Thought this might be relevant: Most Zoos Visited Mark Lehman, of San Bernardino, California, USA, had visited 341 different zoos around the world as of January 3, 2000. Since beginning his quest in July 1993, he has been to zoos as far afield as Kenya, Indonesia, and the USA. http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/ Jamie
Okay - we have a goal now ! Better get on the phone to those GWR guys, they're going to need a new entry. (umm... perhaps you'd better wait a bit, it's going to take us a little while to break that record I suspect).
Well , I have made a start . Unfortunately I was on a whistle stop tour around the US which didnt give me time to see many zoos . But I am envious of that guy in the GWR
hehehe... Pity they didn't give that guys email address... Sim, you need to track him down and get him to join up and post his photos!!! asy
I had to bump this thread. Who among us has beaten this record (and what is the current record now)? I'm pretty sure there are several members on here who have visited more zoos!!
I just checked and the record still states "Mark Lehman, of San Bernardino, California, USA, had visited 341 different zoos around the world as of 3 Jan 2000. Since beginning his quest in July 1993, he has visited zoos all around the world, including Europe, Africa, Asia, USA and the Caribbean." I guess no-one has thought to enter a competing bid for title. I wonder if Mark Lehman is on Zoochat?
From what Tim Brown here on ZooChat has said he has that record beat by a couple hundred zoos. I imagine that several other folks like ANyhuis et al. have too.
Between 1993 and 2000, he visited 341 zoos. If we do the math and extrapolate linearly (assuming an even 48 per year every year), he should be on about 900 zoos today (2012). So, your target is really about 900. However, let's assume that he reached a plateau earlier, due to his age, health, financial status, lost interest, or because he ran out of zoos to visit (ISIS says that they have 800 members), then what is a good number? I say 750 sounds reasonable. There's your number to beat, boys and girls. 750.
I have visited 540 zoos and aquariums (including minizoos, museums with sections of live aimals...) of 19 countries.
I know individuals who have been on ZooChat (and some are still on ZooChat) who have visited bucketloads of zoos and aquariums. Tim Brown is approaching 550, Harry Schram (who I believe still works for Antwerp Zoo in the Education Department) is at a staggering 750, Allen Nyhuis (who I still exchange emails with at least once a week) is approaching 250, and there are guys on here like Maguari and Zoogiraffe who if I'm not mistaken are both between 220-300. There are quite a few European ZooChatters who have seen over 200 zoos/aquariums, and it is obvious to anyone that spends time on this forum that in Europe zoos are a BIG deal and there is a Zoohistorica Society Meeting every year and other important events. For example a tiny section of the world geographically (United Kingdom) has something like 160 zoos/aquariums/wildlife centres, and I've heard that if you count everything with animals in captivity then the nation of Germany has something crazy like 400 attractions. After this summer's latest road trip I hope to have visited 170 different zoos/aquariums, which must put me near the top of the list of current North American "zoo nerds". However, that number pales in comparison to some of the totals that dominate the zoo culture pantheon of Europe. I live in western Canada and far away from most zoos, thus I need to drive vast distances to see many of the establishments. In a nation like Germany if you throw a rock in the air you are likely to see it come crashing down on a zoo!
Just hit 50 zoos last year, and there's so many more to visit within a few hours drive it's insane...
@ Snowleopard you were pretty close to having my total correct as it currently stands at 304,all being well should be over 310 before the end of the year,without doing any new collections in the UK.
Did a little bit of googling and the search for "Mark Lehman, San Bernardino, California" led to a teacher and basketball coach on Cajon High School. Could it be him? Anyone wants to try and contact him? Edit: Yes! It´s him! They called him "Mr. Zoo" in some article about girls basketball!
I tried googling when I bumped the thread but there's no saying he still lives in San Bernardino and Mark Lehman appears to be a common name. The closest I got to finding him was on a contacts network where he was saying he holds the Guinness record for most zoos visited around the world (but you needed to join up to see details such as date etc).
You replied before I edited my previous post I´m sure it´s him, you can double-check: Cajon High School Girls Basketball Home - MaxPreps http://www.ratemyteachers.com/mark-lehman/499398-t GIRLS BASKETBALL: Tipoff imminent in Anaheim - HS GameTime - Inland SoCal
