And the category is... birds. Sorry Duisburg, but Baby doesn’t count. I forgot to copy and paste the rules before opening this window and honestly, I can’t be bothered starting again. You guys know it by now, right? Tomorrow: Nuremberg vs Paignton.
Going to have to research this one, Duisburg has its wildcard with Baby and the devils so I was hoping for ungulates or small mammals to be the category...
Funny thing is, that Duisburg is known for a lot of things, but most certainly not for their bird collection. Which is odd, because it actually is quite interesting. For starters the have a pair of monk vultures (socialised with porcupines and marabous) that is famous for nesting and raising their offspring basically next to the walkway. And although Baby seems to somehow not count , the Rio Negro has a couple of very playful toucans. Spread all over the zoo you will find different storchs, flamingos and ducks-ducks-ducks Hornbills live with the giraffes. The avaries on everyones way up to see the Koalas or the newborn wombat are fine and if you walk up the parallel way up to the Koalas and Wobast you pass by this guy who is hilariously posing 24/7 to even more hilariously no avail. The emus had little pompoms again Besides the fact that I am currently shamelessly advocating for Duisburg, I will off course vote for them too. Because yes, if you want to see birds, do visit Duisburg.
They are pinioned Griffion vultures. So they for sure get minus points for still keeping pinioned vultures. Paris has 3 main bird areas, a freeflight aviary, and Guyanan-Malagasy themed tropical house and a large aviary for European bird-of-prey. Paris also has more species and arguably better facilities and no pinioned vultures. This is certainly one of the toughest places to compete in the cup draws, with Duisburg, Vincennes, Paignton, Nurnberg, TP Berlin, Diergaarde Blijdorp, Ouwehands and Leipzig all battling for 1 quarter final position. All-round zoos like Blijdorp, Leipzig, Paignton and Tierpark Berlin versus zoos that have wild cards like Duisburg (Baby & small mammals), Ouwehands (large carnivores), Nurnberg (hoofstock & large carnivores) and Vincennes caught in the middle
urghs you are right :-( does not change my vote though ;-) is there anything wrong with them that escapes me
Surely this has to be Paris. The large African aviary, while the walls are ugly, looks pleasing from the outside, doesn't look that bad from the inside, and is excellent for all inhabitants and visitors. Birds of prey, as lintworm mentioned, are kept a lot better than Duisburg's, and the Madagascar/Guyana tropical house is actually quite wonderful, with a few very nice species. I will give to Duisburg that free-roaming toucans is a nice touch, that you don't see too often.
Both: Greater rhea; marabou stork; waldrapp; Caribbean flamingo; fulvous whistling, northern shoveler and yellow-billed ducks; Hottentot teal; red-crested pochard; western Eurasian griffon vulture; Madagascar turtle dove; southern ground hornbill Paris Vincennes Lesser rheas, southern ostrich Tataupa tinamou Humboldt penguin Abdim’s, marabou and yellow-billed storks, little egret, little bittern, African and Eurasian spoonbills, Madagascar crested,, glossy and scarlet ibises, hamerkop Greater flamingo Brazilian and Bernier’s teals; rosy-billed pochard, Coscoroba swan, Magellan goose Eurasian black vulture, red kite, Egyptian vulture Yellow-knobbed* and great curassows, blue-throated piping-guan, vulturine and helmeted guineafowls Grey-winged trumpeter, grey-crowned and Demoiselle cranes, sunbittern Common redshank, pied avocet, blacksmith and spur-winged lapwings, black-necked stilt Blue-and-yellow, green military, hyacinth and scarlet macaws, Madagascar lovebird, sun conure Speckled pigeon, Violet turaco Blue-bellied roller; trumpeter hornbill Toco toucan Brazilian tanager, white-collared seedeater*, superb starling, blue-backed grassquit, Madagascar fody, cedar waxwing* Duisburg Common emu Jackass penguin Pink-backed pelican Black and European white stork Chilean flamingo Crested screamer; Meller’s, white-faced whistling and Mandarin ducks; South African pochard; common shelduck; Cape teal; common eider Indian peafowl; crested wood partridge Indian sarus and red-crowned cranes; northern and southern kori bustards Sumba lorikeet; yellow-shoulder amazon; Congo grey and Jardine’s parrots; budgerigar Common barn and snowy owls White-browed coucal Mindanao bleeding-heart; pink-necked green, Sclater’s crowned, white-naped pheasant and pink-headed imperial pigeons; emerald, Socorro, black-naped fruit and bar-shouldered doves Village weaver; Emei Shan liocichla; red-billed starling; chestnut-backed ground thrush Paris wins this one based on the variety of its collection.
I was in Duisburg today. Say 50% of what I advocated for re. pro Duisburg is gone - at least for now. So I am changing my vote. Pfft.