Alpine Zoo Innsbruck The Alpine Adventures Of A Tea-Loving Dave - April 11 2015

TeaLovingDave · 12 Oct 2016

Part XIX: Owl Roundhouse and Walkthrough Aviary

Making our way back towards the Owl Roundhouse, we noted a very appealing-looking piece of educational artwork above the entrance to the roundhouse showing every owl taxon native to the Alps to scale - in order, these taxa were European Eagle Owl, Ural Owl, Tawny Owl, Eurasian Barn Owl, Short-eared Owl, Long-eared Owl, Little Owl, Boreal Owl, European Scops Owl and European Pygmy Owl. I rather liked this piece of artwork, demonstrating as it did the wide variety of shape, size and appearance within the owl family as a whole.

Within the roundhouse itself, the public viewing area comprised a semicircular area surrounded by three aviaries, each of which was visible through viewing panels within the wooden cladding of the walls.

The first aviary comprised a mixed exhibit for European Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus funereus) and European Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium passerinum); a pair of rather small and attractive species, both of which I had been fortunate enough to see on a number of occasions previously but which I am always rather pleased to see, given the fact that smaller owl species in general are becoming more and more uncommon in captive collections. The aviary itself was very thickly vegetated with conifers and evergreen shrubs, with the steeply-sloping hillside floor of the aviary primarily comprising bare earth dotted with boulders. Given the small size and reclusive nature of both taxa held within the aviary, I felt that the level of vegetation and cover provided served the welfare needs of the inhabitants very well. The second aviary contained European Eagle-owl (Bubo bubo bubo) and was once again rather well-vegetated, although nowhere near as densely as had been the case for the previous aviary. Along with the conifers which had been present within the Boreal and European Pygmy Owl avairy, there were also several bare, dead trees which had been carefully pruned in order to form open perching areas for the European Eagle-owl held within this exhibit; moreover, this aviary contained a tall wooden support for the overall roundhouse structure, which was thickly-clad in ivy and other climbing vegetation. This was the largest of the three aviaries by some margin, providing the inhabitants with plenty of space in which to fly from perch to perch, along with scope to shelter and hide from the view of the public. As such, this was a rather good aviary for the taxon in question all things considered.

The final aviary within the roundhouse was a mixed exhibit for Central European Tawny Owl (Strix aluco aluco) and Eurasian Long-eared Owl (Asio otus otus); although broadly speaking similar to the Eagle-owl exhibit it was perhaps half the size and much less well-vegetated, with those trees present within either dead or dying. This said, it was still a very large aviary considering the size of the taxa displayed within, and as such provided plenty of space for the welfare needs of the inhabitants. Overall, then, I was quite pleased with the Owl Roundhouse; it contained a rather good selection of the owl taxa native to the Alps and displayed them in attractive aviaries which both served the welfare needs of their inhabitants well and displayed them in an interesting and appealing fashion.

Walking back downhill, through the European Golden Eagle viewing area already discussed, the path once again reached the European Raven aviary which I discussed some time ago; this time viewing the upper portions of the aviary. Opposite this exhibit, there was a very large and attractive walkthrough aviary for Eurasian Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus), South European Ural Owl (Strix uralensis macroura) and Black Stork. This comprised a gently-sloping hillside dotted with rocks and boulders, with open grassy areas covering the majority of the ground; towards the rear of the aviary there were several evergreen shrubs and conifers, although a handful of these did occur closer to the public viewing area.

Along with the aforementioned trees and shrubs there were also a number of dead trees which - in a similar fashion to those within the Tawny Owl and Long-eared Owl aviary already discussed - had been shaped and pruned to provide perching opportunities for the inhabitants of the exhibit. At the very rear of the aviary, boulders and dry-stone walls took up more or less the entire area, with the overall effect - when the rest of the aviary was taken into account - that the aviary gave a rather good impression of an Alpine meadow, with grassy fields and vegetation bordered by sheer cliff-faces. As such, given the sheer size of the aviary and hence the amount of space given to the inhabitants, I felt this was a very good exhibit indeed and one which met the needs of the inhabitants very well.

Immediately outside the aviary there was a rather well-designed informational image comparing the size and wingspan of a variety of alpine birds, including Golden Eagle, Lammergeier, European Raven and Black Woodpecker. I was rather taken with this particular display; although the idea is by no means a new one, with similar displays visible in most falconry centres within the United Kingdom, given the fact that the taxa portrayed are - by and large - ones which would not be visible in such collections it nonetheless represented something novel.

Having viewed the vast majority of the collection - having omitted only one or two exhibits near to the restaurant on the terrace, and the nearby "Fischwelt der Alpen" aquarium - we decided this would be an opportune time to return to aforementioned terrace for a spot of lunch. En-route, just along from the upper European Otter exhibit discussed previously, we reached a small annexe within which was viewing into the interior sleeping areas for the European Polecat and European Otter held within the collection. These were functional in appearance, and nothing special in design, more or less resembling the interior sleeping area for the European Beaver discussed earlier along with the empty interior exhibit near the Carpathian Lynx enclosure.

Arizona Docent · 13 Oct 2016

TeaLovingDave said:
Part XVII: Alpine Chamois, Grouse Aviaries and Carpathian Lynx

...the Carpathian Lynx is perhaps my favourite subspecies of the Eurasian Lynx; I find them...very appealing to the eye given how richly-marked their pelage tends to be when compared with the somewhat more plain and sandy coat of the Northern Lynx or Siberian Lynx.

Agreed. The photos I have seen remind me very much of the heavily spotted Iberian lynx. I have seen the latter in person (both in the wild and in captivity), but not the former.

TeaLovingDave · 13 Oct 2016

Glad to see you have been reading this thread, ArizonaDocent

by now I suspect you will have realised just how amusingly-wrong you were in this thread to complain that Alpenzoo seemed to have an unacceptably small rhinoceros exhibit

TeaLovingDave · 15 Oct 2016

Part XX: Lunch and Revisits

The food provided within the restaurant was very high quality; both Helly and myself decided to order goulash soup, a specialty of Bavarian and Tyrolean cuisine and - given our liking for goulash in any case - something which we enjoyed very much indeed. The portion size provided was very generous, something which was much-appreciated given the fact we had risen early and eaten only lightly thus far, and moreover had made our way through the collection at quite an energetic pace due to the erroneous forecast of thunderstorms we had received prior to departing that morning. As it was quite obvious that we would continue to have clement weather for the duration of the afternoon, and had viewed more or less the entire collection with several hours remaining before closing time, we took our time over our lunch and discussed our preliminary thoughts on the collection before deciding that we would have another wander around the collection before visiting the one area of Alpenzoo which we were yet to see, the "Fischwelt der Alpen" aquarium building.

Although broadly speaking we were merely ambling through the collection at a sedate pace, viewing this and that and taking the opportunity for further photographs where appropriate, there *were* particular areas where we ended up spending prolonged periods of time. The first of these was the complex of outdoor terrariums, not far from the terrace where we had enjoyed our lunch; the sunny weather had continued to warm the inhabitants of these exhibits, and as such they were even more visible and active than they had been the first time we visited this area of he collection. The hatchling Viperine Water Snakes which have already been mentioned were particularly active, as were the Asp Vipers and Nose-horned Vipers; a number of colour morphs of the latter taxon were visible, providing an interesting demonstration of the variation found within this species.

However, the highlight of our second loop around the collection was yet to come - whilst spending a little time in the Alpine Ibex exhibit taking further photographs of the inhabitants and features of the enclosure, I took the opportunity to take photographs of the surrounding mountains; not only those across the valley but also the peaks directly above us.

As a result, I happened to be looking above us at precisely the right moment to see perhaps half a dozen birds soaring a few hundred feet above us, silhouetted against the sky and moving back and forth on the air currents; I quickly scrabbled for the miniature binoculars which I had brought with me for precisely this sort of situation and took a closer look, confirming my hopes and suspicions - they were wild Alpine Chough! I felt a note of amusement at the fact that I had managed to see the species for the first time in captivity a mere hour or so before the greater achievement of seeing multiple individuals in the wild - and as I watched the birds move higher up the mountainside and out of my view, distinct pleasure at having been in precisely the right place at the right time. Prolonged revisits of the Lammergeier aviary and the Boreal Walkthrough - with significantly better photographs obtained of the inhabitants of these exhibits - along with more casual revisits of other exhibits throughout the entirety of Alpenzoo Innsbruck followed; however, the minute or two we spent watching the wild Chough was by far the highlight of this second loop of the collection.

It seems worthwhile to note at this juncture that - given we no longer felt the pressure of the weather and as such were taking our time at each exhibit a little more than we had previously - we took the time to pay closer attention to those examples of educational signage which we had perhaps neglected somewhat the first time round. As has already been discussed at several points, the educational signage within the collection was excellent, covering subjects as distinct as the various seeds and nuts produced by species of tree found in the Alps, through to discussions of the present-day range of Alpine Ibex and Lammergeier and the reintroduction programmes which are now in operation within the Alps to restore both species to something approaching their former glories.

We also took the opportunity to take photographs of the version of the collection map displayed throughout the site, which differed slightly from the one which we had been following over the course of the day contained within the most recent edition of the zoo guidebook.

Eventually, we found ourselves once again at the terrace; after a brief but fruitless visit to the Wallcreeper aviary in the hope of further sightings of this extremely-special taxon, we entered the final area of Alpenzoo yet to be encountered; Fischwelt der Alpen.

Arizona Docent · 15 Oct 2016

TeaLovingDave said:
Glad to see you have been reading this thread, ArizonaDocent by now I suspect you will have realised just how amusingly-wrong you were in this thread to complain that Alpenzoo seemed to have an unacceptably small rhinoceros exhibit

I will be the first to admit that I was wrong. The rhinoceros exhibit is indeed of appropriate size.

lintworm · 15 Oct 2016

I only now have started reading this thread and it is very entertaining. Alpenzoo is very high on my wishlist to visit one day, even though I have seen a large number of it's inhabitants in the wild already. And though nothing beats seeing wild lammergeier and wallcreepers, an overview of Alpine diversity like this must be amazing.

One small remark about the rock martins, I have seen some in mid-January, so at least a part of the population never seems to leave the Alps

TeaLovingDave · 15 Oct 2016

lintworm said:
And though nothing beats seeing wild lammergeier and wallcreepers, an overview of Alpine diversity like this must be amazing.

Glad you are enjoying the thread

I very much recommend the collection!

It goes without saying that I was keeping a close eye out for wallcreepers whilst in Innsbruck, as I know that they can be seen on buildings in the city centre during the winter months; however it seems they had all departed by April

not to get too ahead of myself in the overall trip report, the trip to Salzburg we had planned for the Tuesday had to be cancelled due to Helly not feeling too well, but I learned afterward that had we managed to go there we probably *would* have seen a wild wallcreeper, as I came across reports on birdwatching blogs of an individual which was seen on Schloss Mirabell that day.

TeaLovingDave · 22 Oct 2016

Part XXI: Fischwelt der Alpen and Further Revisits

This was an aquarium complex which - unlike the large exhibit within the main aquarium, which focused specifically on taxa found in the mountain lakes of the Alps - provided a comprehensive look at the various species of fish found within the Alpine region as a whole, therefore including taxa belonging to streams and rivers as well as large bodies of water. There were approximately sixteen tanks within the building; many of these were smaller ones, akin in general design to the ones present within the main aquarium which had contained amphibians and small fish, but several comprised larger mixed-species exhibits intended to represent the fauna of specific portions of the watercourse, from the fast flowing streams close to the headwaters all the way down to larger rivers on the valley floor.

As such there were a number of informational displays and informational signposting provided within this building, discussing both the species present within the complex as well as the various development stages of the watercourse. Many of the taxa displayed within this area were species which I had seen nowhere else, as one would imagine from a collection which represented the greatest part of the fish diversity found within the Alps; the only major group of fish entirely unrepresented within Fischwelt der Alpen which is present within the Alps, to the best of my knowledge, are the lampreys.

This exhibit complex contained the following species:

Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus)
Brown Trout (Salmo trutta fario)
Western Vairone (Telestes souffia), Gudgeon (Gobio gobio) and Stone Loach (Barbatula barbatula)
Zarte (Vimba vimba), South European Nase (Protochondrostoma genei), Danube Roach (Rutilus virgo), Barbel (Barbus barbus) and Sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus)
Grayling (Thymallus thymallus), Schneider (Alburnoides bipunctatus), Common Dace (Leuciscus leuciscus) and South European Nase.
Alborella (Alburnus arborella), Pigo (Rutilus pigus) and Italian Souffia (Telestes muticellus)
Northern Pike (Esox lucius), European Zander (Sander lucioperca), Wels Catfish (Silurus glanis), Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) and Ide (Leuciscus idus)
Freshwater Shrimp and Three-spined Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)
Freshwater Blenny (Salaria fluviatilis)
Padanian Goby (Padogobius bonelli)
Bullhead (Cottus gobio)
Danube Streber (Zingel streber)
Zingel (Zingel zingel) and Stripped Pope (Gymnocephalus schraetser)
Crucian Carp (Carassius carassius)
Perch (Perca fluviatilis)

On leaving Fischwelt der Alpen, we decided to revisit some of the lower areas of Alpenzoo before leaving to make our way back towards the city centre; this allowed us to obtain further views of the taxa within the Boreal Aviary and the other aviaries for Alpine birds found on the footpath leading towards the aquarium, as many of the species in question seemed to have become a little more active now that their exhibits were no longer in direct sunlight and the air was starting to cool somewhat. A particular effort was made to take photographs of areas for which we felt we had not gained sufficiently high-quality images; this led us to obtain rather good photographs of the Owl Roundhouse from below, along with several images of the Domestic Farmyard.

We also took the opportunity to revisit the European Wildcat exhibit, hoping correctly that the cooler weather would have increased the activity of the inhabitants; whilst doing so we noticed a rather appealing bronze statue of bear cubs situated at the viewing point for the European Brown Bear exhibit and which we had previously failed to take notice of. As already mentioned, I have something of a soft spot for the use of statues and art as a supplement to the overall theming of zoological collections, and rather felt that the examples we had seen at Innsbruck Alpenzoo were some of the best we had encountered in any collection - both in quality and appearance.

Although there were a few more hours remaining before closing time - and our train back to Munich was not due to depart for several more hours beyond this - we decided that, tempting though it was to remain at Alpenzoo for the entire day given how very much we had enjoyed the collection, the prospect of walking up and downhill for several more hours purely to revisit exhibits which we had already viewed at length - possibly impacting on our energy levels for future days - was not worth the potential gains. As such, we made our way towards the exit and, after a short time in the giftshop, we departed Alpenzoo Innsbruck with the certain knowledge that we *would* return someday.

TeaLovingDave · 22 Oct 2016

I am editing my previous posts within this thread to integrate the attached images within each post, per the wishes of Sim regarding a phase-out of image attachments

so now is a good time to go back and re-read older posts!

TeaLovingDave · 5 Nov 2016

Part XXII: Departure and Final Thoughts

Before setting off, we took a moment to view Schloss Weiherburg immediately next to the entrance complex; as already discussed, this happens to be the building where the Englishman buried within the grounds of the zoo passed away. Given my interest in medieval history, I always like to research some of the significant structures and locations which may be found within an area I am to visit; as such, I was already aware that this castle was a residence of the Austro-Hungarian royal family for centuries - in particular the Dukes and Arch-dukes of Tyrol and Upper Austria - and was originally constructed for this purpose in c.1460, but I had been pleasantly surprised to learn the story of the Englishman's Grave as this had previously been unknown to me prior to my visit to Alpenzoo.

This seems like an appropriate point in time to give my overall thoughts on Alpenzoo Innsbruck as a collection. It will be very much clear by now that we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Alpenzoo, and that we were seriously impressed by the quality of the collection, both in terms of the enclosures and exhibits found throughout, and the wide range of taxa displayed within. As has already been discussed at several points, the overall quantity and quality of educational and informational material provided throughout the collection was also a particular strength; where many small collections see fit to make do with only a cursory panel describing the common and taxonomic name of the inhabitants of an enclosure, possibly supplemented by a small amount of information regarding the range of the species in question, more often than not the informational signage at Alpenzoo gave a vast amount of detail about the diet, range and taxonomic position of the species displayed. Moreover, many of the informational displays provided supplementary information about captive breeding and reintroduction programmes, the wider ecosystems in which the species displayed within the collection could be found, and the history of the collection itself; this standard and range of information is equal to that found at major zoological collections such as Chester, ZSL London Zoo and Zoo Berlin, and in point of fact surpasses many other larger collections which - generally speaking - are rather more well-known than Alpenzoo Innsbruck.

It is also very much worth noting the fact that as a snapshot of the biodiversity of a given geographic area - in this case, the Alps - the collection is perhaps unequaled within Europe, certainly in terms of those collections which I have been fortunate enough to visit up to the present time. Whereas more mainstream European collections would - were they to design an exhibit in order to promote the wide and diverse range of species found within a given area - most likely display a handful of species at most, and the most commonplace at that, at Alpenzoo Innsbruck one can find a near-complete representation of the fish, amphibian and reptile diversity found within the Alps, along with significant portions of the avian and mammalian taxa native to the region. Many of the species in question are displayed nowhere else in Europe, or indeed the world, and as such being able to view them here is a significant privilege. Considering the fact that people increasingly regard the concept of conservation as the paramount issue for captive collections to address, I think it is vitally important that collections such as this exist in order to ensure that the zoo-visiting public realise that conservation is not just a distant thing, something which applies to animals in tropical rainforests, grasslands and far-flung corners of the world; it applies just as much to the species on our doorstep - in some cases even moreso. For instance, many people within Europe are no doubt familiar with the Bald Eagle and the conservation threats it faced in the 20th Century - yet significantly fewer realise that species such as the Lammergeier which are native to Europe are significantly more threatened by extinction on a global scale. In point of fact, many of the species displayed at Alpenzoo are subject to ongoing captive breeding and reintroduction programmes either within Europe as a whole, or within specific portions of their range such as the Alps; for instance, along with the aforementioned Lammergeier, other such species include the Alpine ibex, Alpine Chamois, European Wolf, European Otter, Carpathian Lynx and the Capercaillie to name but a few.

As already discussed, I felt that by and large the exhibit design at Alpenzoo was excellent; given the collection's location on a mountainside and the design and logistical constraints present as a result, the vast majority of exhibits managed to not only give their inhabitants more than enough space, but to also "fit" with their wider surrounding and look attractive to the visiting public. One facet of the enclosure design at Alpenzoo which very much pleased me was the use that had been made of the natural environment; the surrounding woodland and mountainsides had been integrated into the exhibit design wherever possible. Exhibits such as the European Brown Bear enclosure, the Waldrapp Ibis aviary and the Alpine Ibex exhibit were worthy of particular praise, as were those exhibit complexes which managed to do something a little different, something which set Alpenzoo Innsbruck apart as a whole. Examples of this latter category, which I believe can be counted as the best such exhibits I have seen in any captive collection, include the outdoor complex of terrariums for various reptiles and amphibians, and the pair of aquarium buildings located close to the foot of the collection. However, this is not to say that the collection was entirely free from criticism on this point; a small number of enclosures and exhibits did not meet the overall standard set by their neighbours, including the indoor housing visible for a number of mammal species and the entirety of the Eurasian Elk exhibit.

However, along with the aforementioned high level of taxonomic diversity present at the collection, along with the clear importance placed on conservation and education, there was another - no less important - aspect of the collection which I regard as perhaps *the* key to why Alpenzoo Innsbruck is so special; the setting and location. The collection is not merely some assemblage of Alpine wildlife and livestock displayed in a series of exhibits somewhere; it is located within the Alps themselves, on the lower flanks of a mountainside and overlooking perhaps the greatest view from any captive collection in the world, with the snow-capped peaks of the Alps rising all around and the attractive city of Innsbruck located in the valley below.

As such, the species displayed fit within the wider countryside and - thanks to the aforementioned care taken to ensure the exhibits and enclosures within Alpenzoo fit with the surroundings - a feeling is evoked which is like no other zoological collection I have visited with the exception of Highland Wildlife Park, the only other collection even somewhat akin to Alpenzoo which I have encountered in the past. It would be foolish to claim that Alpenzoo Innsbruck is a collection which can be directly compared to - and ranked alongside - more mainstream zoological collections such as Chester, Tierpark Berlin or Zoo Berlin; as a more specialised collection such direct comparisons would be unfair. As such, the following summary of my feelings towards Alpenzoo Innsbruck is not to be taken as such a comparison:

Alpenzoo has joined Highland Wildlife Park, Chester Zoo, Tierpark Berlin and Zoo Berlin among the zoological collections I most love.

As such, as I have already noted, Helly and myself *will* return one day; a day I look forward to very much.

As we made our way downhill, we noticed various signs along the footpath which we had failed to spot on our way towards the collection that morning, advertising the distance to Alpenzoo itself; these were rather appealingly designed and - rather than merely listing the name of the collection and the how far away it was - described how fast various species described at the collection would take to reach the entrance were they to move at full speed!

We also took the opportunity to take a closer look at the nearby station for the funicular railway which - had we allowed ourselves a little more time - would have permitted us to access the cable-car route to the summit of the Hafelekarspitze; had we realised the weather would continue to be clement, and as such not spent so much time revisiting exhibits within Alpenzoo itself, we would have quite liked to have made our way to the summit if only for a short time. Something to look forward to for our next visit, methinks!

Throughout our journey downhill we continued to take photographs of the mountains and hills around us, much as we had been doing throughout the day, along with any other aspects of our surroundings which caught our eye. Just before crossing the river Inn via the Weiherburgsteg, we spotted the funicular rail-line to our right as it crossed the river perhaps 100 metres further upstream; once again, we were able to see Crag Martins and House Swallows hawking over the surface of the river as we watched a train crossing the river.

As the light conditions were particularly good, we also took the opportunity to take a handful of aesthetic shots of the Weiherburgsteg itself.

Taking our time as we walked back to the Hauptbahnhof - given the fact we still had several hours until our train back to Munich was due to depart at 20:36 - we discussed how our day had gone, our thoughts on Alpenzoo and our thoughts on Innsbruck itself. Eventually we reached the railway station and decided to try to find somewhere to eat within, given that it would be rather late by the time we reached Munich once again; fortunately, there were several cafes and restaurants within the Hauptbahnhof, along with a massive supermarket which we made a mental note to visit before our departure in case we spotted anything worth buying. Before choosing somewhere to eat, I took the opportunity to phone home as I had not spoken to my family since the day we had arrived in Munich, and thought they would appreciate hearing from me. After a reasonably-prolonged conversation I bid them farewell and started discussing our various options for food with Helly. Eventually we decided to eat in the Testa Rossa Caffèbar, a very pleasant cafe in an Italian style which - we discovered - had very pleasant food at quite a reasonable price but which, unfortunately for me given my asthma, did permit smoking! Nevertheless, we had a very enjoyable meal there, each choosing to eat pizza. After finishing our meal, we left the cafe and made our way to the nearby supermarket; in the event, although there was a lot which rather tempted us there, including a large bakery counter selling a wide range of cakes and other tempting baked goods, we decided to restrict ourselves to several large bottles of iced tea and water as an investment for the coming few days. One thing which is worthy of some mention is that, as we left the supermarket, we noticed a large and friendly dog waiting outside for some time; quite obviously it belonged to a regular customer of the supermarket and was well-trained, as it was not restrained and trusted to wait at the threshold, with staff of the supermarket occasionally coming out to stroke the dog and keep him company.

Eventually we made our way to the platform for our train, watching the surrounding mountains as the light slowly faded and it started to get dark.

In the event, we ended up waiting perhaps 45 minutes longer than anticipated, as our train had met with delays as it passed through the Alps en-route to Innsbruck, and as such the train did not reach Innsbruck Hbf until approximately 21:15. We were rather interested to note, when the train eventually arrived and we were able to board, that although the information screens within the Hauptbahnhof and on the platforms described the train as a service to Hamburg Hbf, the information screens on the train itself showed that it was in fact a sleeper service between Venice and Amsterdam, serving various stations in the west of Germany and throughout the Netherlands before terminating sometime the following morning. As such, if one had a pass valid for use throughout the railway lines of Europe, it would be quite easy to reach Innsbruck - and thus Alpenzoo - from much of western Europe; something which may be worth bearing in mind for anyone reading this thread who would like to visit the collection, or indeed merely the city.

After a few hours, our train reached Munich; as it was rather late by this point - not far off 23:00, in point of fact - we decided that rather than walking all the way back to the Hotel Blauer Bock it would be prudent to take the S-Bahn to Marienplatz before walking through the Viktualienmarkt in order to reach our hotel. As we planned to take the opportunity to ascend the belltower of St. Peter's Church overlooking Marienplatz before visiting Vogelpark Olching the following morning, and the day had been quite a long one, we retired to bed as soon as reaching our room.

TeaLovingDave · 5 Nov 2016

TeaLovingDave · 5 Nov 2016

And with that, my review of Alpenzoo Innsbruck is finished

any feedback or questions about the collection would be very much welcome.

Given the fact that I have had to upload a lot of enclosure shots into a dedicated album for the purpose of attaching them to posts, when I eventually get around to labelling these shots I will probably move a lot of them from my personal album into the main Alpenzoo gallery. This will hopefully compensate for the fact the only enclosure shots in the gallery at present are a decade old!

vogelcommando · 5 Nov 2016

No feedback and also no questions just want to say thanks for all this great review and the great pictures. Surtainly a zoo I have to visit one day !

Vision · 5 Nov 2016

Really nice review of a really wonderful park, TLD! I thoroughly enjoy how it focuses solely on native species, yet still is able to show a very diverse set of exhibits and species. Certainly the text about the black woodpecker has made me very eager and hopeful to visit this collection too!

LaughingDove · 5 Nov 2016

I have also very much enjoyed your extremely detailed review of this collection.

agnmeln · 14 Feb 2018

This review is about as thorough as it gets! Nice to have so many photographs for reference. Some quite attractive looking exhibits here, beautiful scenery and it seems even good weather during your trip!

FBBird · 14 Feb 2018

Arizona Docent said:
Agreed. The photos I have seen remind me very much of the heavily spotted Iberian lynx. I have seen the latter in person (both in the wild and in captivity), but not the former.

There are breeding Carpathian Lynx in UK collections, notably at Newquay Zoo.

Pacu · 15 Feb 2018

TeaLovingDave said:
Giant Otters? Do you mean Eurasian Otters or did this species somehow slip past everyone I've spoken to in the past about the historical animal inventory of the collection?

Good point but these were massive and there was a handwritten board about them which I couldn't read but think it did say something about quarantine. I certainly didn't think they were European at the time; the weather was so bad, there was no-one around to try to ask.

Alpine Zoo Innsbruck The Alpine Adventures Of A Tea-Loving Dave - April 11 2015

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