ZooChat Cup Group D2: Plzen vs San Diego

Plzen vs San Diego: Asia

  • Total voters
    35
  • Poll closed .
Welcome back!

SDZ mammals:

Lion tailed macaque
Silvered leaf langur
Bornean orangutan
Sumatran orangutan
Siamang
North Sulawesi babirusa
Fishing cat
Malayan tapir
Malayan tiger
Arctic fox
Siberian reindeer
Snow leopard
Amur leopard
Rock hyrax
Dromedary camel
Asian elephant
Hamadryas baboon
Honey badger
Red cheeked gibbon
Bornean sun bear
Francois langur
Bornean binturong
Greater one-horned rhinoceros

Plzen mammals

Black tailed garden dormouse
Blackbuck
Brown rat
Campbell's desert hamster
Central Chinese goral
Chinese Reeves' muntjac
Eastern kiang
Eurasian field mouse
Eurasian otter
Eurasian brown bear
European rabbit
Edible dormouse
Fat sand rat
Golden hamster
Great Balkan brush-tailed mouse
Greater one-horned rhinoceros
Indian crested porcupine
Indian flying fox
Javan rusa
Kulan
Lesser Egyptian jerboa
Levant vole
Lion tailed macaque
Mongolian gerbil
Nepalese red panda
North Chinese leopard
Northern Luzon cloud rat
Northern treeshrew
Northern white-cheeked gibbon
Palawan binturong
Palawan leopard cat
Palestina spiny mouse
Pallas's squirrel
Panay brush-tailed cloud rat
Persian jird
Philippine palm civet
Philippine porcupine
Pygmy white-toothed shrew
Roof rat
Shaw's jird
Siberian flying squirrel
Siberian tiger
Snow leopard
Southern Luzon giant cloud rat
Steppe lemming
Syrian jird
Turkish spiny mouse

That makes it 47-23 to Plzen
However SDZ probably have more birds, and 29 of Plzen's mammals are Miscellaneous mammals :)
 
Last edited:
amur leopard said:
However SDZ probably have more birds
Click to expand...
I wonder if that's true... It'd be interesting if someone could make that comparison! The vast majority of Plzen's collection is definitely Asian or Eurasian, and they have a very large bird collection.
 
I do not think Fennec foxes should count in this category. Same goes for Dromadery camels.

Not sure SDZ has more birds either. Do Common pheasants subspecies count ? Or all of them count for 1 ?
 
Vision said:
I wonder if that's true... It'd be interesting if someone could make that comparison! The vast majority of Plzen's collection is definitely Asian or Eurasian, and they have a very large bird collection.
Click to expand...

I do think SDZ might pip Plzen in birds. It does have a rather astounding collection (albeit not all Asian)

Rayane said:
I do not think Fennec foxes should count in this category. Same goes for Dromadery camels.

Not sure SDZ has more birds either. Do Common pheasants subspecies count ? Or all of them count for 1 ?
Click to expand...

Just one - they are subspecies
I agree for the Fennec foxes, I must have thought their range extended into Asia. As for the Dromedaries, they should count.
 
Vision said:
The vast majority of Plzen's collection is definitely Asian or Eurasian, and they have a very large bird collection.
Click to expand...

Yes, I rather suspect Plzen has the edge here.

Rayane said:
I do not think Fennec foxes should count in this category. Same goes for Dromadery camels.
Click to expand...

Both species occur in Asia (the Middle East and Arabia) and therefore count.

amur leopard said:
Just one - they are subspecies
Click to expand...

I'd be inclined to disagree with you there ;) if one collection had one ssp of leopard and another had five, you wouldn't exactly say they were equal for the purposes of collection size, nor if one collection kept a single wolf ssp and another kept three! Just because birds interest you less, it does not mean they merit less consideration and can merely be lumped together.

I think that this goes 2-1 to Plzen, all things considered.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Yes, I rather suspect Plzen has the edge here.
Both species occur in Asia (the Middle East and Arabia) and therefore count.
Click to expand...

You are right, the Sinai Peninsula is considered part of Asia, my bad.
I think the 11 common pheasant subspecies Plzen keeps are relevant.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Yes, I rather suspect Plzen has the edge here.



Both species occur in Asia (the Middle East and Arabia) and therefore count.



I'd be inclined to disagree with you there ;) if one collection had one ssp of leopard and another had five, you wouldn't exactly say they were equal for the purposes of collection size, nor if one collection kept a single wolf ssp and another kept three! Just because birds interest you less, it does not mean they merit less consideration and can merely be lumped together.

I think that this goes 2-1 to Plzen, all things considered.
Click to expand...

Oh that is strange. On the Wikipedia range map for Fennec foxes, it only shows its range being in Africa and then says its range extends into Asia.

Birds do not necessarily interest me less. In fact most birds interest me more than most mammals. It's just I don't know how morphologically different subspecies of Common pheasant are compared to leopards or tigers where there is a vast gulf between the Northernmost and Southernmost subspecies in appearance.
Also because generally in museums, when they exhibit tigers or leopards, they do say the subspecies, whereas that is often not the case for Common pheasants.
 
Plzen might well win on species numbers, but how do countless pentagonal, somewhat overcrowded, aviaries compare to what I have seen described here as one of the best walkthrough aviaries of them all? I know where I would want to look for birds.

And the Philippine house in Plzen is also not exactly a piece of beauty....
 
Vision said:
I wonder if that's true... It'd be interesting if someone could make that comparison! The vast majority of Plzen's collection is definitely Asian or Eurasian, and they have a very large bird collection.
Click to expand...

I can make the comparison using my 2018 visits to both collections, just give me a little bit.

amur leopard said:
Welcome back!

SDZ mammals:

Lion tailed macaque
Silvered leaf langur
Bornean orangutan
Sumatran orangutan
Siamang
North Sulawesi babirusa
Fishing cat
Malayan tapir
Malayan tiger
Arctic fox
Siberian reindeer
Snow leopard
Amur leopard
Rock hyrax
Dromedary camel
Asian elephant
Hamadryas baboon
Honey badger
Red cheeked gibbon
Bornean sun bear
Francois langur
Bornean binturong
Greater one-horned rhinoceros

Plzen mammals

Black tailed garden dormouse
Blackbuck
Brown rat
Campbell's desert hamster
Central Chinese goral
Chinese Reeves' muntjac
Eastern kiang
Eurasian field mouse
Eurasian otter
Eurasian brown bear
European rabbit
Edible dormouse
Fat sand rat
Golden hamster
Great Balkan brush-tailed mouse
Greater one-horned rhinoceros
Indian crested porcupine
Indian flying fox
Javan rusa
Kulan
Lesser Egyptian jerboa
Levant vole
Lion tailed macaque
Mongolian gerbil
Nepalese red panda
North Chinese leopard
Northern Luzon cloud rat
Northern treeshrew
Northern white-cheeked gibbon
Palawan binturong
Palawan leopard cat
Palestina spiny mouse
Pallas's squirrel
Panay brush-tailed cloud rat
Persian jird
Philippine palm civet
Philippine porcupine
Pygmy white-toothed shrew
Roof rat
Shaw's jird
Siberian flying squirrel
Siberian tiger
Snow leopard
Southern Luzon giant cloud rat
Steppe lemming
Syrian jird
Turkish spiny mouse

That makes it 47-23 to Plzen
However SDZ probably have more birds, and 29 of Plzen's mammals are Miscellaneous mammals :)
Click to expand...

As far as this goes, SDZ no longer has the Golden-Cheeked Gibbons I don't think, and it has the Javan subspecies of Binturong and two subspecies of Asian Elephant if that means anything. They zoo also keeps Takin, Nubian Ibex, Siberian Musk-Deer, Red Panda, and Polar Bear. Pretty sure there are a few rodents on the Plzen list which are no longer present, or at least which were not seen sign anywhere on or off-exhibit in September 2018.

For what it's worth, I think San Diego's Asian exhibits far vastly superior to Plzen's overall. The beautiful Owen Aviary is 11,100sqft in size and focuses mainly of Southeast Asian birds, Tiger Trail is a fantastic exhibit which several great enclosures (and a couple not so great tbf), The Sun Bear enclosure is by far the best bear enclosure in the zoo (not a high bar imo but this enclosure is great), and most of the primate enclosures are really good. Not to mention the very nice outdoor pool for Ganges Gharial and Asian turtles. The zoo also has various aviaries with Asian birds spread across the zoo, but mostly along the Aviary Trail. These aviaries, while not huge, are generally around the same size as Plzen's scattered aviaries but aren't as packed with birds. SDZ has some undesirable enclosures, too, of course. Their elephant enclosure, for example, isn't that great to me but it's apparently still about three acres in size (but split up between three or four yards). Still, overall I feel as though SDZ wins in terms of exhibits here. I'll try to include some photos later on.

~Thylo
 
lintworm said:
how do countless pentagonal, somewhat overcrowded, aviaries compare
Click to expand...

Nowhere as crowded as they once were, mind you.... and the new Philippine house extension is nicer than you give it credit for methinks.

I'll write more anon - at work right now.
 
Plzen Zoo
Greater Spotted Eagle
Eurasian Griffon Vulture
Sunda Teal
Philippine Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Emperor Goose
Lesser White-Fronted Goose
Bar-Headed Goose
Baer's Pochard
Common Pochard
Red-Breasted Goose
Eurasian Goldeneye
Bewick's Swan
Wandering Whistling-Duck
Lesser Whistling-Duck
Falcated Teal
Eurasian Wigeon
Marbled Teal
Smew
Common Merganser
Old World Comb Duck
Ruddy Shelduck
Palawan Hornbill
Luzon Tarictic Hornbill
Visayan Tarictic Hornbill
Sulawesi Dwarf Hornbill
Eurasian Thick-Knee
Eurasian Oystercatcher
Black-Tailed Gull
Slender-Billed Gull
Black-Headed Gull
Black-Winged Stilt
Pied Avocet
Ruff
Western White Stork
Asian Woolly-Necked Stork
Grey-Capped Emerald Dove
Stephan's Emerald Dove
Metallic Pigeon
Chestnut-Naped Imperial-Pigeon
Spotted Imperial-Pigeon
Silver-Tipped Imperial-Pigeon
Punk-Headed Imperial-Pigeon
Mindanao Bleeding-Heart Dove
Luzon Bleeding-Heart Dove
Sulawesi Ground-Dove
Barred Dove
Zebra Dove
White-Eared Brown-Dove
Black-Naped Fruit-Dove
Superb Fruit-Dove
Sunda Spotted Dove
Indian Spotted Dove
Sunda Collared Dove
Oriental Turtle-Dove
Red Turtle-Dove
Pink-Necked Green-Pigeon
Collared Kingfisher
Common Cuckoo
Western Red-Footed Falcon
Chukar Partridge
White-Necklaced Hill-Partridge
Malayan Great Argus
Red Junglefowl
Grey Junglefowl
Salvadori's Pheasant
Black Grouse
Indian Peafowl
Southern Caucasian Ring-Necked Pheasant
Bianchi's Ring-Necked Pheasant
White-Winged Ring-Necked Pheasant
Formosan Ring-Necked Pheasant
Korean Ring-Necked Pheasant
Mongolian Ring-Necked Pheasant
Persian Ring-Necked Pheasant
Sichuan Ring-Necked Pheasant
Zarudny's Ring-Necked Pheasant
North Japanese Green Pheasant
Mikado Pheasant
Indian Sarus Crane
Red-Crowned Crane
Spotted Crake
Eurasian Water Rail
Bohemian Waxwing
Sumatran Treepie
Spotted Nutcracker
Black-Faced Munia
Java Sparrow
Nutmeg Mannikin
Timor Zebra Finch
Siberian Goldfinch
Long-Tailed Rosefinch
Oriental Greenfinch
Eurasian Hawfinch
Eurasian Red Crossbill
Eurasian Bullfinch
Barn Swallow
Grey Hypocolius
Chesnut-Winged Laughingthrush
Black-Throated Laughingthrush
Blue-Crowned Laughingthrush
Red-Winged Laughingthrush
Grey Wagtail
Siberian Rubythroat
Rufous-Tailed Scrub-Robin
Oriental Magpie-Robin
Black Redstart
Common Redstart
Bearded Reedling
Azure Tit
Chestnut Bulbul
South Chinese Black Bulbul
Ruby-Throated Bulbul
Red-Whiskered Bulbul
White-Spectacled Bulbul
Pale-Bellied Mynah
Crested Mynah
Daurian Starling
Asian Glossy Starling
Black-Collared Starling
Rosy Starling
Coleto
Grosbeak Starling
Southern White-Necked Mynah
Brahminy Starling
White-Shouldered Starling
Chestnut-Backed Thrush
Siberian Thrush
Japanese Thrush
Black-Breasted Thrush
Grey-Backed Thrush
Song Thrush
Fieldfare Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Purple Heron
Javan Pond-Heron
Cattle Egret
Striated Heron
Little Egret
Black-Crowned Night-Heron
Great White Pelican
Northern Bald Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Dammerman's Moustached Parakeet
Iris Lorikeet
Marigold Lorikeet
Olive-Headed Lorikeet
Mindanao Lorikeet
Pin-Tailed Sandgrouse

Total: 149

San Diego Zoo
Mandarin Duck
Northern Pintail
Emperor Goose
Baer's Pochard
Ferruginous Duck
Red-Breasted Goose
Harlequin Duck
Falcated Duck
Eurasian Wigeon
Marbled Teal
Smew
Indian Pygmy Goose
Common Shelduck
Sunda Wrinkled Hornbill
Sulawesi Dwarf Hornbill
Collared Pratincole
Ruff
Milky Stork
Nicobar Pigeon
Metallic Pigeon
Chestnut-Naped Imperial-Pigeon
Black-Chinned Fruit-Dove
Philippine Collared Dove
Pink-Necked Green-Pigeon
White-Breasted Kingfisher
Oriental Dollarbird
Chestnut-Breasted Malkoha
Red-Billed Malkoha (I believe still bts)
Maleo
Malayan Great Argus
Mountain Bamboo-Partridge
Himalayan Monal
Siamese Fireback
Edward's Pheasant
Indian Peafowl
Mountain Peacock-Pheasant
Palawan Peacock-Pheasant
Crested Wood Partridge
Blyth's Tragopan
Temminck's Tragopan
White-Breasted Woodswallow
Golden-Fronted Leafbird
Greyish-Crowned Leafbird
Tricolored Parrotfinch
Asian Fairy-Bluebird
Hwamei
Blue-Crowned Laughingthrush
Spotted Laughingthrush
Red-Billed Leiothrix
Scarlet-Faced Liocichla
Blue-Winged Siva
White-Rumped Shama
Black-Naped Oriole
Blue-Winged Pitta
Hooded Pitta
White-Eared Bulbul
Collared Finchbill
Golden-Crested Mynah
Black-Collared Starling
Bali Mynah
Grosbeak Starling
Chestnut-Backed Thrush
Great White Pelican
Fire-Tufted Barbet
Greater Yellownape Woodpecker
Talaud Red-and-Blue Lory
Blue-Crowned Hanging-Parrot
Long-Tailed Parakeet
Mindanao Lorikeet
Eurasian Eagle-Owl

Total: 70

So yeah, Plzen dominates in Asian bird species, though the difference is rather surprising to me. It's worth noting that some of the collections for both may have changed since my visits but I can't imagine by much. Also Plzen's list includes bts species whereas SDZ's includes mostly on-show species but I wouldn't imagine any additional bts species would make much of a difference here. I still maintain that SDZ's exhibitry for their animals is better than Plzen's for what it's worth.

For the sake of my sanity and my time, I'm not going to list out every herp each zoo keeps, but rather count the number:
Plzen-17
SDZ- 32

So in total we have Plzen with 201 species of mammals, birds, and herps vs SDZ with 130 species. Species-wise Plzen clearly comes on top but exhibit-wise would say SDZ does. It's a pretty close match for me tbh and I'm not sure how I'll vote yet.

~Thylo
 
I know SDZ's standard of exhibitry, but I would be interested to see photos of said 'pentagonal aviaries' and the Philippine house along with some of Plzen's other enclosures :)

I might provide photos tomorrow if I can.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
For the sake of my sanity and my time, I'm not going to list out every herp each zoo keeps, but rather count the number:
Plzen-17
SDZ- 32
Click to expand...

I can guess at what probably happened here, but I nevertheless want to point out the irony of listing all 149 of Plzen's bird species before balking at typing out its 17 species of herp :p
 
Coelacanth18 said:
I can guess at what probably happened here, but I nevertheless want to point out the irony of listing all 149 of Plzen's bird species before balking at typing out its 17 species of herp :p
Click to expand...

I thought the same thing but I didn't realize Plzen had so many Asian species so I got tired! I might go back and list the species in a little while and add some exhibit photos once I've recharged a bit my hands a bit :p

Thinking about it, I think the reason Plzen has so many more Asian birds than SDZ is simply that the vast majority of their bird collection focuses on Eurasia. They keep a lot of European species that also cross over into Asia and then also have a lot of confiscated birds from the Southeast Asian wildlife trade, whereas SDZ has a massive bird collection that's fairly evenly split up amongst birds of various continents. I'd be interested to see what Plzen's breeding record is for a lot of their rarer animals, if their even is any considering many species have only ever been represented by single individuals vs SDZ who will have likely bred many of the birds on their list at one point or another.

~Thylo
 
Going through an annual report of Plzen I was struck by relatively low levels of breeding and high numbers of deaths and single/small sex groups, especially so for passerines. Maybe somewhat unsurprising and it was the 2016 yearbook, so things might have changed since.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Also Plzen's list includes bts species whereas SDZ's includes mostly on-show species but I wouldn't imagine any additional bts species would make much of a difference here
Click to expand...

Not too many BTS for this category, I think.

amur leopard said:
but I would be interested to see photos of said 'pentagonal aviaries' and the Philippine house along with some of Plzen's other enclosures :)
Click to expand...

I'll be doing a photo post or two anon, but for now - the "pentagonal aviaries" to which you refer are of the sort I posted in the prior Islands challenge :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top