So spotted hyenas are also called laughing hyenas. And I personally disagree. To me a hyena’s “laughter” sounds like a cry of loss that tried to hold back.
Zoo/Aquarium Hot Takes
- Thread starter pachyderm pro
- Start date
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
A summer of travelling, visiting some great zoos along the way, has given me some new hot takes:
- Dresden is better than Magdeburg.
- Prague's worst area (polar bears aside) is not the big cat house, but the hornbills in the Pheasantry.
- Blackburn Pavilion (London) is a better bird house than Sichuan Pavilion (Prague).
- Neither Sichuan or Africa Up Close are even top five (maybe ten) exhibits at Prague.
- If it weren't for 'Journey on the High Seas' (10 million litre open ocean tank), Oceanopolis Brest would be a better aquarium than Nausicaa
- London is top five zoos in the UK.
- Ring-tailed Lemurs are wonderful additions to any zoo that I don't tire of seeing, unlike meerkats.
If anyone disagrees with the above statements, I would be happy to explain myself in a follow-up post.
It is all a matter of opinion, of course, and I admit that I throw around the word 'better' a lot more than I should do, as defining quality is a subjective matter. Perhaps I should say that 'I prefer Dresden to Magdeburg,' but then would it really be a hot take? 
Two things I should disclose, however. I haven't visited Nausicaa since the ocean tank opened, so my opinion that Oceanopolis is better may or may not still apply even once said tank is taken into consideration (although I doubt it), and I am basing my above opinion purely on what I have seen. Also, when I say London is top five in the country, I am making the bold and possibly incorrect assumption that none of the UK zoos I have not visited can surpass it. Notable zoos I haven't got round to yet are Hamerton, Jersey and Yorkshire, which I can't see myself preferring to London from what I can tell, but I really can't comment until I have visited those three.
- Dresden is better than Magdeburg.
- Prague's worst area (polar bears aside) is not the big cat house, but the hornbills in the Pheasantry.
- Blackburn Pavilion (London) is a better bird house than Sichuan Pavilion (Prague).
- Neither Sichuan or Africa Up Close are even top five (maybe ten) exhibits at Prague.
- If it weren't for 'Journey on the High Seas' (10 million litre open ocean tank), Oceanopolis Brest would be a better aquarium than Nausicaa
- London is top five zoos in the UK.
- Ring-tailed Lemurs are wonderful additions to any zoo that I don't tire of seeing, unlike meerkats.
If anyone disagrees with the above statements, I would be happy to explain myself in a follow-up post.
It is all a matter of opinion, of course, and I admit that I throw around the word 'better' a lot more than I should do, as defining quality is a subjective matter. Perhaps I should say that 'I prefer Dresden to Magdeburg,' but then would it really be a hot take? Two things I should disclose, however. I haven't visited Nausicaa since the ocean tank opened, so my opinion that Oceanopolis is better may or may not still apply even once said tank is taken into consideration (although I doubt it), and I am basing my above opinion purely on what I have seen. Also, when I say London is top five in the country, I am making the bold and possibly incorrect assumption that none of the UK zoos I have not visited can surpass it. Notable zoos I haven't got round to yet are Hamerton, Jersey and Yorkshire, which I can't see myself preferring to London from what I can tell, but I really can't comment until I have visited those three.
Zhao yun
Well-Known Member
I question your view about the Blackburne Pavilion. While it was a fun experience, the Prague Zoo's Sichuan house is probably(never been there) , more aesthetically pleasing and also has a yellownape, which is quite rare. London's bird house is anything but immersive.A summer of travelling, visiting some great zoos along the way, has given me some new hot takes:
- Dresden is better than Magdeburg.
- Prague's worst area (polar bears aside) is not the big cat house, but the hornbills in the Pheasantry.
- Blackburn Pavilion (London) is a better bird house than Sichuan Pavilion (Prague).
- Neither Sichuan or Africa Up Close are even top five (maybe ten) exhibits at Prague.
- If it weren't for 'Journey on the High Seas' (10 million litre open ocean tank), Oceanopolis Brest would be a better aquarium than Nausicaa
- London is top five zoos in the UK.
- Ring-tailed Lemurs are wonderful additions to any zoo that I don't tire of seeing, unlike meerkats.
If anyone disagrees with the above statements, I would be happy to explain myself in a follow-up post.
Two things I should disclose, however. I haven't visited Nausicaa since the ocean tank opened, so my opinion that Oceanopolis is better may or may not still apply even once said tank is taken into consideration (although I doubt it), and I am basing my above opinion purely on what I have seen. Also, when I say London is top five in the country, I am making the bold and possibly incorrect assumption that none of the UK zoos I have not visited can surpass it. Notable zoos I haven't got round to yet are Hamerton, Jersey and Yorkshire, which I can't see myself preferring to London from what I can tell, but I really can't comment until I have visited those three.
The yellownape is dead
They are both great to look at and more superior to the little red menace known as the red panda.
Maybe I don’t have a say in this since I haven’t been to any of these collections (including London), but from an outside perspective here are my takes.
- Feel free to believe that I am coping over not having been there before the collection lost some notable specimens, but to me Hamerton just feels like “that place with the rarities” nothing more nothing less.
- Jersey’s quality seems to stem more from its field work.
- Yorkshire seems impressive with both exhibits and species roster but personally I feel like it could use an exhibit for smaller critters (albeit this stems from my bias towards indoor exhibits such as bird and reptile houses)
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
That is the one where I most regret the use of the word 'better,' as while I didn't enjoy Sichuan as much as others, I admit that the concept (focusing on colder-climate birds) is brilliant and being able to see hoopoes and laughingthrushes in flight was a special experience. However, I think the use of some tropical vegetation (such as palm trees) in a temparate house and the fact that the pathway only covers a small portion of the hall made it feel a bit underwhelming for me. It is also worth noting that the yellownape sadly passed away in 2022, so Prague no longer keeps the species (although with Scaly Laughingthrush there are still some great rarities in there), and with London having the only Scarlet-chested Sunbirds in captivity, the only Splendid Sunbirds in Europe, as well as Javan Green Magpies, Collared Trogon and Grosbeak Starling (not all of which are in the main walkthrough, though), the rarity side of the debate is far from one-sided at the moment. I also think that what London lacks in terms of natural elements it makes up for with the combination of the historic setting and wire fronting of all aviaries that ensures wingbeats and halls can be heard throughout the exhibit.
Overall it comes down to personal preference, but for me, being able to sit or stand anywhere in an old, Victorian building and find yourselves surrounded by starlings, laughingthrushes and sunbirds in flight, or standing beneath a nesting bird, or having a crowned-pigeon cross your pathway, far exceeds anything that my time in Sichuan offered. Spending just 10 minutes in Sichuan versus at least 10 hours in Blackburn over 20 or so London Zoo visits makes this opinion quite biassed indeed.
Those are precisely the reasons that I considered when I said that 'I can't see myself preferring them to London." Hopefully, a visit to Hamerton in early 2025 (if all goes according to plan) could allow me to form my own opinion there.
cerperal
Well-Known Member
Set of absolute banger hot takes there. I think I agree with all of them. Sichuan is fantastic but I think suffers from a level of mythos that has made it out to be the best thing since sliced bread. Blackburn Pavilion is possibly the best bird house in a European zoo.
Africa Up Close is very good indeed but not a standout, especially compared to other complexes in that area of the zoo.
It still surprises me that London being top 5 is a controversial statement. It really shouldn't be, as aside from a few areas of misuse and several important species disappearing in recent years (such as the anteaters) it's a world-class city zoo.
My own hot take donation, also about Prague - the Northern Forest is dreadfully set out. Certain species have very poor viewing, such as the eurasian elk, the entire place is surprisingly maze-like and I don't particularly enjoy having to take a 15 minute detour in order to view animals that are sleeping up against an overlooking wall. It could really do with some cut-throughs, which I note are marked on the map but greyed out so I assume are used for staff only. In fact I'd argue that the entire top of the hill is a bit of a mess, and could do with at the very least new signposting or improved maps.
That certainly is a hot take, unless one considers Switzerland and Austria to be outside of Europe
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cerperal
Well-Known Member
I think my use of the word house is doing some heavy lifting there. It doesn't have the widest collection, it doesn't have the largest floor space, but what it does have is beautiful Victorian architecture, a homely, informal feel (if that makes sense), a constant stream of endangered chicks and birds that show no fear of guests. But hey I guess that's what this thread is forThat certainly is a hot take, unless one considers Switzerland and Austria to be outside of Europe
RandomZooVisitorYT
Well-Known Member
- Ring-tailed Lemurs are wonderful additions to any zoo that I don't tire of seeing, unlike meerkats.
How common are ring tailed lemurs in Europe? In the states they are pretty common
How common are ring tailed lemurs in Europe? In the states they are pretty common
Zhao yun
Well-Known Member
Most of the zoos there have some. When I last went to Europe, the only zoo I saw without them was Aquatis.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
I completely agree with the Northern Forest-Plains-Across the Continents area being labyrinthine and hard to navigate. The map gives the illusion of it being spaced out while the rest of the zoo looks much more compact and hard to navigate. And yet, this was the only area in the zoo that I actually got lost in (other than a brief moment in Water World and Monkey Islands). That said, and this comes down massively to personal experience, I quite liked the viewing areas in Northern Forest, especially that for the moose. I got very lucky to have a bull wading in a pool inches from one of the raised platforms, with a cow sat down just behind him, and admit that it would have been infuriating if he was at the far end of the paddock, but I was personally really fond of this enclosure. The tiger and wolf enclosures having multiple angles was lovely, as well.
I think you hit the nail on the head when criticising Sichuan's mythos. Expectations can make or break anything in life, and Sichuan couldn't quite live up to what I had heard about it from others. Similar things can be said about Africa Up Close, although there I think that the tiny rodent exhibits, likely less than half a cubic metre, were equally as significant a factor. Glad to hear that you agree with me about Blackburn's excellence. I'm not too fond of bird houses (one of my favourite aspects of Prague, for example, was the fact that they spread their collection throughout the grounds, integrating it brilliantly into large mammal exhibits), but I could spend hours there and would even go so far as to say that it is the best exhibit in the UK overall
Very. ZTL lists 485 holders of Ring-tailed Lemurs in Europe. I believe only Meerkats and Bennett's Wallabies are more common among non-domestics, hence why thinking that they are exciting animals is such a hot take. To be honest, before spending a good ten minutes admiring them at Dresden, where they always seemed to be lively and occupied, I too dismissed them as being common and therefore not of interest to a zoo enthusiast.
My hot take - it´s actually hippos. Hippo enclosure opened 2012 and underwent reconstruction in 2020. 10 mio euro spent and hippos still live on tiny piece of concrete.
cerperal
Well-Known Member
Crikey, it's that recent? I'd be inclined to agree with you especially with the recent issues with the house/filtration. It looks like an 80s exhibit, I have no idea why they don't have the paddock next door as well and the bongos moved elsewhere.My hot take - it´s actually hippos. Hippo enclosure opened 2012 and underwent reconstruction in 2020. 10 mio euro spent and hippos still live on tiny piece of concrete.
The fact that this is overlooked (which I am also guilty of) is considered a hot take is pretty sad. Hippopotami always get the short end of the stick amongst pachyderms and the only solutions zoo have is to either phase hippopotami for good or bring back pygmy hippopotami back.My hot take - it´s actually hippos. Hippo enclosure opened 2012 and underwent reconstruction in 2020. 10 mio euro spent and hippos still live on tiny piece of concrete.
A hot take amongst zoo nerds that is. Otherwise guests love them which is why they are all iver the place.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
I agree with this thoroughly. The two lovely deep pools with underwater viewing no doubt distracts most visitors and zoo enthusiasts from the fact that a grazing animal has no grass at all! Strange that a zoo of Prague's calibre seems to have spent 10 million on a visitor experience with the underwater viewing and not really given the animals a second thought. I agree that the hippo enclosure is bad, but at least they have a big pool to swim in, whereas the hornbills can't even fly for more than a second. Both are worse than the big cat enclosures which I found to be very much 'overhated,' as asides from the woeful aesthetics indoors they are actually fairly decent enclosures, especially the tiger and fishing cat ones (felt as though I needed a positive Prague-related hot take, as my previous three were all criticising it when it is an outstanding zoo!My hot take - it´s actually hippos. Hippo enclosure opened 2012 and underwent reconstruction in 2020. 10 mio euro spent and hippos still live on tiny piece of concrete.
).
It's not even in the top three I would argue
Zoo Berlin, Walsrode, Vienna and Antwerp all beat the Blackburn hands down, and that's just off the top of my head.I'd say this is an even hotter take
cerperal
Well-Known Member
Perhaps a hotter take would be that I don't particularly rate the Berlin bird house very highly. It's laid out terribly with multiple repeating exhibits in the wrong continent sections, the walk-throughs are sparse and a lot of the cages are sparse-r. Saving graces come in the form of the several rarities and the brilliant kiwi room. The Tierpark's Pheasantry is far superior to me.It's not even in the top three I would argue
That being said...I think the Zoo's Pheasantry is very good and a standout of the zoo that isn't mentioned enough. Vienna is also very good but for as much as I like it, I can't help but feel like it's always little empty due to the birds often staying far from the visitor path.
Blackburn when combined with the attached aviaries outside the main building to me is the perfect mix of species, architecture, history and visitor experience. It's the first bird house I've been to that people properly stop to pay attention.
It's also a nice break from the weather.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Typo on my part. I meant to say 'favourite' not 'best'!I'd say this is an even hotter take
It's not even in the top three I would argue
Of those zoos, I have only been to Antwerp, and the indoor portion of the bird house was closed on my visit, so I can't comment. But judging from the size of the house, which I was of course able to judge in person, the images online, the fairly sparse outdoors (not bad, but not comparable to those at Blackburn) and the lack of a walkthrough section (more of a subjective criteria, but for me a great bird house is incomplete without one), I struggle to see how Antwerp's house could be better than London's, and would be curious to hear your reasoning as to why you think this is.
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