Wilhelma Zoo Wilhelma zoo, Stuttgart

kiang

kiang

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
With one of the largest collections in Europe, shocking that this major player only has one thread here:eek::confused:
Could it be more to do with the zoo itself not getting its news out there?

An excellent collection of around 110 species of mammal including great breeding groups of drill, bonobo, western lowland gorilla, Somali wild ass, okapi, Indian rhino, rocky mountain goat.

200 species of birds including king penguin, boat billed heron, lammergeier, white tailed sea eagle, Congo peafowl, wattled crane (a good breeding group), hyacinth macaw, kaka (only ones outside NZ), great Indian hornbill (which have bred here).

Around 80 species of reptile include estuarine crocodile, phelsuma klemmeri, Gila monster, beaded lizard amongst the highlights.

The zoo have recently sent 2 polar bear cubs to the Orsa bear park to populate the new enclosure there.
In the year 2006/7 2.1 million visitors came to the zoo and botanical gardens.

Has anyone visited this zoo, and maybe give us an insight to the collection?
 
I think this zoo was more famous 30 years ago than now. Most of the buildings and enclosures are rather adequate than great. They were first attempts of keeping animals in naturalistic exhibits, but now look smallish and concrete-ish.

I remember also presquet parrots, takins and breeding indian rhinos. The zoo has large, old greenhouses and rich collection of parrots, reptiles and small tropical fish. Also, a complex for bears buit on a steep slope, with extremely high sloping exnclosures, and narrow amazon house with tropical vegetation and some small animals.

It has very many species and no bad exhibits. But hardly anything exceptional, which you wouldn't see in 5 other zoos in Germany.

New ape house is being built. That should be very good - current exhibits are old concrete-and-dead-branches rooms.
 
I like Stuttgart (Wilhelma) Zoo very much; the collection is excellent, although there are probably not quite as many unusual species as there used to be.

In the past I have seen mountain tapir, proboscis monkey and elephant seal there. At one time there was also an extremely large white estuarine crocodile which, I think, died in 2000 after about 33 years in the zoo. (It can now be seen in the nearby Zoology Museum.)

I tend to agree with Jurek7 that the animal exhibits are adequate rather than great, but the botanical displays are superb.
 
I visited the Wilhelma Zoo in 2001, spent a whole day in it and found it excellent.

At the foot of the hill a range of historical buildings dominates the scene: aquarium, reptilehouse, nocturnal house, glassrooms with tropical birds and rodents, parrot terraces. These buildings are surrounded with superb gardens. Newer enclosures are Amazonia and a very large walk through aviary.

Up the hill are moderate to good facilities for hoofed stock, carnivores, monkeys, birds of prey.

I intend to visit in the near future again this zoo, its wellworth a special visit.
 
0.1 Somali wild ass has recently been born at the zoo, the 10th birth of this rare species at the zoo.
 
It is actually a very popular zoo in southwestern germany because it has the biggest collection and the most attractive species in that part of the country.
There are horrible but interesting enclosures, really small.
this is especially impressive if you grew up in this area and hippos, including their enclosure, are shrinking with every centimeter youŕe actually growing yourself,....;-)
Unfortunately some memories remain less precise and thatś why i am still looking for pics showing the former bear cages (must have been somewhere near the main entrance?) which weren'
t beautiful for sure,
but still were more characteristic for the whole historical managerie-style park.
maybe somebody of you can help me?
In fact, the current polar bear exhibit is nothing but a pit with a glass front and some rocks instead of concrete.
 
I visited Wilhelma about 30 years ago and remember being very impressed . There were a couple of very small bear enclosures at the bottom of the grounds similar to those found in many other collections of that time .
 
2009 was a good year for Wilhelma

A record year like 2008 (2.42 million visitors) was not the year 2009. But according to preliminary figures, it will be around 2.2 million visitors, the second-best year in the Wilhelma history. And this is the face of the economic crisis and many of the subscribed periods of bad weather year all the more gratifying. The decrease compared to 2008 is mainly due to the decrease in sales of day passes. On the expenditure side also proposed major investments in the future of Wilhelma to book. Had no future, unfortunately, a polar bear girl at 9.12. was born: It had inhaled amniotic fluid was not viable and died just three days after birth.

Especially in the first three, very cold months of the year 2009, the flow of visitors at the Wilhelma remained rather subdued. Not even the polar bear-Star Wilbär that lingered until mid-May in Stuttgart, was able at this time to elicit the masses behind the stove. In the first quarter were, therefore, the attendance by almost 40 percent behind those in the first quarter of 2008, significantly milder back. An upturn in 2009 brought the first of April and an extended period of fine weather at Easter, in April gave the Wilhelma over 70 percent more visitors than last year. In subsequent months, came out in June and September, then fewer visitors than in 2008. By the end of the year 2009 is therefore a decline in visitor numbers of around 7.8 percent compared with 2008 expected. The largest contributors to this development, the day passes, one of which was this year sold 13 percent fewer than in 2008. The sale of season tickets dropped compared to only 4.7 percent, the number of membership cards of the "Friends also rose by around 3.2 percent. Loyal visitors are Wilhelma Wilhelma therefore remained true even in the crisis year. As usual, the most visited month was August, with approximately 356,000 visitors this time (previous year: 422,000 visitors)

Operating profit 2009

Shortly before year-end preliminary figures can be expected for the year 2009 total revenue of 13.4 million euros. 11.6 million euros derived from admission fees, parking fees and the sale of the Wilhelma leader, further 1.52 million from leases, events and sales. Approximately 320,000 euro also owes the Wilhelma donations, inheritance and sponsorships. Total revenues are down approximately 800,000 euros lower than in 2008, this is a decrease of 5.5 percent.

This revenue is possible in 2009 increased expenditure on equipment, personnel and other expenses - especially maintenance - as well as tax and depreciation to, they are expected to amount to around 19.1 million euros. The achieved cost recovery is expected to improve on the current forecast compared to 76.1 percent in 2008 to 70.1 percent in 2009, the deficit is, therefore, at 5.7 million Euros (previous year): about 4.26 million euros.

Maintenance and restoration 2009

A significant proportion of the expenses this year was the maintenance. Here are targeting investments in 2009 was the conservation of matter and the future viability of the Wilhelma, a total of around 4 million euros. The largest single items are the continuing garage-renovation (700,000 euros), the recovery of refrigeration in the food kitchen (580,000 euros) and the renewal of the transformer station (500,000 euros). Further renovations were related to the sea lion pool, the Azalea House, the heating plant and heating and the maintenance of the road holding. With funding from the Wilhelma and participation of the tenants of the new store was built Wilhelma for 600,000 euros.

Not least, the Wilhelma for crop cultivation has built a new greenhouse, which is nearing completion. The 200,000 euro construction costs borne by the patrons.

Outlook: The main construction work 2010

After the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg on 28 October 2009 has given the green light for the construction of the new monkey enclosure, the construction preparations started in the Wilhelma. Currently, the area is cleared for new construction, two stables and enclosures have already been demolished. The construction of the Wilhelma School stands for the year 2010 on the program and the construction of a breeding center for small birds. In addition, planned for 2010, additional remedial measures. Sun stands as a permanent customer "remain the parking garage on the program, will also where possible the social building, the water lily pond and the island will be rehabilitated or spider monkey in 2010.
 
Updates from Wilhelma:

The elephant paddock is to undergo a 1 million euro update from http://www.wilhelma.de/fileadmin/im..._HJ/KW_46_Elefantenanlage_14.11.11_Bild_1.jpg to this http://www.wilhelma.de/fileadmin/im..._HJ/KW_46_Elefantenanlage_14.11.11_Bild_4.jpg getting rid of the dangerous ditch and softer substrate.
Plans are in place to remove the elephants and the Indian rhino to an adjacent parcel of land, connected to the zoo by a tunnel.
The common hippo have also been given access to the vacated tapir enclosure next door to them

0.0.2 Alpine ibex born
0.0.3 rock hyrax born
1.2 Californian sea lion born
1.0 okapi born (Called Kivu, but not reported here, he was born in May)
0.0.2 Emperor tamarin born
0.0.2 Hartlaub's turaco hatched
1.0 giraffe born
1.0 vicuna born
1.0 gorilla arrived from Prague (Tano)
2.0 Grevy's zebra born
 
I thought the Indian rhino would eventually get the freed up space the elephants would leave when they eventually leave. Which is not t.b. foreseen before 2018-2020 Rosensteintunnelfrage.
 
Aybody knows why the zoo doesn't expand on huge, empty meadows in the park bordering it?
 
kiang said:
The elephant paddock is to undergo a 1 million euro update from http://www.wilhelma.de/fileadmin/im..._HJ/KW_46_Elefantenanlage_14.11.11_Bild_1.jpg to this http://www.wilhelma.de/fileadmin/im..._HJ/KW_46_Elefantenanlage_14.11.11_Bild_4.jpg getting rid of the dangerous ditch and softer substrate.
Click to expand...

It's hard to tell from an architect's model, but that doesn't exactly look like a state-of-the-art elephant exhibit they're planning. A shame - this is a zoo that could, so easily, be so very much better.
 
sooty mangabey said:
It's hard to tell from an architect's model, but that doesn't exactly look like a state-of-the-art elephant exhibit they're planning. A shame - this is a zoo that could, so easily, be so very much better.
Click to expand...

This is just a stop gap, to improve the quality of life of the aged females currently held, long term the plan is to build a large enough enclosure for a herd.
Here are a couple of other artists impressions of the current paddock's upgrade:

http://www.wilhelma.de/fileadmin/im...HJ/KW_46_Elefantenanlage_14.11.11_Bild_6a.jpg

http://www.wilhelma.de/fileadmin/im..._HJ/KW_46_Elefantenanlage_14.11.11_Bild_5.jpg
 
I was at this zoo in late May. The major new apes exhibit is well underway right in the heart of the zoo, and posted pictures make it look like the gorillas and bonobos will have a wonderful, natural new home soon.

If you like botanical gardens in a zoo, this is possibly the world's best. But the most surprising plant life I saw in this zoo was a large stand of enormous California redwood trees -- right in the middle of the zoo! I'm from the USA, so I've been to California's many redwood parks and they truly are impressive, and this stand of 60+-meter trees looked like it could be in California. To be honest, before this, I didn't know that redwoods grew outside of the American west coast. What a rare botanical opportunity for European zoo visitors.
 
Anybody knows why WIlhelma zoo is has barely adequate size, when just outside the fence there is huge park with open meadows, where very few people go?
 
@ANyhuis: Funny, I have the same feeling, when I am visiting Wilhelma and standing in front of the redwoods. And I am agree: This institution may not be the best zoo in the world, but it has probably the best botanical and zoological mix in a zoo outside of the tropics.
 
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