Best Chimpanzee enclosure in Germany

Best Chimpanzee enclosure in Germany?

  • Hannover

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Hellabrunn

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Berlin

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Leipzig

    Votes: 7 30.4%

  • Hodenhagen

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Magdeburg

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Osnabruck

    Votes: 16 69.6%

  • Karlsruhe

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Neuwied

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .
felis silvestris

felis silvestris

Well-Known Member
This is just a bit of fun to judge the general consensus on the best enclosure for Chimpanzees in Germany. I have added a few photos from the gallery to make it easier for members to compare the different exhibits. If anyone wants to make an argument for a particular enclosure, please feel free to do so. Also, I would encourage people to list the enclosures in order of what they think is best.

If you want to vote for Augsburg, Am Meer, Erlebniswelt, Gettorf, Heidelberg, Krefeld, Saarbrucken, Arche Noah, Halle, Landau, Schwaigern and Stralsund vote for the "Other" option in the poll.

Hannover

full


full


Hellabrunn

full


full


Berlin

full


full


Leipzig

full


full


Augsburg

full


full


Am Meer

full


full


Erlebniswelt

full


full


Gettorf

full


full


Heidelberg

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.

Hodenhagen

full


Krefeld

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.

Magdeburg

full


full


 
Last edited:
Osnabruck

full


full


Saarbrucken

full


full


Arche Noah

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.

Halle

full


full


Karlsruhe

full


full


Landau

full


Neuwied

full


full


Schwaigern

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.

Stralsund

Unfortunately there are no photos of this enclosure in the gallery. If someone can describe it or provide a photo that would be great.

Photo credits to @snowleopard @Toddy @HOMIN96 @German Zoo World @Maguari @vogelcommando @RonBurrgundy @Zebraduiker @wstefan @Paul Kalisch @MagpieGoose @lintworm @FunkyGibbon @twilighter

 
Some of these Chimpanzee exhibits are quite poor. Hannover's outdoors is too small and uninspiring and the indoors is inadequate. Saarbrucken, Gettorf and Landau are old-school cages. Hodenhagen has a small enclosure and during times of drought the chimps are kept locked indoors (which is off-show) because their watery moat becomes dangerously low. Erlebniswelt has that hideous red rock background and the indoors lacks any mulch or natural substrate on the ground. Am Meer looks to be almost entirely mock-rock.

Some of the others are okay, but it seems that Leipzig has its fans and the outdoor section does look brilliant. I'm voting for Osnabruck because the spacious outdoor yard has varied topography and the indoor zone is terrific with its skylights. The indoor area is better than what some zoos have for their outdoor enclosure!
 
I think the chimps in Krefeld are currently off show (or at least they were when I visited last month), as their new enclosure is currently being build (of course after their former was destroyed in the fire)
 
Actually I have issues naming a top enclosure as all have their weaknesses. There are top 4 for me, which clearly stand over others though:

#1 Leipzig - the enclosure is good but the group is way too big for the indoor enclosure in the meantime. Five chimps less and it would be a good #1

#2 Osnabrück - basically I love the indoor hall. However, the weakness of it was shown a few years ago when they had to split the group and they could not do that in winter (in summer they could split inside/outside). The outside enclosure is large but it's more of a gorilla enclosure, and it really has poor viewpoints.

#3/4 Hannover/Gelsenkirchen - both have solid outdoor enclosures but inside it's not good and very plastic.

I think in general all outside enclosures lack climbing possibilities.
 
Poll closed. Congratulations to Odnabruck for having the Best Chimpanzee enclosure in Germany. The large outdoors and great indoors gave it the lead over Leipzig in second. The par for Chimps is low here, as many enclosures are very poor for the apes.

Osnabruck: 69.6%
Leipzig: 30.4%
 
The are cool threads, @felis silvestris , but it would be even better to add a rough area of these exhibits from Google Earth. It is hard to tell on photos. For example, chimp exhibit in Hannover is tiny, even if it was enlarged two times from a very tiny one. But I doubt if anybody would propose it is the best one.
 
Jurek7 said:
The are cool threads, @felis silvestris , but it would be even better to add a rough area of these exhibits from Google Earth. It is hard to tell on photos. For example, chimp exhibit in Hannover is tiny, even if it was enlarged two times from a very tiny one. But I doubt if anybody would propose it is the best one.
Click to expand...
Ok, I shall do it with my next poll.
 
Jurek7 said:
The are cool threads, @felis silvestris , but it would be even better to add a rough area of these exhibits from Google Earth. It is hard to tell on photos. For example, chimp exhibit in Hannover is tiny, even if it was enlarged two times from a very tiny one. But I doubt if anybody would propose it is the best one.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you want to keep. For the group of five or six non breeding chimpanzees Hannover is absolutely big enough. I rather find the indoor exhibit in Leipzig (breeding group) crowded and also Osnabrück should not have more animals indoors.
 
I estimated sizes of exhibits in several zoos I never visited. I taken Google Earth, then used Street View inside the zoo, or found the zoo map online and seen where a given exhibit is. It works well, unless this part of the zoo is very heavily wooded.
 
Jurek7 said:
I estimated sizes of exhibits in several zoos I never visited. I taken Google Earth, then used Street View inside the zoo, or found the zoo map online and seen where a given exhibit is. It works well, unless this part of the zoo is very heavily wooded.
Click to expand...
It would take ages measuring every exhibit for each one and it already takes a while making these anyway so I've decided I probably won't do this.
 
Particularly for chimpanzees it's not worth it. You have so many different enclosures, coming from different ages and different puposes to keep the animals. You can subdivide the zoos into three categories:

a) active breeding groups: only Leipzig, Osnabrück and Gelsenkirchen (not sure about Schwaigern, I only take VdZ/EAZA zoos into account)

b) critical small keepers that might/probably end keeping chimpanzees after the current group: Augsburg (for sure), Stralsund, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Landau, Halle, Saarbrücken, Berlin Zoo

c) potential future breeders: Magdeburg, Krefeld, Neuwied, Hannover, possibly Hodenhagen
 
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