An interesting category with much to discuss - TEMPERATE FOREST AND WOODLAND.
Let's see what you all make of it
Let's see what you all make of it
European (Tea)Cup - FINALS LEAGUE - Burgers vs Prague
- Thread starter TeaLovingDave
- Start date
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Just spent half-an-hour typing up a photographic overview of Prague and then lost it by accidentally going to the previous tab. Can't muster up the energy to write another one now. 
But I can briefly say that Prague is clearly superior here. I've been to both zoos and they each have something notable in common: they are actually set within a temperate forest, which is teeming with wildlife and allows for some stunning views. However, Prague does a much better job of incorporating it into enclosures for actual woodland animals - take for instance the whole 'Northern Forest' zone.
Then Prague also has two of the best native-species displays that I have seen: 'Nature Around Us,' a trio of aviaries for native birds of which two are walkthroughs, and one of my favourite exhibits in the entire zoo, the gorgeously landscaped and very well stocked Czech Reptiles enclosures on the cliff.
Of course there is very renowned Sichuan Pavilion, but there is also possibly Europe's greatest Tasmanian Devil enclosure, the increasingly rare NAROs in an excellent enclosure, one of the three famous cliffside bovid habitats (for West Caucasian Turs) and some other excellent aviaries throughout, with a particularly good selection for birds of prey littered throughout.
Unless I am forgetting something at Burgers', this feels very similar to the Wrocław match where they have next to nothing legible, but here it's even more extreme as their opposition is possibly one of the very best zoos in the cup for the category.
5-0 for now, could be persuaded to whittle down to 4-1.
But I can briefly say that Prague is clearly superior here. I've been to both zoos and they each have something notable in common: they are actually set within a temperate forest, which is teeming with wildlife and allows for some stunning views. However, Prague does a much better job of incorporating it into enclosures for actual woodland animals - take for instance the whole 'Northern Forest' zone.
Then Prague also has two of the best native-species displays that I have seen: 'Nature Around Us,' a trio of aviaries for native birds of which two are walkthroughs, and one of my favourite exhibits in the entire zoo, the gorgeously landscaped and very well stocked Czech Reptiles enclosures on the cliff.
Of course there is very renowned Sichuan Pavilion, but there is also possibly Europe's greatest Tasmanian Devil enclosure, the increasingly rare NAROs in an excellent enclosure, one of the three famous cliffside bovid habitats (for West Caucasian Turs) and some other excellent aviaries throughout, with a particularly good selection for birds of prey littered throughout.
Unless I am forgetting something at Burgers', this feels very similar to the Wrocław match where they have next to nothing legible, but here it's even more extreme as their opposition is possibly one of the very best zoos in the cup for the category.
5-0 for now, could be persuaded to whittle down to 4-1.
Y'know, I was just thinking about Burgers vs Prague, and my thoughts were "if Burgers gets 'Water', it might actually stand a chance of stopping Prague sweeping this entire competition".
Alas, it was not to be, and Burgers gets unfortunately screwed over again with another category it basically has no animals for.
Alas, it was not to be, and Burgers gets unfortunately screwed over again with another category it basically has no animals for.
Père Damian's Deer
Well-Known Member
I'll do a small showcase for Burgers:
@KevinB - A nice forested Swamp Wallaby enclosure
@vogelcommando - While they are housed in the desert, the North American Porcupine also lives in the woodlands.
It's not a lot, perhaps there are some birds that someone can highlight. I was thinking about species as Sri Lankan Leopard, Asian Elephant, Turkey Vulture,.. but i'm not sure they fit here.
@KevinB - A nice forested Swamp Wallaby enclosure
@vogelcommando - While they are housed in the desert, the North American Porcupine also lives in the woodlands.
It's not a lot, perhaps there are some birds that someone can highlight. I was thinking about species as Sri Lankan Leopard, Asian Elephant, Turkey Vulture,.. but i'm not sure they fit here.
I also had this hope, but to be fair Burgers is probably the worst balanced zoo of the Final league and i was kind of surprised that they managed to get there. With the wrong categories it could have had a similar outcome as Zürich.
As I have remarked over on the ZC Discord, one of the distinct disadvantages inherent to this structure of Cup is that it tends to reward "all round" collections more than "specialised" collections - zoological collections with a fairly broad focus often have a lower chance of excelling in a given category, but they *also* have a significantly-reduced chance of having little to offer in any given category.
Conversely, somewhere like Burgers - which 100% deserves to be considered one of the very best zoological collections in Europe when viewed on the basis of exhibit-by-exhibit quality - hits a dichotomy wherein it is *ridiculously* strong in pretty much every single category that it has anything for, but is specialised enough that there are also categories where it has little-to-nothing of relevance. Zurich is another example - it could have easily progressed a lot further than it did, and definitely deserved to go further based on pure quality, but fell foul to the wrong categories.
Equally, there are collections which probably progressed further than they should have - for instance, I was very surprised that Wroclaw ended up in the final six!
Valid Prague species, at least according to ZTL, appear to be...
MAMMALS
BIRDS
REPTILES
MAMMALS
Barbary Macaque
Eld's Deer
Chinese Goral (?)
Puma
Eurasian Elk
Eurasian Forest Reindeer
Eurasian Wolf
European Bison
West Caucasian Tur
Red Panda
North American Porcupine
North American River Otter
Tasmanian Devil
Red-Necked Wallaby (?)
Tasmanian Wombat (?)
Eld's Deer
Chinese Goral (?)
Puma
Eurasian Elk
Eurasian Forest Reindeer
Eurasian Wolf
European Bison
West Caucasian Tur
Red Panda
North American Porcupine
North American River Otter
Tasmanian Devil
Red-Necked Wallaby (?)
Tasmanian Wombat (?)
BIRDS
Common Chaffinch
Eurasian Hoopoe
Common Starling
Little Owl
Red-Crowned Crane (?)
Spotted Wood Owl
Ural Owl
Carolina Wood Duck
Eurasian Hoopoe
Common Starling
Little Owl
Red-Crowned Crane (?)
Spotted Wood Owl
Ural Owl
Carolina Wood Duck
REPTILES
European Grass Snake
European Pond Tortoise
Northern Adder
Smooth Snake
European Pond Tortoise
Northern Adder
Smooth Snake
Last edited:
Paul.Haerle
Well-Known Member
I think the following birds living in Burger‘s Bush, Mangrove and Desert could count:
Painted Bunting; Black-headed Grosbeak; Montezuma Quail; Common Ground Dove
Painted Bunting; Black-headed Grosbeak; Montezuma Quail; Common Ground Dove
Burgers - 16/85 points - 18.824%
Prague - 69/85 points - 81.176%
Prague - 69/85 points - 81.176%