I was a little surprised to find no Austrian zoos mentioned here so far. This German link might help You to locate most of them: ► Zoo-Infos.org ◄ - The Austrian Zoo Database Personally, I can recommend: -Vienna Zoo: Oldest zoo in the world, former director Helmut Pechlaner managed to find a happy medium between old-fashioned zoo buildings and modern zoo animal husbandry. And isn't it a wise move to plant the gift shop right between the Koalas and the Giant Pandas ? Besides of these crowd pleasers, Vienna has quite an interesting animal collection (Japanese serows, Kalongs) and interesting zoo buildings (with the Desert House located outside of the zoo). Equally interesting is the beautiful Museum of Natural History, the butterfly garden and to some lesser extent, the House of the Sea. -Salzburg Zoo: Really orginal location, with part of the zoo closely snuggled to the cliffs. Nice though not outstanding animal collection (white-naped mangabey, Golden-Headed Lion tamarins, Sitatungas...), mostly nice exhibits and a beautiful scenery-where else can You see white rhinos and Grevy zebras with the Alps in the background? Not to mention the free-roaming Griffon Vultures...Equally recommendable: The "House of Nature" Museum. -Tierpark Schloss Herberstein: Equally nice presentation, first hunting simulator for cheetahs worldwide and an interesting wolf cave. -Innsbruck Alpenzoo: Specialized in European species-and though some of the exhibits could be better, this makes the zoo highly interesting, for there are quite a few species that You will never have encountered before in any other zoos. So if You want to see rare European wild animals, this is the place to go. - Adlerarena Burg Landskron Austria has some castles combined with raptor flight-shows-but the view from that one-amazing! Especially in the case of Vienna & Salzburg, the city/ town have lot to offer beside of the zoo...
I have been to Salzburg Zoo, the "House of Nature" and Alpenzoo Innsbruck, and i can recommend them all to any zoofan
Well, You surely should visit Vienna; it's one beautiful city. However, as the Giant panda cub is soon going to draw the crowds to the zoo when he is going "public", I'd better wait till the whole "Knut 2"-hype is over. And yes, Salzburg does not just sound good.. @Toddy: So You have been to Salzburg? Good for You; hope You walked down the Getreidegasse enjoying the sights and the Mozartkugeln...
A couple of years back i visited Vienna, salzburg and innsbruck. Ofcourse vienna was my favorite. The zoo has a great athmosphere, especially around the olf theahouse. In Salzburg i was mostly impressed by the enclosures of the ibex, chamois etc. The rest of the zoo seemed quite standard to me. And innsbruck surprised me. It is one of the best theme-zoos i´ve ever visited. Such a great collection of all european species. Even european fresh water fish! And the whole location gives it an extra dimension. (i also visited a wildpark in Aurach. But thats the standard big (walkthrough) fields with fallowdeer and red deer. Also enclosures for yak, ibex and wild pigs)
One of the things that i enjoyed most about Alpenzoo Innsbruck was the outdoor exhibits for european reptiles. That was quite extraorinary. Also, I saw so many wild animals there. There were ravens and mice, and sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) on every rock.
Well, some parts of the Innsbruck Zoo could be better (the bear exhibit), but I agree; it's an interesting zoo. @Trebaruna: I don't know what "a couple of years" might indicate in Your case; the zoo has rebuilt itself quite a lot in the last few years and is still at work doing so (new lion exhibit). The ibex exhibit is actually one of the older exhibits and could be better.
I've looked it up and i was in salzburg/innsbruck/aurach in 2004 and in vienna in 2005. I know that salzburg had been rebuilding, but what i've seen on pics wasn't that super impressive. To me, it just isn't very unique, they don't have some sort of a novelty that makes the zoo special or stand out from the crowd. Thats why i like innsbruck better than salzburg. They have a good concept which they made work very well (here in the netherlands we also have a zoo that focused on europe, but they did a lousy job and to get people to visit the zoo they now added tigers to the collection...)
@Trebaruna: I can tell You what makes Salzburg Zoo special and unique-and it's not just the free-flying vultures; it's the beautiful landscape and the embedding of the zoo into it, which is especially made clear when compared to Munich Zoo Tierpark Hellabrunn (which is a nice zoo, nonetheless) with its ugly, non-fitting newer buidlings... BTW: Pictures not always reveal the truth-why not visit Salzburg once again to see the changes by Yourself?
And as i said, i don't think so. The cliff is nice with the chamois-enclosure etc, but to me thats it. Thats my opinion, you have yours, i don't see the point in discussing eachothers opinions. Perhaps because i don't feel like crossing half of europe to see a zoo i didn't like in the first place? Don't get me wrong, its a nice zoo, but not one i would want to visit very often. To me it just misses something... i can't explain.
good Are you from austria? I've heared that vienna is building some sort of a crocodile dome. Something of 5000m2 with 2000 crocs? I assume thats not within the zoo cause that probably doesn't fit... Do you (or someone else ofcourse) have some more info on that thing?
I haven't heard about that ( heard about Prague having almost finished their gharial exhibit-and I can't wait to see that completed!) but I can ask a few people...though I wonder where in Vienna one should have room enough to keep 2000 crocs. Hmm, at the Prater maybe ?
ah don't bother. I missread a french article. When i looked into it a came across this topic on the les zoo dans le monde board: Les zoos dans le monde :: Voir le sujet - 2008 dans la Vienne Apperently vienne is a city in france... i thought, from reading another article they meant vienna in austia sorry sorry sorry.. i should work on my french
At the moment Vienna Zoo is at a position most zoo marketing agencies can only dream of: a Giant Panda cub, a twin birth of Polar Bears and probably soon a Koala birth. Now the zoo giftshop just has to decide in which colours to dye first the extra plush toys ordered...
I agree with Sun re: Vienna and have posted a number of pictures recently (from a visit in Nov 2006). Have many more of various enclosures for those of you interested, just ask! Kalongs can be seen (just!) in picture of interior of Rainforest house, hanging from the roof. D
I loved Innsbruck zoo, especially the Lammergeir. I loved the marmot exhibit, but they weren't out! I've now seen them in the wild (you have too haven't you hornbill)
