Zoo(s) with the most species

Very interesting thread since I have been dealing with this topic for a while. I did some research on it, compiled lists etc.

To my knowledge the top ten of the largest collections worldwide are (institution/number of taxa/valid as of):
1) Berlin (Zoologischer Garten) / 1571 / 2011
2) Chicago (Shedd Aquarium) / 1443 / 2006
3) Plzen (Zoo including AkvaTera) / 1308 /2010
4) Tokyo (Sea Life Park) / 1168 / 2006
5) Stuttgart (Wilhelma) / 1136 / 2009
6) Moscow (Zoo) / 1127 / 2011
6) Omaha (Henry Doorly Zoo) / 1127 / 2008
8) Madrid (Zoo & Aquarium) / 989 / 2006
9) Toba (Aquarium) / 947 / 2006
10)Wroclaw (Zoo) / 876 / 2010

But leaving out fishes and invertebrates, which are boosting the stock lists of some institutions, you get a totally different list with only four parks of the previous list left (institution/total number of higher vertebrate taxa/valid as of):
1) Plzen (Zoo including AkvaTera) / 1028 / 2010
2) San Diego (Zoo) / 793 / 2008
3) Moscow (Zoo) / 701 / 2011
4) Berlin (Tierpark) / 676 / 2011
5) Walsrode (Bird Park) 651 / 2009
6) Omaha (Henry Doorly Zoo) / 646 / 2008
7) Berlin (Zoologischer Garten) / 610 / 2011
8) Prague (Zoo) / 575 / 2009
9) Pretoria (National Zoo) / 537 / 2006
10)Houston (Zoo) / 520 / 2008

Of course all these rankings were compiled using incomplete data. Especially from Japan only outdated numbers were available. And after visting Pretoria Zoo last year, I guess they wouldn't be among the Top 10 any more.
I'd be very happy for any remarks/updates or submissions of numbers.
 
According to figures in the 2011 International Zoo Yearbook, the top 10 zoos for different animal groups are as follows:

Mammals: 1. Pilsen 241; 2. Tshwane Gauteng (Pretoria) 209; 3. San Diego192; 4. Berlin Tierpark 191; 5. Omaha 185; 6. Berlin Zoo 177; 7. Moscow175; 8. Seoul 171; 9. Prague 167; 10. New York Bronx 166

Birds: 1. Walsrode 627; 2. Pilsen 505; 3. Jurong Bird Park 460; 4. Berlin Tierpark 389; 5. San Diego 365; 6. Berlin Zoo 354; 7. Cape Town World of Birds 332; 8. Cambron-Casteau 300; 9. Moscow 293; 10. Puerto de la Cruz291

Reptiles: 1. Tula 413; 2. Isla Cristina 265; 3. Pilsen 248; 4. San Diego 238;
5. St Louis 188; 6. Omaha 186; 7. Moscow 174; 8. Thurmont 166; 9. Wroclaw 161; 10. Houston 158

Amphibians: 1. Pilsen 59; 2. Toledo 58; 3. Moscow 57; 4. Nagoya 56; 5. Chemnitz 55; 6. Houston 54; 7. St Louis 53; 8. Omaha 53; 9. Detroit 52;
10. Tokyo Ueno 50

Fishes: 1. Chicago Aquarium (Aq) 1026; 2. Madrid 680; 3. Motobu Aq 621;
4. Oarai Aq 583; 5. Osaka Aq 565; 6. Toba Aq 559; 7. Berlin Zoo 511; 8. Stuttgart 503; 9. Kamogawa Aq 503; 10. Genova Aq 500

Invertebrates: 1. Isla Cristina 800; 2. Tokyo Sea Life 589; 3. Motobu Aq494; 4. Boston Aq 368; 5. Amsterdam 353; 6. Omaha 327; 7. Oarai Aq 324;
8. Toba Aq 329; 9. Chicago Aq 317; 10. Berlin Zoo 303

Total collection: 1. Berlin Zoo 1468; 2. Chicago Aq 1433; 3. Pilsen 1381; 4. Omaha 1295; 5. Stuttgart 1138; 6. Moscow 1131; 7. Motobu Aq 1126; 8. Tokyo Sea Life 1102; 9. Isla Cristina 1072; 10. Toba Aq 993

Please note these figures don't include zoos that haven't sent figures for a couple of years. They also exclude most Chinese zoos.
 
I visited Pilsen in 2010 and no wonder it's probably my favorite zoo I've ever been to. It's not even that large in size yet it's #1 in total mammal species, #2 in birds, #3 in reptiles and #1 in amphibians!! 241 mammal species! That's about 30% of the total mammal species I've seen in the past 20 years at 110 Zoos around the world!
 
Thanks Giant Eland

I enjoyed my visit to Pilsen in 2011. Apart from a few run-down enclosures and the winter quarters for some animals, the zoo was better than I thought it would be and didn't seem crammed. I expected that some of the enclosures would be similar to the rows of small cages in London Zoo's Bird House a few decades ago, but this was not the case. Pilsen also has a large percentage of species that are unique to the zoo, but I think quite a few were off-show during my visit.

I'm gradually compiling figures from the 2012 International Zoo Yearbook and I'll add them to this site.
 
The large number of off-show species in Pilsen is something that bothers me, but most visitors don´t care about x species of mice. The zoo tries to go more mainstreem and is acquiring additional 13 hectars to add some new big animals like elephants, orangs and tapirs. I expect the number of species in Pilsen to increase a little bit in the next 5 years or so.

I would like to see numbers from the important chinese collections.
Is the latest yearbook somewhere on internet?
 
Hallo Jana

The International Zoo Yearbook used to include figures for Shanghai Zoo and I seem to remember figures for Beijing several years ago. The 2012 edition hasn't got any figures for any Chinese zoo.

As far as I know, the International Zoo Yearbook information isn't available on the internet.
 
At the begining of 2012 Wrocław Zoo had approximately 930 species. Now there are a bit less. Almost 770 species are on public display.
 
Sun Wukong said:
When You also count in historical husbandries (as You seem to do, regarding Your behaviour in another thread...), I would also mention

-Bronx Zoo
-Frankfurt
-Duisburg
-Hamburg
-Vogelpark Walsrode
-London
-Antwerp
-Rotterdam
-Naples
-Cincinnati
-Paris (at least one of them)
-Jurong
-Dallas Aquarium
-Poznan

...and maybe other zoos like Hannover, Stuttgart etc. If You look at the old records, You know what I mean. Although not all the species mentioned there have been kept in the particular zoo at the same time, the numbers of species that have at least once been kept, especially in certain "rarity collections" like in Frankfurt or Duisburg are highly impressive.

In terms of current collections, besides the already mentioned zoos of Berlin (where the amount of species kept was even far more impressive in the times of Lutz Heck or Dathe, resp.), I would also list the Shedd Aquarium, Moscow and Pilsen Zoo and Al Wabra Wildlife Reserve.
Click to expand...

What about Omaha
 
@ Zoosandstuff : Al Wabra surtainly has an intresting collection but in species-numbers they surtainly NOT belong to the largest ( even not to the normal large ones ! )

By looking to histrical numbers Artis in Amsterdam surtainly belonged to the very big ones ( if I remember right they have had for a very long time the Dutch record ).
The International Zoo Yearbook mentions for 1980 no less then 1270 species.
 
vogelcommando said:
@ Zoosandstuff : Al Wabra surtainly has an intresting collection but in species-numbers they surtainly NOT belong to the largest ( even not to the normal large ones ! )

By looking to histrical numbers Artis in Amsterdam surtainly belonged to the very big ones ( if I remember right they have had for a very long time the Dutch record ).
The International Zoo Yearbook mentions for 1980 no less then 1270 species.
Click to expand...

doesn't The Berlin Zoo have the most species?
 
Yes, as already mentioned earlier Berlin (almost 1500 species) is the zoo with most species.

This wasn't disputed in Vogelcommando's post; he simply noted that Artis (Amsterdam) "belonged to the very big ones" and that is entirely correct.
 
According to the International Zoo Yearbook vol 47(the latest edition but still 2011 figures) the Shedd Aquarium has 1638 species,Zoo Berlin 1571 species.Ive been to Al Wabra - a fascinating,indeed unique, collection but not a huge one in species terms.
 
Needless to say, I'd love to go to all three of those collections ;) hopefully will be getting Berlin done in 2014, but lord knows when (or if) I would ever get to visit the other two.
 
In my dream zoo list I have written over 1900 species. Wow, I would like to see that zoo in real life. Origenealy I wanted to have more than 2500 species, but I could not find information about enough species that is reaseneably common to keep in captivity. However I would like to get a list of some of the species I have missed from my list so I at least would have more than 2000 species. I think it is stupid that so many zoos cut back in species because they want to have more space for the species they have left, when there are examples of suck instituions as Plzen where they do not comprimise the animal welfare even though they have many species.
 
Tim Brown said:
According to the International Zoo Yearbook vol 47(the latest edition but still 2011 figures) the Shedd Aquarium has 1638 species,Zoo Berlin 1571 species.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I completely forgot Shedd, but of course one could argue if it belongs among zoos. Then again, a fair percentage of Berlin's collection is in their aquarium. The last figure from Berlin, December 2012, is at 1474 species. The fall from Dec. 2011 to Dec. 2012 is mainly caused by fewer invertebrates and fish.
 
Moscow zoo has 1227 taxons (including domestics) - this figure is from 2021 and covers 3 sites - the zoo proper, the off-show breeding centre outside Moscow and a children zoo also outside Moscow. That would put it +- on par with Berlin zoo I guess.
mammals - 206 species, birds - 293, reptiles - 305, amphibians - 57, fish - 139, invertebrates - 227
 
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