Sorry if this has already been discussed before but why not design a thread which is a species list for each zoo. It would allow us to create much more accurate and up to date species lists for zoos not only in Europe but across the globe. Furthermore, with far more visitors and a media section which could be used for clarification of species Zoochat could become a very reliable resource when looking up species. Again sorry if this has already been suggested. I know it could be hard to incorporate but even if it was just a pinned thread under each zoo category. Both people visiting and checking the zoo websites could help by listing off species seen on trips etc. Just an idea but could be an interesting and useful resource here on zoochat. I'm curious to know if this had ever come up in discussion before/been trialled/tested? Would be a nice feature to see.
People have posted species lists for a couple of zoos, including the mighty San Diego (which is no small task). The problem with doing it for a large number of zoos is that zoo collections change rapidly. Unless someone is willing to update their local zoo list on a monthly basis, it would quickly become inaccurate. Also there are many zoos which do not have a local resident active on ZooChat. Of course there would be huge interest, so I am all for the idea if someone can figure out how to make it work.
Or maybe there could be a list similar to the old International Species System (now replaced by the inaccessible ZIMS). Instead of a zoo by zoo listing, create a master species list with all the holding zoos under each species? This would still be a monumental task and I doubt anyone on a volunteer site like this has the time.
Zootierliste basically is exactly that already. The administrators and editors on Zootierliste are pretty much all from Zoochat or from other European zoo forums. Trying to duplicate what already exists is pointless. Americans do need their own version of Zootierliste though. It has been mentioned a few times here and there. It would be difficult to do, because most American zoo-fans don't seem to travel around in the same way that European zoo-fans do. The reason it works in Europe is, to a large extent, because there are so many zoo-fanatics in Europe and they can keep a zoo list fairly updated. An American one would have a few well-visited zoos and then lots of very rarely visited zoos. To make it work it needs to be comprehensive, not slap-dash. It would be possible, but (as with Zootierliste) you'd need someone behind it who was focussed enough to make it happen and had the drive to keep it running.
Oh, hey, don't the zoos themselves have some sort of online database of species holdings? Wouldn't it be great if that were publicly-available?
Well, as soon as somebody wants to do American or Asian zootierliste, there is no reason not to. A simple label when the zoo information was last updated would solve the fear of inconsistencies. And maybe spur Zoochatters or the zoo people themselves to update it! PS. It would be good if zootierliste had the label when the zoo was last visited. I recently was in one rather big zoo and was surprised how many discrepancies were there - including one very high-profile mammal.
That is what I referred to as International Species Information System, which was publicly available. It was replaced (I think) with ZIMS, which is only available to persons who work at zoos.
I think it’d be cool if everyone picked a zoo and update it as much as possible, but I think it’d have to somehow be locked to others who aren’t updating it. I’d be willing to do the Columbus Zoo I’ll be going there soon and I visit quite often now that I’ve moved.
