Asiatic lion enclosure

@lintworm Did you review this zoo? What was your impression of it?

@DavidBrown I put a small review in the Korkeasaari Zoo thread, which I inserted below. Overall I really liked this place, nothing fancy, but a lot is well-done and the location on an island in the bay is fabulous.

I had a very pleasant visit to the Helsinki Zoo last week. It for sure helps that the zoo is located on an island and it makes full use of its location. There are quite some natural rocky outcrops which have been integrated into enclosures and the rest of the zoo is set in very pleasant woodland. The zoo is only 22 hectares, but it uses a much smaller portion of that, which means that there are plenty of nicely landscaped lawns and woodland sections. The only thing you have to watch out for are the abundant breeding Barnacle geese. There are nests all around the island and although many have a red demarcation line to indicate where not to walk, protective parents might chase you anyway if they feel you came to close... This is not a zoo to wander around aimlessly and these Geese make sure you watch your step...

The collection basically consists of cold adapted species, with 3 houses for tropical species. The only exception to this are Asiatic lions which are in the Cat valley. There are not an awful lot of species here and ABC species are notably absent, but there are plenty interesting animals from a zoo nerd perspective with the likes of Blue sheep, Goitered gazelle, Amur leopard cat, Pine marten and as a rarity highlight an ancient Hoffman's two-toed sloth. The mammal and reptile collection are pretty solid, but except for owls there are not so many bird species around. Off course there is the wonderful Borealia building with a large breeding group of Ruffs, but there would be scope for aviaries dotted around the zoo for boreal species like Grouse, Nutcracker, Waxwing and the like.

Enclosurewise the zoo is not terribly exciting, but the level is generally very high and although the Tropical houses show their age most enclosures are relatively large and almost without exception nicely landscaped and well-structured for the animals.

Overall this is a very pleasant zoo and one of the few I would like to visit when there is a lot of snow. It might lack the multimillion complexes but they are not missed here and the zoo has a clear own flair. In a way this zoo is like a good whisky that is perfect for connoisseurs, has great depth and gets better with every sip without being flashy.

Very good! Budapest Zoo's Persian panther and Siberian tiger exhibits are very similar, but smaller.