Its good news that two more UK collections will have this species next year. A pity perhaps that one is the strange Noah's Ark but if they can offer them a decent purpose built home as they are planning, then one can't complain too much. Port Lympne will no doubt provide a decent enclosure too(I believe it will be the old top Elephant enclosure, revamped for the bears) though the way they are adding another new species here seems to conflict with the mantra about 'the stated desire to close the parks down'. I look forward to seeing them anyway.
1. Wroclaw or Dvur Kralove - first visits for 20 years, and each was far, far better than I had expected. And visiting Tierpark Nymphaea, in Esslingen, for the first time. 2. Beauval continuing to develop into a truly great world zoo - the new hippo exhibit looks as if it will be tremendous. 3. RSCC obviously - but also Berlin's zoos starting to lose their unique qualities....
I think anyone reading from Nymphaea will be spitting out their coffee in cartoon fashion at being mentioned in the same breath as Wroclaw and Dvur Kralove..! 1. Zoo highlights of the year for me - Cabarceno, Nilgiri Langurs at Erfurt, and Islands at Chester. 2. Favourite piece of zoo news - hmmm - possibly Sun Bears coming (back) to Chester? 3. I think I have to go with the 'obvious' RSCC option here.
Oh yes,damn,Tierpark Nymphea forgot that one...but its supposed to be one choice..so I will stick with Earless Monitors at Budapest(which i also saw being fed,just to add to a jaw-dropping experience).
1. PERSONAL ZOO VISIT HIGHLIGHT First visit to Alpenzoo Innsbruck - not the biggest collection but it has gone straight into the upper echelons of my zoo rankings - and my three visits to Chester since the opening of Islands permitting me to see this new exhibit developing. 2. FAVOURITE PIECE OF ZOO NEWS I'll come back to this one I reckon. 3. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT The closure of RSCC, before I ever had the opportunity to visit
1. Caversham Wildlife Park outside of Perth was a very pleasant surprise. Photographing the only Dampier Peninsula Monitor in captivity (and one of only four ever found) at Perth Zoo was also very cool. Other highlights at Perth were the Nocturnal House and seeing numbats again. 2. Not too sure about that one ..... 3. Not really having the time to see more zoos. And the loss of another Northern White Rhino. Hix
I replied to this in the Port Lympne thread, don't want to divert this thread. A cryptic reference to an upcoming announcement due before new year? Tierpark Nymphaea doesn't seem to have a gallery here, and I can't find much about it. Can I ask why it was a highlight for some people?
1) biggest highlight was stepping foot inside Burgers Desert for the very first time. 2) not sure on this one to be honest, like Maguari probably sun bears arriving at Chester. 3) the loss of the northern white rhinos at Dvur and San Diego WAP. Also the Sumatran rhino leaving cincinatti, but that has less of a sting as a single animal has gone over to a potential breeding situation.
Sorry - this was only a joke; Nymphaea is sadly not some undiscovered gem of the European zoo world. A number of British zoo nerds visited this place this past Autumn when in Stuttgart for Zoohistorica. It took ages to find - road works and odd access didn't help - and was possibly the last interesting zoo I have ever visited. Not a place to rank high on the year's list of highlights!
Great thread, should be an annual event. Having mulled a little, my choices are: 1. First visits to Berlin Zoo Aquarium and Berlin Tierpark (first visit to the Zoo planned for 2016). They fully lived up to other peoples' exaltations and my own expectations. A bonus was realising how truly great the rest of the city is too; 2. In terms of zoo news , my highlight would be the high volume of positive news and changes emanating from UK collections. It seems that most UK collections, big and small, have chosen to expand, add new exhibits, improve old exhibits and/or bring in new species. In addition, a number of new collections have entered the scene. I can't remember the UK zoo scene seeming this vibrant for a long time. I appreciate many will have their pet moans and a few collections have "let the side down" but I believe, by and large, the direction and strength of changes occurring all over the UK is very positive. 3. I like to be a little different/contrary on occasion, but in this case I really can't think of anything that matches RSCC's failure in terms of disappointment. Looking back, with hindsight, at the facts of the situation it was always going to happen. That's not to say it's failure was inevitable, just inevitable given the way things were played. I console myself with the Neil Young lyric, "it's better to burn out than to fade away" -this place burned very brightly indeed, if only for a very small time. A final highlight for me, not neatly fitting into any of the above categories, was the IZES meet-up. It was a treat to meet so many like-minded enthusiasts, new and old, for the weekend (I'm still struggling to comprehend the giant size of the baked cheeses served at the evening meal at Wildwood ).
3 LITTLE QUESTIONS TO ANSWER ON YOUR 2015 1. PERSONAL ZOO VISIT HIGHLIGHT Finally getting to visit Bearizona. It opened in 2009 and is less than three hours from where I live but I never had a reliable enough car to go for a visit. 2. FAVOURITE PIECE OF ZOO NEWS That the new Tiger exhibit at the Phoenix Zoo was FINALLY completed and had an open date set. 3. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT This is an ongoing one...that so many people still listen to PETA and Blackfish about Sea World rather than find out the truth. Also disappointed that I didn't make the zoo trips I had planned.
Indeed it was, although in the event the announcement took quite a bit longer than I expected! http://www.zoochat.com/38/european-first-breeding-tuatara-435654/
1. Really hard to chose so...a tie between watching an incredibly active troop of Japanese macaques at Minnesota Zoo, and seeing Tasmanian devils for the first time ever at Rio Grande Zoo. 2. That Dallas, Sedgwick County, and Henry Doorly Zoos were planning to work together to import African elephants from Swaziland, saving them from culling. 3. Probably the death of the 1-year-old snow leopard Sossy at Milwaukee County Zoo back in June. He was so cute and fun to watch.
Unfortunately, 2015 was a very small zoo year for me so I don't have much to go off of. 1. PERSONAL ZOO VISIT HIGHLIGHT- Finally see Bronx's Greater Egyptian Jerboa. 2. FAVORITE PIECE OF ZOO NEWS Chester's breeding of Northern Tuatara. 3. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT- Having to delay my big trip plans due to finances and thus not having any big trips nor being able to visit too many zoos. ~Thylo
Time to get the thinking caps on for YOUR 2016 moments, the questions will be asked again in the next few weeks.
