I know there have been threads before of the best cities for zoos, however those are all mostly subjective. I know that the number of species is not the best indicator of quality, however, looking at Shedd and Berlin, I somewhat question that. Nonetheless, I was noticing that some cities in particular seem to have an outstanding number of species between their sometimes many institutions. What came to mind first for me was Chicago and Berlin, both of which harber an institution with over 1000+ species, and a secondary one with 400+. In the case of Chicago, it is Shedd, and then Brookfield, complemented by Lincoln Park, Peggy Notebaert nature museum, and a number of other smaller regional zoos. Berlin has the zoo and tiergarten, each with a massive collection in their own rights. However, I think there is much less overlap in Chicago than in Berlin, meaning that Chicago may have the most species. However, you also have to take into account other cities with their metro areas, such as Tokyo and Singapore, both of which also house multiple large collections. So I have two questions for you: 1. What city has the BIGGEST collection (most species within institutions in the metro area) 2. What city has the BEST collection (purely subjective, up to you) Most Species Rich Zoos - Google My Maps -A map I made of the most species rich zoos
It's the San Diego area with one massive zoo, one massive safari park, and one massive aquarium. New York has four zoos and one aquarium making it a candidate but three of the zoos have low species counts. By themselves, Seaworld, San Diego Zoo, and San Diego Zoo Safari Park have some of the rarest species and are very species rich. So together the San Diego area absolutely wins
I’d say you’re on the right track — Chicago and Berlin definitely are at the top based on number of taxa across their various institutions. San Diego is also high if you count San Diego Safari Park, San Diego Zoo, and SeaWorld San Diego. New York is up there too because of the sheer number of facilities (Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, New York Aquarium). Outside the U.S., Tokyo has a huge number of zoos and aquaria, though none are really remarkable. But they probably have 1000+ taxa because of that. EDIT: I just did some research, and Tokyo has 11(!) zoos and aquariums: Aqua Park Shinagawa, Edogawa Ward Natural Zoo, Hamura Zoological Park, Inogashira Park Zoo, Oshima Park Zoo, Shinagawa Aquarium, Sumida Aquarium, Sunshine Aquarium, Tama Zoo, Tokyo Sea Life Park, and Ueno Zoo. Most are small, boutique facilities, but Ueno Zoo, Tokyo Sea Life Park, and Sunshine Aquarium have impressive collections. Raw number of taxa was hard to find, and I cannot verify if these figures are accurate, but this is what I found: -Aqua Park Shinagawa (450 species) -Edogawa Ward Natural Zoo (30 species) -Hamura Zoological Park (50 species) -Inogashira Park Zoo (170 species) -Oshima Park Zoo (60 species) -Shinagawa Aquarium (450 species) -Sumida Aquarium (260 species) -Sunshine Aquarium (750 species) -Tama Zoo (300 species) -Tokyo Sea Life Park (1,200! species) -Ueno Zoo (464 species) Assuming those numbers are accurate, and assuming there is a great deal of overlap in taxa, Tokyo should still come out on top, or near the top. Tokyo Sea Life has 1,200 alone.
That is true, but I think the san diego parks have around 1000 species total. They may have many unique species, but Shedd or Berlin zoo have more in one institution. However, I agree that San diego is the best city for zoos in my opinion, but just not the most species rich Thanks on the info about Tokyo. I think that part about overlap might be right. I would say out of the major contenders, Chicago has the least overlap with Shedd, Brookfeild, and Lincoln Park each having different collections from eachother. Its hard to tell but I think the order would probably be Tokyo first, then Chicago then Berlin, followed by the likes of NYC, Singapore, and San Diego. I do wonder about the overlap, though, that is probably the hardest part to figure out.
Berlin doesn't have as much overlap as it used to. To the two zoos you can add the Aquadom, somekind of tropical house in Postdam and if you extand a bit the area you might include the Wildkatzentrum a bit further out of Berlin. Cities like Prague and Moscow are also worth mentionning, both of them having a considerable number of smaller zoos within the city, I believe (correct me if I'm wrong), most of them focusing on reptiles.
I imagine that Beijing/Shanghai also have a large number of zoos and aquariums, but data on those is hard to find.
The trouble with the Safari Park is a good amount of their taxa is off exhibit in the Asian savannah or breeding center or unsigned so we just don't know the full amount of species San Diego Zoo global really has, we can only assume. Also, SeaWorld has a large number of bird species off of exhibit and a large number of un signed species. The same could be said about Shedd as we know they have a large number of species behind the scenes.
Yes but all three have 400 to 600 species so while the city is good for zoos and aquariums it doesn't have enough species with all three combined
WCS’s 2015 annual report had the total number of species they hold at 1176. This is before the shark building opened at the New York Aquarium as well, so at least 1200 species there. Since it seems like we are doing metro area and not city limits one would also need to include the Staten Island Zoo, Maritime Aquarium, Turtle Neck Zoo, Bergen County Zoo, among several other institutions. Staten Island alone claims to have 350 species, with some overlap obviously with the WCS collections but also plenty of unique species. Maritime Aquarium claims to have 300 species (many unique fish species). So jusy to estimate its easy to see the NY metro area having more than 1600 species.
I'm not buying that figure of 1,200 species at Tokyo Sea Life Park. I went there a couple of times when I lived 10 minutes away from it, and while that was a good 10 years ago, there's just no way. 1,200 animals? Far more likely.
Like I said, the numbers I found were not all verified; most of the data isn’t made public in Japan, it seems. But all the travel guides specifically cite 1,200+ for Tokyo Sea Life Park.
It's an aquarium. There is a possibility they get >1000 species. Aquarium like Shedd or Toba also claimed to have number of species similar to that, so it is certainly possible. I mean, even coral or sea urchin counts, so the number can be huge. Also, would Singapore be a good shoutout? Jurong has ~500 birds, the other three have a few hundred combined, and S.E.A can have a lot too.
If you count corals, anemones, and a bunch of other invertebrates visitors may not pay much attention to, plus what is in offshow tanks, it is possible for an aquarium to have that many species.
What about Omaha? As far as I know, it has the most species of animals out of every zoo in the U.S, coming in with a grand total of 962 different species.
Surprised that Singapore has not really been mentioned... Jurong + River Safari + Night Safari + the Main Zoo + SEA Aquarium must have a pretty hefty number of species. EDIT: SEA aquarium has over 1000, Jurong has over 400, the main zoo has at least 315, and river safari must have a lot given the number of freshwater fish (not necessarily overlapping all that much with the mainly saltwater aquarium).
Sorry for commenting, I just saw this, but counting the Fort Worth Zoo would actually be the wider DFW area which would also include SEA LIFE Grapevine, Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, The Children's Aquarium at Fair Park (Now Closed), and Frank Buck Zoo, also The Fort Worth Wildlife Refuge if that counts.
