Flamingos at the entrance

[RonBurrgundy]

I have a feeling that many zoos are choosing flamingos as their 'entrance species'. I was curious if there are more examples for this especially outside of Germany or if other animals are kept as 'entrance species' elsewhere. I would also be interested to know if anyone can explain why this is the case.
Here is the list of zoos that came to my mind:

Zoo Osnabrück
Tierpark Hellabrunn
Hagenbeck (historical entrance)
Jaderpark Tier- / Freizeitpark
Tier- und Freizeitpark Thüle
Zoopark Erfurt
Zoo Dortmund
Zoo Eberswalde
Zoo Leipzig

maybe Tierpark + Fossilium Bochum
maybe Zoo Karlsruhe
maybe Wilhelma
maybe Zoo Zürich

 

[Jambi]

Both Edinburgh and Dudley Zoo in the UK have flamingos fairly close to the front entrances, not exactly the first thing you see but one of the first. Those are the only two I can think of, but it wouldn't surprise me if there are more, flamingos can be very pretty, so putting them near the entrance makes sense.

 

[Kalaw]

Paignton, Antwerp, Beauval and San Diego all have flamingos at the entrance, and when they were open, Bristol would have also worked. They're also decently near the entrance at Marwell, but that might be a bit of a stretch. Zoos know that first impressions are important, and if you begin your day at a zoo wondering about seeing smaller, unknown and often invisible species, that is going to hurt your enjoyment of the place (at least for most zoo visitors). Flamingos are not only famous and crowd-pleasing, but are almost always outdoors, visible and decently active, gathering and often feeding around a lake. Among major zoos (Burgers', Chester, Hagenbeck) elephants also seem to be popular entrance animals for the same reason - guaranteed activity that other crowd-pleasers, like large carnivores or ungulates, can't always offer.

 

[NMM]

A little fact about the Paignton flamingo exhibit. The flamingo exhibit has been in the same place going back to when it was my local zoo growing up in the 80s and 90s. It wasn't always at the entrance though.

In the 1990s the zoo ran into financially difficulty and had to sell off some land (hence the supermarket next door). After selling off this land the flamingo exhibit was now at the zoo entrance. Prior to this the first species you saw would have been emus.

 

[Aardwolf]

The reason why is very simple - they make a great first impression. They are very recognizable, easily seen, noisy (but not offensively so), always doing something, colorful - there are few animals that check all those boxes. There aren’t many other very well known animals that you can say, with 100 percent certainty,, that if you walk by their exhibit you will see easily up and about, interacting, vocalizing, etc - an “empty” first exhibit, or one with a sleeping animal might make a poor first impression.

They’re also very common in zoos, so many zoos (even smaller ones) can have them, which might not be the case for a lot of other very charismatic species. (Penguins would also be a great first exhibit for most of the reasons mentioned - except color - but are much more expensive to maintain and build exhibits for)

 

[FBBird]

Marwell used to have Black Swans at the entrance, which worked well

 

[NMM]

Marwell used to have Black Swans at the entrance, which worked well

And now the first exhibit is penguins which also loops back to Aardwolf's post about them being a flamingo alternative for a first exhibit.

 

[FBBird]

And now the first exhibit is penguins which also loops back to Aardwolf's post about them being a flamingo alternative for a first exhibit.

One of several things that puts me off visiting Marwell):

 

[turkeyfox]

(Penguins would also be a great first exhibit for most of the reasons mentioned - except color - but are much more expensive to maintain and build exhibits for)

The Milwaukee County Zoo has penguins in the front as exhibit number one and then flamingos afterwards as exhibit number two.

 

[EagleScout610]

Cleveland has them right at the entrance

 

[AndyJ08]

Zoo Atlanta, Nashville, and Ft. Worth have them near the zoos’ entrances as well.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium, and Safari Park (Phoenix Arizona metro) has them near one of the entrances.

Riverbanks Zoo (Colombia South Carolina)

ZooTampa did in the past when the "new" zoo opened, but now they are just macaws in the space.

 

[Enzo]

No Brazilian zoo has flamingos at the entrance, I believe. We usually have the more common and exuberant macaws, or elephants.

 

[OkapiFan]

Zoo Miami has Flamingos at the entrance.

 

[Philipine eagle]

Schönbrunn Zoo Vienna

 

[15399]

Stone Zoo's excellent Caribbean Coast Aviary, featuring Caribbean flamingos alongside multiple macaw species, scarlet ibises, and Jamaican iguanas, is the first thing visitors see inside the entrance, and makes for a very impressive first impression.

 

[AlmightyKingPrawn]

Henry Vilas, too.

 

[Mr Gharial]

Blijdorp (Rotterdam) zoo has their flamingo aviary directly next to the East entrance. This is no longer the main entrance, but it's still the first enclosure you see if you go to the zoo with public transport or by foot

 

[birdsandbats]

Henry Vilas, too.

Depends on which entrance you use. Flamingos are NOT at Henry Vilas' main entrance.

 

[Batto]

Hellabrunn's entrance is actually named "Flamingo Eingang" (= flamingo entrance) due to that - to distinguish it from the second entrance near the Isar river.