Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium - Visited 09/2019 Location: Ocean Expo Park, Motobu-Cho, Okinawa. Size: Large collection, medium acreage. Once the world’s largest aquarium. Highlights: Cetaceans (only pygmy killer whale in captivity, rough-toothed dolphin, pantropical spotted dolphin, false killer whale, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin). Sharks (Whale shark, tiger shark, bull shark, dusky shark, silky shark, salamander shark, Izu catshark). Large pelagic fishes (tuna, trevally, barracuda). Green bumphead parrotfish. Many deep-sea anthias and other fishes exhibited nowhere else. Also endemic fishes and crustaceans of the Ryukyu Archipelago. Cons: Is on the other side of Okinawa from the airport, so it takes hours to reach by shuttle bus. Depending on your tour bus hours, you may not be able to finish seeing the entire collection.
Okinawa Zoo & Museum - Visited 09/2019 Location: Goya, Okinawa City, Okinawa. Size: Small collection, medium acreage. Highlights: Endemic fauna, such as Ryukyu flying fox, Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle (although many were recently stolen from the zoo), amphibians, and snakes. White lions. Only opportunity for Okinawans to see charismatic megafauna (Asian elephant, Nile hippopotamus, jaguar). Cons: Many species kept in smaller, outdated enclosures and cages, although the Yakushima macaques are only temporarily housed as such until their outdoor exhibit finishes construction.
As someone who wishes to eventually tour some Japanese zoos and aquariums (far in the future), I appreciate this thread. I do have a question in regards to transportation, as I just counted and on 7 occasions in the 'Cons' section of your reviews there is mention of getting to a facility by either bus, taxi or train and some zoos are a hassle to get to. It appears that transportation was a huge issue. I looked up options to rent a car in Japan and it seems that if one does rent a vehicle then it is very expensive in terms of gas and tolled roads, plus there can be a hideous amount of congestion in the big cities. However, renting a car would also allow a tourist unlimited access to any zoo or aquarium, without ever waiting around for public transportation. Does anyone reading this have experience with renting a vehicle in Japan? (I just spent a month in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands this past summer, visiting 95 zoos of all sizes, and I am 100% thankful that I rented a car for the entire trip. There were loads of establishments that I would have struggled to visit without a personal vehicle at my disposal and arriving at a zoo is much faster with a car.)
The thing about getting a car is that you'd have to get used to driving on the left side of the road (it looks as though everywhere you went drives on the right side), and read unfamiliar road signs, which was why I didn't rent a car. And the public transportation in Japan is so good that you can reach most zoos and aquariums, but you'll have to plan ahead, and the first few times you go to a Japanese train station can be hectic (they're huge and have many lines in all directions), but I learned fast how to buy tickets and find the right platform.
Species-wise, maybe (if you ignore Chli's justified objection). Husbandry-wise, I don't know. Just take a look at the exhibits of the venomous snakes in the following video [starting at 11:34]:
Eh, snake vivariums don't need to be fancy; I've seen pretty minimalist ones in Western zoos and nature centers especially in off-exhibit holdings and the snakes do well as long as they get food, water, the proper humidity, hides, and a temperature gradient. I remember most reptiles at IZoo had hiding spots.
I disagree. It's one thing if you keep snakes for a temporary time span (quarantine, breeding) in a "minimalist" setting behind the scenes. It's another if you display them to the public. Especially smart, active large elapids such as the king cobra or the black mamba. And tanks that allow for a 360° visitor insight are rather stressful for most inhabitants.
I love the fact the video start with the words "Check My Balls", I don't know why it starts with them but it amused me!
Stefan Broghammer, the narrator and author of the video, is a major German reptile trader with a certain focus on ball python morphs. Hence the (deliberately) ambiguous slogan.
Is he the one who that controversial Australian guy renamed the reticulated python after? (Broghammerus)
Yes, and he is one of the very few people who appreciated Raymond Hoser's re-classification attempts for that very reason.
