These are two very lucky zoos. Berlin saw off a challenge from Cabarceno on carnivores, 22-11, that posed plenty of questions about what it means to be a 'good' exhibit. Antwerp was less troubled against Dvur Kralove on birds, winning 22-4. Why are they lucky? Because the topic is ungulates, and they didn't draw it against either Cabarceno or Dvur. Tomorrow: Plzen vs Twycross.
Both: Asian elephant (both have Southeast Asian, Antwerp also has non-subspecific); Java mouse deer; giraffe; okapi; Reeve’s muntjac; Himalayan tahr; red duiker; hippopotamus Antwerp ? Yellow-spotted rock hyrax (if included) Hartmann’s mountain zebra Malayan tapir Balabac mouse deer Mishmi takin; Cape buffalo; eastern bongo Berlin Przewalski’s horse; Grant’s and Grevy’s zebras Baird’s and Brazilian tapirs Eastern black and greater one-horned rhinoceroses Red river hog; Bornean bearded and Negros warty pigs; northern warthog; Sulawesi babirusa Southern white-lipped peccary Guanaco; vicuna Chinese water, Persian fallow, Visayan spotted, white-tailed and Indian swamp deer; Japanese sika: southern pudu; Eurasian forest reindeer Blackbuck; springbok; southern gerenuk; Kirk’s dik-dik; Sichuan takin; Siberian ibex; lowland anoa; Indian gaur; Javan banteng; plains and European bison; forest buffalo; nyala; western sitatunga; greater kudu; common eland; eastern bongo; defassa waterbuck; Kafue lechwe; black sable antelope; gemsbok; scimitar-horned oryx; blesbok; Western pygmy hippopotamus Antwerp has a hyrax, but Berlin has rhinoceroses, pigs and a peccary, as well as a far better collection of deer and bovids. Antwerp was the first continental zoo I visited and I remember it had a nice collection of cattle, but now just has 1 species. An easy win for Berlin.
Gosh, it's so hard to see Antwerp face off against Berlin. It's sad that it would lose, regardless of category, against one of the world's best zoos. Well, if it must be done, it must be done...
I'm a real fan of Antwerp and visit it regulary so I know it quite well. Berlin Zoo I know also quite well by their daily "soap" on TV and from that I have to say also that this is a quite clear win for Berlin.
Indeed mission impossible. Berlin and Antwerp are in many ways very similar zoos, the only problem for Antwerp is that it is 3 times smaller and though it's renovations are more tasteful than in Berlin it just can't compete....
I love Antwerp very dearly but I think @lintworm is basically bang on - they have very similar enclosures for ungulates overall, so it comes down to Berlin having so many more of them. Despite a little more aesthetic imagination at Antwerp (looking forward to seeing the buffalo enclosure for the first time later this year), I don't think husbandry-wise there's anything to choose between them.
