Chester have some really good local conservation initiatives, which includes their bts breeding of Scottish Wildcats for reintroduction back into the wild. Their lack of any major relevant exhibits, especially with Europe on the Edge now gone, does a pretty good job of overshadowing that, though. With a pretty fantastic European exhibit of their own, 3-0 Wroclaw sounds warranted. ~Thylo
I've voted 3-0 for Wroclaw; however I will note that it would be pretty hypocritical for anyone who voted 2-1 in the Plzen/Chester match not to do so again for this round, given the fact that Chester has about the same amount to offer in this match as it did for that match especially given the fact that, in my opinion, Wroclaw isn't quite as good for this category as Plzen was for theirs.
I disagree. From a quick skim through that match, the main reasons people gave Chester a point were for their Andean Bear enclosure and tuatara program, neither of which are applicable here. ~Thylo
Just checked; in terms of factors people actually cited, only one person specifically gave the tuataras as the reason they gave Chester a point with one person saying they gave Chester a point due to disapproving of Plzen's Siberian Aviary, two people saying general quality of the Chester exhibits, and one person citing the Scottish Wildcats.
Chester have been one of the Flag-bearers during the whole Cup. First, they've been greatly presented by @TeaLovingDave, which is the biggest value of the whole Tournament. And than, since I've been lucky to see 16 out of 17 Europe contestants, from my personal point of view, Chester is one of the most spectacular zoos on the continent without any doubt. There is one type of categories , that many Western European zoos are really vulnerable, though, the Temperates (if it is ok to combine NA, Europe and the biome ) . The reasons were partly discussed during the competition, but it is a fact. Even some of the unlucky giants like Berlin and Burgers are weak here. With the new rules in the final round it was clear that everyone will face their demons sooner than later, but Chester was particulary unlucky to hit the two of the best Temperates players Plzen and Wroclaw. Unfortunately it is difficult for me to justify point for Chester here...
I agree, the main reason I gave Chester a point was the tuatara and Andean Bear enclosures and breeding. The Scottish wildcat and sand lizards helped, but on their own those breeding programmes don't carry much weight, in this category Chester has virtually nothing onshow!!
As one of the 2-1 voters in the Plzen-Chester Temperatures match, I'm honestly stumped on how it would be hypocritical to vote 3-0 Wroclaw here. From the sounds of it, Chester literally has nothing on show that would qualify in this category. Looking back at the argument from temperates the only thing that would apply is the sand lizards from the looks of it. At least under Temperates it had a handful of species and exhibits to hang it's hat on. Here it sounds like all there is, is a breeding programme and that's all folks. That's great, but I tend to give more weight to what's actually on show instead of what it's behind the scenes. I'm changing my vote over to 3-0 Wroclaw, but if someone wanted to present a case that Chester actually has more going for it than it appears, I'll be happy tio flip back to 2-1 so I'm no longer a hypocrite
The aviary replacing Europe on the Edge, and large swathes of the collection displayed within the large Wetlands Aviary, also contain category-relevant species - all of which are onshow, as are some of the herpetological species which fall into this category. One of the offshow species, Montseny Brook Salamander, is a Critically Endangered species native to a tiny area of Catalonia, and Chester have bred the species on several occasions. I'm not sure where we decided the various Caribbean anole and skink species belonged in terms of category - however even if they generally fall under South and Central America I have a feeling the species at Chester occur within mainland USA. A similar issue pertains to their Socorro Dove breeding population. However, disregarding these the list of species at Chester which apply for this category is as follows (with offshow species in italics): Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris grampia) --- Caribbean flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber ruber) Black stork (Ciconia nigra) Common waxbill (Estrilda astrild) Eurasian black vulture (Aegypius monachus) Ferruginous duck (Aythya nyroca) Garganey (Spatula querquedula) Marbled teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris) Waldrapp (Geronticus eremita) Red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis) Red-crested pochard (Netta rufina) Ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula) Ural owl (Strix uralensis) West Mediterranean Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio porphyrio) White-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala) ---- Northern viper (Vipera berus berus) Western sand lizard (Lacerta agilis agilis) ---- Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander (Ambystoma dumerilii) Montseny Brook Salamander (Calotriton arnoldi) Note that in terms of mainland Mexican species, I have included Lake Pátzcuaro Salamander, as biogeographically it belongs to a North American genus, but have omitted the various Mexican tree-frog species held.
The extraordinary unpredictability of the ZooChat Cup continues. Not only did Berlin, or any German zoo, fail to make the final 8, but San Diego, Prague and Singapore all bombed out as well. As of today, Omaha is on the verge of elimination and now Chester, perhaps one of the clear favourites, is going to officially be in the 8th slot and dead last. What's going to happen next? Will the Wroclaw resurgence continue all the way to the championship? Insanity!
