What is your favorite real-world zoo?

Orkan

Orkan
I’m bored, so let’s talk real world Zoos!

Just talk about your favorite zoo or annything to do with it. I’ll go first:

Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. They have a really cool selection of animals, such as African Elephants, Babirusas, Giant Otters, and Takins among others. It’s probably about a mid-sized zoo and easily doable in a few hours, while not letting down on the animal side. They’re habitats are also very well designed.
 

abigenius

abigenius
Well meanwhile two of my favorite zoos in the world are the Singapore zoo and the San Diego zoo, I've not seen both irl only in videos

But the irl zoo that I've been, my favorite definitely and one of the best of all Mexico and latin America is the "Zoológico de Guadalajara" such an amazing zoo with rares and stars animals, also is so big, definitely a quality zoo, IMO if you have time you should watch a video of this zoo :), In Mexico only exist two AZA accredited zoos this is not one of them but it has everything to deserve it

The species that are only in this zoo and some must seen (mexico version) are:
  • Orangutan breeding group
  • The last Wild caught Gorila in the World
  • The last polar bear in captivity here
  • Mexican Wolf
  • Mexican subespecies of ABB
  • The only group of Greater flamingo (here is extremely rare)
  • The only indian rhinos in Latin America ( except Brazil)
  • A good breeding group of Adelaide and Gentoo penguin
  • Aldabra Tortoise (also rare)
  • Siamang
  • A large group of Giraffes
  • A very big savannah exhibit
  • A lot of agouti species
  • And a lot of endemic and Mexican species such parrots, macaws, monkeys, mammals and the biggest reptile house in Mexico and a big aquarium
 

Captain Callum

Captain Callum
Favourite? Easily the Columbus Zoo in ohio.

Visited this year and one visit to the zoo surely made it my favourite beating my past favourite of lowry park zoo down in florida. Visited entiely for pallas cats and tasmanian devils since they are near impossible to see in the north of the uk, walking something like 10 miles in the day saw so many new animals for me like short beaked echidna, wombats, binturong, dama gazelle, and red crowned crane. I laugh at myself now because this was also the first time visiting a proper nocturnal house, cameras dont really work in the dark so i left without a picture of a kiwi.

The zoo is also really really big, i didnt prepare to walk something like 10 miles in one day considering i didnt manage to finish the tour of the zoo in the 6 hours i spent there. I think its one of the largest walkaround zoos there is, great there was plenty of benches - bad thing is every single bench seemed to be below a tree with a spider trying to bite me.
 

Chuditch

Chuditch
My favourite zoo currently is the Alice Springs Desert Park - most of the 10 other zoos I’ve visited as of now have much larger and more diverse collections, but, being devoted to the fauna of central Australia, the desert park’s nicheness just makes it stand out as one of the most unique and memorable zoos in the country for me. My chief reasons for ranking it so highly:
1) The interior deserts are one of my favourite environments both in Australia and in the entire world, so an entire zoo devoted to them is like heaven for me.
2) It houses a range of species which are either found in only one or two zoos outside the park (chuditch, numbat, golden bandicoot, thorny devil etc) or are exclusively kept there (rufous hare-wallaby, burrowing bettong, brush-tailed mulgara etc).
3) The nocturnal house there is my favourite part of any zoo I've ever been to. It looks incredible (can see some pics of it, as well as the rest of the park, from my 2021 trip here) and is home to many of the park’s more exclusive species.
4) The whole setup of the zoo taking you through different desert environments is very cool.

Although I still haven’t visited many of the bigger zoos of the east coast yet (Taronga, Melbourne etc), I reckon the Alice Springs Desert Park will probably remain unchallenged as my favourite, at least in Australia, for all the reasons I stated previously. Except perhaps for the Territory Wildlife Park, which is the desert park’s counterpart for the tropical Top End of the Northern Territory - the monsoonal north being my other favourite part of Australia. It’s set up in quite a similar fashion to the desert park, also having a range of species rare or absent in other zoos (black & antilopine wallaroos, spectacled hare-wallaby, savanna glider, black-footed tree-rat etc). Unfortunately I haven't visited it yet - when I was last in the Top End in 2016 I only got to visit Crocodylus Park - so I can't properly judge how it ranks compared to the desert park, but I'm super keen to get back up into the Northern Territory again whenever possible and it'll definitely be high on my list of things to do!

Moral of the story - more small niche zoos focused on particular regions please! I just really like seeing the biodiversity of a particular area being showcased, especially when it involves species you wouldn't normally see in captivity otherwise.
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
I like all the zoos in New Zealand for different reasons. Auckland Zoo is of course a world-class facility comparable to major zoos around the world. Wellington Zoo is great because it's compact with an awesome selection of species. Orana Wildlife Park is my local and I've been going there since before I could talk, so even though it's bare-bones and a bit dull compared to the others I can never not love it.

Internationally, it's a tie between Singapore and Edinburgh. Edinburgh probably wins out slightly by being the most recent international zoo I've visited, but I have very fond memories of Singapore and can't wait to go back one day.
 

SuzieSky

SuzieSky
The Smithsonian zoo is my favorite. You can see a ton of animals from around the world without having to walk too far. Many of the enclosures are a bit small, but they actually rotate the individual animals on display frequently between those enclosures and a nearby backstage area so they don't get bored. They have a long history with some cool conservation contributions.
 

Captain Callum

Captain Callum
NZFanatic said:
I seem to recall seeing binturong at Edinburgh Zoo. You're in Scotland, yes? I wonder if they're still there.

Edit: They were near the red river hogs and Taiwanese beauty snakes if I'm remembering correctly.
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I'll have to check the next time I'm down south, can't recall seeing them there the last time I visited. They probably were though, I always seem to miss sections of the zoo due to its layout and my time limits.
 
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NZFanatic

NZFanatic
Captain Callum said:
I'll have to check the next time I'm down south, can't recall seeing them there the last time I visited. They probably were though, I always seem to miss sections of the zoo due to its layout and my time limits.
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Looking at it, a lot of the zoo has changed since I was last there (are a bunch of their big cats gone? Bummer!), so maybe the binturong aren't there anymore either.
 

Leaf Productions

Leaf Productions
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My top 15 using my patented Leaf's 10 Point Vibe Scale (Animal Selection | Food / Amenities / Cleanliness | Theming | Percieved Welfare | "Vibes")
 

Angeł

Angeł
Chester Zoo is definitely one of the best zoos I’ve visited. It’s absolutely huge, with some amazing areas. Some standouts areas include:
The Islands
All of the Tropical Houses (Tropic Zone, Realm of the Red Ape, Monsoon Forest and Spirit of the Jaguar)
Fruit Bat Forest
Tsavo Rhino Reserve
Elephants of the Indian Forest
Latin American Wetlands Aviary

Tying for first spot is the wonderful Whipsnade Zoo. Situated in the Chiltern hills, with marvellous views, this zoo has the most impressive collection of the plant’s larger animals living in ENORMOUS open paddocks, with some standouts being:
Asian Elephant
Common Hippopotamus
Southern White Rhinoceros
Greater One Horner Rhinoceros
African Lion
Amur Tiger
Eurasian Brown Bear
European Bison
Domestic Yak
Bactrian Camel
Przewalski’s Wild Horse
Reticulated Giraffe

Both of these zoos, in my opinion, represent what make British zoos so great in such different ways. Chester highlights the design aspects of a zoo, with innovative enclosures, themed areas and houses. Whipsnade displays an impressive array of megafauna with plenty of roaming space in a gorgeous natural environment. And for this reason, they tie for first place.

I also love London Zoo, it being my local zoo. But Chester and Whipsnade JUST pip it at the post. Just… Some personal highlights from visits to London Zoo include:
Tiger Territory
Land of the Lions
Penguin Beach
Into Africa (particularly the Pygmy Hippopotamus house)
Rainforest Life / Night Life
Tiny Giants (particularly In With the Spiders)

Some other zoos I’ve visited and loved include:
Central Park Zoo
Welsh Mountain Zoo
Chessington World of Adventures

Some zoos in the UK I’d love to visit in the future include:
Colchester Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo
Highland Wildlife Park

And outside of the UK, the top of my bucket list includes:
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Berlin Zoo
Berlin Tierpark
Copenhagen Zoo
Antwerp Zoo
San Diego Zoo
San Diego Safari Park
 

Marvinb

Marvinb
My local Zoo is definetly among my favorites. Its the "Heimat-Tierpark Olderdissen" in Bielefeld, germany. Its exlusivley animals native and semi native to central europe, together with a couple domestics and a few invasive species like raccons.
Why i like it so much? Living in central europe you dont get so see your wildlife all to much (besides animals living around urban areas), and sadly most of our big animals are locally extinct in most of their range, so getting to see wolves, bears, wisents and lynx in a place there originally supposed to be is really cool.
The whole place is straight build into the forest and it gives just such a nice calm feeling being there. There are also alot of older buildings, scenery of old timey farming, which pair very well with the traditional breeds of domestics being displayed besides them.
I hope this picture shows the serene vibes im trying to discribe :D

Tierpark.jpg



Also its completely free, which makes it super nice for just spontaneous visiting it on a nice day.
And until recently it was open 24/7, allowing you to see the animals at night if you wanted to. Coming in very handy because naturally alot of these forest critters are out during the night.
Some of my favorite memories are dropping by with my friends after a night out on a warm summer night, there just is something magical about seeing the lynx roaming around in the dark at like 3 am
 

Orkan

Orkan
Marvinb said:
And until recently it was open 24/7, allowing you to see the animals at night if you wanted to. Coming in very handy because naturally alot of these forest critters are out during the night.
Some of my favorite memories are dropping by with my friends after a night out on a warm summer night, there just is something magical about seeing the lynx roaming around in the dark at like 3 am
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This is something I would dream of doing.

Just going to a zoo with a couple friends in the dead of night to see the nocturnal animals. Ahh, it just sounds so cool!
 

Marvinb

Marvinb
Orkan said:
This is something I would dream of doing.

Just going to a zoo with a couple friends in the dead of night to see the nocturnal animals. Ahh, it just sounds so cool!
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Yeah it was amazing. Unfortunately its now closed at night because in recent years they had more and more problems with garbage people being garbage people there at night. You know vandalizing, littering, feeding random burger king leftovers to the animals, the whole shabang.
Cant get my head around people having such a cool opportunity and ruining it for everyone
 

Orkan

Orkan
Marvinb said:
Yeah it was amazing. Unfortunately its now closed at night because in recent years they had more and more problems with garbage people being garbage people there at night. You know vandalizing, littering, feeding random burger king leftovers to the animals, the whole shabang.
Cant get my head around people having such a cool opportunity and ruining it for everyone
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Yeah, that sucks. Like, come one. Do you really think that deer needs some French fries? Really think about it…
 
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