I have been to all three collections involved, although quite a while ago, particularly for the two Paris zoos.
I was hugely impressed by both the Grand Volíère at the Menagerie and the flamingo walkthrough at Vincennes, although I know the latter is quite an unpopular opinion on this forum and I wonder if I was being overly generous due to it being the first time I had seen flamingos in an aviary and not pinioned. Regardless, both are far inferior to Beauval's Hippo Aviary in my opinion, even if we are brushing the hippos to one side and only looking at the birds. A remarkable amount of space for the vultures, storks, pelicans and egrets, as well as a thrilling experience for the visitors, with the three-storey viewing, and the tendency for some birds (at least on my visit), to make their nests above the hippo viewing gallery. Both have rather nice penguin enclosures, with Beauval's being slightly nicer in my opinion. That said, I feel as though there are *far* more pinioned waterfowl at Beauval than at either Paris collection, with the whole lakes area at the entrance, the ducks in the Pampas enclosure, and the cranes with the takins. So far as I can remember, Paris only really has the Menagerie flamingos and the cranes on the savannah in this regard. So perhaps the two are roughly equal where waterfowl are concerned.
The other major bragging point for Paris is the manatees, although of course Beauval has them as well. I can't really comment on who has a better enclosure, as the new one in the Equatorial Dome wasn't open on my visit. But for marine mammals as a whole, Paris may take the edge, as their fur seal / sea lion mix really impressed me - far more attractive, and probably quite a bit deeper, than the very ugly sea lion arena at Beauval. Not to mention the most impressive sea lion bull that I have ever seen in person!
Where cold-blooded creatures are concerned, I feel as though I am in no position to comment on Beauval as most of them are likely kept in the Dome these days, but I will say that Paris is excellent here, with three reptile houses between the two zoos! There is the European Vivarium at Vincennes housing a very impressive selection of mostly category-relevant native species, then the Reptile House at the Menagerie, a striking old building with an open-topped Nile Crocodile enclosure and some turtles, and finally the Menagerie's Vivarium, which is mostly for smaller species, and from memory included a really strong collection of amphibians!
At first, I went for Beauval, but after writing out this overview I realise that Paris probably takes a
slight edge. That said, it is still very tempting to go with Beauval purely for the excellence of the Hippo Aviary, and I could definitely be persuaded by an overview of what the Dome encompasses.
Some photos for Paris:
@Dusky lory - Vivarium at Menagerie
@TheoV - Reptile House at Menagerie, with crocodiles on the left. Not sure how much else is category-relevant, but from memory there are a few turtles in the building.
@SivatheriumGuy - European Vivarium at Vincennes.
@lintworm - frog tanks in the European Vivarium.
@SivatheriumGuy - European Otter enclosure backdropped by the historic Great Rock.
@LegoOwl - anaconda tank at Vincennes, which from the image seems to have gained quite a large number of Mata-matas since my visit, unless I am forgetting them!
@SivatheriumGuy - Caiman Lizard tank in the Serre Tropicale, which looks to have a far deeper pool than I remember it having, and probably one of the deeper ones I have seen for the species.
@vogelcommando - Humboldt Penguin pool.
And some for Beauval, not including the Dome or S.A. Aviary as I have no personal experience there, so will leave it for someone else to fill me in:
@SivatheriumGuy - excellent Humboldt Penguin pool.
@Maguari - scenic lake by the entrance that unfortunately is only for pinioned birds, although I believe the flamingos have since moved to the S.A. Aviary? Perhaps not all of them and there are surely still some ducks here?
@Maguari - the little waterways around the Gorillas Greenhouse with stingrays in them were a real highlight for me, although I am not sure if they are still occupied as stingrays are reportedly featured alongside caimans and other fish in the former manatee pool, elsewhere in the building.
@Antoine - a rather interesting coral aquarium in the Australian greenhouse.
@lintworm - the Hippo Aviary.
@Maguari - showing the underwater viewing for the hippos, and giving a sense of the impressive numbers of very large fish living with them.
@Maguari - one of the largest cichlid tanks I have seen myself, opposite the hippos.
Now attaching these photos and realising I haven't even seen all of Beauval's offerings in this category, I am rather tempted to switch back to 3-2 Beauval, but will stick with 3-2 Paris for now. This is definitely a close one.
its something unusual and unique, it's well-presented, and the accompanying signage was pretty good as I recall!
