The two indoor rooms for gorillas, from more flattering angles. Bizarrely there are no photos of the outdoors in the gallery, but with the possible exception of Jakarta it felt like the largest I'd ever seen.
It isn't the most overrated zoo in the world but at least in Brazil / Latin America I find the Sao Paulo zoo to be somewhat overrated. On an organizational level they tend towards being a bit too sure of their own importance / significance / status as the "Best zoo in Latin America" but I personally don't think they really rate above Chapultepec zoo in Mexico or Cali Zoo in Colombia in terms of their organization, organizational culture, in-situ / ex-situ conservation contributions or the zoo itself either (far far from it actually and I would rate the other institutions I mentioned much higher in that regard). There are a lot of smaller zoos within the country such as the Sorocaba zoo that are much harder pressed for funding and appear to me to be working much harder in that regard with nothing near the same level of resources as SP Zoo have (or did have prior to Bolsonaro and the pandemic).
I've not been to many zoos. I went to Singapore Zoo and Night Safari last year and they were fine. Not amazing, but worth the admission. Jurong Bird Park was amazing - blew me away, even though there were some species I would have liked a much better look at. The zoo that had the pre-visit expectations set for me, which it failed to meet, was Taronga in Sydney. I went in late 2012 and was actually disappointed I spent the time there. First there were "dinosaur" exhibits which were (very basic) animatronics in small "enclosures" and they were a waste of space. There was also a high proportion of Australian animals. I guess this makes sense, and it's probably my familiarity with these that makes them a bit boring, especially when they take up so much space. Otherwise nothing leapt out at me as 'great'. I remember walking away with the thought that it hadn't been worth my time. I enjoyed the ferry ride over there more.
It has been mentioned here before, but I believe Pairi Daiza is way overrated, especially with their "best zoo of Europe" awards that sadly enough are determined mostly by the visitors point of view (what else can be expected from a theme-parc oriented organization though). Esthetically it looks amazing, but when it comes to animal welfare it's a disgrace for any zoo without any real old enclosures and that much money, and even more for a zoo pretending to have the highest standards of them all. Worst is that their star-species enclosures are often the worst, and that some simple fixes like a bit more vegetation could easily elevate some enclosures to an acceptable level of animal welfare. The utter lack of privacy for species like gorilla, tiger, leopard, snow-leopard, pygmy hippo, most bears, ... is what annoys me the most, combined with several cramped enclosures (snow-leopard, walruses, saki-monkeys, alligators, ...). Of-course they also have several neath enclosures, like the lemur island for example, but that doesn't really make up for al the bad ones in my opinion.
So I know I kinda missed the San Diego zoo conversation but this is just how I felt going with my family and friends who know less about zoos. The San Diego Zoo like said in this quote has a much larger focus on birds and reptiles than mammals. Safari Park, on the other hand, is much more focused on mammals than reptiles and birds. I have been to both zoos with my family and friends and both think the Safari Park was better and more memorable (My dad could remember the whole Safari Park but blanked when I mentioned the Elephant Oddesy). Normal people or muggles just enjoy big mammals more than reptiles or birds. This can show that people care more if a zoo says it's the biggest of the best because people expect to see bigger mammals from what they would find at their normal zoo. S yes the San Diego zoo can be overrated but you have to give a hand to their marketing department.
Don't know if it's been said, but Cincinnati is most definitely overrated IMO. The zoo in the late 90s and early 00s had an amazing and unique collection, but recently it's species list has plummeted and turned into basic ABC species. While the zoo has many plans to change it's plain Elephant habitat and still present concrete bear grottos, many exhibits such as Reptile House and Night Hunters are out of date, small habitats with underwhelming species. With the new Africa habitat opening, the Hippo exhibit is horrendously small considering how new it is.
Aside from black rhinos and bonobos, compared to what it was, I feel as if conservation has been thrown out the window. Haven't heard from CREW in what feels like almost a decade. They even used to receive awards for breeding insects.
According to a You Tube channel I subscribe to (Zoo Tours) there is a new masterplan going in to 2022 which will address some of these issues.
Technically the master plan was initiated with Phase 1's Roo Valley last year. Sadly, no one knows what's going on with the bear grottoes, but the rhino expansion should be complete in 2023, and the Elephant Trek in 2025.
Looking at this photo of the Berlin Gorilla House, it looks to me as if the glass-fronted wood-chip floored area is an extension onto the older building at the back, perhaps using up part(?) of what was originally the visitor viewing area. Is that correct?. Is the public viewing area nowadays smaller than it was or even from outside the building? Stuttgart's 'new' house looks very 'busy' with lots of steel & climbing etc but its very unattractive visually. Of the two I actually prefer Berlin's arrangement.
For me, the most overrated zoo in France is La Palmyre. It had a great reputation in the 1980's, with innovating enclosures and the breeding of Gorillas, Cheetahs... additionnally this zoo is in a pleasant region with a mild climate and lush vegetation, so it's liked by the tourists. But neither the collection (mainly based on the ABC species and other popular animals as Meerkats or common species of parrots) nor the enclosures changed a lot since the 2000's, so the visit seems a bit disappointing.
I do love National Aquarium but I think it's a little overrated. I like the idea that it goes from the rainforest and shorline at the top to the colder, deeper waters at the bottom but it's a really dark aquarium and horrible crowd control. And my personal favorite exhibit is their smallest - surviving through adaptation and it's always chaos there because it's hard to see and the mantis shrimp is always hiding because of guest noise. I just think it can be planned out better. I'm also not a huge fan of the puffin exhibit, but i'm also not a huge fan of seeing birds in relatively small habitats (i feel the same way about a lot of penguin exhibits). I'm interested to see what becomes of the dolphin exhibit if they end up moving them out. I'd personally love a huge bright, well-lit reef exhibit in addition to their main one.
How many other aquariums have you been to? Almost all are like that. It's because of when you're going. I make sure to go during less busy times and I've never had trouble looking at any exhibit, very little crowding, etc.
In case that it hasn't be mentioned yet, I'd like to nominate Pairi Daiza as the currently most overrated zoo in Europe, at least among the average European zoo visitor.
I think the most overrated zoo is the Animal Adventures Family Zoo. On Google, it has a 4.5 Star rating, which is about 4.5 stars too high. Read my recent review or look at my photos in the zoochat gallery to see how horrific of a place it is, and yet somehow still highly rated.
