Thoughts on Poznan Nowe Zoo

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I visited Poznan Nowe Zoo yesterday (6th June 2015) and I spent the whole day from open to close there and I really enjoyed myself. The Zoo is just outside the city the zoo grounds is very large, according to Wikipedia 117 hectares but most of this is not developed into exhibits with areas of natural woodland and several very large lakes.

The collection of species is very extensive in terms of mammals and gallinaceous birds and birds of prey but is lacking on other things (herps, fish and some birds were in the Stare Zoo which is run by the same group and I will post about that zoo - which I visited the next morning - separately).

The nocturnal house is extremely extensive with a large range of species (including three species of bats). The species held were African Brush-tailed Porcupine, Grey Mouse-lemur, Four-toed hedgehog, Senegal Bushbaby, Lesser Mouse-deer mixed with Collared Scops Owl, Arabian Sand Cat, Feathertail Glider, Merriam’s Kangaroo-rat, Fat Sand Rat, Acacia Rat, Cactus Mouse, Kowari (off-show when I visited with enclosure being renovated), Tailless Tenrec mixed with Small-eared Bushbaby, Common Vampire Bat, Lesser Slow Loris, Northern Luzon Cloud Rat mixed with Brush-tailed Bettong, Three-banded Armadillo, Grey-legged Douroucouli, Linne’s Two-toed Sloth, Lesser Spear-nosed Bat, Hairy Armadillo, Kinkajou, Egyptian Fruit-bat.
There were also many odd mixes in the nocturnal house such as Mouse Deer with Scops Owl, Tenrec with bushbaby and Cloud rat with Bettong. I’m also not sure about some of these species being kept all indoors in a nocturnal house (though I believe the sand cats could get outdoors) and although none of the enclosures looked very small they could have been larger for some of the species such as the Bettong which would going round and round in circles on both my visits to the nocturnal house.

The fairly new (2008) elephant Exhibit was very nice looking as were many new and modern looking enclosures around the zoo such as a nice woodland for brown bears and I thought the standards of enclosures around the zoo were fantastic with nothing that I thought ought to be demolished (maybe the seal pool was slightly small).

In the middle of the zoo is an area with small carnivores, birds of prey and a rodent house. This is in very nice area of woodland with a huge range of unusual species. However, I was slightly disappointed that there was no indoor viewing so I had to wait for ages for some things (Siberian Weasel etc.) which came out eventually and even with a lot of waiting some things (Northern Marbled Polecats etc.) didn’t come out.

Overall, the thing I really liked about the zoo was the woodland and nature that it is set in, there are several very large lakes with bird hides looking over them and I saw a few unusual wild species such as hoopoes as well as several amphibian species. These lakes were in quite a large woodland area which you have to walk through for about 2 km to get to the elephants and a few other species and I really enjoyed the walk though there is a train that goes around the zoo included in the entrance price for those who would rather not walk the fairly long way there and back. In the woodland there are also a few enclosures dotted around such as the small carnivores and birds of prey already mentioned as well as wood bison, Japanese macaques, Vicuna and pelicans free on the lakes.

Personally, I am a fan of birds and the only thing holding Poznan Nowe back from being the favourite zoo I’ve visited is the lack of a nice big tropical bird house. I would also have liked there to have been an aquarium and/or herp house though this as largely made up for by the average one at the Stare Zoo. There were however two particularly nice bird species that I was pleased to see which were Razor-billed Curassow and Oriental White-stork.

Just one or two other notes: subspecies were listed on quite a few of the signs and I thought was a nice touch. I was also very pleased to see Bawean deer along with a few other species very rare in Europe.

Overall, this is a fantastic zoo that is really a must-visit in Europe. Sometime (probably this week) when I next have a break from school work I will do a similar thing for the Stare Zoo and also post pictures for both zoos.

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