Two first-round winners go head to head on... primates. The rules: You have three votes to award. If you think it's a tight match, award 2 votes to the stronger zoo and 1 to the weaker one. But if you think it's a wider margin than that, award all 3 votes to the winner. Your criteria for how you make your decision is entirely up to you, *except* that you must stay only within the given category. That includes ignoring the results of the other match: no strategic voting. All votes are public, and all votes can be changed. The purpose of the game is to provoke debate, so make your case for why people should vote the same way as you do. Be open to reconsidering your vote.
From a collection point certainly a strong point of Cologne, with Douc langur, Weddel tamarin, Greater bamboo lemur and Red howler monkey to name a few, but in terms of enclosures a bit less, though there is nothing particularly bad. The Ape house is pretty good, but the Lemur enclosures are quite ugly and just acceptable, the S-American primates are also in boring (temporary) enclosures, nothing very wrong, but certainly not great.
Cologne Zoo has a nice Great Ape House, with a variety of primates in mainly above-average exhibits. Here is what I wrote on my Snowleopard's 2019 Zoo Road Trip: The Great Ape House at Cologne is, for the most part, excellent. Lowland Gorillas are yet again paired with another species in a European zoo (this time it is King Colobus) in a decent outdoor yard that has a peculiar design. A single Red-shanked Douc Langur and a single East Javan Langur were together in an exhibit that is dire, as if they were already extinct creatures of the zoo world. There are Pygmy Marmosets, Weddell’s Tamarins, Lion-tailed Macaques, Bonobos and Bornean Orangutans sitting on the floor in an outdoor habitat with a ton of climbing opportunities. A very good Great Ape House with some rarities, some nice exhibits and with only a few flaws. There are also White-handed Gibbons in the Tropical House, plus a Small Monkey House with these 5 species: Red Howler Monkey, Yellow-breasted Capuchin, Cotton-top Tamarin, Red-handed Tamarin and Red-bellied Tamarin. I didn't enjoy the Madagascar House at all, although there are species there such as Red Ruffed Lemur, Black and White Ruffed Lemur, Greater Bamboo Lemur, Blue-eyed Black Lemur and Goodman’s Mouse Lemur. Finally, the zoo has a mock-rock 'blob' for Hamadryas Baboons, although some primate species will pop up in the currently-closed South American House when it reopens in 2021. Zoo Miami has Ring-tailed Lemur, Black and White Ruffed Lemur, Mongoose Lemur, Black Howler Monkey, Common Squirrel Monkey, Black-handed Spider Monkey, White-cheeked Gibbon, Siamang, Bornean Orangutan, Lowland Gorilla and Chimpanzee. Those should be fairly accurate lists, meaning that Cologne 'wins' the species count by a scoreline of 21-11. Also, the trio of great ape exhibits in Cologne are arguably all better than the trio of great ape exhibits in Miami. The Florida zoo does have nice exhibits for its monkeys and lemurs. I'm voting 2-1 Cologne, as it seems like the logical option, but it is slightly tempting to vote 3-0 for the German zoo as it will easily win this match-up.
