Berlin Tierpark Tierpark Berlin News 2025

markmeier

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Well, the 2024 thread sure was fun. Another eventful year came and went (I don't remember a year in which the thread had more more posts). The park also published a video where you can see some of the new species, births and other developments.

Unfortunately, as with other cherished traditions they stopped giving an outlook on the upcoming year some time ago. So I guess we will have to do this on our own:

New species/exhibits:
- Presumably very soon, the Tierpark is going to unveil their first nocturnal exhibit and they are actually going to fill it with some rather spectacular animals: Aye Aye. Perhaps they will share their exhibit with Malagasy Giant Jumping Rats (Votsovotsas) or other species (perhaps some birds).
- I would also expect them to start redeveloping the water buffalo exhibit for Bantengs and Burmese Brow-Antlered Deer. This is long overdue.
- Hopefully, we will see some major progress with the Elephant Building. Now the new roof is up, they shouldn't have any serious obstacles any more and everything seemed to pick up speed. Normally, they should be able to get most of it completed this year. And I am looking forward to getting updated aerial views soon (there is a page which gives occasional updates of this and many other projects and it's almost been 4 months now).
- I also expect there will be some news on the rhino project soon. But I doubt they will start it before spring or even summer now.
- Of course there likely will be some unannounced small projects and unexpected new arrivals. At least this is what usually happens each year...
- Last but not least, 2025 will mark the 70th anniversary of the park. I do hope there will be some publications and may be some more communication and information than in regular years.

I am looking forward to this year and filling this thread again together. Have a happy and blessed new year.
 
As always I’m looking forward to seeing what develops at this amazing zoo! Do we know what will happen to the water buffalo when the Banteng arrive?
 
As always I’m looking forward to seeing what develops at this amazing zoo! Do we know what will happen to the water buffalo when the Banteng arrive?

There used to be plans to keep them close to the monkey building (back then they planned with orangs and gibbons, though). Now I would assume they either give them up or they may be implemented in the farm area. As they want(ed) to have farm animals from all over the world there, this would actually make some sense.
 
Yes that would make great sense, it would a shame to go out of the species when they do so well with them.
And it's quite the unique breed! It's not a common sight to see kerabau-like water buffaloes in many other European zoos. I was really happy to see them at the Tierpark despite the fact I have seen water buffaloes many other times, would be a shame to see them go.
Despite this banteng are also very much welcome.
 
Birth of Elephant foot snails (?) from the genus Tylomelania in the Alfred Brehm house.
Freunde Hauptstadtzoos on Instagram: "Elefantenfußschnecken im @tierparkberlin haben Nachwuchs: Im Alfred-Brehm-Haus vom Tierpark Berlin leben die Elefantenfußschnecken in einem Terrarium. Dort kann gegenwärtig der Nachwuchs bei den Elefantenfußschnecken beobachtet werden. Die attraktiven Schnecken kommen auf der Insel Sulawesi vor, wo ungefähr 50 Arten dieser Schnecken der Gattung Tylomelania aus der Familie Pachychilidae leben. Sie sind Unterwasserbewohner und ernähren sich von abgestorbenen Pflanzenteilen und Algen. Tylomelania gehören zu den getrennt geschlechtlichen lebend gebärenden Schnecken. Nach der Paarung entwickeln sich die Eier im Brutbeutel der weiblichen Tylo zur Jungschnecke heran und werden dann einzeln im Abstand von ein paar Tagen zur Welt gebracht. Manchmal sind die Jungtiere noch in Resten einer weißen Hülle eingeschlossen, die sich im Wasser jedoch schnell auflöst. Die Tiere sind sofort alleine lebensfähig und beginnen gleich nach der Geburt herumzukriechen und zu fressen. Video: Monika Kochhan #elefantenfußschnecke #schnecke #unterwasserschnecke #jungtiere #tylomelania #berlinertiere #alfredbrehmhaus #tierpark #tierparkberlin #berlintierpark #berlinertierpark #tierparkberlinfriedrichsfelde #tierparkfriedrichsfelde #berlintierparkzoo #hauptstadtzoos #freundetierpark #freundetierparkberlin #tierparkfreunde #tierparkberlinfreunde #freundehauptstadtzoos #freizeitberlin #berlinfreizeit #tierliebe #tierfreunde #berlin"
 
Does anyone know if the Tierpark have announced roughly when the new elephant complex may be scheduled to open?
 
The Tierpark will be closed from today until further notice.

The below was posted on their Facebook page earlier:

+++ Closure of Tierpark Berlin Until Further Notice +++

At the eastern border of Berlin in Brandenburg (south of Hoppegarten), cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) have been detected in cattle. Foot-and-mouth disease is a viral infection dangerous to cloven-hoofed animals and is classified as a notifiable animal disease.

Although FMD is harmless to humans, they can still transmit the virus, for example, via contaminated clothing. The virus can also be airborne over long distances.

The district of Lichtenberg, which includes Tierpark Berlin, falls within the officially declared restricted area established due to the first FMD case confirmed by the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) in Germany since 1988. Authorities are required to implement precautionary measures to quickly contain the virus and resolve the outbreak as swiftly as possible.

Therefore, the most important precautionary measure, coordinated with the Lichtenberg district office, is the immediate closure of Tierpark Berlin to visitors, effective from January 10, 2025.

The team from the Department of Animal Health, Animal Welfare, and Research is in close contact with the relevant authorities. The protection of the Tierpark and its animals is of utmost priority. Zoo Berlin is not currently affected by extensive measures. However, initial preventive steps, including access control and hygiene regulations for staff, are being implemented.
 
The Tierpark will be closed from today until further notice.

The below was posted on their Facebook page earlier:

+++ Closure of Tierpark Berlin Until Further Notice +++

At the eastern border of Berlin in Brandenburg (south of Hoppegarten), cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) have been detected in cattle. Foot-and-mouth disease is a viral infection dangerous to cloven-hoofed animals and is classified as a notifiable animal disease.

Although FMD is harmless to humans, they can still transmit the virus, for example, via contaminated clothing. The virus can also be airborne over long distances.

The district of Lichtenberg, which includes Tierpark Berlin, falls within the officially declared restricted area established due to the first FMD case confirmed by the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) in Germany since 1988. Authorities are required to implement precautionary measures to quickly contain the virus and resolve the outbreak as swiftly as possible.

Therefore, the most important precautionary measure, coordinated with the Lichtenberg district office, is the immediate closure of Tierpark Berlin to visitors, effective from January 10, 2025.

The team from the Department of Animal Health, Animal Welfare, and Research is in close contact with the relevant authorities. The protection of the Tierpark and its animals is of utmost priority. Zoo Berlin is not currently affected by extensive measures. However, initial preventive steps, including access control and hygiene regulations for staff, are being implemented.
I think it is high time vaccins are developed for common animal health viral diseases like FMD or the new scourge that is killing wild pig species across our globe. It is just an unethical and immoral travesty that animal health authorities usually feel secure to just euthanise healthy animals a precautionary measure - almost draconian even ... -. Well, I am not too continent that with merely blocking off a region or Federal State is going to do much for combatting FMD in practice (remember that farms with livestock are basically a concentrated lot and thus the main source for having it blow out and continue - sometimes - unchecked.

As it is Tierpark Berlin is already severely affected as the place gets closed up for an indefinite timeframe without the zoo and zoo's own vet management being able to do the "decent thing" and vaccinate .., vaccinate ..., vaccinate ..... (if ever there was a developped and effective vaccin for FMD .. that is).
 
In the meantime, the vets started running random tests on potentially vulnerable species such as red river hogs and Chaco peccaries but also buffalos, camels, deer and giraffes). In addition, a planned release of 10 European bison into the wild was canceled/postponed. And the possibility of vaccination is indeed also being discussed. So would it apparently already be possible?
Incidentally, employees from the 3km zone around the outbreak are no longer allowed to enter the grounds for the time being - and the others must adhere to strict guidelines and precautions. They also don't import any animal food from certain sources any longer.
As for regular visitors, the park will remain closed for an indefinite period.
Source (only in German for now): Große Sorge vor Maul- und Klauenseuche in den Zoologischen Gärten Berlin – Zoo Berlin

To cut losses, both the Tierpark supporters Freunde der Hauptstadtzoos and the park itself have set up donation accounts:
Spendenprojekte – Tierpark Berlin
Ihre Unterstützung ist wichtig - Tierpark und Zoo aufgrund der Maul- und Klauenseuche geschlossen - freunde-hauptstadtzoos.de

Of course, this whole situation is extremely unpleasant, both for Berlin Tierpark and Berlin Zoo.
For the zoo, it is particularly tragic that once again the panda offspring cannot be seen at this young age (they just started showing the two youngsters together). Apparently, there are still a lot of people in front of the ticket offices every day, only some of whom can be diverted to the aquarium (the others go home disappointed).
For the Tierpark the economic development already had gotten worse before that so this is another blow which may well affect some of their projects. Well, at least it doesn't affect the peak season. And as the Tierpark tends to be visited by people from the local Berlin-Brandenburg region (in particular off season) most of the people will probably be aware of the situation and not even show up.
 
Does anyone know if the Tierpark have announced roughly when the new elephant complex may be scheduled to open?

That would be 2026 according to the latest schedule. But I don't know the month/season - nor if they will manage to stick to their plan (although the project did gather momentum in recent months).
 
For the Tierpark the economic development already had gotten worse before that so this is another blow which may well affect some of their projects. Well, at least it doesn't affect the peak season. And as the Tierpark tends to be visited by people from the local Berlin-Brandenburg region (in particular off season) most of the people will probably be aware of the situation and not even show up.
I do want to ask as a layman how Tierpark has it worse than Zoologischer Garten. I was under the impression that both TP and ZG shared the same budget.
 
Tierpark, like the Zoo a few days ago, will reopen on January 30, also with some restrictions such as access to the Himalayan area, some areas of the farm and the paths that give access to the deer area.

Good news and hopefully there will be no more setbacks and we will be able to enjoy both parks without restrictions soon.
 
A great acquisition! Is there any other species confirmed in that nocturnal area?

There was talk of the possibility of some kind of mouse-lemur.

By the way, a fairly old specimen, since they have an average lifespan in the wild of 20 years.
 
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A great acquisition! Is there any other species confirmed in that nocturnal area?

There was talk of the possibility of some kind of mouse-lemur.

By the way, a fairly old specimen, since they have an average lifespan in the wild of 20 years.
I suspect that Tierpark Berlin first was given an elderly aye aye to gaan experience with the species. All the same, it is nice that another holder is now going into this fascinating prosimian!
 
Tierpark, like the Zoo a few days ago, will reopen on January 30, also with some restrictions such as access to the Himalayan area, some areas of the farm and the paths that give access to the deer area.

Good news and hopefully there will be no more setbacks and we will be able to enjoy both parks without restrictions soon.
I went in London Zoo in June 2001, in the middle of an outbreak of FMD in UK (leading to import/export bans, while in the same time there was the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis), and it remained possible to go nearly everywhere (assuming that London hadn't a lot of hoofstock species, mainly concentrated in one or two areas, much less than Berlin).
Only the access to the petting zoo and to the Giraffe house was closed.
 
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