Name the Zoos Map Challenge: UK Version

I wondered this too, especially since COVID-19 has mostly paused the ZooChat Challenges that seem to be the busiest draw for this forum. I placed it here after conferring with @TeaLovingDave, but after looking at other threads in here I suspected that its location could be keeping it hidden.

If you or another moderator could drop it in the UK forum temporarily that would be much appreciated; if that spurs yet another boost in submissions I might even extend the deadline again.

 

After all, the best UK enclosure threads are in the UK forum, so it would make sense for this to be there as well. Most of the time, the challenges are non-specific to a certain country, but seeing as this is. I only actually found it because I had the Challenges, quizzes and competitions on my watched list because it was the previous location of the Zoochat Cup, so I got a notification when you started the thread. Otherwise, I doubt I would have found it.

 

The competition has now closed. While I didn’t quite get as many submissions as I was hoping for, most of them came in on the initial last day and during the two day extension. However, that was enough for me to announce a gold medal winner: @pipaluk , who scored a near-perfect 78/80 with 73 zoos correctly guessed outright. The rest of the submissions were packed more tightly together; I am still in the process of proofreading and then sending them out, so right now every place behind 1st is within a margin of error. Congratulations to our winner, and thanks to all of you for participating; I hope that you all enjoyed the challenge

Here is the map again:

Name the Zoos Map Challenge: UK Version by Coelacanth18 posted 18 May 2020 at 9:40 AM

And here is the full list:

1-3. Wildwood Trust, Howletts WAP, Wingham WP
4-5. Port Lympne, Big Cat Sanctuary
6. Hemsley CC
7. Drusillas Park
8-10. Amazon World Zoo Park, Owl & Monkey Haven, Isle of Wight Zoo
11. Marwell
12. Birdworld
13. British Wildlife Centre
14. Waddesdon Manor Aviary
15-16. Crocodiles of the World, Cotswold WP
17. Heythrop
18. Birdland
19. Slimbridge
20-21. Bristol Zoo, Wild Place
22. Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm
23. Longleat SP
24. Monkey World
25-27. Shaldon WT, Paignton, Living Coasts
28. Axe Valley WP
29-30. Exmoor, Combe Martin WP
31. Dartmoor
32. Newquay
33. Paradise Park
34-36. West Midlands SP, Dudley, Birmingham WCC
37. Gentleshaw WC
38. Drayton Manor
39. Trentham Monkey Forest
40. Hoo Farm Animal Kingdom
41. Chester
42. Reaseheath College Zoo
43. Knowsley SP
44. Preston Wild Discovery
45. Blackpool Zoo
46. South Lakes
47. Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
48. Lake District WP
49. Kirkley Hall
50. Flamingo Land
51-52. Leeds Tropical World, Lotherton
53. Yorkshire WP
54. Sewerby Park Zoo
55. Twycross
56-57. Woburn SP, Whipsnade
58-59. Ventura WP, Paradise WP
60. Hamerton
61-62. Linton, Shepreth WP
63. Amazona Zoo
64. Thrigby Hall
65-66. Banham, Shorelands WP
67. Africa Alive!
68. Colchester
69. London Zoo
70. Chessington
71. Welsh Mountain Zoo
72. Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary
73-74. Folly Farm, Manor WP
75. Edinburgh Zoo
76. Blair Drummond SP
77. Camperdown WC
78. Five Sisters Zoo Park
79. Highland WP
80. Belfast

And here were the answers to the hints given:

- The Aspinall parks are pretty close to each other, but they are not each other's closest Howletts 1-3, Port Lympne 4-5
- Forty days and forty nights, and the place he settled on was Southwest England? Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm 22
- There are no aquaria on this list of 80, but the closest to that definition is in Devon Living Coasts 25-27
- Supposedly there are two Paradises in England; personally, I'm more inclined to believe that's the case for the sunny southern seaside town than the outskirts of London Paradise Park 33, Paradise WP 58-59
- If you're looking for a forest to monkey about in, a large town east of Wales is a good place to start Trentham Monkey Forest 39
- I know that you all know where Liverpool is (it's labeled on the map), but do you know if this zoo knows that it's next to it? Knowsley SP 43
- It would make sense to name one facility for the numerous lakes around it, but three? C'mon Cumbria, show some creativity! South Lakes, Lakeland, and Lake District (46-48)
- You wouldn't expect these two tropical-sounding zoos to be in North and West Yorkshire, but lots of things are weird Flamingo Land 50, Leeds Tropical World 51-52
- Is it false advertising if a zoo named for the shore isn't actually on the shore? Shorelands WP 65-66
- You could say it's pure folly to have two zoos so close to each other, but one is on a manor so I guess it's kosher for the Welsh Folly Farm and Manor WP (73-74)
- If you ever went camping, or took a few of your siblings to a park, it might have been in Scotland Camperdown WC 77, Five Sisters ZP 78
- Jersey isn't technically part of the UK, so it would be foolish to guess it… right? Yes, it would have been – especially given that Jersey is on the map and has no bubbles on it thankfully, nobody did

I hope to have notes and observations posted soon.

 

Wow! You must know your geography @pipaluk! Congrats

 

I've driven to almost all the English ones so some of it wasn't too difficult. The one that threw me completely (could not even guess) and I've never been there was Waddesdon Manor, I'd be interested to know if anyone got that!

 

Part of the notes and observations I'm working on will state which answers were guessed correctly by everyone and by no one... still working on it, but for right know can confirm that nobody guessed Waddesdon, either correctly or incorrectly.

 

Thanks to @Coelacanth18 for setting the challenge, I enjoyed it, even if I spent ages trying to think what 14 was, I couldn't think of any zoos near High Wycombe!

 

Thanks, I would have been very impressed if anyone had got it!

 

I was able to draw some interesting notes from the submissions; keep in mind the caveat that one person only submitted answers for the first 40, so any statements/generalizations about #41-80 do not apply to them. There were 10 facilities that everybody guessed correctly:

Howletts, Bristol Zoo, Paignton, Chester, Whipsnade, Colchester, Welsh Mountain, Edinburgh, Highland WP, Belfast

Additionally, everybody guessed and received at least some credit for:

Banham, Bristol Wild Place, Hamerton, London Zoo, South Lakes, Twycross, Yorkshire WP

The most correctly guessed facilities did not surprise me, as they were generally places that were well-known and most were easy to guess geographically. I *did* find it impressive that most submissions correctly guessed where Crocodiles of the World is, as when I initially made the map I almost put it in the wrong Crawley!

The only 4 that no person guessed correctly were Waddesdon Manor Aviary (#14), Hoo Farm Animal Kingdom (#40), Kirkley Hall Zoo Gardens (#49), and Wales Ape & Monkey Sanctuary (#72) (though in the last case someone *did* correctly surmise that it was a primate facility). These four facilities were never guessed, either correctly or incorrectly – which was rather surprising for Hoo Farm and Kirkley Hall, with the latter holding 177 species on ZTL (putting it in the top 15 for this list – though admittedly a non-insignificant number are fish) while the former holds 125 species.

Here is a list of substituted facilities, for which full, half, or no credit varied depending on how close the substituted facility was to the facility they substituted it for:

All Things Wild
Cedars Nature Centre
International Centre for Birds of Prey
Jimmy’s Farm
London Wetland Centre
Martin Mere Wetland Centre
Northumberland County Zoo
Peak Wildlife Park
Rodbaston Animal Zone
Sandwich Wildlife Park
Welsh Hawking Centre
Wild Zoo
WWT Llanelli
WWT Washington

All of the substitutions were made once except for three: Peak WP and Sandwich WP were made twice, while All Things Wild was substituted in all but one of the submissions! I was very surprised that this one substitution was made over and over again, especially for a zoo/theme park that I had never heard of before… if I had to guess one “major” facility that I left off, I guess the data suggests that would be the one

(As a side note for those who guessed or wondered why Sandwich WP was not listed: note that I said all facilities are “accessible to the general public”. I awarded full credit for it upon realizing that my statement may have come off as ambiguous; I actually excluded it because as far as I can tell it is by appointment only and does not offer free access, which is what I meant by “accessible to the general public”.)

Some other interesting notes:

- Everyone correctly guessed Howletts and almost everyone correctly guessed Port Lympne; while everyone who guessed them knew that one was north of Kent Downs and the other was south (thanks to the hint, perhaps? ), not everyone knew which one was which! (For future reference: Howletts is north of Kent Downs next to Canterbury and Wingham WP, while Port Lympne is south closer to Folkestone and Ashford)

- Everyone guessed Paignton and almost everyone guessed Living Coasts; Shaldon was the least known of the that Dorset trio, only being guessed in half the submissions

- West Midlands Safari Park was placed ALL OVER the West Midlands, and once or twice rather close to the East Midlands for future reference, it is just west of the Birmingham metro. Additionally, many people guessed that Dudley was #40, putting it northwest of Wolverhampton; in actuality, it was #35, between Wolverhampton and Birmingham in the middle of the urban area

- As expected, the three Cumbrian zoos were frequently mixed up. I gave full credit to mixing up South Lakes and Lakeland, but not for mixing up South Lakes and Lake District (which is around lakes, but is not south of them!)

- The Norfolk/Suffolk zoos (except Colchester) were frequently mixed up as well; I only gave full credit for Banham and Shorelands being swapped, but I can understand the confusion

It would be interesting to hear any comments, feedback, or observations. After reviewing around half a dozen submissions, I feel confident in the geography of all or nearly all of the zoos on the list (Drayton Manor still regularly gives me pause ) as well as UK geography in general. Perhaps with some modifications to boost early participation, I will look into the possibility of creating similar challenges based on other regions

 

That makes sense now, I thought it was odd that Brize Norton and other villages were actually closer to Crocodiles of the World than Crawley seemed to be! I figured it was just an oddity of UK geography, but instead it seems to be an outdated ZTL error.

Good thing I *did* allow the two Aspinall parks to be swapped then As for the distance between South Lakes and Lakeland Wildlife Oasis, as far as I can tell they aren't *that* far apart; only a 37 minute / 45 km drive. Meanwhile, South Lakes and Lake District WP is a 1 hour 23 minute / 84 km drive, so almost twice the distance and more than twice the driving time.

 

I think you might be the one not giving someone enough credit here as I would have allowed that as well, had anyone made that swap (though nobody did, as Edinburgh Zoo was always guessed down to the exact bubble).

That being said, if anyone feels that I *didn't* give them enough credit for a close answer, I am more than willing to consider adding points on a case-by-case basis though keep in mind that it will not change the overall result, as the first place winner was outside any margin of error.

 

I would like to see you try and achieve that journey time between south lakes and lakeland, during the tourist season because from experience not a hope in hell all you need is an accident and the day has gone even out of the tourist season you would be pushing it to do that journey time. Of course I speak from experience although I will admit that I have done the journey in less but only once but my passengers didn't enjoy the journey, I on the other hand did enjoy it

 

It did and that was out of season, at least I didn't hand brake the car into the car park, I seem to recall I wasn't hanging about that day either

 

None of these is in Dorset....

 

Just a thought... if 'swapping' actually means getting it wrong, why would you allow or credit that?
Makes the whole thing a bit pointless...

 

I think the system is half marks for a close answer, but correct me if I'm wrong...

 

This branch of geography is quite an exact science, in the UK at least - it's either in the right place, or the wrong place...