ZooChat Cup Season 2 - North America

pachyderm pro

pachyderm pro

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
It's the first ZooChat Cup competition, but with less zoos. 32 US zoos, 31 head to head polls. One winner. I thought about simply making a North American version of the competition, but Toronto and Calgary would be the only places outside of the US I would even consider, so it ain't happening.

As we enter the final week(s) of the European competition, I would like to give my announcement that I will be hosting the US edition of the ZooChat Cup. Seeing how excellent competition created by @CGSwans has taken off so well, and that a US version was requested by @TheWalrus I figured I would throw my hat into the ring and carry on the competition. This should be a fun way to drum up debate. We often argue the benefits of collection A versus collection B: is it better to have lots of common species, or a smaller more unique collection? Is it better to have 20 cat species in good but not spectacular exhibits, or half a dozen species in superb ones?

(Yes the wording in this post will essentially be what Swans already wrote in the first thread with a few changes here and there)

I've assembled a roster of 32 of the best zoos across America. Similar to season one, I have given 8 seedings based off of top 10 lists and other rankings I have seen (Don't worry, no USA Today polls). I've selected an additional 24 through geographical balances and overall quality. I put them all through a random bracket maker and have assembled my roster. The seedings are as follows:
1. San Diego Zoo
2. Omaha
3. St Louis
4. Bronx
5. Columbus
6. San Diego Zoo Safari Park
7. North Carolina
8. Sedgwick County

The rest had there fate tested. I picked the nominees one by one and I sense some really close and exciting matches in the first round. Here are the competitors listed alphabetically:
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Atlanta
Bronx
Brookfield
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Columbus
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Disney
Fort Worth
Fresno
Houston
Kansas City
Memphis
Miami
Minnesota
North Carolina
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Oregon
Los Angeles
Philadelphia
San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo Safari Park
Sedgwick County
Smithsonian National
St Louis
Tampa
Toledo
Woodland Park

In case you're unfamiliar with the idea of this competition, I would recommend reading the first thread as it covers just about everything on here with a few minor changes. Basically, it's not simply voting for whatever zoo you like better, but rather voting which zoo is superior in a certainly category. There will be 7 animal categories that will be randomly matched with each of the matches:

Primates (Apes, Monkeys, Prosimians etc.)
Ungulates (Hoofstock, Pachyderms, Cetaceans etc.)
Large Carnivores (Big Cats, Bears, Canids etc.)
Small Mammals (Small Carnivores, Rodents, Marsupials etc.)
Reptiles and Amphibians (Lizards, Snakes, Turtles, Frogs, Salamanders etc.)
Birds (Passerines, Hornbills, Cranes, Raptors etc.)
Aquatics and Invertebrates (Fish, Crabs, Lobsters etc.)

Each match will include one or more of these categories. You must vote on these categories and these categories only. So lets say St Louis matched with Cleveland (Spoilers: They didn't) and the category was birds. You must compare and contrast the zoos bird collection, exhibits, or any other criteria. You could vote based on just one spectacular exhibit, or just one incredibly rare species.

You do not have to see both collections in order to vote. You can use whatever sources you like - ZooChat galleries, threads, maps and whatever else you can think of that you think can make a good piece of material to make an educated vote on. Of course, you can also give your argument and sway peoples opinions to your side. Try to help your candidate win.

Once again, you are not allowed to vote on any other parts of the zoo that do not have to do with the chosen category. So even if the national zoo is your favorite place on earth, if it goes against Disney (Spoilers Again: They won't, at least not in the first round) with Ungulates as the category, you better have an argument on your stance. And yes: the votes will be public once more.

Ties will result in a rematch with a new category, a tie in that match will eliminate both zoos and the next opponent gets a walkover. There will be four polls going on at a time, as the voting period will last 4 days to get your voice heard. I will post the matches in the Games, Simulators, Quizzes & Competitions section of the forum.

I know there aren't as many American zoo enthusiasts as there are European zoo enthusiasts, but I still believe we could have a very lovely competition ahead of us. I hope everyone can have a good time with this and though it may not be as successful as season 1 in Europe - hence why I halved the number of competitors - I hope this can gain just a little bit of traction.

I was hesitant to post this until the current season wraps up, but the excitement of the competition got ahold of me and I at least wanted to reveal that this was happening. All announce the first couple of matches shortly, where I will also show the dates of the first matches, and yes these matches will be daily. I will also be providing weekly recaps of changes in the standings on this thread.

Cheers!
 
Sounds like an awesome idea. I won't be participating probably but I feel this would be great to help us Europeans learn more about the US zoos! I wonder if this could lead to an Asia-Pacific contest in the future.
 
jayjds2 said:
Just a pet peeve here: the city can be abbreviated as “St. Louis,” but the zoo itself should always be “Saint Louis” because that is its name. Rather like I find it disrespectful when people call SDZSP the San Diego Wild Animal Park.
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Fair enough, but the reason people refer to SDZSP as San Diego Wild Animal Park is that it simply is a better name to them. It also rolls off the tonged much easier than San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
jayjds2 said:
One question: when does it start? :p
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Immediately after the current competition in Europe ends. Once I get a finalized date from CGSwans (Who has known about this plan for a week now), I will announce the first three matches and their dates.
 
Chlidonias said:
Also, San Diego Zoo Safari Park is an idiotic name.
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Well, yeah. But it’s what they call themselves and we should respect that. Just like pachyderm pro is called that, even though when he joined we all quickly determined that he wasn’t a pro in the slightest, especially since “pachyderm” isn’t exactly a valid term anymore. Regardless, we call him his name (and thankfully, he has improved, if only marginally :p) and I think the same should apply to SDZSP.

Should edit to clarify: was a joke with no harm intended. I wasn’t the best at my start either :p
 
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jayjds2 said:
Well, yeah. But it’s what they call themselves and we should respect that. Just like pachyderm pro is called that, even though when he joined we all quickly determined that he wasn’t a pro in the slightest, especially since “pachyderm” isn’t exactly a valid term anymore. Regardless, we call him his name (and thankfully, he has improved, if only marginally :p) and I think the same should apply to SDZSP.
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Well then...

I mean your not completely wrong. I wasn't exactly the best worded, smartest person out there when I first joined. And I'm still not. Some highlights included, spilling the beans about the import of some certain scaly mammals, thinking New Zealand was part of Australia on more than one occasion, and some very juvenile and immature posts with virtually non existent grammar. I actually just went back and looked at some of my first posts, and man it was painful. My sentiments to anyone who goes back and reads through those :oops:.

But now I don't think I'm that bad ;). After all I did create this masterpiece :p.

I should also clarify a brief origin story to my name. Long story short, growing in Chicago as a young lad my favorite exhibit at Brookfield zoo was the pachyderm building. Since than my focus lies more on Habitat Africa, but that's irrelevant to the story. While in the pachyderm building I found my two favorite animals at the time, elephants and tapirs. When I stumbled upon this site, I wanted to choose a name that represented my love of these animals, so I went with pachyderm pro. If I could go back I would probably change it, but I've already established myself at this point so creating a new account seems unnecessary.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Well knowing the American ZooChat community San Diego will probably win every category in a landslide with little reasoning other than "it's the San Diego Zoo"

~Thylo
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Unless the category is ungulates in which the reasoning will be, "remember the pre elephant odyssey days?"
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Well knowing the American ZooChat community San Diego will probably win every category in a landslide with little reasoning other than "it's the San Diego Zoo"

~Thylo
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Will be nigh on unstoppable on birds and reptiles, I'm sure, and very strong on primates but other than that I think it'll be highly vulnerable depending on the category. It's very clearly the one to beat, though.
 
CGSwans said:
Will be nigh on unstoppable on birds and reptiles, I'm sure, and very strong on primates but other than that I think it'll be highly vulnerable depending on the category. It's very clearly the one to beat, though.
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That's the thing.. It's really not. I mean it's certainly very strong in a lot of categories but everyone seems to still look at it the way it ways years back now. Yes it still has fantastic bird and reptile collections and top-notch exhibits for them, but how much better is it than Bronx, St. Louis, San Antonio, Miami, etc. nowadays? And if there was an exhibitry match (not entirely sure why there isn't, though I haven't checked out the original thread yet tbh) SDZ would certainly be in the discussion, but definitely would not be clearly the one to beat.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
That's the thing.. It's really not. I mean it's certainly very strong in a lot of categories but everyone seems to still look at it the way it ways years back now. Yes it still has fantastic bird and reptile collections and top-notch exhibits for them, but how much better is it than Bronx, St. Louis, San Antonio, Miami, etc. nowadays? And if there was an exhibitry match (not entirely sure why there isn't, though I haven't checked out the original thread yet tbh) SDZ would certainly be in the discussion, but definitely would not be clearly the one to beat.

~Thylo
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There's no exhibitry match in the European one - it's up to Pachy here, but it would cut across what I think is the most interesting element of the game, and that is setting people's differing interests (collection, exhibitry, history, whatever) against each other on a level playing field. Many of the best debates in the European one have come when one zoo has a considerable advantage on species, while the other is more cutting edge in their displays.
 
CGSwans said:
There's no exhibitry match in the European one - it's up to Pachy here, but it would cut across what I think is the most interesting element of the game, and that is setting people's differing interests (collection, exhibitry, history, whatever) against each other on a level playing field. Many of the best debates in the European one have come when one zoo has a considerable advantage on species, while the other is more cutting edge in their displays.
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Ah so the exhibitry is taken into account for each match? Not just the species list then? That sounds more fair and makes sense.

~Thylo
 
CGSwans said:
New Zealand *is* in fact part of Australia and we will reclaim our sovereign territory just as soon as we round up enough sheepdogs for use in military operations.
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hahahahaha, you still use dogs for your military? We have actual people. They're not armed, but at least they can walk upright. Most of them.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
That's the thing.. It's really not. I mean it's certainly very strong in a lot of categories but everyone seems to still look at it the way it ways years back now.
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If the point of a thread like this is to inspire debate - and I think it is - here’s a comment which merits such debate!

San Diego may not be perfect, but, really - having visited nearly 400 zoos worldwide, including most of the renowned US collections, I would put it so far ahead of the rest as to make any “match” absolutely one sided. For me, all it lacks is a (physical) sense of its history - if it had a 1927 zebra house now converted into an armadillo exhibit, or an erstwhile aquarium in which could now be found a top notch restaurant, it really might be perfect. And even there, despite the absence of many charismatic old buildings, there is an eye on the past, through publications and signs and memorials, which puts others to shame....
 
jayjds2 said:
Well, yeah. But it’s what they call themselves and we should respect that.
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I knew what you meant, but do you ever hear people saying "I'm going to ZSL London Zoo today"? No, because it's a stupid name which can't be said or written without sounding like an utter plonker.

Or if you said "I saw a duckling at Africa Alive!" the other person would say "why is that so exciting?" and you'd have to answer "no, no, the name of the place has a stupid exclamation mark after it."

The point is, marketing people are idiots.
 
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