r/zoos

Firstly, I do not agree with the wild capture of cetaceans, nor their captivate breeding and exploitation for shows, and la-dee-da-dee-da, this is purely from a perspective of park design, animal habitat theming/design, and animal collection.

Chimelong is a Chinese theme park and entertainment group, with lots of their parks having an animal focus. As of July 2026, this includes:

- Chimelong Ocean Kingdom (Zhuhai)

- Chimelong Spaceship Kingdom (Zhuhai)

- Chimelong Birds Park (Guangzhou)

- Chimelong Safari Park (Guangzhou)

-Chimelong Forest Kingdom (Qingyuan)

Each is absolutely mega in terms of size, animal roster, and design. Ocean Kingdom in itself is the world’s largest aquariu, holding whale sharks, manta rays, manatees, walrus, seals, polar bears, grizzly/brown bears, arctic canids, penguins and various species of dolphins, tropical birds, and smaller touchpools throughout. Not to mention, the small (in comparison to other zoos) plot of land also holds these animals with a mountain in the shape of a walrus, more polar-themed mountains, a huge screen tunnel, and some of Asia’s best roller coasters and themed rides.

Chimelong Spaceship Kingdom broke records again, with its massive orca tank, the world’s largest wave pool, holding 15 wild-caught orcas. As mentioned earlier, I do not agree with this, but one could argue they have better space management than any of the SeaWorld parks’ orca tanks. See link [1] for size in comparison to SeaWorld. It also has numerous species of seabirds, dolphins, sharks, manatees, and has a purely insane amount of smaller tanks with more obscure fish. The park itself is the world’s largest indoor theme park, and is known for its spaceship theming and spectacular looks at night!

Chimelong Safari Park and Chimelong Birds Park are a lot more obscure. They are harder for tourists to visi, so not much is known about exact details. Safari Park holds lots of typical species, like elephants, giraffe, zebra, antelope, lions and tigers and their white colour morphs, koalas, wolves, lynx, and china’s special giant pandas. Birds Park is the same in levels of obscurity, but supposedly holds 300+ rare species and 10,000+ individual birds.

Chimelong Forest Kingdom is a copy and paste of Chimelong Safari Park, with added entertainment such as bird shows, bear behaviour shows, safari shows, and rides like their giant lion king ferris wheel and giraffe drop tower thingies.

[1]. https://www.reddit.com/r/orcas/comments/1keagn7/information_and_dimensions_about_the_chimelong/

Caught this guy in full scream-yawn mode at Howletts wildlife park . Those fangs are longer than my fingers. Respect the alpha energy

Photos taken in the Summer of 2026.

Spent some time waiting for this lion to look straight into the lens, and for a brief moment everything lined up. I wanted to capture the intensity in his eyes and the incredible detail in his mane without overprocessing the image. Port Lympne safari park, Kent

Columbus Zoo, Columbus, OH.

Got a great video of the ducks enjoying their pond in the 90 degree weather. I can’t remember all their names, but there are North American Ruddy Ducks which have blue bills and the Lesser Scaup which are the black and white feathered ducks to the right.

Columbus Zoo, Columbus, OH

Columbus Zoo, Columbus, OH

After this video he decided to scratch his butt on the door.

Columbus Zoo, Columbus, OH

I recently stumbled upon some US YouTubers showcasing Vantara in India. Founded by Indian billionaire, Anant Ambani. It's on 3,500 acres and tours themselves as rescuers of animals that can't be released in the wild? I did some searching and apparently there is a lot of controversy about how they have acquired animals among other things.

Granted it seems like these US based influencers were invited as some sort of PR campaign. However, this place looks absolutely incredible. The exhibits are amazing and their animal care facilities appear to be about as good as it gets.

What is your opinion on Vantara?

Meerkat and zebra in the Florida summer.
Picture taken June 2026

Since June is National Zoo and Aquarium Month, I think we should have a month-long ZooJune celebration!