What do you think is the best seal exhibit? I would like to stay away from sea lions and just do seals.
Maybe a little biased considering it's my home zoo, but I love the Detroit Zoo's seal exhibit. It has a great predator and prey display making it look like the polar bears could come right over to the seals. I always enjoy walking through the tunnel. This is one of the exhibits I look forward to every time I visit
The californian sealion exhibit at the Zoom Erlebniswelt in Gelsenkirchen has a very good exhibit. In size, how it looks (very naturally) and the underwater windows/ underwater tunel give a great view on the animals. The Zoo would by far be one of Germany top zoos in sense of exhibits. The only problem is that it doesn't have to many particular rare/endangered species. Mostly the animals you would expect.
Warsaw zoo has a pool where the record number if grey seals in a zoo were born (well over 100). It is actually one of the oldest exhibits in the zoo, without underwater viewing or theming. But it has lots of space, lots of dry land, and held a large group of about 8 adult seals. It is freshwater (but grey seals live in the near-freshwater Baltic), and often freezes in winter, with the seals using the man-made openings.
St. Louis Zoo- yes there are sea lions as well, but a superb Exhibit for all pinnipeds. In terms of collection, Mystic Aquarium is the best I've seen. The exhibit is nothing special, but has spotted, fur, and harbor seals.
I would be curious if there were new thoughts on this subject. I was about to start a similar thread and found this one. I don't feel any of the seal or pinniped exhibits I have seen would be in the running for the best in the country at all so far. I'm not sure if I can include or rank Denver since the seal exhibit was holding sea lions at the time. Brookfield is probably the most technically superior I've seen but from a visitor perspective I enjoy Lincoln Park's exhibit far more, and it's always interesting to see the gray and harbor seals mixed. I'm hoping to see St. Louis' exhibit within the next couple of months though.
There's really no need, in terms of exhibitry, to separate seals from sea lions. The needs of these animals are so similar that most of the exhibits I've seen for the two are extremely similar in style and layout. Sea lion exhibits tend to be slightly larger, and it seems as though in recent years more zoos have invested in sea lions (or mixed-species pinniped exhibits with both), but the basic principles of pinniped exhibits would be the same regardless of whether seals or sea lions will ultimately be displayed.
Just seals? That limits out a lot of really great habitats that hold both seals and sea lions. I guess SeaWorld Orlando may be pretty good. Their seal/sea lion area (Pacific Point Preserve) is better, but it holds both sea lions and seals whereas the Wild Arctic area only holds seals. I believe they are in the previous polar bear habitat.
I've visited more than 500 different zoos, but looking exclusively at my Scandinavian road trip last summer, here are some splendid seal exhibits: Nordsoen Oceanarium (Denmark) - exhibit with Grey Seals and Harbour Seals: Boras Zoo (Sweden) - exhibit with Grey Seals and Harbour Seals: Kolmarden Zoo (Sweden) - exhibit for Cape Fur Seals, Grey Seals and Harbour Seals
Omaha, North Carolina, and a few others are quite nice - Omaha being the "gold standard" for now. National and Columbus's sea lion/seal displays are disappointing, IMO. SeaWorld Orlando's Pacific Point Preserve is quite nice, but no under water viewing.
Well, I was going to start a new thread for 'best pinniped exhibits' generally, but I thought it might look repetitious to this existing thread, and I knew I wasn't going to be saying anything too special. I'm not personally troubled by whether anything holds seals or sea lions. Appreciate the beautiful photos, guys. Good to know Omaha is the one to beat.
