ZooChat Cup Match #36: Vienna (8) vs Dresden

[CGSwans]

The venerable eighth seed and a potentially dangerous mid-tier floater. Vienna clinically despatched Tallinn, 24-1, on Primates. Dresden had to fight to see off a challenge from Barcelona on reptiles et al, 11-8.

This time? Other mammals. This is the old ‘small mammals’ category, but Carnivores and Primates no longer qualify.

Tomorrow: Chester v Budapest.

 

[lintworm]

Not exactly the strongest area for either zoo, though both have about the same number of species, with Vienna 24 and Dresden 20 if I counted correctly. I have trouble remembering any remarkable enclosure for "other mammals" in Dresden, whereas Vienna has a superb enclosure for their Elephant shrews, a nice Rat house and a nice enclosure for Long-tongued bats in the Terrarium.

 

[SabineB]

This is ridiculous. I am sorry. Rodents and bats alone flatten Dresden in this category. Holy moly. Vienna it is then.

The south american section of Vienna puts the contest to rest and has Vienna as winner.

 

[Giant Panda]

Although I could be swayed by a strong argument for Schönbrunn, for now I'm plumping for the underdog.

Dresden's Professor Brandes House is stylish and quirkily themeless. Primates are its focus, but the koala, armadillo, squirrel, etc. are nonetheless well presented. It's also the most successful application I've seen of the sloth-on-ropes approach, which stretches throughout the house and into an outdoor enclosure (a nice touch), drawing an otherwise disparate collection together.

Vienna's small rat house is cool, but I prefer the rat sewer in Dresden's innovative underground exhibit. And, whilst the aforementioned elephant shrew enclosure is wonderful, I wouldn't count the Wüstenhaus as part of the Tiergarten's collection.

Perhaps Schönbrunn's stature is a handicap here, but I think Dresden deserves the win for how favourably it compares to one of Europe's greats.


EDIT: I deliberately didn't mention Vienna's South American exhibit, but since @SabineB has brought it up, I think it's fair to say Dresden's screwed. Nice zoo, though.

 

[Dassie rat]

Both: Round-eared sengi; southern three-banded armadillo; Linnaeus’ two-toed sloth; naked mole-rat; North American porcupine; capybara; black-tailed prairie dog

Dresden
Queensland koala; red kangaroo; parma wallaby
Rock hyrax
Southern tamandua
Roborovski’s desert hamster; western house mouse; brown rat; gundi; Patagonian mara; European souslik; Swinhoe’s striped squirrel; Sumatran Prevost’s squirrel
Etruscan shrew

Vienna
Sugar glider; Red-necked wallaby
Giant anteater
Belanger’s tree shrew
Greater Egyptian jerboa; Gambian giant pouched rat; dusky Egyptian and Egyptian spiny mice; South African pygmy mouse; Northern Luzon giant cloud rat; orange-rumped and St Vincent* agoutis; greenish acouchi; coypu
Indian and large flying foxes; Egyptian rousette bat; Seba's short-tailed bat; Pallas’ long-tongued bat

Dresden has a hyrax and an Etruscan shrew (the most surprising 'other mammal' in either list. It also has more marsupial species.

Vienna has more species of rodents (although it lacks squirrels, unlike Dresden. If there is a clincher, it is Vienna's five bat species - very few zoos have more than two bat species.

 

[lintworm]

Vienna has more species of rodents (although it lacks squirrels

Vienna has European souslik,which are squirrels , though they are kept in the Desert house, which @Giant Panda considers not part of the zoo, but which for all intents and purposes is imo.

 

[Dassie rat]

You're right, Lintworm. I must have missed the European souslik in Vienna's list. It is also kept in Dresden.

 

[FunkyGibbon]

What's special about the South American exhibit?

 

[pipaluk]

Both: Round-eared sengi; southern three-banded armadillo; Linnaeus’ two-toed sloth; naked mole-rat; North American porcupine; capybara; black-tailed prairie dog

Dresden
Queensland koala; red kangaroo; parma wallaby
Rock hyrax
Southern tamandua
Roborovski’s desert hamster; western house mouse; brown rat; gundi; Patagonian mara; European souslik; Swinhoe’s striped squirrel; Sumatran Prevost’s squirrel
Etruscan shrew

Vienna
Sugar glider; Red-necked wallaby
Giant anteater
Belanger’s tree shrew
Greater Egyptian jerboa; Gambian giant pouched rat; dusky Egyptian and Egyptian spiny mice; South African pygmy mouse; Northern Luzon giant cloud rat; orange-rumped and St Vincent* agoutis; greenish acouchi; coypu
Indian and large flying foxes; Egyptian rousette bat; Seba's short-tailed bat; Pallas’ long-tongued bat

Dresden has a hyrax and an Etruscan shrew (the most surprising 'other mammal' in either list. It also has more marsupial species.

Vienna has more species of rodents (although it lacks squirrels, unlike Dresden. If there is a clincher, it is Vienna's five bat species - very few zoos have more than two bat species.

Does Vienna no longer have Koala?

 

[lintworm]

Does Vienna no longer have Koala?

They still have them.

 

[pipaluk]

They still have them.

Thanks for confirming, I thought that was the case unless they'd left very recently.

 

[SabineB]

What's special about the South American exhibit?

Well, I did not say it is special, rather is has a very well rounded selection of mammals of this category in a pleasant and well thought out enclosure. I do believe though, that SA enclosures are usually the most boring in most of the zoos and I think Vienna is almost an exception.

 

[FunkyGibbon]

Well, I did not say it is special, rather is has a very well rounded selection of mammals of this category in a pleasant and well thought out enclosure. I do believe though, that SA enclosures are usually the most boring in most of the zoos and I think Vienna is almost an exception.

Yes I totally agree. The only genuinely good South American area that springs to mind is Zurich's.

 

[agnmeln]

I honestly don’t tend to mind South American areas!

 

[FunkyGibbon]

Dresden's gallery is woefully out of date, but there's some nice stuff in there. I'm throwing it a bone here.