Forbestraveler.com - Best Zoos

Pygathrix

Pygathrix

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Found this on the Chester Zoo website:

World's Best Zoos | ForbesTraveler.com

In alphabetical order:
Animal Kingdom Orlando
Basel
Beauval
Berlin
Bronx
Chester
Prague
Pretoria
San Diego
Schonbrunn Vienna
Singapore
Smithsonian Washington
Taronga/WPZ
Toronto
Tokyo

Any glaring omissions? May be Jersey? Melbourne? I've been to 9 of them, I wouldn't rate Vienna that highly. They don't give any criteria for selection - I guess any of us could come up with a similar list given ten minutes...
 
Pygathrix said:
Found this on the Chester Zoo website:

World's Best Zoos | ForbesTraveler.com

In alphabetical order:
Animal Kingdom Orlando
Basel
Beauval
Berlin
Bronx
Chester
Prague
Pretoria
San Diego
Schonbrunn Vienna
Singapore
Smithsonian Washington
Taronga/WPZ
Toronto
Tokyo

Any glaring omissions? May be Jersey? Melbourne? I've been to 9 of them, I wouldn't rate Vienna that highly. They don't give any criteria for selection - I guess any of us could come up with a similar list given ten minutes...
Click to expand...

From the list I'm guessing its main criterion is which makes the best day out. Its very much from a visitors point of view, but that's still very interesting.
 
I wouldn't say that Basel is one of the Top zoos! Not even from a visitors point o view. They have done well with Indian rhinos and Solmai wild ass though....
 
I have been to 35 zoos, aquariums and wildlife parks, but only 3 on that list of 14. Pygathrix: I'm in awe that you've been to 9 on the list...and so what would your order be? Do you have a clear # 1? Half of the list coming from Europe makes me sceptical, although the forbes website is quite colourful with their photos of each zoo.

The Seattle Zoo has won more "best new exhibit awards" than either San Diego or the Toronto Zoo, but only has 1,100 animals. Melbourne Zoo is quite good, but perhaps doesn't deserve to be in the top 14 worldwide because half of the zoo still has older enclosures that need to be updated. Toronto is massive, with 10 km of walking trails and over 5,000 animals, but it doesn't have any truly knockout exhibits. I already started another thread where the Smithsonian/National Zoo in Washington D.C. has declared that it wants to be the best in the world by 2016, so maybe they will have a legitimate shot at the zoological throne. What about the Australia Zoo (near Brisbane) in 10 years, as they quadruple the size of their establishment? Right now they are average, but in a decade they could be outstanding.
 
There is also the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio, U.S.A. With over 6,000 animals and 600 acres of land at its disposal, it is currently undergoing a 120 acre expansion and redevelopment plan.
 
Berlin Zoos

Yes there are 2 zoo in Berlin -- the most famous one is in what was West Berlin , and the one with a larger land area in what was East Berlin
 
My personal favourite zoo which I've only visited once is Singapore, definitely the best if its lumped together with Jurong. Lots of tropical animals outside in a proper tropical setting - you can't get much more "immersion" than that. In the UK my favourite would be Chester or Howletts/Port Lympne.

I quite like Basel although it is very small it does make good use of the space and has a couple of nice new houses in Etosha and Gamgoas, as well as being of importance in zoo history with its pioneering work with elephants, gorillas, indian rhinos etc, although perhaps less so today.
 
Well, it is mostly zos in typical destinations of bussiness travelers. It's nice to see that zoos are recognized as major tourist draw, not just for local families with kids.

For me, best zoo in the worlds would be possibly Singapore, due to combination of tropical climate and rare animals. In Europe - maybe Zurich, Chester, Rotterdam, Arnhem and Berlin.
 
It's very difficult to evaluate which zoos are "the best"-as there are different categories to judge upon. While I affirm some of the zoos mentioned on the list, I wouldn't rate the National Zoo and Animal Kingdom that well. I have to disagree with Pygathrix on behalf of the Vienna Zoo, but totally agree that great zoos like f.e. Jersey are missing. And about Tokyo: haven't been there yet, but don't they have more than one zoo?
||| TokyoZooNet - Zoos in Tokyo |||
 
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The only reason I can imagine Jersey not being on the list is the absence of "star" animals (with the exception of Gorillas, Orangs and Bears).

Oh and regarding Tokyo; they are referring to Ueno.
 
Jersey has nothing but smaller, endangered species. As CZJimmy pointed out, the andean bears, orangs and gorillas are the big draws...and then the rest are unknown to the average zoo visitor. If one were to combine conservation efforts with exhibit design then perhaps Jersey would rise in the so-called rankings.

Another problem in deciding which are the greatest zoos in the world is that zoos are forever changing, and constantly improving their enclosures. The Taronga Zoo in Sydney has recently spent over $120 million on their backyard to bush, wild asia, and great southern oceans sections. Due to those changes they've leapfrogged many zoos that have remained fairly stagnant during the same time period. The National Zoo in Washington spent $53 million on its own Asian theme, and now is building a $60 million, three-habitat asian elephant enclosure. If other zoos have only minimal expansions then perhaps that zoo will leapfrog others that simply lack the resources for enormous improvements.

Disney's Animal Kingdom is a tough one, as it is more of a theme park than an actual zoological collection. But its exhibits are spacious, there is a wide range of species, and so perhaps it deserves to be considered one of the better zoos of the world. Taste is all subjective, as what one individual believes to be fantastic another person will shrug and dismiss.
 
Exactly.
If you ask 10 people you would probably get 10 different answers.

As far as I am concerned (as a member of the public), a good zoo is one which has the animals I want to see. (That's a cop-out, I know.)

Seriously, a good zoo is one with a suitable representative collection of animals very well housed and well looked after.

A couple of decades ago it was different. The biggest collection of animals possible and "adequately" housed would have been regarded as a good zoo. For example, Taronga in the 1960's displayed five different species of bears in concrete pits, and was regarded as a good zoo. Melbourne went one better and displayed six. Poor Adelaide only had three. (Any Australian zoo with three species of bears today would be regarded as having two too many. I don't particularly agree, but we won't go there again.)
 
Jersey's visitor numbers arent high, they weretn in the Top 30 Zoos in the UK Thread anyway. Of the zoos on the list i've ony been to Chester however of pictures i've seen Singapore does look amazing!!!
 
An airforce friend of mine got back from Las Vegas 10 days ago and stopped at San Diego Zoo on the way (mainly due to my urging) and was not particularly impressed... He said a large proportional of the zoo was very 60's, 70's (reptile alley, hoofed stock, elephants, rhinos, lions, bears) all pretty inappropriate these days...

@snowleopard: You caught up to me in post count quick..! I used to be a 150 or so ahead..!
 
My favorite that i've been to is Melbourne zoo. Although the last time i was at taronga wild asia and gso weren't even heard of. But my favorite that i haven't been to but only seen on tv and the internet are schonbrunn, rotterdam and jersey.
 
Missing from the List

I was actually quoted in the Forbes article, though I had nothing to do with the choice of "Top 15". Of the 15, like Pygathrix, I've been to 9 of them, and all of these 9 are "world-class" quality. I'm very glad Disney was on this list, as any "world's best zoos" list without them would seem wrong to me.

As one person pointed out, there are 2 zoos in Berlin, and -- in my opinion -- BOTH of them should be on this list! The Tierpark Berlin is definitely one of the best zoos I've ever been to! Also, the list on includes a passing reference to San Diego's Wild Animal Park, which I would have preferred be on the list by itself.

Other zoos I would have considered for the list are: Omaha (definitely), Brookfield (probably), Memphis (maybe), and Amsterdam Artis (maybe).

Two zoos I've never been to, but heard interesting things about, are:
Hamburg Hagenbeck and Barcelona. Do these zoos belong on the list?
 
@ANyhuis: I wouldn't agree in terms of Omaha and the two Berlin zoos. Besides its mostly not convincing expensive mega-buildings and a pretty nice species collection, Henry Doorley's Zoo doesn't deliever that much to modern zoo husbandry; parts of it, like the Big Cats House, should be better closed for good. Tierpark Berlin-Friedrichsfelde is a beautiful park with a great species collection and an ever greater potential, but still has to carry the load of no longer up-to-date old zoo buildings and animal husbandry. Berlin Zoo has the advantage of a inner city position, but this is also a disadvantage in terms of further development.

Hamburg should be in, among others due to its historical significance, just like Antwerp & Artis. Great Dutch zoos like Arnheim, Apenheul or Emmen should be on that list, too. And I would also add among others Leipzig, Hannover or Plzen to that list. And about the US link: Woodland Park Zoo and several of the Southern zoos are missing...

About Disney: that's certainly a point of controversy among the zoo community. ;)
 
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