A Guide to the Rarities of Europe

And here is the final installment - the remaining rarities of the UK.

Lower Basildon: Bronze-tailed peacock pheasant, Common green-cheeked parakeet, Rufous-vented laughingthrush, Southern masked-weaver, Venezuelan parakeet, Ruschenberger tree boa.

Lonther: African hawk-eagle.

Lympne: Dusky langur, Greater bamboo lemur, Indian sambar, Northern bamboo lemur, Owston's banded palm civet.

Lyndhurst: Palmate newt.

Mablethorpe: Common murre, Northern gannet.

Maidenhead (Berkshire College Animal Management Centre)

A collection I for one had never heard of before, but appears to be really quite interesting, located entirely within Berkshire College for Agriculture yet open to the public as far as I can tell? I don't think anyone in the forum has visited yet, so I'd be interested to hear from someone their impressions of it once someone does give it a look.

Mammals: Northern flying squirrel, Rufous rat kangaroo, Siberian flying squirrel.

Reptiles: Amazon Basin emerald tree boa, Blue-tailed monitor, Green crested lizard, Leaf-nosed horned agama, Peruvian bush anole, Rough greensnake.

Amphibians: Asian giant toad, Fea's treefrog, Hourglass tree frog, Klappenbach's red-belly toad, La Palma glass frog, Morelet's tree frog, Peacock gliding frog, Sylvia's treefrog, Tscudi's Caribbean frog.

In summary, 18 rarities of which 2 are bolded and a further 6 are underlined.

Malton: Chizumulu cichlid, Anderson's salamander.

Manchester SeaLife: Yellow-brown wrasse, Yellow-edged lyretail, Yellowfin damsel.

Manchester Vivarium

Another fairly little-known collection but one which nevertheless has a fairly extensive collection, again comprised predominantly of herps.

Reptiles: Allison's anole, Anderson's short-fingered gecko.

Amphibians: Cerro Chompipe toad, Corsican fire salamander, Fringed leaf frog, Imbabura treefrog, Klappenbach's red-belly toad, Magnificent tree frog, Morelet's tree frog, Orange-eyed tree frog, Painted belly tree frog, Splendid leaf frog, Sylvia's treefrog, Tiger-striped leaf frog, Trinidad leaf frog, Veragoa stubfoot toad, White-lined leaf frog.

In summary, 17 rarities, of which 5 are bolded and a further 5 are underlined.

Maryport: Greyface moray, Shortnose hogfish.

Matlock Bath: False puffer, Yellowtail damselfish.

Milnthorpe: Black curassow, Indian red-billed blue magpie, Black knobbly newt, Ebenau's gliding frog, Painted belly leaf frog, Portuguese fire salamander, Red-tailed tinfoil.

Moreton in Marsh: African goshawk, African harrier hawk, Barred owl, Chimango caracara, Greater kestrel, North African tawny eagle, Southern yellow-headed caracara.

Newchapel: British bank vole, Eurasian water shrew, Eurasian water vole, Long-tailed field mouse, Short-tailed field mouse, Yellow-necked field mouse.

Newchurch: Grey slender loris, Screaming hairy armadillo, Mexican white-fronted amazon, Plate-billed mountain toucan, Common wonder gecko.

Newent: African harrier hawk, African hawk-eagle, African peregrine falcon, Aplomado falcon, Black goshawk, Black-winged kite, Cape griffon vulture, Eurasian osprey, Greater kestrel, Lappet-faced vulture, Mountain hawk-eagle.

Newport: Rufous-leggged owl.

Newquay Zoo

A fairly large collection, with some lovely rarities ranging from Barred doves to Spotted reed frogs and Spectacled parrotlets. Very varied collection, with a good number of rarities in each class other than fish.

Mammals: Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, Grey slender loris, Northern narrow-striped mongoose, Owston's banded palm civet, Pontianak Prevost's squirrel.

Birds: Barred dove, Chinese grosbeak, Collared finchbill, Grey-winged blackbird, Oriental greenfinch, Red and white crake, Splendid sunbird, Spectacled parrotlet, Tambourine dove.

Reptiles: Brown bone-headed lizard, Long-nosed tree snake, White-headed dwarf gecko.

Amphibians: Blessed poison frog, Common banded newt, Laos warty newt, Pleasing poison frog, Portuguese fire salamander, Southern crested newt, Southern marbled newt, Spotted reed frog.

In summary, 25 rarities, of which 3 are underlined.

North Anston: British jay, Eastern turkey vulture, Bloody Bay poison frog, Marbled reed frog, Pleasing poison frog.

Oakham: Arabian rock hyrax, Black-throated monitor, Hart's glass lizard, Virginia opossum.

Paignton Zoo

Another large collection on that Southwestern coastal area of England, Paignton used to somewhat specialise in primates, but their collection has dwindled significantly. However, you can see the remnants of this in their species list, along with a lovely herp collection and kiwis.

Mammals: King colobus, Malayan white-handed gibbon.

Birds: Greater roadrunner, Freckled duck, Grey-backed thrush, Indian red-billed blue magpie, Northern brown kiwi.

Reptiles: Amazon Basin emerald tree boa, Boyd's forest dragon, Common flat-tail gecko, Cook's tree boa, Indochinese box turtle, Indonesian blue-tongued skink (NS), Nguru pygmy chameleon, Parson's chameleon.

Amphibians: Anderson's salamander, Blessed poison frog, Brazil-nut poison frog, Clown tree frog, Coronated treefrog, Fea's treefrog, Fringed leaf frog, La Palma glass frog, Painted frog, Pleasing poison frog, Sira poison frog, Summers' poison frog, Variable poison dart frog.

In summary, 28 rarities, of which 4 are bolded and a further 4 are underlined.

Penkridge: Black-banded owl, Singapore scops owl, South African wood owl, Western burrowing owl, Blotched bluetongue, Sudan mastigure.

Porfell: Tailless tenrec.

Portsmouth: Crested bullhead shark.

Presham: East African egg-eating snake, Greater Egyptian jerboa, Indonesian blue-tongued skink, Pardine genet.

Reaseheath: Three-eyed lizard, Sudan mastigure, Morelet's treefrog, Painted Indonesian treefrog, Trinidad leaf frog, Damba, Hendra's betta.

Ringwood: African marsh owl, East African tawny eagle, Indian tawny eagle, Coastal carpet python.

Romsey: Greater Egyptian jerboa, Indigo bunting, Northern grey hornbill, Mali spiny-tailed lizard.

Rutland: Barred owl.

Sandown: Dull day gecko.

Shaldon: Bengal slow loris, Green acouchy, Grey slender loris, Owston's banded palm civet, Blessed poison frog, Fantastic poison dart frog, Morelet's treefrog.

Shepreth: Black-tailed marmoset, Pardine genet.

Skegness Natureland: Black-rumped waxbill, Red milksnake.

Skegness Aquarium

A fairly large aquarium for a place that has always been fairly at one with the seas, largely 'earning its keep' through fishing.

Fish: Barber goby, Bicolor damselfish, Bluethroat triggerfish, Dark-striped squirrelfish, Hawaiian squirrelfish, Honeycomb moray, Humpback unicornfish, Imperial goby, Indigo hamlet, Lantern bass, Lined combtooth blenny, Lori's anthias, Smallmouth grunt, Yellow-edged lyretail.

In summary, 14 rarities, of which 5 are bolded and a further 3.

Slimbridge Wetland Centre

One of the best waterbird collections in the world and also happens to hold, just like Berlin, all the flamingo species on Earth. A lovely amphibian collection too to go with the massive bird list. Also a great place to spot wild birds as well as captive ones.

Mammals: Eurasian water vole.

Birds: African white-backed duck, American black duck, American comb duck, Andean flamingo, Australian black duck, Black-headed duck, Chinese spot-billed duck, East Indian wandering whistling duck, Freckled duck, Greenland white-fronted goose, Lake duck, Lesser Canada goose, Maccoa duck, Northern white-cheeked pintail, Pale-bellied brent goose, Pink-footed goose, Puna flamingo, Red-breasted merganser, Redhead, Richardson's cackling goose, South African yellow-billed duck, Spoon-billed sandpiper, Taiga bean goose, Tundra swan, Yellow-billed pintail.

Amphibians: Alpine crested newt, Anatolian newt, Bosnian alpine newt, Bumble bee toad, Common mudpuppy, Coroneted treefrog, Greek alpine newt, Italian alpine newt, Italian cave salamander, Malayan leaf frog, Marbled salamander, Orange-legged leaf frog, Shangcheng stout salamander, Southern marbled newt, Southern spectacled salamander, Syrian spadefoot toad.

In summary, 42 rarities, of which 7 are bolded and a further 9 are underlined.

Sparkwell: Northern blue-tongued skink.

Sparsholt: Mexican leaf frog.

Stickney: Hausa genet, Common map turtle.

Stratford upon Avon: Giant girdled lizard, Jones's armadillo lizard.

Tamworth: Back-striped day gecko, Banded egg-eating snake, Giant girdled lizard, Green vine snake, Leafnose snake, Madagascar hog-nosed snake, Mojave black-collared lizard, Regal horned lizard, Vietnamese forest lizard, Wide-tailed zonosaur, White-spotted reed frog.

Telford: Tailless tenrec, Northern brown tortoise, Zorilla.

Thrigby: Owston's banded palm civet.

Totnes: Black-throated monitor, Indian tawny eagle.

Tynemouth: Devil firefish, Hawaiian whitespotted toby, Leopard catfish.

Twycross: Agile gibbon, Dusky langur, Francois' leaf monkey, Northern grey hornbill.

Waltham Cross: Palestina spiny mouse, Zorilla.

Wareham: Agile gibbon, Bengal slow loris, Benin red-bellied guenon, Gray gibbon, Woolly monkey.

Warminster: Arabian rock hyrax, Southern hairy-nosed wombat, Southern koala, Fantastic poison dart frog.

Warwick: Crowned hawk-eagle.

Washford: African silverbill, Yellow-spotted monitor, Blackfin goodea, Bulldog goodeid, Catarina allotoca, Pygmy glass danio, Striped orange-finned danio, Zacapu allotoca.

Washington: Greenland white-fronted goose.

Watlington: Indian sambar, Great bustard, Malayan sambar.

Weyhill: African harrier hawk, African hawk eagle, Black-winged kite, East African tawny eagle, Indian tawny eagle, Pearl-spotted owlet, Southern striped owl, Wahlberg's eagle.

Weymouth: Western little penguin, Inshore hagfish, mangrove whipray, Nassau grouper, Snooty wrasse, Southern fiddler, Thompson's surgeonfish.

Wilstead: Black-banded owl.

Wiltshire: Forest hingeback tortoise.

Winchester: Northern narrow-striped mongoose, Abyssinian village weaver, Blue-grey tanager, Northern brown tortoise, Short-toed rock agama.

Wingham: Black-tailed marmoset, Plantain squirrel, Spix's night monkey, Vervet, Common map turtle, Frog-eyed sand gecko, Gray's monitor, Henkel's giant gecko, Qathara gecko, Ruthven's kingsnake, Speckled kingsnake, Yellow-spotted monitor.

Woburn: Ambon red lory.

Woodhurst: African barn owl, Crested serpent eagle, Rufous-legged owl.

Wraxall: Aplomado falcon, Eastern common crane, Spix's guan, Venezuelan parakeet, Malayan box turtle.

Yarmouth: Bauer's chameleon gecko, Checkered gartersnake, Common map turtle, Common wonder gecko, Crevice spiny lizard, Desert horned lizard, Eastern garden lizard, Haitian curly-tailed lizard, Oriental brown-sided skink, Vieillard's chameleon gecko.

Ballagh: Australian ibis.

Jersey Zoo

Well know for its connections with Gerald Durrell, Jersey continues to set the tone for in situ conservation conducted by zoos worldwide. It also has a fabulous collection, which, while perhaps not as large as others in the country, comprises some lovely species to make up for it.

Mammals: Comoro flying fox, Golden-rumped lion tamarin.

Birds: African white-backed duck, British red-billed chough, Javan green magpie, Sunda hooded pitta.

Reptiles: Anguilla racer, Bojer's skink, Bourton's snake-eyed skink, Leach's anole, Lesser night gecko, Madagascar big-headed side-necked turtle, Madagascar flat-tailed tortoise, Madagascar ground gecko, Mauritius day gecko, Orange-tailed skink, Pygmy leaf chameleon, Round Island keel-scaled boa, Round Island skink, South Vietnamese box turtle, Spotted martinique anole.

Amphibians: Amazon poison frog, Mexican leaf frog, Spotted poison frog.

In summary, 24 rarities, of which 7 are bolded and a further 3 are underlined.

Belfast: Black saki, Crowned sifaka, Francois' leaf monkey, Spotted necked otter, Venezuelan red howler, Antarctic gentoo penguin, Long-billed black cockatoo, Western rockhopper penguin.

Comber: African white-backed duck, Greenland white-fronted goose, Northern cinnamon teal, Pale-bellied brent goose.

Balloch: Southern fiddler.

Cupar: Taiwan sika deer.

Dundee: British red-billed chough.

Edinburgh: Guianan brown capuchin, Taiga musk deer, Antarctic gentoo penguin, Northern rockhopper penguin, Nelson's kingsnake.

Motherwell: Black-tailed marmoset, Saffron-crowned tanager, Desert kingsnake, Veined tree frog.

North Queensferry: Angelshark, Bigeye soldierfish, Elongate unicornfish, Hourglass tree frog, Marbled tree frog.

Polbeth: British bank vole, Eurasian water vole, British jay, British song thrush, Dunlin, Egyptian plover, Asian yellow pond turtle.

St Andrews: Bullseye puffer, Common twig catfish, Reef squirrelfish, Thorny seahorse.

Whitburn: African barn owl, African marsh owl, Band-bellied owl, Barred owl, Collared scops owl, Hartert's little owl, Magellanic horned owl, Rusty-barred owl, South African wood owl, Southern striped owl, Sunda scops owl, Vermiculated eagle owl.

Abergavenny: Prairie falcon.

Barry: Aplomado falcon, Barbary falcon, Black goshawk, Black shaheen falcon, Mountan hawk eagle, North African tawny eagle, Prairie falcon, Red-naped shaheen, Siberian goshawk, Wahlberg's eagle.

Begelly: Black-rumped waxbill, Buff-necked ibis, Macaroni penguin.

Borth: Splendid sunbird, Desert plated lizard.

Brynsiencyn: Shore clingfish.

Colwyn Bay: Mottled weaver, Malayan box turtle.

Llandudno: Magellanic horned owl, Pel's fishing owl, Sri Lankan spot-bellied eagle owl.

Llanelli: Greenland white-fronted goose, Maccoa duck, Northern cinnamon teal, South African yellow-billed duck.

Menai Bridge: Yellow-spotted monitor.

Picton Castle: Buff-necked ibis, Lesser sandhill crane, Saharan striped weasel, Northern sand gecko.

Victoria: African barn owl.

And that is it! All done. Not sure I'd do it again if someone told me ten months ago just how much work it would entail, but there we go. Sincerely hope it is not only useful now but won't become too outdated too fast - we'll have to see how that goes but hopefully at some point I might just do a little revision of the more substantial collections.

The next few posts will be some sort of analysis, with a few rankings etc.

Anyways, thanks so much all for reading and retaining interest in the thread, it's been quite the journey so thanks a lot all!

AL

 

Pretty sure they sent some to Tropiquaria too!

Golden cat has sadly passed away

 

I cannot thank you enough @amur leopard this is immensely helpful and shall be very useful as I travel in search of as many species as possible.

 

Thanks for the corrections - sad about the golden cats. I guess that means the UK has lost its last golden cats in quick succession in Thrigby and Belfast - a real shame, such a lovely species.

 

According to ZTL, 5 European collections have aye-ayes and 5 have Owston's banded palm civets. The aye-aye isn't listed for any collection, but the palm civet is.

 

I'm really not sure how that has happened, you are absolutely right. Can't really correct it completely now, so sorry about that, my mistake.

 

I wondered if there may have been some confusion with Taipei Zoo having aye-ayes, so there were aye-ayes in 6 ZTL collections in total.

 

I don't even have that excuse since when I did the notes for this Taipei wasn't listed on ZTL, and even so I'd have counted Aye-aye as a rarity. Anyways thanks for the heads up .

 

Thanks for your honesty, Amur leopard. I appreciate it.

 

It’s one I’ve been looking into visiting over the past year or so, but due to the pandemic I haven’t gotten around to it yet. It is used by the college for teaching students animal care, and it isn’t entirely open to the public, they only allow pre-booked experiences, such as animal encounters and zookeeper experiences. It seems like the only way to see the whole collection is by booking a tour, as they state on the website that you can’t look around the zoo before or after your experience.

 

Not sure there’s golden cats in Belfast anymore

 

Yep, that's why I didn't list them .

 

Well done Amur leopard and congratulations for your commitment.
This analysis may get outdated fast in the details, especially for fishes but the structure will remain helpful for a few coming years in my opinion, allowing to target interesting institutions and simply check that target species are still present at the zoo.

 

Barleylands have since acquired Four-eyed opossum, a really nice rarity .

 

So, the next few posts will be a full breakdown and analysis of the data presented in this thread. I recognise @lintworm did something similar, so I'm going to try and keep away from reiterating anything that was elucidated on that thread. After I've been through a breakdown of that data, I'll start another thread attempting to help people with planning a trip to or within Europe, and which zoos should be high up on their list. That will probably come in the new year.

But for now, here is the first post of analysis. Below is my earlier post giving the rankings of the zoos in terms of mammals, birds, herps and overall, along with a map of mammal rarity distribution.

It is now time to go a bit deeper into the data. First I will look at unique species - which zoos had the most unique species, both in each class and overall? Well in terms of mammals, the greatest number of unique species of mammal in Europe in a single zoo is 7, in both Plzen and Hamerton, a zoo that punches far above it's weight in this particular category. In fact these two zoos are the only two zoos with over 3 unique mammal species in Europe. So the list is thus:

1 - Hamerton (7) and Plzen (7)
2 - TP Berlin (3) and Koln (3)

In terms of birds, numbers are significantly higher. Again, the frontrunner has over twice as many unique species as the second placed zoo, though this time the zoo in first place is Loro Parque, with a jaw-dropping 80 unique bird species. Second is perhaps unsurprisingly Weltvogelpark Walsrode, with 39, and then Plzen. Somewhat shockingly Loro Parque has more unique bird taxa than the next placed three zoos combined. A nice surprise is the appearance of Graested in the top 5, a relatively unknown Danish collection.

1 - Loro Parque (80)
2 - Weltvogelpark Walsrode (39)
3 - Zoo Plzen (26)
4 - Zoo Praha (13)
5 - Graested (11), Zoo Berlin (11) and TP Berlin (11).

The reptiles list features some perhaps more little-known zoos, but is topped by a familiar winner. Plzen again is top in this category, with 40 unique reptile species, followed a fair way behind by Graz (28) and Nockalm (19). Plzen therefore tops the ladder in two categories - very impressive given in both it is competing against specialists in the respective categories.

1 - Zoo Plzen (40)
2 - Graz Turtle Island (28)
3 - Reptilienzoo Nockalm (19)
4 - Zoo Praha (15)
5 - Zoo Wroclaw (13)

Amphibians are bound to have fewer representatives in zoos given that they are a less numerous class, but despite this certain zoos have managed to acquire large numbers of them. One zoo sticks out above all others as the best public amphibian collection in Europe and perhaps the world and that is Zoo Chemnitz, with a stunning 47 amphibian rarities, and more pertinently to this particular statistic, 10 unique amphibian species. It is somewhat surprisingly closely followed by Koln with 8 and then Slimbridge and Manchester Vivarium (within the Manchester Museum) (another little-known but excellent collection for this particular class).

1 - Zoo Chemnitz (10)
2 - Zoo Koln (8)
3 - Slimbridge WWT (5) and Manchester Vivarium (5)

When it comes to fish, this statistic is a bit more complicated. I still haven't gotten round to completing the fish lists for most of the larger German collections, so the numbers presented here for all German collections for fish are estimates. While I have tried to use data from other countries to form an educated guess of what the figures would be for each zoo, the numbers of the German collections below should in no way be considered as absolute or accurate in any way - they are just estimates. With that in mind, the leader without a shadow of a doubt in this category is Den Bla Planet in Denmark, with almost three times the number of unique fish species as any other European collection (that is, assuming that my figures for the German zoos are correct). Den Bla Planet has a stunning 100 unique fish species. Second however is not an aquarium but Zoo Berlin, with c.34 and then Porte Doree in Paris with 31.

1 - Den Bla Planet (100)
2 - Zoo Berlin (c.34)
3 - Porte Doree (31)
4 - Haus des Meeres (23) and Zoo Wroclaw (23)
5 - Wilhelma Zoo Stuttgart (c.22)
6 - Bolton Aquarium (21)
7 - L'Oceanografic (19)
8 - Zoo Koln (c.18)
9 - Aquazoo Dusseldorf (17)
10 - Allwetterzoo Munster (c.15) and Zoo Basel (15).

And so overall, the zoos with the most taxa that one can find nowhere else in European zoos are as follows:

1 - Den Bla Planet (102)
2 - Zoo Plzen (82)
3 - Loro Parque (81)
4 - Zoo Berlin (51)
5 - Zoo Koln (43)
6 - Zoo Wroclaw (40)
7 - Weltvogelpark Walsrode (39)
8 - Wilhelma Zoo Stuttgart (34)
9 - Porte Doree (31)
10 - Zoo Praha (30)

And just the same thing but excluding fish for those who may find it more significant and telling when evaluating zoos:

1 - Loro Parque (80)
2 - Zoo Plzen (76)
3 - Weltvogelpark Walsrode (39)
4 - Zoo Praha (30)
5 - Graz Turtle Island (28)
6 - Zoo Koln (25)
7 - Reptilienzoo Nockalm (19)
8 - Zoo Berlin (17) and Zoo Wroclaw (17)
9 - TP Berlin (15)
10 - Zoo Chemnitz (12) and Wilhelma Zoo (12)

Unsurprisingly, Walsrode, Prague and Loro Parque rise by 4, 6 and 2 places respectively while places with larger fish collections like Zoo Berlin, Zoo Koln, Zoo Wroclaw and Wilhelma fall by 4, 1, 2 and 2 places respectively, losing up to 67% of their total unqiue taxa count.

Lastly, I will outline, again using unique species count, the most all-encompassing collections. The lists below show the zoos with unique taxa in all five classes, and then zoos with unqieu taxa in four of the five:

5: Antwerp, Plzen, Zoo Berlin, Koln, Wroclaw and Chester
4: Vincennes, Beauval, TP Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Budapest and Hamerton.

The above, while predominantly made up of Europe's elite, does have some surprise inclusions and some notable exclusions. Antwerp is perhaps not expected to be in the group of those with all five classes represented, while Vincennes and Hamerton and to a lesser extent perhaps Budapest are surprise inclusions in the group below. Much larger zoos such as Vienna, Rotterdam and Pairi Daiza are not present either.

So - what does this all mean? Well the two main ways of evaluating a zoo are exhibitry and collection. The relative importance of these factors is highly subjective and entirely down to the individual. There are certainly some on this site who prioritise exhibitry far above collection, believing that a single bad exhibit can define a collection, while others prefer a more collection-centred approach. While my data is useful for evaluating a collection's quality, it by no means defines the zoo - just by looking at Doue or Burgers or Zurich's species lists, one would have no idea just how high the exhibitry quality is in those places, and nor would one be able to distinguish the (hopefully less common) opposite.

So how to evaluate the exhibitry quality? Well that is also, in part, subjective, much more so than collection. One just needs to see the mixed reception that for example Indianapolis's orangutan habitat has had, with some heralding it as a fabulous exhibit while others find the unnatural style has no place in today's zoos. Fortunately, exhibit quality is not always subjective however, and nor is the quality of the collection. I think everyone on this site can agree that for example Zurich's Masoala and Burgers' Bush are two of the world's greatest exhibits without a doubt, while you would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't believe that Plzen's collection is the best in the world. So the key to being the best is finding the balance between collection and exhibitry. Different zoos do this in various ways of course, and the list below encapsulates the range of collection-exhibitry balances out there in Europe, going from predominantly collection-oriented zoos to predominantly exhibitry-oriented zoos.

Turtle Island Graz - Large collection of various turtle taxa, but average to shabby exhibitry.

Zoo Plzen - Massive collection (arguably best in the world) but a massive range of exhibitry as well, from very good (Siberian forest aviary, brown bears) to really quite bad (barn owls, certain other small mammal exhibits).

Zoo Koln - Mostly good exhibitry and an immense collection, but no enclosures really stand out.

Pairi Daiza - Perhaps not the largest of collections in comparison to Plzen or Prague but nevertheless holder of some massive rarities (e.g. Spix's macaw) in mostly good exhibits but some serious issues elsewhere in this respect, particularly tigers, pygmy hippos and leopards).

Zoo Praha - Another enormous collection but almost entirely great exhibitry also, though with a few low points in there too.

ZooParc de Beauval - A fairly large collection in pretty consistently good exhibits, with some particularly nice enclosures (elephants, Asian hoofstock, hippos) and some small issues (some of the big cats, some aviaries).

Chester Zoo - Still a large collection, but with perhaps the most consistently fantastic exhibitry in European zoos, with hardly any even average exhibits and some particularly lovely enclosures (spectacled bears, giant otters, jaguars etc.)

Burgers' Zoo - Its collection is not to be underestimated, but where Burgers excels is its exhibitry, with some amazing habitats, not least the Bush and the Mangrove.

Zoo Zurich - Again, still holds a nice collection but home to possibly the best exhibit in the world, Masoala, accompanied by a plethora of other great exhibits (Pantanal, elephants, Lewa).

Bioparc Doue-la-Fontaine - One of the most underrated zoos in the world in my opinion. Its collection is nice but nothing too special, but its exhibitry is easily the most unorthodox I've ever seen - thinking particularly the vulture, snow leopard, lion and just generally the double-levelled layout of the zoo. Add to that two of the most breathtaking aviaries in the world and you have quite the zoo. Just to be clear, I am not insinuating that its exhibitry is better than Zurich's but that the exhibitry is even more of a focus than at the latter.

Terre des Singes - An extreme example and added in for fun really, but home to one species; the Barbary macaque, and exhibited in an immense forest to essentially run wild.

While it is clear that the zoos right at the extremes at both ends are not the best in Europe, those in between could potentially be very high up depending on the individual. Someone who visits zoos solely to see a variety of different species would perhaps rank Plzen over all others, while someone who values exhibitry far above collection would have Zurich and Burgers and perhaps Doue quite high up on their list. Personally, I find that visiting a zoo with bad exhibits does stain my impression of the facility, but generally what propels to visit in the first place is moreso the collection than the exhibitry with exceptions being particularly fantastic enclosures (Masoala and co.). With that in mind, the best zoos in Europe in my opinion (bearing in mind I haven't visited my top pick), Prague, Chester, Berlin and Beauval, in that order.

But that's just my reasoning - I know for a fact that every single one of you will have a different criteria and end up with a different ranking, but that's just part of the fun, isn't it ?

Sorry for that slight digression, next time I will stick to the statistics instead of venturing into waffle territory .

Anyways, thanks for reading (or not, I recognise it's pretty long),

AL

 

Here's a quick run-through of what I thought were the highlights of the project. I'll be doing 5 lists of ten zoos each which stuck out in some way, good or bad. This is intended as a sort of summary to just round up the surprises between the thousands of zoos and pack them all into one post so they are easily accessible.

The first list is of collections that were either completely or virtually unknown (at least to me) before I started this project, but that turned out to be fairly impressive collections in their own right. These collections are often fairly small and specialised, hence their novelty when I came across them for the thread. In no particular order:

1 - Turtle Island, Graz - I had never heard of this place as I started this thread, and as it was one of the first zoos I looked at for the thread, it, along with Nockalm, somewhat convinced me to continue the thread in order to reveal more of these curiosities.
2 - Vogelpark Turnersee - Another Austrian collection that I had never seen mentioned on this forum, but one that turned out to have quite the bird collection.
3 - Graested - Another lovely bird collection, and in a place where one might not expect it, given Denmark typically has a less diverse assortment of taxa in its zoos given its geographical positioning.
4 - La Ferme des Reptiles - Completely unknown to me beforehand and apparently nestled in the Pyrenees, this place seems quite isolated, far from any sort of large city, yet it has a healthy collection of herps.
5 - Ibbenbueren - Another turtle collection, this time in Germany, this place is another one which appears quite isolated, at least on the surface of things, yet holds a large collection of testudines.
6 - Timmendorfer Strand - A lovely bird collection, in a similar situation apparently to Ibbenbueren - though as I understand it it gets more visitors due to its location on the beach.
7 - Sant Alessio - A lovely little collection brimming with colourful birds - this place specialises in hummingbirds and birds of paradise, in the middle of a country which has a notoriously poor zoo record.
8 - Tabernas - A complete surprise which I had never heard of previously but appears to hold three very rare species of fox (Swift, Rueppell's and Blanford's).
9 - Maidenhead - A collection within a university, I'm not surprised I hadn't heard of it but it holds a number of lovely species and seems well worth visiting if one is nearby.
10 - Manchester Vivarium - One of the largest amphib collections in the UK entirely held within the confines of Manchester Museum - who'd have known?

The next list is for collections that are fairly well-known within Europe yet surprised me, exceeding expectations as to their rarity count. I will first say how many rarities I thought they'd had and then how many rarities they actually did. Again in no particular order:

1 - Haus des Meeres (I thought around 35, in fact 92)
2 - Den Bla Planet (I thought around 25, in fact 157)
3 - Porte Doree (I thought around 20, in fact 81)
4 - Zoo Koeln (I thought around 75, in fact 184)
5 - Allwetterzoo Munster (I thought around 15, in fact 44)
6 - Poznan Nowe (I thought around 5 mammal rarities, in fact 22)
7 - Zoo Plock (I thought around 8, in fact 49)
8 - Loro Parque (I thought around 80, in fact 230)
9 - Bolton Aquarium (I thought around 3, in fact 32)
10 - Hamerton (I thought around 15, in fact 34)

The next list is for zoos whose rarity counts were disappointing or where I had expected higher. In no particular order, and using the same system as above:

1 - Vienna (I thought around 70, in fact 40)
2 - Copenhagen (I thought around 25, in fact 11)
3 - Doue la Fontaine (I thought around 20, in fact 8)
4 - Paris Menagerie (I thought around 25, in fact 7)
5 - Zoo Berlin (I thought around 150 non-fish rarities, in fact 94)
6 - Munich (I thought around 30 non-fish rarities, in fact 10)
7 - Artis (I thought around 35 rarities, in fact 18)
8 - Colchester (I thought around 25 rarities, in fact 12)
9 - Madrid Zoo (I thought around 30 rarities, in fact 18)
10 - Edinburgh (I thought around 20 rarities, in fact 5)

Next is the list of most specialised zoos, with what they specialise in in brackets.

1 - Turtle Island Graz (testudines)
2 - Bosovice (parrotlets)
3 - Zazejd (chameleons)
4 - Chemnitz (amphibians)
5 - Dvorec (cobras)
6 - Wassenberg (Oceanian geckos)
7 - Bellingwolde (squirrels)
8 - Whipsnade (killifishes and toothcarps)
9 - Loro Parque (parrots)
10 - Oosterend (crimson animals )

And finally, the biggest individual rarities at any collection in Europe, again in no particular order, with the rarity in bold and the collection in brackets this time. They are all unique in Europe.

1 - Eastern gorilla (Antwerp)
2 - Spix's macaw (Pairi Daiza)
3 - Brown hyena (Prague)
4 - Bighorn sheep (Plzen)
5 - Mountain anoa (Krefeld)
6 - Chinese pangolin (Leipzig)
7 - Indian leopard (Wuppertal)
8 - Cape hartebeest (Wroclaw)
9 - Marbled polecat (Magdeburg)
10 - Saiga (Askaniya Nova).

And that is the mini-summary done! Next up will be an analysis of individual countries and how they compared in terms of breakdown of rarities as well as number of rarities and unique taxa compared to number of zoos in the country.

Thanks again for reading and feel free to also reply about what the biggest revelation/surprise/disappointment was for you out of this thread!

AL.

 

It was a bit surprising for me that some Hungarian zoos that are relatively major collections like Veszprém and Győr don't own any real rarities. Also Szeged which is often considered as "the zoo of rarities" in Hungary only holds 4 or 5 listed taxa.
The whole thread is/was really great, it must be really useful while I will be travelling.

 

Ooh please do - would be very interested to hear what you have to say on it.

Yes, really quite sad - although I was hoping that Edinburgh would be similar to London in the sense that it has decreased its collection significantly but nonetheless still has a few rarities (London has 32 iirc), but unfortunately that was not the case.

Hehe - you have a point for sure, I'll replace the last entry with the Owl Centre given the former was more of a joke anyways .

 

A very nice zoo, the desert gives a great biome and backdrop for the exhibits there. However, I don’t believe that blanfords and swift foxes are still held unfortunately…

Although it is such a lovely little display within the museum, sadly the majority of rare amphibians are off display, with only a few herps on show (That’s not to say it’s not worth a visit as there are still a handful of rarities to see)

Again, most of the amphibians are off show. However, I was lucky enough to run into a keeper who was willing to show them to me, so perhaps there is a chance to see them.