And off we go with the second round’s marquee group. The topic? Australia and Islands. I’ve been looking forward to this one from the moment I did the draw. Quick reminder for those that haven’t read it that I shared some thoughts about how to approach the geographic categories here: ZooChat Cup - rebooted
Zurich has what is technically seen one of the best "enclosures" in the world with the Masoala hall, a completely Madagascar focused 1.1 hectare rainforest. It is to me most certainly the most impressive rainforest exhibit that I have seen. In addition they have a good, but uninspiring Australia section and the Exotarium has some good enclosures for island reptiles and a just average King penguin enclosure. San Diego will have a longer species list, but it would need more than that to beat Zurich here.
This match isn't about who's going to win, but by how much? I'm going to refrain from voting for now before I decide whether to award Zurich three points or just the two.
This is really a tough one… Masoala hall is for sure amazing - especially with its exclusive focus on Madagascar - even if I was a bit suprised / sad that there are not so many animals in there (e.g. only 5 species of mammal). In addition they have been investing millions to support the real Masoala region. The rest of the 'Island category' at Zürich is small and good but not really spectecular. San Diego has - as stated before - a bigger list of species with most of them in good to very good enclosures (except of the aye aye) and without any doubt a lot of breeding success (e.g. when thinking about Koalas where they have maybe 15 or more and despite the not so nice enclosure they just had a baby aye aye some weeks ago). They also have several very rare animals like tasmanian devils, coquerel sifaka, fossa, or aye aye and an almost endless list of birds. Last but not least the conservation and environmental savings efforts of San Diego Zoo as non-Profit organization are for sure among the best in the world. So I'm not yet decided whether I should rank Masoala hall above all San Diego has to offer or vice versa...
On a brief note: Zurich also have the only breeding group of Galapagos tortoise in Europe, as well as afaik the only perentie in Europe.
Here are some enclosure pictures from Zurich, made by @Arizona Docent , @antonmuster , @lintworm , @Maguari Australia house interior Australia house, one of 2 perentie enclosures Skink terrarium Koala indoor Australia house from outside Perentie outdoor enclosure Red-necked wallaby & Emu walkthrough Masoala hall One of two terraria in the exhibition area Treetop view Pathway Pathway View from restaurant Red-ruffed lemur in Masoala Exotarium King penguin Australian terrarium Galapagos tortoise Indoors Outdoors
Looks to be a pretty easy win for Zurich imo. San Diego's Australia section isn't bad, but I personally don't like it. Most of their Australasian species were moved off-exhibit for their Koala complex, which is fine but also becomes a bit repetitive. I think the wombats are now gone? If so, the two(?) Tasmanian Devil enclosures are fine, but probably the smallest I've seen for the species. The Australian aviaries are bizarrely shaped, which results in it being extremely difficult to actually see the birds at several point because the mesh is at an angle to the path. SDZ's Aye-Aye enclosure is probably the worst Aye-Aye enclosure in a western zoo. I believe the other Madagascar species all have good enclosures, though. SDZ has a good giant tortoise complex, though Zurich's looks to be better, especially since SDZ's only has dirt as a substrate. I think the best thing SDZ has going for them is probably their island bird collection. Papuan Mountain-Pigeon, Tongan Scrubfowl, and breeding Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise are definitely note-worthy and for that I'll give the zoo one point. I really don't see any arguments for why SDZ deserves the win here, though. ~Thylo
I think @lintworm's images give a nice overview of the three main 'islands' areas at Zurich, Galapagos, Australia, and Madagascar (arguable THE three examples of unique 'island' ecologies in the framing of CGSwans), plus some bits and pieces in the Exotarium. I do feel however, that the sheer beauty and 'naturalness' of Masoala warrants additional emphasis:
Looking at it, and thinking about this, is this really worse than the indoor exhibits at London, Bristol and Frankfurt?
I'm not sure on London's but I remember Bristol's enclosure as being taller and longer than SDZ's, not to mention this enclosure is completely metal/concrete and placed in direct sunlight in San Diego with absolutely no vegetation or shade cover (other than the metal roof). ~Thylo
Unfortunately didn't have time to make a case for the imo excellent education at Zurich in all three of Masoala, Australia, and Galapagos. Zurich has excellent education throughout, but these three areas are arguably amongst the best in the zoo in this respect. Masoala focusses on deforestation, reforestation, rainforest ecology, and human-forest conflict. Australia focusses on invasive specias and marsupials/monotremes. Galapagos focusses on evolution with beautiful materials. Invasive Arten | Zoo Zürich Evolution | Zoo Zürich Masoala Regenwald | Zoo Zürich The educational displays which exhibit 'islands' topics in an excellent manner led me to vote 3-0 over Sand Diego, which didn't offer anything truly memorable in this category on my last visit. I would have loved to see a more detailed case made for San Diego. As it stands, it's difficult for me to understand the 2-1 votes for San Diego.
San Diego has a larger collection than Zurich, in mostly good exhibits. I don't think San Diego deserved the win, but I understand why people would vote 2-1 for San Diego.
