Beijing Zoo Review of Beijing Zoo, August 2008

C

Chris79

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I will shortly be posting a review of my visit to Beijing Zoo last week. It's quite a lengthy review but I figured there would be enough interest here to warrant it! I have already uploaded a small collection of photos to the gallery and I'll be making use of these in the review too.

Stay tuned, there are about 8 posts to come! :D
 
Introduction

Firstly, some facts and figures, as I suppose that Beijing Zoo will not be familiar to many members of Zoobeat. The zoo is located in Xicheng District in the north west of the city, on a site occupying 86 hectares (212 acres). Formerly known as the “Ten Thousand Animal Garden”, then “West Suburb Park”, it has been known as Beijing Zoo since 1955. It was the first zoo in China and is still the biggest. It presently houses over 5,000 animals of around 450 species: the number of animals and species held is currently on a downward trend.

The Beijing Aquarium, located within the zoo, holds a further 500 species. Opened in 1999, it is the largest in China. The zoo is open every day from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. In the 2008 high season, adult admission to the zoo cost 15 yuan (about £1.20), with additional small fees for the giant pandas, penguins and children’s zoo. Admission to the zoo, aquarium, pandas and penguins with an English audio cost me a total of 170 yuan (about £13.50) – the aquarium is rather expensive. The zoo is hugely popular with over 5 million visitors a year (from May to November 2008 the zoo authorities are expecting an Olympics-fuelled surge of 1 million visitors a month!)

For a far more complete history of the Beijing Zoo, see Herman Reichenbach’s article from IZN306 (2001): http://www.zoonews.ws/IZN/306/IZN-306.html#arks

Next, on to the exhibits....
 
Giant Pandas and Chinese Rarities

Spatially, Beijing Zoo is divided into 3 zones: East, West and North Areas. The collection is exhibited in the traditional taxonomic way. Entry is in the East Area, where the pandas, big cats, bears, small mammals, pheasants and waterfowl are housed. Across the central axis of the zoo in the West Area are the hoofstock, primates, penguins, reptile house and bird aviaries. Two bridges over a canal give access to the aquarium and pachyderm houses in the North Area. The zoo is vast, and difficult to cover properly in a single day. I decided to pick out certain exhibits where I thought I’d spend the most time, and visit those first, leaving other areas till last. This meant that I had to cover a lot of ground, and whiz round some exhibits at the end of the day.

[thumb=13128;549;Map_of_Beijing_Zoo_2008.jpg]Map of Beijing Zoo 2008[/thumb]
I arrived early at 8:15, paid for my ticket and headed straight for the giant pandas to try and beat the crowds. I headed for the curved concrete arches of the 1990 Asian Games Panda House.

[thumb=13092;549;Entrance_to_Giant_Panda_Exhibit.JPG]Entrance to Giant Panda Exhibit[/thumb]
[thumb=13070;549;Asian_Games_Panda_House.JPG]Asian Games Panda House[/thumb]
This building currently houses 5 pandas, the youngest being 2 years old. The interior is dark, too dark for photography. Views of the indoor pens are good for visitors but cramped for the pandas. Two adults in neighbouring pens were being quite active, one chewing bamboo and the other pacing around the enclosure. I headed outside where a third giant panda was entertaining a small crowd by clambering clumsily around a climbing frame in the middle of its enclosure – great fun to watch and photograph. The outside enclosures were much better.

[thumb=13093;549;Giant_Panda_Outdoor_Enclosure.JPG]Giant Panda Outdoor Enclosure[/thumb]
[thumb=13094;549;Giant_Panda_on_Back.JPG]Giant Panda[/thumb]
I headed to the neighbouring building and the zoo’s newest exhibit, the 2008 Olympic Games Panda House, a two-storey building with glass facades, allowing in more natural light than the older panda house. The ground floor has the inevitable shop and a large viewing window on to an indoor enclosure shared by 8 pandas. They are 2 year-olds brought over from the Wolong Breeding Centre in May, originally expected to return there in November but following the Sichuan earthquake that date is likely to be postponed. Great views of the pandas in here, all 8 were in the same part of the enclosure eating bamboo. The upper floor is an exhibition space with display boards in Chinese and English giving information about captive breeding of giant pandas. Altogether I spent about an hour watching the pandas, and really enjoyed the exhibits.

In the same area of the zoo there are some small, glass-fronted enclosures housing rare native species including red pandas, crested ibis, golden snub-nosed monkey and Chinese monal.

[thumb=13087;549;Crested_Ibis.JPG]Crested Ibis[/thumb]
 
Pheasants, Small and Nocturnal Mammals and Canidae

Next, I entered the Pheasant Garden, although “garden” is applied in the loosest sense of the word. The zoo has a very impressive pheasant collection but one of the worst exhibits I’ve seen for displaying these spectacular birds. The enclosures are arranged in menagerie-style rows of concrete buildings with glass or wire-mesh fronts, and some also have concrete roofs which block out natural light. Virtually no environmental enrichment is provided and the floors are bare concrete. The steel doors into the back of the aviaries are rusting, and the painted scenes on the back walls are peeling and faded.

[thumb=13118;549;Male_Cabot_s_Tragopan.jpg]Male Cabot's Tragopan[/thumb]
The species exhibited included Chinese monal, Temminck’s tragopan, Cabot’s tragopan, silver pheasant, great argus, Elliot’s pheasant, Lady Amherst’s pheasant, Reeve’s pheasant, chukar partridge, white-eared pheasant (Tibetan and Szechuan forms), Swinhoe’s pheasant and Edward’s pheasant. They also have great bustards, an unusual zoo species, houbara bustards, red junglefowl and green peafowl.

[thumb=13130;549;Reeve_s_Pheasant.JPG]Reeve's Pheasant[/thumb]
[thumb=13114;549;Houbara_Bustard.JPG]Houbara Bustard[/thumb]
The buildings adjacent to the Pheasant Garden house the zoo’s nocturnal and small mammal collection. However, they are constructed in the same minimalist concrete style as the pheasant aviaries, lending the whole of this part of the zoo a sad, neglected air. The solitary Chinese mountain cat is imprisoned here, along with a juvenile lynx, raccoons, a brush-tailed possum and hog badgers.

[thumb=13086;549;Chinese_Mountain_Cat.JPG]Chinese Mountain Cat[/thumb]
Chinese crested porcupines have recently moved out to a more spacious, glass-walled, open-topped enclosure, as have coatis. The Nocturnal Animals building has row after row of thick-tailed galagos, lesser pygmy loris and kinkajous. There are also masked palm civets and a familiar face: European hedgehogs.

[thumb=13142;549;Viewing_the_Small_Mammal_Enclosures.JPG]Viewing the Small Mammal Enclosures[/thumb]
The canidae are housed side-by-side in a series of small cages. The American fox enclosure is overstocked with about 20 very agitated animals. The dholes and Arctic foxes were also very active. The wolves are split into twos and threes in numerous enclosures, while the fennec foxes and golden jackals have glass-fronted cages. Sadly, the corsac foxes didn’t show themselves.

At this point I should give an honourable mention to the landscaping of the zoo. Once out of the concrete prison-like environment of the pheasantry, small mammal and canid area, the zoo was more lush and green than I had expected, given the previous photographic evidence I’d seen. It’s a lovely walk north past the waterfowl lakes, then west along the ancient canal with it’s pathways shaded by beautiful weeping willows towards the mature woodland of the West Area. There are no meticulously planned floral displays that are so common in English zoological gardens, but I liked Beijing Zoo all the more for that reason: planting is naturalistic, to provide shade, screening and interest.
 
Big Cats and Bears

Back to the East Area, I headed north to view the bear and big cat enclosures. The less said about them the better. The Asiatic black bears and brown bears have ugly bare pits. The brown bears at least get a bit of rockwork and a water feature; the black bears’ pit is barren. Mature trees within the pits have circular concrete surrounds to prevent the bears climbing them, painted with “Don’t feed the animals” signs in garish colours. The bears sat on their hind legs and begged for food, but to their credit the public were well behaved.

[thumb=13072;549;Brown_Bear_Begging.JPG]Brown Bear Begging[/thumb]
The polar bear exhibit has gone, as has the bear. The second cat house that once housed leopards, snow leopards, clouded leopards and smaller species has also been demolished. The clouded leopards have moved to the small mammal area but there was no sign of the other species. The whole of this corner of the zoo is now a construction site – no indication of what it will be yet.

Next to the bear pits is Lion and Tiger Mountain. The mountain is an edifice of concrete shaped like rock, and beneath it visitors can enter the gloomy, Victorian cat house with rows of caged lions and tigers – an utterly depressing sight. Many of the animals were locked in.

[thumb=13115;549;Inside_Lion_and_Tiger_Mountain.JPG]Inside Lion and Tiger Mountain[/thumb]
The outside enclosures were better, with natural planting, but still on the small side. Lions, Amur and Bengal tigers (including white tigers), jaguars (including melanistic form) and a solitary puma are exhibited here. I witnessed a couple of Chinese youths pour a bottle of water over a tiger. However, the tiger’s pool had been drained on what was an extremely hot day, so this could be viewed as an act of charity!
 
Beijing Aquarium

A bridge over the canal leads the visitor into the North Area. The main attraction here is the aquarium, the largest in China, and I have to say it is terrific.

[thumb=13127;549;Map_of_Beijing_Aquarium_2008.JPG]Map of Beijing Aquarium 2008[/thumb]
[thumb=13069;549;Aquarium_Mural.JPG]Beijing Aquarium Mural[/thumb]
Built in the shape of a conch shell, it is divided into seven zones inside. I headed straight for the Marine Mammal Pavilion to catch the 11 o’clock dolphin and sea lion show. I think if I had been under 12 and Chinese I would have appreciated this more, but it was certainly popular with the locals.

[thumb=13129;549;Marine_Mammal_Pavilion.JPG]Marine Mammal Pavilion[/thumb]
Next to the amphitheatre is Whale & Dolphin Discovery, basically a viewing area into the holding pens for the bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions. The false killer whales left the aquarium soon after it opened, so the name is misleading. There are a great many tanks are in the Rainforest Adventure, which holds freshwater species including Chinese giant salamander, red-tailed catfish, paca, arapaima, archer fish and many others. Some of the tanks are on the small side, the English signage is poor and there are ethical questions over the displays of blood parrots and massive overstocking of silver arowanas, for example. At the Colorful Beach, a network of raised shallow pools allows people to handle starfishes and the like. A small pool at the far end held three green turtles: the aquarium’s brochure encouraged people to “gently slap the turtle’s back”, but the sign above the pool said “don’t touch the turtles”. Guess which advice they followed! Shark Harbour is an impressive single large tank with several shark and ray species, though none particularly large or aggressive.

[thumb=13144;549;Wonders_of_Coral_Reefs_Escalator.JPG]Escalator Tunnel in Beijing Aquarium[/thumb]
Wonders of Coral Reefs consists of a large central tank through which visitors ascend on an escalator (a great experience), and holds some fine specimens including cownose rays, spotted eagle rays, green turtles, giant morays, Napoleon wrasse and literally hundreds of smaller reef fish. The cownose rays all had their barbed tails cut off, presumably because divers enter the tank daily for “live feeding” displays. Around the central tank are literally dozens of smaller tanks with an astonishing variety of reef fish and invertebrates, plus some African cichlids.

[thumb=13117;549;Lionfish.JPG]Lionfish[/thumb]
The final and most memorable section is the Acipenser Sinensis Aquarium, a huge tank housing a variety of Chinese sturgeons of all shapes and sizes, the biggest specimens up to 4m in length.

[thumb=13068;549;Acipenser_Sinensis_Aquarium.JPG]Acipenser Sinensis Exhibit[/thumb]
 
North Area and Tapirs

The other enclosures in the North Area date from the late 1990s (you wouldn’t know it – they look much older) and house elephants, rhinos and hippos. A pair of female African elephants shared a small sandy paddock to one side of the elephant house, and a trio of Asian elephants stood in a small concrete yard next to the entrance. The house itself was fenced off. If conditions for the elephants were less than impressive, those for the rhinos and hippos were worse.

[thumb=13140;549;Southern_White_Rhino_Enclosure.JPG]Southern White Rhino Enclosure[/thumb]
A ring of outside enclosures, small and sunken, surround a featureless building which houses the indoor quarters and a vast café in gloomy conditions. I noticed this a lot in Beijing Zoo – animal facilities and visitor facilities occupying shared space. The solitary hippo was confined indoors, it’s outdoor pool drained. There were a pair of Indian rhinos and a pair of Southern whites. The final exhibits in the North Area include paddocks for domesticated camels and yaks and Hawk Hill, an impressive raptor aviary.

[thumb=13108;549;Hawk_Hill_Aviary.JPG]Hawk Hill Aviary[/thumb]
I crossed back into the East Area to polish off the remaining exhibits there in quick fashion. My audio guide pointed out the wild camel house, which turned out to be a lovely exhibit for a large group of red kangaroos. No sign of the camel – presumably off show? A row of fenced cages house a comprehensive collection of flightless birds as well as red gorals. The old rhino enclosures now hold the zoo’s tapirs: Malayans, Brazilians and Baird’s. The single Baird’s tapir was lame.

[thumb=13071;549;Baird_s_Tapir.JPG]Baird's Tapir[/thumb]
 
Primates

I summoned my remaining energy for the final section of the zoo, the West Zone. This is the most scenic part, with beautiful woodland and parkland. The chief attraction here is the Golden Monkey House, a rusting, steel-framed dome which houses a family black snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) from Yunnan Province, golden snub-nosed monkey (R. roxellana) from Sichuan Province and most interesting, a solitary grey snub-nosed monkey (R. brelichi) from Guizhou Province. Both the golden and black snub-nosed monkeys had youngsters, as did the second family group of golden snub-nosed monkeys near the giant pandas.

[thumb=13104;549;Golden_Monkey_Exhibit.JPG]Golden Monkey House[/thumb]
[thumb=13116;549;Juvenile_Black_Snub-Nosed_Monkey.JPG]Juvenile Yunnan Snub-Nosed Monkey[/thumb]
Beijing Zoo has a great ape exhibit for orang-utans, gorillas and chimpanzees. Their indoor quarters are housed in a single building called the Gorilla House for some strange reason. Like many of Beijing’s animal houses, it is a depressing, gloomy concrete edifice with very little floor area. The only enrichment for the apes is a basic steel climbing frame.

[thumb=13107;549;Gorilla_Indoor_Enclosure.JPG]Indoor Gorilla Enclosure[/thumb]
The outdoor enclosures are not too bad by comparison, providing dense planting, privacy and shade if not much room to explore. They are separated from the public and each other by moats. The chimps and gorillas (a pair of males from what I could see) were outside lazing in the shade. No sign of the orangs whatsoever. The practice of having a photo taken with a baby chimp wearing a t-shirt goes on.

[thumb=13085;549;Chimpanzee_Outdoor_Exhibit.JPG]Chimpanzee and Gorilla Enclosures[/thumb]
[thumb=13143;549;Western_Lowland_Gorilla.JPG]Western Lowland Gorilla[/thumb]
The rest of the primate collection is arranged in a rather haphazard way. The more modern enclosures are near the great apes. They provide the gibbons and monkeys with height and climbing apparatus, and the visitor with clear views through glass windows.

[thumb=13103;549;Gibbon_Enclosure.JPG]Gibbon Enclosure[/thumb]
Highlights here are the Hoolock gibbons (both Western and Eastern species), black bearded saki and Francois langurs. I could find no other langurs! The older primate enclosures further west have changed little in fifty years, and house mandrills, rhesus macaques, hamadryas baboons and olive baboons. More typical zoo species make up the collection. For some reason, ring-tailed lemurs and pig-tailed macaques are found with the small mammals in the East Area.

[thumb=13091;549;Eastern_Hoolock_Gibbon.jpg]Eastern Hoolock Gibbon[/thumb]
 
Hoofstock, herps and birds

Giraffes, zebras, oryx, wildebeest and ostrich are given spacious paddocks nearby, though visitors were more concerned with feeding the animals than observing them. The children’s zoo was mostly hidden behind temporary hoardings. This piqued my interest, and peering through the gaps I could make out the rows of nightmarish cages housing different breeds of dog. Interestingly, not a single animal was moving or making a sound. I could quite understand why the Chinese wanted to hide this – the sooner it’s torn down, the better.

[thumb=13083;549;Caged_Dalmation.JPG]Caged Dalmation[/thumb]
Next, my audio guide introduced me to the “Deer Farm”. Back in the early days of Beijing Zoo, it was used for research into experimental agriculture, and it appears that the farming mentality lives on. It’s a shame, because the zoo has quite the best collection of hoofstock I’ve ever seen. Highlights were the argali sheep, golden takin, Sichuan takin, Tibetan gazelle, bharal, Chinese water deer, kiang, white-lipped deer and hairy-fronted muntjac.

[thumb=13090;549;Deer_Farm.JPG]Beijing Zoo's "Deer Farm"[/thumb]
[thumb=13141;549;Tibetan_Gazelle.JPG]Tibetan Gazelle[/thumb]
[thumb=13105;549;Golden_Takin.JPG]Golden Takin[/thumb]
Next up, the Reptile and Amphibian House. I was running short of time now, so I gained nothing more than a general impression of this building. It was split into three levels, with turtles, tortoises and crocodilians on the ground floor, snakes upstairs and lizards downstairs. The vivaria are generally too small but some attempt is made at decorating them (particularly the turtles and tortoises, less so for snakes and lizards). Some species do well: the reticulated python display spans the full height of the building and is so large that I couldn’t find them. The American alligators and Siamese crocodiles have adequate indoor space, but the Chinese alligators do really well, with an indoor tank linked to a large outdoor pool (in fact, most of the alligators were outside). A huge number of different turtles, tortoises and terrapins, and a pity I didn’t have more time to peruse them, especially the rare Asiatic soft-shell turtles. This building was probably the most popular in the whole zoo.

After a quick visit to the indoor penguin pool and the Eurasian otters, I headed back towards the exit via the bird houses. These are a confusing collection of buildings right in the centre of the zoo. A reasonably-sized aviary houses storks, including marabou and yellow-billed. Next door is an open-fronted house for flamingos, housing three species in an obscured enclosure. There is a walk-through exhibit (the only one in the whole zoo) featuring pigeons, songbirds and spoonbills, but no information to help identify species.

[thumb=13131;549;Siberian_Crane.JPG]Siberian Crane[/thumb]
Two similar buildings nearby house hornbills, toucans and parrots. Small outdoor aviaries linked to indoor enclosures for most species, although some don’t get any outside space. Like nearly all Beijing Zoo’s buildings, inside it’s dark and depressing, with barely enough light reaching some enclosures to even recognise the inhabitants. Having said that all the birds appeared to be in fine condition. Particularly impressive were a trio of wreathed hornbills. Other hornbills exhibited were silvery-cheeked, Southern ground, red-billed, Von der Decken’s and great Indian. Toucans included toco, channel-billed and red-billed. The parrots, I’m afraid I skipped through far too quickly to discern any particular interesting or rare species, though it was a large collection.

[thumb=13084;549;Channel_Billed_Toucan.JPG]Channel-billed Toucan[/thumb]
 
Conclusion

In summary, Beijing Zoo is a superb collection with many rare Chinese species, and any zoo enthusiast with an opportunity to visit should take it. Walking the tree-lined paths on a sunny day is a delight – just be prepared for the crowds. The highlights of the collection are the giant panda exhibits, followed closely by the world-class aquarium. Together, they stand head and shoulders above the rest of the zoo, which sadly falls far short of the standards expected by Western zoo visitors, particularly those of us familiar with the best of European, North American and Australian zoos.

As usual, the megafauna comes off particularly badly, especially the horrible big cat house and the bear pits. Many of the animal houses are utilitarian, sterile and gloomy environments, even the more recent constructions. The children’s zoo needs to go, as do the pheasant, canid and small mammal enclosures near the zoo entrance.

On the other hand, there are signs of improvement: the new panda house is a good exhibit, and the recent primate exhibits are a vast improvement too. The giraffes, zebras and apes have decent outside space, and the waterfowl lakes are lovely. The zoo attracts a huge number of Western tourists, and if the Chinese authorities want them to leave with a favourable impression they must provide funds to improve the zoo infrastructure, and education to improve the behaviour of the visitors.
 
Chris: thanks so much for an awesome, informative review!! Beijing Zoo sounds as if it is 20-30 years behind the times in terms of spacious, naturalistic exhibits, and some of the photos reveal a series of truly ****** enclosures. Having 20 foxes in one enclosure, or seeing the awful lion/tiger house was something that I've come to expect after reading all about Chinese zoos. I've had friends visit some tiny zoos in China that are in much smaller cities than Beijing, and have heard absolutely ghastly reports. I'm overjoyed to learn that the capital's zoo is improving...and thanks once again for posting your great review at ZooBeat. I'm sure that as the years roll by the Beijing Zoo will continue to take large strides in the direction of high quality animal habitats.
 
Thanks for the nice comments guys, much appreciated. I certainly won't be going to such lengths reviewing my local UK zoos, but I figured that the combination of species rare in Western zoos and the fact that few of us here know much about it made it worth writing a proper, thorough account of Beijing Zoo. Despite the awfulness of some enclosures and the questionable behaviour of visitors I enjoyed my day there. Change will happen, but it will also require a cultural shift in the attitude of the Chinese people to wild animals. They have shown that this is possible with giant pandas, but it needs to be extended to all wild creatures.
 
Thanks for a review!

I visited this zoo briefly in 2006 and would be more sharp about exhibits - many are small empty cages and stalls, which disappeared from Western zoos decades ago.

What species of sea mammals were on display?

I wonder if any forumers have experience with more Chinese zoos (Sun Wu-kong?)
My LP guidebook mentioned several aquariums with interesting pinnipeds and cetaceans. And possibly, other places keep ultra-rare endemics like Chinese mountain cat or Guizhou snub-nosed monkey.

Hopefully now that China feels it opened itself to Western world it would be more receptive for exchange animals for breeding programs.
 
Jurek7 said:
Thanks for a review!
Click to expand...

My pleasure :)

Jurek7 said:
What species of sea mammals were on display?
Click to expand...

Bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions. 4 dolphins were used for the show, but I believe the aquarium may hold up to 8 in total. It was difficult to count them in the backstage pools because I couldn't tell which pools were linked together, and of course, not all the dolphins surfaced at the same time ;) 1.2 sea lions were used for the show, and I didn't see any others.

Jurek7 said:
I wonder if any forumers have experience with more Chinese zoos (Sun Wu-kong?) My LP guidebook mentioned several aquariums with interesting pinnipeds and cetaceans. And possibly, other places keep ultra-rare endemics like Chinese mountain cat or Guizhou snub-nosed monkey.
Click to expand...

I have found some evidence to suggest that the only collections holding Chinese Mountain Cat are Xining Zoo and Xining Wildlife Rescue Center, but this information dated from 2002. Xi'an Zoo formerly kept this species too.

I'm not aware of any other collections with P. brelichi. I'm kicking myself because I had a good opportunity to photograph the adult individual in the enclosure at Beijing, but as I lined up the shot it disappeared into the house which was closed to visitors that day. :(
 
Thanks for the review; it let me remember and re-"enact" my own visit bit by bit. A new species of snub-nosed monkeys??? (runs to the travel agency) Interesting to read yet somehow to expect that some species (like the Spectacled langurs or the wild camel; argali?) are no longer kept, wheras the reconstruction site lets one hope for the future...

@Jurek7: Yepp, have seen my share of Chinese zoos (among others Chengdu and various smaller ones), but unfortunately not the bifg aquariums You mentioned. The husbandry is often worse than in Beijing (which, as I agree with Chris79 in many, many aspects, could also be improved), and the collection of rare species often impressive (f.e. various krait species, Asian Forest Tortoise, Chinese Monal...), but usually smaller than Beijing's. The Panda Breeding centers are often quite nice (and according to my local sources, even after the earthquake).
 
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Sun Wukong said:
Thanks for the review; it let me remember and re-"enact" my own visit bit by bit. A new species of snub-nosed monkeys??? (runs to the travel agency) Interesting to read yet somehow to expect that some species (like the Spectacled langurs or the wild camel; argali?) are no longer kept, wheras the reconstruction site lets one hope for the future...
Click to expand...

Thanks Sun Wukong.

I can safely say the argalis are still there, I have a photo of them somewhere. Plus they had recently bred.

However there was no sign of any langurs other than a group of Francois' langur in one of the newish primate exhibits near the gibbons. Also, I'm not sure whether the wild camel has gone, or whether it's merely been moved off-show (I read somewhere that this has happened before).
 
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