Both zoos got here with solid, but unspectacular second round wins: Vienna 15-7 over Dresden on other mammals, and Doue-la-Fontaine 15-6 over Magdeburg on carnivores. The winner of this tie has the unenviable task of trying to cut short Prague's cakewalk to the final. First, though, they must win this one on primates. Tomorrow, the one we've been waiting for: Chester vs Cologne
I guess it is safe to say that both zoos are not 'known' for their primates collection..... They should have more or less an equal amount of primates. Doue has - from my personal standpoint - the better enclosures for all their primates. With one personal sensation - for me one of the best enclosures ever - the hamlyn's monkey in the okapi sanctuary. All other primates are on their own primate islands, spider monkeys, gibbons, siamangs and varis. The squirrel monkeys are living on/in the spectacled bear enclosure. Vienna has Orang Utans as a species Doue does not have. My vote goes to Doue.
Both: red ruffed lemur; Cotton-top tamarin; white-faced saki; lar gibbon Doue la Fontaine Black and white lemur Golden-handed and golden lion tamarins; Bolivian squirrel monkey Colombian black, black-faced and Colombian black spider monkeys Hamlyn’s and roloway monkeys Siamang and red-cheeked gibbons Vienna Ring-tailed lemur Pygmy marmoset; Goeldi’s monkey; bearded emperor tamarin; common squirrel monkey Barbary macaque; king colobus Bornean orang-utan This is a very close contest. Vienna has an orang-utan, while Doue la Fontaine has spider monkeys. I have chosen Vienna as its Old World monkeys show more diversity, despite each collection only having 2 species.
Doué got with both guenon species, and 3 gibbon and spider monkey species a better collection; apart from the king colobus, every other species at Vienna is rather common. So my vote goes to Doué.
This is pretty much a clash of styles with the majority of Vienna's monkeys in a tastefully renovated primate house (King colobus, the Callichtrids, Saki and Red-ruffed lemur) and a nice enclosure for Orangutan in the old Orangerie. The Gibbon and Ring-tailed lemurs have ok islands and the Macaque are mixed with Barbary sheep in a hillside enclosure. Doue's collection seems to be mostly greener islands and the Owl-faced guenon in the Okapi aviary... So I guess it mainly comes down as a clash between stylish old buildings and lush green islands....
I'm more and more identifying Doue as the zoo I most regret missing out on last year. I've parked my vote there for now, on the basis that Vienna really only has the standard primate house approach that I had at best lukewarm feelings for. On a scale of 1 to Apenheul, how well does Doue nail the wooded island approach?
They are fairly similar, but Apenheuls islands are generally bigger and reflect in part the dutch climate with respect to lushness of vegetation (also, the houses in Doue are a bit smaller and the primates are generally always outside). The gibbon islands are partially surrounded by bamboo and the gibbons do like to snack bamboo sprouts ;-) Also none of the primate enclosures are walk throughs with the exception of the okapi sanctuary. Doue is a different kind of zoo, which is hard to explain, they just do not do mediore enclosures. I have never seen anything like it. This flickr-group account does give you some good impressions. So the islands are a little less great than Apenheuls but partially better than La Vallee des Singes in my eyes.
This is also a zoo that is extremely high on my "wanted list", it seems to be a zoo that dares to do things differently in a positive way, aided by it's location.
I'm voting Doué, mainly for the Hamlyns. The Okapi exhibit is one of best i've seen with so many species.
I have to say I'm quite surprised a zoo without any great apes is managing to win so easily on primates . Especially when there's barely anything in it on species
It's winning on the strength of arguments in the thread. There's plenty of time to build a case for Vienna instead.
A quick comparison of primate habitats between the two parks. Vienna: Orangutan Outdoor Area | ZooChat Lemur Enclosure at Vienna, 14/06/13 | ZooChat Monkey House Interior at Vienna, 14/06/13 | ZooChat Monkey House at Vienna, 14/06/13 | ZooChat Primate house - Colobus outdoors | ZooChat Primate house - Colobus indoors | ZooChat Sheep and Macaque Exhibit at Vienna, 14/06/13 | ZooChat Doue La Fontaine: Red-ruffed lemurs island | ZooChat Brown spider monkeys island | ZooChat White handed gibbon island | ZooChat Couldn't find many photos from Doue La Fontaine, but the three above all look large and lush. Vienna had some very nice exhibits, not quite as furnished as the opponent, but the monkey house has some very nice historic elements with exhibits that still are completely adequate. It's a very tough call, especially from someone like me who hasn't visited either facility, but I think I will stick my vote with Vienna for now.
I realize I am kind of late to the discussion and I doubt I can sway anyone. Anyway. So far I have only voted in competitions where I have not visited both zoos, if I felt one zoo does something in the particular category so exceptionally well that it merits my vote nonetheless. In this case, I have only visited Vienna. The project of modernizing Schönbrunn zoo must have seemed a nightmare at the outset: a zoo grounds going back more than two centuries under - I'm sure - very strict heritage protection. How could you possibly succeed? In contrast, on visiting the zoo I was left with the impression that renovating the zoo must have been a delight. Not only did Vienna succeed in this endeavor exceptionally well, but they also did so while preserving the zoo's heritage both physically and 'in spirit'. This is a very rare feat, illustrated by countless (i.e. virtually all other) zoos that either preserve the original zoo grounds but fail or fall short in moving their exhibits to a 21st century standard, or demolish and rebuild large parts of the original zoo grounds from scratch sacrificing much of their heritage, or expand the original zoo grounds or open up a second location altogether. In this sense, Vienna is unique and it imo shows most in their bird, carnivore, and primate exhibits. Doé's primate exhibits look perfectly fine (or better), but I have not found any evidence that they constitute something truly exceptional (such as their aviary) as Vienna's imo do. So my vote goes to Vienna.
