Both places duel in a category they both have strengths in, carnivores. The Safari Park has a trio of superb large predator habitats, the incredible Lion Country, the excellent Tiger Trail and the breathtaking Cheetah Run. Coatimundi, ocelots, meerkats, black-footed cats, fennec foxes and bat-eared foxes make up the rest of the collection. Philly's carnivore line up includes Big Cat Falls with lions, tigers, jaguars, amur leopards and cougars in rotational habitats. There is also the brand new just opened Water is Life area with red pandas, giant otters and Canada lynx in functional exhibits. Tomorrow: Memphis vs San Diego
Hmm, interesting matchup! I’ve only visited the Safari Park so I’ll just comment on their enclosures. The three “large cat” enclosures are all very good and definitely SDZSP’s strength in this matchup. I think Lion Camp and Tiger Trail are both superb, although I’m not sure which ones better. I think I’m leaning towards Tiger Trail because of the extra features (Longhouse with viewing, plants from the Tigers native habitat), although both enclosures are well designed, spacious exhibits with brilliant viewing opportunities. The Cheetah exhibit is quite nice, but it’s knowhere near as good as Lion Camp or Tiger Trail. The smaller Carnivores is where it gets a bit more controversial. I found the Meerkat and Coatimundi enclosures to be fine, nothing great nothing bad. The Ocelot and Fennec Fox habitats are good, they won’t blow your mind or anything, but they are above average. Finally to the most disappointing exhibits, which are for Black-Footed Cats and Fennec Foxes. No matter how nice of a species Black-Footed Cats are, it’s hard to deny that their exhibit and the Fennec Fox exhibit, is bad. An all indoor, small and sterile pen just isn’t up to par in the modern zoo. So who am I voting for? As of now I’m not sure. SDZSP certainly is strong in this category, but I don’t know enough about Philadelphia to place a vote.
Both SDZSP lion and tiger exhibits are one, if not, the best in the nation. The cheetah exhibit is also one of the best in the nation. Philadelphia’s exhibits are okay as well but SDZSP just has better exhibits for lions and tigers. My vote goes to SDZSP.
I disagree about the fact that SDZSP has one of the best Cheetah exhibits in the nation. It is easily outclassed in its own state, by the Cheetah exhibit at the Living Desert Zoo. Other good ones that I saw from a quick scroll through the gallery are: Phoenix, Denver, Safari West, Caldwell, Fresn Chaffee, Brevard, Toronto ( I know this technically doesn’t count, but I might as well add it in) and Dallas. So while I’m not saying the Safari Parks Cheetah exhibit is bad, I’m just pointing out that there are many exhibits that are on par or better than SDZSP’s Cheetah exhibit, therefore not making it one of the best in the nation.
A very tough category but my vote is going towards the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The trio of tiger exhibits and Lion Camp are tremendous and while Philadelphia's Big Cat Falls is very good (in fact arguably the highlight of the zoo in terms of exhibit quality) the big California park is still ahead in this match-up.
I've gone for Philly, they seem to have a better collection and looking through the gallery their carnivores all seem quite well displayed. The new giant otter exhibit seems a bit meh, but compared to some animals at Philly the carnivores seem to be in decent enclosures. SDWAP has some really spectacular enclosures but unfortunately the diversity isn't as high, no bears for a start...
It is also worth noting that Philly is a pioneer in terms of husbandry due to their Zoo360 trails. These trails allow multiple taxa of cats to rotate multiple times daily, leading a highly enriched lifestyle with good breeding results.
Didn't Philly also pioneer the Giant Otter breeding program in America? They also keep the more interesting Red Panda subspecies and known-subspecies coati, whereas SDZSP lists their N. nasua as mountain-coati... Does SDZSP have Ocelot? I never saw any nor do I recall an enclosure for me. ~Thylo
Totally unforgivable! They're in Condor Ridge, the old black-footed ferret enclosure. Well they were last I heard. And that's coming from someone on the other side of the Atlantic, who's never even been to the USA!
San Diego also has bat-eared foxes in public view and dholes outside of public view. It’s also worth mentioning they have meerkats but I know they have a lot of hate from the zoochat community but it’s worth a mention since we’re talking about carnivores.
That explains it then. The entirety of Condor Ridge bar the Bighorn Sheep and condors themselves were off-exhibit due to construction of the new Australian area. ~Thylo
Going purely by memory alone, I think they’re in the opening set of exhibits in Condor Ridge. I never did see them as these exhibits were closed due to Walkabout Australia construction. Edit: just saw that Brum posted the exact same thing. What a quick mongoose he is
