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Poznan Zoo (Old) My Thoughts on Poznan Stare Zoo

Discussion in 'Poland' started by LaughingDove, 9 Jun 2015.

  1. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    My Thoughts on Poznan Stare Zoo:


    Poznan Stare Zoo is the far smaller and inferior of Poznan’s two zoos. For my thoughts on the far better Nowe Zoo see here: http://www.zoochat.com/170/my-thoughts-poznan-nowe-zoo-412614/ though Stare Zoo wasn’t all bad and nothing was really terrible, just not that impressive with rather too many domestics for my liking. The Stare zoo is a very old zoo and I believe the oldest continuously operating zoo in Poland and was Poznan’s main zoo before the tiny size of the facility necessitated a larger zoo to be built though they are both under the same management. As a result the zoo has a lot of history associated with it including former exhibits that would be considered unsuitable for the species that they were originally intended for but they have since been re-purposed for other species.

    The entrance to the zoo is free and I believe it is officially a public park however the nicest part of the zoo which is the quite new Cold-blooded Animals Pavilion has a paid entrance of 6 zl for children and 8 zl for adults (1.62 and 2.16 US dollars or 1.06 and 1.41 Pounds Sterling respectively).

    Around the zoo there is quite a lot of historical signage (in Polish of course so I can’t comment on the quality of the text) with some nice pictures showing them with the former inhabitants. These included the old bird house (still with birds though in larger aviaries) elephant enclosure (now home to Shetland Ponies) and the big cat building (now empty) as well as many others.

    Poznan Stare Zoo’s collection is largely comprised of domestic species and really had the feel of a children’s zoo with the domestics ranging in size from Chinchillas, Guinea Pigs and Rabbits to Alpacas Shetland Ponies, Goats, Sheep etc. There was, however, quite a good collection of birds for the size of the zoo with two lakes with various waterfowl including not-so-common Ruddy-headed Geese as well as the typical species such as Black Swans as well as the main bird house which has (not all in one enclosure) Livingston’s turacos, Purple Glossy Starlings, Cockatiels, Budgerigars, Speckled Pigeons, Common Bronze-wing Pigeons, Rose-ringed Parakeets, Red-cowled Cardinals and Chickens. There is also a paddock with Southern Screamers, Rhea, and Helmeted Guineafowl and two larger aviaries, one with Trumpeter Hornbill, Great Argus, Marbled Teal, California Wood Duck, Black-billed Whistling Duck and Scarlet ibis and the other with Livingston’s Turacos (again), Victoria Crowned-Pigeon and Red-tailed Laughingthrush. I thought that was fairly good for the size of the collection. Other Exotic species were Ring-tailed and Red-bellied lemurs on an island on the lake, Diana Monkeys and Siamangs in the old primate house which now acts as the indoors with an outdoor area added and Meerkats. There was also the Cold-blooded Animals Pavillion and I will discuss that shortly.

    The general feel of the zoo was rather concrete-y without any large natural areas anything like the Nowe Zoo had but this is of course understandable given the size of the place. There was also an overwhelming children’s zoo feel with large playground areas and the collection being mostly domestics. There were a couple of little places to buy refreshments and little toys and a toilet block but nothing much else in terms of visitor facilities.

    The Cold-blooded Pavilion is the main attraction of the zoo and as a result it forms the basis for most advertising with the main part of the Pavilion being the Komodo Dragons. As previously mentioned, this is the only part of the zoo that you have to pay for but in my opinion it is very worth it with the usual low Polish zoo prices. There is a corridor of small-ish saltwater tanks with no species that stood out to me (though I know very little about saltwater species) and a corridor of just amphibians which had quite a variety of species. These were Spanish ribbed newt, Oriental fire-bellied toad, Chinese Crocodile lizard (I know this is a reptile, but it fitted in with the amphibians nicely), Golfodulcean Poison frog, Yellow-headed Poison Frog, Red-eyed Tree-frog, Yellow-spotted Climbing Toad, Phantasmal Poison Dart Frog, Blue Poison Arrow Frog, Marbled Tree Frog, Matecho Poison Dart Frog, Axolotl and Mountain Chicken Frog. There was also a spectacled caiman, a tank with Pacu, Uaru, Leopard Plecos and Oscars as well as the Komodo Dragon. At the exit there was also a corridor with a large variety of snakes, lizards, turtles and tortoises (I’m happy to list the species if requested). There was nice decoration in this Pavilion with plants, pictures, benches etc. and a small café area that was closed when I was there. Overall, I thought this was a reasonable herp house for any zoo and fantastic for tiny a zoo such as the Stare Zoo.

    So that’s pretty much all there is to Poznan Stare Zoo, if you visit Poznan and after doing the Nowe Zoo you have a few hours spare (I spent just over two hours at Stare though you could do it in less than one if you had to but I’d say Nowe is a full day zoo) then I’d recommend visiting, it won’t break the bank and has a few nice bits but if you don’t have the chance then I wouldn’t lose sleep over missing it.
     
    Last edited: 9 Jun 2015
  2. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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  3. FBBird

    FBBird Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Poznan Zoo (Old).....

    I remember a nice exhibit of European Pond Terrapins when I visited a few years ago.
     
  4. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    This was still there, though I didn't notice it as being fantastic. Fairly good though.
     
  5. Arek

    Arek Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    Few addition words to this interesting post. Wrocław Zoo is nine years older than Old Zoo in Poznań (1865 and 1874 respectively).
    Cold-blooded Animals Pavilion is a strange mixture: reptiles and amphibians are part of zoo collection but salt water fishes are owned by a private company. Buying a ticket you pay this company. And how they divide the money between themselves and the zoo? I don't know but I think that it is very unique (maybe only one in Europe?).
    Construction of this pavilion was very controversial. In my opinion it isn't compatible to the rest of the zoo: to its old buildings and grounds. This pavilion should be build in New Zoo.
    There are plans to rebuild bird house into South America Monkeys Pavilion (new zoo director is big fan of marmosets and tamarins).
     
  6. LaughingDove

    LaughingDove Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for all of the Extra information Arek, here and some of the pictures, it is very much appreciated. That set-up with the Cold-blooded Animals Pavilion sounds very strange and I would agree that it would be better suited to have been built in the New Zoo; I wondered why it wasn't.