European (Tea)Cup - League F - Prague vs Stuttgart

[remar]

Several other species at Stuttgart have been mentioned by @EliasNys and @Paul.Haerle
Most notable probably the two rock pits. One for Barbary sheep, gelada and rock hyrax. The other for Japanese macaques. Furthermore i can think of a mix exhibit for bactrian camel and domestic yaks as well as of the Persian leopards at the cat house. Also the aquarium building is offering something too. A few tanks for alpine fish, if i remember correctly and a terrarium for horned vipers.

@CrashMegaraptor at the picture you can only see the lower part of the Markhor exhibit. There's another at least equally large part at the other side of the visitor way.

 

[CrashMegaraptor]

@CrashMegaraptor at the picture you can only see the lower part of the Markhor exhibit. There's another at least equally large part at the other side of the visitor way.

This is why I don't like voting in polls where I haven't been to the zoo.

 

[Lafone]

As promised, the small handful of exhibits at Wilhelma which fit the category at hand:

Snow Leopard

Spectacled Bear

Markhor

Alpine Ibex

All of these are located in one corner of the zoo, and more-or-less serve as a single exhibit complex (which also contains several non-category species which have been placed within vacant exhibits, such as cheetah). As previously noted, none are anywhere near as bad as the polar bear exhibit at Prague, but neither do *any* of them even come close to the best that Prague has to offer, in quality nor sheer quantity and scope - as such, I stand by my position that it would be egregiously unfair to give Stuttgart the win within this category, and moreover contend that if it were not for the presence of the polar bear exhibit at Prague and the generally decent quality of what little Stuttgart has to offer, a pretty strong case could be made for a 5-0 score for the Czech collection.



Given you imply that you believe the two collections are evenly matched, and that the polar bear exhibit acts as a tie-breaker of sorts, I'd be interested to hear your arguments relating to how the small handful of exhibits I've highlighted above for Stuttgart are equal to the large number of exhibits highlighted by myself and @Kalaw for Prague?

I'd also be interested to hear the thoughts of @Lafone regarding her 3-2 vote for Stuttgart

I'd preface my remarks by saying I haven't been to either zoo and I have voted for Prague in a couple of rounds as it was well deserving of the win for me in those.

I am also far from a 'professional' zoo visitor compared to many people here. I go to different zoos a lot because I love to see the things I enjoy, kept well. I don't bring objectivity or indeed an expert viewpoint. I do however read all the comments and view the relevant galleries and animal lists on the categories I vote on. In this case there were great comments on all sides and that enabled a non visitor to participate more easily (I sometimes can't get enough info and then feel my vote would be uninformed). I suspect I am also not typical in that I don't really value number of species in itself in a zoo and rarely would that play into my vote. I like variety though and I enjoy great exhibitry.

Just to be clear too, I didn't refrain from posting for fear other people would increase their vote the other way to compensate for my waywardness; I'd hope everyone votes with good intent and their own views.

In this particular case when voting for Stuttgart, I applied some of the logic that I applied in a round with Pairi Daiza in it where there was a piece of zoo practice (in that case husbandry) that I felt would sufficiently diminish my fun day at the collection to such an extent that the other zoo would take a victory, though it would be close run. I felt that was a consistent approach.

As I really enjoy both the Poles and indeed Polar Bears, I felt the enclosure for them was a downer and would be a moment of not fun in an otherwise obviously excellent day out at Prague. While I really like the style of the ungulates exhibit I don't find them as fascinating as some other things I might like to see. I acknowledge those exhibits are world class, I just look at what I would see first if I made a list and I'd head to the bears. And see what will eventually be replaced with something far better of course. But it's there for now.

I felt the arguments made in favour of Stuttgart were sufficiently persuasive and the things they hold interesting and well presented. I am not writing off Prague due to one exhibit, it was pretty even for me and I'd actually enjoy both a lot. But we can't make it all 'even' or I would have done that. I was considering changing to 3/2 the other way in Prague's favour for the Sichuan aviary though and I am still considering it.

In a mountain and poles category though I feel it is fair to give weight to something that drags at one area, even if in another category the same zoo would sweep the board. I like the look of the Snow Leopard and Spectacled Bear spaces at Stuttgart and would enjoy them.

I didn't factor in the Gobi in this section as, having travelled and worked in (Outer) Mongolia for no small amount of time, I don't believe the Gobi would commonly be thought of as a mountain. I take the point on height above sea level and the altitude certainly reminds you of that. There are far steeper bits of Mongolia though and so I can't factor it in. That's a personal perspective but then this whole vote is!

Still looking at the aviary and considering the vote switch though.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

One for Barbary sheep, gelada and rock hyrax.

The other for Japanese macaques.

Furthermore i can think of a mix exhibit for bactrian camel and domestic yaks

The yaks would count - but if we are not counting the Gobi exhibit at Prague (which is the direction my thinking is going) I don't think we can count the camels.

as well as of the Persian leopards at the cat house.

(on the left hand side)

A few tanks for alpine fish, if i remember correctly

Can't find any photographs of these.

and a terrarium for horned vipers.

 

[Lafone]

The yaks would count - but if we are not counting the Gobi exhibit at Prague (which is the direction my thinking is going) I don't think we can count the camels.



(on the left hand side)

Can't find any photographs of these.

That's an interesting design for the macaque exhibit being neither fake rock nor just concrete stairs but a mix of the two in a platform style...was it designed to hold something else originally or is it a notable designer? Looks a bit old fashioned bear pit.

Nice views of the macaques though I like those exhibits that have you eye level with their climbing places.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

That's an interesting design for the macaque exhibit being neither fake rock nor just concrete stairs but a mix of the two in a platform style...was it designed to hold something else originally or is it a notable designer? Looks a bit old fashioned bear pit.

Nice views of the macaques though I like those exhibits that have you eye level with their climbing places.

Although I have earlier guidebooks in my possession, the earliest which I have easy access to right now is the 1984 edition - checking the map and main body of the text, at that time the two exhibits held the exact same taxa as is currently the case, plus klipspringer in the gelada etc.

 

[Philipine eagle]

Afaik both baboon and macaque exhibits have had this function from the beginning in 1975.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Prague - 52/85 points - 61.176%
Stuttgart - 33/85 points - 38.824%