The Best Zoo Country In The World (2023 Edition)

[Enzo]

MODERATOR NOTE: this thread was split from the original at the following link:

The best zoo country in the world

The United States and Germany win in terms of number and diversity of species. Both, in addition to having many zoos, also have facilities dedicated to certain types of animals, which makes me choose them as the best countries to visit zoos, despite one being better in certain aspects than the other.

Singapore, in my opinion, stands out for the density of good zoos in such a small territory. The same goes for Switzerland, which had Heini Hediger, one of the best zoo directors in history, running its two main zoos; the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

Austria has the most beautiful zoo in the world, in my opinion, Tiergarten Schönnbrun.

Brazil, Colombia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, China, Japan, Indonesia and Australia have zoos full of rarities, with emphasis on the last one, which, in addition to having rare marsupials, keeps them in good enclosures. As for the others... The story is complicated, as it varies depending on the zoo analyzed.

 

[15399]

The United States and Germany win in terms of number and diversity of species. Both, in addition to having many zoos, also have facilities dedicated to certain types of animals, which makes me choose them as the best countries to visit zoos, despite one being better in certain aspects than the other.

There's one big difference between the US and some of the European countries, which leads me to think some of the European countries are better for zoos. Two zoos that are commonly argued the best in the US are the Bronx Zoo and San Diego Zoo. If someone wanted to drive between these two zoos though, it'd be over 40 hours of driving. If instead of starting at Bronx, we started at the Berlin Zoo, how many top-tier zoos (and how many countries worth of zoos) would someone be able to visit? I don't know the answer to that question, but I imagine that it's easier for someone in Berlin to reach some of the top tier zoos of Austria, Netherlands, etc., than it is for someone from New York to reach San Diego, Woodland Park, and other west coast zoos.

 

[SwampDonkey]

There's one big difference between the US and some of the European countries, which leads me to think some of the European countries are better for zoos. Two zoos that are commonly argued the best in the US are the Bronx Zoo and San Diego Zoo. If someone wanted to drive between these two zoos though, it'd be over 40 hours of driving. If instead of starting at Bronx, we started at the Berlin Zoo, how many top-tier zoos (and how many countries worth of zoos) would someone be able to visit? I don't know the answer to that question, but I imagine that it's easier for someone in Berlin to reach some of the top tier zoos of Austria, Netherlands, etc., than it is for someone from New York to reach San Diego, Woodland Park, and other west coast zoos.

Well sure, but in that scenario you are skipping some of the best East coast zoos, which while not generally rated as high as San Diego are very good as well. Columbus, North Carolina, Disney, and GA Aquarium are all top tier facilities that are on the East coast. They are still a fair drive, but not the 40 hour coast to coast trip.

 

[lintworm]

There's one big difference between the US and some of the European countries, which leads me to think some of the European countries are better for zoos. Two zoos that are commonly argued the best in the US are the Bronx Zoo and San Diego Zoo. If someone wanted to drive between these two zoos though, it'd be over 40 hours of driving. If instead of starting at Bronx, we started at the Berlin Zoo, how many top-tier zoos (and how many countries worth of zoos) would someone be able to visit? I don't know the answer to that question, but I imagine that it's easier for someone in Berlin to reach some of the top tier zoos of Austria, Netherlands, etc., than it is for someone from New York to reach San Diego, Woodland Park, and other west coast zoos.

Zoo density is certainly much higher across much of western and central Europe compared to the US. Germany is roughly the same size as Montana (or slightly smaller then California) but has some 60 EAZA members and loads of good zoos. Czechia (or Belgium + Netherlands or Austria) is roughly the size as South Carolina, but the density of good zoos is far higher. France is much smaller then Texas, but has far more large zoos. What all those European countries have in common though is that population density is generally a lot higher too .

But you are right from Berlin you could reach all of Germany in one day easily by train. But it could also get you to Copenhagen, Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest Bern, Paris, Luxembourg, Brussels or Amsterdam, even London could be reached within 12 hours (Stockholm takes 13 hours). That is partly because high speed trains are a thing in parts of Europe, but it is also a lot more compact then the US.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Considering the fact that this thread is more than a decade old, with nine years of inactivity until @Enzo bumped it, I reckon that a new thread and poll might be quite revealing - both as regards changed in Zoochat demographics, and actual changes within the zoological landscape worldwide.

 

[Stefan Verhoeven]

If I am thinking about a country being "the best zoo country" in the world, I don't only think about the outstanding ones. In my mind the average quality should be the highest to win. In that way it also doesn't matter how big a country is in size or population. But I cannot say what country is the best, because I haven't visited that many zoos in different countries.
But as I think: if I would be a zoo animal in what country do I have the biggest chance to end up in a decent quality zoo/exhibit, then I don't think I would choose the US.

 

[15399]

Well sure, but in that scenario you are skipping some of the best East coast zoos, which while not generally rated as high as San Diego are very good as well. Columbus, North Carolina, Disney, and GA Aquarium are all top tier facilities that are on the East coast. They are still a fair drive, but not the 40 hour coast to coast trip.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree there are a lot of great US zoos other than Bronx and San Diego. The Bronx/San Diego distance comparison wasn't even taking into account Saint Louis, Omaha, or Shedd Aquarium- each of which I've seen people argue is the best in the country. Certainly if I was to drive from Bronx to San Diego I'd want to stop at plenty of other zoos along the way there. However, to the average American, access to the country's "best" zoos is much lower than in, say, Germany. To throw out a few examples, using the zoos in the following quote as a sample of the "best zoos:

Not long ago, I pitched the idea of a composite top 25 zoo rankings similar to what we see in college sports. Link to that thread: ZooChat Composite Top 25 Rankings?

I was hoping to get more participants (and you can still participate), but below are the results of what is hopefully the inaugural yearly composite rankings.

Participants: Pleistohorse, snowleopard, TheWalrus, pachyderm pro, mweb08

Methodology: Each person ranked the top 25 zoos (including considering ones they haven't visited) and then I gave 25 points to each voters #1 ranked zoo, 24 points for #2, down to 1 point for #25. Most possible points: 125.

1. San Diego (124)
2. Bronx (114)
3. St. Louis (109)
4. Henry Doorly (107)
5. SDZ Safari Park (96)
6. Columbus (88)
7. North Carolina (72)
8. Woodland Park (71)
9. Minnesota (60)
10. National (59)
11. Brookfield (56)
12. Dallas (55)
13. Detroit (53)
14. Cincinnati (49)
15. Sedgwick County (46)
16. Denver (43)
17. Houston (41)
18. Miami (37)
19. Toronto (33)
20. Disney's Animal Kingdom (30)
20. Lowry Park (30)
22. Oregon (28)
23. Kansas City (27)
24. Oklahoma City (25)
25. Lincoln Park (24)

• If someone lived in Portland, Maine, the closest zoo to them on that list would be the Bronx Zoo, approximately a five-hour drive. The second closest zoo would be nine hours to Smithsonian.
• If someone lived in El Paso, Texas, the closest zoo to them on that list would be the nine hour drive to Dallas Zoo, and second closest would be 9.5 hours to Denver Zoo.
• If someone lived in Helena, Montana, the closest zoo on the list to them would be Woodland Park Zoo, nine hours away. The second closest would be ten hours to Oregon Zoo.

Is there a single place in Germany that is more than a six or seven hour drive from the Berlin Zoo, which many would consider somewhere in Europe's top ten? And just think about how many other top zoos would be in reach from anywhere in that country.

 

[amur leopard]

As @Stefan Verhoeven says, surely there should be some sort of account for the worst zoos in the country via an average? In my opinion the 'best' country for zoos can only be determined via a balance of looking at the best the country has to offer and looking at the average across the country, all relative to population size and perhaps taking into account the breadth of what is on offer.

So, just to throw a cat amongst the pigeons, what about Austria or Switzerland?

Austria
- World's oldest zoo and one of the world's most beautiful (Vienna)
- Multiple zoos set in breathtaking natural surroundings (Salzburg, Herberstein, Innsbruck)
- Probably the best collection of native species on the continent (Innsbruck)
- Innovative ways of presenting zoos (HdM)
- And multiple specialist collections (Turnersee, Nockalm, WdG...)
- All in a country of ~9 million people and with a very high average standard of exhibitry

Switzerland
- Possibly the most brilliant zoo in the world exhibit design-wise (Zurich)
- A similarly very high quality and innovative zoo (Basel)
- Excellent native species collection in Bern (Daehlhoelzli)
- Again consistently very high standard of exhibitry, for a population of ~9 million.

Similar things could be said of the Czech republic - one of the very best in the world, the best zoo collection on Earth, some outstanding specialist collections and native species collections, all within a couple of hours' train of each other and in a country with a population of ~11 million. Perhaps the average standard of exhibitry is not quite as good as in the two examples above.

The most extreme example perhaps is that of Singapore - lots of excellence and very few negatives in a very small country...

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Is there a single place in Germany that is more than a six or seven hour drive from the Berlin Zoo, which many would consider somewhere in Europe's top ten?

I think the only potential contender, depending on traffic conditions, would be Wilhelma - which according to Google Maps is 6 hours 42 minutes from Zoo Berlin. Every other "major" zoological collection in Germany is closer.

 

[CMTM]

• If someone lived in Portland, Maine, the closest zoo to them on that list would be the Bronx Zoo, approximately a five-hour drive. The second closest zoo would be nine hours to Smithsonian.

As someone who does currently reside in Portland, I feel your assessment is spot on. While there are several smaller parks that are within a 3 hour drive, most focus on local species and have pretty similar collections.

The last time I went to a zoo on that list was just about a year ago and it was Kansas City. Obviously I flew there and I made the trip specifically to visit that zoo along with a nearby nature center (Lakeside). The average cost of flights means that for the time being, my visits to "major" zoos will be limited at best.

Maine is lovely, but it's a zoological wasteland.

 

[15399]

Maine is lovely, but it's a zoological wasteland.

I absolutely agree, I have had some great experiences visiting Maine, and I am not trying to make a statement about any of the cities I selected, other than that accessibility to the "best" zoos in the United States is limited by geography. We're doing slightly better in terms of zoos down here in Southern New England, but we still lack any facilities to the sheer scale of some other parts of the country or world.

 

[snowleopard]

Considering the fact that this thread is more than a decade old, with nine years of inactivity until @Enzo bumped it, I reckon that a new thread and poll might be quite revealing - both as regards changed in Zoochat demographics, and actual changes within the zoological landscape worldwide.

This is a great idea. Perhaps a moderator, or another individual, could begin a new thread and then people can chime in with their ideas. Opinions will have changed over time, as I voted for the USA almost a decade ago but I would seriously consider altering that choice to the Netherlands if we are talking about per capita overall quality of zoos. I've visited almost 380 different zoos and aquariums in America, with some outstanding ones and yet with scores of roadside, trashy zoos that are amongst the worst in the world. Nations such as the Netherlands and Germany have a very high caliber of zoos, with plenty of wonderful ones in each country and without hardly any of the junky zoos that are all across the USA.

 

[remar]

Austria
...

I'm somehow surprised to see Austria in this list. But after reading your arguments i can unterstand it. Furthermore many major zoos in Austria have interesting and sometimes unusual conservation projects (Schönbrunn/Batagur baska, Schmiding/Brazilian merganser, Haus des Meeres/Goodeidae, Innsbruck/Bavarian Pine Vole)

Probably the biggest weakness of Austrias zoos is the lack of mammal diversity. Even crowd favorites like asien elephants, chimps and Californian sea lions are completely absent. And many zoo enthusiast favorites are also missing (okapi, pygmy hippo, bongo, hyenas and a lot of others)

 

[Jana]

In my opinion, overall best country for zoo nerds is the US - the sheer number and scope of excellent zoos, aquaria and wildlife centers can probably last you a lifetime to explore.

Best country for aquaria only - Japan I guess.

The country with best concentration of good major zoos within very compact area is probably Netherlands - 10 years ago I would be 100% sure, today I had to think about it a bit.

The country with overall best standard of zoo animal care and lack of subpar or downright bad zoos and exhibits - I would vote for Switzerland.

Singapore should be mentioned too but it´s just one (excellent) organisation managing several sites so it feels like cheating.

 

[Batto]

In my opinion, overall best country for zoo nerds is the US - the sheer number and scope of excellent zoos, aquaria and wildlife centers can probably last you a lifetime to explore.

Best country for aquaria only - Japan I guess.

The country with best concentration of good major zoos within very compact area is probably Netherlands - 10 years ago I would be 100% sure, today I had to think about it a bit.

The country with overall best standard of zoo animal care and lack of subpar or downright bad zoos and exhibits - I would vote for Switzerland.

Singapore should be mentioned too but it´s just one (excellent) organisation managing several sites so it feels like cheating.

On behalf of @Jana , I'll throw my hat into the ring for her home country - the Czech Republic: When it comes to rare species, bold ideas and original concepts, there are few countries that can compete zoo-wise with the CZ.

In recent years, zoos in France (and to a slightly lesser degree Hungary and Poland) have considerably gained in popularity, while Dutch and German zoos (in particular former powerhouses like Leipzig) have somehow stagnated, albeit on a good level.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

This is a great idea. Perhaps a moderator, or another individual, could begin a new thread and then people can chime in with their ideas.

I have now split all the new posts off into a new thread and added a poll - I've also slightly expanded the list of options by adding Japan, Czechia and Switzerland, and dropping France - though of course people are free to vote for that under "other". I've also added the ability to change votes so that the poll can remain up to date as people's opinions change.

As such, anyone who added votes to the original thread in recent days should re-vote here, as should anyone who voted way-back-when

 

[DDcorvus]

Not much to add to Jana although I would consider replacing Netherlands by Czechia. I think the Dutch zoo-scene needs to step up as the they have regressed the last decade (or more not kept up with recent developments and not leading anywhere at the moment). Although there are some exceptions like the interesting things going on at ZieZoo and possible exciting new plans in Rotterdam (although under the previous director Artis did some truly innovative things like Micropia which is under-highlighted in my view. At the same time also some unfortunate choices were made)).

For me Germany would be the top zoo country with the amount of top zoos, interesting collections and innovative things going on. Although in the US we see excellent zoos with amazing habitats I feel a bit led down by the collection choices and I have the feeling that it is not as rich as the collections in Europe, Asia and Japan. And that we will only see fewer species in the country and that there will be less emphasis on ex-situ conservation (although more focus on in-situ).

And although China overall is not a major zoo country, there is the behemoth of Chimelong. I do feel Asia will be the up and coming region for the next decade.

 

[Crowthorne]

I'm basing my vote on which countries I've visited zoos in - UK, Germany and Ireland. My visit to Dublin was over a decade ago, so my memory is somewhat fuzzy, but I remember it being a decent zoo. The UK is where I am most familiar, and I've enjoyed nearly all my visits in my home-nation (bar one or two places). But, my visit to Germany (which admittedly was only to Cologne and Duisburg, so only a very tiny proportion), the zoos felt different to the UK, the zoos there felt much more 'grown up', much more mature, than the ones back home. They took the keeping of animals seriously it felt, and were looking forwards, making good use of the spaces they have, and developing new spaces too. Maybe zoo-culture is different in Germany, for even an old industrial town like Duisburg to have such a good zoo on its doorstep.

 

[snowleopard]

Each of us is heavily influenced by the countries that we have visited and here are the zoos I've seen divided by different nations:

USA – 377 zoos/aquariums
Netherlands – 43
Germany – 40
Canada – 33
Australia – 19
Denmark – 16
Belgium – 10
Sweden – 6
France – 2
Norway – 2
Switzerland – 2
Trinidad & Tobago – 1
Total: 551

Obviously I've seen a staggering number of American zoos and aquariums (even though I'm Canadian!) and therefore it's the zoo nation I'm most familiar with. The problem with the U.S. is that while I've seen pretty much every single large-scale zoological facility, I've also toured a sickening number of awful, roadside menageries that don't even deserve to remain open to the public. Thankfully, there's been a steady stream of closures of junky zoos in the past decade, but I struggle to choose the USA as the #1 zoo nation due to the terrible conditions at loads of facilities. There really is the good, the bad and the ugly in America.

The Netherlands is not a very large country in term of geography, but there are plenty of great zoos within its borders. From the nation’s most popular, Artis Royal Zoo in Amsterdam, to a couple of zoos that at times have been right up there amidst the best zoos in all of Europe (Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem and Blijdorp in Rotterdam), to the world’s foremost primate zoo (Apenheul), to Europe’s largest marine mammal park (Harderwijk) and other big, popular facilities like Beekse Bergen, Ouwehands, Amersfoort and Emmen. The establishment known as GaiaZOO is packed with great exhibits and I feel that pound-for-pound, with 50+ zoos in the country, the Netherlands could be a genuine contender for the world's best zoo nation.

As you can see from my list, I've never been to Singapore but the sample size is so small that I can't see many people voting for it. I've known people to spend 3 days there and visit Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Wonders, Jurong/Bird Paradise and S.E.A. Aquarium and be done and dusted in 3 days. Even the upcoming Rainforest Wild Park still gives Singapore 6 zoos to see over 3 or 4 days and it doesn't feel substantial enough to me...although I would love to visit that tropical location one day. Switzerland is another example of a nation with a very small number of truly elite zoos.

Japan is a treasure trove for species hunters, especially when it comes to fish and primates, but the quality of many of the exhibits leaves a lot to be desired. Perusing the gallery photos, some of the animal enclosures at Japanese zoos and aquariums are appalling and as bad as many of the roadside American zoos I've seen in Wisconsin and Arkansas.

I've missed out on seeing the wood-and-wire, privately-owned zoos of the U.K. or the impressive and steadily improving zoos of Czechia, although I have been all over Australia and yet there's only a handful of really big, 'major' zoos in that nation and tons of smaller wildlife parks in every state and territory.

As tempted as I am to go with the Dutch contingent, I will vote for Germany as that country has both the quality and quantity of zoos that make it a utopia for zoo nerds. There are some of the best facilities on the planet, literally hundreds and hundreds of zoos and aquariums, and best of all is that there is a distinct lack of the garbage zoos that litter the U.S. like toilet paper blowing in the wind. Germany has 600-900 zoos, depending on who's doing the counting, a tremendous number of establishments at the very top of the charts, and it gets my vote.

I strongly suspect that if we all ranked the zoo nations then it would be Germany, Czechia and the USA as #1, 2 and 3, in some kind of order, with the Netherlands at #4. Perhaps the U.K. as #5? Just my guess! France seems to be the one other country that would make a Top 10 list if there was an extra slot on this poll. But what about Poland and Spain? We could keep going...

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Just my guess! France seems to be the one other country that would make a Top 10 list if there was an extra slot on this poll.

When expanding out the poll, it was definitely a tricky decision to drop France and largely came down to the fact zero people voted for the country in the original thread - but had there been more space I think it would still have been beaten out by Austria as regards where to include. It was pretty much a toss-up between including Austria or Switzerland in the expanded poll.