The Largest Aviaries in the World Updated August 2021. See also these previous threads for some discussions on the topic. where is the largest free flight aviary in the world? Largest Avaries in Australia and New Zealand? Walk through Aviary (for the UK) Before starting the list, I'll first mention the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park in Malaysia which covers 8.5 hectares [20.9 acres] and is always said to be the largest aviary in the world. However it isn't one aviary, it is divided into several distinct aviaries. I'm not sure where it would come in a ranking if taking that into account. Personally I can't count it as "the largest" because it isn't a single aviary. So I've just put it here with no size ranking. Number one: Birds of Eden in South Africa opened in December 2005 and is the largest aviary in the world. It covers 2.3 hectares [5.7 acres], is about 50 metres [164 feet] high (it is built over a valley), and houses over 3500 birds of 220 species (60 species of which are parrots according to the video below). Number two: In Singapore the Jurong Bird Park's Waterfall Aviary, opened January 1971, covers two hectares [4.9 acres], and is about 43 metres [141 feet] high (everything says "13 stories" so I just converted that at 3.3 metres to one storey). In 2014 the park stated there were over 600 birds of 50 species inside. The bird park is moving in the near future to a different site, so this entry will then become void. Number three: The raptor aviary "La Terre des Aigles" at Les Aigles du Leman in France covers 1.8 hectares [4.5 acres] and is the largest aviary in Europe. Number four: The Melaka Bird Park in Malaysia, opened in March 2013, is a 1.8 hectare [4.45 acres] aviary. They claim to have several hundred "species" of birds (I've seen numbers from 400 to 700 being advertised), but there were only 20 species when I was there in 2014 and I did also come across a much more truthful advertisement which said "200 birds of 15 species". I'm not sure if the aviary really is 1.8 hectares either, but I can't find any conflicting figures. In fact I can't find any measurements of the lengths or height at all. They bill themselves as the largest walk-through aviary in Malaysia. Number five: The Islamabad Bird Park at Lake View Park in Islamabad, Pakistan, was opened in March 2013 and is said by them to be the third largest aviary in the world. It covers 1.5 hectares [3.8 acres], is 24 metres [80 feet] high, and has "around 4000 birds of over 300 species" (dimensions and numbers from this 2016 article: Birds of paradise: Two aviaries, separated by more than distance - The Express Tribune). Or "around 280 species" in another 2016 article (Capital’s aviary houses birds of all feathers - Newspaper - DAWN.COM). That latter article includes a quote about the aviary being "the third largest in the world, smaller only than one in Malaysia and another in South Africa" [presumably referring to the KL Bird Park and Birds of Eden]. Number six: The "Lost Valley" aviary at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Australia is the largest aviary in Australasia. It is said to cover one hectare [2.5 acres] and is 38 metres [124 feet] tall at its highest point (it is built over a valley). There are some photos on page two of this thread (see posts #28-30). Number seven: The South American walk-through aviary at Bioparc Zoo de Doue in France was the largest aviary in Europe when it opened in 2009. It covers one hectare [2.5 acres] and is 20 metres [65 feet] high. There are around 300 birds in the aviary. There is a photo of it here on Zoochat: South american giant aviary | ZooChat Number eight: The South American aviary at Parrot World in France, which opened in 2020, covers one hectare [2.5 acres] and is 15 metres [49 feet] high. Number nine: The walk-through aviary at Bioparque Temaiken in Argentina, which opened in 2012, covers "almost one hectare" [2.5 acres], is 12 metres [40 feet] high, and houses 250 birds (or 2500 birds in some sources, which must be a typo). I think it is a bit smaller in acreage than the one at Zoo de Doue, is lower, and further is a strange shape which reduces the free space inside compared to the French one. Aviary, Bioparque Temaikén / Hampton+Rivoira+Arquitectos Number ten: These three aviaries are all about 0.5 hectares [1.3 acres]. I can't find proper dimensions for them, so have included all three in this placing. I think the Simmons Aviary is a little bit bigger than the other two - it is referenced as being 1.3 acres whereas the others are usually put at 1.2 acres - but there probably isn't much in it and there is some variance in acreage according to source. The Simmons Aviary at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo in the USA opened in 1983. At the time of opening it was said to be "the world's second largest free-flight aviary" [after Jurong's Waterfall Aviary], at almost 244 metres [800 feet] long and 22.8 metres [75 feet] high. Note that there are many sources on the internet which put this aviary at 4 acres in size which is incorrect. The Wings of Asia aviary at Zoo Miami in the USA opened in 1985. The walk-through aviary at Flying High in Australia. ............................................. Largest walk-through aviary of each region (by decreasing size): Africa: Birds of Eden (South Africa) - see Number One above. Asia: Jurong Bird Park's "Waterfall Aviary" (Singapore) - see Number Two above. Europe: Les Aigles du Leman's raptor aviary "La Terre des Aigles" (France) - see Number Three above. Australia: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary's "Lost Valley" aviary - see Number Six above. Central/South America: Bioparque Temaiken's walk-through aviary (Argentina) - see Number Nine above. North America: Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo's "Simmons Aviary" (USA) - see Number Ten above. New Zealand: Hamilton Zoo's walk-through aviary (c.0.35 hectares [c.0.86 acres]) - see Largest Avaries in Australia and New Zealand? ............................................. Most species of birds: This one is interesting too. Shuka Vana in Mysuru (Mysore), India, holds the Guinness record for the most species of bird in one aviary. The aviary is only 0.4 hectares [one acre] in size and fifty metres [164 feet] high, but supposedly houses 2100 birds of 468 species (see here Video: Take a tour of India’s record-breaking aviary). I would really like to see a list of the species and know how this was "verified" because it seems exaggerated. However the aviary's blogsite says that on its "soft inauguration" (in 2014) there were 1061 birds of 276 species, in "82 bird rooms". Soft Inauguration of Shuka Vana Aviary | SGS Birds
Could i give an honourable mention to the Wings of Asia aviary at Zoo Miami at 1.24 acre, (but that may be the whole exhibit rather than just the aviary). Also mentioning Katandra treetops aviary at Loro Parque on Tenerife, but i can't seem to find sizes for that one
I had tried finding Katandra Treetops too, but the closest I could do for sizes was this snippet of news which says 17,000 cubic metres and 30 metres high: <!--:en-->Loro Parque opens Katandra Treetops, world’s largest free-flight aviary<!--:--> – Janet Anscombe (Actually 27 metres high: Carl Stahl Architektur -Reference). If I can find some hectare/acre measurement I can put it into the list (if it is in the top ten).
I've found some (differing) measurements for these two aviaries now. The Scripp's Aviary was built in 1923, and at that time was the largest aviary in world. It is 38 metres [125 feet] long, 24.4 metres [80 feet] wide, and 29 metres [95 feet] high. Those measurements were obtained here: https://digital.sdsu.edu/view-item?i=138595&WINID=1500972801517 This page says 35 metres [115 feet] long, so even smaller: 1923 | Beginnings | San Diego Zoo 100 The Owens Aviary was built in 1937, and took the title of "world's largest aviary" away from the Scripps Aviary. I found one set of measurements on a Youtube video (which got them from the San Diego Zoo's website) saying 45.7 metres [150 feet] long, 22.5 metres [74 feet] wide, and 25 metres [82 feet] high. But the zoo timeline on the following link says 48.7 metres [160 feet] long and 33.5 metres [110 feet] high. 1937 | War Years | San Diego Zoo 100 [All measurements on those links were in feet because they're American]
Meanwhile, in China... Chimelong is reported to be constructing the world's largest aviary - at five hectares it will be two and a half times bigger than Birds of Eden! World’s Largest Aviary and Tallest Theme Park Building in Works For Chimelong’s Newest Resort "On Dec 28 2016, construction began on the main project and hotel cluster of the Qingyuan Chimelong International Forest Resort – a park featuring forest and wildlife themes. The park will feature an 88-metre tall iconic building named “Giraffe Castle” and the world’s largest aviary, occupying an area of 5 hectares."
Excellent list, but as mentioned in the end of the first threads linked in the first post, the Birds of Eden aviary covers 5.7 acres. The reason for the confusion is rounding of numbers. It covers 2.3 ha (=5.7 acres), but I've seen that rounded down to 2 ha (=4.9 acres). They even use both numbers on their homepage: 2 ha vs. 2.3 ha. The latter link adds to the confusion by potentially giving the impression in one section that the 3.2 ha mesh dome equals the area of the aviary! The precise number for the Birds of Eden aviary is actually marginally above 2.3 ha, but only by a handful of m2 (I don't remember the exact, but should have it somewhere). Interesting with the the planned record-breaking Chimelong aviary. I hadn't heard about it before.
I'm so excited about the chimelong new park.Chimelong zoo and chimelong aquarium are good in term of China and Asian standard and I hope the new zoo and their aviary will be awesome.
just for my own curiosity I have been looking around trying to find more on this. The "468 species" claim is clearly bogus. I think they must be using their own definition of "species". For example, this site http://edenkeeper.org/2016/08/03/birds-find-paradise-sri-swamiji/ says he has "more than 1,500 birds of over 370 parrot species, many listed as endangered or critically endangered." There are only c.390 species of parrots total in the world. And I found a list of the macaws there, which includes Catalina, Ruby, Miligold, Harlequin, and Shamrock Macaws. They don't seem to have much beyond parrots either. I've seen a photo of a toucan, a peacock, and a couple of crowned pigeons, but nothing else. Still would be an interesting place to visit though.
Based on distance measurements in google maps Katandra is c. 35 x 35 m, i.e. some way from being largest in area. This google measurement may not be accurate but roughly matches my memory of the place. In comparison the largest single aviary at Walsrode is c. 60 x 35 m.
that would still make it a bit larger than the San Diego's two largest aviaries though, wouldn't it? From the measurements I found (in post #4) the Scripps Aviary is 38m (or 35m) X 24.4m, and the Owens Aviary is 48.7m (or 45.7m) X 22.5m. [Neither are in precise conversions from feet]. I think that below the one I listed as number eight there's just a bit of a drop to the next largest, but around that lower level there are a bunch of similarly-sized aviaries which aren't really all that large.
isn't the National Aviary just a cluster of connected buildings with a lot of smaller aviaries inside?
That is correct, there are three main walk-through exhibits and several separate enclosures. Nothing approaches the size of San Diego's larger aviaries.
Yes, I was alluding to the fact that many others are of a similar size as Katandra: 35 m x 35 m = 1225 m² (0.3 acre). I mentioned Walsrode (2100 m², or just above 0.5 acre) as an example of similar-sized or somewhat larger, but even if restricting it to the tiny country of Denmark we could mention the c.1500 m² (0.4 acre) South American walkthrough aviary in Copenhagen, the c.2000 m² (0.5 acre) African walkthrough aviary in Odense and the c.3600 m² (0.9 acre) Steller's eagle aviary in Skandinavisk Dyrepark. At this size range —large but not gigantic— there are quite a lot of places around the world with aviaries that qualify and expanding the list to include all those at 1000–4000 m² (0.1–0.4 ha; 0.25–1 acre) would be a major task.
oh yeah, I understood that. I was sort of just "thinking out loud", so to speak, because it seemed like there would be quite a few aviaries of around that size and both of the San Diego ones had been mentioned earlier in the thread. I've tried to find some "nines and tens" for the Top Ten, and the next two largest I've found seem to be Zoo Miami's Wings of Asia (USA) and Flying High's walk-through (Australia) which are both about 0.5 hectare [1.2 acres], which is considerably smaller than even Number Eight. I think Zoo Miami's is slightly larger than 1.2 acres, and I'm not sure that Flying High's quoted size is precise, but they are the next two I'd been able to find. I haven't seen any others over an acre except Bird Kingdom at Niagara Falls (Canada), which I'm discounting anyway because it is entirely indoors (a tropical house rather than an aviary), but it is 0.4 hectare [one acre]. The San Diego aviaries are pretty small in comparison to the large aviaries around today. Unless my calculations are off, the Owens Aviary is only 0.1 hectares [0.27 acres], and the Scripps Aviary is 0.09 hectares [0.2 acres]).
Cañón de las aves - Selwos I've not visited this zoo, but based on a search and their own map this is their large aviary. The above link says 3500 m² (almost 0.9 acre), i.e. among largest but not the largest in Europe. Same article says max height 20 m and 170+ birds of 15 species
oh thanks, that's great. The only measurement I'd found was a vague "300 metres long". So it is actually a lot smaller than Zoo de Doue's South American aviary, which presumably is still the largest in Europe then.
Photos of some of the inhabitants of this aviary have recently been uploaded into the gallery. Currently they are in the "Pakistan - Other" gallery. Pakistan - Other | ZooChat
Where does Saint Louis zoo's 1904 World's Fair Aviary fall? I know it was the largest free-flight aviary 100 years ago, but that has obviously changed. But where does it land now on the size scale?
Based on the area tool for google maps, which may or may not be entirely accurate, it is c. 1600 m² (0.4 acres). Using the wording from my earlier post, that places it among the large but not gigantic aviaries in today's zoo world. Quite remarkable for an aviary that has surpassed 100 years.
