It's been great reading your reviews of European Zoos and up until Berlin they have all been of zoos that I've not visited myself. How did you find some of the taxonomic houses there? You've already mentioned how these European zoos remind you just how limited the diversity in Australia is so it must be weird to walk through the bear area (for example) and see more species here than in every Australian zoo put together.
Zooman September 2013 European Zoo tour
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Just for your information: The director of Berlin Zoo and Tierpark has just been sacked.
Hopefully much will improve in future.
It is not keeper time management that stops them to do better, it has been the management that stopped them.
Not only do we need more enrichment for birds, we do need enrichment badly,- everywhere.
Tierpark Berlin,
Is this the largest city zoo in the world, importantly as they seem to use most of space!
I personally loved this zoo, and it really is a must see for any Zoochatter. The diversity of the collection!
The ungulates were amazing in there diversity, the eagles displayed in aviaries side by side was fascinating to notice there evolutionary development.
The collection of leopards was also brilliant!
Most of the enclosures were really good!
The big cat house had some appalling small indoor areas with slightly larger outdoor areas. The size and design of the main indoor tiger and lion enclosures really need to be seen! They are large for a indoor cat but they also take up the whole end of the building. I will post a pic ASAP.
It is not often l don't buy the zoo book, on this occasion l did not as it was in German, the book had the map! This zoo ad maybe 2-3 other maps located around the 400 acres seriously!
I have never gotten lost so often at a zoo, l actually think l have a Very good grasp of navigating around any zoo and not getting lost. This zoo is the exception! At one point l literally walked maybe 1 km on a straight path in totally the wrong direction.
If you are into pheasants you have to go, a section of the zoo has a enormous amount of enclosures with all shapes and sizes of the birds, interestingly this area was obviously rarely visited by the public, located in a far corner and the paths were literally gradually becoming overgrown with grass.
Some original enclosures around 1955 the year the zoo opened I find incredibly fascinating. The history and stories! What has happened to many is that they seem to permenantley have inter connecting doors open allowing the sun bears in one case to use all 5 dens, also worth noting is that the keepers had freshly furnished a significant amount of natural materials into each den, it appeared that this was done every night.
Nearly All outdoor primate enclosures were of a great size, with a decent number of primates in each exhibit providing allot of enrichment.
Interestingly the ring tailed lemur and capuchin enclosures were the worst, other zoo often feature these animals.
The walk through lemur enclosure had no signage and l almost missed it! It is a great size with some incredibly docile lemurs that all wanted to be patted, and no keeper supervising, a first for a walk through lemur exhibit for me.
Off to Hamburg Zoo in the morning so will stop now, l could write about my experiences at this zoo all night, l loved it!
Is this the largest city zoo in the world, importantly as they seem to use most of space!
I personally loved this zoo, and it really is a must see for any Zoochatter. The diversity of the collection!
The ungulates were amazing in there diversity, the eagles displayed in aviaries side by side was fascinating to notice there evolutionary development.
The collection of leopards was also brilliant!
Most of the enclosures were really good!
The big cat house had some appalling small indoor areas with slightly larger outdoor areas. The size and design of the main indoor tiger and lion enclosures really need to be seen! They are large for a indoor cat but they also take up the whole end of the building. I will post a pic ASAP.
It is not often l don't buy the zoo book, on this occasion l did not as it was in German, the book had the map! This zoo ad maybe 2-3 other maps located around the 400 acres seriously!
I have never gotten lost so often at a zoo, l actually think l have a Very good grasp of navigating around any zoo and not getting lost. This zoo is the exception! At one point l literally walked maybe 1 km on a straight path in totally the wrong direction.
If you are into pheasants you have to go, a section of the zoo has a enormous amount of enclosures with all shapes and sizes of the birds, interestingly this area was obviously rarely visited by the public, located in a far corner and the paths were literally gradually becoming overgrown with grass.
Some original enclosures around 1955 the year the zoo opened I find incredibly fascinating. The history and stories! What has happened to many is that they seem to permenantley have inter connecting doors open allowing the sun bears in one case to use all 5 dens, also worth noting is that the keepers had freshly furnished a significant amount of natural materials into each den, it appeared that this was done every night.
Nearly All outdoor primate enclosures were of a great size, with a decent number of primates in each exhibit providing allot of enrichment.
Interestingly the ring tailed lemur and capuchin enclosures were the worst, other zoo often feature these animals.
The walk through lemur enclosure had no signage and l almost missed it! It is a great size with some incredibly docile lemurs that all wanted to be patted, and no keeper supervising, a first for a walk through lemur exhibit for me.
Off to Hamburg Zoo in the morning so will stop now, l could write about my experiences at this zoo all night, l loved it!
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Hi Pat,
I literally have to time manage how long l spend at some exhibits observing the enclosure and animals.
I seriously still get way to excited when visiting a zoo for the first time and tend to literally power walk around the place first and then take my time for the 2nd and 3rd passes knowing approximately how much time l have to look.
The ungulates at Tierpark Berlin were just amazing to observe and l am not a ungulate person but to see all that variety, you are dead right it's just amazing!
Funny to read you loved TP Berlin, especially with quotes as "allot of enrichment" and "very good enclosures". I would not associate that with any Berlin zoo. ALthough the animals are very well cared of and most seem in very good condition. A lot can be improved on the enclosure design in especially the Tierpark. Although many zoofreaks rate both zoos very high, but that is also due to the gigantic collection of rarities....
Hi KB,
Your mail box is full,
So, my plans have changed and l will be at Apenheaul this Thursday, if you can make it let me know
?Leipzig Zoo
How disappointing l had very high expectations, now l realise this was based on Pongoland and the PR hype on the rest of the zoo.
Pongoland is very good for both the animals and the public. I am wondering where all the baby orangutans go, it seems just about every zoo has baby orangutans!
Such a shame they only had 4 gorillas as they certainly have the space to show a larger family troop. Watching keepers. Provide a afternoon feed by throwing food from a very high elevated point of the building overlooking the enclosure just seemed demeaning, surely there. Is a better way!
Gondawala land looks fantastic however look closer and as seems to happen with large indoor exhibits many of the actual animal enclosures are disproportionately small! The Owl Faced Monkey (Leipzig Zoo loves rarities)exhibit is small and has a height of about 9ft! The Small Clawed Otter exhibit is also small and really boring to look at and l assume for the otters as they were the most lethargic otters l ave ever seen.
The monkeys in with the pigmy hippo also had a relatively small enclosure and the Pigmy Hippos had a small land space with no real substrate to stand or graze on!
Also many of the paths of Gondawala land are very narrow and observation points looking at the animals were very narrow and small. I hate to think what this place is like on a really busy. Day!
They did have great spaces for Squirrel Monkey, a walk through space, heavily managed by staff, white chested pigmy marmosets (Leipzig Zoo loves rarities) that l think had the best exhibit l have seen pigmy marmosets in, it was a island with 3 different viewing points at varied heights.
The river boat experience looks great at first and the video display as the boat travels through a tunnel is entertaining and could be great if l understood German. Once the boat is out of the tunnel it really is disappointing how few animals you see, and l think l saw a fake iguana!
A feature animal of the zoo is Tapir and its enclosure is a reasonable size and it seems to be a central point of Gondawalaland A very very expensive Tapir enclosure!
The row of big cat exhibits were very small I will post some photos.
They do have a good African Savannah exhibit with a very good restaurant space overlooking the savannah.
What was very interesting was a very old and derelict exhibit area that l think was for bears, again l will post pictures soon.
A largish outdoor area for elephant but not allot of enrichment to be seen, the much hyped underwater viewing for elephants, as l had read the water gets very dirty very quickly.
There is also a good bear and tiger enclosures, the bear was shared with primates.
So very mixed feeling about this zoo and in no hurry to return.
How disappointing l had very high expectations, now l realise this was based on Pongoland and the PR hype on the rest of the zoo.
Pongoland is very good for both the animals and the public. I am wondering where all the baby orangutans go, it seems just about every zoo has baby orangutans!
Such a shame they only had 4 gorillas as they certainly have the space to show a larger family troop. Watching keepers. Provide a afternoon feed by throwing food from a very high elevated point of the building overlooking the enclosure just seemed demeaning, surely there. Is a better way!
Gondawala land looks fantastic however look closer and as seems to happen with large indoor exhibits many of the actual animal enclosures are disproportionately small! The Owl Faced Monkey (Leipzig Zoo loves rarities)exhibit is small and has a height of about 9ft! The Small Clawed Otter exhibit is also small and really boring to look at and l assume for the otters as they were the most lethargic otters l ave ever seen.
The monkeys in with the pigmy hippo also had a relatively small enclosure and the Pigmy Hippos had a small land space with no real substrate to stand or graze on!
Also many of the paths of Gondawala land are very narrow and observation points looking at the animals were very narrow and small. I hate to think what this place is like on a really busy. Day!
They did have great spaces for Squirrel Monkey, a walk through space, heavily managed by staff, white chested pigmy marmosets (Leipzig Zoo loves rarities) that l think had the best exhibit l have seen pigmy marmosets in, it was a island with 3 different viewing points at varied heights.
The river boat experience looks great at first and the video display as the boat travels through a tunnel is entertaining and could be great if l understood German. Once the boat is out of the tunnel it really is disappointing how few animals you see, and l think l saw a fake iguana!
A feature animal of the zoo is Tapir and its enclosure is a reasonable size and it seems to be a central point of Gondawalaland A very very expensive Tapir enclosure!
The row of big cat exhibits were very small I will post some photos.
They do have a good African Savannah exhibit with a very good restaurant space overlooking the savannah.
What was very interesting was a very old and derelict exhibit area that l think was for bears, again l will post pictures soon.
A largish outdoor area for elephant but not allot of enrichment to be seen, the much hyped underwater viewing for elephants, as l had read the water gets very dirty very quickly.
There is also a good bear and tiger enclosures, the bear was shared with primates.
So very mixed feeling about this zoo and in no hurry to return.
You can see 90% of he exhibit in this picture. There was a access tunnel linking this exhibit to the next however it was locked.
It seems very in balanced when the zoo spends so much on a huge indoor high profile exhibit ( that is really more a big hot house than animal exhibit) yet still have numerous exhibits of poor standard like this.
It seems very in balanced when the zoo spends so much on a huge indoor high profile exhibit ( that is really more a big hot house than animal exhibit) yet still have numerous exhibits of poor standard like this.
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They received a new male a year or so ago and sent the previous silverback (together with an old female?) elsewhere. The new male rejected at least one of the daughters of the previous male, so they have had to re-organise things, which is why there are currently less Gorillas than you might expect.
Disappointing to hear of the Owl-faced Monkey accomodation. Leipzig are one of the last breeders in Europe of this species, which could be lost to Zoos in the future as the population is dwindling.
This is most likely the leopard or snow leopard area, one of two very substandard areas at Leipzig (the other being the now empty bear 'castle'), we are told that the cats will soon have new housing.
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
...and indeed work has already started on this (near the tigers, and the apes). Rome wasn't built in a day, and it would be a pretty harsh critic who criticised Leipzig for their rate of development over the past 15 years or so.
And I wouldn't , as far as I'm concerned once this is done for me there are no eyesores at Leipzig. I really enjoyed my first visit there last November.
I am curious have you seen Gondwanaland in person? Would you agree with my observations f the animal exhibits?
Hamburg Zoo yesterday,
Hanover Zoo today
Apenheaul tomorrow.
I nearly did not make it to Hamburg however l was persuaded to go, it was great will write a review later, l loved the place for so many reasons.
Hanover today OMG what a brilliant zoo for families and the general zoo visitor, also for most of the animals!
Snow leopard you just have to go, the attention to detail in the design and themeing of exhibits is very I impressive, I went on the boat ride 3 times!
Yukon Bay is just brilliant in so many ways as well, again l will write a more detailed review later.
I will say now Hanover Zoo IMHO, is the best zoo in the world for families and the average zoo visitor! I did not want to leave, my camera actually went flat for the first time ever!
Hanover Zoo today
Apenheaul tomorrow.
I nearly did not make it to Hamburg however l was persuaded to go, it was great will write a review later, l loved the place for so many reasons.
Hanover today OMG what a brilliant zoo for families and the general zoo visitor, also for most of the animals!
Snow leopard you just have to go, the attention to detail in the design and themeing of exhibits is very I impressive, I went on the boat ride 3 times!
Yukon Bay is just brilliant in so many ways as well, again l will write a more detailed review later.
I will say now Hanover Zoo IMHO, is the best zoo in the world for families and the average zoo visitor! I did not want to leave, my camera actually went flat for the first time ever!
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Yes, of course - a couple of visits.
It's not really my sort of thing, to be honest - I'd prefer a good old-fashioned taxonomic display in a sturdy old house! - but, for what it is, I think Gondwanaland is fine, and I am sure it will improve over the years as it beds in. I think the animal exhibits are mostly pretty good in there.
However, there are other areas of Leipzig that, personally, I enjoy a great deal more: the African area is very well done; the reptile house and aquarium is excellent; the elephant bath time is one of the great zoo sights (I'm sorry you missed it!).
Overall, Leipzig is not really my kind of zoo - it's a bit too showy - but I think one would be hard pressed to describe it as anything other than an excellent zoo. Certainly, it is unrecognisable from the place I first visited in 1995, when it was one of the least impressive of the larger zoos in the former GDR.
As always - our different opinions are what make us human. I have found this thread very interesting as your response is so different to my own - some of the zoos you have dismissed, such as Frankfurt and Prague, are amongst my absolute favourites; Hannover, which you laud, is a place for which I have no interest at all. Vive la difference!