I was recently asked to write an article for my schools annual magazine on the top 5 best zoos in the world in my opinion. here was my choice (5.Singapore 4.Chester 3.Bronx 2.Berlin 1.San Diego) please bear in mind i chose two european, two american and 1 from any other continent
Was it on purpose that you chose two European and two American ones? I mean, if you really think the five best zoos in the world are all in America (or Europe), then I guess you shouldn't include the other continent just to "play fair". Perhaps you could give it an honorable mention at the end. Or maybe I've misunderstood you?
I agree (for once) with Bib Fortuna, although I like to bring up other arguments as well: Even if you have visited all zoos (or at least the big one's), it is impossible to rate them fair, because of different methods of keeping, different kinds of animals, different financial power, different kinds of exhibitry and even different kinds of geography (and maybe others). That being said, I must confess, that I nevertheless like to participade at such ratings often - but just for fun.
I can never understand any "Five Best...." list that doesn't first lay out its assumptions and values. Best For Families may not be Best Collection which may not be Best Value For The Cost, etc. Or is it, "Five Zoos With Best Reputations Based On Discussions I Have Had In Person And On Line"?
I agree with you as well I don't like Zoo Rankings of all kind, because of this reason-you CAN'T rank Zoos. You remember the Stern-Zootests ? Wow-this was really printed toilet paper.....it was interesting to see Hagenbeck was under the first three in the first test ( by the way-Hagenbeck is just a name, but the Zoo-don't ask me about my opinion to Hagenbeck-I say only two things-kind of elephant kepeing-feeding all day!-and the Lion exhibit...), only because one of the authors comes from Hamburg.... Back to topic-how can I say which Zoo is the best of the world, if I don't know them all ?I can do that-but only with the Zoo I've seen by myself !
Easy, there's lots of zoos you don't have to go to in order to decide which you think is/are the best. I could list quite a few or you could just read online reviews. You could easily eliminate many zoos from the contenders for best zoo without actually visiting them. You might still have to visit a lot but certainly not them all.
Sorry-I can't agree with that-you judge a Zoo only by online reviews ? Wow...so If I write a phantastic review about the closed Limburgse Zoo in Genk in belgium, I bet you would think it was a great Zoo-maybe it even would rank of the Top Places....To inform you-that place was used to be one of the worst zoos in the western hemisphere-guess, why it was closed...
Jeez, I said you could read online reviews, not just one! There are plenty of ****** zoos with enough bad reviews online that reading them would let you know that you'd be wasting your time and money visiting them. Ignoring the knowledge available on the internet would be very foolish.
