In terms of area it is generally acknowledged that Whipsnade is the largest zoo in Europe, covering around 600 acres, usually followed by Tierpark Berlin at 395 acres.
I believe that you are correct, but isn't it true that Whipsnade only utilizes about 200 of its 600 acres? Is there a lot of surrounding land that is not filled with animal paddocks?
My French is scratchy, but even so Réserve de la Haute-Touche in the Loire Valley would appear to be in the middle of around 1000 acres. It would be good to know more about it. Réserve de la Haute-Touche | Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle
Interesting - never heard of this place. Here is an alternate website that is more visually appealing (but still French only): Réserve de la Haute Touche |
Port Lympne's own website claims only to be "one of the largest wild animal parks in the UK", so I think not. I suspect that more of Port Lympne's acreage is actually in use, though: big drive through areas do tend to use up a lot of space. Plan Your Visit | The Aspinall Foundation
Hello, I just got access to International Zoo Yearbook. ZOOPARK OF THE BIOSPHERE RESERVE ‘ASKANIYA-NOVA, UKRAINE: 2376·4 ha (Zoopark 76·44 ha). Updated: 2013. Per the Askanya Nova website, the area actually keeping exotic animals includes an enormous ungulate paddock/enclosure of ca 3 km x 2 km. PARQUE DE LA NATURALEZA DE CABARCENO, SPAIN: 800 ha. Updated: 2013 Réserve de la Haute Touche is not listed, otherwise the biggest French zoo is: RESERVE AFRICAINE DE SIGEAN, France 297 ha. Updated: 2012. ZSL WHIPSNADE ZOO: 260 ha.Updated: 2013 I don't have time to check every zoo, so there could be more zoos bigger than Whipsnade (although it is unlikely that any is bigger by area than Askanya Nova).
A list of the largest zoos worldwide : The 10 Largest Zoos in the World Housing Exotic Species - Insider Monkey
Interesting article vogelcommando, but it is similar to other lists made by such pages = mostly wrong. The fact that they include both San Diego Zoo and Berlin Zoo, but neither San Diego Safari Park nor Berlin Tierpark says it all. Even if assuming that they used other criteria than area, e.g. number of species, the list is still far from being right.
Very wrong indeed! Quite apart from anything else, it completely omits Tierpark Berlin, claims London held the only living Quagga in captivity and is under the impression Zoo Berlin still has giant pandas
A few months since the last post but I wonder: How large is Longleat Safari Park? The whole estate is huge. Although the safari park only covers a tiny part of it, I guess it is up there among the larger? Wonder if someone has a number. Another large is the 660 hectare Knuthenborg Safaripark, which label themselves as the largest safari park in northern Europe. However, "only" 400 hectare are in use for animal park. Quite a bit above e.g. Tierpark Berlin or Whipsnade but far below Askanya Nova.
I'm amazed. 400 hectare in use, not acres? Then it is a lot and not only a bit above TP Berlin (and in Western Europe only beaten by Carbaceno with its 750 hectares?)