DIVERSITY WITHIN YOUR COUNTRIES ZOO COLLECTIONS

[adrian1963]

I was wondering how you felt about the diversity of animal species within your countries zoo and other collections.
Do you think it has grown it has grown stale over the last few years or do you think it has got much better.
Do you think there could be any improvements to the diversity of the species within your zoos or do you think they are great at the moment?
If you could which country would you tour just to see their animal collections and why or if you could transfer a zoo from another country to your country which zoo would it be and why.

 

[adrian1963]

After giving it a lot of thought and talking to other people I feel the UK zoo population as got a little stale of late as there seems to be a lot of animals being moved around from zoo to zoo and hardly any new species coming into the zoo population.
As was said in a chat the other night we have Chester Zoo bringing in African Wild Dogs when other collections have them, why haven’t Chester gone for a completely new species as they are the UK’s number 1 zoo and could probably bring in new species easier than other zoo’s
I must admit I find UK zoos very pleasing and full of different animals but very short on the Birds Of Prey front even some of the Falconry Centres now hold the same species.
I would have thought a few of the Zoos may have imported more Owls, Vultures, Eagles, and Hawks & Falcons.
The country I think I would like to visit is the USA just to have a look at the enclosures I hear so much about and that way I can draw my own opinions on the Transfer point I think it would have to be Bush Gardens as I have heard so much about it from other photographers and zoo goers it would be great to have a zoo like that in the West Midlands UK

EDIT

Sorry forgot to say the lack of deer species in some of the major UK zoos is a little depressing.
I know most countries have different feelings towards zoos and how they are funded so this may affect how some zoos operate.

This is not meant to upset or make anyone angry so please keep replies straight and no out right slagging off please

 

[gentle lemur]

This does concern me. If every zoo I visit has meerkats, red river hogs, brazilian tapirs and small clawed otters etc, it does reduce my desire to take the time and trouble to visit another zoo. Of course there is bound to be some duplication, and maintaining viable zoo populations is crucially important. I won't criticise Chester's hunting dogs, because the species is endangered and there hasn't been a lot of breeding success in the UK recently - I hope they do as well as the bush dogs have done.
On the other hand, it is a real pleasure to see something different and I would commend Edinburgh in particular. I really enjoy seeing their drills and chevrotains and sousliks and golden cats and gorals and I'm looking forward to the cloud rats. Edinburgh has its share of the common species, and a few other collections keep the species I have named, but I think Edinbugh have a nice mix for the ZooChatter and for Joe Public too.

Alan

 

[Javan Rhino]

I'm quite happy with the diversity in some respects, but not in others. Of course, there are a good deal of mongoose species that could replace some meerkat enclosures, there are other suids besides Visayan warty pigs and red river hogs (Pygmy hogs would be very nice ), other otters that could replace Oriental short-clawed. But we do have a nice diversity when you look deeply into it. For example, Chester has Visayan tarictic hornbills (one of only 2 places in Europe) and Northern tuatara (again, one of only 2 places in Europe).

I would like to visit either an Australian or Indonesian zoo, Australia is very under-represented in the UK in my opinion - and Indonesia has some gems that are found nowhere else

 

[Hvedekorn]

I'm generally satisfied with Denmark's collections, but there are some very common species who are to be found nowhere in this country, like mandrills, maned wolves, rhesus macaques etc.
Also, I believe our collection of primates (only two species of gibbons, only one zoo with gorillas, no mangabeys and only one species of langur) and some types of ungulates could be better. We don't have a dolphinarium either (we do have an aquarium with harbor porpoises though). Also, if you want to see birds of prey outside shows, Denmark might be the zoo country in the world you would want to go to the least. However, I think this is mostly a good thing, as an eagle or hawk just sitting still in its aviary is not especially interesting. Rather see it fly around in a show then. It can be annoying if you miss the shows however.

But it's quite nice that you can see manatees in TWO zoos in Denmark. As far as I know, Germany is the only other country in Europa where you can do that. And on top of that, both manatee exhibits are among the best in Europe.