Stephen's Zoo Visits - Europe

Hi guys!
Since I'm supposed to graduate in June 2020, I wanted to make most use of the free time I have left before I start working. Hence, I decided to visit as many zoos as I could in 2019. So far, I have visited no less than 39 zoos in 8 different countries. 3 of these were in the USA, so I guess I'll post a different thread for those. Most of these zoos are quite frequently visited by ZooChatters, but I also went to a few that are not as well-trodden. I thought it'd be useful if I posted some of my thoughts on here.

I also recorded all species I saw during my visits, and compiled these species lists into data. I award a score to every species, and by counting all scores and analyzing them, I can relatively accurately and objectively judge the collections.

In addition to those statistics, I'll also be mentioning extraordinary enclosures, on both sides of the spectrum. I'll put the relevant enclosures in the following categories:

• Best in Class: best of its kind in all zoos I've been to.
• Upper Middle Class: noticeably better than average, even though it's not the best I've seen.
• Lick of Paint: The enclosure works well enough, but it lacks something like a lick of paint, some enrichment, foliage, ... that would make the enclosure good.
• Eyesore: (ugly) enclosures that are unfit for their inhabitants and that, in my opinion, should just be broken down and rebuilt from scratch, or should at least be completely reinvented. These enclosures are generally a disgrace to zoos.

To conclude each trip report I'll be mentioning some of the rare and charismatic animals that I managed to spot there.

 

The Berlin Trip
In Europe, there is arguably no better zoo city than Berlin, so even though I did not plan to visit this many zoos this year (in the beginning at least), there was no better way to start it off.

Zoo Berlin
https://www.zoo-berlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/zooplan2019_en.pdf
Visited on Feb 5 & 7

The Berlin Zoo is one of the biggest zoos in the world, and a zoonerd’s paradise. There’s no denying that at some times during my visit I wondered what this zoo didn’t have. In that regard I’m lucky the zoo’s carnivore house was closed, because even now with the carnivore house closed, it still is the most species-rich zoo I’ve visited.

I had two notes on Berlin while I was visiting the zoo: first, it doesn’t seem to suffer from space restrictions, unlike most zoos its age. Second, it integrates its historic architecture very well into the zoo, which is similar to the other historic zoos I’ve been to.

I don’t recommend visiting in winter. While the crowds are much more manageable in winter, the atmosphere is completely different and not to mention that it can be pretty cold.

Statistics
With a total of 366 seen species, Zoo Berlin is the single largest on-show collection I’ve visited. These 366 species include 93 mammals, 194 (!) birds, 54 reptiles and 25 birds. It has the biggest mammal and amphibian collection, and barring Walsrode, has the biggest bird collection too. No other zoo comes close, really.

Zoo Berlin has 65 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year.

The biggest overlap with Zoo Berlin is in Antwerp. These two zoos overlap in 87 species! The lowest overlap of this zoo is with Parc des Félins, due to the closure of the Carnivore House in Berlin (so only lions overlap).

All in all, Zoo Berlin has the highest ZooScore this year, with a score of 6,53.

Enclosures
Berlin is remarkably consistent in its enclosures: nothing is really bad, and besides some exceptions where the age of the buildings simply means that there’s not enough room for the inhabitants (Rhino House, Primate House, formerly the Carnivore House) it is an all-round good zoo.

• Best in Class:
  Berlin has the single best Bird House I've ever seen. Not only do most animals have outdoor access, even the indoor enclosures are more than spacious enough for its inhabitants. The two walkthrough enclosures are very good as well and the species line-up is second-to-none. Everything is very well-maintained, which is definitely not the case in every bird house.
  The Berlin Zoo Aquarium isn't really an aquarium, since it houses an incredible variety of ectotherms. With a collection of over 80 herps, hundreds of fish, and then some 30-ish invertebrates, there's really nothing that comes close to it. The building itself is also very nicely taxonomically arranged, with the aquarium on the first floor, reptiles on the second floor, and amphibians and invertebrates on the third floor.
• Upper Middle Class:
  The Pheasantry is an above average enclosure complex, mostly on account of its species line-up. While its enclosures are nothing special really, they are more than okay for the animals.
  The Hippo House is one of the bigger and better hippo enclosures that I've seen, with spacious indoor pools and a sufficiently-sized outdoor enclosure.
  I'm tempted to put Eagle Canyon in this category as well, but since it was winter, none of the birds were out in the walkthrough aviaries. This made the entire area seem pretty empty. I can definitely imagine that it's pretty great though when everything is outside.
  Finally, the Coastal Aviary next to the bird house is a great little exhibit, with the artificial waves and nice variety of coastal birds.
• There's not much I'd categorize as either Lick of Paint or Eyesore, as everything is generally good, with an exception for the aforementioned space issues. Some areas are not that special, like the South American area across the bridge, the deer paddocks, or the bear enclosures, but I don't think they're bad by any means.

Animal highlights
Southern gerenuk, Chinese water deer, white-tailed deer, Bornean bearded pig, Graell’s tamarin, Guianan weeper capuchin, Toque macaque, an impressive/ridiculous amount of ducks, channel-billed cuckoo, kagu, white-bellied bustard, long-tailed fiscal, trumpet manucode, all flamingo species besides American flamingo (most notably Andean and James’ flamingo), tuatara, lesser siren.

Tierpark Berlin
https://www.tierpark-berlin.de/fileadmin/user_upload/TPB_Flyer_EN_20190403_WEB.pdf
Visited on Feb 6

Where the Berlin Zoo has most of their animals in taxonomic houses, the Tierpark has them just outside, usually in green-fenced paddocks. Especially with the Alfred-Brehm house closed during my visit, I thought this was an area where they were somewhat lacking, since the Crocodile House and Monkey House don’t really feel that big, and the Pachyderm House feels more like a glorified elephant stable.

Something the zoo doesn’t lack, is ungulates. If you think of an ungulate, Tierpark probably has it, and three different subspecies as well. It’s more than likely housed in an unremarkable enclosure though, which makes the entire zoo feel rather underwhelming in my opinion.

On the day of my visit, the weather was rather dreary, and really cold (which made the lack of indoor exhibits much more obvious). I recommended visiting Zoo Berlin during summer, but compared to Tierpark it’s honestly really manageable. I did not enjoy this park to its fullest extent due to the cold weather, and if it’d rained I don’t think I’d have enjoyed my visit at all.

Doing the Tierpark in one day is not something I'd recommend. Don’t be dumb like me, but take it easy and split your visit over two days. Your wallet won’t hurt too much since Tierpark is quite inexpensive, and your feet will absolutely love you. I skipped a few enclosures, some animals weren’t out, the Alfred-Brehm house was closed and still spent over 8 hours there, almost without stopping.

Statistics
In Tierpark Berlin I saw 210 different species. This includes 89 mammals, 104 birds, 15 reptiles and 2 amphibians. This is a much smaller collection than I expected, but as I mentioned before, the zoo is by no means small.

Tierpark has 41 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. While the absolute number is a fair bit lower than for the Zoo, it’s definitely a higher percentage of the total collection.

The biggest overlap with Tierpark Berlin is Pairi Daiza, with 58 species. The zoo with the lowest overlap is Serpentarium Blankenberge, with only 4 species. The lowest overlap with a non-specialized collection is Zoo da Maia in Porto, with an overlap of only 6 species.

Tierpark Berlin has a ZooScore of 3,77 which puts it in the lower part of the high-tier zoos of my list.

Enclosures

• Best in Class:
  The Vulture Aviary attached to the Alfred-Brehm house is enormous, and the only one where I've actually seen these animals fly for more than 10 seconds. Absolutely awesome stuff.
  
• Upper Middle Class:
  Tierpark is a much less remarkable zoo than Zoo Berlin, and it shows. The one area that is absolutely great, is the entire Himalayan area, with spacious hoofstock paddocks, a great species choice, and a unique view over the rest of the zoo (and Berlin) from the top of the hill. This hill really makes you feel like you're in the mountains. However, I didn't think it was good enough for a Best in Class rating. It's good, but after all it's just good enclosures on a hill.
  Also unusual, but not extraordinary, is the Pheasantry. It's not so much the quality of the enclosures here (because they're good, but nothing more), but more the combination of birds that made me enjoy this area most. It's basically the same aviary, copy-pasted fifteen times, but each time with a different combination of pheasant + songbird. It's definitely a pheasantry that stays true to the meaning of the word. I think that's pretty unique nowadays, in a good way.
• Lick of Paint:
  The Crocodile House definitely has potential as a tropical hall, but when I visited it just looked a bit dilapidated and infested with sparrows. I heard they're going to renovate it soon, and that's a great move in my opinion.
• Eyesore:
  The Manatee Pool in the Pachyderm House is probably the worst enclosure for the species in Europe. The rest of the house isn't particularly good either, but good enough for the time being.
  The Malayan sun bear enclosure is horrible. Luckily it's supposed to be gone soon.

Animal Highlights
Gayal, 3 takin subspecies, Marco Polo sheep, mountain reedbuck, chamois, Bawean deer, Siberian musk deer, honey badger, kulan, blue-eyed black lemur, lowland paca, Himalayan griffon vulture, harpy eagle, impressive range of pheasants (and laughingthrushes) in the Pheasantry, 9 out of 13 crane species I’ve ever seen (only missing blue crane, brolga, and both crowned cranes), a large variety of birds-of-prey

 

ZOO Antwerpen
https://www.zooantwerpen.be/imageca.../module/pages/large/zoo-parkplan-092019nl.png
Visited approximately 15 times throughout the year.

Antwerp is my home zoo. I’ve been coming here since I was born, and when I was studying in Antwerp I’m pretty sure I spent more time in the zoo than actually studying.

It’s one of the oldest zoos in the world, and it shows. However, I think it’s remarkable what Antwerp does with the cards it’s been dealt. Obviously, not everything is going to be up to todays’ standards in a decade, or even two decades and that’s okay (although I expect that by 2030 the entire zoo will be brought into the modern era). Nevertheless, especially in the last couple of years, Antwerp has been renovating at a breakneck speed, with approximately 50% of the zoo modernised. An additional 30% is currently under construction or preparing for construction, and for the remaining 20%, the zoo has long-term plans.

I think Antwerp is one of the most aesthetically pleasing zoos in the world. The impeccably mowed lawns, the flamingos chattering in their (fenceless) pond, historical buildings all around you, good mock rock throughout the zoo, small birds singing their songs in their aviaries. The entire zoo, even with all its faults, is just stunningly beautiful.

Statistics
Throughout the year I saw 243 different species in Antwerp. This includes 60 mammals, 117 birds, 54 reptiles and 12 amphibians. I expect that at this moment the collection is closer to 200 species with the relocation of many species to other zoos.

Antwerp has 29 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year.

Antwerps biggest overlap is with Zoo Berlin at 87 species. This is in no doubt due to the similarities in both zoos’ bird collections, as well as a relatively equal herp collection. Its smallest overlap is with Parc des Félins at 6 species. Noticeable here is that Antwerp has a very well-rounded collection, with quite sizeable overlaps even at the most specialized of collections.

With a ZooScore of 4,18, Antwerp is on the lower end of the high tier.

Enclosure Quality

• Best in Class:
  The Buffalo Aviary is a piece of art - it carefully composes some twenty bird species with Cape buffalos. The setting is beautiful as well, with the old Rhino House serving as the indoor housing for the birds. There’s honestly no better way to have lunch in Antwerp (not just in the zoo, but in the entire city) than to sit at the windows of the restaurant here, just watching the birds.
• Upper Middle Class:
  The Valley of the Great Apes easily doubled the amount of space available to the gorillas and chimpanzees, as well as giving them access to the open air. The similar style in aviary netting and mock rock ensures continuity with the nearby buffalo aviary. It just works. Indoors are 4 smaller enclosures for some rarer animals, although the inhabitants change regularly.
  Antwerps lion enclosure isn't one of the biggest, but it's undeniably beautiful (and iconic, with the bridge above). I wasn’t too sure whether I should put it here, but if I compare it to lion enclosures in Artis, Hagenbeck, Cologne, Zoo Berlin or Duisburg…I think the lions in Antwerp have a better enclosure than in any of these zoos. For a city zoo, it’s absolutely above average.
  Definitely Upper Middle Class is the Reptile House in Antwerp. Home to approximately 65 species, all in good-to-great enclosures, it’s not the biggest reptile house that I’ve been to, but it is for sure fine. The hallway over the spurred tortoises at the end is one of my favourite parts of the zoo, as the Gouldian finches and red fodies are a nice, active counterpart to the largely inactive African spurred tortoises and green iguanas.
  Although Antwerps Nocturama has had a better species line-up in the past, it is still a high-quality nocturnal house. The visitor part is not as exciting, as it’s literally a hallway painted black with some entertainment. Sadly it closed this year, and nearly all animals have moved away from Antwerp.
• Lick of Paint:
  I don’t think there’s a Lick of Paint enclosure in Antwerp left. There’s not really anything that needs a small upgrade – either the enclosure is good/great/outstanding, or the modernization that needs to happen involves some heavy reconstruction. The single remark that I have is that Antwerps flamingos aren’t housed in an aviary. I’m not sure how outdated that practice is for flamingos, but it’s not ideal for sure.
• Eyesores:
  Antwerps Monkey House needs to go. All-indoor housing for any primate that’s bigger than a tamarin is not done in this day and age. The outdoor housing for the mandrills is better since they combined the two outdoor enclosures, but not sufficient. I don’t think these primates have bad lives, but the infrastructure here makes it impossible to house primates according to the latest husbandry. The green walls also look terrible.
  Antwerps outdoor elephant paddock is ok (I guess) for the two juveniles, but its indoor elephant holdings are shameful. The elephants can barely move in these cages. I hope that eventually, the elephant paddock gets added to the savannah so they can maybe add another ungulate in there. The hippopotamuses are in a similar situation, although less severe.
  Although the inhabitants have moved out by now, the Aquaforum is just too small to house this many sea lions. It’s impossible to think that this small tank used to house bottlenose dolphins until this millennium. Luckily they’re getting an upgrade soon.

Animal Highlights
Red duiker, okapi, Philippine mouse deer*, Goodfellow’s tree-kangaroo, black-and-rufous elephant shrew, Humboldt’s night monkey, owl-faced monkey, Eastern lowland gorilla, northern dry zone slender loris*, gundi*, rakali*, Egyptian plover, barred buttonquail, Sumatran laughingthrush, Vieillot’s black weaver, chestnut-bellied sandgrouse, snouted cobra, Nubian flapshelled turtle, Central African giant mud turtle
* species have left the collection or are currently offshow.

 

Since I recently visited all 3 zoos that you've reviewed so far on this thread, I've found your comments very interesting. Thanks for the effort! I look forward to future reviews.

 

Thanks! Your thread was a big inspiration (and a joy to read, too). Most zoos I did this year, you visited this summer as well, so I'm afraid I won't have a lot of new information for you.

 

I've been awaiting for this thread since a while now, truly love the presentation and interesting tadbits here and there but especially the stats which are very useful! Great work so far.

 

Germany trip
In April, we get two weeks off for school. These are supposed to be used for studying...but I ended up doing more zoo-visiting than actually studying. (And this showed in my exam results...oops). This two-zoo trip was a roadtrip to Hamburg and back. Obviously that includes Tierpark Hagenbeck, and since you drive right past the single best bird collection in the world, I figured I'd tack that one on as well.

Weltvogelpark Walsrode
https://www.weltvogelpark.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Weltvogelpark_Parkplan_2018.jpg
Visited on April 13

The Weltvogelpark in Walsrode is really something. There’s no doubt that it’s actually the best of its kind, with an incredible diversity of birds on display. However, it also really seems to suffer from its dwindling visitor numbers, with several of the enclosures looking not as bright-and-shiny as they could.

Still, its collection is unmatched, even though the majority of the birds are housed in rather unremarkable pheasantry-style aviaries. That’s not something bad in my opinion, but I can definitely see why people (those not into zoos at least) would think of this as a rather boring park.

It was fairly cold during my visit, which meant that quite a few of the highlight species (maleo, two out of the three birds-of-paradise, all birds near the kiwi, the shoebill, …) were indoors. Props to the Weltvogelpark for having this many birds out in this weather, as the weather was similar in Zoo Berlin and none of the birds in their Bird House in Berlin were outside at all. My next visit to Walsrode will definitely be in summer.

Statistics
Clocking in at 325 species (323 birds, 2 reptiles), Walsrode has the second-biggest collection overall, and (surprise-surprise) the biggest bird collection this year.

Walsrode has 90 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. This makes the highest percentage of unique species in any zoo I’ve visited.

Highest overlap is, predictably, Zoo Berlin with 75 species, due to both zoos having immense bird collections. Lowest overlap (barring Parc des Félins from now on, they’re cheating with all their cats) is with Serpentarium Blankenberge at 1 species (Argentine black-and white tegu). Lowest overlap with a full-spectrum zoo is 11 species, with both Prospect Park Zoo and Zoo Santo Inácio.

With a ZooScore of 6,10, Walsrode ranks at the second place. Honestly, this is just remarkable for a zoo with basically just birds. It’s literally at the heels of Zoo Berlin people!

Enclosures

• Best in Class:
  At first I had trouble thinking of anything that’d qualify as Best in Class, since the zoo has 2 seemingly straightforward highlights: the Paradieshalle, and the Jungle Trail. Even though these two do have some ridiculously mouth-watering collections, they didn’t feel great, a bit shabby. The one house that I do think is Best in Class, is the Kolibri-Haus. Though it only displays a trio of species, it does so in a very nice and informative manner (plus hummingbirds are very good birds).
  Also Best in Class is the signage. Walsrode does this exceptionally well, with up-to-date signage throughout the park, something many zoos ignore. In addition, they also mention whether this is a unique species in Germany/Europe, and often add that they were the first to breed this species in Germany/Europe, which comes in pretty handy if you’re a zoonerd interested in this sort of information.
• Upper Middle Class:
  The Uhu-Burg takes a well-known concept, owls displayed in ruins, and just elevates it to another level. The species line-up isn’t that special (compared to the rest of the park), but the park took a concept and just elevated it to a much better level than usual.
  Also a unique experience is the Hinter den Kulissen area. The enclosures here are rather simple, a row of aviaries, but the concept is one-of-a-kind and the species line-up is better than the entire bird collection in many zoos.
  The Flugshow is much better than your average flight show, with a multitude of species and individual birds, and very informative. The central lawn of the park is a perfect stage for this show as well.
• Lick of Paint:
  The aviaries in Pukara, the lorikeet/toucan house felt a little empty, most of these could use some more foliage or hiding opportunities for its inhabitants.
  The cassowaries are housed in rather small enclosures, but that would be easily solved by combining the two into one.
  The Pheasantry, while okay for most species, could use some higher aviaries instead of the 2,5-metre-tall aviaries. That’s really not tall enough for some of the more arboreal species.
  These Licks are nitpicking though, as generally both exhibits are well-suited to the animals.
• Eyesores:
  There’s a clear absence of Eyesores in Walsrode.

Animal Highlights
Sparkling violetear, green-tailed trainbearer, Papuan cassowary, red-necked cassowary, metallic pigeon, thick-billed ground pigeon, white-breasted kingfisher, giant coua, kagu, African pygmy-falcon, wattled guan, horned guan, brolga, pale-winged trumpeter, red-and-white crake, kori bustard, piapiac, long-wattled umbrellabird, Peruvian pelican, black-faced spoonbill, black-necked grebe, a lot of rare parrots, buffy fish owl, golden-headed quetzal, black-tailed trogon, white-tailed trogon

Tierpark Hagenbeck
https://www.hagenbeck.de/_bilder/tp/content/wegeplan_2019.png
Visited on April 14

Initially I had a lot of trouble writing a review for Hagenbeck. The zoo, even with all its history, didn’t impress me, at all really. The Afrikapanoramium, for all its visual greatness, is wildly inappropriate for the lions. The Tropen-Aquarium was ridiculously busy. Elephants are kept in free contact, and were being fed by the public. Eismeer was impressive, but a small, all-mock-rock polar bear enclosure did diminish its glory. And then the entrance fee of €30 is the third most expensive I’ve had to pay yet.

I did like most of the zoo though, but I think that a combination of expecting more, a high entrance fee, and having visited Walsrode the day before just made me a bit disappointed.

One thing I did really like are the free-roaming maras. It’s something else than the omnipresent peafowl.

Statistics
I saw 143 species in Hagenbeck: 40 mammals, 73 birds, 25 reptiles and 5 amphibians. A medium-sized collection.

Hagenbeck has 14 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year.

Biggest overlap for Hagenbeck is as usual, Zoo Berlin at 50 species. Smallest overlap is Apenheul, due to Hagenbecks fairly lacking primate collection.

With a ZooScore of 2,30, Hagenbeck is definitely a mid-tier collection.

Enclosures

• Best in Class:
  While Eismeer isn't perfect, it's still the best polar complex I've seen. Their breeding record for walrus has no equal, and both penguin enclosures are above average. The arctic aviary is a fairly rare thing in zoos.
• Upper Middle Class:
  The Tropen-Aquarium is great, and I imagine that on less busy days it is actually an amazing place.
• Lick of Paint:
  The Orangutan House is okay as an indoor space for these large apes, but why do they not have an outdoor enclosure? I get that they can open the roof when it’s warm outside, but that seems like little more than a cool trick.
  Not an actual physical Lick of Paint, but elephants in free contact always make me cringe a little. Their enclosure isn’t bad per se, but free contact is definitely outdated husbandry.
  I didn’t really like the polar bear enclosure. It felt small and outdated. I get that it may not be as small as it feels, but I think that by adding some green to it, it may already feel a lot more modern.
• Eyesores:
  That lion enclosure needs to go Hagenbeck. It’ll be hard to find a compromise between history and current standards of exhibits, but it really needs to change. I personally don’t see how the zoo could continue to keep lions here (no room for expansion, at all) but I do hope they find a solution soon.

Animal Highlights
Pacific walrus, onager, long-tailed duck, harlequin duck, king eider, razorbill, Atlantic puffin, three-banded plover, white-headed mousebird, red-billed oxpecker, chestnut-backed sparrow-lark, Cape canary, Hildebrandt’s starling, western green mamba, Kimberly rock monitor.

 

Just as a note: Hagenbeck hasn't had White-headed mousebirds for a while now, they only have Speckled but are to lazy to change the signage.

 

Thanks, that leaves Hagenbeck with 142 seen species, 72 birds.
I didn't spend too much time in the Tropen-Aquarium as it was busy (people were literally queuing throughout the building) and that usually means most birds are hard to spot, so I didn't even really try. IIRC the only sign I saw in there was one that indicated all birds I saw, plus a lot of other birds that I didn't find.

 

Planckendael
https://www.zooplanckendael.be/imag...pg/module/pages/large/pld-parkplan-092019.jpg
Visited on April 17 and September 18

Planckendael is a zoo that I’ve seen evolve since before I could walk. Although I wouldn’t call it a home zoo like I would Antwerp, it’s definitely one that I visit often. Up to this year, I felt that it had always been ignored in favour of Antwerp. However, this year, with the addition of a new bonobo enclosure and barbary macaque enclosure (both outstanding), some of that lack of attention has been fixed.

The zoo is organized into different continental zones. The quality of these zones varies: Asia is amazing. America is better than the average exhibit, but the llama/anteater area feels a bit lacking. Oceania has a great collection, but exhibits could be better (especially the small reptile house). Africa has great exhibits, but the ungulate enclosures are a bit boring and, more importantly, feel like a bore to walk past. Europe is poor because, even though its exhibits are fine, it lacks a highlight or an interesting species in general. Domestic rabbits, raccoons, bald ibises and a beaver you nearly never see aren’t a good representation of our continent’s wildlife.

Planckendael’s biggest weakness is its lack of anything that’s not a (large) bird or mammal. Aside from the Tropical Greenhouse and the Australian Hut, there aren’t really any smaller birds or any cold-blooded animals.

Statistics
I saw 134 species at Planckendael, with 49 mammals, 81 birds, and just 4 reptiles. Three of these reptiles are really common, so I think if they added some terrariums throughout the zoo like Wuppertal, or Budapest does, that’d be a great addition to its collection.

Planckendael has 8 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. That’s quite low, although not the worst.

Planckendael has a remarkably big overlap with both Blijdorp and Artis. That makes sense to me as both zoos have a sizeable Asian collection like Planck. Planckendael has a small overlap with Central Park Zoo at only 4 species. This is also logical, as CPZ focuses more on smaller animals, while Planckendael does not.

With a ZooScore of 2,14, Planckendael is also set firmly in the mid-tier, perhaps leaning a bit to the lower end.

Enclosure Quality

• Best in Class:
  Planckendael houses 2 bonobo groups in what is possibly the single biggest indoor housing for the species I’ve ever seen, with innumerable rooms to allow for all the fission-fusion these primates could ever want. The outdoor enclosure is also good, although not as good as the indoors.
• The elephant enclosure is not particularly large, but for the mid-sized group Planckendael has, it offers plenty of space and enrichment. Definitely better than the average (European) elephant enclosure.
  The American Aviary takes an often-used concept (Humboldt penguins and Inca terns) and elevates it to another level by adding ten-ish more bird species. The enclosure itself is nothing exceptional, but the inhabitants elevate it to above-average.
• Lick of Paint
  The lion enclosure is small and unimaginative, with few hiding opportunities.
  Many of the hoofstock yards are square and undecorated. This is mostly a problem in Africa (zebra, slender-horned gazelles, oryx), but also in Asia (Bactrian camel and wisent) and America (guanaco and llamas).
  The Australian shack that houses a few reptiles is barely more than a hut holding some animals. I do think that Planckendael, with such a great Oceanian collection can do better.
• Eyesores:
  I don't think Planckendael has anything that's terrible. That's honestly quite admirable.

Animal Highlights
Slender-horned gazelle, Children’s python, northern Luzon cloud rat, Tasmanian devil, common wombat, Chacoan peccary, short-beaked echidna (nominate ssp.), pygmy slow loris, collared kingfisher, crestless curassow, a large flock of red-billed choughs.

 

The first Dutch zoos…
This weekend I had planned to go to the animal fair at Houten, which I visited a couple months ago as well for school. Since it was such an impressive affair, I really wanted to return. Alas, at the last moment the friend I had planned to visit it with cancelled. I didn’t feel like doing the fair on my own, so I decided to visit ZieZoo, a neat little park just over the border.

ZieZoo
Plattegrond - Dierenpark Zie Zoo
Visited on April 21

My visit to ZieZoo was a bit confusing. Before this one, I’d only been to good or great zoos. While I can appreciate ZieZoo, it’s not particularly good and definitely not great. The collection is cool for sure, but the enclosures range from average to bad.

At the time of my visit, the zoo was building a couple of hexagonal mesh-and-wood exhibits. It already had these for binturong and clouded leopard. These enclosures aren’t going to win any beauty pageants, but I did think they were a cost-effective way of building enclosures. They’re also modular and thus should be easily adapted to new inhabitants.

Statistics
I saw 90 species in ZieZoo: 41 mammals, 41 birds, and 8 reptiles.

ZieZoo has 7 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. That’s about average for a zoo its size.

The biggest overlap with ZieZoo is – remarkably – Budapest at 28 species. I think this is remarkable because Budapest had a massive reptile collection, but ZieZoo really doesn’t. It also shares 28 species with Pakawi Park/Olmense Zoo. That isn’t strange at all, since Pakawi is really just a bigger ZieZoo.

With a ZooScore of 1,40, ZieZoo ranks quite high…but in the lowest tier.

Enclosures

• Best in Class: There’s nothing Best in Class about ZieZoo. This isn’t strange, as it’s a small, startup zoo.
• Upper Middle Class
  I quite liked its Chinese dhole enclosure housing a massive pack of these active canines. The enclosure itself is not beautiful – tall mesh fencing, but it was for sure my favourite exhibit in the zoo.
  The wolverine enclosure was also bigger than the usual, and had ample hiding opportunities.
  The enclosure for the hyrax, combined with tortoises and lovebirds was actually quite nice, and a rather unusual combination.
• Lick of Paint
  The newest South American enclosure for tapirs, rheas, capybaras etc. is spacious for sure, but at the time of my visit it was nearly completely barren. This doesn’t look good, and ruins the cool centrepiece this enclosure could actually be.
  
• Eyesores
  So many ugly cages throughout the older part of the zoo. They don’t look good, and I don’t think they’re very good for the inhabitants either. They’re giving a rather decrepit atmosphere to the zoo.
  I also saw a lot of stereotypic behaviour. While that’s not necessarily the zoos fault, I do think it’s an eyesore.

I do feel that it’s important to indicate that ZieZoo does try to improve – its newer area is noticeably better than the older area. That's a feeling most of these low-tier zoos lack, and what makes ZieZoo just a bit better than them.

Animal Highlights
Rocky Mountain goat, maned wolf, corsac fox, ring-tailed vontsira, common cusimanse, American black bear, yellow-spotted rock hyrax, plains vizcacha, American red squirrel, ferruginous pygmy owl.

BestZoo
Visited on April 21

After visiting ZieZoo, I noticed I had a lot of time left. Could I, for the first time in my life, visit multiple zoos in one day? The answer is yes, of course.

BestZoo is definitely not the best zoo, don’t let the name distract you. In fact, it is probably one of the worst zoos I’ve visited.

It has a nice collection, and a nice setting as well in a wooded area. However, such a nice wooded setting is really ruined when there’s an overcrowded cage with macaques in the middle of it.

Statistics
I saw 74 species in BestZoo: 25 mammals, 47 birds, and 2 reptiles.

BestZoo has 11 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. That’s more than many other zoos.

Similarly to ZieZoo, it has its highest overlap with Pakawi Park. Again that park is just a bigger (and slightly better) version of BestZoo.

Strangely, BestZoo only has a ZooScore of 1,14. This is significantly lower than ZieZoo, and makes it one of the lowest scoring zoos of the year.

Enclosures

• Best in Class: none
• Upper Middle Class: Also none. Some of the aviaries are quite nice, but I wouldn’t rank them as UMC.
• Lick of Paint:
  I’d say most of the zoo. While the zoo generally is okay, it looks a bit dilapidated.
• Eyesores
  The binturong (which I didn’t see on my visit) only has access to a small indoor house (closet is a better description though!) and two trees, connected by some poles. That’s too small.
  The Sri Lankan leopards and the jaguars are housed in cages. They have quite a few of them, and none of these cages are big enough to house even one leopard.
  The bearded dragon and ball python terrariums were a shame. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them housed in such a bad terrarium, especially not in a zoo.
  In addition to what I’ve mentioned, there’s cages that are way too small for northern yellow-throated marten, lynx, serval, spider monkey, black howler, black-capped capuchin and rhesus macaque. I may be missing some more enclosures that are like this, but these were the worst from my memory.

Animal Highlights
White-striped dorcopsis, Chacoan mara, Japanese squirrel, maguari stork, common kingfisher, Siamese fireback, green magpie, white-faced ibis, buff-necked ibis, Chilean tinamou.

 

It's a shame to hear that these collections have such wonderful animals in substandard enclosures but as long as they keep improving, they could be Best in Class someday. I've really enjoyed these reviews

 

I don't think BestZoo will become a good zoo soon, as they seem quite stagnant. ZieZoo has more potential in my opinion, but until the old part of the zoo gets rebuilt from the ground up, I don't see them joining the good zoos either. Anyway...

A day at Blankenberge
On a rainy day in April, the university gave us a day off. I decided to ignore school for a day, and visit two collections on the Belgian coast that I hadn’t visited in a long time.

ZOO Serpentarium
Visited on April 30 & September 25

Located at not even 10 minutes walking from the train station, the Serpentarium wouldn’t be out of place as a reptile house in a zoo. Sadly, there’s no zoo built around it, which means that its collection is restricted to herps, and 3 or 4 fish species. A price tag of €12 is a bit expensive for me, but luckily my KMDA membership means I get free entry to this collection.

I don’t think it’s useful to talk about the enclosures here, as talking about individual terrariums is kind of useless as they're all of similar quality. Instead of talking about enclosures, I will be giving a general overview of the building instead. But first, statistics!

Statistics
I saw a total of 73 species during my visit: 58 reptiles and 15 amphibians. That means that the Serpentarium is the third biggest reptile collection of the year, and the 4th biggest herp collection as well. As I said, it wouldn’t be out of place as a reptile collection in a zoo.

ZOO Serpentarium has 14 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. For its size it’s definitely above average.

Biggest overlap in species is with Budapest, 32 species, which is coincidentally also the biggest reptile collection this year. What’s funny is that Bronx (which only has 1 herp less than Budapest) only has a 19-species overlap with the Serpentarium.

ZOO Serpentarium has a ZooScore of 1,32, ranking just below ZieZoo. I did see 17 more species at ZieZoo though, so this is really a testament to the quality of the collection at the Serpentarium.

General Overview
The building is arranged in a loop, and is roughly arranged into ecological zones (although there’s no indication of this, except in the style of the terrariums). Everything outside the terrariums is landscaped like a jungle-y cave. This sounds rather tacky but in my opinion it looks very nice, and certainly is nicer than the rows of terraria in regular reptile houses. The first section houses rainforest animals, followed by a section of more temperate animals. 20-something spider enclosures are included in a desert-y section. This ecosystem grouping isn’t followed perfectly, as there are tropical rainforest frogs right next to gila monsters for example.

Animal Highlights
Hernandez’s helmeted basilisk, black mamba, monocled cobra, red-eyed crocodile skink, Mexican moccasin, Great Lakes bush viper, western rattlesnake, Florida softshell turtle, Chinese gliding treefrog.

SeaLife Blankenberge
Visited on April 30

SeaLife Blankenberge calls itself Belgiums “national aquarium”, a title which it does not deserve. Its collection, outside of fish, is minimal with only 12 species. None of these 12 are housed in particularly impressive enclosures. Otters are housed in fake grass, Humboldt penguins in a strange aviary (presumably an avian influenza prevention measure?). Californian sea lions in a smallish tank with green water. In short, I think a national aquarium can do much better.

The aquarium does do some good work, as it rescues and releases quite a few seals every year, and they also have a nice educational panel about the trouble of invasive turtles. Not much, but hey, it's something.

I don’t think the aquarium is worth its entrance fee of €18 (although you can get it down to 13 by booking online). This makes it more expensive than most of the big German zoos I’ve visited, which is honestly ridiculous.

To conclude, the SeaLife in Blankenberge isn’t really bad, it just has some mediocre exhibits for anything that’s not a fish. If its fish were housed in extraordinary exhibits, I'd be much more forgiveable about the other enclosures, but even the fish are housed in just okay tanks. All this, combined with the price tag, leads me to the conclusion that I'm not going to revisit this facility anytime soon.

 

And now, the first zoos snowleopard hasn't visited...

Porto
In June, right after our finals, I visited Porto with some friends. While usually I try to avoid taking friends to zoos (because they get tired of waiting for me), these friends were all kind of into zoos or animals. I’m glad we went, because even though the zoos were not that great, the company was.

Zoo Santo Inácio
http://www.zoosantoinacio.com/public/pdfs/zoosantoinaciomapa.pdf
Visited on June 21

Zoo Santo Inácio is located just outside Porto, in Avintes. It boasts itself as being the “greenest zoo in northern Portugal” which, I imagine, isn’t very hard to achieve as there aren’t many zoos in northern Portugal. I did think Zoo da Maia might have been a tad greener though.

Santo Inácio is very much an ABC collection, with a reptile house, lemur island, tigers, lions, a mixed-species savannah. Nothing here is particularly good, but most was okay. The one thing I usually like, the tropical house, was closed for renovations on the day we visited (and looked like it’d be a while until it’d reopen).

One thing that’s very Instagram-worthy is the glass tunnel going through the lion enclosure. From any other perspective than inside the tunnel, the tunnel looks pretty ugly though.

The free ranging prairiedogs were a nice addition to the zoo grounds. I thought these would be rather destructive, but it seemed like they stayed in just one location.

Statistics
I saw 87 species in Zoo Santo Inácio: 37 mammals, 27 birds, 22 reptiles and 1 amphibian. Again, the zoo focuses mostly on megafauna, so that’s why it’s a relatively small collection.

Santo Inácio has 6 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. That’s less than usual for a collection its size.

The biggest overlap was with Pakawi Park.

Santo Inácio has a ZooScore of 1,32, which puts it at a tie with Serpentarium.

Enclosures

• Best in Class: nothing really
• Upper Middle Class:
  While the Asiatic lion enclosure has this ugly glass tunnel running through it, it is unique and in my opinion it was easily the best enclosure in the zoo. The lions have loads of shade, and plenty of space too.
• Lick of Paint:
  The Nocturnal House had a nice variety of animals (not all were nocturnal though), but these were mostly in barren, undecorated enclosures. I like that they try to have one, but it could’ve been better.
  The same goes for the Reptile House, but with the outdoor enclosures looking a bit neglected as well. Also, during my visit there were busloads of middle schoolers just banging on the windows full-power, screaming and running around. Teachers didn’t seem to mind.
  The Exotic Bird Aviaries looked overgrown. While the inhabitants didn’t seem to mind (I spotted a saddle-billed stork chick), it could look so much better.
  The Primate World left a lot to be desired as well – most animals here could use some more space.
  A trio of Bactrian camels were housed in a smallish paddock, but more importantly had no access to shade.
• Eyesores:
  The pygmy hippopotamus enclosure didn’t have enough water. Most of the water was too shallow for the 3 (!) pygmy hippos to submerge in. There also was not a lot of shade for them.
  The Educational Farm, housing domestic species, had some animals that looked in a pretty bad shape. I also saw no supervision, and as in the reptile house, the kids had some bad manners.

Animal Highlights
Black wildebeest, black-faced spider monkey, bear macaque, Spanish golden eagle, saddle-billed stork, Indian sand boa, alligator snapping turtle.

Zoo da Maia
https://www.zoodamaia.pt/pt/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/mapa_Zoo_da_Maia_2018.pdf
Visited on June 22

Zoo Santo Inácio was a bit boring I’ll admit it. Zoo da Maia was not, for sure. Maia’s collection was better in my opinion, but quality-wise it left a lot to be desired. As I understand it, relatively recently a new area was added to the zoo, but even here, the enclosures are far from ideal.

Statistics
I saw 70 species in Zoo da Maia: 20 mammals, 19 birds, 27 reptiles and 4 amphibians.

Zoo da Maia has 11 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year. Quite a lot, mostly herps.

Biggest overlap is with Pairi Daiza oddly. These two are very different zoos.

With a ZooScore of 1,14, the zoo is tied with BestZoo. That’s fair in my opinion, quality-wise these two zoos come pretty close as well.

Enclosures

• It’s not worth to do an effort to think of anything better than average in this zoo, because there is really nothing. So in this zoo, there are no Best in Class or Upper Middle Class enclosures.
• Lick of Paint: I don’t actually think there’s any enclosure that warrants a lick of paint assessment either. There’s a few average enclosures that are okay as-is (chital paddock, reptile house, waterfowl ponds), and what is not okay, is pretty bad.
• Eyesores: Most animals, without exaggeration, are housed in enclosures that should at least be twice as big but often should be even more than that. For example, a trio of lemurs was kept in what couldn’t have been more than a 3x3x3m glass-fronted box. A pair of gibbons was housed on a (well-planted) island that can’t have been 10m². A solitary sea lion lives in a few cubic metres of water. The lack of space is definitely Maia’s biggest restraint, but if you have so little space, why house lions, tigers, a brown bear, a sea lion, and zebras?
  Aside from the lack of space, Maia has probably the single worst arachnid enclosure I’ve seen to-date. It has tunnels, but these are brightly lit, leaving the animal with nowhere to hide.
  The sole mandrill (housed together with 4 or more porcupines) looked incredibly unhealthy. In fact, when I first saw it, it was standing on all fours in what looked like a very cramped stance. When I passed his cage again, 30 minutes later, he still stood there in exactly the same stance.
  Some of the parrots were housed solitary. I guess that’s not incredibly bad for an eclectus parrot, although I’d have liked her to have a mate, but I’ve never before seen a solitary rainbow lorikeet.

Animal Highlights
Six-banded armadillo, red-tailed monkey, red-browed amazon, Saharan mastigure, Colombian rainbow boa, red-bellied newt.

SeaLife Porto
Visited on June 22

SeaLife Porto was a rather small facility (are sealifes ever not small?), with only a couple of turtles, besides the fish. In fact, the entire tetrapod species list of SeaLife Porto is as follows: common snake-necked turtle, red-bellied short-necked turtle, green sea turtle, South-East Asian box turtle, northern map turtle, and Chinese softshell turtle.

While the turtle enclosures were nothing great, they seemed good enough. That is in fact the common theme throughout the aquarium – nothing great, but good enough.

I did however, enjoy this SeaLife more than I did the one in Blankenberge due to the friendliness of the staff. This was also the only zoo in Porto that did a serious attempt at educating the public, and after Maia it was hard to disappoint me honestly.

 

Thanks for shining a light on some very under-reported zoos!

 

Pakawi Park
https://www.pakawipark.be/pk1/sites/default/files/2019-zooplan.jpg
Visited on June 29

This zoo changed ownership, and name after they were closed down last year by the government. While it had been at least 5 years since my last visit, I thought that this closure was quite reasonable, as it definitely is the worst major zoo in Belgium (I do feel like we have a pretty high standard though, so being the worst doesn’t mean it’s all bad). I still think the zoo should do better, but having seen the situation in Portugal, and also in smaller collections in the Netherlands, I don’t think a closure is fair.

Improvements to the park since my last visit were negligible. Most of the inappropriate enclosures still house the same animals. The Tropical Hall is a good addition, but the side enclosures are generally quite poor – not to mention that most of the birds in these side enclosures could just as well be free flying in the hall. The reptile cave in the tropical hall is quite good though, and much better than the other reptile “house” they have – which is supposed to become a nocturnal house.
They also slightly re-did the indoor housing at the savannah, but it still looks pretty small.

The usual entrance fee is €22, which is nearly as expensive as Antwerp or Planckendael. I think that’s overpriced. However, the day we planned to go, the park had just changed ownership and opened for two days at a discount: only €10 per person. Obviously, that’s worth it. Surprisingly, the park had very few visitors, even though we visited on a Saturday.

Statistics
I saw 167 species at Pakawi Park: 49 mammals, 98 birds, 19 reptiles and 0 amphibians.

Pakawi Park had 13 species I didn’t see anywhere else this year.

The biggest overlap is a staggering 61 (!) species with Pairi – that’s more than a third of the collection at Pakawi.

With a ZooScore of 2,66, Pakawi finds itself near the top of the mid-tier. That’s rather surprising for me, as I’d personally never rank its collection above a zoo like Blijdorp or Burgers.

Enclosures

• Best in Class:
  While Pakawi has its fair share of good enclosures, I don’t think any even come close to a Best in Class score.
• Upper Middle Class:
  The bear and wolf boardwalk is a rather nice enclosure, giving plenty of wooded space to these carnivores. While the enclosure itself is simple – fenced woodlands with a boardwalk – it works great for both animals and visitors.
• Lick of Paint:
  The side enclosures of the Tropical Hall really need some work. They are dark, empty, and in my opinion, are just an ugly stain on this hall.
  The main Savannah has incredibly limited shade, something that should be quite easy to solve. Yes, African savannah megafauna is tolerant of the sun, but a shade structure or two would improve their quality of life.
  Thefeline enclosures in Casa Panthera are all on the small side, especially the older ones. I’m not sure what the opportunities for expansion are, but I think they should put the focus on smaller cats.
  In general, some enclosures looked a bit dilapidated. This includes their large flamingo aviary, the crane enclosure (near-collapsing fences), and the old reptile house.
• Eyesores:
  Although the zoo currently has no cubs, they do still have the on-show nursery, where they hand-raise cubs of their cougars, tigers, and lions. This practice is outdated, and they should distance themselves from it. An on-show nursery isn’t a bad thing, but it Pakawi manages to make something bad from it.
  The elephant enclosure is small, but also completely devoid of any enrichment. African elephants deserve better than this, even if they’re rescued circus animals.

Animal Highlights
Caracal, Central African leopard, Cape genet, four-toed hedgehog, red-billed hornbill, American kestrel, grey-headed swamphen, Buffon’s turaco, black-throated magpie-jay, Meves’s starling, Sahel paradise whydah, unicolor cribo, chicken snake.

 

That is the amount of birds I counted on-show. Due to the cold weather I missed at least 10 species outside, and even in some indoor enclosures I didn't manage to spot everything (kiwi...). I didn't count any of the animals I knew to be off-show, just the ones I actually saw and could identify.

 

Early April, a large number of species are still of-show and they are only brought on display end of April/early May. The Zoo yearbook lists about 650 bird species for Walsrode.