Is one zoo commonly accepted as the best in the world? What makes it outshine its counterparts. What are some other great zoos? I was recently at the Ashboro zoo and they had the Savannah animals in for the winter (elephants and rhinos among others)? Is this an every-year thing or were they just renovating this year?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: AP can’t find that there is any acknowledged “best” zoo. Each will have its own specialties (hopefully related to the city’s climate), and there is more than one way to measure quality. According to one website (rankings unconfirmed), the top “animal collection” based on “the number of species and population” (whatever they mean by that) is the Berlin Zoo.
http://www.carousel-press.com/zoo.html
The three in the USA listed in the top ten are Bronx (among 3 tied at #2), San Diego (also tied at #2), and San Antonio (among 6 tied at #5). This is from *The Zoo Book* by Allen W. Nyhuis, available in the Durham County Library, NC State, or via Perkins’ Interlibrary Loan Dept. Specialized exhibits are another facet by which to measure zoos, although this can hardly lead to rankings.
At zoos with cool or cold winters, it’s common practice to shelter warm climate animals during the winter. Inadequacy of such shelter can lead to controversy, such as the elephant in Anchorage who must be cooped up all winter (and that’s long!). Detroit recently relocated their elephants to other zoos. Likewise, Phoenix doesn’t have polar bears, although AP has seen some pretty miserable looking shaggy animals in southern climes.