Saarbrücken Zoo Saarbrucken Zoo

sooty mangabey

sooty mangabey

Well-Known Member
I would be interested to hear of any news from this strange zoo.

It is a place I have visited on many occasions in the past, but not for about three years.

For those who don't know it, it is the most un German of German zoos - shabby, scruffy, under-resourced. It does have a very good colection, though, with groups of drills and mandrills, some choice madagascan species, kiwi, gorilla and others. It also has a great site, in my opinion: hilly, wooded, on the edge of town. Saarbrucken is a great city, too, so it should be a good zoo - but it isn't! In some ways it reminds me of the way heidelberg was before Klaus Wunnemann took over there, about ten years ago. The fact that he has turned that zoo around gives hope for a place like Saarbrucken - although it does have an awfully long way to go. i'd say that it had about three good exhibits - gibbons, crab-eating macaques, corsac foxes. the rest ranged from the mediocre to the fairly awful.

It is extraordinary that the zoo doesn't even have a web site. I hear that they have a new guidebook; does anyone have this? Is it is a proper publication or just a leaflet?

Any news would be much appreciated!
 
They do have a nice guidebook published in 2007, its a real guidebook with around 100 pages and a jaguar on the cover. Its quite expensive, 8 euros....You forgot in your list of good exhibits the jaguar exhibit, its quite good and the formely elephant exhibit, which is now used for brazzilan tapirs. They also have agood red river hogs exhibit, whcih is new, it was included in 2008.

If I Have finshed to post the zoo berlin pics, I will post some picture sof saarbrücken zoo,which is not really a good zoo, but there are some resons for that.
 
Zebraduiker said:
saarbrücken zoo is not really a good zoo, but there are some resons for that.
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What do you think those reasons are?

Is the erstwhile director to blame, do you think?

The tapir enclosure is indeed okay - but there's an awful lot of rather ugly artificial rock work. The jaguars? Again, not bad - but nothing special, i don't think.
 
Zebraduiker said:
the formely elephant exhibit
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Can somebody tell me something about the elephants they had.
I bought a postcard with an African called Fatma
504_001.jpg
but can't find any information about her.
I emailed the zoo but didn't recieve an answer, while the message was read after 27 minutes!
 
Why are their gorillas (at Saarbruecken) not reproducing? An infertile male, handreared, asocial?
 
john said:
Why are their gorillas (at Saarbruecken) not reproducing? An infertile male, handreared, asocial?
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I don't know about the male's history, but the housing is pretty awful - although it would make an excellent enclosure for the zoo's drills or mandrills.

Visiting last month, on two separate days, I saw only the male and no sign of the two females. ISIS still lists 1.2. On each occasion, though, the male - who is named either Bosco or Pesco, I think - was by himself, adopting a pretty passive pose.

Here is a zoo which really doesn't have the facilities or the resources to maintain gorillas. With Amneville building a big new gorilla enclosure for 2012, less than an hour to the west, I'd have thought it was a good time for them to move out of this species.
 
Pesco was born and raised in the large gorilla family in Apenheul and therefore has the very best social background and upbringing a captive gorilla can have. He is surely not asocial and certainly not handraised. If he has any physical problems or if he is just too stressed in the small enclosure in Saarbrucken is something I don`t know.
 
sooty mangabey said:
Here is a zoo which really doesn't have the facilities or the resources to maintain gorillas. With Amneville building a big new gorilla enclosure for 2012, less than an hour to the west, I'd have thought it was a good time for them to move out of this species.
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Amneville are to have the male group recently formed at Valle de Singes with silverback Ya Kwanza(ex Jersey) plus four younger males from Stuttgart. But their website says they are building for two groups, so presumably they want a male/female mix for the 2nd group, in which case maybe it could happen?

Saarbruken's gorillas are a bit of a mystery-from the above it does sound like they need to be moved somewhere better, and also exchanges of individuals made as well if breeding is required.
 
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Nope, its most likely not the females. Originally they had two females from Zurich, Quenta and Ruya. None of them ever got pregnant in Saarbrucken. Then a few years ago Quenta was exchanged with Dura (from Rotterdam), and Dura is a proven breeder. But she never bred again in Saarbrucken.
 
Pesco future should be somewhere else than Saarbruecken. A new family setup in a green well equiped gorilla environnement should give clearness. Now his brother has taken over the possibilty, with not to much success.
When Pesco went to Germany Saarbruecken has announced a better situation for the gorilla group in their coming years. It has not been realized.
 
Yassa said:
Then a few years ago Quenta was exchanged with Dura (from Rotterdam), and Dura is a proven breeder. But she never bred again in Saarbrucken.
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Must be Pesco then- maybe he is infertile? It sounds a bit like 'Boulas' (ex Port Lympne bachelor male) who was at Belfast for a long time with mating but no breeding. Female Bikira quickly became pregnant when trasferred to Prague though.
 
Are the females still there? As I mentioned above, on recent visits they have not been obviously present.

This really isn't a good set up for gorillas. What makes it all very frustrating is that the zoo has the site to be excellent - lots of small valleys that might, if fenced off, make wonderful primate enclosures; also, the focus on building a seal pool when chimps and gorillas are so poorly housed is puzzling. If the zoo has previously promised to improve the gorilla housing, and has then gone back on that, as suggested above, it is indeed shameful.
 
That`s a general problem. Never, ever give a zoo animals with the promise that they`d improve accommodation soon. There are way too many examples even from well-recognized zoos to prove that this does not work. Or why do the elephants - a breeding group! - in Amsterdam still live in that horrendous small enclosure?! A zoo which wants to house a certain species should build first and THEN get the animals.
 
From what I`ve heard, Artis got animals fit for breeding (Thong Thai, Nicolai, Winthida as aunt) in 2003 in exchange for their old, non-breeding females under the condition that they`d improve housing soon. Which has not happened until now...
But that`s off topic here.
 
john said:
Pesco future should be somewhere else than Saarbruecken. . Now his brother has taken over the possibilty, with not to much success.
When Pesco went to Germany Saarbruecken has announced a better situation for the gorilla group in their coming years. It has not been realized.
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Can you explain the bit about his brother please?:confused:

I agree Saarbruken should not keep them if the promised new enclosure hasn't happened and isn't likely to materialise soon.
 
Since there has been nothing posted about this zoo...here are some news:
- the new seal pool was opened in october. it is bigger than the old pool and you have a underwater view and stands to sit and watch the feedings. Still a waste of money in my opinion, because for 3Mio euros u can expect more. the land part is rather small and the whole thing is made of concrete. it houses now 7 seals.
- like exposed in the masterplan, the zoo started with buildung a outdoor area for the gorillas, also they started to improve the current tortoise exhibit at the africa house.
- the old seal pool will be rebuild and humboldt penguins will move there next spring
- the reptiles are planned to be moved to the africa house, already there are the ringtailed mongooses.
- the zoo also plans to build a siberian tiger exhibit in the centre of the zoo, where deers and goats/sheep used to live, and also a black rhino savanna is in plans, in the east part of the zoo, where currently ponys and horses are displayed.

many plans, hopefully the zoo can manage to built towards a better future. the numbers show that the zoo and the city of sb is still in the red.
 
How will the enclosures of Pesco's Band (gorillas) be improved? What size will be the outdoor enclosure?

Ans what will be the future of Pesco, the wives?
An all male band?
 
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