UK's Largest Zoological Collections By Taxonomic Class

[Kalaw]

As requested in this thread, here is a list of the British zoos with the largest collection of each taxonomic class (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fishes). All numbers come from Zootierliste.

Mammals:

1. Chester Zoo - 91
2. Port Lympne Wild Animal Park - 74
3. Cotswold Wildlife Park (Burford) - 65
4. Exmoor Zoo (Bratton Fleming) - 63
5. Colchester Zoo - 60
6. Hamerton Zoo - 59
7. Wingham Wildlife Park - 57
   Marwell Zoo (Winchester) - 57
   Longleat Safari Park (Warminster) - 57
   Five Sisters Zoo (Polbeth) - 57
8. ZSL London Zoo - 53
   Axe Valley Wildlife Park (Axminster) - 53
9. Blackpool Zoo - 51
10. ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (Dunstable) - 50
    Woburn Safari Park - 50
    Edinburgh Zoo - 50

Birds:

1. Birdworld (Farnham) - 159
2. Chester Zoo - 147
3. Paradise Park (Hayle) - 129
4. WWT Slimbridge Wetlands Centre - 117
5. Cotswold Wildlife Park (Burford) - 107
6. Birdland (Bourton-on-the-Water) - 106
   Tropical Birdland (Desford) - 106
7. Exmoor Zoo (Bratton Fleming) - 95
8. Paignton Zoo - 89
9. ZSL London Zoo - 87
10. WWT Martin Mere Wetlands Centre - 85

Reptiles:

1. Chester Zoo - 55
2. Wingham Wildlife Park - 52
3. Crocodiles of the World (Brize Norton) - 42
4. Cotswold Wildlife Park - 40
5. Dudley Zoo - 37
6. Paignton Zoo - 35
   Jersey Zoo (Trinity) - 35
   Five Sisters Zoo (Polbeth) - 35
7. Isle of Wight Reptilarium (Yarmouth) - 28
8. Colchester Zoo - 27
   Hoo Zoo (Telford) - 27
9. Hertfordshire Zoo (Broxbourne) - 25
10. Blue Planet Aquarium (Ellesmere Port) - 24

Amphibians:

1. WWT Slimbridge Wetlands Centre - 50
2. Paignton Zoo - 30
3. Chester Zoo - 27
4. Manchester Museum - 22
5. Newquay Zoo - 18
6. London Zoo - 16
7. Blue Planet Aquarium (Ellesmere Port) - 14
8. Tilgate Nature Centre (Crawley) - 11
9. Cotswold Wildlife Park (Burford) - 9
   Blue Reef Aquarium Hastings - 9
   Bristol Aquarium - 9
   Horniman Museum (London) - 9
   Sea Life Southend-on-Sea - 9
   Five Sisters Zoo (Polbeth) - 9
10. The Deep Aquarium (Hull) - 8
    Dudley Zoo - 8

Fish:

1. National Marine Aquarium (Plymouth) - 231
2. Blue Planet Aquarium (Ellesmere Port) - 229
3. Blue Reef Aquarium Hastings - 226
4. The Deep Aquarium (Hull) - 163
5. Bristol Aquarium - 138
6. Sea Life London - 137
7. Oceanarium Bournemouth - 130
8. Blue Reef Aquarium Tynemouth - 115
9. Blue Reef Aquarium Portsmouth - 106
10. Blue Reef Aquarium Newquay - 105
    Chester Zoo - 105

Chester Zoo is the only collection to appear on all five lists, and is without a shadow of a doubt the most complete zoological collection in the country. Cotswold Wildlife Park appeared on all but one, so is a respectable second, while Blue Planet Aquarium, London Zoo, Five Sisters Zoo and Paignton Zoo all appeared on three.

A few caveats to note:
- Much of the Slimbridge amphibian collection is offshow, and a decent amount of Chester's reptile collection. As such, it is likely that in terms of onshow collection, Paignton has the largest amphibian collection and Wingham (something of a surprise) has the largest reptile collection, although it is hard to say given that these collections no doubt have offshow species of their own.
- Zootierliste isn't entirely accurate and has several omissions. The only obvious one to me is that the Horniman Museum breeds tree frogs behind the scenes, so if we are including Slimbridge's offshow collection then we must do for the Horniman as well, which would possibly move them up a few places. What these tree frog species are, however, is unfortunately not public knowledge.
- There is no way to filter through ZTL's 'species-richest zoos' list by taxonomic group, so I acquired this list by guessing which collections might be prominent, and searching for exact numbers with the 'expert search' feature. As such, there is the possibility of human error, or in other words, me forgetting a collection, and as such them being omitted for the list.

It was really interesting compiling these lists, and there were a lot of ones that surprised me. There were some pleasant surprises (Martin Mere making the birds list) and some disappointing ones (London not making the reptiles list, although hopefully that is just a result of temporary departures, who will return to the zoo in the relatively near future once the new Reptile House has opened). The biggest disappointment was how poor the standard is for amphibian collections overall, but the birds results were mostly positive and made up for this.

 

[Dr. Loxodonta]

Thank you @Kalaw for producing this! It’s so interesting to see which collections have which Classes! I was certainly surprised that Paignton was only 8th with Birds, especially seeing that once they were probably 1st for Birds instead.

 

[Torgos]

I'm really surprised at how few reptile species are in the largest collections. My zoo has 80 species and we are not one of the biggest!
On the other hand British zoos have large numbers of mammal species compared to many American zoos and far more of them are smaller mammals which get rarer by the year in the US.

 

[Shorts]

Sincerely, I'm not trolling you but Drayton Manor has 48 species of reptiles per ZTL

 

[Kalaw]

Sincerely, I'm not trolling you but Drayton Manor has 48 species of reptiles per ZTL

It's too late for me to edit the initial post, but thank you regardless - like I say, there is a very high chance that I omitted collections purely on the basis of not thinking to check them.

I'm really surprised at how few reptile species are in the largest collections. My zoo has 80 species and we are not one of the biggest!
On the other hand British zoos have large numbers of mammal species compared to many American zoos and far more of them are smaller mammals which get rarer by the year in the US.

Reptiles are indeed a major weakness over here, although it is something of a pleasant surprise that our mammal collections are strong compared to those in North America - I would be lying however if I denied that smaller mammal collections over here are seeing a similar decline!

 

[snowleopard]

This is brilliant. Thanks very much @Kalaw! (Just as an aside, if you become a paid ZooChat member then you have a slighter longer editing period for posts. I've found it handy to have that option from time to time.)

As far as the lists go, there's a lot of interesting numbers. Exmoor Zoo with 63 mammal species on 12 acres is extraordinary. Mouse, rat, mouse, rat, mouse, bat, mouse, small cat. Just joking! Hamerton and Wingham also pack a lot of mammals into mid-sized grounds. I was genuinely surprised to see London so low in mammals; how the mighty have fallen.

The lists reinforce the point that Chester is well and truly the elite zoo of the U.K., whether it is the animal collection, annual attendance, overall fame, or future projects in the shape of the massive African Savannah complex. Is there any other zoo even remotely close to Chester?

Also, as has been pointed out on ZooChat in the past, it's a bit odd that the U.K. has circa 200 'zoos' if one includes every owl sanctuary in the land, but lacks a world-class aquarium. It seems to me that if someone had the energy and money, they could open a Lisbon or Valencia or Shedd somewhere in the land of fish & chips.

 

[Pertinax]

I was genuinely surprised to see London so low in mammals; how the mighty have fallen.

.

London actually now comes in with the same number of mammals as Axe Valley, a 'tiny' wildlife park on the South Coast on just an acre or two size-wise!. Of course allowing for a difference in size of many of the species held at each.

 

[Kalaw]

This is brilliant. Thanks very much @Kalaw! (Just as an aside, if you become a paid ZooChat member then you have a slighter longer editing period for posts. I've found it handy to have that option from time to time.)

As far as the lists go, there's a lot of interesting numbers. Exmoor Zoo with 63 mammal species on 12 acres is extraordinary. Mouse, rat, mouse, rat, mouse, bat, mouse, small cat. Just joking! Hamerton and Wingham also pack a lot of mammals into mid-sized grounds. I was genuinely surprised to see London so low in mammals; how the mighty have fallen.

The lists reinforce the point that Chester is well and truly the elite zoo of the U.K., whether it is the animal collection, annual attendance, overall fame, or future projects in the shape of the massive African Savannah complex. Is there any other zoo even remotely close to Chester?

Also, as has been pointed out on ZooChat in the past, it's a bit odd that the U.K. has circa 200 'zoos' if one includes every owl sanctuary in the land, but lacks a world-class aquarium. It seems to me that if someone had the energy and money, they could open a Lisbon or Valencia or Shedd somewhere in the land of fish & chips.

Thank you! You seem to underestimate Exmoor, which actually has the second largest carnivore collection in Europe (after Le Parc des Felins), and certainly a lot more than mice and rats!

Is 53 species for London that bad? Most of the collections above it are either much bigger (Port Lympne and Chester) or have a heavy focus on small mammals such as carnivores and rodents (Axe Valley and Exmoor). As mentioned by @Torgos , mammals are a British strength of sorts. On a European scale, London has more mammal species than Zurich (52), Planckendael (51), Basel (45), Burgers' (44), Antwerp (44) and possibly many other major collections, which I will admit surprised me quite a bit.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

You seem to underestimate Exmoor, which actually has the second largest carnivore collection in Europe (after Le Parc des Felins), and certainly a lot more than mice and rats

Indeed - size is not everything, after all. Bristol Zoo was even smaller at 10 acres, with much of that being areas of garden and lake rather than animal exhibits, but nonetheless had a pretty hefty collection for it's size well into its final years.

 

[Tim May]

ZSL London Zoo - 53

. I was genuinely surprised to see London so low in mammals; how the mighty have fallen.

London actually now comes in with the same number of mammals as Axe Valley, a 'tiny' wildlife park on the South Coast on just an acre or two size-wise!. Of course allowing for a difference in size of many of the species held at each.

Is 53 species for London that bad? Most of the collections above it are either much bigger (Port Lympne and Chester) or have a heavy focus on small mammals such as carnivores and rodents (Axe Valley and Exmoor).

The total number of mammalian species at London Zoo, fifty-three according to ZooTierList, appears to have surprised many.

It is interesting to compare this figure with the total number of species once held in London Zoo's Clore Pavilion (Small Mammal House). I can remember that there used to be a sign in the Clore Pavilion stating that there were more species of mammal, in that building alone, than any other zoo in the UK.

The ZSL Annual Report for 1966 states that visitors to this house will see "well over 100 different species of mammal" and, according to the Annual Report for 1967, the building has 110 cages and 3 enclosures.

 

[Coelacanth18]

I'm really surprised at how few reptile species are in the largest collections.

That was remarkable for me as well; even if you looked at reptiles and amphibians together, even Chester and Paignton (82 and 75 species) wouldn't be cracking into top ranks in the US, they'd be considered in the "solid high" range at best - and apparently a good portion of Chester's is off-display so their collection would likely be considered less than that. For reptiles alone few UK zoos even put up "bare minimum for mid-sized US zoo" numbers. Amphibians fall flat in most places too. Birds and mammals look about on par when accounting for difference in country size, though I'm not as well-versed in those.

I always thought it was confusing that there was a Birdworld and a Birdland, but there's also a Tropical Birdland that size?

Also surprised to see how large Blue Planet Aquarium is, by collection it might be the largest aquarium in the UK?

 

[Kalaw]

That was remarkable for me as well; even if you looked at reptiles and amphibians together, even Chester and Paignton (82 and 75 species) wouldn't be cracking into top ranks in the US, they'd be considered in the "solid high" range at best - and apparently a good portion of Chester's is off-display so their collection would likely be considered less than that. For reptiles alone few UK zoos even put up "bare minimum for mid-sized US zoo" numbers. Amphibians fall flat in most places too. Birds and mammals look about on par when accounting for difference in country size, though I'm not as well-versed in those.

I always thought it was confusing that there was a Birdworld and a Birdland, but there's also a Tropical Birdland that size?

Also surprised to see how large Blue Planet Aquarium is, by collection it might be the largest aquarium in the UK?

Blue Planet Aquarium is indeed the largest aquarium in the UK, and in fact the second largest zoological facility in the country behind Chester in terms of overall species. What makes this even more remarkable is that they are just 4 miles apart!

 

[Prochilodus246]

Really interesting thread @Kalaw It's very much a shame amphibians are falling by the wayside with almost half of all species threatened with extinction. It's evident that the birds and mammals are still very popular in the UK zoological scene. Chester as a collection do a good job with all species with them making all the lists across the board and the highest fish totals of the UK zoos.

In regards to a number of collections notably most of the aquariums and WWT Slimbridge I think those totals will sadly be quite significantly lower.

On my visit to Blue Planet Aquarium in 2021 I only saw 9 reptile species and 118 animal species in total. Admittedly I know I missed some species and a number of those species were inverts so are not covered by ZTL. I think an overhaul on UK aquaria species lists is definitely necessary. SeaLife centres are a prime example as many entries are very out of date with some information on particular species being over a decade old.

I think the best way of getting correct up to date data is by noting the species you see and don't see when you visit a collection with using ZTL as a basic guide. Another way could be by emailing the collections in question about their current stock lists and therefore it would be a far easier task to amend what species are present and what species are no longer kept. Prior to my visit to Exmoor in 2022 I emailed the zoo to check how up to date the ZTL holdings were and they informed they didn't keep at least 5 species that were listed as current holdings.

TBL as a source seems to be an issue as once again Blue Planet Aquarium as an example lists species that were in the collection in 2020. With my visit only a year later many species I looked forward in seeing were completely absent and I couldn't find them anywhere. Unless the collection had lots of elderly or aging stock there should have been no reason why that so many of these species were absent.

Sorry for rambling on but I just feel we certainly need more up to date data with our UK collections particularly in regards to aquaria and the smaller collections too. I don't know how many UK ZTL editors we have but we need more to help fill in the gaps.

 

[Strathmorezoo]

The total number of mammalian species at London Zoo, fifty-three according to ZooTierList, appears to have surprised many.

It is interesting to compare this figure with the total number of species once held in London Zoo's Clore Pavilion (Small Mammal House). I can remember that there used to be a sign in the Clore Pavilion stating that there were more species of mammal, in that building alone, than any other zoo in the UK.

The ZSL Annual Report for 1966 states that visitors to this house will see "well over 100 different species of mammal" and, according to the Annual Report for 1967, the building has 110 cages and 3 enclosures.

I can remember seeing that sign. I told my family friends and colleagues what that sign said and I don't think anyone believed me ,infact over the years I was beginning to think that I had imagined it. Thank you

 

[Dassie rat]

As requested in this thread, here is a list of the British zoos with the largest collection of each taxonomic class (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fishes). All numbers come from Zootierliste.

Mammals:

1. Chester Zoo - 91
2. Port Lympne Wild Animal Park - 74
3. Cotswold Wildlife Park (Burford) - 65
4. Exmoor Zoo (Bratton Fleming) - 63
5. Colchester Zoo - 60
6. Hamerton Zoo - 59
7. Wingham Wildlife Park - 57
   Marwell Zoo (Winchester) - 57
   Longleat Safari Park (Warminster) - 57
   Five Sisters Zoo (Polbeth) - 57
8. ZSL London Zoo - 53
   Axe Valley Wildlife Park (Axminster) - 53
9. Blackpool Zoo - 51
10. ZSL Whipsnade Zoo (Dunstable) - 50
    Woburn Safari Park - 50
    Edinburgh Zoo - 50

While some zoos have similar numbers of species, they vary in the number of species in each order:

Carnivores: Exmoor 30; Axe Valley 25; Five Sisters 23; Hamerton, Port Lympne & Wingham 22; Chester 18; Colchester 14; Longleat 14; Marwell 12; Cotswold 11; Whipsnade & Woburn Safari Park 10; Edinburgh & London 9; Blackpool 8

Primates: Chester 25; Colchester, Hamerton & London 22; Blackpool 19; Port Lympne & Wingham 18; Five Sisters 16; Cotswold & Edinburgh 15; 15; Exmoor & Marwell 13; Hamerton 10; Longleat 9; Axe Valley & Whipsnade 4

Artiodactyls: Whipsnade 25; Port Lympne 22; Chester & Woburn Safari Park 19; Marwell 18; Edinburgh & Longleat 10; London 9; Colchester 8; Blackpool 6; Axe Valley, Exmoor & Wingham 4; Cotswold, Hamerton & Five Sisters 2

Rodents: Cotswold 19; Axe Valley & Chester 12; Longleat 10; Five Sisters 8; Wingham 6; Blackpool & Exmoor 5; Hamerton & Woburn Safari Park 4; Edinburgh, London & Whipsnade 3; Port Lympne 1;

Diprotodontians: Hamerton 10; Exmoor 7; Blackpool & Longleat 6; Cotswold, Edinburgh & Woburn Safari Park 4; Axe Valley, Five Sisters & Marwell 3; Chester & Wingham 2; Colchester, London, Whipsnade & Woburn Safari Park 1

Perissodactyls: Marwell & Port Lympnel 7; Chester 6; Cotswold, Whipsnade & Woburn Safari Park 4; Edinburgh & Longleat 3; Axe Valley & Blackpool 2; Exmoor, Five Sisters, Hamerton, London & Wingham 1

Bats: Cotswold 4; Chester 2; Five Sisters, London & Wingham 1

Pilosans: Chester, Cotswold & Colchester 3; Edinburgh, London & Longleat 2; Blackpool, Hamerton, Marwell & Wingham 1

Armadillos: Edinburgh & London 2; Axe Valley, Cotswold, Five Sisters, Hamerton & Wingham 1

Aardvark: Colchester, Longleat & Whipsnade 1

Afrosoricids: Axe Valley, Blackpool, Five Sisters & London 1

Elephants: Blackpool, Chester, Colchester, Longleat, Whipsnade & Woburn Safari Park 1

Hyraxes: Colchester, Exmoor, Hamerton, Marwell & Longleat 1

Lipotyphlans: Five Sisters 1

Monotremes: Hamerton 1

Sengis: Chester & London 1

Notable in this list is the number of rodents and bats kept at the Cotswold Wildlife Park and the number of diprotodontians (kangaroos, possums etc) kept at Hamerton.

 

[pipaluk]

Thanks for this @Dassie rat . You appear to have left Hamerton off the carnivores list. I reckon it is 23

 

[Dassie rat]

Thanks for this @Dassie rat . You appear to have left Hamerton off the carnivores list. I reckon it is 23

You're right, Pipaluk. I had problems with copy and paste. I've edited the post

 

[Cat-Man]

The total number of mammalian species at London Zoo, fifty-three according to ZooTierList, appears to have surprised many.

It is interesting to compare this figure with the total number of species once held in London Zoo's Clore Pavilion (Small Mammal House). I can remember that there used to be a sign in the Clore Pavilion stating that there were more species of mammal, in that building alone, than any other zoo in the UK.

The ZSL Annual Report for 1966 states that visitors to this house will see "well over 100 different species of mammal" and, according to the Annual Report for 1967, the building has 110 cages and 3 enclosures.

I would love to know what they considered the difference between a cage and enclosure!

 

[Tim May]

I would love to know what they considered the difference between a cage and enclosure!

The following definition was used:

• a cage was an exhibit completely indoors
• an enclosure was an exhibit with access to the open air

 

[Cat-Man]

Makes sense, thanks!