Bioparc Valencia Valencia biopark

Susan Humphreys

Susan Humphreys

Well-Known Member
My friend who lives in Valencia has replied to my email. He said the zoo opens on the 28th of this month. Book your easyJet flights now!;)
"It's in an area on the western edge of the city in and around the old river bed and covers about 100,000 m2.
"At the beginning three zones will be open; the Savannah , Madagascan forests and Equatorial Africa with Asian and South American zones openning soon this year. As you probably know, the idea was to try to create environments which are as near as possible to the natural habitats (right down to soil types and insects), which also means that animals which live in groups in the wild will live in groups at the park and species that cohabitate in the wild are mixed together here.
"For obvious reasons the predators are kept apart by unseen barriers but in the same area and living in the same environment. There are film theatres and classrooms and from what I've read in the papers the general aim is to explain how the whole ecosystem interacts and promises to be pretty spectacular..

"As it's not open yet we've only got what they are saying in the local papers to go by, but the general impression is that the animals look extremely healthy and you do feel as though you are seeing something close to what you might see in their natural habitat."
He is hoping to visit soon and will give me an update. Local schools have been allowed to have a sneak preview and his daughter said it was 'ace.'

The website is Bioparc Valencia | ÃÂÂfrica ecuatorial, la Sabana africana, y Madagascar recreados en Valencia

Susan
 
Susan,

I was lucky enough to visit there a fortnight ago. The zoo owners' aim for it to be the "best zoo in the world". Judging by the collections I've visited, I wouldn't say they were far off the mark.

I've never been to Disney WAK but guess Valencia is on similar lines. The entire site is manufactured, there is nothing obviously artificial about it - there are no buildings visible to the public, no bars, no cages, no fences. Everything is sculptured out of artificial rockwork, well-crafted artificial trees and strategically placed watering holes. Thematic planting has been carried to the extreme with the importation of no less than 600 acacia trees of different species (only the 'african' section will be completed this year).

I'm not sure how much is public knowledge as yet so I won't divulge any species on exhibit.

At the end of the day, the place is mind-blowing.
 
What I find very dissapointing is that the bioparc has only 8 hectar (African area) and I think 2 or 3 more for future expansion. That is not much, just in contrary - the old european city zoos with huge reputations and huge problems due to their small space like Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Antwerp and London are of the same size or even a little bigger then the brand-new bioparc Valencia! While Chester is at least 4 to 5 times bigger! This alone makes it highly unlikely for me that this zoo is really "one of the best in the worlds". For just 8 hectares, the bioparc has an awful lot of big mammal species (elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hyenas, lions, gorillas - 2 groups , chimps, serveral species of monekys and lemurs....) and I have my doubts if all these enclosures are top-of-the art from the point of animal welfare. It might look great from the visitor`s point of view but that alone is not enough to make it a world-class zoo.
 
The zoo is being built either side of a very stylish bridge. One side is about 11 hectares the other side (the entrance side) is about 7 hectares. Unfortunately up to 2 hectares might have to be used for parking. So, not the world's largest zoo but we shouldn't make the mistake that size is all that you need to be a great zoo. I'm not a huge fan of Safari Parks for instance. At the moment Valencia doesn't qualify as a great zoo because there are only African animals there. In about 3 years, when you consider that L’Oceanografic is also nearby then the city of Valencia will definitely be a world class zoo destination.

The animals all looked well and contented to me. Some of the old Valencia zoo stock which has been taken on have problems but what a great place for them to see out the rest of their days.
 
The numbers you are stating are much more then what the spanish newspaper articles mentioned, I don`t know what is correct.

Apaprt from that, I agree with you that a great zoo doesn`t necessarily needs to be as huge as Chester or the Animal Park Berlin, but you were talking about Valencia being "one of the best zoos in the world" - which is raising the bar extremely high, isn`t it?
 
No I didn't say "one of the best zoos in the world" as I remember it the zoo itself was only talking about the whole city of Valencia, with the two institutions, becoming 'world class' perhaps three years down the line.

I don't want to get into the 'Which are the best zoos in the world?' debate because I don't think that question could ever be answered to everyone's satisfaction. I have my own favourites but wouldn't presume to insist that everyone else agrees with me. Whilst in Spain Paradoxurus and I visited a lot of other zoos that did make Valencia look like Heaven on Earth! It really is very good.
 
They have the Most Iritating Zoo Website of the World.

But the zoo looks interesting. Wonder how will solve eternal problem: herbivores + live trees ;).
 
I would agree that the Bioparc is compact, and that is part of the beauty of it. The enclosures are not excessive as I think many in today's zoos are. I don't need to point out that size of the enclosure is less of a factor in the animal's welfare than is their occupation. I think we've got to judge zoos largely from a visitors perspective, after all, zoos ARE for them. None of us, enthusiasts or professionals, like to see poor animal welfare but unless that is extreme, the average visitors doesn't recognise it. In terms of animal welfare I don't think we can really judge the place before its opened and things have had time to 'settle down'. As Designaka pointed out, the animals that have been relocated from the old Valencia Zoo are almost certainly better off on the whole.
 
Well, new zoo can have big enclosures in mid-sized zoo, without all the useless listed buildings and preserved design.

Basel zoo did very convincing Namibian feel. I wonder if Hollywood-like rocks in Valencia are copies of something real in Africa?
 
The rock formations at Valencia are not recreations of actual ones (as, for instance, the little rock at Budapest Zoo is) but the style of landscape and the rock types are realistic.
 
wow! i just googled some images to get a feel for what your talking about. there are plenty of overhead shots of the park as well as closer images of some the features of the individual exhibits.

yes, clearly a fortune is being spent on the place, and yes, i agree it looks like its headed for animal kingdom territory.

but firstly does that make it naturalistic?

no, not in my opinion. sure i can't see a fence, but so much mock-rock makes it begin to look like the grand canyon! i won't comment on size, since its hard to tell from photos, but really, it seems like nothing radically new to me. its just regular old "immersion" replace walls and dry moats with rockwork and wet moats. if that is all immersion is these days then i'm bored of it.

does that make it better from an animal point of view?

i believe that animals enjoy REAL nature as much as we do, in fact more - its more important to them. however, gerald durrell said it best when he stated that at least bars give monkeys something to climb on. whether or not the valencia zoo is any better than any other zoo for the animals is probably going to come down to enclosure sizes and access the animals have to nature. to me the concept of "nature" at this zoo seems a little contrived and for a visitors benifit. but having never been there we will wait and see. certainly this africa exhibit must put it up there amongst what is considered "the best". its just that i judge my zoos a little differently. anyhow we shall wait and see.

i love a bit of thematics and the art of recreating an environment. but i don't like my zoos to look like movie sets. because movie sets look artificial to me.
 
i saw some (manybe biopark, porb other) of a rhino in a nice looking exhibit, i went thts nice, BUT boring as **** for the rhino, a tiny log, and alot of sand.

These places often look great, even with lots of fliage, but is it what the animals needs included.
 
CZJimmy said:
I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but Jambo, Colchester's young african elephant is on his way to the bioparc soon.
Click to expand...

So is the other young male born there(Kito?) as well... but it says thewy won't leave at the same time... Why they can't transport two relatively small male elephants together I don't understand- leaving the Colchester group may be traumatic for them but being split up-even if only on a temporary basis could be worse.... (i know the mother of one of these two was Rosa who died- but the calves have been together in the group)
 
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