A Tale of Two Cities: Overlap Species in Nearby Zoos

Over the last couple of years, I've been able to look at some zoos I have visited before in a bit of a different light, owing to the fact that I now try to keep full species lists for most zoos I visit. During this time, some of the zoos I've been able to visit that I am now looking at a little differently are the zoos of Chicago and the Twin Cities (for those who don't know that's Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota).

I, as others have before me, made some obvious observations comparing the zoos of these two cities. Both have a smaller, more popular zoo in the center of the city which receives lots of funding and has had multiple new exhibits in recent years. Each city also has a much larger (but less popular) zoo in the suburbs outside the city that hasn't had a new exhibit in years due to a lack of funding. Each city also has a major aquarium.

In Chicago, this is Lincoln Park Zoo, Brookfield Zoo, and Shedd Aquarium. In the Twin Cities, this is Como Park Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, and Sea Life Minnesota.

One thing that became apparent when I was getting species lists for these facilities was that it seemed like these sets of zoos had opposite approaches to "overlap species" - what I'm calling a species kept in more than one zoo in the city. In the Twin Cities, it seemed that none of the zoos really have any overlap in species at all. In contrast, I felt like in Chicago I just kept seeing the same species over and over again. How true is this? Did it just appear that way in my mind, or is there really something going on here? Let's take a closer look at my species lists and find out.

 

Twin Cities: Como Park and Minnesota

I have to get this out right away - I currently do not have a species list for Sea Life Minnesota, which means I cannot accurately asses its collections' similarities to Minnesota and Como Park, which means I'll be stuck just comparing those two for now.

Also, for ease of counting (since few zoos sign them) I'll be counting all corals and African Rift Valley cichlids as one species each. This won't affect our comparison of Minnesota's and Como Park's collections very much.

Como Park Zoo Full Species List: Como Park Zoo and Conservatory Full Species List [Como Park Zoo and Conservatory]
Minnesota Zoo Full Species List: Minnesota Zoo Full Species List [Minnesota Zoo]

Como Park Zoo Full Species Count: 87
Minnesota Zoo Full Species Count: 314

List of overlap species:
African Penguin
American Bison
Amur Tiger
Common Shelduck
Cougar
Gray Wolf
Reindeer/Caribou
Sunbittern
White-faced Whistling Duck
Total number of overlap species: 9

Como Park and Minnesota have, just as it seems, very little overlap in collection. This can largely be attributed to the fact that these collections have different focuses. Como Park Zoo has a large focus on African megafauna, while Minnesota focuses mainly on cold-climate species and doesn't have any African species bigger than a Red River Hog. In fact, even a couple of the overlap species between the collection are slightly different. Como Park keeps Domestic Reindeer while Minnesota keeps Woodland Caribou. Como Park keeps normal hybridized bison while Minnesota has a generically pure herd.

Como Park and Minnesota do seem to be actively avoiding overlap whenever possible, due to the fairly high number of very similar species between the two collections. For example:
-Como Park keeps Chilean Flamingoes while Minnesota keeps Lesser Flamingoes.
-Minnesota keep Golden Lion Tamarins while Como Park keeps Golden-headed Lion Tamarins.
-Minnesota keeps Ring-tailed Lemurs while Como Park keeps Blue-eyed Black Lemurs.
-Minnesota keeps Linnie's Two-toed Sloth while Como Parks keeps Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth.
-Como Park keeps Dall Sheep while Minnesota keeps Transcaspian Urial.
-Como Park keeps Gray and Harbor Seals while Minnesota keeps Hawaiian Monk Seals.

Unfortunately though, although it feels nice for zoo enthusiasts to visit these two collections and see completely different animals, the local zoo visiting public doesn't seem to see it this way. Como Park sees many more visitors than Minnesota, which can be largely owed to its more ABC collection. Minnesota Zoo has almost closed multiple times in the last decade, and really does provide proof that ABC animals are required for a major zoo to stay afloat, even when you have a really unique collection (in contrast to Como Park which may be the most generic zoo in the country).

 

Do you want to keep this just to Min/St. Paul and Chicago or can we expand to other cities with two public zoos? For example Tampa has ZooTampa and Busch Gardens as well as Fl Aquarium and Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

 

This could be an exciting thread and I'm posting here so that I receive email updates. Thanks for the analysis.

 

I only have lists for Min/St. Paul atm so this'll be pretty short - when I'm done I'd love to see others cover other cities!

 

The WCS zoos all have California sea lions and both the Bronx and Central Park have snow leopards and grizzly bears

 

They aren’t in the same city, but the Phoenix Zoo and the Wildlife World Zoo are roughly 40 minutes apart. Does this count?
(Posting this to receive email updates, but also because I genuinely think this is an interesting topic)

 

Here's a graph of what zoos the species in Twin Cities zoos can be found in, to make it more apparent how few of the species overlap:

 

Don't get ahead of yourselves.

 

I wanted to object to the proposition that Como Park is the most generic city zoo in the country but I’m coming up short on what would beat it. Peoria, Henry Vilas, and Milwaukee are the closest I can figure.

EDIT: To contribute something on topic, I might do North Carolina / Greensboro Science Center as a similar-ish pairing.

 

I don't really know anything about Peoria so I can't comment there, but Henry Vilas and Milwaukee are both nowhere near that. Milwaukee is extremely unique since the whole zoo is basically stuck in the 1960s and the whole zoo feels like a trip back in time. The bird house is also super unique. Henry Vilas is a lot more generic but still has the wonderful Wisconsin Heritage complex and a wonderful small-zoo charm (which Como does not have because of all its mega-budget exhibits).

 

Chicago: Lincoln Park and Brookfield

Lincoln Park Zoo Species List: Lincoln Park Zoo Full Species List [Lincoln Park Zoo]
Brookfield Zoo Species List: Brookfield Zoo Full Species List [Brookfield Zoo]

Lincoln Park Zoo Species Count: 156
Brookfield Zoo Species Count: 367

Brookfield-Lincoln Park overlap species:
African Dwarf Crocodile
African Lion
African Painted Dog
Allen’s Swamp Monkey
Amazon Milk Frog
Anthony’s Poison Dart Frog
Aruba Island Rattlesnake
Bald Eagle
Bali Myna
Black Rhinoceros
Black Tree Monitor
Blue-bellied Roller
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush
“Blue-crowned Motmot”
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Blue-gray Tanager
Callimico
Common Dwarf Mongoose
Crested Wood-Partridge
Domestic Bactrian Camel
Domestic Goat
Eastern Massasauga
Emerald Starling
Emperor Newt
Generic Giraffe
Gray Seal
Green Tree Python
Grevy’s Zebra
Helmeted Curassow
Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth
Inca Tern
Jamaican Iguana
Jambu Fruit Dove
Klipspringer
Laughing Kookaburra
Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
Meerkat
Naked Mole Rat
North American River Otter
Northern White-cheeked Gibbon
Oriente Knight Anole
Polar Bear
Prehensile-tailed Skink
Pygmy Hippopotamus
Pygmy Slow Loris
Red-billed Hornbill
Red-capped Cardinal
Red Panda
Red River Hog
Rio Fuerte Beaded Lizard
Scarlet Ibis
Snow Leopard
Snowy Egret
Solomon Islands Leaf Frog
Sunbittern
Taveta Golden Weaver
Tawny Frogmouth
Trumpeter Swan
Victoria Crowned-Pigeon
Violaceous Turaco
Western Gaboon Viper
Western Lowland Gorilla
White-blotched River Stingray
White Stork
White-headed Buffalo Weaver
White-rumped Shama
Total number of overlap species: 66

As you can see, it was not just my imagination, Brookfield and Lincoln Park have taken an opposite approach to overlap species in comparison to in Minnesota. 66 species is quite the significant number - it makes up nearly 18% of Brookfield's collection and 42% of Lincoln Park's collection. Both zoos are trying to be comprehensive collections with little no major focus, hence the much greater overlap than at Minnesota and Como Park. Nearly every section of both of these zoos is filled with significant overlap with the other collection (except The Living Coast at Brookfield, since Lincoln Park lacks an aquarium building).

While it was a bit boring to see a lot of the same species over and over when I was recently in Chicago, it isn't as if this doesn't have benefits. Individual animals get transferred quite frequently between Brookfield, Lincoln Park and Shedd, and the three zoos have worked to together closely on a number of successful breeding programs, including for Callimico, White-blotched River Stingray, and Blanding's Turtle. Although it is perhaps a bit tiring to those of us who try to pay attention to every species, most visitors probably don't even notice the overlap (if they even visit more than one collection in the first place).



Don't worry, I'll get to Shedd in the next post.

 

I would think so, Litchfield Park is solidly in the Phoenix metro area. Phoenix also makes a good comparison for OdySea and SEALIFE, both AZA accredited aquariums in the Phoenix Metro area.

 

Oh my.
They had even more overlap a few years ago, with Amur Tiger, Amur Leopard, Aardvark, & Moholi Bushbaby being shared between them.
(And Harbor Seal)

 

You accidentally linked the Lincoln Park Zoo species list thread twice for both. I'll link the correct link right here:

Brookfield Zoo Full Species List [Brookfield Zoo]

 

Thanks for making this comparison! One small correction, Minnesota Zoo is no longer a holder of Transcaspian Urail. The last one either passed away or was moved to a different location a couple months ago.

 

Species kept at Berlin Zoo and Berlin Tierpark
Azara's agouti, Black-rumped agouti, Brazilian guinea pig, Chinese water deer, Eurasian forest reindeer, European bison, giant jumping rat, Giraffe, Nepalese red panda, Patagonian mara, Persian fallow deer, Przewalski's horse, Red buffalo, Siamang, Siberian ibex, Sichuan takin, Southern gerenuk, Southern three-banded armadillo, Sulawesi babirusa, Vicuna
Abdim's stork, African penguin, American white pelican, Asian fairy-bluebird, Australian pelican, Bali myna, Bateleur eagle, Bearded vulture, Black-bellied sandgrouse, Blue-crowned laughing thrush, Blue-winged kookaburra, Cabot's tragopan, Cheer pheasant, Chilean flamingo, Collared partridge, Crested caracara, Crested partridge, Dalmatian pelican, Edwards's pheasant, Elliot's pheasant, Emei Shan liochlicha, Eurasian oystercatcher, European eagle-owl, European white stork, Hamerkop, Harris's hawk, Hooded vulture, Hyacinth macaw, Javan pond-heron, King vulture, Lady Amherst's pheasant, Lesser rhea, Madagascar teal, Marabou, Marbled teal, Mindanao bleeding-heart, Nicobar pigeon, Northern bald ibis, Northern pintail, Palawan peacock-pheasant, Pink-backed pelican, Red-billed blue magpie, Red-billed leiothrix, Red-crested pochard, Red-crowned crane, Red-whiskered bulbul, Rosy-billed pochard, Siberian crane, Smew, Southern screamer, Sumatran laughing thrush, Swan goose, Tanimbar corella, Village weaver, Western cattle egret, Western Eurasian griffon vulture,
Beauty snake, Blue-spotted tree monitor, Prehensile-tailed skink, Radiated tortoise, Tokay gecko, Tropical girdled lizard
Long-nosed horned frog, Mission golden-eyed tree frog, White-lipped tree frog
Almorha loach, Azure demoiselle, Banded sleeper goby, Banggai cardinal fish, Black phantom tetra, Black ruby barb, Blacktail humbug, Blue green damselfish, Blue streak hap, Blue-girdled angelfish, Bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Bristle-tail file-fish, Cardinal tetra, Clown anemonefish, Clown loach, Clown surgeonfish, Convict surgeonfish, Discus fish, Elegant firefish, Flame angel, Golden otocinclus, Gray flying fox, Harlequin rasbora, Jack Dempsey, Jewelled blenny, Lake Tebera rainbowfish, Lavender mbuna, Leaf scorpionfish, Lemon cichlid, Lemonpeel angelfish, Longnose hawkfish, Magnificent rabbitfish, Marbled hatchetfish, Northern neon goby, Orchid dottyback, Palette surgeonfish, Redtail butterflyfish, Royal gramma, Sapphire devil, Sea goldie, Spinecheek anemonefish, Spotted sailfin suckermouth catfish, Three-spotted gourami, Twospot turkeyfish, Yellow tang, Yellowtail tang, Zebra loach, Zebra mbuna

 

Chicago: Lincoln Park and Shedd Aquarium

Shedd Aquarium species list: Shedd Aquarium Full Species List [Shedd Aquarium]

Shedd Aquarium species count: 1011*
Lincoln Park Zoo Species count: 156

Lincoln Park-Shedd overlap species:
African Great Lakes cichlids
Amazon Milk Frog
Anthony’s Poison Dart Frog
Dyeing Poison Dart Frog
Red-footed Tortoise
Ruddy Duck
White-blotched River Stingray
Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle
Total: 8 species

Due to the lack of an aquarium building at Lincoln Park, there is very little overlap between Shedd Aquarium and Lincoln Park. Interestingly, 6 out of these 8 species are at the Small Mammal-Reptile house in Lincoln Park and in the Amazon Rising gallery at Shedd. This is because nearly all of Lincoln Park's herps and aquatic species are found in that building, and nearly all of Shedd's non-aquatic species are in that gallery.

*Note that this count is significantly lowered from the actual species count of the facility thanks to the cichlid/coral rule I've been using.

 

Chicago: Brookfield and Shedd Aquarium

Shedd Aquarium species count: 1011
Brookfield Zoo species count: 367


Brookfield-Shedd overlap: 63 species
Alligator Snapping Turtle
Amazon Milk Frog
Anthony’s Poison Dart Frog
Atlantic Cownose Ray
Atlantic Spadefish
Banded Leporinus
Banggai Cardinalfish
Basketmouth Cichlid
Black Crappie
Blackstripe Topminnow
Blind Cave Fish
Blue Tang
Boeseman’s Rainbowfish
Brazilian Teal
Bristlenose Plecostomus
Bubble-tip Anemone
California Moray
California Sea Lion
Channel Catfish
Chinese Crocodile Lizard
Common Plecostomus
Coral (I know Shedd and Brookfield have at least one species in common)
Coral Beauty
Dwarf Seahorse
Garibaldi
Giant Cockroach
Giant Monkey Frog
Glass Bloodfin Tetra
Grass Carp
Green Swordtail
Greenside Darter
Harlequin Tuskfish
Humpback Cleaner Shrimp
Lemon Goby
Leopard Shark
Longnose Butterflyfish
Lookdown
Moon Jelly
Neon Tetra
Ocellaris Clownfish
Orange Anthias
Orangespotted Sunfish
Powder Blue Tang
Pacific Halfmoon
Pacific Spiny Lobster
Pumpkinseed
Purple Tang
Rainbow Darter
Rock Bass
Round Goby
Sexy Shrimp
Spiny-headed Tree Lizard
Striped Surfperch
South American Lungfish
Tailspot Blenny
Tentacled Snake
Tomato Clownfish
White-blotched River Stingray
White Cloud Mountain Minnow
Yellow-banded Poison Dart Frog
Yellow-spotted Climbing Toad
Yellow Perch
Yellow Tang
Total overlap species: 63

I was absolutely shocked to find that Brookfield and Shedd have nearly as much overlap as Brookfield does with Lincoln Park, as I hadn't really noticed this on my visit to Shedd. But that's simply because Shedd is so packed with species it's harder to notice the species you saw yesterday. Most of the overlap species here are at Brookfield found in The Living Coasts building (for obvious reasons), but a number of them can also be found in The Swamp. At Shedd, the overlap species can be found scattered across the facility. Overlap species between these two collections make up 17% of Brookfield's collection and whopping 6% of Shedd's! That's really, really high! I thought this was a fluke of the coral/cichlid rule, but I found re-implementing it only changed it to 5% of Shedd's collection, which is still shockingly high.

 

Chicago Overview

There are three species that overlap between all three major Chicago zoos:


Amazon Milk Frog
Anthony’s Poison Dart Frog
White-blotched River Stingray

Not sure what's going on with the poison dart frog, but the milk frog is just a common species in all zoos and the stingray is a species which the Chicago zoos all work closely with (Shedd is the studybook holder). Even just a few years ago, this number would have been higher - Blanding's Turtle and Callimico are notable as species that would have made this list even a couple of years ago but are absent from one or two collections. Shedd dropped Callimico in favor of Hawk-headed Parrot. Blanding's Turtle is no longer on exhibit at Shedd or Lincoln Park but I wouldn't be surprised if both still keep them bts, but Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum was always the powerhouse breeder of this species in the area anyways.

Also interesting to note that once again, these species are all at the Small-Mammal Reptile House in Lincoln Park and and Amazon Rising at Shedd - these exhibit are areas which seem particularly heavy with repeat species. At Brookfield, two out of these three species are kept in The Swamp, but Anthony's Poison Dart Frog is kept in Reptiles and Birds.

It seems 9.3% of species kept in the major Chicago zoos overlap between at least two of the zoos.*


*Again, note artificially lowered Shedd total due to the cichlid/coral rule. Lincoln Park needs to start signing its cichlids and Brookfield needs to sign its corals!