British Isles Cup Group A: Edinburgh vs Aspinall

[CGSwans]

I haven’t reached a naming convention for these combined organisations that I love, but I’ll trust that the voting options make things clear, Australia and Islands.

 

[britishzoofan]

Edinburgh

Rainbow Lorikeet Aviary

Koala exhibit

Penguin Rock (King, Gentoo, Northern Rockhopper)

Wallaby Walkthrough

 

[britishzoofan]

I'm unsure, but do Banteng, Visayan Warty Pig or Visayan Spotted Deer count for this category?

 

[britishzoofan]

Edinburgh

Lemur Walkthrough (Crowned, Red-Bellied, Ring Tailed - unsure if all in walkthrough)

Another one of the penguin enclosure showing indoor viewing

This would appear to be a very strong category for RZSS with a strong line up of species and excellent enclosures to go with that. There are few zoos in this challenge that would beat them in this category.

 

[amur leopard]

A few questions - are Japan, Taiwan or Socorro in the Islands category or attached to their nearest continents?

Anyways, here are the species lists without the fauna from those places we'll see how we get along.

RZSS:
Black faced kangaroo
Crowned lemur
Lesser hedgehog tenrec
New Guinea ground cuscus
Northern koala
Red-bellied lemur
Ring-tailed lemur
Swamp wallaby

Antarctic Gentoo penguin
Common barn owl
Hamerkop
King penguin
Madagascar teal
Meller's duck
Northern rockhopper penguin
Pied imperial pigeon
Rainbow lorikeet
Southern cassowary
Swift parrot
Victoria crowned pigeon
White-naped pheasant pigeon
Yellow-crested cockatoo

Central bearded dragon
Common blue-tongued skink

Australian green tree frog

Aspinall foundation:
Black and white ruffed lemur
Black lemur
Crowned lemur
Red-bellied lemur
Eastern grey bamboo lemur
Fossa
Greater bamboo lemur
Ring-tailed lemur

Green tree python

White-lipped tree frog

So that is 25-8 to RZSS overall, but 8-8 in mammals, 14-0 in birds, 2-1 in reptiles and 1-1 in Amphibians. Interesting

Anyways, thanks to my own visits to Edinburgh and HWP and a quick glance through the media galleries along with @britishzoofan's coverage I think I'm voting 2-1 to RZSS with a bonus point to RZSS due to the far superior species list (especially in terms of non-mammals) and good -> excellent enclosures. However, the AF has a seemingly excellent species coverage of the Madagascan area with 7 species of lemur and fossa as their only mammals, so that earns them a point. Does that explanation qualify me for a bonus point?

 

[britishzoofan]

Howletts

Lemur Walkthrough (Black and White Ruffed, Ring-Tailed, Black, Crowned, Red Bellied - unsure which of these are in the walkthrough)

Port Lympe

Lesser Bamboo Lemur exhibit on the left I believe

Also, unsure if the Sulawesi Macaques at Howletts count for this round.

 

[britishzoofan]

Edinburgh

Lesser Hedgehog Tenerec enclosure

Southern Cassowary enclosure

Brilliant Birds (Pied Imperial Pigeon, Victoria Crowned Pigeon - possibly more)

Central Bearded Dragon and Pancake Tortoise enclosure

Other Koala enclosure

 

[TNT]

Whilst I've not been to the collections, it's a clear 3-1 to RZSS (bonus point to Aspinall). The collection (and variety) at RZSS is far superior, and that can't be ignored. Whilst the Aspinall parks do have a nice set of Malagasy species, most are somewhat common... they do get the bonus point for this though, as it is nice to see somewhere with so many Lemur species, and more importantly Fossa!

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I'm currently swinging in a similar direction to TNT and for similar reasons; the RZSS collections are significantly better in this regard than are the Aspinall collections, without a shadow of a doubt, and merit an easy 3-0. However, the fact that the Aspinall collections do have a pretty nice selection of lemurs, including two major oddities, is *possibly* worth a bonus point.

As such, I am currently voting 3-1 for RZSS, but may well amend my vote to a straight-up 3-0 once I have given the matter further reflection, considering the fact that from what I have heard on the grapevine, the two oddities in question are species which are being actively phased out as dead-end species by the man at the top

 

[britishzoofan]

I'm also going to vote 3-1 to RZSS. They are the clear winners in the Australia and Antartica areas. They also have what appears superior exhibit quality. The lorikeet, koala, penguin and lemur enclosures all look fantastic.
However, I think the Aspinall collections deserve a point as mentioned above because of their excellent selection of species from Madagascar, which is more impressive than RZSS. My only question would be for those who visited, how strong is the exhibit quality at the Aspinall parks as I have never visited and there are few photos in the gallery.

 

[sooty mangabey]

I don’t understand the way these things work - bonus points? - but surely any zoo-based contest involving Aspinall’s marks can only end one way....

 

[(Adsa)]

The mirror list for these two zoos
Red means exactly the same species
Orange means same species different subspecies
RZSS:
Black faced kangaroo
Crowned lemur
Lesser hedgehog tenrec
New Guinea ground cuscus
Northern koala
Red-bellied lemur
Ring-tailed lemur
Swamp wallaby

Antarctic Gentoo penguin
Common barn owl
Hamerkop
King penguin
Madagascar teal
Meller's duck
Northern rockhopper penguin
Pied imperial pigeon
Rainbow lorikeet
Southern cassowary
Swift parrot
Victoria crowned pigeon
White-naped pheasant pigeon
Yellow-crested cockatoo

Central bearded dragon
Common blue-tongued skink

Australian green tree frog

Aspinall foundation:
Black and white ruffed lemur
Black lemur
Crowned lemur
Red-bellied lemur
Eastern grey bamboo lemur
Fossa
Greater bamboo lemur
Ring-tailed lemur

Green tree python

White-lipped tree frog

 

[Jungle Man]

My vote will be definite and without changes 3-0 in favor of RZSS and I will give a bonus point to Aspinall because of the lemur walkthrough.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

Absolutely no idea how this works but I've voted 2-1 Edinburgh, with a bonus vote going towards the Aspinalls.

~Thylo

 

[britishzoofan]

@CGSwans could we have some clarification on whether species such as Sulawesi Macaque, Banteng and Visayan Warty Pig count for this category.

 

[CGSwans]

No, they don’t. They fall within the Asian category.