Number of Species. Yes species-richness-by taxa

[Ivan]

I have been asked and there is another forum that discussed number of species at United States zoos. I find this a very challenging question. The first question is, what's included? Any zoo, for example Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium which is often listed as having the most species, has an advantage due to having an aquarium area. An aquarium can hold a variety of species in a relatively small space. The Point Defiance Zoo for example does not have many non-fish species, but likely is near some of the larger zoos in number of species because they have a fairly large aquarium.

So my query is:

Which zoo has the most mammal species?
Which zoo has the most bird species?
Which zoo has the most reptile species?
Which zoo has the most amphibian species?
Finally to be fair, which zoo has the most fish species?

 

[MOG2012]

Detroit Zoo has the most amphibians (over 44+) with the Smithsonian National Zoo being second (30-35). Reptile wise, contenders are Reptilandia Reptile Lagoon, Reptile Gardens, Iguanaland, Animal World Snake Farm and Zoo, Kentucky Reptile Zoo, Monroe Reptile Zoo, and other reptile specific facilities.

 

[turkeyfox]

I’ve often heard of the Shedd Aquarium referred to as the most speciose AZA facility but I’m not sure how that’s calculated.

To be fair a species list is easy for the Shedd because it’s all on their app so you could just count them up.

 

[Summer Tanager]

I have some numbers that might help for the bird question. In 2023, I dig some digging on this forum and on individual zoo websites across the U.S. to look at the distributions of birds across collection. My spreadsheet doesn't include domesticated species (barnyard species) and it doesn't include rehabilitated North American hawks, owls, and vultures (although I did include eagles). I also don't have access to off-exhibit animal information so my numbers are going to be a little low across the board. You could probably add 10 to each list and get a close tally of the bird species diversity. The top U.S. Zoos during the 2022/2023 time period were:

1) San Diego Zoo, CA - 249 species
2) Bronx Zoo, NY - 228
3) Sylvan Heights, NC - 219
4) Sedgwick County Zoo, KS - 149
5) Zoo Miami, FL - 148 (essentially tied with Wichita, KS)
6) San Antonio Zoo, TX - 145
7) Dallas World Aquarium, TX - 133
8) National Aviary (Pittsburg, PA) - 126
9) San Diego WAP, CA - 118
10) Disney's Animal Kingdom, FL - 109
11) Fort Worth Zoo, TX - 107
12) Omaha Zoo, NE - 105
13) Toledo Zoo, OH - 102
14) Cincinnati Zoo, OH - 97

There are about 36 U.S. Zoos with more than 70 species of exotic birds (that meet my slightly restrictive criteria). Also, this research was done shortly after the Houston, Denver, and Smithsonian Zoos closed their bird houses, so each of those facilities probably had an additional 30 species a few years earlier. Houston and Denver would have probably made the top 12 a few years ago. And remember that I don't have a way to tally off-exhibit birds so some collections like Houston's and Busch Gardens Tampa have quite a few birds off display.