What is your Favorite Zoo You’ve been to/What is your favorite part of visiting the zoo?

Animallover360

Animallover360

Well-Known Member
For this thread you are welcome to share your favorite zoo (or aquarium) you’ve been to and your favorite part of visiting the zoo (or aquarium).

My favorite zoo I’ve been to is either Disney’s Animal Kingdom (I’m not sure if this counts as a zoo, but I count it as one), ZooTampa, or Franklin Park Zoo (my home zoo!) My favorite aquarium I’ve been to is the Mystic Aquarium. My favorite part of visiting zoos is seeing animals in (mostly) natural exhibits, and learning about how I can help animals.
 
Henry Doorly Zoo and San Diego Zoo are a very close 1-2 for me. It is hard to pick. Henry Doorly is just a complete zoo with just about everything you want to see with all modern habitats and a constantly upgrading campus. San Diego is what I imagine a world class zoo to be like. It's tropical environment just makes it an amazing place to visit.
 
birdsandbats said:
DAK is definitely a zoo, despite what their marketing team says.
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Joe Rhode did a great job of designing the park and I've had the opportunity to talk to him about it. Even though he has to say it's not a zoo in every promotional add he was clearly very passionate about building the proper exhibits for the animals. He is very wildlife and conservation-minded and it wouldn't even shock me if he was on this website.
 
I think There are many cool Zoos but my favorite Zoo ist Wilhelma Zoo because of many rare Species and because this was the First Zoo i have ever visited.
 
The best zoo I've been to has to be pairi daiza, which also houses one of the best aquariums I've been to.
My favourite parts of the zoo are the indoor locations; aquariums, reptile houses, biomes ect.
Blijdorp zoo is probably the second best I've been to, burgers bush third.
 
Tokyo Sea Life Park for me. Beautiful naturalistic exhibits, a fantastic collection of unusual and rare species, deep sea and polar species, plenty of invertebrates (a lot of aquariums are lacking in invertebrates), no cetaceans, healthy animals and the Bluefin Tuna exhibit in particular is stunning.
 
There have been several previous threads where people comment on their favourite zoos; consequently, I am largely repeating what I've posted elsewhere but my personal favourites are:-

1. Berlin Zoo
2. Berlin Tierpark
3. Vienna (Schonbrunn) Zoo
4. New York (Bronx) Zoo
5. San Diego Zoo

Others that I also like very much include Prague Zoo, Wroclaw Zoo and Plzen Zoo.

And, for nostalgic reasons, I must include London Zoo as it was my regular childhood visits there, in the days when it had one of the biggest animal collections in the world, that inspired my interest in zoology and my obsession with zoos.

For more specialist collections, Walsrode and the Shedd Aquarium are respectively my favourite bird garden and aquarium.

German Zoo World said:
I think There are many cool Zoos but my favorite Zoo is Wilhelma Zoo because of many rare Species and because this was the First Zoo i have ever visited.
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I also like Stuttgart (Wilhelma) Zoo very much as I especially like the combination of zoo and botanical garden; the horticultural displays are very impressive.
 
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Zoo Berlin and Prague Zoo on the same level for me. For Berlin it is the soulful architecture and the fact that I finally got to see most ABC species I haven't seen before such as rhinoceros, orangutan, and beaver. For Prague it is the Africa Up Close, Darwin Crater, and the Indonesian Jungle Exhibits along with a great view of the landscape across the river even if it comes with a tiring hike.
 
My first answer would be Koninklijke Burgers' Zoo, as my sole visit to that Dutch collection is easily my greatest zoo-related experience of all time. It is a very complete zoo, with all the exhibit archetypes that you could ask for, but its execution of said archetypes is unlike any other, with constant innovation and more rarities than most. It is packed with jaw-dropping exhibits, and extremely active animals.

Having said that, Burgers' may in fact be joint first with another collection; ZSL Whipsnade Zoo. While I didn't enjoy any of my countless visits to Whipsnade near as much as I did my visit to Burgers', the collective of all those visits, coupled with much nostalgia due to many of them having took place at a young age, might just be enough to make it my favourite zoo.

Honourable mentions would be Highland Wildlife Park, ZooParc de Beauval, Exmoor Zoo, Paignton Zoo, Menagerie JdP, Chester Zoo and (if it counts) the Horniman Museum.
 
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The Bronx Zoo. I have always loved Wild Asia. Which historically refers to the monorail and the exhibits seen from it. Now I guess theoretically we could view Wild Asia including every exhibit from the Pere David’s Deer and Tiger Mountain, through the Dholes and Brown Bears, past the Himalayan Highlands and onto the Asia Plaza including both Jungle World (at least many exhibits) and the Monorail. That stretch is my favorite part of the zoo by far (indeed that stretch alone is a world class zoo). If you throw in the Bison, the Lions, and World of Birds? Perfect day for me.
 
Unpopular on here, but Disney's Animal Kingdom is my favorite. I'm not big into rides, but I like Disney and some of my favorite Disney films (Lion King, Tarzan etc) are represented well in the park, and the general vibe is amazing. Plus it has a very realistic safari ride and the lands themed after Asia and Africa are very well done and immersive.

Zoo Miami is a very close second, close enough to be mentioned. Large, great habitats, diverse, and a good bit of rarities.
 
Of the ones I've been to since joining this forum and starting my 2021-Onwards Zoo Life List, my favourite zoos and aquariums are:

1. Blackpool Zoo
2. Safari Zoo Cumbria
3. Blue Planet Aquarium
4. Dudley Zoo
5. Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
 
My favorite zoo I've been to is the San Diego Zoo but I haven't been to too many zoos. I visited the Omaha zoo in 2012 and based on my experience then it isn't worthy of the top spot but based on what I've seen the changes that they've made since then could give SDZ a run for its money. To be honest though I don't think I've visited a major zoo I don't really like. The Kansas City Zoo is probably the weakest I've been to but I think they have some very strong exhibits. My favorite part of visiting the zoo is photographing the animals. Its always fun to see what opportunities each visit will bring. Most people would probably think with the amount of times I've visited my home zoo that I've exhausted all the opportunities but I don't think that could ever be true.
 
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