mweb08
Well-Known Member
I meant what zoos would be considered as good or better than San Diego if their PR department was as big. Surely the Maryland Zoo for example would not be regardless of their PR department.
What will be the best zoo in 2015?
- Thread starter mweb08
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I meant what zoos would be considered as good or better than San Diego if their PR department was as big. Surely the Maryland Zoo for example would not be regardless of their PR department.
mweb08
Well-Known Member
I must have somehow missed all this criticism of the gorilla exhibit. It is commonly listed among the better gorilla exhibits in the country. I think your memory is not accurate regarding that exhibit, or you're just greatly exaggerating.
The bear grottoes have some natural substrate as well.
mweb08
Well-Known Member
I can see the first two, which are also generally ranked in the top 3 and some have them #1, but I can't see OKC or Dallas being considered as good by the majority of people. I think the general public is surely influenced quite a bit by PR. However, most of the people on this site are not so easily influenced, especially the ones who have been to SD. Yet it is consistently ranked very highly.
Best zoo for bears aside from the sloth bears, of course. All you see the sloth bear do is rock its poor head back and forth.
As for the best zoo for pandas, brown bears, sun bears and polar bears, yes, you're right.
I have not yet been to OKC, but I really want to. From everything I have seen it is a top zoo and I am positive I would enjoy it as much or more than San Diego. I have been to Dallas a couple times and am going back in less than two months and cannot wait. It is definitely one of my favorites - probably a tie with San Diego. Snowleopard also ranks Dallas very highly and he has seen most of this country's major zoos.
mweb08
Well-Known Member
Snowleopard has Dallas ranked 12th and OKC ranked 13th. There is a huge difference between 1 and 12.
You may very well like those zoos as much or more than SD, but you also have Memphis as your favorite zoo I believe, so you're a bit unusual in this regard since you love big cats so much(I love them too) that a zoos collection and exhibitry of them affects your ranking much more so than othes.
I agree that SD benefits from it's PR department and it's reputation, but the fact of that matter is that it still ranks either first or second in the U.S. on this site, where I don't think people are that influenced by those things. Dallas and OKC probably rank around where snowleopard has them.
Blackduiker
Well-Known Member
I don't see anyone knocking San Diego out of its position as #1 in the next five years. Ten maybe. New York Bronx and Seattle Woodland Park seem right on their heels. And with so many others with new master plans, there could be numerous institutions vying for top spot by the end of the decade; even a few surprises, and that's a good thing.
mweb08
Well-Known Member
I agree that the Bronx is right there with SD, but as far as I know they do not have any plans on improving the zoo anytime soon and will eventually be without elephants, which will be a big blow imo.
Not sure that Woodland Park is that close based on what most say about it, but I would love to visit sometime.
Omaha seems to be the strongest contender considering it's already a top 3 zoo according to many and they have significant plans for the coming years.
KCZooFan
Well-Known Member
From what I've seen, Omaha's master plan will not make it a contender for best zoo. It looks more like they are getting rid of the bad exhibits for fairly generic exhibit ideas. The zoo will be much more balanced, but will be adding nothing world class.
All of the discussion on this thread has been terrific to read, and I would like to mention the fact that in the past many people debated between San Diego or Bronx for America's best zoo, and beyond those two there wasn't another institution that was even close to being a contender. Isn't it terrific that both Omaha and Columbus have built an incredible number of great new exhibits in the past 20 years? Both of those zoos have plans to spend millions on amazing new habitats, and the African Savanna region that will be created in Columbus will surely make that large zoo a 2-day experience. I think that it is wonderful that there are now 4 zoos (and maybe more!) battling it out in the minds of zoo nerds to be America's best. I still cast my vote for San Diego, but that zoo is only #1 by a slim margin.
mweb08
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure where you're getting the "fairly generic" impression, but even if they just replace the bad exhibits with good ones rather than great ones, that would still be a huge step forward.
I also think they're pretty clearly a current contender for best zoo with SD and the Bronx. I don't think Columbus, which SL mentions, is particularly close.
hello i didn't realise i'd already voted on this thread, and i honestly believe that san diego will still be the best zoo in 2015. its pretty obvious that its going to take some beating, and will not be knocked of the top spot easily. In my personal opinion (and please don't have a go for what im about to say, as i am well aware of that it is controversial) Disney's Animal kingdom is the only zoo that could knock off san diego by 2015. This is simply because of the sheer amount of money it can afford to invest in its animal exhibits. Zoochatters say it is the only zoo that could afford to pry precious animals such as platypus + tazmanian devils from the australian government. The sheer quality of exhibits there are outstanding, and i believe that is they pin-pointed there money to creating (for example) a chinese themed exhibit (with the obvious Giant Panda) would be the best in the world. now, i know it is highly unlikely that they will invest there money into more animal exhibits, but i believe that if they did they would become the best zoo
yours, dan
yours, dan
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
I agree with Dan (Catman) 100%, and he explains his reason perfectly! The San Diego Zoo is so far ahead of all other USA zoos that none really have a chance to overtake them anytime soon -- with the possible exception of Disney, and then ONLY if Disney was to pump some of its huge profits into making its Animal Kingdom the nation's #1 zoo.
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
Actually, there are 2 clearly different methods for determining which is the "best" zoo. The method I use, subconsiously, is to look at the overall zoo -- its strengths and weaknesses, then categorize the different zoos and rank them according to their strengths and weaknesses in the different categories. In the end, I (again subconsiously) accumulate all of the ratings and sort of "average" them, coming up with an overall score for each zoo. This way, a zoo like San Diego can have a few negative rankings (ie, bad exhibits) and still be an easy #1, if it has enough positive rankings (ie, best collection, many great exhibits, key animals, etc.) to "cancel out" the few negative rankings.
The other way of determination, which apparently some of you use, is what I call the "Weakest Link" method (named after an old British game show). In this method, you simply look at the zoo's weakest points and whichever zoo has the "best weak points", that zoo is #1. This is the ONLY way that San Diego could be ranked anywhere less than the best zoo in America, in my humble opinion.
"You ARE the weakest link! Good-bye!"
The other way of determination, which apparently some of you use, is what I call the "Weakest Link" method (named after an old British game show). In this method, you simply look at the zoo's weakest points and whichever zoo has the "best weak points", that zoo is #1. This is the ONLY way that San Diego could be ranked anywhere less than the best zoo in America, in my humble opinion.
"You ARE the weakest link! Good-bye!"
thankyou ANyhuis, i realise that my point was controvesial (spelling), as i myself have only visited 4 animal establishments in the united states, but i agree, the san diego zoo is so far ahead of other establishments, that in my humble opinion, it may take up too 2020-2025 or possibly 2030 (unless San Diego zoo starts the 'ship out' the majority of its species) for any zoo to have a reasonable chance to overtake san diego. and even then its only if it stops making developments on the scale, of say, panda trek. Its fair to say that san diego IS the best zoo in the world, and i do believe that the only zoo that does have a chance to take it over is Animal Kingdom, and i do intent on writing to them to encourage them to create more animal exhibits
thankyou all, dan
, i realise that my point was controvesial (spelling), as i myself have only visited 4 animal establishments in the united states, but i agree, the san diego zoo is so far ahead of other establishments, that in my humble opinion, it may take up too 2020-2025 or possibly 2030 (unless San Diego zoo starts the 'ship out' the majority of its species) for any zoo to have a reasonable chance to overtake san diego. and even then its only if it stops making developments on the scale, of say, panda trek. Its fair to say that san diego IS the best zoo in the world, and i do believe that the only zoo that does have a chance to take it over is Animal Kingdom, and i do intent on writing to them to encourage them to create more animal exhibitsthankyou all, dan
ANyhuis
Well-Known Member
thankyou ANyhuis
I've seen over 230 zoos worldwide, and I believe San Diego is the best of those zoos that I've seen. But I'm not yet ready to call it the "world's best" yet. I have not seen Liepzig, Taronga, Singapore, or a few others that just "might" be better than San Diego.
yees, i agree that zoo zoo's on the world stage also have the potential to be as good as san diego
. on a separate note, is it san diego that has the largest collection of species in the world?
KCZooFan
Well-Known Member
yees, i agree that zoo zoo's on the world stage also have the potential to be as good as san diego
I think that would be Berlin.