It's more a case of the vast majority of Avifauna's oddities having died off in recent years, rather than the collection having a focus on more sustainable species
Stephen's Zoo Visits - Europe
- Thread starter Penshet
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It's more a case of the vast majority of Avifauna's oddities having died off in recent years, rather than the collection having a focus on more sustainable species
Have been in Schönbrunn zoo 10 days ago and just want to add two points to your excellent review:
The mixed species exhibits at South American park, both indoor and outdoor ( Brazilian Tapir/Giant Anteater/Capybara/Vicugna/ Greater Rhea/ Red-legged Seriema) and at East-African house (Von der Decken's hornbill/East African dwarf mongoose) are remarkably executed and worth mentioning, imo.
15 years ago, Vienna was the only place in Europe with both Panda and Koala, but this species are not such a big rarity nowadays. One really unique mammal or bird species, would be a nice addition to this legendary zoo.Platypus exhibit behind the Koala house, for example
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The East-African house is a gem indeed. I did think the South American exhibit was good, but not that exceptional.
The zoo has plenty of unique bird species imo, but a platypus would indeed make a great addition to the zoo. As would any of the rarer Australian animals to be honest - wombats, brushtail possums or echidnas would all work great.
The zoo has plenty of unique bird species imo, but a platypus would indeed make a great addition to the zoo. As would any of the rarer Australian animals to be honest - wombats, brushtail possums or echidnas would all work great.
Oh yes! Long-beaked echidnas would be the icing on the cake!
Budapest
https://www.zoobudapest.com/uploads/articles/164/image/191018_Kültéri_Térkép_HU_EN_155x107_Screen.png
Visited on November 12
We'd be in Vienna for 5 days, and while Schönbrunn and Haus des Meeres are very nice, I still wanted to tack another zoo onto this trip. The decision was rather easy: for €60 round trip by train, we'd do a citytrip within a citytrip to Budapest. We left our apartment at 7.30 AM, arrived in Budapest around 10.30, took a bus to the zoo and stayed there until closing time. Afterwards, we did the Szechenyi baths across the zoo, we had dinner on our way back to the station (around 30 mins on foot from the baths). We got back to the apartment around midnight. As easy as that.
If I had to describe the Budapest Zoo with one word, it would be chaotic. This feel of chaos was reinforced by a heavy rain, meaning that we sometimes had to run from building to building (luckily the zoo has many buildings). There’s no clear walking route, so you’re just going from building to building, hoping you didn’t miss any enclosures in between. Magic Mountain, one of the major exhibits with various small mammals, herps and invertebrates, is also a real maze to navigate.
Another point is the excellent Australian section. Indoor enclosures (closed during our visit) are present for echidna and brushtail possum. Various aviaries for Australian birds, and a nice enclosure for wombats. Then there’s also a really cool nocturnal house with several flying foxes, woylies, sugar gliders (not seen) and a ground cuscus, followed by a small passerine enclosure home to a couple small Australian birds.
There are terrariums all over the zoo: in the Palm House, Savanna House, Madagascar House, South-East Asia House, Wetlands House, and so on. This means that Budapest, while lacking a real dedicated reptile house, has the largest reptile collection this year. There is the Venomous Creatures house, but this houses just a small part of the enormous collection (nevertheless, very cool with dozens of venomous snake species).
Statistics
I saw 255 species in Budapest: 77 mammals, 80 birds, 77 reptiles (biggest collection) and 21 amphibians.
Budapest has 43 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. Quite a nice amount, mostly mammals and reptiles.
Budapest has a ZooScore of 4,36 and thus ranks 4th in the list. It’s the best of the high-tier, below the three 300+ collections.
Enclosures
Feathertail glider, tammar wallaby, western grey kangaroo, New Guinea ground cuscus, Bolivian night monkey, golden-bellied mangabey, Bolvian yellow-toothed cavy, Eurasian curlew, croaking ground dove, scaled quail, blue-black grosbeak, Port Lincoln parrot, regent parrot, Jackson’s chameleon, giant ameiva, sidewinder rattlesnake, Turan blunt-nosed viper, Ottoman viper, Bell’s hinge-back tortoise, two-toed amphiuma, greater siren.
https://www.zoobudapest.com/uploads/articles/164/image/191018_Kültéri_Térkép_HU_EN_155x107_Screen.png
Visited on November 12
We'd be in Vienna for 5 days, and while Schönbrunn and Haus des Meeres are very nice, I still wanted to tack another zoo onto this trip. The decision was rather easy: for €60 round trip by train, we'd do a citytrip within a citytrip to Budapest. We left our apartment at 7.30 AM, arrived in Budapest around 10.30, took a bus to the zoo and stayed there until closing time. Afterwards, we did the Szechenyi baths across the zoo, we had dinner on our way back to the station (around 30 mins on foot from the baths). We got back to the apartment around midnight. As easy as that.
If I had to describe the Budapest Zoo with one word, it would be chaotic. This feel of chaos was reinforced by a heavy rain, meaning that we sometimes had to run from building to building (luckily the zoo has many buildings). There’s no clear walking route, so you’re just going from building to building, hoping you didn’t miss any enclosures in between. Magic Mountain, one of the major exhibits with various small mammals, herps and invertebrates, is also a real maze to navigate.
Another point is the excellent Australian section. Indoor enclosures (closed during our visit) are present for echidna and brushtail possum. Various aviaries for Australian birds, and a nice enclosure for wombats. Then there’s also a really cool nocturnal house with several flying foxes, woylies, sugar gliders (not seen) and a ground cuscus, followed by a small passerine enclosure home to a couple small Australian birds.
There are terrariums all over the zoo: in the Palm House, Savanna House, Madagascar House, South-East Asia House, Wetlands House, and so on. This means that Budapest, while lacking a real dedicated reptile house, has the largest reptile collection this year. There is the Venomous Creatures house, but this houses just a small part of the enormous collection (nevertheless, very cool with dozens of venomous snake species).
Statistics
I saw 255 species in Budapest: 77 mammals, 80 birds, 77 reptiles (biggest collection) and 21 amphibians.
Budapest has 43 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. Quite a nice amount, mostly mammals and reptiles.
Budapest has a ZooScore of 4,36 and thus ranks 4th in the list. It’s the best of the high-tier, below the three 300+ collections.
Enclosures
- Budapest is a great zoo, but it doesn’t have a Best in Class exhibit. Perhaps when Pannonia Park opens, it will.
- Upper Middle Class:
Magic Mountain, even though it’s a bizarre exhibit, educates the public very well, and exhibits some interesting species too.
The Australia House with the nocturnal walkthrough has a very nice species line-up. The parrot aviary holds some nice species, and the terrariums to the opposite are very good as well. The nocturnal walkthrough is superb, and the bird enclosure has a few colourful little birds.
The Venomous Creatures House displays the widest variety of venomous snakes (+ three or four other herps) I’ve seen to-date. All of these are housed in good terrariums, too. - Lick of Paint:
Some parts of the zoo look cheap, for example the giant otter house. It looks like it’s built with mostly plastic. I understand that enclosures aren’t cheap, but this even looks cheap.
The Wetlands House was a rather disappointing affair. A few empty terrariums, species occurring multiple times throughout the house, and a general dilapidated look didn’t help either.
While the combination of penguins and harbour seals seems to work better here than in Pairi Daiza, as I saw the penguins enter the water with the seals, this combination still doesn’t sit well with me. - Eyesores:
Two polar bears have an exhibit that’s ridiculously small and all concrete. Just terrible, and probably worse than the one in Wuppertal.
A (seemingly old) brown bear shared the same fate as the polar bears, only was his/her enclosure even smaller and even more bare.
Feathertail glider, tammar wallaby, western grey kangaroo, New Guinea ground cuscus, Bolivian night monkey, golden-bellied mangabey, Bolvian yellow-toothed cavy, Eurasian curlew, croaking ground dove, scaled quail, blue-black grosbeak, Port Lincoln parrot, regent parrot, Jackson’s chameleon, giant ameiva, sidewinder rattlesnake, Turan blunt-nosed viper, Ottoman viper, Bell’s hinge-back tortoise, two-toed amphiuma, greater siren.
Both mountains are fantastic highlights in this historic zoo, together with the elephant house. I agree on your general description of this zoo: chaotic (even in sunny weather). Far bether than the one at Vincennes.
The australian collection is very large (probably the largest in Europe) but it lacks true highlights (certainly but not only in the bird collection).
Although the Wetland exibit was dirty and cramped, I did liked it.
Overall a fantastic place for the historical zoo lover.
The australian collection is very large (probably the largest in Europe) but it lacks true highlights (certainly but not only in the bird collection).
Although the Wetland exibit was dirty and cramped, I did liked it.
Overall a fantastic place for the historical zoo lover.
I disagree. I didn't think the Magic Mountain in Budapest was much better than the Great Rock in Paris. They're just different, with Magic Mountain being chaotic but displaying many more species in- and outside. Many of the outdoor enclosures are less-than-ideal though, with the brown bear enclosure being a low point, but the dhole and other ungulate enclosures aren't worth much either.
The Great Rock in Paris on the other hand, exhibits a lot less species, but the European Vivarium is one of my favourite reptile houses ever, and the enclosures for vultures, Eurasian otter, Guinea baboons, meerkats/bat-eared foxes, and the Great Aviary are all perfectly fine exhibits.
Anyway the last European zoo review of the year is below. I'll also be making two more posts about my personal top 10s and about some of the statistics I've gathered.
Aquazoo Düsseldorf
https://www.zoovaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/csm_Rundgang_Plan_800x_0eb79f4260.jpg
Visted on Dec 22
The Aquazoo in Düsseldorf combines a natural sciences museum, aquarium, and a zoo into one. The result was a nearly 3-hour long visit in this nice little aquarium. You start off in a cold-water zone with Atlantic puffins, and then move to a reef-zone with a reef shark and a nice reef-themed aquarium. After that there’s a tropical freshwater zone, again with a large green freshwater tank. Between the freshwater area and the penguin exhibit there’s a nice display of some amphibians from Germany. The penguin exhibit itself seems rather small, but not terribly so. After the penguins, you move to a small tropical hall with some crocodilians and tortoises. Then finally, you get to the herp area with zones focused on amphibians and reptiles, as well as elephant shrews and dwarf mongooses.
Some of the tanks are on the smaller side, but generally spacious enough for the inhabitants. Another remark I have is that many of the animals are hard to spot, especially amphibians. I don’t know whether that’s bad signage (due to the animals not being there anymore) or just enclosures that give too many hiding opportunities.
All in all I think the Aquazoo is a very nice combination of museum, zoo and aquarium, but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit it.
Statistics
I saw 57 species at Aquazoo Düsseldorf: 5 mammals, 5 birds, 32 reptiles and 15 amphibians.
The Aquazoo has 12 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. 9 out of 12 were reptiles, so a rather good reptile collection.
A small collection, AquaZoo Düsseldorf gets a ZooScore of 1,05. That means it places below Central Park Zoo, but above the specialist collections of Apenheul and Parc des Félins.
Animal Highlights
Afghan mouse-like hamster, Atlantic puffin, freshwater crocodile, crocodile monitor, horned desert viper, Chinese three-striped box turtle, African red toad.
The Great Rock in Paris on the other hand, exhibits a lot less species, but the European Vivarium is one of my favourite reptile houses ever, and the enclosures for vultures, Eurasian otter, Guinea baboons, meerkats/bat-eared foxes, and the Great Aviary are all perfectly fine exhibits.
Anyway the last European zoo review of the year is below. I'll also be making two more posts about my personal top 10s and about some of the statistics I've gathered.
Aquazoo Düsseldorf
https://www.zoovaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/csm_Rundgang_Plan_800x_0eb79f4260.jpg
Visted on Dec 22
The Aquazoo in Düsseldorf combines a natural sciences museum, aquarium, and a zoo into one. The result was a nearly 3-hour long visit in this nice little aquarium. You start off in a cold-water zone with Atlantic puffins, and then move to a reef-zone with a reef shark and a nice reef-themed aquarium. After that there’s a tropical freshwater zone, again with a large green freshwater tank. Between the freshwater area and the penguin exhibit there’s a nice display of some amphibians from Germany. The penguin exhibit itself seems rather small, but not terribly so. After the penguins, you move to a small tropical hall with some crocodilians and tortoises. Then finally, you get to the herp area with zones focused on amphibians and reptiles, as well as elephant shrews and dwarf mongooses.
Some of the tanks are on the smaller side, but generally spacious enough for the inhabitants. Another remark I have is that many of the animals are hard to spot, especially amphibians. I don’t know whether that’s bad signage (due to the animals not being there anymore) or just enclosures that give too many hiding opportunities.
All in all I think the Aquazoo is a very nice combination of museum, zoo and aquarium, but I wouldn't go out of my way to visit it.
Statistics
I saw 57 species at Aquazoo Düsseldorf: 5 mammals, 5 birds, 32 reptiles and 15 amphibians.
The Aquazoo has 12 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. 9 out of 12 were reptiles, so a rather good reptile collection.
A small collection, AquaZoo Düsseldorf gets a ZooScore of 1,05. That means it places below Central Park Zoo, but above the specialist collections of Apenheul and Parc des Félins.
Animal Highlights
Afghan mouse-like hamster, Atlantic puffin, freshwater crocodile, crocodile monitor, horned desert viper, Chinese three-striped box turtle, African red toad.
Before I post the long and boring statistics post, I'll give some top 10's! Because ranking zoos and exhibits in a totally subjective way is the best way to pass time.
10 Favourite Zoos:
10 Favourite Zoos:
- Tiergarten Schönbrunn: a great all-round zoo with historical significance, amazing exhibits and a solid collection.
- Zoo Berlin: Truly a complete collection-zoo, but with somewhat average exhibitry.
- ZOO Antwerpen: My home zoo, which has made enormous strides forward in the past years and will hopefully continue to do so.
- Bronx Zoo: Huge, with some interesting architecture. Seemed somewhat old-fashioned at times, but still has a really high standard.
- Weltvogelpark Walsrode: Has all the birds. Outstanding exhibitry, and an even better collection.
- Kölner Zoo: Great all-round zoo with very few flaws.
- Paris Zoological Park: All-new reinvention of a historic zoo. Exhibits are fantastic and includes some unique species. Enormous tropical hall, too.
- Diergaarde Blijdorp: Lovely zoo to visit, with a superb aquarium, butterfly hall, okapi aviary, … Nothing bad either, but some lost potential due to budget cuts.
- Burgers’ Zoo: The ecodisplays have no equal and are in my opinion the way zoos should go. The rest of the zoo isn’t as impressive though and could use some renewal.
- Tierpark Berlin: Enormous mammal collection with some outstanding enclosures. Most of the zoo is average though, and paddocks get boring after a while.
- Zoo da Maia: Miniscule enclosures all over the place, even in the newer part of the zoo.
- De Oliemeulen: Same as Zoo da Maia, but with a collection more focused on herps, which are housed in ever-so-slightly better enclosures.
- BestZoo: Decent collection but tainted by some truly horrid enclosures.
- Zoo Veldhoven: Its legacy as a rescue centre has left it looking a bit like an animal shelter and not like a zoo. Weak tropical hall and a low standard of exhibits.
- SeaLife Blankenberge: A shame as a national aquarium, small and overpriced. Odd exhibit for otters.
- Zoo du Bois d’Attilly: Some weird choices for mixed-species enclosures. Some bad enclosures, but also some that are quite decent.
- SeaLife Porto: Average turtle enclosures, overall quite small. Friendly staff.
- ZieZoo: Older part of the zoo can be summarized as ugly. New part is decent and shows that the zoo wants to improve.
- Terre des Singes: Incredibly small and in my opinion overpriced. Unimpressive enclosures, barring the barbary macaque enclosure that takes up 90% of the zoo (which is truly fantastic).
- Zoo Santo Inácio: ABC-focused zoo. Clearly tries to be a good zoo, but sometimes fails. Visit was tainted by having busloads of middle schoolers screaming and slamming at windows in the reptile house. Has some nice enclosures though.
- Buffalo Aviary at ZOO Antwerpen: Amazing aviary combining colourful and active birds with the large and slow buffaloes. Includes a historic building (former rhino house), used as indoor housing for birds. Offers a great view from the restaurant.
- Burgers’ Bush at Burgers’ Zoo: Enormous rainforest ecodisplay, with some unique species. I imagine this is what an actual rainforest feels like.
- Okapi Aviary at Diergaarde Blijdorp: Again, a combination of a large ungulate with birds. Works great and has something for everyone. Also functions like a real okapi factory.
- European Vivarium at Paris Zoological Park: Showcases a group of animals that’s often ignored in zoos in a marvellous reptile house, located in the historic Grand Rocher.
- Congo Gorilla Forest at Bronx Zoo: Possibly the best primate exhibit around, with a nice cast of additional (mostly) African rainforest-fauna.
- Eismeer at Tierpark Hagenbeck: Best polar complex around. Combines unique polar megafauna (polar bear, walrus) with some good polar birds (puffins, penguins). Even though not all enclosures are of the same standard, the complex is still impressive.
- Bird House at Tiergarten Schönbrunn: A beautiful reinvention of a historic bird house, with a trio of walkthrough enclosure. Variety of African and South American species exhibited, including some nice rarities.
- Squirrel Monkey Forest at Apenheul: Truly enormous foresty enclosure for squirrel monkeys and rheas. Fantastic to see the interactions between the monkeys.
- Afrikapanoramium at Tierpark Hagenbeck: While the lion enclosure is a shame, it is still one of the most historically significant exhibits ever. I didn’t actually realise that there were three enclosures in this panoramic view until I passed between them.
- Free Flight Hall at Zoo Wuppertal: Not the biggest or the best tropical hall around,but this hall is a little gem with a great species line-up. While the rest of the bird house is average, this hall stands out.
- Styan's red panda in Prospect Park. May very well be the only opportunity I have to see this subspecies in the foreseeable future. Sadly the pandas did not have outdoor access on the day of my visit.
- All birds-of-paradise besides Raggiana’s in Weltvogelpark Walsrode. Cold outside + a ton of other species to see = not many chances of seeing these tropical birds outdoors. Very sad, as they would have been one of the (admittedly many) highlights of the day.
- Pileated gibbon in Zoo Berlin: Again, cold outside.
- Gambian pouched rat in Tiergarten Schönbrunn: Despite going to their exhibit 4 times, we still couldn't spot them. A pity, as I'd seen them before in Antwerp but they have been long gone from there, so this would've been a bit nostalgic.
- Giant jumping rat in Zoo Duisburg. Completely missed their enclosure. No excuses here, just me being dumb.
- Kowari in both Budapest Zoo and ZieZoo. Tried to find them in ZieZoo but no luck. Their enclosure was not open on the day of our visit to Budapest.
- Brushtail possum in Budapest Zoo. Just like the kowari, their enclosure wasn't open.
- Corsac fox in both Beekse Bergen and Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes. While I saw this species in ZieZoo, it would've been nice to see them in a nicer enclosure.
- North Island brown kiwi in Zoo Berlin. While I did see this species later in the year, I managed to miss this apparently active animal. I just...didn't look for it.
- African openbill in Tierpark Berlin, Weltvogelpark Walsrode and Pairi Daiza. Didn't know where they were in either of these parks. Managed to find them in Cologne though, but I was getting afraid I wouldn't see them at all this year.
The Statistics
As I’ve mentioned before, I kept track of every species I saw in all zoos. Obviously, I missed some, but I think that for general visits it gives a decent estimate of the size of the collection. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with this file next year, but until then, here’s a link: SeenSpecies.xlsx
In the Overview tab, you can find most of the stats. A quick summary:
The five largest collections I’ve been to, were Zoo Berlin (366 sp), Weltvogelpark Walsrode (325 sp), Bronx Zoo (317 sp), Budapest Zoo (255 sp) and Pairi Daiza (250 sp). According to my ZooScores, the first 4 are also the 4 best collections. Warsaw rounds up this top 5, kicking out Pairi Daiza.
In all 40 zoos this year, I saw 1759 different species. If you count subspecies as well, I saw 1936 different taxa.
The most common species was the ring-tailed lemur, seen in 24 zoos. The most common birds were the red-crowned crane and the scarlet ibis, both at 20 zoos. Green iguanas won for reptiles, at 16 zoos. Finally, dyeing poison frogs are ubiquitous – 17 zoos had these guys, and a ton of zoos didn’t even have amphibians to begin with.
The largest orders of each class were: Primates (100 sp), Passeriformes (210 sp), Squamata (255 sp) and Anura (76 sp). No real surprises there.
The largest families of each class were: Bovidae (56 sp), Anatidae (99 sp), Colubridae (31 sp) and Dendrobatidae (15 sp).
The largest genera of each class were: Macaca (9 sp), Amazona (21 sp), Varanus (20 sp) and Dendrobates/Ranitomeya (4 sp). Hadn’t expected macaques to win this, but otherwise all expected.
The species with the most subspecies was the leopard, with 6 subspecies (P. p. fusca/kotiya/melas/orientalis/pardus/tulliana).
ZooScores
Now, for the masterpiece, the ZooScore ranking. First though, let me explain how I calculate these ZooScores. Basically, it gives a rarity-score to any zoo depending on both collection size and uniqueness of collection according to what I saw. If you want a full explanation of the formulas, there is one in the Workbook Guidelines tab of the excel file.
Where it gets interesting, is in the CQC tab. I calculated an expected ZooScore depending on the average animal score, and looked at how the actual ZooScores diverged from the expected ones – Zoos scoring higher than 0 have better collections than average, while collections lower than 0 have worse collections than average. Noticeable is that zoos with a mammal-focus have lower scores, whereas zoos with more birds and herps tend to do better.
The result is that Artis has got to find itself some more unique species, and that Walsrode could do with a few less In general, mammal-focused zoos tend to do a lot worse than zoos with a bigger focus on birds or herps.
Through this system of ZooScores, I’ve been able to define some rough categories in zoological collections:
All in all, I spent €564,26 on entrance fees and memberships for zoos this year, spread over 54 total visits. That’s an average of €14,10 per zoo, and €0,32 per seen species.
And that was all for 2019. I'm not going to be able to visit as many zoos in 2020, but hopefully I'll be able to visit at least 10.
As I’ve mentioned before, I kept track of every species I saw in all zoos. Obviously, I missed some, but I think that for general visits it gives a decent estimate of the size of the collection. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with this file next year, but until then, here’s a link: SeenSpecies.xlsx
In the Overview tab, you can find most of the stats. A quick summary:
The five largest collections I’ve been to, were Zoo Berlin (366 sp), Weltvogelpark Walsrode (325 sp), Bronx Zoo (317 sp), Budapest Zoo (255 sp) and Pairi Daiza (250 sp). According to my ZooScores, the first 4 are also the 4 best collections. Warsaw rounds up this top 5, kicking out Pairi Daiza.
In all 40 zoos this year, I saw 1759 different species. If you count subspecies as well, I saw 1936 different taxa.
The most common species was the ring-tailed lemur, seen in 24 zoos. The most common birds were the red-crowned crane and the scarlet ibis, both at 20 zoos. Green iguanas won for reptiles, at 16 zoos. Finally, dyeing poison frogs are ubiquitous – 17 zoos had these guys, and a ton of zoos didn’t even have amphibians to begin with.
The largest orders of each class were: Primates (100 sp), Passeriformes (210 sp), Squamata (255 sp) and Anura (76 sp). No real surprises there.
The largest families of each class were: Bovidae (56 sp), Anatidae (99 sp), Colubridae (31 sp) and Dendrobatidae (15 sp).
The largest genera of each class were: Macaca (9 sp), Amazona (21 sp), Varanus (20 sp) and Dendrobates/Ranitomeya (4 sp). Hadn’t expected macaques to win this, but otherwise all expected.
The species with the most subspecies was the leopard, with 6 subspecies (P. p. fusca/kotiya/melas/orientalis/pardus/tulliana).
ZooScores
Now, for the masterpiece, the ZooScore ranking. First though, let me explain how I calculate these ZooScores. Basically, it gives a rarity-score to any zoo depending on both collection size and uniqueness of collection according to what I saw. If you want a full explanation of the formulas, there is one in the Workbook Guidelines tab of the excel file.
Where it gets interesting, is in the CQC tab. I calculated an expected ZooScore depending on the average animal score, and looked at how the actual ZooScores diverged from the expected ones – Zoos scoring higher than 0 have better collections than average, while collections lower than 0 have worse collections than average. Noticeable is that zoos with a mammal-focus have lower scores, whereas zoos with more birds and herps tend to do better.
The result is that Artis has got to find itself some more unique species, and that Walsrode could do with a few less
In general, mammal-focused zoos tend to do a lot worse than zoos with a bigger focus on birds or herps.Through this system of ZooScores, I’ve been able to define some rough categories in zoological collections:
- The Super tier: These zoos have comprehensive collections, often among the largest in all four taxonomic classes. These collections have 300+ seen species.
- The High tier: These zoos have comprehensive collections but are usually a bit lacking in one category or have an average collection in all classes. These collections range between 200 and 300 seen species.
- The Middle tier includes a variety of zoos. These are often older, established zoos, with a reptile house, bird house, and decently-sized mammal collection. They have between 100 and 200 seen species.
- The Low tier consists of mostly new and less-established zoos, or zoos that focus on larger mammals (like Safaripark Beekse Bergen). They have less than 100 seen species.
- Specialist collections are somewhat of an anomaly. They score better than expected, especially if they don’t focus on mammals. That’s why I decided to exclude them from the above tiers. Since I don’t count fish, some aquariums with significant tetrapod collections also focus on Herps.
- Then there are 3 collections that I didn’t count: SeaLife Porto, SeaLife Blankenberge and Terre des Singes. These collections were small and are simply not relevant enough to include in these statistics.
All in all, I spent €564,26 on entrance fees and memberships for zoos this year, spread over 54 total visits. That’s an average of €14,10 per zoo, and €0,32 per seen species.
And that was all for 2019. I'm not going to be able to visit as many zoos in 2020, but hopefully I'll be able to visit at least 10.
The Statistics
As I’ve mentioned before, I kept track of every species I saw in all zoos. Obviously, I missed some, but I think that for general visits it gives a decent estimate of the size of the collection. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with this file next year, but until then, here’s a link: SeenSpecies.xlsx
In the Overview tab, you can find most of the stats. A quick summary:
The five largest collections I’ve been to, were Zoo Berlin (366 sp), Weltvogelpark Walsrode (325 sp), Bronx Zoo (317 sp), Budapest Zoo (255 sp) and Pairi Daiza (250 sp). According to my ZooScores, the first 4 are also the 4 best collections. Warsaw rounds up this top 5, kicking out Pairi Daiza.
In all 40 zoos this year, I saw 1759 different species. If you count subspecies as well, I saw 1936 different taxa.
The most common species was the ring-tailed lemur, seen in 24 zoos. The most common birds were the red-crowned crane and the scarlet ibis, both at 20 zoos. Green iguanas won for reptiles, at 16 zoos. Finally, dyeing poison frogs are ubiquitous – 17 zoos had these guys, and a ton of zoos didn’t even have amphibians to begin with.
The largest orders of each class were: Primates (100 sp), Passeriformes (210 sp), Squamata (255 sp) and Anura (76 sp). No real surprises there.
The largest families of each class were: Bovidae (56 sp), Anatidae (99 sp), Colubridae (31 sp) and Dendrobatidae (15 sp).
The largest genera of each class were: Macaca (9 sp), Amazona (21 sp), Varanus (20 sp) and Dendrobates/Ranitomeya (4 sp). Hadn’t expected macaques to win this, but otherwise all expected.
The species with the most subspecies was the leopard, with 6 subspecies (P. p. fusca/kotiya/melas/orientalis/pardus/tulliana).
ZooScores
Now, for the masterpiece, the ZooScore ranking. First though, let me explain how I calculate these ZooScores. Basically, it gives a rarity-score to any zoo depending on both collection size and uniqueness of collection according to what I saw. If you want a full explanation of the formulas, there is one in the Workbook Guidelines tab of the excel file.
Where it gets interesting, is in the CQC tab. I calculated an expected ZooScore depending on the average animal score, and looked at how the actual ZooScores diverged from the expected ones – Zoos scoring higher than 0 have better collections than average, while collections lower than 0 have worse collections than average. Noticeable is that zoos with a mammal-focus have lower scores, whereas zoos with more birds and herps tend to do better.
The result is that Artis has got to find itself some more unique species, and that Walsrode could do with a few less
Through this system of ZooScores, I’ve been able to define some rough categories in zoological collections:
The best zoos for mammals are Tierpark Berlin, Zoo Berlin and Pairi Daiza. The best zoos for birds are Walsrode, Zoo Berlin and Bronx Zoo. For reptiles it’s Bronx Zoo, Budapest Zoo and ZOO Serpentarium. For amphibians, the best ones are Zoo Berlin, Budapest Zoo and Kölner Zoo.
- The Super tier: These zoos have comprehensive collections, often among the largest in all four taxonomic classes. These collections have 300+ seen species.
- The High tier: These zoos have comprehensive collections but are usually a bit lacking in one category or have an average collection in all classes. These collections range between 200 and 300 seen species.
- The Middle tier includes a variety of zoos. These are often older, established zoos, with a reptile house, bird house, and decently-sized mammal collection. They have between 100 and 200 seen species.
- The Low tier consists of mostly new and less-established zoos, or zoos that focus on larger mammals (like Safaripark Beekse Bergen). They have less than 100 seen species.
- Specialist collections are somewhat of an anomaly. They score better than expected, especially if they don’t focus on mammals. That’s why I decided to exclude them from the above tiers. Since I don’t count fish, some aquariums with significant tetrapod collections also focus on Herps.
- Then there are 3 collections that I didn’t count: SeaLife Porto, SeaLife Blankenberge and Terre des Singes. These collections were small and are simply not relevant enough to include in these statistics.
All in all, I spent €564,26 on entrance fees and memberships for zoos this year, spread over 54 total visits. That’s an average of €14,10 per zoo, and €0,32 per seen species.
And that was all for 2019. I'm not going to be able to visit as many zoos in 2020, but hopefully I'll be able to visit at least 10.
How would this change when using zootierliste? As in you have missed quite some species that are present but either temporarily bts (walsrode) or by not finding them (Burgers') or ones that are behind the scenes anyway (Cologne).
To be fair, I have no idea. I wouldn't expect it to change a lot in general, since percentage-wise I think I missed a similar amount in most zoos (except Antwerp where I saw pretty much everything on-show for the year). In some zoos the bts collection would of course make a difference, but I don't think it's fair to include that, since barely any visitor sees these animals.
Nausicaa
Visited on Jan 31
Last week, I went on a two-day trip to northern France, to get a breath of fresh air after my exams. Obviously, this trip couldn't be completely zoo-free, so Nausicaa was added.
Nausicaa describes itself as Europe's largest aquarium. I think that with this it means that it has Europe's largest tank? As far as I could find, both Valencia and Lisbon are bigger (and I spent more time at both than at Nausicaa). A €25 entrance fee isn't cheap for a visit that really shouldn't be longer than 3 hours (4 if you're stretching it), either.
Nausicaa consists of 2 parts: "Journey on High Seas" and "Mankind and Shores". High Seas was built in 2018 and consists of one enormous tank (with the biggest aquarium window in Europe, apparently) with several side tanks for smaller fish. The entirety of High Seas is based on the island of Malpelo, which is part of a marine reserve near Colombia. Mankind and Shores focuses more on the effect mankind has on the aquatic environment. Especially the coral reef displays were impressive, with a heavy focus on the deterioration of coral. They also highlight the work Nausicaa supports in the Maldives by positioning metal frames so coral can use these to regrow. A third, very limited part called "Ocean and Climate" has Humboldt penguins in a smallish enclosure with a tiny pool.
I personally really liked the place. Mankind and Shores has some great reef displays. The Mediterranean/North Sea display was also among the better ones I've seen. The Amazonian display was a bit of a letdown, with only commonly-seen species in a smallish tank.
Comparing the aquarium to the ones in Lisbon and Valencia, I think Nausicaa ranks below either of these. Valencia has more spectacular animals (bottlenose dolphins, belugas, ...) and Lisbon felt like it just had more stuff to see. Journey on the High Seas is definitely the single best exhibit among these three aquariums, though.
Visited on Jan 31
Last week, I went on a two-day trip to northern France, to get a breath of fresh air after my exams. Obviously, this trip couldn't be completely zoo-free, so Nausicaa was added.
Nausicaa describes itself as Europe's largest aquarium. I think that with this it means that it has Europe's largest tank? As far as I could find, both Valencia and Lisbon are bigger (and I spent more time at both than at Nausicaa). A €25 entrance fee isn't cheap for a visit that really shouldn't be longer than 3 hours (4 if you're stretching it), either.
Nausicaa consists of 2 parts: "Journey on High Seas" and "Mankind and Shores". High Seas was built in 2018 and consists of one enormous tank (with the biggest aquarium window in Europe, apparently) with several side tanks for smaller fish. The entirety of High Seas is based on the island of Malpelo, which is part of a marine reserve near Colombia. Mankind and Shores focuses more on the effect mankind has on the aquatic environment. Especially the coral reef displays were impressive, with a heavy focus on the deterioration of coral. They also highlight the work Nausicaa supports in the Maldives by positioning metal frames so coral can use these to regrow. A third, very limited part called "Ocean and Climate" has Humboldt penguins in a smallish enclosure with a tiny pool.
I personally really liked the place. Mankind and Shores has some great reef displays. The Mediterranean/North Sea display was also among the better ones I've seen. The Amazonian display was a bit of a letdown, with only commonly-seen species in a smallish tank.
Comparing the aquarium to the ones in Lisbon and Valencia, I think Nausicaa ranks below either of these. Valencia has more spectacular animals (bottlenose dolphins, belugas, ...) and Lisbon felt like it just had more stuff to see. Journey on the High Seas is definitely the single best exhibit among these three aquariums, though.
Dierenpark De Zonnegloed
https://www.dezonnegloed.be/src/Frontend/Files/userfiles/images/Plan-DeZonnegloed-A5-2020-05-1.png
Visited on May 15.
I’d been planning to visit this little park for quite a while, but an opportunity never really arose. However, when Belgium started to remove some COVID-measures in May, I saw my opportunity and took it. From Ghent (where I was stuck) this sanctuary is only an hours’ drive, whereas from home it would take more than two hours.
De Zonnegloed isn’t a traditional zoo, but defines itself as a sanctuary where unwanted animals from wherever can find shelter. An admirable cause, and one they seem to take very seriously. Somewhat unexpectedly, all animals live in adequate enclosures and seem well cared for.
The zoo consists out of two parts basically. The entrance barn houses reptiles and callitrichids, and the surrounding area has other small mammals such as meerkats, fennec foxes (at least a dozen of them!) and coatis. The remaining part houses larger mammals and birds. During my visit they were also constructing new enclosures for big cats on the location where bison and goats are indicated on the map. These will surely add quite a few more visitors to De Zonnegloed when they arrive.
Statistics
I saw 83 species at De Zonnegloed: 34 mammals, 24 birds and 25 reptiles. A well-rounded collection.
Of these 83 species, I haven’t seen 7 anywhere else (3 mammals, 2 birds, 2 reptiles).
This leaves De Zonnegloed with a ZooScore of 1.53 – more or less equal to De Oliemeulen, which really is a very comparable collection however its philosophy is substantially different.
Enclosures
Dividing the enclosures at De Zonnegloed into the 4 usual categories is rather useless. All enclosures are decent but not exceptional, and the majority of enclosures are just standard mesh-fenced paddocks or aviaries.
Animal Highlights
Fennec fox, common genet, black-tufted marmoset, olive baboon, sandhill crane, Chaco owl, Pacific gopher snake, Nile monitor.
https://www.dezonnegloed.be/src/Frontend/Files/userfiles/images/Plan-DeZonnegloed-A5-2020-05-1.png
Visited on May 15.
I’d been planning to visit this little park for quite a while, but an opportunity never really arose. However, when Belgium started to remove some COVID-measures in May, I saw my opportunity and took it. From Ghent (where I was stuck) this sanctuary is only an hours’ drive, whereas from home it would take more than two hours.
De Zonnegloed isn’t a traditional zoo, but defines itself as a sanctuary where unwanted animals from wherever can find shelter. An admirable cause, and one they seem to take very seriously. Somewhat unexpectedly, all animals live in adequate enclosures and seem well cared for.
The zoo consists out of two parts basically. The entrance barn houses reptiles and callitrichids, and the surrounding area has other small mammals such as meerkats, fennec foxes (at least a dozen of them!) and coatis. The remaining part houses larger mammals and birds. During my visit they were also constructing new enclosures for big cats on the location where bison and goats are indicated on the map. These will surely add quite a few more visitors to De Zonnegloed when they arrive.
Statistics
I saw 83 species at De Zonnegloed: 34 mammals, 24 birds and 25 reptiles. A well-rounded collection.
Of these 83 species, I haven’t seen 7 anywhere else (3 mammals, 2 birds, 2 reptiles).
This leaves De Zonnegloed with a ZooScore of 1.53 – more or less equal to De Oliemeulen, which really is a very comparable collection however its philosophy is substantially different.
Enclosures
Dividing the enclosures at De Zonnegloed into the 4 usual categories is rather useless. All enclosures are decent but not exceptional, and the majority of enclosures are just standard mesh-fenced paddocks or aviaries.
Animal Highlights
Fennec fox, common genet, black-tufted marmoset, olive baboon, sandhill crane, Chaco owl, Pacific gopher snake, Nile monitor.
ZooParc Overloon
https://www.zooparc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ZPO_Plattegrond-april-2020-voor-web-scaled.jpg
Visited on July 19
In the period between De Zonnegloed and Overloon, I regularly visited Antwerp Zoo and Planckendael to fulfil my zoo fix. However in mid-July the urge to visit a new zoo began to itch again. Since I’ve been out of work for a full 6 months by now, entrance fee and driving distance played a role, so my eye fell on ZooParc Overloon.
Visiting Overloon is very pleasant: the site is very wooded, which gives a nice feel to the place, as well as a natural touch to most enclosures. My only irk would be that the collection focuses almost solely on small mammals, and that none of these mammals are particularly unique. The two species Overloon added to the list (crab-eating raccoon and De Brazza’s monkey) are similar to other, more often kept animals.
Overall, Overloon is nice but nothing special. The environment is great, but the collection feels lacking.
Statistics
I saw 56 species in Overloon: 37 mammals, 15 birds and 4 reptiles.
Only 2 new species were seen in Overloon, both mammals.
With such a small collection, Overloon has a ZooScore of 0.86. That’s only a little more than Apenheul, which has a considerably smaller collection.
Enclosures
Animal Highlights
Crab-eating raccoon, red-faced spider monkey, De Brazza’s monkey, Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur, palm-nut vulture.
https://www.zooparc.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ZPO_Plattegrond-april-2020-voor-web-scaled.jpg
Visited on July 19
In the period between De Zonnegloed and Overloon, I regularly visited Antwerp Zoo and Planckendael to fulfil my zoo fix. However in mid-July the urge to visit a new zoo began to itch again. Since I’ve been out of work for a full 6 months by now, entrance fee and driving distance played a role, so my eye fell on ZooParc Overloon.
Visiting Overloon is very pleasant: the site is very wooded, which gives a nice feel to the place, as well as a natural touch to most enclosures. My only irk would be that the collection focuses almost solely on small mammals, and that none of these mammals are particularly unique. The two species Overloon added to the list (crab-eating raccoon and De Brazza’s monkey) are similar to other, more often kept animals.
Overall, Overloon is nice but nothing special. The environment is great, but the collection feels lacking.
Statistics
I saw 56 species in Overloon: 37 mammals, 15 birds and 4 reptiles.
Only 2 new species were seen in Overloon, both mammals.
With such a small collection, Overloon has a ZooScore of 0.86. That’s only a little more than Apenheul, which has a considerably smaller collection.
Enclosures
- None of the enclosures at Overloon were bad, but none of them were really Best in Class either.
- The first Upper Middle Class enclosure was the Outback, an Australian walkthrough. Besides the standard red kangaroo and emu, this enclosure also has Cape Barren goose, black swans, swamp and Bennett’s wallabies, and dromedary camels – with a nice educational panel about this invasive species.
While the Savannah exhibit is pretty standard, the aviary next to it is a small gem. Palm-nut vultures, hooded vultures, crowned cranes and Kirk’s dik-dik are a wonderful combination in a well-planted aviary. - The African penguin enclosure was mediocre at best. It’s a walkthrough, and the nest boxes are separated from the pool by a pathway for visitors. Not only that, but the pool was also incredibly dirty. It’s a spacious enclosure, but if I were director of Overloon I’d invest in some sort of filtration system.
- There are no Eyesores in Overloon.
Animal Highlights
Crab-eating raccoon, red-faced spider monkey, De Brazza’s monkey, Lac Alaotra bamboo lemur, palm-nut vulture.
Tierpark Chemnitz
http://www.tierpark-chemnitz.de/bilder/startseite/Tierparkplan2019.jpg
Visited on July 27
Chemnitz is a zoo that had been on my radar for a long while, since I quite like zoos with extensive amphibian collections, and few in the world have a better collection than Chemnitz. So when my girlfriend suggested we do a camping trip to Dresden, this little zoo was on my must-visit list.
Sadly due to the coronavirus, the Vivarium with all the zoos amphibians was closed. The Callitrichid House was also closed, although we managed to see all inhabitants in the outdoor enclosures. Still, with a student discount an entrance ticket to the zoo is only €3 and that is definitely worth it. Otherwise it’s €6 – still a steal in my opinion.
The largest part of the zoo houses the more mainstream animals – ungulates and big cats, as well as some larger bird species. This part is fairly unremarkable, with lots of cages and standard paddocks. The second part is a bit more interesting: two dozen of pheasantry-style exhibits with a few interesting birds, and then a small tropical hall with a few terrariums and three attached outdoor enclosures for ornate spider monkeys, pygmy hippopotamuses, and meerkats.
While it did suck that we missed the Vivarium, Chemnitz was not a lost day: it was a nice, smallish zoo. Not one that’s worth a long drive, but if you’re in the neighbourhood you should definitely visit. I’ll be sure to return once the Vivarium reopens.
Statistics
I saw 102 species in Chemnitz: 37 mammals, 55 birds, 10 reptiles and 0 amphibians.
11 species that I saw here, I didn’t see anywhere else. That’s mostly birds, but also a few mammals.
With a ZooScore of 2.05, Chemnitz ranks below Planckendael (2.12) and above GaiaZoo (1.90). That’s about fair I’d say. With the Vivarium, my guess would be that the collection would rank somewhere near Artis or Blijdorp.
Enclosures
Animal Highlights
West Caucasian tur, corsac fox, Amur leopard cat, kulan, ornate spider monkey, orange-bellied leafbird, Iberian azure-winged magpie, long-tailed fiscal, Oriental magpie-robin, African pied starling, red-billed toucan, Central Plains milk snake.
Wildgatter Oberrabenstein
http://www.tierpark-chemnitz.de/bilder/wildgatter/Wildgatter_2014.jpg
Visited on July 27
The Wildgatter in Chemnitz is only a 15 minute drive from the zoo. This typically German wildpark is set in a wooded area. While it has a really small collection, you’ll still easily spend 2 hours here because walking around takes a very long time. For some animals (the Carpathian lynx, wild boar, roe deer) you have to be somewhat lucky to see them, as they can easily hide in their enormous enclosure.
All large animals in here have enormously spacious enclosures. Even smaller animals such as pine marten or common pheasant have enclosures that are more than adequate.
As you can buy a combi-ticket for the zoo and the wildgatter very cheaply (€7 total) I really recommend doing this, as it is really great value.
Animal Highlights
European pine marten, booted eagle.
http://www.tierpark-chemnitz.de/bilder/startseite/Tierparkplan2019.jpg
Visited on July 27
Chemnitz is a zoo that had been on my radar for a long while, since I quite like zoos with extensive amphibian collections, and few in the world have a better collection than Chemnitz. So when my girlfriend suggested we do a camping trip to Dresden, this little zoo was on my must-visit list.
Sadly due to the coronavirus, the Vivarium with all the zoos amphibians was closed. The Callitrichid House was also closed, although we managed to see all inhabitants in the outdoor enclosures. Still, with a student discount an entrance ticket to the zoo is only €3 and that is definitely worth it. Otherwise it’s €6 – still a steal in my opinion.
The largest part of the zoo houses the more mainstream animals – ungulates and big cats, as well as some larger bird species. This part is fairly unremarkable, with lots of cages and standard paddocks. The second part is a bit more interesting: two dozen of pheasantry-style exhibits with a few interesting birds, and then a small tropical hall with a few terrariums and three attached outdoor enclosures for ornate spider monkeys, pygmy hippopotamuses, and meerkats.
While it did suck that we missed the Vivarium, Chemnitz was not a lost day: it was a nice, smallish zoo. Not one that’s worth a long drive, but if you’re in the neighbourhood you should definitely visit. I’ll be sure to return once the Vivarium reopens.
Statistics
I saw 102 species in Chemnitz: 37 mammals, 55 birds, 10 reptiles and 0 amphibians.
11 species that I saw here, I didn’t see anywhere else. That’s mostly birds, but also a few mammals.
With a ZooScore of 2.05, Chemnitz ranks below Planckendael (2.12) and above GaiaZoo (1.90). That’s about fair I’d say. With the Vivarium, my guess would be that the collection would rank somewhere near Artis or Blijdorp.
Enclosures
- The only exhibit that would possibly be Best in Class is the Vivarium, but sadly I didn’t see it, so yeah, no Best in Class exhibits for Chemnitz.
- As a group that is regularly ignored by major zoos, I was glad to see that Chemnitz had invested in a decently-sized small-cats complex. Even though it houses only 3 species (Gordon’s wild cat, Pallas’ cat, Amur leopard cat), it offers multiple enclosures to each species, allowing the zoo to separate the animals as they wish.
The Tropical Hall is also very pleasant, with a good selection of bird species. It’s beautifully planted as well, with several fully grown trees present. - The first Lick of Paint is that there are still many cages present, and that these are not always pleasant to look at. This was most strikingly the case for Persian leopard and Carpathian lynx, although Amur tigers also had a cage attached to their larger outdoor enclosure.
The equid paddocks for kulan and Somali wild ass were really empty. I feel something more could be done to address this – planting a tree or adding some dead tree trunks might make it look more attractive.
A pair of pygmy hippos lives in an enclosure that's too small for the two of them. Not by that much, but nevertheless too small. - The one and only Eyesore in Chemnitz were the two paddocks for lowland anoas. These paddocks were very small and almost completely empty as well. I can’t imagine a shy forest species like lowland anoas would enjoy living in these paddocks very much.
Animal Highlights
West Caucasian tur, corsac fox, Amur leopard cat, kulan, ornate spider monkey, orange-bellied leafbird, Iberian azure-winged magpie, long-tailed fiscal, Oriental magpie-robin, African pied starling, red-billed toucan, Central Plains milk snake.
Wildgatter Oberrabenstein
http://www.tierpark-chemnitz.de/bilder/wildgatter/Wildgatter_2014.jpg
Visited on July 27
The Wildgatter in Chemnitz is only a 15 minute drive from the zoo. This typically German wildpark is set in a wooded area. While it has a really small collection, you’ll still easily spend 2 hours here because walking around takes a very long time. For some animals (the Carpathian lynx, wild boar, roe deer) you have to be somewhat lucky to see them, as they can easily hide in their enormous enclosure.
All large animals in here have enormously spacious enclosures. Even smaller animals such as pine marten or common pheasant have enclosures that are more than adequate.
As you can buy a combi-ticket for the zoo and the wildgatter very cheaply (€7 total) I really recommend doing this, as it is really great value.
Animal Highlights
European pine marten, booted eagle.