Here are some thoughts on this new park, now that I've got to uploading photos.
Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park - ZooChat
Although it is in Shanghai, it takes an hour or so to get there from the city centre by metro. It's far. However, it is relatively close to the Wild Animal Park (and Disneyland), so could be twinned with the former to save time. I think it's an open question whether you would want to double them up, but with a taxi it would definitely be possible.
The initial impression and overall aesthetic is very Haichang. Think Hansel and Gretel if Hansel and Gretel were tacky and kitsch. Surprisingly the park is a bit cheaper than the Haichang Park in Hangzhou (but still very pricey overall).
A garish yellow building hides a large pinniped pool. This holds four species, and well over twenty individuals. It's an impressive size, but obviously still crowded. I'm quite concerned about the long-term prognosis for keeping several huge bull sea lions together. In the basement with underwater viewing are two rather desultory exhibits for African manatee and Asian short-clawed otter.
The next complex we 'enjoyed' was Arctic Hell, I mean Hall. The low-light of the zoo, it has abysmal all-indoor exhibits for polar bear, arctic fox and wolf. For a facility that opened in 2018 these are beyond condemnation. There is also a tank containing three beluga. I know Haichang can build a decent beluga complex because they did so in Hangzhou. Here this small tank that couldn't support breeding seems just to be a box-ticking exercise. The only redeeming feature in the Arctic Hall is a seal tank which wraps around and over the visitor area with a vertical tunnel going through it as well. There are also bearded seals in a satellite exhibit.
As mentioned above the park has an impressive array of penguins. The antarctic exhibit is similar to the seal tank described above. This was one of the better houses in the zoo, although keeping Magellanic and Humboldt's penguins together seems questionable.
There are two classic aquarium style buildings. The smaller contains a few coral tanks and a typically dramatically-lit jellyfish section. Unfortunately this is also where the park deals itself an ethical killing blow. On my visit they were selling little sealed plastic containers with water, a jellyfish and a colourful LED. It's not the first time I've seen this, but it still makes me sick. It's pure venality, and in an institution that should at least care about welfare and conservation it's inexcusable.
The larger aquarium is ostensibly the Whale Shark Hall, but currently lacks whale sharks. It does have other sharks though, as well as a large grouper tank and an unusually large arapaima tank. These are usually housed in quite shallow riverine set-ups. I suspect this has been repurposed. There are also a few smaller tanks like in the other building. There's quite a lot to like here.
In between the two is a dolphin lagoon and a dolphin stadium. The show itself was forgettable, but it does have a nifty feature: two circular falling water curtains that can create different patterns and shapes. The lagoon was quite pretty, but we didn't see any dolphins in it so it was hard to assess. There is indoor holding as well but it was closed.
The last and most significant offering from the park is orcas. There are four pools, including the show pool. One of the other three one has underwater viewing, and it was here that I saw my first killer whale. They really are magnificent. Strangely, seeing them at Shanghai made up my mind that it is in theory possible to house them humanely. It's not being done anywhere in the world currently in my estimation, but much as Nuremberg or Harderwijk seem to have got dolphins right, somewhere with enough money and motivation could do it. And looking at the way things are going, if it ever happens it will probably be in China.
The orca show was a little underwhelming; not all of the four orcas at the park performed, there weren't any synchronised tricks and there wasn't any water work. I would imagine all these will feature as the park matures.
Overall Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park is a strong addition to a city that already features a strong line-up for the zoonerd. Even if I was still local (I'm not), I would be unlikely to visit again for quite some time, just because of the issues I saw, but I suppose I would eventually and I hope other enthusiasts do in the nearer future.
