Best Polar Bear enclosure in Germany

Best Polar Bear enclosure in Germany?

  • Total voters
    35
  • 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 Polar Bears 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.

Tierpark Berlin

full


Am Meer

full


Zoom Erlebinswelt

full


Hagenbeck

full


Hannover

full


Karlsruhe

full


Hellabrunn

full


Neumunster

full


Nurnberg

full


Rostock

full


Photo credits to @lintworm @TheoV @zoogiraffe @Nasua @twilighter @snowleopard @Toddy
 
Neumunster, Tierpark Berlin and Hagenbeck (even though it's not very old) are all poor. My vote goes to Hannover as the combination of naturalism and human elements makes for a memorable exhibit. The wave machine churns up the water and it's arguably Hannover's best animal habitat.
 
Hannover is always leading to quarrels between zoo traditionalists and those who like a modern design, but this exhibit is brilliant. Size is good (picture only shows half of it or even less), the rough water is interesting - of course the animals don't care for the design, but the harbor setup and the large underwater viewing is outstanding. Usually you can see very active polar bears in there.Speaking for Hannover also is that this is an enclosure the visitor does not forget.

In general, like snowleopard already mentioned, the range in quality is very wide here. My second choice would have been Rostock, the third Gelsenkirchen. Afterwards there is a pretty big quality gap.
 
I think the Hagenbeck enclosure is the worst enclosure in Germany since it is build in 2010 and there is probably no expansion planned if you consider the lions didn't get one for like 100 years... It's only strength is the climbing opportunity / lookout for the bears.
Karlsruhe is defenatly not the best but is at least quite big and has some grass / natural substrate.
Neumünster looks bad but I've never been to the zoo so maybe it looks better in person.
Berlin is also bad but at least there is a huge pool for the bears to swim and most importantly an extention is planned.
The top spots for me are Gelsenkirchen, Hannover, Bremerhaven, Rostock and Nürnberg.
Hannover is my personal favourite but I heard that the new enclosure and enrichment in Rostock eliminated any form of stereotypical behavior. If that's really the case Rostock gets my vote but for now it's Hannover.
 
RonBurrgundy said:
Hannover is my personal favourite but I heard that the new enclosure and enrichment in Rostock eliminated any form of stereotypical behavior. If that's really the case Rostock gets my vote but for now it's Hannover.
Click to expand...

Stereotypical behaviour was for sure not completely eliminated in Rostock as I saw some during my visit. Rostock is pretty good, but I don't like that for the most part the bears are surrounded by high walls (the viewing opportunity on the picture is basically the only exception) so there is no feeling of space and the bears can't see much of what is going on around them.

I think an extension in Hagenbeck is planned for the near future on the place of the villa south of their exhibit.
 
lintworm said:
Stereotypical behaviour was for sure not completely eliminated in Rostock as I saw some during my visit. Rostock is pretty good, but I don't like that for the most part the bears are surrounded by high walls (the viewing opportunity on the picture is basically the only exception) so there is no feeling of space and the bears can't see much of what is going on around them.

I think an extension in Hagenbeck is planned for the near future on the place of the villa south of their exhibit.
Click to expand...
It doesn't surprise me that the Rostock bears haven't been "cured"... so Hannover will keep my vote.
But it's nice to hear that something is happening in Hamburg.
 
Yes but I'm sure the rock work is good for the bears. It offers a wide range of enrichment and is quite spacious. Ok maybe not as big as other offerings on this list, but I still wouldn't call any of these massive. They don't offer space close to the UK enclosures like Peak and Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
 
Poll closed. Congratulations to Hannover for having the Best Polar Bear enclosure in Germany. The themed Yukon Bay exhibit with a wave machine and a crane gave them the win. A mention again to Zoom who did well again in second. This is their first win as of yet.

Hannover: 57.1%
Zoom Erlebniswelt: 25.1%
Rostock: 5.7%
Am Meer: 5.7%
Nurnberg: 2.9%
Neumunster: 2.9%
 
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