This is a must-win German Derby for both zoos, after first round losses. The winner will stay in contention, the loser will need a miracle. The topic? North America and Europe.
I don't know much about Munich so anyone care to share what they have to offer? I know Berlin keeps Wood and European Bison, North American Porcupine, Polar Bear, Iberian Wolves, Bobcat, nominate American Elk (the Tule are gone now, yes?), European Wildcat, Eurasian Moose, Barbary Macaque, and various European birds of prey among others. ~Thylo
Munich doesn't have a shabby collection either, especially when it comes to mammals, with: Snow hare, Alpine marmot, Polar bear, European lynx, European wolf, Golden jackal, Raccoon, Polar fox, Wolverine, Abruzzo chamois, Alpine ibex, European elk, Wood buffalo. They also keep Heck cattle and Heck horse which represent the now extinct Aurochs and Tarpan Glossy ibis, Waldrapp, Cormorant, Great White pelican, Greater flamingo, several waterfowl species, 4 species of owl and several birds of prey, the latter used in a flight display. Several turtle species, European green lizard, Baird's ratsnake, Ladder snake and various other snake species. When it comes to cold-blooded animals Munich beats Berlin on collection, but TP Berlin has a better bird collection. Mammalwise the collection is somewhat more comparable, both keep rarer species and have quite a good collection When it comes to enclosures, I think Munich wins from Berlin with some very pretty hoofstock enclosures, most notably for Chamois + Marmot (showing only a part of the exhibit): The European elk enclosure is also very pretty, but no pictures of this enclosure have been uploaded to the gallery. Their Polar bear enclosure is also far superior to the rock desert of Berlin: In general the Munich enclosures are much more embedded in the landscape, with in many cases less obvious to invisible fencing (some carnivores excepted), whereas TP Berlin's enclosures are often cages or less landscaped paddocks with often obvious green fences. The exception in Berlin is the fantastic wolf enclosure (but the one in Munich is good and wooded as well)
Berlin also keeps Rocky Mountain Goat, Alpine Ibex, Persian Fallow Deer (naturally native to what we're counting as Europe I believe), Gunther's Vole, Crete Spiny Mouse, Glossy Ibis, Waldrapp, Great White Pelican, and Dalmatian Pelican. Munich's herp collection will likely be better than Berlin's but on my visit they still had a surprisingly large collection of North American turtles including Mississippi Map Turtle, Eastern River Cooter, Florida Red-Bellied Cooter, and both Yellow-Bellied and Red-Eared Slider and they also keep American Alligator. Munich's Polar Bear enclosure will be better than Berlin's, but still I feel as though you're not giving Tierpark Berlin enough credit for their enclosures. Obvious fencing aside (which personally has never really bothered me), they have some great enclosure for many of their species: Alpine Ibex (unfortunately there's no overall enclosure photo) Rocky Mountain Goat (older photo but only one I could find, doesn't show the whole thing) Muskox American Elk (part of photo shown) Eurasian Moose/European Mouflon Wood Bison European Bison European Wildcat (caged, but not small and we all know there's nothing inherently wrong with a good cage ) Iberian Wolf Polar Bear (not great but not awful) Barbary Macaque Black-Tailed Prairie Dog/NA Porcupine Eastern Imperial Eagle (the aviary is not shown well but this photo does show that the birds have access to live trees) Massive vulture aviary which houses Western Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Lammergeier, and Turkey Vulture (it's even longer than it looks!) Eurasian Crane Greater Sandhill Crane Mixed pelican pool which houses roughly a dozen Eurasian waterfowl species as well (I believe this pond is connected to a stream system that runs throughout part of the zoo which all birds can access) Great Bustard American Alligator I could not find photos of the overall bird of prey aviaries or the Bobcat enclosure. Other relevant birds of prey include Snowy Owl, Ferruginous Hawk, White-Tailed Sea Eagle, and, if applicable, both Steppe Eagle and Steller's Sea Eagle. ~Thylo
I fixed the pictures, they should all work now. Here are some more pictures from Munich's enclosures, unfortunately many good enclosures are not represented at all in the gallery. European elk enclosure: Heck cattle and Heck horses Polar fox American wood buffalo Alpine ibex (showing maybe 50%) Pelicans & cormorants Snowy owl aviary Part of the Flamingo enclosure Part of the freeflight aviary which holds Glossy ibis, Black stork, Waldrapp and several ducks + species not in this challenge. This shows a part of the second Polar bear enclosure, before the renovation (which was mainly cosmetical), it is somewhat ugly, but very spacious for a 70ies enclosure and as noted above, there is a second much larger naturalistic enclosure. Which means that Munich can separate its bears, unlike Berlin, where the male now lives in the zoo...
I really have to properly label all my shots in the dedicated album I created for my trip report, and perhaps add a few more images given the original image count was restricted by lower image-attachment limits per post which particular enclosures did you have in mind which are unrepresented? In the meantime, two more for the Apennine Chamois and Alpine Marmot
Wolf, Lynx, Wolverine, Elk, to name the most notable ones. And yes you should start labeling your pictures
I'll see what I can do with regards to the wolf and elk exhibits - I think offhand the lynx and elk might be new since my visit? The golden jackals definitely are, and I'm not sure we have shots of that exhibit either. Well, to be fair I usually do but those photographs were originally uploaded as direct attachments and moved into the gallery retrospectively to keep the whole thread standardised after the forum upgrade changed the attachment settings. It's on my "to do" list.
I know both Zoos quite well and I do agree that Munich is comparably strong in that category with especially a very nice list of mammals in really nice enclosures so that they would have probably beaten most of the other Zoos in that category - however they are up against Berlin Tierpark who from my point of view should still win this round as they have an even broader list of mammals and a significantly longer list of birds and their enclosures are with some minor ups and downs not really worse than the ones at Munich. For me this is a 2:1 for Berlin.
I am edging this to Munich based on the fact that they have a European zone, not just a strong collection with good exhibits. But I think Berlin is very unlucky here.
