While it may be hard, see if you can pick your two favorite zoos that you have visited, and say why they are your favorite. Here are mine in no particular order: Saint Louis Zoo, Saint Louis, Missouri. this zoo is gorgeous, has amazing animals, wide walkways, not too much walking between exhibits, roomy exhibits, and its not feasible to go there without finding out that its the 3rd largest zoo in the U.S. Here is their website: Home :: Saint Louis Zoo Smithsonian National Zoo, Washington D.C. Giant Pandas are, probably quite unsurprisingly, my favorite animal. So, don't get me wrong, its a really good zoo, but it wouldn't be one of my favorites had it not had Giant Pandas. Anyway, this zoo has spacious paths, fancy exhibits, astonishing animals, and, of course, Giant Pandas. Here is their website:Smithsonian's National Zoo
Houston Zoo, and though I haven't been there in a long time, the Minnesota Zoo left a strong impression on me. They're both big, have nice exhibits, and varied collections.
I think it's hard to decide on favourites without making several visits. There are three or four in mainland Europe that I would put alongside Chester, but I have only visited each of those once and might eliminate them if I went several times.
Burgers' Zoo in the Netherlands because of their exceptional way of presenting species, and Berlin Zoo because of it's fabulous collection.
Here in the UK, it has to be Newquay, for its breeding record and presentation of select species, from Kaiser Newt to Black Wildebeest, from Scarlet Tanager to Owston's Civet, and from Blyth's Hornbill to Bearded Reedling. All these species, and many more, breed. Second choice for me, is Avilon Zoo in the Philippines, partly for their tall Hornbill aviaries, in which several species appear to be breeding.
The best zoo I've visited is probably one which no longer exists! London Zoo in the late 1970s! 6 species of bear, over a hundred small mammal species in the Clore Pavilion, Sealions, 3 species of great ape & many more primates, 2 rhino, 2 elephant, around 10 species of cat, good birds of prey collection, 2 cassowary, better reptile collection etc.. plus almost everything they have now! Although I love the place, it will never take more than a day to go around again sadly! I visited 2 collections in one city this year that are almost certainly the best I've seen since- Tierpark Berlin & Zoo Berlin. I tend to rate zoos on collection rather than enclosures (unless they are really bad!).
I can't pick two. When people ask me of my favourite zoos I always say three: Chester Zoo (just because it is amazing), Monkey World (which is a more personal thing) and Hamerton Zoo (because I love the feel of the place and the interesting variety of animals there). If I ever sort out trips to European zoos that may well change, of course.
I can't really choose two; but If I had to it would be the Cincinnati zoo and Newport aquarium Newport Aquarium is a small aquarium but it's the only one i've ever "known", even though I have went to a lot of bigger and better aquariums.
Toronto Zoo and North Carolina Zoo (waaaay due for a visit, maybe in a few years) with a tie for Monteray Bay Aquarium.
For now Doué-la-fontaine (France) and San Diego Zoo. Zurich, Basel and Beauval may be better than SDZ but I need to revisit them.
I really hope to make my first trip to the US this year, or next and am getting the impression that San Diego is a bit special. The weather in October/November must be pretty good too, I guess?
The question is favorite zoos, not necessarily the best we've seen. Given that I'd have to name the Detroit Zoo, quite a decent zoo and my hometown zoo. Grounds are kept up nicely and the zoo lives within its means, doesn't try to do too much without having the money to do it. Wonderful new penguin exhibit although if they'd ask me where to spend $30 million I'd have suggested something else. And another favorite is the St. Louis Zoo. I lived in St. Louis in the eighties and not only was it an excellent zoo but it was free. And at the time--this is no longer true--it was open every day. I used to make a point of getting there on New Year's Day when it opened up and it was like having my own private zoo.
Zoo Berlin and Tierpark Berlin have been my favourite collections since I visited them in April 2014, with only Prague, Plzen and Chester approaching them in my affections. Having written a pretty comprehensive report on my trip to the Berlin collections, I think it would be most apt to repost the portion of the concluding chapter of this report pertaining to my overall feelings towards the collections rather than try to sum them up once again: As will have become very obvious through the course of this thread, I have fallen in love with the two Berlin collections, each of which I would now rank in joint first-place in terms of my favourite zoological collections. One of the great things about the two collections - something which I feel confident in saying is unique to Berlin, with no counterpart to be found in other zoological collections - is the degree to which they complement one another, with each playing to their own strengths and displaying a wide range of taxonomic variety whilst largely avoiding duplicating exhibits. Zoo Berlin is the collection for those who want to see historical buildings, a comprehensive collection of invertebrates, fish and lower tetrapods, a vast collection of tropical birds and a wide range of primates; Tierpark Berlin is the collection for those who want to see large tranquil areas of woodland and grassland dotted with zoo exhibits, massive sprawling areas of hoofstock, a comprehensive collection of caprines, camelids and equids and a large collection of cold-climate birds. There are some strengths shared by both collections; a massive collection of both large and small carnivores, a keen eye for unusual and unique taxa, a comprehensive representation of the diversity of life - but by and large, each collection does not compete with the other, and as such they stand as equals. Each collection does have failings, some long-standing and some newer in origin, and many of these issues have been discussed on Zoochat both within this thread and the wider forum for years. For many of those who read this report, these faults are fatal to your enjoyment of the whole; others deny the faults altogether. I personally would like to think I take a more balanced view; I would very much like the failings of each collection to be addressed, but I do believe they can be addressed without compromising the spirit of the collections, what makes them so very special. My reservations about the future direction of the two Berlin collections under their new director have, I think, been discussed at sufficient length already. Therefore, I shall only say that I fear that future developments at the two Berlin collections may well risk compromising that which makes them so special. Even if - as I very much hope - my fears are unwarranted, and Zoo Berlin and Tierpark Berlin retain much of the spirit which I perceived, they will still be very different places. My visit came at the end of an era for the Berlin collections; I certainly hope and plan to return there before too much time passes, but when I do the collections I fell in love with will be gone forever. I very much hope that I fall in love with them again.
The Bronx Zoo: it will always be “the zoo” to me. I miss a bit it’s 1980’s iteration, but it’s still a very special place. Gangelt Wildpark: European Wildparks are really my favorite type of zoo. Gangelt is a shining example (aside from their “Raptor Row”) of what makes these small zoos so special in the larger Zoo World.
