Going from my previous thread, I figured I'd start this one. Tallinn - almost 90 hectares and 350-500 species. Omaha - over 50 ha and nearly 1000 species (probably the most notable one). Arnhem - 45 ha and over 500 species. Chester - 50 ha and 500 species. Bonus zoos in rural areas: Pairi Daiza - 65 ha and 800 species North Carolina Zoo - 200 ha and 250 species Beauval - 40 ha and 800 species
At least in my definition, it's a metro area under 1 million and Omaha is right on the line. It's interesting that it's bigger than most big city zoos.
A metropolitan area doesn't mean much in Europe at least if you want to talk about cities. German metropolitan areas cover huge swathes of rural areas and large cities that happen to lie in somewhat close proximity to even larger cities and are as large as half a federal state or more. It is a nice tool for economists, but not really comparable to city. Both Amsterdam and Rotterdam are cities with less than 1 million inhabitants, but could be considered to be part of the same metropole (Randstad). Telling locals from either city that they belong to the same city as the other would not go down well
There is a harmonized EU definition for most of it's countries. Amsterdam is 3 million and Rotterdam is 2 million according to the EU. Plus Frankfurt, Munich, and Hamburg are all about 3 million while Berlin is about 5 million.
I know, I am trying to tell you that in a European context city and metropolitan area are two completely different things. And while there is an EU wide definition of a metropolitan area, single countries still seem to implement them differently.
Minocqua, Wisconsin is likely the most extreme example of this in the world. This tiny town has a population of only 451, and it is well over an hour to the nearest town of decent size - yet is is home to a huge, full day zoo with several hundred species.
One could also point out Natural Bridge, Virginia (3K), with the Natural Bridge Zoo and the Virginia Safari Park
Zlín-Lešná zoo has 70 hectares (170 acre) and attendance of 800,000. Zlin city with its metro area (aka villages in commuting distance) has only 130,000 people.
I really wouldn't count Chester as a "city zoo". Chester itself is barely a city... It's more like a large town than anything but alas the way cities are designated in the UK is interesting to say the least. The zoo is also far out of the city centre and is surrounded by farmland.
I guess it counts as a rural zoo like Whipsnade and Pairi. (Pairi Daiza is basically in a farming village).
Makes sense, Omaha is probably the obvious answer (the city isn't super small but that is a really big zoo for a city of the size). North Carolina is another answer, especially as a "rural" zoo (there's even a bus you can take to it from Greensboro, makes sense as it's the closest "real" city to the NC Zoo. A bus from Charlotte and one from Raleigh would also be pretty good, especially since Charlotte has the state's biggest airport).
