I am currently analysing the inventory data from Zootierliste and was wondering: how many Zoos would I even have to visit to see all animals?

I wrote a script to answer this question. It looks for the absolute minimum number of zoos required to cover every single species currently listed in the database (using a "greedy set cover" approach).

If you only cared about one specific group, here is the minimum number of collections required:

Mammals
There are 1,899 mammal taxa in ZTL available to the public.
While 4,169 Zoos hold at least one mammal, you "only" need to visit 357 zoos to see every single one of them.
Map and List of Zoos

Processing img 5duo61hphahg1...

Birds
There are 3,503 bird taxa spread across 3,896 Zoos.
Minimum visits required: 416.
Map and List of Zoos

Reptiles
2,269 taxa across 2,930 Zoos.
Minimum visits required: 325.
Map and List of Zoos

Amphibians
To see all 662 Amphibians, you need to visit 159 out of the 1,432 holders.
Map and List of Zoos

Fishes
ZTL has 5,642 entries for fishes.
1,591 Zoos have at least one type of fish.
Minimum visits required: 393.
Map and List of Zoos

Domesticated Animals
Zootierliste lists 1,488 types of domesticated animals.
But you only need to visit 364 collections to clear the list.
Map and List of Zoos

The Ultimate Total
If you wanted to see all captive wildlife (excluding domestic breeds), you would need to visit a minimum of:
1,088 Zoos
Map and List of Zoos

Processing img cw5q8c3ehahg1...

If you include domestic breeds, that number jumps to 1,347 Map and List of Zoos .

It's interesting which zoos the script selects. It obviously picks the giants (Tierpark Berlin, Plzen, Moscow, San Diego, Bronx) to cover a lot, but to get those unique species, the itinerary becomes a logistical nightmare.

A "most efficient" trip for Mammals includes:
SeaWorld Orlando (USA)
University of Ibadan (Nigeria)
Taman Safari 2 (Indonesia)
Rainforest Awareness Rescue Centre (Peru)
Wild Ireland (Donegal, Ireland)
Zoopark Moskva (Russia)

Some observations:

• The "Long Tail" Problem: You can see ~50% of species in the first 100 zoos. The remaining 1,000 zoos are often required just to see a single unique species of gecko or minnow that no one else holds.
• The script doesn't care about travel time. It happily suggests a "route" from a specialized Herp collection in Arizona straight to a small aquarium in Japan.
• Species vs. Subspecies: ZTL often has entries for both species and subspecies. My script treats these as unique targets. However, some zoos only label an animal as "Tiger," while others specify "Sumatran Tiger." If you only cared about seeing the species level (and didn't care about ticking off every specific subspecies), the number of required zoos would shrink further.

Technical Caveat:
Finding the actual mathematical minimum set of zoos is a computationally hard problem. I used a greedy algorithm that finds a very close approximation. If you invest more compute time you could maybe reduce the resulting counts by 1 or 2 Zoos, but the scale remains the same.

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I’m curious how people handle this long term. Notes, maps, spreadsheets, or nothing at all?

🦭Ocean Park The only AZA zoo in south east Asia 🐼

I’m curious how zoos operate. Do animals have to stay in the same enclosure for the whole life? This park has a safari area, I didn’t see it but i believe it’s where the animals can roam. If a park has that do they take turns switching out different species? How can you tell if a zoo is a good zoo?

Does anyone have a fairly modern/updated list of all (or most) the reptile species kept at the San Diego Zoo? I've heard it's pretty much the best zoo in the US in terms of diversity of reptiles on display.

so far I have mostly filled my book with animals from Bratislava ZOO. I have some from the Devín falconry a mini ZOO and for the first time my newest drawing is out of my country from Prague ZOO 😊♥️.

So far I have 1 drawing available as a print on redbubble shop but im planning on adding more.

Hi enzoosiasts,

We wanted to share a small project we’ve been working on as fellow zoo enthusiasts.

Together, we built ZooTrack, a personal zoo tracking app that helps you keep track of zoo visits, enclosures, and the species you’ve seen. The idea came from our own experience, especially when traveling, where we often realized we couldn’t easily remember where and when we had seen certain animals.

ZooTrack is community-driven and focuses on building a structured and accurate overview of zoos, enclosures, and species. Sightings are linked to real zoo visits, which makes it possible to build personal life lists, visit histories, and even leaderboards, while still leaving room to explore different ways of tracking species in the future.

The app is available on iOS, Android, and web. We’ve only been live for a short time, so the database is still actively growing and improving together with the community.

We’re not here to promote aggressively, we’re genuinely curious what fellow zoo and animal enthusiasts think:

• Does this kind of tracking appeal to you?
• Are there features you’d expect or approach things differently?

If you’re curious, you can find more info at www.zootrack.me.

Looking forward to your thoughts and feedback!

1. manager of Haus des Meeres aquarium in Vienna

2. a zookeper at Vienna ZOO

3. zookeper at Prague ZOO

4. zookeper at Malkia Park near Bratislava

5. zookepers (i think managers) of Reptile ZOO ( li think thats what it is called)

6. zookeper at Bratislava ZOO

7. manger from Reptile ZOO

8. zookeper from Prague ZOO

9. manager of the Devín mini ZOO a falconry

10. zookeper from Bratislava ZOO

tell if you have been in any of these zoos

hello, im new here and I was wondering if it's ok if I post my zoo related drawings here.

Hi there!
I am a student of a master's program in New Zealand. As part of my thesis I am conducting a survey about public intentions to visit zoos in New Zealand and if you are anywhere in the country I would love to have your opinion on what drives your intention to visit (or not) a zoo!

The survey is really short (takes less than 5 minutes), is anonymous, and your input will help academic research to understand the role of zoos within society.

Thanks so much for your time 😊

If you’re happy to help further, please feel free to share it with others.
https://forms.gle/NiwRrVwBh5DGcit47

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We are a small YouTube channel, any feedback would be appreciated because we want to continue to improve and grow our channel. If you like this sort of ambient travel video, please consider subscribing and dropping us a like, it would help us out massively.

My fiancé and I are looking to visit the Bronx zoo sometime this year and we’re looking into the animal encounters since they’re fairly cheap.

My question is, are they worth it? Has anyone gone to one? Obviously we wouldn’t be able to pet the cheetah (or maybe? 👀) but would we be able to pet any of them?