The Top 10 Best Zoos in the World Debate

1: Provide a good and realistic (in terms of realism in the environment they are recreating) enclosure for their animals, meeting all their requirements, and hopefully going beyond them.
2: Conservation. Be a part of many conservation groups for their species, and having success with breeding many animals, bonus for endangered ones.
3: Education. Have creative and informative education, being eye-catching, interactive and telling the lesser knowing public lots about the animals.
4: Exhibits and Habitats. Have the zoo divided into sections based on the animals-of-those-areas' geographical location, biome or taxonomy, with accurate and educational planting and theming that recreates the environment the section is aimed towards.
5: Species list. Although a zoo can be great without this, it's always better if the zoo in question has your 'classic A-Z' animals, with some unique, interesting species as well e.g. Shoebill, Tasmanian Devil, Harpy Eagle
 
Okay, I've thought about this a bit and decided to take others' opinions with value to create this final list for the UK:
1: Chester
2: Whipsnade
3: Colchester
4: Yorkshire
5: Cotswold
If everyone agrees, I think we're ready to move onto the next country/group of countries.
 
I would have personally done a top 5 in the uk as
1: Chester Zoo
2: Whipsnade Zoo
3: Yorkshire Wildlife Park
4: Colchester Zoo
5: Edinburgh Zoo
 
Okay, the lists are similar enough so how about we move onto the next group. How about Iberia: Spain and Portugal? For me it would go:
1: Oceanographic Valencia
2: Loro Parque
3: Oceanario Lisboa
4: Bioparc Valencia
5: Lisbon Zoo

But if you wanted a list exclusively of zoos:
1: Loro Parque
2: Bioparc Valencia
3: Lisbon Zoo
4: Terra Natura
5: Selwo Adventura
 
I feel Fuengirola should get considered as well, being a sister zoo to valencia and having a relatively good set of facilities as well.

There's definitely more qualified Spanish zoochaters on here who could give better opinions though
 
AmazonianHippo said:
Okay, the lists are similar enough so how about we move onto the next group. How about Iberia: Spain and Portugal? For me it would go:
1: Oceanographic Valencia
2: Loro Parque
3: Oceanario Lisboa
4: Bioparc Valencia
5: Lisbon Zoo

But if you wanted a list exclusively of zoos:
1: Loro Parque
2: Bioparc Valencia
3: Lisbon Zoo
4: Terra Natura
5: Selwo Adventura
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Randomname0183 said:
I feel Fuengirola should get considered as well, being a sister zoo to valencia and having a relatively good set of facilities as well.

There's definitely more qualified Spanish zoochaters on here who could give better opinions though
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I've never been, but I'd say Cabarceno has to be in contention, with a series of large mammal enclosures which are truly unparalleled in the zoo world. A quick scroll through the gallery should make it apparent what I mean. Aside from that, there is a quite stunning venomous snake roster, although from what I can tell the enclosures for non-mammals are decidedly less excellent. Even still, this is surely one of the very best zoos in Spain, and to be honest, along with L'Oceanografic and maybe Oceanario it is the only Iberian collection that I feel any obligation to visit in my lifetime.
 
Cabárceno could also be considered, seeing they have a great track record with African Elephants, and some quite welcome venomous snake and raptor rosters too.

I had refrained from doing so before, but I feel maybe asking @SivatheriumGuy for his input would be welcome, as I believe he has visited many of the major parks in Iberia I believe.
 
Randomname0183 said:
Cabárceno could also be considered, seeing they have a great track record with African Elephants, and some quite welcome venomous snake and raptor rosters too.

I had refrained from doing so before, but I feel maybe asking @SivatheriumGuy for his input would be welcome, as I believe he has visited many of the major parks in Iberia I believe.
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Glad to read my opinion is being valued on this topic! :)
I've been to Cabárceno many times and I'll be back many more times, I really enjoy visiting the park but I have to be critical because there is a lot to criticize too. Behind the large mammal enclosures that tend to overwhelm the visitor's vision at first glance a lot of its crappier aspects come to light whenever you start to look closer. Some are more visible like the poorly managed population of brown bears, the concrete hellhole that is the farm area, the tiny terrariums in the reptile house, or the tiny sea lion pool, but once you learn about the incredibly outdated indoors housing, animal escapes that have ended on the death of a few individuals because of poor exhibit design (some of them being as recent as this November, resulting on a leopard being shot by the veterinarians at the park), lack of actual infrastructure useful for the animals such as climbing frames or proper shade coverage in some of the enclosures your feelings on the park can get a bit sour.
I'll also acknowledge some of the positives at the park, the already mentioned huge exhibits, breeding success with species such as elephants and hippopotamuses, and incredibly impressive landscapes constantly surrounding you through your visit,... I'll also say that for the last few years, a lot of work has been done to make the living conditions for some of the animals better, such as the renovation of stables or fencing. By the end of this year, the elephant stables are to be fully renovated to meet up with current elephant husbandry standards, which is honestly one of the most needed and exciting renovations at the park. The reptile house which has been criticised beforehand is also meant to have a renovation of some sort, and once the last few elderly sea lions pass the exhibit is meant to be fully refurbished to become a crocodile enclosure.
As much as I like Cabárceno I can't in good faith put it as one of the best zoos in Spain. To be honest I don't really know which ones I would pick (food for thought for tonight), compared to the level that the rest of European countries have when it comes to zoos you can really notice how lacking many of the parks in Spain really are. I also haven't visited two of the contenders to the best zoos, Loro Parque and Oceanografic, but I have been to many other parks. I've also haven't sadly yet arrived to Portugal, which is a shame because I really like some of the zoos we have over there!
 
AnActualFan said:
I do agree that tier lists are easier and make more sense. Will point to an "underrated" zoo that has top 10 potential besides those 4, is the Saint Louis Zoo.
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I disagree that Saint Louis is underrated, I think most people here regard our zoo pretty exceptionally, but I agree it has top 10 potential.
 
I've only visited European zoos. This is my personal top 10.

1. Zoo Leipzig
2. Bioparc Doué de la Fontaine
3. Burgers Zoo (my home zoo)
4. Zooparc de Beauval
5. Tierpark Berlin
6. Zoo Zürich
7. Pairi Daiza
8. Erlebnis Zoo Hannover
9. Zoo Praha
10. Zoo de Cabarceno

Chester Zoo is the only large European Zoo i've yet to visit
 
I have honestly never heard of Cabarceno, but from I’ve heard from you guys, it seems that it is a good zoo, but not top 10 worthy. I’m currently in Tenerife and am going to see Loro Parque very soon, so I will give a detailed analysis!
 
Okay so am I alright to call the Iberia top 5 completed with:
1)Loro Parque
2)Oceanographic Valencia
3) Oceanographic Lisboa
4)Bioparc Valencia
5) Bioparc Fuengirola (originally thought this was part of Bioparc Valencia so that’s why it wasn’t on the original list)

If there aren’t any major objections, should we involve our American audience and do North USA as the next category (since the US is so big I suggest we split it into North and South, starting with North)
 
When thinking of American zoos, San Diego, Omaha and Bronx come to mind, however I’ve never been to any American zoo, and not very familiar with them, so are there any real class ones that are not as obvious to non-Americans?
 
AmazonianHippo said:
When thinking of American zoos, San Diego, Omaha and Bronx come to mind, however I’ve never been to any American zoo, and not very familiar with them, so are there any real class ones that are not as obvious to non-Americans?
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Apart from the three that you've mentioned, I think that St. Louis zoo and Columbus zoo are also very high praised by the American zoochat community. Imo I think that these five are realy the only ones that are reale world class material, but even then there's a lot of great zoos in the US. You have the Woodland Park, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, North Carolina, Sedgwick County, Denver, Brookfield, Memphis, LA, Oakland, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Toledo, Lincoln Park and Cincinnati, just to name a few. This zoos aren't necessarily the best, there just some examples of famous/well-known American zoos that depending of the person you're asking could enter the top 10 list of American zoos.
 
I’d have to agree on that. Just asking cos when we eventually do Asia I was going to count all the zoos from Mandai wildlife park as one, should we do the same for SDZSP?
 
AmazonianHippo said:
I’d have to agree on that. Just asking cos when we eventually do Asia I was going to count all the zoos from Mandai wildlife park as one, should we do the same for SDZSP?
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I've normally never counted them on a ranking together, mainly because if it they where to be put together they would be top 1 at the list (at least for me), and it wouldn't be fair for other institutions to have to compete against two collections. The Mandai institutions benefit from one another, even more so than the SDZ from the SDZSP, but even then most of the Mandai institutions could enter in the top 10 list for Asia. I think the decision should go to each person to combine, or not to do so for their rankings, but that's just my opinion.
 
AmazonianHippo said:
When thinking of American zoos, San Diego, Omaha and Bronx come to mind, however I’ve never been to any American zoo, and not very familiar with them, so are there any real class ones that are not as obvious to non-Americans?
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Panda_Fan said:
Apart from the three that you've mentioned, I think that St. Louis zoo and Columbus zoo are also very high praised by the American zoochat community. Imo I think that these five are realy the only ones that are reale world class material, but even then there's a lot of great zoos in the US. You have the Woodland Park, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, North Carolina, Sedgwick County, Denver, Brookfield, Memphis, LA, Oakland, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Toledo, Lincoln Park and Cincinnati, just to name a few. This zoos aren't necessarily the best, there just some examples of famous/well-known American zoos that depending of the person you're asking could enter the top 10 list of American zoos.
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Bronx, Omaha and San Diego are the clear big 3 of North America.

However thinking about other contenders for the top 10 best zoos in the world the following zoos would likely round out my personal top 10 for North America; Toronto, Cincinnati, Brookfield, Houston, Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom, St Louis and Columbus.

All seven could have very valid arguments for being in the top 10 zoos worldwide imo.
 
Jambo said:
Bronx, Omaha and San Diego are the clear big 3 of North America.

However thinking about other contenders for the top 10 best zoos in the world the following zoos would likely round out my personal top 10 for North America; Toronto, Cincinnati, Brookfield, Houston, Disney's Wild Animal Kingdom, St Louis and Columbus.

All seven could have very valid arguments for being in the top 10 zoos worldwide imo.
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To be honest, I don’t feel like disneys animal kingdom should be a 10 ten zoo, let alone in America. They clearly aren’t focusing on the animals, but the experience judging by future developments. The overall lack of diversity among their species also kind of disappoints me. Brookfield, Toronto, and Cincinnati also for sure can’t be said for this too. Well yes Cincinnati and Toronto are phenomenal zoo on their own, I don’t feel like either of them come close to the top ten in the world, let alone in North America. Brookfield I don’t want share my opinions on it again, as it will just start another argument. I feel the national zoo, North Carolina, and Minnesota are actually pretty underrated for this argument, the three have phenomenal theming and are outstanding at exhibiting species in natural looking environments. I haven’t fully visited national or visited Minnesota but both can be at the 10 spot imao.
 
Panda_Fan said:
Apart from the three that you've mentioned, I think that St. Louis zoo and Columbus zoo are also very high praised by the American zoochat community. Imo I think that these five are realy the only ones that are reale world class material, but even then there's a lot of great zoos in the US. You have the Woodland Park, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, North Carolina, Sedgwick County, Denver, Brookfield, Memphis, LA, Oakland, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Toledo, Lincoln Park and Cincinnati, just to name a few. This zoos aren't necessarily the best, there just some examples of famous/well-known American zoos that depending of the person you're asking could enter the top 10 list of American zoos.
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As someone who’s been to about four of those, from the ZooChat community, this seems accurate.
 
USZOOfan42 said:
To be honest, I don’t feel like disneys animal kingdom should be a 10 ten zoo, let alone in America. They clearly aren’t focusing on the animals, but the experience judging by future developments. The overall lack of diversity among their species also kind of disappoints me. Brookfield, Toronto, and Cincinnati also for sure can’t be said for this too. Well yes Cincinnati and Toronto are phenomenal zoo on their own, I don’t feel like either of them come close to the top ten in the world, let alone in North America. Brookfield I don’t want share my opinions on it again, as it will just start another argument. I feel the national zoo, North Carolina, and Minnesota are actually pretty underrated for this argument, the three have phenomenal theming and are outstanding at exhibiting species in natural looking environments. I haven’t fully visited national or visited Minnesota but both can be at the 10 spot imao.
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DAK has a great collection imo - and some world class exhibits. I personally don't think that should be taken away just because they are a semi theme park operating under the Disney branch.

Not sure what the issue is with Toronto, Brookfield and Cincinnati. All three have phenomenal collections and also some world class exhibits/complexes among them. The latter two have also undertaken or are undertaking quite extensive redevelopments that should further push them into the top zoos debate.

Minesotta and North Carolina have their flaws, whilst they have some great exhibits I think both suffer from their lack of species ultimately. I too am heavy on the National Zoo (and they would probably be an honourable mention to my list), but I just feel like it doesn't surpass any of the other facilities I mentioned at this current point. Perhaps five or ten years ago, it certainly would've been top ten but other facilities have made up considerable ground in the time since imo.
 
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