Great Zoo Rivalries

C

CGSwans

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
This thread is inspired by a discussion in the chat room I had recently with a couple of our American posters, at which the rivalry between Dallas and Fort Worth Zoos were discussed.

What are some of the biggest rivalries between institutions in the zoo world? Dallas and Fort Worth, Cincinnati and Columbus and Melbourne and Taronga all come to mind. Are there others out there?
 
Not sure if Melbourne and Taronga could be called rivals; after all they're not close to each other at all, while the two American zoo pairs you mentioned are very close. Lincoln Park Zoo and Brookfield also spring to mind.
 
I'm not talking about geographical proximity, Baldur. I'm talking about rivalry - the sense, by both institutions, that the other is an ongoing benchmark to be compared against. Geographical proximity is often, but not necessarily, a component of that.

Melbourne and Taronga compete not for the same visitors, but for the informal title of Australia's premier zoo. Cincinnati and Columbus do the same for the title of Ohio's premier zoo.

I wonder - do people think San Diego and Bronx perceive each other as rivals for the title of America's premier zoo?
 
Melbourne and Taronga always seem to be trying to out do each other. Either they are just following trends or they're copying each other but all of the most recent developments have been for the same types of animals.

Australian Animals:Taronga's Creatures of the Woolemi and backyard to bush are very good but I prefer Melbourne's
Asian Elephants: Melbourne Wins
Seals and oceans: Hands down Taronga
South East Asia Complex overall: Taronga has more species but Melbourne's is of a better quality.

Maybe I'm just biased. :)
 
Simpe PAT, Neither Melbourne or Taronga are Australia's premier zoo.. . that title belongs to Dubbo. :)
 
Famous is 40 years of rivalry between Berlin Zoo and Berlin Tierpark, which was politically motivated (zoo - capitalist West Berlin, Tierpark - communist DDR). It resulted in a number of unusualy good exhibits.

You can still see how zoos tried to top each other. E.g. Zoo had great open-air lion exhibit, Tierpark build gigantic Alfred-Brehm-Haus with indoors moated lion enclosure.
 
PAT said:
Melbourne and Taronga always seem to be trying to out do each other. Either they are just following trends or they're copying each other but all of the most recent developments have been for the same types of animals.

Australian Animals:Taronga's Creatures of the Woolemi and backyard to bush are very good but I prefer Melbourne's
Asian Elephants: Melbourne Wins
Seals and oceans: Hands down Taronga
South East Asia Complex overall: Taronga has more species but Melbourne's is of a better quality.

Maybe I'm just biased. :)
Click to expand...

I'd agree on most counts but I thought Wollemi was brilliant, and therefore give the nod to Taronga on exhibiting native stuff. Taronga's Ocean exhibit is a huge disappointment, but "wins" in that category because (based on photos and reviews) Melbourne's is a massive step backward that looks just awful.
 
ZSL and the Aspinall Foundation (London/Whipsnade and Howletts/Port Lympne) is probably the most famous UK one.
 
Jurek7 said:
Famous is 40 years of rivalry between Berlin Zoo and Berlin Tierpark, which was politically motivated (zoo - capitalist West Berlin, Tierpark - communist DDR). It resulted in a number of unusualy good exhibits.

You can still see how zoos tried to top each other. E.g. Zoo had great open-air lion exhibit, Tierpark build gigantic Alfred-Brehm-Haus with indoors moated lion enclosure.
Click to expand...

Ahh a Good Old Capitalist-Communist Rivalry



Ohh and To Zambar

actually i think that the Whipsnade ZSL And Woben SP are the UK's premier Rivalry

And i think a less well known one would be Chester-Knowsley

but ZSL-Aspinall Are none the Less a rivalry
 
How are whipsnade and woburn a rivalry?? They're such different parks. One's a charity, one's a safari park attached to an estate. If woburn was to have a rivalry with anything surely it would be longleat or knowsley or something like that. Not the country outpost of london zoo.

Surely to be a rivalry there's got to be slurs in the media, a sense of competition over who does something first. Not just two places near each other that both have elephants.
 
I am interested if any rivalry exists among some of the German zoos situated in the Rhine-Ruhr region? I think, for example Cologne, Duisburg, Krefeld, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, Dortmund and probably some other zoos are there. They are really near to each other so the really have to fight for visitors. But may be they (like when are two shops sailing the same things next to each other) have given up the rivalry and try to more cooperate.
 
Cat-Man said:
actually i think that the Whipsnade ZSL And Woben SP are the UK's premier Rivalry

And i think a less well known one would be Chester-Knowsley

but ZSL-Aspinall Are none the Less a rivalry
Click to expand...

As zelda has said the thread isn't about nearby zoos that compete for visitors, but zoos that consciously try to outdo each other or complete in other ways.

ZSL and Aspinalls have a long-standing ideological rivalry, but I don't think there's any effort to compete between the two.


The traditional 'who's the top zoo?' competition in the UK would be London vs Chester (and, although I'm admittedly biased, I know who I'd say was winning :D ).
 
Surley rivalry between zoos isn't very proffesional?

Surley they should all be cooperating together to help breed endangered species etc?

Or is this a very nieve view?
 
Dom said:
Surley rivalry between zoos isn't very proffesional?

Surley they should all be cooperating together to help breed endangered species etc?

Or is this a very nieve view?
Click to expand...

Co-operation and competitiveness aren't mutually exclusive. For instance, Melbourne and Taronga do not hesitate to cooperate on education, conservation and species management projects - but that's not to say that they don't have a keen eye on what the other is doing at the same time, with a view to matching or bettering it.

I would argue that it's quite healthy for zoos to have 'rivals' - other institutions that set benchmarks that they have an ingrained culture of trying to emulate and improve upon. It should lead to better zoos.

Can someone give me some background on the relationship between the ZSL and John Aspinall Foundation?

I'm also not surprised that the Ruhr Valley region has come up - and I'm sure that there's some competitiveness between the major Dutch zoos for much the same reason. Wherever there are several zoos each within easy driving distance of each other, it's easy to imagine that a rivalry develops.
 
There was always rivalry between Berlin Zoo and London Zoo as to which had the largest number of species/specimens and therefore claimed to be the world's biggest collection. No doubt post-war feelings added to this. I don't think this rivalry exists anymore. IMHO Berlin Zoo is now miles ahead of London, not just in the number of species. London Zoo seems to have lost its way in the last 30 years.
 
Absolutely agree, Pygathrix

London Zoo has lost a lot of its attractivity for "ordinary" zoovisitors as for zoo-freaks as well. And I think it's a shame for such a big city. I'm sure that the reasons for that are mainly economical. Less or even no money from the gouverment/city. But the City of Berlin has a huge household minus too, so Zoo and Tierpark must finance their costs mainly itself. So what does the germans do better?
The other point is that the citizens of Berlin are more involved in their Zoo (= love them more) then the Londonians does. Where is the proud of the British (zoolovers)?
Maybee I am wrong but I have the feeling, that the board of London Zoo is not brave enough to face animal rights activists. One cry of them, and London stop keeping elephants, rhinos, polar bears etc., etc.
 
reduakari said:
I thought Wollemi was brilliant, and therefore give the nod to Taronga on exhibiting native stuff.
Click to expand...

Good grief - some positivity from Red Uakari - this is extraordinary!

QUOTE=reduakari;315662]Taronga's Ocean exhibit is a huge disappointment, but "wins" in that category because (based on photos and reviews) Melbourne's is a massive step backward that looks just awful.[/QUOTE]

....oh, maybe not so extraordinary after all.
 
sooty mangabey said:
Good grief - some positivity from Red Uakari - this is extraordinary!

QUOTE=reduakari;315662]Taronga's Ocean exhibit is a huge disappointment, but "wins" in that category because (based on photos and reviews) Melbourne's is a massive step backward that looks just awful.
Click to expand...

....oh, maybe not so extraordinary after all.[/QUOTE]

Taking the bait:

Is there a UK-wide "rivalry" for the most mudane assemblage of slap-dash wood and chicken wire cages housing a postage-stamp collection of rare animals? Seems like there are a large number of viable contenders for this "crown"......
 
When I think of rivalries for some reason I always think Henry Doorly and Woodland Park.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top