Berlin Tierpark Tierpark Berlin news 2023

Tierpark unveils Savannah Exhibit and Giraffe Trail
A day before the official opening for the public, the park presented their large new Savannah complex to the press - and also had two small surprises.

But let's with a list and some pictures of the new residents:

Giraffe Exhibit:
(until 2025, separated from the larger Savannah by the building site of the new elephant complex)
- 9 Rothschild's Giraffes (there is a daily public feeding/keeper's talk at 12:30)
- 11 Great White Pelikans
- 2 Marabou Storks

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Pictures: Tierpark Berlin

Savannah Exhibit:
- 9 Grévy's Zebras
- 6(!) White-Bearded Wildebeests
- 10 Thomson's Gazelles
- 4 East African Oryx
- 3 North African Ostriches

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Pictures: Tierpark Berlin

Extra Exhibit:
- 4 Hartmann's Mountain Zebras


After these two cute surprises, I also came across another surprise: The Tierpark published a small update about the Elephant Building (it's not much but it gives some new impressions):
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Picture: Tierpark Berlin

Apart from that, they officially confirmed the park has been crowded on numerous occasions throughout the last weeks and months, repeatedly reaching up to more than 17,000 visitors.

And here is a small promotion film on the new exhibits:
 
This looks amazing! Do we know of the long term plans are to mix the giraffe with the other savannah species? Or will any of the savannah species have access to the new elephant area when finished?
 
This looks amazing! Do we know of the long term plans are to mix the giraffe with the other savannah species? Or will any of the savannah species have access to the new elephant area when finished?

Both! The giraffe exhibit and the Savannah exhibit will be merged
AND by then all animals except for the giraffes also can access at least one of the elephant exhibits (at least for as far as I understood). So the whole complex will become still more amazing at that stage. It should easily beat any other Savannah complex when it comes to German zoos.
 
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Oh, before I forget.

I just came across the happy news that Berlin Tierpark received at least one more Philippine Mouse Deer. So they have at least two of them in the tropical hall of the Brehm Building now (not sure, if they intend to breed them but it quite sounds like it).

And I did really see a golden cat today (the male one).
 
I recall I went here in the summer of 2022 and enjoyed it very much - and I hadn't even seen the entire zoo!
I have found it quite captivating to see just how much has changed since my visit.
 
Really exciting times for the Tierpark. Berlin continuing to stake its claim as the zoological capital of the world.

At the same time the non-mammal collection has gone downhill at a breathtaking pace in the Tierpark, just because the current director isn't really interested, so depends on the view you take. And with the developments in Singapore there is some serious competition ;)
 
Both! The giraffe exhibit and the Savannah exhibit will be merged
AND by then all animals except for the giraffes also can access at least one of the elephant exhibits (at least for as far as I understood). So the whole complex will become still more amazing at that stage. It should easily beat any other Savannah complex when it comes to German zoos.

Will the African buffalo's in the future also get a new exhibit near the new savannah zone ?
 
Sorry, the days were quite busy, so it took a bit longer. On the other hand, I had some more time to process the many impressions as well as share some with other German web forum users who traveled without children and thus could focus completely on exploring everything. To make it more structured, I'll go from exhibit to exhibit.

1) Savannah:
An absolute dream, both in terms of the actual animal complex and the visitor section. It's huge, so you walk around it for quite a while. As you walk and stop, you can get a very good view of the enclosure at various points, but you only ever see parts of it. With a bit of patience however, I was able to see all the species from a single vantage point and it even looks much more realistic when animals leave or enter the scene from time to time. As with Himalaya, they did a great job to make you feel immersed in an actual habitat (I think due to being one very large exhibit, it even still surpasses Himalaya in this respect). You hardly notice any infrastructure any more and there is a good mix between patience/searching and spotting the animals (I guess, you could call it Safari light).
By the way, the ostriches were mostly with the zebras, while Thomson's gazelles and oryxes already seem to get along very well (the latter two species were almost as frequent and close to each other as to their own kind - an oryx and a gazelle even lay right next to each other for a very long time. The wildebeest with their two young calves, on the other hand, did not visibly seek proximity or distance from the rest and were more focused on themselves. All in all, everything seemed completely harmonious, without any intra-species or inter-species conflicts.
For some reason, the whole experience reminded me a whole lot of my aquarium days, when I had set up community tanks and could then observe the interaction of the different fish. It was even similarly meditative. Not only did the Tierpark do a great job with the layout/design, but the group composition/socialisation also seems to work out really, really well (I was a bit worried they may have some issues like in other zoos, particularly as the complex is so new and the wildebeest already have offspring, while one oryx looks like they'll start soon, too).

What surprised me here:
- While I loved the whole thing and each of the species (I feel they totally fit together), but somehow I completely fell in love with the pretty Thomson's gazelles. Amazing little animals, especially in such a large group!
- The visitor's area is much more complex and diverse than I had expected. Children will love it (my children definitely did). You can sit/climb on large rocks. You can walk through bushes and be surprised by loud lion roars. You can cross a bridge and hear hyenas shout/cry. Apparently, you can also feel the earth vibrate and hear the thundering hooves of the wildebeest (didn't come across this, though).
- AND, they even completed the parts that face the building site of the elephant complex (including benches etc.). So now, you can sit down comfortably and get quite a good impression rather than peeking through small gaps between fences etc. They are quite confident and upfront about the whole situation as well. There are signs that explain good things sometimes take time, so why not watch the process of growing and perfecting. This approach is completely new and I wish they had embraced it much earlier with other building sites as well. It triggered my anticipation a whole lot.

2) Giraffe Trail/ Boardwalk:
Speaking of anticipation: I always considered the giraffe exhibit to be quite large. Coming from the Savannah complex, however, their enclosure now appears strangely dwarfed (the fences towards the access of the construction site of the elephants don't make it better (I guess they want to avoid stressing the giraffes, so they put up tarpaulins as well). Having said so, it is still a spacious enclosure on a closer look, and they put in more structure as well. But I just can't wait to experience both enclosures combined (spotting an ostrich far in the distance let this desire grow even more) not to speak of new panorama views with the elephants then.
Due to time/other priorities of my company, I haven't visited the Discovery Camp. But we crossed the giraffe trail, and I think it's well done. For now, the giraffes don't come right up to the visitors, not even during the Keeper's Talk. The keeper explained, this may still take a few weeks or even months. But the view was impressive even so. The pelicans and marabou storks also fit in well.

I need to take a short break, but this was the main part anyways.
If you are registered on "Zoofreunde Forum", you can take the time and have a look at the new thread on the complex which gives some more pictures complementing my text (and if not, quickly registering won't hurt, there aren't even any ads/tracking etc): Zoofreunde Board
 
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