ZooChat Cup Group D2: Cologne vs Zurich

[CGSwans]

Somebody’s got to beat Zurich at some point in this tournament, right? So far it’s accounted for Antwerp, Leipzig, Bronx and San Diego. Now Cologne takes its best shot with South and Central America.

 

[amur leopard]

To begin with, it is great to see you back! Hope the wedding and the speech went well and you have a great break from out pestering

And I have a feeling Zurich will win this one too

Koln species list:

Capybara
Eastern pygmy marmoset
Giant anteater
Golden lion tamarin
Golden-handed tamarin
Patagonian mara
Red-bellied tamarin
South American tapir
Southern pudu
Venezuelan black howler
Weddell's saddle-backed tamarin
Western pygmy marmoset
Yellow breasted capuchin

Zurich species list:

Bearded emperor tamarin
Bolivian squirrel monkey
Capybara
Giant anteater
Golden lion tamarin
Guanaco
Linnaeus' two toed sloth
Plains viscacha
South American coati
South American tapir
Southern tamandua
Spectacled bear
St Vincent agouti
Vicuna
Western pygmy marmoset
White faced saki
Yellow-breasted capuchin

That is 17-13 in favour of Zurich in mammals. However, I think Cologne probably defeats it in Birds due to their extensive waterfowl collection.

 

[antonmuster]

Zurich has been rather lucky with these last two draws. In the current category, it has three exceptional areas/enclosures: The 'Sangay' spectacled bear and coati enclosure, the pantanal area, and the exotarium (which is predominantly focussed on South American species). In addition, there is a full set of South American camelids (plus Darwin's rhea) in the top-left section of the zoo, in appropriate though unspectacular enclosures.

Cologne, if I remember correctly, has some nice South American bits and pieces throughout the zoo - but nothing comparably memorable as the three above-mentioned areas in Zurich.

 

[antonmuster]

The spectacled bear and coati enclosure was presented e.g. here:

Some pictures from Zurich for comparison. Thoughts likely to follow later.

Spectacled bear and coati

left enclosure overview panorama (bottom viewpoint)


left enclosure top viewpoint


left enclosure left viewpoint panorama


left enclosure bottom viewpoint detail

middle enclosure panorama

right enclosure panorama







-> on zoolex ZooLex Exhibit - Spectacled Bears

 

[antonmuster]

Pantanal

Ranger's hut outlook on monkey islands panorama

Capybara

Golden-bellied capuchin island 2 panorama

Flamingo

tapir, capibara, anteater & friends enclosure: Section 3, viewpoint 1 panorama

tapir, capibara, anteater & friends enclosure: Main section, viewpoint 1 panorama

Capuchin

Black-capped squirrel monkey house, indoor holding panorama

...indoor housing for tapir, capybara, and anteater is in the exotarium and viewable to the public: A line of fairly spaceous, adequately functional stables (no pictures in the gallery).

The entire ca 7'500 m2 Pantanal area of the zoo is scheduled to be covered with a large aviary until 2023 - see

Big press release today: Medien-Apéro Dezember: Ausblicke | Zoo Zürich

- three elephants expected to give birth in 2020
- 'lewa' savanna to open on 9 April. Many animals have already arrived and are currently in quarantie.
- 'pantanal' aviary planned for 2023. The entire area (ca. 7'500 sqm according to online maps) is planned to be covered with an aviary.
- new enclosure for gorillas uphill of lewa in planning for 2025 (ca. 1 ha; there are delays with the planning application).
- new enclosure for orang utans planned in current location, once gorillas have moved.

 

[antonmuster]

Exotarium & Aquarium

Impressions & enclosures (selection)

Floor-level visitor corridor

Terrarium subsection

Free flight hall (with ca. 20 South American bird species)

Scarlett ibis aviary

Golden lion tamarin ground floor viewpoint

Golden lion tamarin upstairs viewpoint

Emperor tamarin

Ground level viewpoint of agouti/motmot/white faced saki enclosure

Upstairs viewpoint of agouti/motmot/white faced saki enclosure

Burrowing owl and plains viscacha (one of two interconnected enclosures)

Dendrobate terrarium (there is a fairly large collection of poison dart frogs in the exotarium)

Yellow anaconda

 

[antonmuster]

Exotarium animals (selection)

Electric eel

Piranha

Ranitomeya reticulata

Atelopus hoogmoedi nassaui

Two-toed sloth

Green iguana

White-faced saki

Channel-billed toucan

Southern tamandua

 

[ThylacineAlive]

Anyone want to make an argument for Cologne before I vote 3-0 Zurich?

~Thylo

 

[lintworm]

Anyone want to make an argument for Cologne before I vote 3-0 Zurich?

~Thylo

Cologne is pretty unlucky that their S-American house will only be ready in 2 years and by then the number of species on-show would increase clearly.

The current S-American section is rather small with a large Tapir + Capybara paddock and another spacious and well-landscaped complex with Anteater and Pudu. Most S-American monkeys are in temporary holdings, which are somewhat ugly, but not bad.

Additionally to that there are large numbers of waterfowl in well-landscaped ponds / enclosures throughout the zoo. In the bird complex there are a view moderately sized aviaries with S-American species, mostly rather commong like Roseate spoonbill, Boat-billed heron & Toco toucan, but also Green oropendola.

The Aquarium - Terrarium has some S-American freshwater tanks (certainly more and of equal quality as the 2 in Zurich) and it must have quite some reptiles and amphibians, but I cannot clearly remember which species are currently on show.

Based on bird, reptile, amphibian and fish collection Cologne would surely win. But it does not have any real stand-out enclosures and the Bear enclosure in Zurich is a thing of beauty. The Pantanal part in Zurich is a bit boring (still good, but Zurich has a very high level...) and non-flying Macaws are a minus point for me, though I am sure they are a left-over of earlier times. The Exotarium in Zuerich is very interesting, especially collection-wise. I am not a big fan of the Callichthrid and Tamandua enclosures there, but the free-flight makes up for a lot.

 

[Malawi]

Whenever I see photo from Zürich, they seem to be in their own exhibitry class.

 

[pipaluk]

Anyone want to make an argument for Cologne before I vote 3-0 Zurich?

~Thylo

Only the mammal list has been posted so far and the only really unusual species held are Weddell's Tamarin & Red Howler for Cologne which possibly trump the Plains Viscacha at Zurich, though Zurich have better looking exhibits. I am voting 2-1 Zurich for now until the species lists are posted for birds & herps.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

Only the mammal list has been posted so far and the only really unusual species held are Weddell's Tamarin & Red Howler for Cologne which possibly trump the Plains Viscacha at Zurich, though Zurich have better looking exhibits. I am voting 2-1 Zurich for now until the species lists are posted for birds & herps.

Yeah but based on those exhibits Zurich looks fantastic with a great species list. I know there's still a lot of Cologne information missing, which is why I asked before I vote.

~Thylo

 

[FunkyGibbon]

When I saw this category I thought the following:

Zurich has absolutely the best South American area I have ever seen. (without even considering the Exotarium)

And

It's a pity Cologne is currently building an SA House.

Thus my 3-0 to Zurich.

 

[pipaluk]

Yeah but based on those exhibits Zurich looks fantastic with a great species list. I know there's still a lot of Cologne information missing, which is why I asked before I vote.

~Thylo

Think that is fair enough, but unless Zurich has a far better species list overall, Cologne is worthy of a point. Alternatively if Cologne is way ahead I may vote 2-1 Cologne giving Zurich a point for exhibits