Illustrated Walkthrough of Montpellier Zoo

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but here is a walkthrough of what is effectively my 'home' zoo. It is actually a relatively large zoo in terms of area, at over 800,000 m2 (80ha, ~200 acres), an area putting it not too far off the Bronx Zoo in terms of area. However, comparatively little of that area is used, with the central area of the zoo being the only area where exhibits are dense and frequent.

The zoo is set in typical Mediterranean woodland, with the landscape maintained where there are no exhibits. About a quarter of the zoo is given up to a long nature trail that weaves through an area of untouched forest on the Eastern side of the zoo, where one can spot woodpeckers, buzzards and treecreepers with a bit of luck.

The zoo is also free (other than the rainforest house), making it a popular place for runners and families but also meaning that it is almost entirely subsidised by the council. While the zoo has, in recent years, suffered from a lack of funding, the council recently pledged 30 million euros for the zoo to reinvent itself, with which the zoo plans to make significant development towards massive mixed species exhibits and a European exhibit, to be completed around 2023 (work started a few years ago).

Anyway, onto the walkthrough - I will be going around the zoo starting with the South American area and then moving on upwards into the African area. Since the zoo has a fair few exhibits and I will be adding images, it will be in several parts.

Zoo de Montpellier

The zoo entrance is straightforward as the zoo is free, and immediately visitors have the Rainforest House to their right and the gift shop to their left. On the end of the gift shop is a tall aviary for macaws and amazons, with the species present being Great green macaws and Orange-winged amazons. I don't have any photos of the aviary but it could perhaps be made better by offering the birds more privacy in some way or another.

The next exhibits are for Vicunas. They are fairly simplistic, combining to an area of around 6000 m2. A nice touch is that the exhibit is planted with South American cacti in the foreground as shown below:



Then follows a monkey island serving as the outdoor exhibit for Bearded emperor tamarins, Goeldi's monkeys and Black howler monkeys. The island itself is around 150 m2 in size, with multiple climbing opportunities and lots of hiding opportunities for the monkeys. The moat contains lots of Koi fish. The island is shown below:



Moving on, visitors pass a path leading south to a small building surrounded by lots of small aviaries. This is the Madagascar pavilion. Currently closed for renovation, the pavilion is home to three species of lemur as well as tenrecs and tortoises. It houses uniquely Madagascan fauna. As you walk around the building, visitors can see Red ruffed lemurs, Crowned lemurs and Lac Aloatra bamboo lemurs as well as (only seen once and may have been temporary) Greater vasa parrots.

Once visitors enter the building they can see all four species mentioned above indoors as well as a breeding group of Radiated tortoises (if I remember correctly) and the only Lesser hedgehog tenrecs in France. The infrastructure of the exhibits had been antiquated and in need of repair for several years now so I am glad renovations are occurring. Nevertheless, the Madagascar area is rather charming and one of my favourite areas of the zoo.

Having rejoined the main path, the South American zone continues with a large mixed exhibit for Lowland tapirs, Greater rheas and Southern screamers. The exhibit is punctuated with large succulent plants but otherwise is mainly planted with tall grass and the occasional tree, with a pool for the tapirs. The exhibit is just over 6300 m2 (around 1.5 acres).



To the visitors' left is also a Maned wolf exhibit, home to a breeding pair and their two pups currently. The exhibit is generally well-planted and it is often quite difficult to detect the wolves' presence at all other than the pungent smell they give off.

This is where the South American Zone ends and visitors move into the African area, which consists of the vast majority of the zoo. Since the terrain is very similar to that of the Sahel region of Africa, the zoo focuses on species from this region. First up is the Addax, housed in a fairly barren, rocky exhibit with a few trees.



The zoo is home to at least 7 or 8 addax and has been very successful in the past with breeding the species, with another group in a nearby exhibit mixed with Arabian oryx.

Next up is the African plain exhibit. It has an area of around 13,000 m2 (3.2 acres) and holds Nile lechwe, Cape eland, Blesbok, Ostrich and Marabou storks. The exhibit that accommodates this fairly unusual mix is of similar terrain to the above exhibit for addax, though perhaps with a few more trees.

What follows is a long loop of exhibits devoted to African ungulates. First up is a surprisingly large exhibit for Kirk's dik-diks:



Followed by an exhibit for Scimitar-horned oryx:



Then comes another exhibit for an oryx species, this time Arabian oryx, followed by an exhibit for a last oryx species, the Beisa oryx. Opposite the oryx is a nice exhibit for African wild dogs: (the exhibit continues significantly further back than is shown)



I will pause there for now because of the length of the post but hopefully that already gives you a taste of the zoo. This is perhaps the more 'obscure' side of the zoo. Next will be lions, bears, lots of ungulates and cheetahs hopefully.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate, I know this zoo quite well so hopefully I can answer most questions about it .

Thanks for reading

AL

 

Thank you Amur Leopard!

Montpellier Zoo scenery is spectacular and a wonderful opportunity to exhibit exotic species, especially savannah (not necessary African!).

I am surprised you mention beisa oryx, I have not seen them there for my first visit last year.
I am also not a big fan of exhibiting Nile Lechwe on such dry and rocky terrain even antelopes may not mind.

 

Me neither, but I think they are going to be part of the developments to take place within the next few years, so I included them anyway. I haven't visited since summer last year as well, so perhaps they are back on show since? Either way, perhaps more prudent to cite them anyway.

As for the Nile lechwe, I am absolutely with you on that, although admittedly there are far worse situations in other French zoos (particularly when it comes of extreme cold weather species like Polar bears). However I do agree that they are perhaps not the best suited species to the environment of Montpellier.

 

Sorry for the pause, back now.

Continuing back where we left off, the next exhibit is a similar paddock for Hartmann's mountain zebras, depicted below:



Next is a mixed exhibit for Cameroon sheep and Dromedaries. Again, fairly spacious and barren. Opposite them is another paddock for Mhorr gazelles, with whom the zoo have a fairly good breeding record. The next few exhibits are all fairly similar, replicating the general format of the African hoofstock exhibits already depicted and described, with the species exhibited being Lesser kudus, Sable antelopes and Grevy's zebras.

By now, you have reached the heart of the zoo, a small circular plaza with an old stone tower in the centre. Surrounding this plaza are 5 exhibits, two of which house Grevy's zebras. Of the others, the first one the visitors see are the Giraffes and Nyalas, housed in a fairly large exhibit. About a third of the exhibit is not visible to visitors, allowing the animals privacy and tall feeders are scattered around the paddock. The picture below shows only a small portion of the enclosure:



Next are the Bongos, in a significantly more wooded exhibit in which it is often hard to see the antelopes due to both the vegetation and the size of the exhibit, which extends quite far out. The last exhibit visible from the plaza is the large Southern White rhino exhibit - about a quarter of the exhibit is shown below.



They have a small mud wallow and a pool as well as enrichment scattered around the exhibit. After this is another hoofstock exhibit, this time for Somali wild asses, with which the zoo has an excellent breeding record, presumably in part due to the near ideal climate and spacious exhibit. Next to them is a small and rather nondescript exhibit for Red kangaroos and Emus, followed by a somewhat better series of Southern cassowary exhibits. The zoo's cassowaries breed fairly regularly so the original large exhibit had to be split a few times to accommodate the territorial animals. They have lots of privacy and can hide in the vegetation easily if they so choose.

Next up is potentially the zoo's most impressive exhibit complex, a series of 8 spacious exhibits for Cheetahs. The zoo currently houses around 10 cheetahs last I checked and is a fairly prolific breeder of the species, with 5 cubs born in the last 2 years. The 8 exhibits together cover an area of approximately 12,000 square metres (1.2 ha, 3 acres). The cheetahs are regularly rotated between exhibits for enrichment purposes. Below are a few images of the exhibits, viewing areas and the cheetahs themselves:











If you visit, you are pretty much guaranteed to see at least 2 or 3 cheetahs up close - I've seen them running on several occasions, particularly the younger ones. All things considered, this complex is possibly the best in Europe for the species and certainly the best in France. Few zoos devote so much space to their Cheetahs, let along is such naturalistic exhibits.

Following a fairly long walk through pine forest, the visitors arrive at the next exhibit displaying another felid - the Asiatic lion. Again, the climate and terrain resembles that of the dry forests of India so the exhibit is quite naturalistic. The lions have a large, sloping exhibit with multilevel viewing and lots of vegetation to hide in, so much so that often all that can be seen of them is the lazy silhouette of a lioness concealed in the bushes.

The next exhibit is one of the largest in the zoo, housing Bharals (and formerly Barbary macaques with them but not sure if they are still there).



Credits to Maxime.

Next up is an exhibit for Syrian brown bears. Visitors view the exhibit from above, with the bears in a large ravine. The bears have a large pool also which they often cool off in.





The exhibit extend further off to the left (to the right in the first photo's case).

The last area of the zoo is Eurasia, with the next exhibit for Iberian wolves. They have a rather small but wooded exhibit for about 4 or 5 wolves. This exhibit should probably be improved since it is somewhat too small and the viewing windows are very dirty.

Next to that is an exhibit for either Bharal or Barbary sheep (it changes a lot), followed by an exhibit for Persian onagers. Finally, Javan bantengs are exhibited in a large paddock. The zoo is renovating the area, which use to also have a large Asian mixed exhibit but soon I think the area will house European species such as Lynx, Bonelli's eagle and more.

Beyond that exhibit is a long, looping trail that winds through some undisturbed pine forest with a view across a large tract of entirely untouched forest, over which one can occasionally see hawks and falcons, as well as woodpeckers and nuthatches in the forest itself if you are lucky. Great and Coal tits are commonly found in there as well.

The next and final post will talk about the Amazonian greenhouse, which used to be the largest of its kind in France until the completion of Beauval's Equatorial Dome.