And so it begins. The topic? Africa. Remember that this category is shared with the other match currently underway. Continental Africa counts, but Madagascar doesn’t. A quick word on theming. Given the prevalence of geographic theming in zoos it *is* within scope to consider how ‘Africa’ is represented thematically, but it’s up to you: you’re not obliged to do so.
I know little about Omaha, but quite like the African zone and collection at Munich - however looking at the direction of votes most people prefer Omaha. Care to post details for the purposes of enlightenment?
Rough species list for Omaha by exhibit complex: African Grasslands Meerkat, Klipspringer White-throated Monitor Rock Hyrax, Kenya Crested Guineafowl Southern White Rhino Impala, Giraffe, Ostrich, White Stork African Elephant, Plains Zebra African Pygmy Goat Cheetah African Lion Sable Antelope Bongo, Secretarybird African Spurred Tortoise Desert Dome (African section) African Wild Cat Blue Bellied Roller Cape Thick-Knee Cut-throat Finch, Lilac-breasted Roller, Orange Bishop Weaver, Red Bishop Weaver, Speckled Mousebird, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Cape Teal, Magpie Shrike Blacksmith Plover, Chestnut Weaver, Golden-breasted Starling Klipspringer, Meerkat Nile Soft-shell Turtle Bat-eared Fox Dwarf Mongoose Hottentot Teal Puff Adder Cape Cobra Cape Coral Cobra Angolan Python Red-billed Hornbill Black Mamba Giant Plated Lizard Expedition Madagascar Straw-colored Fruit Bat Gorilla Valley Salvadori's Weaver* Colobus Monkey Western Lowland Gorilla, Colobus Monkey Angolan Colobus, Blue Monkey, Bush Hyrax, Rock Hyrax Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, West African Crowned Crane, Yellow-backed Duiker, Egyptian Goose Kingdoms of the Night Naked Mole Rat Fossa Greater Bushbaby, Springhaas Bushy-tailed Jird Aardvark, Brushtail Porcupine**, Greater Bushbaby, Potto, Springhaas Ruwenzori Long-haired Fruit Bat Egyptian Fruit Bat Lied Jungle Egyptian Fruit Bat, White-cheeked Turaco, Hartlaub’s Duck Diana Monkey Nile Soft-shell Turtle Black Crake Hamerkop Hadada Ibis Wolf's Guenon African Pygmy Goose Hadada Ibis White-faced Whistling Duck Violaceous Turaco Giant Elephant Shrew De Brazza's Monkey Pygmy Hippo Home's Hinge-backed Tortoise Giant African Bullfrog Spotted-necked Otter Simmons Aviary Cattle Egret, White Stork, West African Crowned Crane, Sacred Ibis, Waldrapp Ibis, Hamerkop, Red-crested Pochard***, Ruddy Shelduck***, Marbled Teal***, Northern Pintail***, Northern Shoveler*** Others African Pink-backed Pelican, White-faced Whistling Duck, Spur-winged Goose Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Okapi, Yellow-backed Duiker African Penguin? (in aquarium?) * suspected hybridized, also potentially no longer present; unsure which other species is present ** not sure if this is African brushtail or another species *** all of these ducks winter in Africa to varying degrees, some might have only a marginal presence
The zoo has several fairly extensive African exhibits which take up roughly 1/3 of their overall exhibit space. I'm not sure on sizes but their main African area features a very large and naturalistic yard for giraffes, White Rhino, Impala, Ostrich, and European White Stork. Across from that is the huge mixed zebra and elephant yard, although as mentioned in prior matches the elephants seem to often be restricted to a smaller yard which is roughly the size of Chester's habitat. Across a large man-made pond--which displays Pink-Backed Pelicans--there are further excellent habitats for Cheetahs, Lions, Bongo/Blue Crane, Sable Antelope, and African Spurred Tortoise. Prior to all of this is a small but nicely done Kopje area. I'm not a fan of mockrock, but I think this exhibit was done very nicely and much better than SDZ's Africa Rocks. Here they have Klipspringer mixed with Meerkat and Leopard Tortoise. Additionally there are separate enclosures for Rock Hyrax and White-Throated Monitor respectively. That's it for the main non-Madagascar African themed areas, however there are several other African species/displays spread across the zoo. For instance, there is the very good Okapi and Yellow-Backed Duiker habitat and the decent gorilla exhibit. As far as the gorillas are concerned, there are multiple outdoor yards that are more or less the same as the one shown but the indoor den is ok at best (afaik the mix detailed in that photo no longer exists). The visitor potion of the Great Ape complex also reminds me of an airport terminal honestly, but there isn't anything inherently wrong with it. Other African displays in this section are an ok Blue Monkey and Angolan Colobus rotational exhibit which isn't photographed and a West African Black Crowned Crane/Abyssinian Ground Hornbill enclosure. Leid Jungle is home to the somewhat infamous indoor Pygmy Hippo enclosure. This enclosure's land area also has a section for monkeys and there is a secondary enclosure for the zoo's De Brazza's Monkeys, Diana Monkeys, and Wolf's Guenon. Leid Jungle also has an enclosure for Spotted-Necked Otter and Black-and-Rufous Giant Sengi/Violaceous Turaco/Home's Hinge-Backed Tortoise but I didn't find any photos of that, as well as free-flying Egyptian Fruit Bats. Finally, there's the Desert Dome. I couldn't find any good photos of the African section of the house but here there are displays for Palestinian Wildcat (apparently they have access to additional space off-show), more Klipspringer/Meerkats as well as African Helmeted Turtle, Nile Softshell Turtle, and African cichlids in the moat, Bat-Eared Fox, Common Dwarf Mongoose, Yellow-Billed Duck/Cape Teal/Hottentot Teal, African Long-Tailed Shrike, red-billed hornbill, Puff Adder, Cape Cobra, Cape Coral Cobra, Black Mamba, Angolan Python, and Giant Plated Lizard. There are also free-flying birds such as Blue-Bellied Roller, Blacksmith Plover, Cape Thick-Knee, Speckled Mousebird, and various weavers. Underneath the dome in Kingdoms of the Night, there are Naked Mole Rats, South African Springhares, Garnett's Galago, Potto, Aardvark, Ruwenzori Bats, and African Brush-Tailed Porcupine. Arabian Spiny Mouse and Bushy-Tailed Jird are also exhibited here but I don't know if those are to be saved for Asia or not. I don't know much about Munich, but thus far this is a pretty easy win for Omaha. I will reserve voting 3-0 until someone posts more information on Munich, however. ~Thylo
Fossa doesn't count unfortunately. Also no Secretarybirds, African Penguins, or Bush Hyrax anymore afaik, although the old hyrax enclosure in the Great Ape complex may be the current Blue Monkey/colobus outdoor habitat. I forgot about the Straw-Colored Fruit Bats mixed with the Aye-Aye and and Simmons' Aviary species so thank you for those additions. The "Salvadori's" Weavers were still present in May, but as you said I don't know if they're actually pure or not. ~Thylo
Of what's listed these are some of my notes and thoughts: - The free-flying Egyptian fruit bats in Lied Jungle are super active depending on time of day; if you go down to ground level in the late afternoon you'll find yourself in the midst of a swarm. Best zoo bat experience I've ever had; I even got to see a mother and baby up close in a tunnel! - Of the African Grasslands exhibits I saw, the rhino/giraffe pen in particular is very beautiful in the summer; lots of trees and vegetation on a slope. - The Gorilla Valley is impressive in scale, but odd in design. @ThylacineAlive's description of it as an airport terminal is spot on; additionally, neither the outdoor nor indoor enclosures are remarkable. I'm not sure how many gorillas there are or how many total enclosure spaces exist, but I think it's safe to say that it is very large compared to other North American gorilla complexes. - The free-flying birds in Desert Dome represent some cool species, but unfortunately I did not see many of them; not sure if this is due to the number of birds, design of the building, or both. - I was not a fan of the small carnivore exhibits in Desert Dome: the bat-eared fox, African wildcats, and dwarf mongooses have small and narrow enclosures carved out of the rock-cliff walls. They are unsightly, and additionally the bat-eared fox is difficult to even see with an odd viewing angle. A similar in-the-wall enclosure holds blue-bellied roller, which could be free-flying, while lilac-breasted rollers fly free despite being largely phased out due to aggression issues; not sure what the logic is there. I'll refrain from voting until I learn more about Munich.
As far as Munich is concerned...... Mammals Mhorr Gazelle Cape Hyrax Central common chimpanzee Cherry-crowned Mangabey Non-ssp Chimpanzee Common Eland Drill Fat sand rat Greater kudu Hamadryas baboon Hartmann's mountain zebra Non-ssp Lion Meerkat Nyala Red River hog Red-tailed moustached monkey Reticulated giraffe Round-eared elephant shrew Straw-colored fruit bat Western lowland gorilla Birds Abyssinian ground hornbill Blue crane Blue-naped mousebird Fischer's lovebird Glossy ibis Great white pelican Greater flamingo Northern bald ibis Purple glossy-starling Ringed tea South African ostrich Southern grey-crowned crane Village weaver Violet turaco White-faced whistling-duck Reptiles African spurred tortoise Baron's green racer Brook`s house gecko Cape coral snake Dwarf crocodile (No Subspecific status Eastern green mamba Egyptian tortoise Forest cobra Sudan plated lizard Western gaboon viper White-headed dwarf gecko
This is an easy win for the American zoo and I'm voting 3-0 Omaha. The big 3 exhibits (Lied Jungle, Desert Dome, Kingdoms of the Night) are phenomenal, plus African Grasslands is 28 acres in size and contains new, modern habitats. The list of species has already been posted and there is no way that Munich gets much out of this match-up.
I don't know Munich has a pretty good species list and the vast majority of Lied Jungle, Desert Dome, and KotN don't focus on Africa. I'd need to see photos of Munich's exhibits before knowing by how much Omaha beats them. ~Thylo
I think it's an easy win for Omaha - but the way the Pigmy Hippo is kept and some of the tiny carnivore holes in the Desert Dome really offend me. If they weren't there I think I'd vote 3-0 for Omaha. The species list for Munich is much smaller, but until someone posts something about the enclosures themselves and the overall Africaness of the zoo I'll hold off on voting.
The thing is, if you are judging how worthy Omaha is of a 3-0 score by how good those three exhibits are, you HAVE to only judge their quality based on the African portions - elsewise, you could go on to use the exact same exhibits in future rounds to prove why Omaha merits 3-0 for an entirely different geographic area and given what Thylo has said above about the majority of these exhibits not being African in focus, I suspect you are giving the collection points for their entirety.
I feel like the different geographical areas within the Leid Jungle, Desert Dome, etc, are all of equal merit (or derision, depending on which specific enclosures you are focusing on), so I think it is fair to vote as snowleopard did.
To be specific, the beginning portion of Desert Dome is Africa-themed but this is by far the smallest section and takes up less than a third of the exhibit space, Lied Jungle has those few enclosures I mentioned mixed in the middle and is surrounded by a much larger Asian portion and a similarly-sized South American portion, and Kingdom's of the Night has maybe two large mixed African enclosures, a few enclosures for the smaller rodents, and then the bat enclosure. On their own, I'd say none of KotN enclosures are really anything special, whereas at the very least for Lied Jungle and Desert Dome there's an argument to be made about the theming of the section. ~Thylo
I am definitely only judging Omaha on the African exhibits in Lied Jungle, Desert Dome and Kingdoms of the Night...and ignoring the Australian, Asian and South American sections. Omaha is an interesting zoo as there are multiple geographical zones in several areas, and @Coelacanth18 compiled a fantastic list of species. He didn't even include the 'Wild Kingdom Pavilion' near the front of the zoo and with 35 odd species at any given moment there might be a couple of African ones there. The 28-acre, $73 million African Grasslands is a clearly defined zone that is something that I doubt Munich can match. (I'll find out in 2022 when I have tentative plans to head back to Germany and visit the eastern side of the nation).
The Wild Kingdom Pavilion doesn't appear on either of our species list because there are no African animals in there currently ~Thylo
