These two zoos both came through the first round with ease. Zlin dispensed with Rostock on birds, 24 to zip, while Bristol dispatched Zagreb on primates 20 to one... and that one was by accident. This time, though, they're facing off on reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. Remember, voting closes in three days. Tomorrow: Doue-la-Fontaine vs Magdeburg.
Poor Zlin, this is probably its weakest category. It doesn't have an aquarium building, it has 5 pitiful terraria (which will be closed soon) and only a few terraria and aquaria across the zoo: Malawi cichlids in the Elephant house, Cow-nosed ray touch tank and terraria for Poison dart frogs and Caiman lizard + toads in the Yucatan hall. Whereas Bristol has a proper reptile + aquarium building...
I think this round might be one of those where the better zoo loses because of a bad category. I could 'do a Burgers' and vote for the zoo that I think is better generally even though it isn't in that particular category *cough* but I won't .
Out of curiosity, and somewhat off-topic, I'd be interested to hear your reasoning regarding Zlin being a better zoo than Bristol
It's got to be Bristol, exceptional invert collection, a very nicely presented herp collection, and to top it off it has a small but perfectly functional aquarium! This is probably the only category Bristol could win against Zlin.
Bristol definitely wins this - as well as the sheer quantity of the ectotherm collection and the quality exhibits in which they are housed, it should be noted that of the five EAZA studbooks for invertebrates four are held by Bristol (the Lord Howe stick insect, Fregate Island giant beetle, gooty sapphire ornamental tarantula and Desertas wolf spider).
Well I haven't actually visited Bristol as a proper zoo-nerd (I have visited, but when I was younger and interested in wildlife but not zoos particularly) so it may not be a particularly fair comparison. However, Zlin has a fantastic collection of birds in many great exhibits as well as a number of mammal rarities and generally really nice mammal exhibits. The whole zoo is done to a really high standard, it's expansive, it's wide open spaces in parts and has tropical houses and smaller aviaries too, it's got 'theming' and 'immersiveness' for those who want that, rarities for those who want that, and high quality enclosures for those who want that (although there are some enclosures that are probably below standard, especially winter holdings). I just feel like Bristol isn't quite on that scale, although with a visit as a zoo-nerd I might well appreciate it more. For ectotherms however, there's no real contest. Zlin has its ray touch tank, some terrariums in a basement that are definitely below the overall standard of the collection, and a couple of other uninspiring bits and pieces here and there for this category. On the other hand, this is probably Bristol's strongest category (?), especially with invertebrates.
Both: Blue poison dart frog; clown anemone fish; spotted sailfin suckermouth and sucker-mouthed* catfish; Malawi golden and zebra cichlids; foxface; tiger oscar; kissing prochilodus; palette surgeonfish; Desjardin’s sailfin tang Zlin Babcock’s leopard, elongated, brown, yellow-footed and Argentine tortoises; western twist-neck and yellow-spotted river turtles; mata-mata; golden tegu; common green iguana; knight anole; green basilisk; caiman lizard; crocodile monitor; boa constrictor; Malagasy tree boa; Burmese rock python Alpine, Kaiser’s spotted, Kurdistan* and smooth newts; fire salamander; oriental fire-bellied, rococo and marine toads; bicolored and golden poison dart frogs Yellow-belly albert*; Longhorn boxfish; vagabond butterflyfish; spotted sailfin suckermouth catfish; dogtooth, blackbelt, Saulosi*, pantano and cichlids; yellowtail clownfish; elongate mbuna; Valentin’s sharpnose puffer; Oman cownose ray; spotted severum*; white-blotched stingray; palette surgeonfish; yellow tang; bluestreak cleaner wrasse Bristol Egyptian, pancake and Aldabra giant tortoises; Chinese three-striped, yellow marginated, Malayan*, Central Vietnamese flower-back and keeled box turtles; Annam leaf, McCord’s snake-necked, black marsh and pig-nosed turtles; giant Asian and Malaysian giant pond turtles; pond slider; Henkel’s leaf-tailed, common leopard gecko; Standing’s, William’s electric and yellow-headed day geckos; Hispaniolan rhinoceros and Utila spinytail iguanas; common chuckwalla; blue spiny lizard; Mediterranean, pygmy leaf* and panther chameleons; Chinese crocodile lizard; Sudan plated lizard; Leptiens spiny-tailed lizard*; prehensile-tailed skink; Gila monster; blue-spotted and green tree monitors; amethystine and Savu pythons; Cuban and Malagasy tree boas; banded mangrove snake; Aruba Island rattlesnake*; western dwarf crocodile Emperor newt; Yellow-throated* and marsh blue poison dart frog; golden and green mantellas; mountain chicken Pink and spinecheek anemonefish; freshwater angelfish; banded and spotted archerfish; argus fish; clipper*, isok, mad and tinfoil barbs; butterfly peacock bass; belica; ornate bichir; Asian bonytongue; black bullhead*; freshwater butterflyfish; Bangai cardinalfish; grass and common carps; eel, ripsaw, giraffe, Tete sea, blotched upside-down, Orinoco sailfin and sutchi catfish; brown*, purple*, spiny and blue chromis; Pungu*s and Leka Keppe* barombi cichlids; violet*, Cuban*,Livingston’s, redhead, pearl, Kenyi, purple, Madagascar*, Venustus, Princess of Burundi, Duboisi and flier* cichlids tomato clownfish; Caerulean damsel; blue green damselfish; Sind danio*; European eel; Malawi eyebiter; clown featherback; btistle-tail file-fish; European flounder; longnose and alligator gars; common and Chinese zebra gobies; spotted, blue-tailed and rainbow* goodeids; giant and kissing gouramis; butterfly wrestling halfbeak; blacktail humbug; Marlier’s Julie; African knifefish; konye*; banded leporinus; half-banded and clown loaches; West African lungfish; zebra, blue, bluegrey and lavender mbunas; tricolor shark minnow; African moony; stone moroko; Pearse’s mudskipper; Mississippi paddlefish; royal panaque; European perch; White Line pim; broad-nosed and greater pipefish; red piranha; long-spine porcupine fish; Mekong puffer; pumpkinseed; checked pupfish*; razorfish; roach; spotted, short-snouted and pot-bellied seahorses; shanny; Chinese high-fin banded snout; epaulette shark; giant black sharkminnow; silver dollar; tequla and goldbreast splitfins; sterlet; ocellate river stingray; convict, Pacific sailfin and two spot surgeon fish; Haug’s synodontis*; yellow, yellowtail, Atlantic blue and twotone tangs; yellowtail, blind cave and emperor tetras; blackbelly tilapia*; Arabian toothcarp* Bristol wins on practically all levels, except for newts.
