Dear Zoochat pals, This summer (by the begin of August) I plan to do a zootrip to Paris for two weeks. I tought in the next collections to visit: 1. CINÉ AQUA TROCADÉRO This seems to be a small aquarium, with few species of interest. Being worse than Aquarium de la Porte Dorée (species-wise), its more expensive: 20,50€. It reopens to the public on 22th June so I suppose that by the begin of August it would be no problem of getting tickets on board. It have 15 species of fishes that are not found in any other collection in ZTL and that I lack. Of these 15, only 2 are really exciting for me: Chaetodon striatus and Chaetodon unimaculatus, but that's only because I'm crazy about butterflyfishes, haha. 20 more species are rare (found in 1 to 5 collections in ZTL) and I lack. Of these 20, Chaetodon citrinellus, Lepadogaster lepadogaster and Tripterygion melanurum are the most interesting for me. I wonder if Lepadogaster will be too difficult to spot, probably hidden under rocks? and if Tripterygion would be easily visible. The place have three different species of Tripterygion and I would like to know if they're signaged and if in the same or different tanks for avoid confusion of species. Among the more common species, the most interesting for me are Cilata mustela, Scomber scombrus, Tripterygion delaisi and Zeugopterus punctatus. I would like to know if it worth the visit to this place. Zeugopterus is also present in Oceanographic Valencia that I will visit before Paris. It would worth the visit the place that cost 20'5€, when Porte Dorée costs only 7€ and have many more species? Yes, two unique butterflyfishes but... I'm in doubt to visit it or not. Any advice? 2. AQUARIUM DE LA PORTE DORÉE Being very close to the Zoo Vincennes, it would be easy to visit both the same day for a non zoo-geek, but I wonder if I would be able to photograph all both places in same day. Aquarium reopens on 16th June, so again I think it will not be problem for buy tickets on board. Ticket costs only 7€ for single adult. One of the things that catch more my attention is that the species list in ZTL is substantially different from the species list of the Aquarium website. The website shows some interesting species missing in ZTL, and I remember especially one very very exciting to me: Pegasus volitans. I think I also remember black arowana (Osteoglossum ferreirai), also missing from ZTL list. I wonder which of the two lists are more updated, could anybody help? This place have 30 species exclusively found here according to ZTL and that I lack. Of these, the most interesting for me is Apolemichthys griffisi. Unfortunately, many of the rare and unique species of this place are cichlids, that are the less exciting animal family on Earth for me 59 species are rare (found in 1-5 zoos according to ZTL) and I lack them. The most exciting for me are Atractosteus tropicus (missed them at Burgers), Chaetodon interruptus, Chaetodon quadrimaculatus and Scleropages leichardti (with this one I would complete the genus). I also miss a lot of "more common" species including exciting ones: Chitala ornata (really they're Chitala ornata, or just Chitala chitala? ZTL lists ornata, while the aquarium website lists Ch. chitala...), Ctenopoma acutirostre, Malapterurus electricus, Potamotrygon castexi and Potamotrygon jabuti. Any toughts and advices? It's easy to see all the most wished or unique species? Some especially difficult to spot? 3. MENAGERIE DU JARDIN DES PLANTES This wonderful special place have the less number of interesting/new species for me but that's because I already visited it in 2009. However, things changed from then to now. Menagerie reopens to public on 8th June so I think will be no problem in getting tickest on board. It costs 13 €, a little more expensive than when I visited in 2009, but still very cheap. The big shame is that spotted quolls are missing from the collection. I only have a pic of two fur balls rolled sleeping in Faunia, and I need a decent photo of an alive quoll :-( Only 6 species would be new for me, and from these, only 2 are rare (1-5 zoos): McQueen's bustard (Chlamydotis macqueenii) and Egernia striolata. The bustards are extremely exciting for me and I think that themselves alone worth the visit. More common species that I still lack are Elaphe schrenkii, Phalacrocorax melanoleucos, Vulpes corsac and the most interesting: Sus cebifrons. I look into the Zoochat gallery and the only pic of the Visayan warty pigs was of them sleeping. Any trick to catch them awake? When I visited in 2009, corsac fox enclosure looked like designed specifically for avoid photography. They are still so difficult to take photos due to the double fence, mesh and vines climbing on them? I'm also interested in take better pics of species I already have, especially Little bustard (substituting photo of taxidermy specimen by alive one), gaurs and manul. Manul probably is not much a problem if I visit Nesles in same trip. I remember also gaurs were very difficult to get decent photos without barriers. Toughts and advices about this place? 4. GRANDE GALERIE DE L'EVOLUTION Jardin des Plantes is the best place in the world for a man like me: it have a good zoo, good botanical gardens and good natural history museum together combinated in the very same point. The Grande Galerie is not very exciting species-wise for me, but always I can find something interesting. The facilities of Jardin des Plantes in closed buildings reopens to public much latter than the Menagerie: all reopens on 24th June. But with all the month of July in between, getting tickets on board should be not difficult? One must take in account that all these closed buildings in Jardin des Plantes close on Tuesdays. Grande Galerie costs 10€, I think is a bit expensive for a museum taking in account that the Menagerie only costs 3 € more. But I think it will worth. Toughts and advices? 5. GALERIE DE PALÉONTOLOGIE ET D'ANATOMIE COMPARÉE Same than the Grande Gallerie, but it costs 9€. It have an extremely interesting collection of fossil skeletons. But I would like to know if most of them are authentic or just casts. I'm not interested in casts and I don't take photos of them. 6. GRANDES SERRES DU JARDIN DES PLANTES For 7€ you can enter both the greenhouses and the Galerie de Botanique. Probably I will be not very interested in the latter but I will visit if I have enough free time. All these covered buildings (Grande Galerie, Galerie de Paléontologie and Grandes Serres) open at 10:00 and closes at 18:00 so time is certainly very limited to see all in a single day. I think that two days would be enough, maybe one for the Menagerie and Grandes Serres and other for Grande Galerie and Galerie de Paléontologie, what do you think? An additional place in the Jardin des Plantes that I would like a lot to visit is the Jardin Alpine, but according to website looks like that it's closed and there are nothing about reaperture dates. Somebody knows if it will be open for August? It's strange that being an open-topped place it remains closed while museums and greenhouses are open... 7. ZOO PARIS-VINCENNES This place reopens to public on 8th June and costs 20€. The unique species that I miss are all small tropical birds: Cyanocompsa parellina, Sporophila torqueola and Tangara ruficervix. Looks like they will be in a free-flight walkthrough aviary and by experience I can tell that I will fail in locate and photograph them, as happens with almost all rarities in walkthrough aviaries. It is not the case, please let me know, and tricks for locate and photograph them are very welcome. Four additional species are rare (found in 1 to 5 zoos in ZTL) but these are not birds, but herps, so I hope they're easy to locate in their terrariums. Of these 4, the most interesting for me is Mantella baroni, and looking at the photos of the Gallery it seems an easy objective. I lack 16 more species that are "common", none of which are very exciting for me. As for the species that I need to take better photos than the ones I already have, it's noteworthy Eubucco bourcierii (taxidermy vs. alive), that I fear it will be also in a walkthrough aviary and nearly impossible to locate and photograph). Also noteworthy is Hapalemur griseus (taxidermy vs. alive), but the zoo also have Hapalemur simus, and I wonder if they're signaged and separated for allow good differentiation, or if they are mixed. 8. NESLES-PARCS DES FELINS This is the most special place. It's off of Paris, and I wonder if it's easy to reach directly by public transport. Also I need to know if one can visit and see all by walking, as I know is a huge place with huge enclosures. There are four species that I miss and none of them are rare: crowned lemur, jungle cat, leopard cat and the most wished: rusty-spotted cat. I also need to avoid to see the cats as just a carpet of fur sleeping inside a hollow log. So if you tell me that I can see these four species by just walking and awake and enough close for good photograph, and the place itself is easy to reach by public transport, then I will visit it. If not, it will not worth for me, I think. It's open earlier than the other places mentioned: since 30th May it already opened to public. It costs 21 €, that is expensive for just a couple of rare cats, but maybe it worth. With 27 € you can visit both Parc des Felins and Terre des Singes. Is Terre des Singes worthy? (for somebody that already has been in Apenheul). Are both enough close for do both places by walking in the same day? It have some interesting species? (I didn't checked ZTL for Terre des Singes as I think nothing will excite me, but maybe...) Besides the four species I miss, I also would like to take better photos from species I already have: mainly caracal (also present at Menagerie), Asian golden cat (in Wuppertal the enclosure is not photo-friendly, you only can photograph with bars), Gordon's wild cat, jaguarundi and manul (the latter also present at Menagerie). I wish the place holds black-footed and flat-headed cats, then I would have not doubts about if it's worthy or not So that's all. Advices and toughts on all this? Any other collection in Paris or very close that worths the visit species-wise? I think that I could delete CineAqua from my planning, and maybe Nesles, the others I think they're obligated. What do you think of all this? Also, if some zoofreak wants to meet me and do the zootrip together, I'm open for suggestions
I'm assuming this isn't your first trip to Paris? Anyway, good choices, but presumably you also want to see a good area of the city along with this? If so, I would recommend not visiting CineAqua, it isn't a great collection nor a great place and is really overpriced for what it offers. Parc des Felins is (quite) hard to reach by public transport, although it is absolutely worth it if you manage it. Terre des Singes is good but I suspect it isn't really worth it if you have been to Apenheul. It has some great exhibits though. Have you seen a Southern tigrina, because they have them as well at PdF. The enclosures are massive, but there is a good chance you will see about half of them well, generally they are quite active. I don't really like any of Paris's aquaria if I'm honest but Porte Doree is probably the better one. If you think you can visit both Vincennes and Porte Doree in the same day, go ahead! Vincennes, Menagerie and Grande Galerie are absolute musts. The Anatomy and Paleontology building in the museum is amazing and well worth it, with some fantastic rarities in modern animals as well as some interesting fossils, of which some are casts and others are real. Hope I've been helpful.
Yes, is not my first time, I already went here in 2009, and also much earlier as small child when I've visited Parc d'Asterix but none zoological institution. No, I'm so freak that anything unrelated with biodiversity don't took my attention. As child I saw Eiffel tower, Notre Dame and other touristic things, but now, as for 2019 I visited New York for Bronx zoo, AMNH and Bronx botanical gardens, but I had absolutely no interest in Liberty Statue despite my mother wanting me to visit it Many thanks for the good advices. I think I will definitely skip CineAqua, and I will try to reach Nesles if possible, but if I see is too difficult then I will pass. It's very good to know that generally the cats are very active and not asleep in a far corner of the enclosure. I already have the species (oncilla, Leopardus tigrinus) from Prague zoo, and as I don't care about subspecies, "southern tigrina" is not my objective. But always is pleasing to see it again. Margay is more interesting, because I could have a better photo than the one I already have. I think that the liking on aquaria can vary greatly depending on the interest of each person in each kind of taxa. Generally, fishes tend to be more ignorated than mammals and bird amongst Zoochatters. Maybe I have a more equilibrated taxonomic taste between fishes and tetrapods so I always tend to enjoy more aquaria than zoos because they have more species. Anyway, I can skip CineAqua but not Porte Dorée, that I consider a must. Well, once here I will see if there are many casts ones, for sure will be enough real ones for have a good bunch of additions to my biodiversity photoarchive! Many thanks for your tips, they have been very helpful!
Now I come to think of it, I might actually be in Paris then. I'll have a look into it, it's unlikely because of Covid etc., but I'll see. I think the Galerie D'Anatomie Comparee et de Paleontologie is a must even without the fossils because its lower floor is astoundingly crammed with all sorts of skeletons from varied classes. Fair enough with the zoos, although there is a lot more to see in Paris than the Eiffel tower and Notre Dame . But then again if you did indeed go to NY and just see the zoos and museum, a trip to Paris just for the zoos is not insane . Have you been to Beauval?
Thanks maybe we can meet here, who knows? Sadly I never have been in Beauval, and it's a place that I would love to visit, with cuban trogon!!! and my most favourite frog species in the world!! Even, the magnificence of the best bird show in the world is something that I can't miss and it would be worthy even without rare species in it (but, besides, it have indeed rare species in the flight show also! such as white-bellied sea eagle!)
It's a good thing it's not a subspecies then unless you also lump Pampas Cat and Geoffrey's Cat into the overall species? Even by your standards that would be a hefty lump!
I was wondering how you planned to get to Paris? Plane or train? If by train, you could in theory sneak a visit to Beauval in there as it is largely on the way...
I can't speak for all of the institutions in and around Paris (I haven't visited either aquarium yet, nor Grandes Serres), but here are my recommendations/tips. MÉNAGERIE DU JARDIN DES PLANTES I last visited briefly before closing time in November last year, and before that was four years before. Based on those visits, it's definitely worth spending an hour or two tracking down your more important species, perhaps combined with a visit to the nearby museums (see below). Shame about the quolls (my only view of them was similarly poor a few years ago), but the bustards (both species, but especially McQueen's) will be worthwhile. You may have to bend down close to the ground for a while to get good shots, but the birds are usually active and fun to watch. The skink is difficult to spot sometimes but I got a decent view on my 2016 visit. The rat snake was similarly good to see but was invisible on my last visit, I think due to mist on the glass. I did not see the cormorant or the warty pigs on my last visit. The corsac fox is indeed still frustrating to photograph - best institutions for photographing these animals for me have been in the UK so hopefully you can make a visit to Hamerton and/or Ventura Wildlife in the future and I would be happy to join you at either of these places once I'm safe to visit zoos again . GRANDE GALERIE DE L'EVOLUTION I didn't visit on my last trip to Paris due to time constraints, but there are some nice mounts of recently extinct mammals here, but with poor lighting. Perhaps make this the last of your visits after the ménagerie/other museums. GALERIE DE PALÉONTOLOGIE ET D'ANATOMIE COMPARÉE In my opinion, the ground floor with its modern comparative anatomy displays cannot be missed. There are many rare gems here, and taxonomy seems to have been recently revised, e.g. family level of carnivores. Similarly, the 'deuxieme etage' with the vertebrate palaeontological collection is well worth a visit. There are indeed many casts on display (especially of dinosaurs/primates), but there are a great many real specimens as well, most notably for me the type specimen of Claudiosaurus. There is a nice display of material from Miocene Peru, including many cetaceans like two species of Odobenocetops. There's also a lot of lemur material from Madagascar and some nice dinosaur specimens from Lesotho, Sahara and elsewhere. If you'd like more details on what's on display, let me know and I can post the list of photos I took there in November. ZOO PARIS-VINCENNES Indeed, the small passerine birds will be in the walkthrough aviary and last time I was there, there were unfortunately not many birds visible, but this was late in the day. The mantellas are visible from the beginning of the Madagascar part of the indoor exhibit, just turning left after the entry I believe, so they are easy to miss if you enter from the Guyane side. I did not see Hapalemur griseus last time but I would think it would be in a separate enclosure from Prolemur simus (which is usually easy to see). In my opinion, the European vivarium complex is not to be missed - they have a nice display of slime mould now as well as a nice variety of European reptiles and amphibians. PARCS DES FELINS Yes, it's a little hard to reach, but well worthwhile. I did not visit Terre des Singes, but to see the vast majority of felid species and subspecies that are held in captivity in Europe in one place is a wonderful thing. I will echo @TeaLovingDave and @amur leopard in saying that it's worthwhile to see the southern tigrina, as they are indeed considered genetically far apart from the northern species and were wonderfully visible on my visit five years ago. Sand cats, Pallas' cats, leopard cats, jungle cats, and Asian golden cats are other highlights. My tip for getting there from Paris (at least this is how I got there five years ago): RER train to Melun, then bus to just outside the park. Indeed, if they get flat-headed or black-footed cats in the future, I'll be back .
Woh ! It seems @Kakapo you have already make a great job about what you could and want to see in/near Paris. As it was said previously, I think you can skip Ciné Aqua. I am not interested a lot in fishes but from what I know l'Aquarium de la Porte Doré is a really good place for fishes nerds. I think with the large season opening times, you can combine it with Paris Zoo. The second one is not too large and you can easily visit it in a half day. I confirm what @Mo Hassan said before : all the free-flying birds in the tropical house are not easy to spot. Furthermore some interesting primates are in rotate enclosures (in and near the tropical house) such as the bearded sakis so sometimes you can missed them. You can skip Terre de Singes also. Nothing interesting here if you have already visited Apenheul or la Vallée des Singes. Parc des Félins is to be done. That's for sure. Nothing to say more. Only the summer season is not the best to see animals moving but it's the same elsewhere. To finish, I don't know when you leave Paris exactly but Parrot World Parrot World is opening august 15th. It could be quite interesting with the giant walkthrough aviary, a large number of parrot species, giant otter, jaguars, Humboldt penguins...
Oh, sorry I didn't noticed that this thread had new replies!!! Thanks a lot @Mo Hassan and @Antoine for the extremely useful tips! That's exactly what I was looking for when opened the thread! Unfortunately, the time of visit - first half of August - means that most cats in Nesles would be sleeping and that Parrot World - sounds interesting - will be not open yet.
I wanted to find out what species of primates are as Terre des Singes but they don't appear to be listed on Zootierliste. Am I correct or could I have entered a wrong search term? Nothing comes up when you search for 'Terre des Singes', and if you do a search for 'Paris', Terre des Singes isn't one of the establishments listed.
Its name on zootierliste is Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux (Terre de Singes). And while it's an okay park, there's not much to see species-wise. They have some tamarins, a large group of geladas, an enormous group of barbary macaques, a few callitrichid species and a dozen or so parrot species.
Here is the species list that ZTL shows for this place. As noted by Penshet, nothing very much noticeable, only the geladas would be a bit exciting for me (I was unable to take a decent photo of them at Berlin as they was in the indoor part and the glass full of scratches, they were totally hidden at Bronx due to a recent extremely strong rain, and somewhat I missed them in some other facilities that keep them. But I have a pic of a taxidermy specimen and this is enough for me, if I can substitute it by an alive one is better, but not needed). Jungle cat is of course also exciting for me but they have in the neighbour Parc des Felins. Same for crowned lemurs. Australian king parrot (Alisterus scapularis) Barbary macaque (Barbary ape) (Macaca sylvanus (Syn.: Macaca sylvana)) Bearded emperor tamarin (Saguinus imperator subgrisescens) Black lemur (Eulemur macaco (Syn.: Eulemur macaco macaco)) Blue-and-yellow macaw (Blue-and-gold macaw) (Ara ararauna) Blue-crowned parakeet (Blue-crowned conure) (Sharp-tailed conure) (no subspecific status) (Thectocercus acuticaudatus (Syn.: Psittacara acuticaudatus) (Syn.: Aratinga acuticaudata)) Blue-headed macaw (Coulon's macaw) (Primolius couloni (Syn.: Ara couloni) (Syn.: Propyrrhura couloni)) Burrowing parrot (Burrowing parakeet) (Patagonian conure) (No Subspecific status) (Cyanoliseus patagonus) Callimico (Goeldi's monkey) (Goeldi's marmoset) (Callimico goeldii) Cockatiel (Weero) (Breeding-form) (Nymphicus hollandicus) Congo grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus) Crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus (Syn.: Lemur mongoz coronatus)) Eurasian wigeon (Mareca penelope (Syn.: Anas penelope)) Gelada (Gelada baboon) (No Subspecific status) (Theropithecus gelada) Geoffroy's marmoset (Geoffroy's tufted-ear marmoset) (Callithrix geoffroyi (Syn.: Callithrix leucocephala)) Golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) Grand eclectus parrot (Eclectus roratus roratus (Syn.: Eclectus roratus westermani) (Syn.: Eclectus cardinalis)) Great green macaw (Buffon's macaw) (Ara ambiguus (Syn.: Ara ambigua)) Greater Vasa Parrot (No Subspecific status) (Coracopsis vasa) Green-cheeked parakeet (Green-cheeked conure) (Molina conure) (No Subspecific status) (Pyrrhura molinae) Green-winged macaw (Red-and-green macaw) (Ara chloropterus (Syn.: Ara chloroptera)) Jungle cat (no subspecies-status) (Felis chaus) Lilacine amazon (Ecuadorian red-lored amazon) (Amazona lilacina (Syn.: Amazona autumnalis lilacina)) Mongoose lemur (Eulemur mongoz) Monk parakeet (Quaker parrot) (Grey-breasted parakeet) (No Subspecific status) (Myiopsitta monachus) Rainbow lorikeet (Swainson's lorikeet) (Swainson's blue mountain lorikeet) (Trichoglossus moluccanus (Syn.: Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus)) Red ruffed lemur (Varecia rubra (Syn.: Varecia variegata rubra)) Red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer) Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) Red-fronted macaw (Ara rubrogenys) Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) Sun parakeet (Sun conure) (Aratinga solstitialis) Superb parrot (Polytelis swainsonii) By other hand, my trip to Paris was finally cancelled due to the steps back in the sanitary situation in my country.
