What is the greatest zoo that you've been to, and why?

I admire the top European zoos, like the Berlins, Leipzig, Chester or Prague and trying to visit them as often as I can, but the best place I have ever been is San Diego Zoo. It's hard to take out the Safari Park from the picture and the whole experience called San Diego is unforgettable. The combination of world class excibits, incredible flora and fauna collection, California's climate, conservation achievements, great tradition in animal husbandry and the famous American service and hospitality put San Diego Zoo on the very top of my list.
 
ZooNerd1234 said:
The Greatest Zoo I've been to has to be Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Besides having the world's largest indoor desert, located under the world's largest glazed geodesic dome and the country's largest indoor rainforest. The Zoo includes what is most likely the country's best nocturnal house, and one of the better Zoo Aquariums. Not to mention some of the best of their kind in the states, The African Grasslands, and Asian Highlands.
As for Aquariums, nothing in the country will ever match up to the Georgia Aquarium. A brand new shark exhibit, adequate homes for dolphins and belugas, and the Ocean Voyager, which is truly like no other place in the world.
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At one time the Henry Doorly Zoo exhibited all 3 species of hyenas too back in the day!
 
Neil chace said:
I would consider the greatest zoo I have been to the Saint Louis Zoo. All exhibits at the Saint Louis Zoo are at least adequate, with some being world-class. They also have multiple incredible, innovative exhibits, particularly those for Sea lions and penguins. Not only are their exhibits phenomenal, but they also have a collection that can't be matched by any other zoo I've been to- both in quantity and quality. There is a very large hoofstock collection and a superb bird house with many rare species (such as horned guan and carmine beeater). The zoo also keeps the only tasmanian devils I have ever seen. The collection is also much more diverse than many zoo collections I've seen.
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St. Louis Zoo hoofstock is suberb! One year they had some 13 babies born, and when I visited that year I seen them all! GREAT ZOO!
 
PossumRoach said:
All three? Aren’t there 4 species?
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I think they just mean animals under the name hyena not the full biological family that includes aardwolf. Aka they only are talking about the subfamily Hyaeninae which includes three extant species and puts aardwolf in a different subfamily.
 
Leipzig sneaks it for me, as Gondwanaland was somewhere I had always wanted to go to, and it didn’t disappoint. The two Berlin zoos come very close, with the large diversity of species, with honourable mentions also for Rotterdam, Prague and Chester.
 
As someone who's never been to a zoo outside of Africa, The best I've been to is probably Johannesburg Zoo, Nice collection, descent exhibits, you know, the works of an ordinary medium zoo.
One of the more notable additions in the absolutely world class Chimpanzee Exhibit.
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I have never been to a zoo outside Europe, possibly never will, but the best 2 zoos I have been to were both Berlins in 2017, before recent developments began and currently makes both zoos currently less of an attraction . I had planned to go to Prague last year, which I think would possibly beat either now.
Also a shout for Duisburg which I visited in 2018. Seeing Baby, bottlenose dolphins (for first time in nearly 40 years), koala, Echidna, wombat, tasmanian devil and a lot more, made it a pretty special day for me.
Best in the UK - Chester, but Yorkshire Wildlife Park gets better and better! A zoo with Polar Bears in such excellent enclosures has to challenge to be one of the best!
 
Going to have to go with Chester Zoo here. I've been to very few zoos outside of the UK, and of the ones in the UK I've only visited the big names on one occasion, like Chester, Colchester or London (as well as others) and have still yet to go to many others like Whipsnade or Edinburgh. The point is that there isn't much competition. Furthermore, I had only about half a day (5 hours approx.), which for the case of Chester really isn't enough. Additionally my camera died after less than an hour. That was my disclaimer, hope you enjoy the rest!
Within the limited timeframe, four hours of driving there and back to where I was staying, and the fact that it was winter, it is by far the best zoo I have ever been to. Everything from the layout to the welfare to the exhibits to the extensive collection (of which I only saw a limited amount due to the aformentioned reasons, plus this was about four years ago so I was much younger and more ignorant) was increadible. Of course many of you are far more familiar with Chester, but to a younger me who was mostly aquanted with Port Lympne and WMSP, this seemed like something else entirely. Essentially visiting a certain zoo can be much more than just a nice day out, and at that point in my life it left quite an impression, one that has yet to be beaten, and I look forward to going back as soon as I can, this time prepared.
 
As far as I go? I gotta admit that Copenhagen's currently my favorite. Top notch exhibits, featured all of my favorite animals, not too humongous which means walking isn't a chore, and, well, I just loved it.
 
I have been to a very few zoos in the UK (4), and 2 in Spain. But outside Europe I have been to around 3-4 zoos in the USA and Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom deserves a shout, the komodo dragon enclosure was the best I’ve seen, (Rancho Texas in Lanzarote is a bit on the small side) and everything felt natural to me, I particularly enjoyed the walk-through aviary near the komodo dragons :)
 
lowland anoa said:
I have been to a very few zoos in the UK (4), and 2 in Spain. But outside Europe I have been to around 3-4 zoos in the USA and Disney’s Wild Animal Kingdom deserves a shout, the komodo dragon enclosure was the best I’ve seen, (Rancho Texas in Lanzarote is a bit on the small side) and everything felt natural to me, I particularly enjoyed the walk-through aviary near the komodo dragons :)
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I think in terms of enclosure design, Disney is easily among the top notch of not only US Zoos, but also the entire world. If I can go there, it would probably be my favorite zoo, because I'm a huge sucker for anything Disney and animals.
 
Choosing a 'greatest zoo' is a subjective choice, as clearly illustrated by the responses. There's been mention of Shedd Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium and a couple of other aquatic facilities. Zoo nerds have said their favourite zoo was Columbus (two people), Living Desert, Chester (two people), Burgers, Brevard (!!), Bronx, Berlin (4 people), Berlin Tierpark, the Smithsonian National Zoo, Miami, Toronto, Zurich, Saint Louis (two people), Pairi Daiza, the San Diego parks (at least two people), Omaha, Leipzig, Prague, Johannesburg, Copenhagen and Disney's Animal Kingdom (two people).

That's quite a selection of zoos! :)
 
snowleopard said:
Choosing a 'greatest zoo' is a subjective choice, as clearly illustrated by the responses. There's been mention of Shedd Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium and a couple of other aquatic facilities. Zoo nerds have said their favourite zoo was Columbus (two people), Living Desert, Chester (two people), Burgers, Brevard (!!), Bronx, Berlin (4 people), Berlin Tierpark, the Smithsonian National Zoo, Miami, Toronto, Zurich, Saint Louis (two people), Pairi Daiza, the San Diego parks (at least two people), Omaha, Leipzig, Prague, Johannesburg, Copenhagen and Disney's Animal Kingdom (two people).

That's quite a selection of zoos! :)
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It's also the fact that some of us can't really go anywhere outside of our hometown, so of course it'll be heavily subjective. I've been to great zoos like Copenhagen, Berlin, and Singapore, but only because I was lucky enough to have parents that can afford trips like these. I don't think I will be going to San Diego, Toronto, or Omaha anytime soon, so I can never say if these zoos are truly my favorite.
 
snowleopard said:
Choosing a 'greatest zoo' is a subjective choice, as clearly illustrated by the responses. There's been mention of Shedd Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium and a couple of other aquatic facilities. Zoo nerds have said their favourite zoo was Columbus (two people), Living Desert, Chester (two people), Burgers, Brevard (!!), Bronx, Berlin (4 people), Berlin Tierpark, the Smithsonian National Zoo, Miami, Toronto, Zurich, Saint Louis (two people), Pairi Daiza, the San Diego parks (at least two people), Omaha, Leipzig, Prague, Johannesburg, Copenhagen and Disney's Animal Kingdom (two people).

That's quite a selection of zoos! :)
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Well you’ve all around the world and back so which is your favorite?
 
Westcoastperson said:
Well you’ve all around the world and back so which is your favorite?
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I've written extensively about San Diego Zoo on this forum over the years, with several long reviews detailing what I love about that zoo. The immense animal collection, the rarities, conservation work, atmosphere, stunning weather, dedication to history, publications, etc., all add up to create a phenomenal establishment. Omaha and Berlin would be #2 and #3, but I'm also not as well traveled as a lot of zoo nerds on this site.
 
For me, my all time favorite zoo has to be the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park. The architecture and the exhibits are great, there are tons of animals, and it is situated in a breathtaking setting. It's just such a beautiful park to walk around, and there are plenty of fun activities like caravan safaris and zip lines. I feel it is often overshadowed by it's well known older sister. To me however, I prefer the safari park more.

My next two favorites would have to be the San Diego Zoo and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo.
 
MonkeyBat said:
For me, my all time favorite zoo has to be the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park. The architecture and the exhibits are great, there are tons of animals, and it is situated in a breathtaking setting. It's just such a beautiful park to walk around, and there are plenty of fun activities like caravan safaris and zip lines. I feel it is often overshadowed by it's well known older sister. To me however, I prefer the safari park more.

My next two favorites would have to be the San Diego Zoo and Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo.
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The longhouse and surrounding Tiger Trail area are absolutely breathtaking.
 
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