Before we begin a huge thank you to @CGSwans for the original idea behind the competition. This wouldn't be possible without your great concept. The rural powerhouse from the North pinned against a true New York giant. An exciting match up to start off once more. And the category is one that both zoos have strengths in, large carnivores. Tigers are treated like royalty at both facilities, so its the other exhibits that will push one place over the other. Large Carnivore examples would include large cats, bears, candids and what ever else you would place as a "large carnivore." The concept behind this poll is explained here: ZooChat Cup Season 2 The rules of the game are as follows: - You may choose whatever criteria you like to decide how to vote as long as it only relates to the chosen category of the match, which in this case is 'large carnivores'. - You can use whatever resources you like to inform your vote, including Zoolex, the ZooChat gallery, trip reviews, zoo maps, books and wherever else. You don't have to have visited both zoos to vote. - Votes are public and can be changed at any time before the poll closes. - The aim of the game is to provoke debate. Post explaining why you voted the way you did, and why others should join you. - The one thing you can't do is vote based on anything other than large carnivores. - Voting closes in four days. Happy voting everyone . Up Next: Oklahoma City vs Fort Worth
Haven't been to Minnesota. But I'll park my vote with Bronx while I wait for somebody to convince me otherwise: those tiger and snow leopard enclosures ensure that.
Not to mention their fantastic Brown Bear enclosure! And the history behind Bronx's Lion enclosure, with it being the first large carnivore enclosure without bars. ~Thylo
I'm voting for the Bronx Zoo because I really like both the size of the collection and the quality of some of the exhibits. On a side note though, Bronx could easily win any category against Minnesota except fish and inverts due to the Bronx Zoo's lack of an aquarium and Minnesota having one.
I'm voting Bronx because of their solid on-show collection of larger carnivores (Lion, two subspecies of tiger, Snow Leopard, Leopard, two subspecies of Brown Bear, African Wild Dog, Spotted Hyena, and California Sea Lion) as well the excellent quality (sometimes award-winning) of most of their enclosures. ~Thylo
I visited Bronx once, in 2009, and have never been to Minnesota. I thought the bear enclosures were one of the weak points of the Bronx zoo when I visited, old-school grottoes all-be-it large old-school grottoes. I have taken a look through the galleries and Minnesota bear enclosures look much better, their other large carnivore enclosures look at least as good as Bronx so I'm tempted to vote Minnesota on account of the out-dated bear grottoes.
Just a quick note. Why are you using the original ZooChat Cup categories? They were changed last time to stop any problems...
Another reason I'm voting Bronx that I forgot to mention is that the admittedly awful Polar Bear grotto is no longer housing any animals. As for the Brown Bear enclosure, I've never understood it being called an old-school grotto. It's very large and naturally vegetated, and the bears have access to the top of the large rock that appears to be the back of the enclosure at first glance. ~Thylo
Yes. Im sticking my vote with Minnesota. While at first glance Bronx seems superior, Minnesota's black and grizzly bear exhibits are superb all around. Not to mention while they may lack lions, painted dogs and snow leopards, they make up for it with excellent exhibits for dholes, leopards, pumas, Hawaiian monk seals and more. In my opinion Minnesota has a more diverse collection of rarer species in exhibits that range from good to brilliant.
So I'm actually going to vote for Minnesota. Russia Grizzly Coast look very awesome, both the bear and the leopards exhibit is good. The tiger exhibit is massive. The dholes live in a great exhibit. While the puma exhibit is not that big, it is still fairly good.Not to forget they have the only Hawaiian Monk Seal for the win. Bronx also have some great exhibit. However, I think Minnesota is better.
Russia Grizzly Coast is also an AZA award exhibit. Bronx have more big cats, and have a hyena but fairly common. Minnesota have Hawaiian Monk Seal(very rare) and dhole(not too common?)
I do agree that Minnesota seems to have some rarer large carnivores, though Bronx is the only holder I know of for Sitka Brown Bears. They also have superb breeding programs for their Snow Leopards (#1 breeder in the US), Lions, and tigers (they breed both subspecies, and Malayan Tiger is very rare in northern zoos). ~Thylo
Ok, so I can discount the polar bears. I'm going on memory when it comes to the brown bears and I remember being disappeared, the enclosure seemed very baron. The lack of photos of the Bronx bear enclosures speaks for it's self, good encloses are well represented in galleries. All that aside, Minnesota's bear enclosure looks good and monk seals seal it.
Now that is a downright silly thing to say impo Aside from that Bronx's bear enclosure is well represented in the galleries: Great Grizzly Bear Exhibit | ZooChat Bronx Zoo- Big Bears- Grizzly Bear Exhibit (in Spring) | ZooChat Bronx Zoo 2011 Brown Bear exhibit renovation | ZooChat ~Thylo
I cannot see how that is an old grotto, definitely seems like a great exhibit to me. I have parked my vote for Bronx as of now.
Not sure what bit you find silly, the comment about a lack of photos? Maybe I should have said unrepresented. Still, thanks for the pictures and yes, it looks better than I remember, a little bare perhaps but is it better than Minnesota?
The implication that, if an enclosure isn't well-represented in the galleries, it's not a good enclosure is what I found silly. Perhaps Minnesota's is better, though personally it's a bit hard to tell from just photos. It certainly seems larger and has a great-looking pool. However, Bronx then has vertical aspects that Minnesota's doesn't. My comments were not to prove which is better, but to point out that Bronx's is in no way, shape, or form an "old-school grotto". ~Thylo
