The new Australian house, formerly the great ape house, will open around the end of July, an exact date isn't known yet. This depends on when exactly the koala arrive from Australia and can go out of quarantine.
The species line-up is proving to be exciting and wholly mammal-focused. The Wilhelma has one of the largest zoo collections in the world and there are plenty of rare birds and ectotherms. But until now the mammal department was sizeable but without many rarities. This will change as the following species have been confirmed for the Australia house:
- Koala (2.2 imported from Australia)
- Goodfellow's tree kangaroo (1.0 from Beauval (*2020) already arrived)
- Kowari (1.1 already arrived in 2022)
- Spinifex hopping mouse
- Eastern quoll
- Sugar glider
- Red rat kangaroo
But potentially more excitingly, there is an outdoor enclosure for an unspecified small kangaroo species and with the koala a second "secret" species will be imported from Australia. There has been talk of quokka being planned in the early stages, so who knows....
Additionally if greater bilby ever make it to Europe, they will come to Stuttgart too.