ZOOM - African river landscape

A view out accross the African river landscape in the Africa theme in ZOOM Erlebniswelt, Germany. In this picture you can see part of the river on where the African Queen Boat Safari sails. The boat ride takes approx. 20 minutes and is free of charge.
To the right is located the edge of the grassland savannah and straight ahead you can see the baboon island.

ZOOM Erlebniswelt is a brand new zoo built completely from scratch on the site of the old Ruhr Zoo. It is divided into three large themes: Alaska (2005), Africa (2006) and Asia (2010).

July 2009

So the million dollar question Toddy is this: how does ZOOM stack up in comparison with the other great zoos in Germany? Is the zoo far too new and small (in terms of animal collection) to even be compared to the larger zoological establishments? Or is the exhibit quality truly brilliant enough to place this zoo as one of the best around? My impression from your numerous comments and photos is that this is what the 21st century zoo should be like, and I'd love to visit ZOOM one day.

snowleopard said:

So the million dollar question Toddy is this: how does ZOOM stack up in comparison with the other great zoos in Germany? Is the zoo far too new and small (in terms of animal collection) to even be compared to the larger zoological establishments? Or is the exhibit quality truly brilliant enough to place this zoo as one of the best around? My impression from your numerous comments and photos is that this is what the 21st century zoo should be like, and I'd love to visit ZOOM one day.

Click to expand...

Sorry to cut in before your answer, Toddy!

The bit I've bolded is ZOOM's major problem when it comes to rankings - it's not a huge collection - with very few non-mammals. I would imagine the Asian area will go some way to correcting this but for the time being I can't put it among my German top flight because it simply doesn't have enough animals!

And, although the exhibits are very good, there's not much innovation, just taking what others have done and doing it bigger (by European standards) - so I'd struggle to call it 'truly brilliant', for the most part.

Damn you Maguari! You just beat me to it

Now to answer you question snowleopard:

How does ZOOM stack up? I would say pretty nicely and it is indeed one of the large zoological establishments. Their number of species is not big but they have many big mammals and the zoo itself is huge.

But ZOOM as not one of the best around. I would place several other German zoos such as Leipzig, Cologne or Wuppertal above ZOOM in the ranking. I realise that you snowleopard and many others really enjoy there type of immersion exhibits. So do I but there are more important things in a zoo. Some of the exhibits look better than they really are even though ZOOM also has some truly spectacular exhibits (a lot more good than bad ones).

However, ZOOM is really NOT to be considered the future of 21st century zoos. It looks good and has created some truly beautiful landscaping but it neglects two extremely important aspects of a modern zoo (in fact the most importants ones): Education and Conservation.

ZOOM is all about adventure and expereinces and not education. It is really a shame but I don't really think that visitors leave this zoo with a better understanding of the natural world, except perhaps from observing a few of the animals at ZOOM. There signage is crap and there are no exhibitions (interactive or otherwise) about animal behavour, environment, etc. Many of the children seemed only interested in the playgrounds of which there are many.

This leads me to my next point: I did not spot the word "conservation" once when I visited ZOOM. It is not mentioned if the animals or their environment is endangered, even though ZOOM has every possibilty to create some awesome exhibitions! The biodiversity at the zoo also consists solely of mammals and birds even so the zoo has SO much more space for many endangered species of reptiles and amphibians. So once again there is a lack of education when visitors go home thinking that Africa is all big mammals.

Also, I did not see any indication that ZOOM is supporting any in-situ conservation projects. A job which should be an obligation for all serious 21st century zoos!

I am not saying that ZOOM isn't a good zoo but it should be so much more. And I would choose a visit to at least 30 other zoos in Europe (that I have seen) above ZOOM any day.

Hope this answer is good enough Now, will you be sending me my million dollars via PayPal, or..?

Thanks guys for great explanations. Signage and education are major components of top-class zoos, and if ZOOM lacks both then that would significantly affect my opinion of the establishment. Conservation and education should indeed be just about the two biggest goals of any zoological park, and thus it is interesting that ZOOM fails in those categories.

The positive aspects of the zoo are that there are apparently zero old-style, outdated cages that are unfortunately still present at loads of other major zoos. Many of the enclosures are very natural-looking, thus creating realistic landscapes that might inspire visitors to become more aware of conservation around the globe. But if the zoo doesn't have appropriate signage and interactive methods of engaging the public then the conservation method will be lost.

I totally sympathise with and appreciate your thoughts on education and conservation, Toddy, but in all honesty I have to say that I believe that 99% of all attempts at education are lost on the zoo visitors. It is just a gut feeling and I have no research to quote, but it is my honest belief.

Just like you said: "Many of the children seemed only interested in the playgrounds of which there are many."

Would those children have wanted to read any informative signs or have their parents explain them?

I believe that to most people zoos are considered places of entertainment to which you bring your kids, because kids in general are supposed to "like animals". Most of their parents are pretty much uninterested in the experience and the kids usually want to spend about 10 seconds per exhibit. This is what I observe when I visit zoos.

Sure - sometimes you see middle-aged or old couples, without children, visiting the zoo because they are genuinely interested. And sometimes you see the odd single visitor (young or old), most often with a camera, studying a single exhibit for 20 minutes. But those are the exceptions, I will suggest.

In short, I believe that people like us here at ZooChat form an extreme minority/subculture and that you and other members at the site somewhat exaggerate the educational value of zoos. Especially any attempt at education via signs or any other "formal" educational tool.

I would love to be wrong, but this is what I believe.

@Dan: Is this a reason just to give up then? You have a point but 99% is way overestimated. And I am not talking about replacing all the playgrounds with signs. Education can be made fun too and that is one of the real challenges for 21st century zoos. Even playgrounds can be made somewhat educational if an effort is put into it.

For example in Copenhagen Zoo where the whole playground is about children comparing themselves to the animals, such as "how far can I swing compared to a gibbon" or "how fast can I run compared to a gazelle" or "how long can I jump compared to a snow leopard or kangaroo".

I am not saying that it is easy to make good and interesting signage but it can be done. And just for the record I often hear young kids asking their mum/dad to explain what the sign says. The problem is that such kids have short attention spans so when constantly provided with playgrounds and "amusements" they ignore the animals. If the place wasn't littered with play stuff the kids would look at the animals more.

It is also quite possible to educate and entertain at the same time with some interactive displays. As an example Odense Zoo has just opened a HUGE new aviary (pictures comming soon) where flamingoes, pelicans, hamerkops and cattle egrets, among others, live. There is a small education station where kids can attempt to "fish" with replicas of these birds' beaks. The kids learn in a great way how flamingoes catch krill, pelicans catch fish, etc. The interactive display is supported by easy-to-understand signs and the kids love it!

So, like I said earlier: It is not easy to make good education but it is possible! And this is where ZOOM fails completely without even trying.

Good answer - let´s hope that I am being to pessimistic!