Berlin Zoo BIG plans for Zoo Berlin

Bib Fortuna said:
To answer your last question: For the same reason the zoo berlin and other"world-famous"zoos promote elephants, tigers, polar bears, seals, penguins, giraffes...the people want to see them-and the people bring in the money, not the Kiwi,Aye-Aye or he Gerenuk...money what is needed to show also other species. See what is happening to a zoo who is not keeping these species...best example is the RSCC....
By the way-I think, even the smallest zoo has room enough to keep merkats and I never heard before that any zoos has stopped keeping another speices to get the space for a merkat exhibit...;) The first thing I would do If would take over a zoo without merkats would be buidling a merkat exhibit...
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Hello Bib Fortuna

I haven't said that Berlin Zoo should get rid of its elephants, tigers, polar bears, seals, penguins and giraffes, although I don't think that the same species should be kept at the Zoo and Tierpark, but that is a different subject.

What I was commenting on is the choice of animals to promote Berlin Zoo. I suspect that some visitors would expect to see the usual subjects; there are still people expecting to see elephants, polar bears, giant pandas and koalas at London Zoo. I also suspect that many children know about a greater range of animals than their parents do. Some recent books and TV programmes include animals that would have been ignored 20-30 years ago and some popular films have included clown fish, aye-ayes, fossas, warthogs and Spix's macaws. I wonder how many of the parents are really interested in animals and I have heard some children coming out with factual information that contradicts the misinformation of their parents.

A zoo's website is a means to attract people to the zoo and I feel that Berlin Zoo should have used more imagination when it chose its species. I would have thought that a website could include animals such as kiwis (a flightless bird with tiny wings and nostrils at the end of its beak), aye-ayes (an animal of many myths that was mistaken to be a rodent, but with a range of feeding adaptations) and gerenuks (an antelope with a long neck and legs that can stand on its hind legs to reach leaves). A photograph and some basic facts could attract visitors to see animals that are not in their local zoo.
 
Berlin Zoo BIG plans for Zoo Berlin

zoomaniac said:
Hello Dassie rat

I answer your first question with another question: Why travel people (specially women) a long way to buy stuff (clothes) that are available in their local town?
Then, as often said by others: Zoos use ABC-animals to promote theirselfes because ABC-visitors care for the money the zoos need. Elephants on the sign draw the masses, not tuataras! And even Zoo Berlin can not renounce on that.
And yes, I also believe that ABC-animals in zoos support the keeping of uncommon (and often also endangered) animals (that's sad, but the truth). I think this is also a reason why Rare Species Conservation Centre did not survive (= to few BIG ABC-animals).
Next: Butterflies do not belong to ABC-animals admittedly, but are interesting enough to stand for their own (in contrary to other species you mentioned). Butterfly houses all around the world prove that.
But have you ever heard of a tuatara or woodchuck only zoo? Why do you think nobody has opened such a "zoo" yet? (Sorry, sounds harsh, but should not be an offense in any way).
Finally: Don't forget that also ABC animals with a "special history" can draw ordinary zoo visitors (and sometimes zoo nerds too). And Berlin has had ("Knautsche", "Knut") and still has a few of them. And sometimes the same kind of animal can be interesting again when you can see it in a different exhibit...
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Hello Zoomaniac

I'll bow to your superior knowledge about shopping. I tend to find big shopping centres boring with only a few shops of any interest to me. I prefer smaller towns with quirky shops and second hand shops.
While I accept that zoos tend to use ABC animals in promotions, I have some zoo guides that show lesser known species on their covers. I also liked the way that Prague Zoo had several signs pointing to the gharial exhibit 6 years ago. London Zoo had several posters advertising tamanduas a few years ago. Sometimes it's the image that attracts. Also some very popular animals can make boring exhibits. Giant pandas, koalas and lions spend a lot of time resting, although I suspect that people would pay to see a black-and-white cushion in a giant panda enclosure.
I have been going through the International Zoo Yearbook and it seems that there are very few zoos that only display one species and I doubt if these would do well if a multi-species zoo were in the same area.
 
Berlin Zoo BIG plans for Zoo Berlin

Batto said:
@Dassie rat: what zoomaniac, Bib Fortuna and others already stated; sorry to poke holes into your laudable enthusiasm. Been there, know that feeling too well.
Zoo marketing focuses on the big crowd pleasures, with rare species randomly thrown in for a "freak of the week" effect or to promote a rare breeding success.
What Berlin Zoo could change though is update their animal information signs. I went to the Aquarium two weeks ago and was slightly surprised how little has improved over the years. I know that the zoo school and the zoo education team used to fight a trench war battle with the former director and hoped for the new one to stir up some things there for the better. Oh well...
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Hello Batto

I think you're right about Zoo marketing. I'd like it if the marketing team had their work proof-read. I have been to zoos where maps and guides show three-toed sloths, rather than two-toed sloths, posters that show animals that aren't at the zoo, labels showing the wrong animals (such as house mice being described as elephant shrews or a giant flying squirrel as a flying lemur) and books giving wrong information ('the emu is a member of the ostrich family'). Some zoos could ask staff members to check promotional material before it is printed, as misinformation reflects badly on zoos.

I agree with you about information labels. Labels containing a common and Latin name and a little map are generally boring, except to an extreme zoonerd and leads to visitors spending a few seconds looking for an animal and then moving on to the next enclosure. I doubt if they learn much from the experience.
 
Berlin Zoo BIG plans for Zoo Berlin

LaughingDove said:
The number of people who travel to somewhere that is any significant distance away just to see a zoo is absolutely tiny.
For the average person, a good zoo will - at the very most - slightly influence their decision to visit a place.
The vast majority of people think I'm absolutely bonkers when I say that I visited a place just to see a zoo and for no other reason.
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Hello Laughing Dove

I know the feeling. I visited Brno and asked a woman at the Tourist Information Centre for information about the zoo. "There are lots of animals there".
I have learned from experience that most people aren't interested in my zoo photos. They would prefer to know the name of a person in the photo, rather than the identity of a rare and/or unusual species.
 
Bib Fortuna said:
People do not visit zoos because of their buildings.By the way-the common zebras and eland at Berlin Zoo live in an arabian style house, but there are no zebras and elands in arabia-but nobody cares about that-did you ?

.
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The Arabian house was built in an age of zoos for entertainment and wonder not education.
There is no excuse nowadays for sloppy zoo management and selling misinformation.
To build a new exhibit, selling a lie, however small, is it a good thing?
 
I'm glad that the Berlin Zoo is going to try going for quality over quantity as while I like the idea of a place with a nice shiny collection, it's no fun when the exhibits are unsuitable for the animals.
 
Will the panda exhibit be opened this year ?
What is the status of the rennovation of the predator house ?

I'm going in october
 
LaughingDove said:
Just stepping into the discussion with a quick point:

The number of people who travel to somewhere that is any significant distance away just to see a zoo is absolutely tiny.
For the average person, a good zoo will - at the very most - slightly influence their decision to visit a place.
The vast majority of people think I'm absolutely bonkers when I say that I visited a place just to see a zoo and for no other reason.
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As a young child in a medium sized family, we had the, I assume common, tradition of the annual zoo visit. It took some years, but eventually we tired of Dudley and started venturing further afield. By the time we had outgrown the tradition we had covered the majority of the big name zoos in the Midlands. I assume this is a pattern many people follow. The presence of rare species would have had absolutely no impact on our decision.
 
This month a modification of the Raubtierhaus (Carnivore House) started. The plan is that this will be ready in the summer of 2019. Naturally designed enclosures are created with grids being replaced by glass and artificial rocks. By merging several former cages, there will eleven outside enclosures for lions (same location as now), tigers (same location as recently), jaguars (lake facing side), dwarf mongooses (between tigers and jaguars), Persian leopards (at the current jaguar/ocelot cages), small-lined mongooses, ring-tailed mongooses, sand cats jaguarundis and tayras (at their current locations) and servals (former enclosure of Bao Bao).
 
Says early 2019! Out of interest will the cat species be off show till then or are they moving elsewhere in the end? Do they still have their persian leopard?
 
zootiger said:
Says early 2019! Out of interest will the cat species be off show till then or are they moving elsewhere in the end? Do they still have their persian leopard?
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Offshow until then.

Think the last Persian died a bit ago!
 
longleat diego said:
When is the Carnivore house due to open? I'll be visiting in July will it be done by Then?
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Unfortunately, there will be a delay due to problems with the old building structures (after all these years of use the quality is still worse than expected).

According to the most recent update, the carnivore building won't reopen before Summer 2020...
 
A delay in Berlin for a construction???? Really??? Must be something completely new there....:D:D:p
 
Hello, I've never been to the zoo before but I'm visiting next week. Bit confused by the websites, can I just clarify if the nocturnal animals & the hippos are off-show? Also is the polar bear cub at the zoo or Tierpark (I assume they're different places?)

Thanks in advance!
 
Nocturnal animals are offshow but I don't think the hippos are :) and the polar bear cub is at Tierpark.
 
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