View in the Äquatorium with gibbon, King colobus and lemur indoor exhibits and tortoise exhibit, 2024-06-08

The Äquatorium or equator house is a building housing mostly primates as well as birds, some smaller mammals, some reptiles and pygmy hippos. The building is from the 1960's and has not really been significantly improved or changed for many years, aside from the addition of some admittedly decent outdoor exhibits and a large reduction of the collection, and is now very well beyond it's years. Unfortunately the Äquatorium is by far Duisburg's weakest component, with the primate indoor exhibits pretty much all being outdated and undersized.

This building is a real blight on what could be an even nicer zoo than it is. It urgently needs to be changed, but there does not seem to have been any development in this area for many years. There does not seem to be a realistic option to change this house than to bulldoze it entirely and replace it with a modern building. There is enough space to develop quite a nice Asian or African forest area, or several modern primate exhibits, at this site. It will require a very substantial investment, but it is about time this starts to happen. Replacing this building should be an absolute priority for the Duisburg Zoo.