I don't think I've ever reviewed properly a zoo, let's give it a try.
Warning : "well planted" is used way too many times
It is a pretty secretive zoo I believe, as I had never really heard anything about it.
Googling didn't give me anything good except for the new tapir - macaque exhibit, as most of the pictures I saw were of the zebras, who are not very tricky to house properly, and the monkeys who, on the picture, appeared to live in mediocre basic exhibits.
The zoo has a really well done website, with a full species list and a very apealing design.
It was a very very very good surprise. Maybe due to my lower expectations after seeing random pictures on Google.
Let's get started.
It is not only a zoo, but also a botanical garden. I'm not really into plants and that but I gotta say it really adds something to the zoo, as the different gardens are well dispersed throughout the zoo.
Special mention to the part focusing on Alsace's plants, with an educationnal exhibit about the comeback of European pond turtles in the region.
Now on to the animals. They house an astonishing 31 taxons of primates, with quite the rarities (3 nomascus species, Blue-eyed lemurs, Crowned sifakas, Gray-headed lemurs...), a good selection of ungulates (Kulan, Okapi, Visayan spotted deer, Malayan tapir...) and 17 carnivore species.
Bird wise, it was a pleasure to visit a french zoo that actually took care of having a great selection of species. As @lintworm talked about in his thread, French zoos really have little consideration for the smaller birds, and it can be a bit tiring seeing the same species over and over.
With 70 taxons, the collection is pretty diverse and if you like birds, there is plenty to see.
Among the rarities and pleasing species, my highlights were Pink pigeons, Horned parakeets, Peruvian thick-knee and African pygmy-goose.
The zoo entrance is uphill, it goes down for a bit then it's pretty much flat, and the zoo uses the terrain and the forest that's around very well.
Ok let's get on to the exhibits. I went straight ahead when I entered to the zoo and walked to a pretty huge paddock for Muskox. I saw a male and two females, I believe the male is of a different subspecies. Nothing exceptionnal, except for the forest background and the fencing that was all rocks and wood. Good exhibit, nothing to say.
In front of it, a huge exhibit for two Snow foxes. Glad I came very early as the two animals were only active around 9AM, then they slept all day. It's a downhill exhibit, cut out in the forest. A very dark enclosure, where the snowflake like animals really stand out.
Then you walk for a minute or so and you have these two huge Polar bear enclosures. Each of them was maybe 50m long and 25m wide. I'm saying by eye, eye whose really not used to measuring anything, anyway, really big. Didn't see any bear though.
Next to it an equally big Canadian timber wolf exhibit. I saw 5 wolves, almost each of them had a different coat color, very pleasing. One cream, one grey, two black ones and the last was grey-black.
After the wolves, the cats. A pretty big piece of forest holds Eurasian lynx. I only saw one, who came down for me to take pictures then went back up on one of the tree, a huge tree but the cat stopped at around 7m high on a branch. Behind this exhibit, there is a small average smallish exhibit for a Manul. Seems like they never move anyway so why give them a bigger pen, I've never seen one do something.
In front of the lynx, all the other cat species exhibits go downhill. A well planted Cloud leopards netter enclosure, the viewing glass gives a good view of everything while giving to the cats the privacy they need. The 3 youngsters were very active. Then 2 Snow leopards and Amur leopards have similar smallish exhibits. However, they're so well thought (plant and rock wise) that they seem way larger and I think the cats requirement are met. Small but really pleasing for the human eye.
I just realized how I can't just go on and talk about every single exhibit so I'm only going to talk about what's interesting from now on.
Going downhill, left to the cat area, they have what they call the Hatching house where you can basically see younger birds hatch and grow up before they're old enough to join the bigger aviaries.
If you keep going downhill you end up on flat ground and a pretty cool rocky hill strikes you in the back, so you end going there and discover a really nice exhibit for Yellow-footed rock wallaby and a couple of Red kangaroos, with actual rocks in it.
In front of that the 3 Nomascus species have their own part of the park. Three not so big netter exhibits. 2 were pretty bare, one was really well planted. The species are the highlights here, 2 of the 3 enclosures not so much.
Then onto a Prague like (but smaller) walkthtough aviary with 4 different rooms. First one holds Scarlet ibis, Nicobar pigeon, a single Edward's pheasant, White-faced and Fulvous whistling ducks and Bali mynahs. Second room holds Roseate spoonbills, Pink pigeons, Bush thick-knees, White-winged ducks. Third room had a Red-crested turaco, a single African pygmy-goose, a couple of Plumed whistling ducks and a single Mindanao bleeding-heart. Last one had Egyptian vultures and many Bald ibis. The proximity you have to the birds, especially early in the morning is really awesome. They're very well planted aviaries that are really pleasing to the eye and I had a really easy time getting nice pictures with the good decor.
Just by the exit are exhibited the Horned parakeets, a single Masked lapwing and a couple of Ferruginous duck. Also an unsigned and still unindentified dove species.
Next to it a big aviary with a White-cheeked turaco, two Madagascar ibis, a couple of Bernier's teal (with a really cute baby) and a bunch of Pied imperial pigeons.
Then a small aviary holds a couple of Blue-crowned laughingthrushes.
After that you have a good looking Cape penguin and Comb duck exhibit. For some reason the penguin in both Basel and Mulhouse wouldn't swim on the days on my visits.
Then you have two options, going straight ahead by a big Darwin's rheas and Vicunas pen to end up in a nice garden that leads to the Parrots aviaries OR going left to Meerkats and Bush dogs.
We're going left, Meerkats have a nice large exhibit, but I mean meerkats are always exhibited the right way. The Bush dogs have a pretty big enclosure, almost too planted. It was really beautiful, part of the exhibit is a waterfall on a pond, with amazing plants all around, really nice.
Then you want to get your way up a hill full of lemurs, from where we'll get down to the parrots aviaries.
Up the hill, I walked in between a total of 11 lemur exhibits. All pretty old school, you don't see the inside quarters and they're netter enclosures with glass viewing.
There is a sign for pretty much every single lemur, with its birthday, its name and a few fun facts about him. A rather cool feature.
First exhibit holds 4 Crowned sifakas, the exhibit itself is nothing incredible but it's well planted and the Sifakas bounced around without being limited by space. They were all really friendly individuals, this part of the park being pretty remote and uphill, it didn't get as many visitors as the other parts. I had all the time to interact with the sifakas who were really curious about my camera. The older individual came by the glass every time I came back. There was a little space between the glass and the fence in between he would give me small branches. In exchange I gave him some too.
Such an awesome species, with a really cute face and amazing deep eyes. They also look like they're constantly on drugs.
Then all the other exhibits were on the small side, well arranged, some well planted. A couple of Blue-eyed lemur were a highlight, the male recently came from the US.
There was this Blue-eyed lemur - Maki Catta couple also, both were special individuals who didn't get along with their respective species but were apparently made for each other.
The other species exhibited here were the 2 Ruffed lemur species, Red-bellied lemurs, Grey-headed lemurs, Crowned lemurs, Mongoose lemurs and Aloatra bamboo lemurs.
On the way up, and on the way down, are two not good looking aviaries. One is on the small side. They hold Cape parrots and Lady Ross's turacos. Both were no-shows.
Then you go down hill, to your right there is a Flamingo pond with other waterfowl species, and you end up next to the Parrot aviaries. Not so great, they were really bare not planted aviaries, spacious anough bug not really apealing except for the fact that one of them held a couple of Peruvian thick-knees. Really good looking birds.
Then a really long pen holds 4 or 5 Maned wolves. Again, planted well enough, it looks good and the wolves have enough space to wander around. Next on the road a huge exhibit for Red pandas, Muntjac and Asian small-clawed otters. It is huge, but it lacks a bit of vegetation, an exception for this zoo who really masters the art of planting in exhibits.
Keep walking and you'll end up in the Monkey part of the zoo.
First exhibit is a netted with viewing Black-faced spider monkey exhibit. Green enough, a bit on the small side but nothing alarming.
Then on the right you have this magnificient monkey island. More a pit than an island but anyway, heavily planted, filled with 5 or 6 Red titis, a couple of Golden-headed lion tamarins and too many Pied tamarins to count. The interaction between the species, and the non stop activity of the tamarins really made this exhibit stand out as one of the best I've seen for the species. They have everything they need without being on a far away island, meaning they're visible but they can hide if they want to, incredible.
Then in front of this madness, lies a row of old monkey "cages". Not alarmingly small but not big at all. It looks like the zoo tries its hardest to make the best out of these out of the past exhibits, they do decently well on that but I'm pretty sure they're going to rework them in a near future. The row consists of maybe 7 5x5x5m metal "cages". 2 of them are linked and house Yellow-breasted capuchins. One holds Owl-faced guenons. 2 more are linked and occupied by L'Hoest's guenons (with a very cute baby) and the last 2 are also linked, one of them is very well planted to a point where if all were planted like this they'd be good exhibits imo and where Roloway monkeys are exhibited. At the end of the row, in front of the last 2 linked "cages" there is a fairly deep and big, pretty basic White-faced saki exhibit.
Just down from this not so good part, there is a smaller row called Little Amazonia with if I remember correctly 6, maybe 7 3x3x3m glass square exhibits for all kind of Callitrichidae : Pygmy marmosets, Cotton-top tamarins, a Red-handed tamarin, Emperor tamarins, Silvery marmosets and Goeldi's tamarins. Again, they're not very big but this time they're spacious enough and the plant work is really well done, I'd say they're good enough enclosures.
Then a Grévy's zebra paddock, large, nothing special. On the right hand side a bridge that leads you in the middle of a "lake" with waterfowls and flamingoes. But don't take the bridge, keep going, on the left side by the end of the road there is the kid zoo with the friendliest goats I've ever seen, in a walkthrough with also guineafowls. There are also Red river hogs hidden at the end of the kid zoo. Never skip the kid zoo, you never know what you can find. Don't spend too much there though.
After the kid zoo and on your way to the forest there are by the lake two lemur islands, with Ring-tailed lemurs and Red-ruffed lemurs. In front of what the educationnal European pond turtle exhibit.
Then a really deep Barhal - Golden takin exhibit with good rockwork. Next to it a huge pen for Bongos and Ground hornbills. That's where you start entering the forest, first exhibit on the left is a basic understory piece of the forest for Bactrian deers.
On the right side starts a huge, the biggest I've seen, Okapi exhibit. 2 blue cranes also wander around. Half of the exhibit is a brown very earthy forest as only little sun passes through the trees, but the other part is, again, very well planted. The attention payed to planting aesthetically in this zoo is really worth mentioning again and again. The second Okapi has an off-show pen that you can see in the distance. But back to the visible one, part of it is a viewing area where only small rectangles have been cut out of whatever natural material it was to be able to observe the animal without disturbing while he was in the forested part. The very curious individual came by while I was watching and I had the chance of seeing this trully amazing species literally centimeters away from me, great feeling, it is very impressive to see and feel the breath of such a charismatic animal.
Then keep walking uphill in the woods and there is the big enclosure for Sulawesi crested macaques and Malayan tapir, a video was uploaded in the Mulhouse Zoo thread a while back. Very good exhibit, the tapir took a leap of honnor before laying down to sleep the day through. The family of macaques (a couple and their offspring) were pretty active, the male is a pretty impressive specimen, pretty big one.
A few exhibits I haven't talked about :
- A domestic sheep-Cinereous vulture (again non-flying vulture in France), nothing particular to say, good looking, but let these vultures fly
- A duo of paddocks for Addax and Visayas spotted deer
- A huge pen for 3 Bactrian camels and a couple of Kulan, by the restaurant. Simple but beautiful, also the 2 kulans were very playful.
To summarize, a great zoo. They use the forest and their skill with plants really well. The more recent exhibits are all really good, the old ones are pushed to the maximum to make them at least decent. It will take time and money to bring everything up to the standards they seem to have nowadays.
Also, I haven't talked about it yet but they're heavily invested in conservation, they're part of 16 conservation programms. They also coordinate 8 EEP and try their best to educate kids around the zoo. The keeper talks are of high quality and the little details like the signs with all the lemur names are worth a mention.
Great exhibits, great collection and most and foremost, a zoo that has a soul.
Warning : "well planted" is used way too many times
It is a pretty secretive zoo I believe, as I had never really heard anything about it.
Googling didn't give me anything good except for the new tapir - macaque exhibit, as most of the pictures I saw were of the zebras, who are not very tricky to house properly, and the monkeys who, on the picture, appeared to live in mediocre basic exhibits.
The zoo has a really well done website, with a full species list and a very apealing design.
It was a very very very good surprise. Maybe due to my lower expectations after seeing random pictures on Google.
Let's get started.
It is not only a zoo, but also a botanical garden. I'm not really into plants and that but I gotta say it really adds something to the zoo, as the different gardens are well dispersed throughout the zoo.
Special mention to the part focusing on Alsace's plants, with an educationnal exhibit about the comeback of European pond turtles in the region.
Now on to the animals. They house an astonishing 31 taxons of primates, with quite the rarities (3 nomascus species, Blue-eyed lemurs, Crowned sifakas, Gray-headed lemurs...), a good selection of ungulates (Kulan, Okapi, Visayan spotted deer, Malayan tapir...) and 17 carnivore species.
Bird wise, it was a pleasure to visit a french zoo that actually took care of having a great selection of species. As @lintworm talked about in his thread, French zoos really have little consideration for the smaller birds, and it can be a bit tiring seeing the same species over and over.
With 70 taxons, the collection is pretty diverse and if you like birds, there is plenty to see.
Among the rarities and pleasing species, my highlights were Pink pigeons, Horned parakeets, Peruvian thick-knee and African pygmy-goose.
The zoo entrance is uphill, it goes down for a bit then it's pretty much flat, and the zoo uses the terrain and the forest that's around very well.
Ok let's get on to the exhibits. I went straight ahead when I entered to the zoo and walked to a pretty huge paddock for Muskox. I saw a male and two females, I believe the male is of a different subspecies. Nothing exceptionnal, except for the forest background and the fencing that was all rocks and wood. Good exhibit, nothing to say.
In front of it, a huge exhibit for two Snow foxes. Glad I came very early as the two animals were only active around 9AM, then they slept all day. It's a downhill exhibit, cut out in the forest. A very dark enclosure, where the snowflake like animals really stand out.
Then you walk for a minute or so and you have these two huge Polar bear enclosures. Each of them was maybe 50m long and 25m wide. I'm saying by eye, eye whose really not used to measuring anything, anyway, really big. Didn't see any bear though.
Next to it an equally big Canadian timber wolf exhibit. I saw 5 wolves, almost each of them had a different coat color, very pleasing. One cream, one grey, two black ones and the last was grey-black.
After the wolves, the cats. A pretty big piece of forest holds Eurasian lynx. I only saw one, who came down for me to take pictures then went back up on one of the tree, a huge tree but the cat stopped at around 7m high on a branch. Behind this exhibit, there is a small average smallish exhibit for a Manul. Seems like they never move anyway so why give them a bigger pen, I've never seen one do something.
In front of the lynx, all the other cat species exhibits go downhill. A well planted Cloud leopards netter enclosure, the viewing glass gives a good view of everything while giving to the cats the privacy they need. The 3 youngsters were very active. Then 2 Snow leopards and Amur leopards have similar smallish exhibits. However, they're so well thought (plant and rock wise) that they seem way larger and I think the cats requirement are met. Small but really pleasing for the human eye.
I just realized how I can't just go on and talk about every single exhibit so I'm only going to talk about what's interesting from now on.
Going downhill, left to the cat area, they have what they call the Hatching house where you can basically see younger birds hatch and grow up before they're old enough to join the bigger aviaries.
If you keep going downhill you end up on flat ground and a pretty cool rocky hill strikes you in the back, so you end going there and discover a really nice exhibit for Yellow-footed rock wallaby and a couple of Red kangaroos, with actual rocks in it.
In front of that the 3 Nomascus species have their own part of the park. Three not so big netter exhibits. 2 were pretty bare, one was really well planted. The species are the highlights here, 2 of the 3 enclosures not so much.
Then onto a Prague like (but smaller) walkthtough aviary with 4 different rooms. First one holds Scarlet ibis, Nicobar pigeon, a single Edward's pheasant, White-faced and Fulvous whistling ducks and Bali mynahs. Second room holds Roseate spoonbills, Pink pigeons, Bush thick-knees, White-winged ducks. Third room had a Red-crested turaco, a single African pygmy-goose, a couple of Plumed whistling ducks and a single Mindanao bleeding-heart. Last one had Egyptian vultures and many Bald ibis. The proximity you have to the birds, especially early in the morning is really awesome. They're very well planted aviaries that are really pleasing to the eye and I had a really easy time getting nice pictures with the good decor.
Just by the exit are exhibited the Horned parakeets, a single Masked lapwing and a couple of Ferruginous duck. Also an unsigned and still unindentified dove species.
Next to it a big aviary with a White-cheeked turaco, two Madagascar ibis, a couple of Bernier's teal (with a really cute baby) and a bunch of Pied imperial pigeons.
Then a small aviary holds a couple of Blue-crowned laughingthrushes.
After that you have a good looking Cape penguin and Comb duck exhibit. For some reason the penguin in both Basel and Mulhouse wouldn't swim on the days on my visits.
Then you have two options, going straight ahead by a big Darwin's rheas and Vicunas pen to end up in a nice garden that leads to the Parrots aviaries OR going left to Meerkats and Bush dogs.
We're going left, Meerkats have a nice large exhibit, but I mean meerkats are always exhibited the right way. The Bush dogs have a pretty big enclosure, almost too planted. It was really beautiful, part of the exhibit is a waterfall on a pond, with amazing plants all around, really nice.
Then you want to get your way up a hill full of lemurs, from where we'll get down to the parrots aviaries.
Up the hill, I walked in between a total of 11 lemur exhibits. All pretty old school, you don't see the inside quarters and they're netter enclosures with glass viewing.
There is a sign for pretty much every single lemur, with its birthday, its name and a few fun facts about him. A rather cool feature.
First exhibit holds 4 Crowned sifakas, the exhibit itself is nothing incredible but it's well planted and the Sifakas bounced around without being limited by space. They were all really friendly individuals, this part of the park being pretty remote and uphill, it didn't get as many visitors as the other parts. I had all the time to interact with the sifakas who were really curious about my camera. The older individual came by the glass every time I came back. There was a little space between the glass and the fence in between he would give me small branches. In exchange I gave him some too.
Such an awesome species, with a really cute face and amazing deep eyes. They also look like they're constantly on drugs.
Then all the other exhibits were on the small side, well arranged, some well planted. A couple of Blue-eyed lemur were a highlight, the male recently came from the US.
There was this Blue-eyed lemur - Maki Catta couple also, both were special individuals who didn't get along with their respective species but were apparently made for each other.
The other species exhibited here were the 2 Ruffed lemur species, Red-bellied lemurs, Grey-headed lemurs, Crowned lemurs, Mongoose lemurs and Aloatra bamboo lemurs.
On the way up, and on the way down, are two not good looking aviaries. One is on the small side. They hold Cape parrots and Lady Ross's turacos. Both were no-shows.
Then you go down hill, to your right there is a Flamingo pond with other waterfowl species, and you end up next to the Parrot aviaries. Not so great, they were really bare not planted aviaries, spacious anough bug not really apealing except for the fact that one of them held a couple of Peruvian thick-knees. Really good looking birds.
Then a really long pen holds 4 or 5 Maned wolves. Again, planted well enough, it looks good and the wolves have enough space to wander around. Next on the road a huge exhibit for Red pandas, Muntjac and Asian small-clawed otters. It is huge, but it lacks a bit of vegetation, an exception for this zoo who really masters the art of planting in exhibits.
Keep walking and you'll end up in the Monkey part of the zoo.
First exhibit is a netted with viewing Black-faced spider monkey exhibit. Green enough, a bit on the small side but nothing alarming.
Then on the right you have this magnificient monkey island. More a pit than an island but anyway, heavily planted, filled with 5 or 6 Red titis, a couple of Golden-headed lion tamarins and too many Pied tamarins to count. The interaction between the species, and the non stop activity of the tamarins really made this exhibit stand out as one of the best I've seen for the species. They have everything they need without being on a far away island, meaning they're visible but they can hide if they want to, incredible.
Then in front of this madness, lies a row of old monkey "cages". Not alarmingly small but not big at all. It looks like the zoo tries its hardest to make the best out of these out of the past exhibits, they do decently well on that but I'm pretty sure they're going to rework them in a near future. The row consists of maybe 7 5x5x5m metal "cages". 2 of them are linked and house Yellow-breasted capuchins. One holds Owl-faced guenons. 2 more are linked and occupied by L'Hoest's guenons (with a very cute baby) and the last 2 are also linked, one of them is very well planted to a point where if all were planted like this they'd be good exhibits imo and where Roloway monkeys are exhibited. At the end of the row, in front of the last 2 linked "cages" there is a fairly deep and big, pretty basic White-faced saki exhibit.
Just down from this not so good part, there is a smaller row called Little Amazonia with if I remember correctly 6, maybe 7 3x3x3m glass square exhibits for all kind of Callitrichidae : Pygmy marmosets, Cotton-top tamarins, a Red-handed tamarin, Emperor tamarins, Silvery marmosets and Goeldi's tamarins. Again, they're not very big but this time they're spacious enough and the plant work is really well done, I'd say they're good enough enclosures.
Then a Grévy's zebra paddock, large, nothing special. On the right hand side a bridge that leads you in the middle of a "lake" with waterfowls and flamingoes. But don't take the bridge, keep going, on the left side by the end of the road there is the kid zoo with the friendliest goats I've ever seen, in a walkthrough with also guineafowls. There are also Red river hogs hidden at the end of the kid zoo. Never skip the kid zoo, you never know what you can find. Don't spend too much there though.
After the kid zoo and on your way to the forest there are by the lake two lemur islands, with Ring-tailed lemurs and Red-ruffed lemurs. In front of what the educationnal European pond turtle exhibit.
Then a really deep Barhal - Golden takin exhibit with good rockwork. Next to it a huge pen for Bongos and Ground hornbills. That's where you start entering the forest, first exhibit on the left is a basic understory piece of the forest for Bactrian deers.
On the right side starts a huge, the biggest I've seen, Okapi exhibit. 2 blue cranes also wander around. Half of the exhibit is a brown very earthy forest as only little sun passes through the trees, but the other part is, again, very well planted. The attention payed to planting aesthetically in this zoo is really worth mentioning again and again. The second Okapi has an off-show pen that you can see in the distance. But back to the visible one, part of it is a viewing area where only small rectangles have been cut out of whatever natural material it was to be able to observe the animal without disturbing while he was in the forested part. The very curious individual came by while I was watching and I had the chance of seeing this trully amazing species literally centimeters away from me, great feeling, it is very impressive to see and feel the breath of such a charismatic animal.
Then keep walking uphill in the woods and there is the big enclosure for Sulawesi crested macaques and Malayan tapir, a video was uploaded in the Mulhouse Zoo thread a while back. Very good exhibit, the tapir took a leap of honnor before laying down to sleep the day through. The family of macaques (a couple and their offspring) were pretty active, the male is a pretty impressive specimen, pretty big one.
A few exhibits I haven't talked about :
- A domestic sheep-Cinereous vulture (again non-flying vulture in France), nothing particular to say, good looking, but let these vultures fly
- A duo of paddocks for Addax and Visayas spotted deer
- A huge pen for 3 Bactrian camels and a couple of Kulan, by the restaurant. Simple but beautiful, also the 2 kulans were very playful.
To summarize, a great zoo. They use the forest and their skill with plants really well. The more recent exhibits are all really good, the old ones are pushed to the maximum to make them at least decent. It will take time and money to bring everything up to the standards they seem to have nowadays.
Also, I haven't talked about it yet but they're heavily invested in conservation, they're part of 16 conservation programms. They also coordinate 8 EEP and try their best to educate kids around the zoo. The keeper talks are of high quality and the little details like the signs with all the lemur names are worth a mention.
Great exhibits, great collection and most and foremost, a zoo that has a soul.
Last edited:
