Berlin Tierpark Tierpark Berlin News 2024

[markmeier]

Still, the expectation is that it will only be finished by 2025 right?

They gave different dates in the past. But they did not communicate any official date or schedule for many months now. And they didn't give a date this time either. But there has been some internal communication with Berlin's senate which even suggests it will likely be 2026.

To be completely honest, I expected things to be far, far worse than what they look like now. If they really manage to put up the new roof this Spring, they will mainly have to deal with technical infrastructure and of course some modelling work (if that is the correct term). Then, 2026 should actually be quite realistic. I don't know, if they could also do it more quickly. We have to remember that they had some serious trouble with the hired companies.

 

[Fallax]

I didn't realise they had honey badgers, didn't see them when I visited. Were they kept in the old elephant house? Happy that progress is going well and nice to hear about tiger cubs too.

 

[cerperal]

I didn't realise they had honey badgers, didn't see them when I visited. Were they kept in the old elephant house? Happy that progress is going well and nice to hear about tiger cubs too.

They were previously kept in the Pachyderm house* and since the demolition of that have been kept in a small cage nearby to the reindeer, just past the ABH. They're quite easy to miss

*Apparently this isn't true. The rest is though.

 

[markmeier]

The honey badgers live in a small deadend right between farm animals/ reindeers and Brehm building. I can't remember, If they have ever been kept somewhere else.

As I never really liked the structure of the old elephant building, I am very much intrigued to learn more about the final design of the new one.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

They were previously kept in the Pachyderm house and since the demolition of that have been kept in a small cage nearby to the reindeer, just past the ABH. They're quite easy to miss

To the best of my knowledge they have been in their current location for at least a decade (already being there in 2014) and have never been held in the pachyderm house - let alone immediately before it's closure and demolition.

 

[markmeier]

To the best of my knowledge they have been in their current location for at least a decade (already being there in 2014) and have never been held in the pachyderm house - let alone immediately before it's closure and demolition.

That is also how I remember it. The pachydermy building had quite a number of smallish mammals that came and went, however. So it is quite easy to mix things up.

 

[cerperal]

To the best of my knowledge they have been in their current location for at least a decade (already being there in 2014) and have never been held in the pachyderm house - let alone immediately before it's closure and demolition.

My mistake - I was told a few years ago otherwise and assumed it was probably true given the fairly dreadful enclosure they are in now. I shall amend my original comment.

 

[Kalaw]

Fi-nal-ly, there is an official update on the elephant building which includes some really interesting news and pictures. I'll just drop it for now. But this really made my day!


Source: Wer zieht in das Elefantenhaus?
Translated with DeepL.com (free version) / small modifications by myself

Does anyone have the exact measurements for the elephant's space (not the overall house), as I would be very curious to see how much of this enormous house is actually devoted to them. I assume that 'Europe's largest elephant house' refers to the house as a whole, but it would be incredible if it is bigger than the almost half-a-hectare space offered at Zurich!

 

[markmeier]

Does anyone have the exact measurements for the elephant's space (not the overall house), as I would be very curious to see how much of this enormous house is actually devoted to them. I assume that 'Europe's largest elephant house' refers to the house as a whole, but it would be incredible if it is bigger than the almost half-a-hectare space offered at Zurich!

Somebody noted down the following measures for the inside enclosures:
walking area main group: 1,053 m²
walking area bull group: 644.5 m²
8 smaller enclosures/ boxes behind the scenes: 1x288.5 m², 3x150 m², 1x96.5 m², 1x81.5 m², 1x76.5cm², 1x68 m². So this would put their total inside area roughly around 2,700 m².

 

[Kalaw]

Somebody noted down the following measures for the inside enclosures:
walking area main group: 1,053 m²
walking area bull group: 644.5 m²
8 smaller enclosures/ boxes behind the scenes: 1x288.5 m², 3x150 m², 1x96.5 m², 1x81.5 m², 1x76.5cm², 1x68 m². So this would put their total inside area roughly around 2,700 m².

That is indeed remarkable and obviously an enormous upgrade on their previous space. Not quite as big as Zürich or Köln but surely the third largest elephant house in Europe. Having not been to the Tierpark or knowing much about the new House, I wonder if the eight stall-like enclosures you allude to will be the original enclosures reused, as from images they seem to match that description.

 

[amur leopard]

That is indeed remarkable and obviously an enormous upgrade on their previous space. Not quite as big as Zürich or Köln but surely the third largest elephant house in Europe. Having not been to the Tierpark or knowing much about the new House, I wonder if the eight stall-like enclosures you allude to will be the original enclosures reused, as from images they seem to match that description.

but it would be incredible if it is bigger than the almost half-a-hectare space offered at Zurich!

Made me think a bit so had a little look - looking at the area of Zurich's indoors that is actually accessible to the elephants (using e.g. this map or the actual drawings from the architect) it's between 2200 and 2500 sqm. Haven't checked Koeln but I'd expect it to be in a similar sort of range. So the claim that it is the largest elephant house appears to be true, in both respects. Others might get different measurements though?

Both of those mentioned are of course phenomenal and world class elephant indoor exhibits in more respects than their size - hopefully the Tierpark's will be similarly brilliant. Out of interest are there any elephant houses across the pond or elsewhere that are comparable/better?

 

[Cat-Man]

Made me think a bit so had a little look - looking at the area of Zurich's indoors that is actually accessible to the elephants (using e.g. this map or the actual drawings from the architect) it's between 2200 and 2500 sqm. Haven't checked Koeln but I'd expect it to be in a similar sort of range. So the claim that it is the largest elephant house appears to be true, in both respects. Others might get different measurements though?

Both of those mentioned are of course phenomenal and world class elephant indoor exhibits in more respects than their size - hopefully the Tierpark's will be similarly brilliant. Out of interest are there any elephant houses across the pond or elsewhere that are comparable/better?

The Smithsonian has a reasonably impressive elephant house but nothing on the scale of Zurich, Cologne or Copenhagen. I believe this was primarily a renovation of the existing pachyderm house rather than built from scratch but I’m not 100% sure.

LA and San Diego do not have houses of the size of the aforementioned collections, and either cannot of can only partially be seen inside. But it’s impossible to compare because the elephants can be outside 365 days if the year! I’m not sure what the housing of other Sun belt zoos are like.

The bronx housing is relatively basic from my understanding. It’s really only relevant to compare to the collections in the north of the US, many of which have given up their elephants in recent years due to the cost of constructing modern housing. Im struggling to think of zoos in the region beyond Bronx & Columbus which still have elephants. Anybody have any examples to hand and know what their housing is like?

 

[Jurek7]

Łódź zoo Orientarium claims to be the biggest indoor area for elephants worldwide. Anybody knows the area?

 

[Jana]

Out of interest are there any elephant houses across the pond or elsewhere that are comparable/better?

If we talk about elephant house size - Zlin´s house has 3600 m2 (I had seen also 3700 m2 quoted somewhere). But I´m unsure how much is used as keepers and storage rooms. By using online maps I would guess elephants can use circa 3000 m2 of it?

 

[Kalaw]

Made me think a bit so had a little look - looking at the area of Zurich's indoors that is actually accessible to the elephants (using e.g. this map or the actual drawings from the architect) it's between 2200 and 2500 sqm. Haven't checked Koeln but I'd expect it to be in a similar sort of range. So the claim that it is the largest elephant house appears to be true, in both respects. Others might get different measurements though

Using a similar method to what I assume you use (that being a google maps area tool over an area that roughly corresponds to what is shown on the map?) you appear to be right, although you don't seem to have included the area for the bull which is roughly 700-800 square metres for a total of 2900 - 3300, which seems most fair seeing as the measurements for Tierpark combined both indoor areas and the night stalls, which Zurich may even have offshow as well which would bring their total up even higher.

Łódź zoo Orientarium claims to be the biggest indoor area for elephants worldwide. Anybody knows the area?

According to the zoo's website, it is 2,000 square metres not including the pool which from images would maybe add another 200 or so - a phenomenal space but certainly not the biggest in Europe as they claim to be, more comparable to Blackpool in terms of area than Zurich or Koln. Although far from the entirety of it is devoted to elephants, the Orientarium is around 16,700 square metres, which may be what the various online sources that claim it to be the largest house in Europe are referring to?

 

[markmeier]

This is all the data I am aware of (but some of this* may be open for interpretation):

- Overall size of the building: 7,000m² (or 0.7 hectares / 70 acres)
- *Combined floor size of the elephant area: a bit more than 3,500 m² (this is what the internal documents for the companies stated in the written text so this should be accurate)
- but effective "walking area" rather "close to 3,000 m²" (the given measures in the attached plans for said companies actually add up to something up from 2,700m²), possibly with some additional spaces reachable by the elephants' trunks (safety zone of the pool, holes/small caves in the enrichment structures) but also some "dead" areas like plant zones, structring rocks or possibly even walls
- The transparent roof alone covers 3,500m² but it probably covers some none-elephant-zones while it likely wouldn't cover some of the elephant area behind the scenes as far as I (so I am not sure, how helpful it really is as a rough orientation).

- The three outside areas make up 4.835, 4.033 and 3.538 m² respectively.

So you can assume, there at least up from 2,700m² (0,27 hectares/ 27 acres) and at most up from 3,500 m² indoor area and just slightly above 12,400 m² outside area. The claim "biggest elephant house" of Europe may refer to the entire 7,000 m² as the building is now mainly designated to the elephants and the needed structures/ infrastructure, whereas other animals and visitors only receive small chunks by comparison.

You may get a bit of a better idea, if you enlarge the picture in this older press release:
Gut Ding will Weile haben – Zoo Berlin (tierpark-berlin.de):

Image: Tierpark Berlin

And you can also get some aerial views, if you enter "Dickhäuterhaus Berlin" or "Tierpark Berlin" (without the problem with the "Umlaut") on this page:
Dickhäuterhaus Berlin - Luftaufnahmen (luftbildsuche.de)
There are actually some interesting updates with snow from last November which might help get a good impression.

To cut a long story short, the elephants will get plenty of inside and outside space as well as plenty of structures for enrichment and medical treatment etc without any direct contact. It's another question, if it really fulfils the double claim "largest elephant house in Europe" and "most modern elephant house in Europe". However, it most certainly will be among the best, largest (and most expensive) elephant buildings in Europe...

 

[GiratinaIsGod]

Nothing says Berlin more than missmanged mega projects that costs and take far longer than planed

 

[markmeier]

So what would you have done with this building? It already was/is massive to start with but it also had a very bad layout for still keeping elephants in the future. In particular, the pillars and the roof were a major problem and also an interlinked with each other. Complete demolition would have been really expensive and time-consuming as well (not to speak of the ecological aspect). The rest mainly comes down to EU legislation, bad companies (in one case even just one single company) to pick from and inflation.

I can see, where this delay is frustrating (and I don't even want to think about what they could have done with that money in the park). But I don't really see major mistakes like with the notorious airport project.

By the way: Both Himalaya and Savannah (each huge and including some minor buildings) were realized in time and below budget. They also renovated the monkey building, the giraffe building, both of the main restaurants and all of the toilets. But Brehm building and also the old pachydermy building are really complicated cases. The former was a listed building as well.

 

[markmeier]

By the way, the Tierpark implemented a new system for ticket prizing.

In short, you can save money (even pay less then before), IF you can plan ahead and book your tickets online long in advance. At the moment, you can get tickets starting from 14 Euro (14,50 including conservation support - but you can remove this). So far, you had to pay around 17 or 18 Euro (it was 18,50 at the entrance, but I think online tickets were a bit cheaper).

On the other hand, you may not want to be tickets at the counter on the day of your visit any longer. You will pay 22,50 for it. If you book online with short notice, the price may also go up to around 20 Euro or more. They now have an algorithm which charges more depending on how many tickets already got sold for a specific day.

The idea behind this is to spread visitors a bit more evenly / reduce lines and crowds or at least set enticements for less frequented days. As you will have noticed, the difference between 14,00/14,50 and 22,50 is quite large. The former is among the cheapest prices you will find at a major German zoo, whereas the latter is among the more expensive ones (there are still higher prices at some places, though).

 

[OkapiJohn]

By the way, the Tierpark implemented a new system for ticket prizing.

In short, you can save money (even pay less then before), IF you can plan ahead and book your tickets online long in advance. At the moment, you can get tickets starting from 14 Euro (14,50 including conservation support - but you can remove this). So far, you had to pay around 17 or 18 Euro (it was 18,50 at the entrance, but I think online tickets were a bit cheaper).

On the other hand, you may not want to be tickets at the counter on the day of your visit any longer. You will pay 22,50 for it. If you book online with short notice, the price may also go up to around 20 Euro or more. They now have an algorithm which charges more depending on how many tickets already got sold for a specific day.

The idea behind this is to spread visitors a bit more evenly / reduce lines and crowds or at least set enticements for less frequented days. As you will have noticed, the difference between 14,00/14,50 and 22,50 is quite large. The former is among the cheapest prices you will find at a major German zoo, whereas the latter is among the more expensive ones (there are still higher prices at some places, though).

Does the park get really that crowded? I already visited in August and September during weekends and weekdays and it always looked very quiet to me.