while it doesn't have a huge variety of species, the layout design is excellent and the staff are really knowledgeable. Before the new owners of Parrot Jungle moved its location and changed its name to "Jungle Island," that would have been the winner for me, hands down.
 
Brum said:
I didn't think Monkey Haven had much going on, maybe I need to look into it more! ;)
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It's not massive and has few rare species but it is exceptionally well done with great attention to detail in all areas. Basically a pleasant place to spend an hour or so but I wouldn't make a trip especially to visit (especially given the eye watering prices of Isle of Wight ferries).
 
David Fleay Wildlife Park, mentioned above, is what I personally regard as the best small zoo that I have visited. I wrote a review of the place, including why I think so highly of it, in my travel thread in the Australia forums.
Prior to visiting David Fleay, my favourite small zoo that I had visited was the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey, and I still regard this as the second best small zoo that I have visited.
 
Another small zoo that seems to have a great selection of seldom seen species is Axe Valley but I don't know what the place is like with regards to presentation.
 
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