Overview
This is basically a small reptile collection with a few other animals thrown in. It has an excellent variety of venomous species, large monitors and constrictors. Several species are very rare in captivity, with one, the False Monitor, apparently unique in public collections.
Getting there
Tropicario is in Vallila, a suburb of Helsinki. It took me just over half an hour to walk from the city centre, but you could very easily get a bus or tram as well.
Entry cost
€13. I think this is overpriced. There are a couple of issues here. Firstly it is a very small collection, I spent two hours there and although I would have happily lingered longer, I could also have easily seen everything in well under an hour if I had not been making notes. Secondly Helsinki Zoo is only €12, and that is a medium sized zoo. I think that visitor income is not the main source of revenue for Tropicario; I have read elsewhere that it sells to private collectors and I must assume that is true otherwise it would not be open long based on the numbers I saw.
Enclosures
I am not going to do a walkthrough so I will just give a general description of the layout. The basement is split into one very large room and one slightly smaller one. Central lines of vivaria in both make good use of the space and give a very high density of exhibits. Overall the feel is similar to most zoo reptile houses; there is the same artificial foliage and tropical colour scheme, but the visitor areas are less ‘dressed’ than at many other places. I should clarify at this point that I am not comfortable critiquing the exhibits from an animal welfare perspective as I just don’t know enough about reptiles. I will instead compare them to the general standard I have seen in the UK and you the reader can draw your own conclusions.
The enclosures were all quite similar, the main difference being whether they were ‘jungle’ or ‘desert’. They were on average a bit larger than the equivalent ‘UK standard’ exhibit for the species they contained, but none of them were exceptional in this regard. All the snake and lizard vivaria had a good variety of substrates; usually mockrock, real stone and woodchips, as well as a small pool and plenty of branches. The crocodile enclosures were not good, and I am quite happy to put my name to that statement. The Nile Crocodile especially looks close to outgrowing its exhibit. The enclosures consisted of a concrete bank and a pool. Unfortunately the water level during my visit did not reach the lip of the bank, I assume this was temporary. The pool sides and bottom were also very stained. Definitely the low point of the collection.
About two thirds had signs in English, finish, Russian and Swedish. The rest were only labelled in Finnish. Fair enough in Finland but something to bear in mind if you are an international visitor. Where an animal is rare in captivity there was an additional sign stating how many are held in Europe and worldwide. This was very useful for me as someone who doesn’t know as much about reptiles.
One last observation: the enclosures were often separated from each other by glass. This meant that the inhabitants could interact with, but didn’t have any privacy from, their neighbours. An obvious plus and minus situation I think.
Animals
A full species list will be in a following post. The thrust of the collection is venomous snakes, constrictors and large monitors. In addition there were a few reptile house staples and some other rarities. There are several examples in the collection of multiple subspecies of the same species, which was interesting. I will just comment on some of the rarer species and those that otherwise caught my eye.
The most noteworthy individual, to me, in the collection was a False Monitor. According to Tropicario, who reference ISIS as the source of their information, this is the only individual in captivity. I am quite new to the zoo enthusiast community, and I have a lot to learn about how things work. It was in a way quite thrilling to think this was the only one, but it also felt quite pointless. If there are no private collectors that hold and breed this species (or at least are attempting to) then this seems a throwback to the bad old days.
The Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizard held is quite rare in European collections and I believe I had not seen it before. It was somehow more exotic than its relative the Gila Monster.
There are two enclosures containing a total of three Southeast Asian Water Monitors. They were labelled as Black Water Monitors but Wikipedia informs me that these are now considered the same subspecies, with Southeast Asian the preferred name. These are the only individuals of this subspecies on display in Europe. Next to them was a very active and handsome Papuan Monitor, which is also rare in European collections.
Of the constrictors the following are rare in captivity: Papuan Python, Amethystine Python, Timurin Python, Argentinian Boa and Black Headed Python.
There are many venomous species on display, I don’t keep a species seen list but if I did I think I would have accrued a lot of lifeticks at Tropicario! The Malayan Pit Viper in particular caught my eye due to its attractive brown colouration.
There is also one Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, another uncommon species. He enjoyed interacting with visitors who walked past his enclosure and there was a sign explaining this is why he occasionally tapped on the glass with his beak.
Breeding
I had a chance to talk to a member of staff who I suspect was also the owner. He told me they breed most of the species they have pairs for each year, and average 200-300 individuals born/hatched a year. There was one kindergarten enclosure containing ‘young’ born a couple of years ago. I think this lends credence to the idea that Tropicario’s main income is selling its bred animals.
Conclusion
I liked Tropicario. It was nice to visit a collection that put reptiles centre stage as I tend to overlook them in larger zoos. I really enjoyed the monitor species on display, and the variety of snakes was very impressive. For the general punter I think the small size/high pricetag combo is too off-putting.However, I would absolutely recommend this zoo to any enthusiast who had the chance to visit.
Tropicario was better for this than some other places I've visited.