ZooChat Cup Grand Final: Prague vs Berlin Zoo

Who wins the ZooChat Cup?

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
antonmuster said:
This seems to be the new consensus view on Berlin on this site. I just cannot agree with it. For me, Berlin's enclosures for these species are substandard to adequate. Maybe my perception is skewed, because my frame of reference are the bear and/or big cat enclosures in Bern, Zurich, and Arth-Goldau. On the other hand, there are countless other zoos whose enclosures for these species are also leagues better than Berlin's. I think Vienna is a good example of what Berlin could and should be doing - and Vienna is much more restricted space-wise than Berlin, so there really is no excuse. Improving tiny enclosures to smallish ones, with few natural features beyond an open lawn, hardly any cover or space to retreat to always keeping the animals in plain sight of visitors (exception: tigers), and - afaik - little if any behavioral enrichment, a decent enclosure do not make - imo. Perhaps Berlin has improved tremendously under new management in the four years since my last visit - I somehow doubt that though. And regarding felines, this is talking about the comparatively good enclosures. Don't even get me started on the countless under ten square meter bath-tile cells for their smaller carnivores - especially since these enclosures are not an exception (as is Prague's polar bear enclosure), but in many ways reflective of the zoo overall.
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I would like to second this notion! I am constantly amazed that Berlin gets away with their non approvement (to be kind here) of their carnivore section which by way of their plans for the near future does not improve much either.
 
I also switched. to make it 18-18 last night! I think Prague's carnivore enclosures were a step above Berlin's, while Berlin's birds were only slightly ahead of Prague's.

Unfortunately I won't be able to see who won this poll until tonight, but it's for a good reason, I'm off to New York to see the Bronx Zoo! I wouldn't be surprised if Berlin could win it back, however.
 
No pressure folks but there's barely two hours left and one decision could literally determine who wins the entire Cup. If you have a case to make for your choice, well, it's now or never.
 
lintworm said:
Prague's cat house is in no way better than Berlins carnivore house
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You are right. To be honest, when revisiting both zoos in my mind I drew a complete blank on Prague's carnivore house (as in: I didn't even remember it existed). In fact, I was comparing Berlin against the leopard and tiger enclosures on and behind the hill, the cheetah enclosure in the lower section, and to a lesser extent the hyenas near the elephants, all of which are imo nice though not necessarily excellent enclosures. This does shift the comparison between the zoos for me, but not the verdict.
Prague actually has quite a few such remnants from the past that should be considered as inadequate today (as do most zoos). But Berlin seems to embrace this past as if it were the future, while in Prague these remnants seem to be just that, remnants, and the zoo feels very much like it is moving forward. In sum, I just can't identify with Berlin's vision of the future of zoo's and the traces this - imo - outdated vision is leaving in the zoo, whereas Prague's vision and traces of it in the zoo are much more aligned to what I am looking for.
 
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Congratulations Berlin Zoo. A worthy winner, having beaten zoos of such quality as Stuttgart, Cabarceno, Antwerp, Plzen, Burgers and most of all Prague, and many of them on categories where they'd be expected to do well.

That's a wrap for this edition of the ZooChat Cup . 1,183 replies, well over a thousand votes and some genuinely passionate debates later, I'd like to claim it as a successful first go.

I will do a second edition of the European Cup later this year, but before that I'll hand over to @pachyderm pro for a US edition. And @ZooBinh will be having a go at applying the concept to public aquaria some time after that.

When the game does eventually return to Europe it'll be with some major changes that, I hope, will lead to some closer contests, better debates and completely different factors to consider. But more on that anon.

Thanks for playing.
 
Thanks for the game, CGSwans. I only discovered the competition quite late and I haven't voted that much, but I have enjoyed it nevertheless. And what a final it was. It would be nice to see a second edition some day.
 
CGSwans said:
Congratulations Berlin Zoo. A worthy winner, having beaten zoos of such quality as Stuttgart, Cabarceno, Antwerp, Plzen, Burgers and most of all Prague, and many of them on categories where they'd be expected to do well.

That's a wrap for this edition of the ZooChat Cup . 1,183 replies, well over a thousand votes and some genuinely passionate debates later, I'd like to claim it as a successful first go.

I will do a second edition of the European Cup later this year, but before that I'll hand over to @pachyderm pro for a US edition. And @ZooBinh will be having a go at applying the concept to public aquaria some time after that.

When the game does eventually return to Europe it'll be with some major changes that, I hope, will lead to some closer contests, better debates and completely different factors to consider. But more on that anon.

Thanks for playing.
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Good game to all! I can't wait for the next few seasons!
 
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