I visited Wilhelma for the first time this week (on a very warm day). It had been on my wishlist for a long time.
I mostly really loved the zoo. The location absolutely helps giving it an unique appearance. The gardens, fountains, buildings and greenhouses are beautiful.
Terra Australis was absolutely wonderful, easily the best Australia section I've seen in a zoo. There was even a queue to get in, but it was only 5-10 minutes so very doable.
The quokka's were a highlight ofcourse. I believe I also saw a koala in an outside enclosure for the first time in an European zoo, despite having visited multiple zoos with outdoor koala enclosures in good weather. The indoor part was beautiful, and the enclosures were all very spacious. The kowari, sugar glider, brushtail possums, bettongs, rufous rat kangaroos, quolls and spinifex hopping mouses were all very active. Too bad they couldnd't get bilbies, but I do hope they'll add echidnas at some point as I believe they were also planned.
Another highlight for me was the fanaloka. I saw them sleeping in their nest box on my first 3 attemps, but they were out on attempt number 4 and one of them was even walking and climbing around.
The SubTropenTerrassen were alright, mostly made unique by the location. The aviaries itself were very standard. Species wise, the kaka is the big draw here, but it was a no-show on all of my multiple attemps.
I also really loved the spectacled bear/markhor/ibex/beaver/snow leopard section, but the cheetahs felt kinda out of place in that area.
The great ape section was lovely. The indoor enclosures had a lot of concrete, but they were not bad. The outdoor enclosures are some of the best I've seen, especially the bigger of the 2 bonobo enclosures. It was a bit disappointing the gorilla's all stayed indoors.
The small mammal and bird house has a great selection of species. The enclosures were mostly decent, although some a little on the small side and a few could use a little bit more cover for the inhabitants.
The Amazon house was great. It was beautifully landscaped with a waterfall as the eye-catcher. There was a good variety of exhibits and species (monkeys, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fishes). I only saw 2 of the free roaming species (a lot of yellow blackbirds and an iguana)
The Free Flight aviaries were also really well done, especially the larger walk-through ones. I had a great time trying to spot as many species as I could. The penguin enclosure was alright. Enough space, but the water was too shallow for the penguins to really dive well.
I also liked the mixed gelada/hyrax/barbary sheep enclosure. The giraffe house and enclosures for bongo's and okapi's were alright.
The old aquarium and terrarium building was quite standard, not great but not bad either. I loved seeing saltwater crocodiles again, it had been a long while.
Ofcourse, Wilhelma being a city zoo, there were also the expected older, outdated parts.
The Malayan tapir enclosure is terribly small, and should not house such large animals.
The rhino enclosure is small, the elephant enclosure is even worse. I believe Wilhelma's elephant enclosure is the second worst one I've seen in Europe (the worst being Liberec)
The big cat enclosures are also old and very subpar. The lion enclosure is perhaps somewhat decent, but the jaguars are kept in small cages.
The spider monkeys are kept on two tiny islands, and the Javan langurs are not much better of with two tiny outdoor glass cages.
Wilhelma is currently working on a new tiger enclosure (no tigers in the collection at this time) and I'm looking forward to seeing this zoo develop further. I really hope to see some chances for the elephants and jaguars at some point.
in benachbarten Gehegen gehalten. Beide sind nicht einmal ein Jahr alt und stammen aus unterschiedlichen Zoos. Jetzt können sie sich erstmal in Ruhe kennenlernen und Interesse aneinander entwickeln. Nio, unser männlicher Serval, kam aus Osnabrück zu uns. Duma, das Weibchen, stammt aus Dvůr Králové in Tschechien und erkundete ihr neues Reich anfangs mutiger und selbstbewusster als ihr männlicher Artgenosse. Sabine Tomas Sabine Tomas @musicfox_royalty_free #wilhelma #meinewilhelma #wilhelmastuttgart #visitstuttgart #enjoystuttgart #visitbawu #0711 #stuttgart #zoo #zoolife #animallovers #beautiful #instagood #nature #serval #servalsofinstagram #servalcat #afrika #botanischergarten #africa #artenschutz #conservation #wildlife #speciesprotection #kesselliebe #stuttgartmeinestadt #predator"
