I was in Paris for the lat few days and visited the new zoo! Photos to follow. My impressions/review as follows: I arrived very early as I knew it would be busy... I was in the front of the queue but many people waiting behind me for about half an hour to say nothing of the queues when I was leaving... You enter the zoo and cross over a small bridge into the Patagonian area across a paddock for guanaco, mara, Darwin's rhea and (I think) greater rhea as well. No sign of the guanaco but a Darwin's rhea was chasing the mara. Looks like the planting needs to grow in a bit as well, but that was par for the course with much of the zoo. The South American sea lions and Humboldt's penguins have plain rocky enclosures with large underwater viewing panels. Two sea lions that I could see and a nice little group of penguins. Then a covered cage for pumas (which I don't think had arrived) and a small wooded paddock for pudu. You then go into Sahel-Sudan with a large paddock for Grevy's zebra, white rhino and ground hornbill. I didn't see either of the latter but a couple of zebra were grazing. There are tree-trunks spaced to allow the zebra and hornbill some escapes from the rhinos. A lion enclosure is opposite with a large rock and three lionesses. The male was inside, I was told. Beside the inside quarters for the lions is the zoo hospital which can be viewed. There are then paddocks for scimitar-horned oryx and addax and then an enormous paddock for greater kudu, ostriches, marabou storks and the enormous (16, I think...) herd of giraffes. The inside viewing of the giraffe house is at giraffe eye-level and is pretty amazing. Then a rocky enclosure for the large troop of Guinea baboons and a walk-in aviary with African delta species such as flamingos, spoon-bills, hamerkop, egrets etc. You then walk into the European area, where there is an enclosure for European otter (I think in one of the old bear pits) and enter the mountain for European reptiles and amphibians inc. adders, natterjack toads, sand lizards, tortoises, chameleons, newts etc. Outside there is a large aviary for European vultures and a species of buzzard. Then a row of enclosures for Spanish wolves, wolverines and lynx (the last two, I didn't see) You then enter the Guiana area with a paddock for Brazilian tapir and capybara with a nice deep pool for the tapir. An enclosure for bush-dogs and another for jaguar (I didn't see the jaguar, either...) are on your left. Moving on there is a tall cage for woolly monkeys and an aviary for Hyacinth macaws and a currassow. You then enter the green-house with many free-flying birds including scarlet macaw and free-living animals (two-toed sloth and an orb spider!). There are vivariums for reptiles and amphibians, some cages for primates including red titi monkeys, saki monkeys, golden-handed tamarins and another. An indoor paddock for a giant anteater has a deep pool opposite the large pool for the manatee (in company with some pacu and other fish). You then enter the Madagascar area with bamboo lemurs, tortoises, Rodrigues flying fox, black and white ruffed lemur. Outside are the outside cages for the bats and bamboo lemurs. There is also a large cage for a fossa and a large tall cage for the sifaka and a small area for tortoises. Leaving the zoo, you walk past an island with mixed lemurs but I could only see ringtails. Overall, the zoo was, I thought, excellent. It all feels very fresh and new, unsurprisingly. The vegetation needs some time to settle and not all the animals have arrived (dwarf caiman in the greenhouse, for example.) Some of the species mixes have not been fully attempted it seems (giraffes with the kudu/ostriches and zebra with the rhino)
Thank you Oflory, I have been hanging out for a review of ths "new" zoo. Really suprised that it has taken this long. Like catman looking forward to photos, there are a few online in google search but l am sure Zoochatter pcs will be better )
Thanks for the review. I have a visit scheduled for next month so I hope the queues have diminished a bit.
2.2 Patagonian Sealions have arrived from Valencia Les otaries sont chez elles ! | Parc Zoologique de Paris | Francetv info
Visited the new zoo this week. Overall, I was not that impressed, even though it has its good parts. The crowds were just TOO much and spoil your fun pretty bad. Uploaded photo's of the first of 5 sections, the others are to follow asap!
Thanks for putting up photos of the new zoo, ralph. You are the first person to do so here. What were your favorite parts of the zoo? Every picture of the new sea lion and penguin pools that I have seen seem to show vast pools with no animals in them. Were the animals using their pools at all?
Yes, both the seals and penguins were using the pools. Theres a few pinguins swimming in one of the pics I posted here. My favorite part was probably the Europe part. Exhibit-wise that is, as most animals were sleeping or no-shows in that part of the zoo.
Based on the build-up to opening, the exhibit plans and the money being spent, I was expecting this to be an innovative, world-class zoo. Based on all the photos I have seen so far, it is an average zoo at best. Of course I have not visited so I hope I am wrong, but what I am seeing so far is decidedly underwhelming.
I agree with Arizona Docent. Some of the things I saw in the photos, like keeping European tortoises indoors in a dimly lit exhibit or rather crude artificial rockwork, isn't what I'd call modern or innovative. Solely using monolingual information signs without scientific names isn't either, in particular in a big city zoo with major international tourism... Maybe a personal visit and time might change this impression of mine, but currently, this zoo doesn't really appeal to me.
The zoo is still located in Paris, so monolingual information signs are no surprise. I m a bit disappointed in what I've seen on pictures as well, although there are some enclosures that live up to expectations. We will see how it will develop in the next 2-3 years as that would be a fairer time-frame for evaluating it.
Talking about ´arrogance´: The English native speakers sometimes can try to understand just a few words in others languages, what do you think ? It's a joke no offence please.
