Sometimes it seems completely ridiculous why some zoos are incredibly popular and others not. Tierpark Nordhorn is such a success story. This zoo is only 12 hectares and keeps about 100 species/domestic races. In fact over 1/3 of the whole collection is composed of domestics and half of the zoos area is devoted to them. This doesn't sound nice to the average zoochatter, but is in fact key to its current success. And successful it is, with 460.000 visitors in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, this zoo gets far more visitors than established zoos with lots of megafauna like Magdeburg and Halle. It also outmaneuvers nearby Rheine, which is a darling of most zoo fans (and for good reason). Nordhorn is certainly not a zoo on the top of the must see list of most zoochatters, but it also doesn't aim to be. That doesn't mean that this is a standard zoo unworthy of any attention. I would argue that it is in fact a special zoo that is very good at what it wants to be and knows how to be attractive. It does so while still taking the roles of a modern zoo seriously, including good husbandry, conservation and education. I visited this zoo for the first time this month and I was long doubting whether the journey would be worth it or whether I should just revisit Rheine instead. I am glad I did actually visit and while it is not a zoo that I personally love a lot, it did get me thinking on how such a small establishment could become so successful. I did therefore enjoy my visit, even if, with some exceptions, it doesn't necessarily cater for the zoo nerd I am.
Location, location, location
A key reason for its success is the location and while that is not something that is easily changed, you still need to turn it into a strenght by catering for your potential market. While Nordhorn is a standard small German city with the biggest nearby German city being Osnabrueck over 80 km away, it has a big home base. During my visit the zoo had more Dutch visits than German visits. Being located right near the border near the region of Twente is not a bad location to be. Twente has over 600.000 inhabitants and lacks a zoo of any kind. The nearest major zoos are Burgers' Zoo and Wildlands, which are both about 1 hour away. While 1 hour is nothing for an American, a Dutch person would consider it a long drive. Not so strange if you live in such a compact country. This means Nordhorn is the nearest zoo for a large number of people and it knows how to cater for them. For a big zoo, people would still travel, but for a short visit or a fun afternoon out with the kids, you don't want to spend a long time in the car. Then Nordhorn is a perfect alternative to all the big hitters that do have giraffes, elephants and the like.
Get cosy with the locals
Being a small zoo without any megafauna (the biggest ABC are zebra, leopard and wolf and the zoo's only primates are squirrel monkeys) you are unlikely to attract many visitors from far away. That means you need a good reputation on your home turf so that the locals will keep on visiting. Nordhorn does make a big thing of working locally. A large part of the zoo is taken up by the "Vechtehof" which is a traditional farm area housing a large variety of local (and often endangered) domestic breeds. Additionally most in situ conservation projects it supports are locally. It owns several small nature reserves and manages grazing herds of (local) domestic breeds in other local reserves (for non-Europeans: grazing by domestic breeds is a crucial management component in many European nature reserves). Nordhorn really pays a lot of attention on being a local zoo and has several partnerships with local (conservation) organizations, including the local beekeeper association. For some reason many zoos still don't seem to understand that honeybees are domestics and are in fact a threat to indigenous wild bee populations (which is a diverse group of close to 400 species in the Netherlands alone). Nordhorn is far from the only zoo to promote beekeeping as a conservation measure, but if it has the opposite effect, that is rather sad.
Think about amenities and looks
What struck me during my visit is how well-maintained the non-enclosure areas of the zoo were. Clean proper pathways and attractive planting at most points make for a pleasant visit, at least for me. This is also applied in most enclosures. Most enclosures have relatively low-key barriers that are smartly designed to look unobtrusive and offer close up views of the inhabitants. Chain links with wooden poles, the standard in many smaller zoos, is present but far less prevalent and always in combination with better viewing options. In the bigger enclosures it is also clear that sightlines were considered, crossviewing is mostly limited, even while larger exhibits have multiple viewing options. Sightlines are important in a zoo and that Nordhorn cares is immediately visible after entering. The first view after the entrance is of a panorama with from front to back: sliders, prairie dogs and wood bison.
Looks are not all, having good visitor amenities also helps. With 2 restaurants in the zoo, multiple playgrounds, multiple food stands and even a butcher shop selling meat from Nordhorn managed cows and pigs, there is plenty of good options to choose from (and for the zoo plenty to make money from). This is something many other German zoos fail to grasp: to have good zoo restaurants (preferably not leased out) is a cash cow. Looking at successful commercial zoos like Pairi Daiza and Beauval, the number of places to buy food or toys is nearly uncountable, but it seems to work. I am still surprised so many smaller places haven't invested in it and even many big European zoos still have a lot to learn. Sometimes the Americans do get stuff right
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Get close to the animals
It sounds obvious, but people go to the zoo to see animals, preferably without too much hassle and close views. Petting zoos are maybe despised by many zoochatters, but are a great way for (young) people to interact with animals, and for most zoos a perfect addition. Walkthroughs can be similarly effective, as a barrier-free view can make all the difference. Nordhorn has no shortage of barrier free enclosures with walkthroughs for prairie dogs, Vietnamese sika deer, three walkthrough aviaries and a walk-in vulture + ibex aviary. In addition special zoo food can be bought to feed a selection of the animals. While I am personally no fan of that, it is a success for most visitors. This really is a zoo focused on families with (small) kids and kids really need to see an animal up-close to appreciate it and are not great at searching. The enclosures which cannot be entered still offer close-up views as visual barriers are kept to a minimum and wide moats are lacking completely. Moats would be a waste of space in such a small zoo anyway. Glass viewing panels are the standard in most places here. It was surprising to see how popular even porcupines can be if displayed well. Nordhorn has them in a spacious exhibit, with quite a minimal barrier and has a larger group, which can be fed. Even visitors that were not feeding them paused here, as there was always a flurry of activity and the den could also be seen up-close. Is this optimal husbandry for the animals, I don't know, but for the visitors it was an exhibit that clearly worked.
And what about us zoochatters?
While Nordhorn is clearly not a zoo designed for zoo nerds with an appetite for wild, as opposed to domestic, animals, preferably with some rarities and no meerkats, there is still something on offer. Enclosure quality is certainly above average and only the leopards and seals have a real reason to complain. After the chimps have left the zoo, the leopards are in for an upgrade soon and the zoo has also plans for a new seal enclosure, which is good news. Most other species have fine to surprisingly good enclosures. The meerkat - yellow mongoose enclosure in particular looks very good. It is spacious and not overcrowded, so it still has a large variety of plants and is designed around a small hill to limit crossviewing:
Most well-known is the Siberian ibex, griffon vulture and waldrapp aviary, at 1200 square metres it is not particularly large for the ibexes, but for a small group it suffices. After 20 years this exhibit holds up surprisingly well and is still relatively unique.
With such a small zoo, collection choices are inevitable and choosing what to display and what not has big consequences. It is no surprise that meerkats, prairie dogs, coati (white-nosed for us), greater mara and red-necked wallaby are present, being easy to display and popular small species. In recent years there has however been a small refocusing on additionally displaying more (locally) endangered species. In recent years Kafue flats lechwe, ochre-marked parakeet (brilliant birds!), Vietnamese sika deer and garden dormouse were added to the collection, specifically to keep more endangered species. The sika deer are kept in a (formerly S-American) walkthrough and show how easy endangered cervids can be kept without much extra investment and while still being attractive. The garden dormouse are in the farm area and have a large nocturnal exhibit with loads of dormice.
While the dormice are nice, it would be nice to see more wild species in the farm area of the zoo. There are plenty of opportunities for species like barn owl, beech marten, small passerines and other animals that live in close association with humans. For now the half of the zoo that is devoted to farm animals only has two wild species: the dormouse and European pond turtles. That seems like a huge missed opportunity. It would make the zoo more attractive to a different demographic of visitors and is a great tool for storytelling about human - animal relationships.
The zoo also seems to have a good working educational program for kids and apart from local conservation actions Nordhorn also supports drill conservation in Africa, so it really seems to take the roles of a modern zoo seriously. I was also glad to see that the zoo is very open that it slaughters its own domestic animals (including endangered breeds) to feed zoo animals (and visitors). It even has a sign on how this is in cases a necessary conservation measure, calling it saving breeds by eating them.
Our friend Anthony Sheridan even invented a new category of zoos to give Tierpark Nordhorn a prize as best zoo of something. While I have a dislike of such rankings, I do agree with Sheridan that Nordhorn is excellent at what it wants to be. It is clear that this zoo has a clear vision of what it aims to be and how to get there. A real vision is the basis for any success anywhere and even if you dislike Nordhorn, you cannot deny it is successful in what it does.
So should every zoochatter now rush to western Germany and do a zoo day of Rheine + Nordhorn? I personally think that would be a day well spent, but is probably not something that will happen. After seeing close to 200 European zoos I have lost the necessity to rush to certain zoos for rarities and most of the standard stuff design-wise I have seen by now. I still have a wishlist of about 40 zoos in Europe that I would really like to see and Nordhorn was never on that list. Still I had a surprisingly good visit, as Nordhorn was a zoo that got me thinking about how it could be that such a low-key (and from afar uninteresting) zoo, could be such a pleasant visit. Taking this step back and just musing about zoos is becoming just as interesting as visiting such new zoos and I can only advice you to do the same . So next time in a zoo, take a step back and think about the why when looking at species, enclosures and general zoo design 
.
Location, location, location
A key reason for its success is the location and while that is not something that is easily changed, you still need to turn it into a strenght by catering for your potential market. While Nordhorn is a standard small German city with the biggest nearby German city being Osnabrueck over 80 km away, it has a big home base. During my visit the zoo had more Dutch visits than German visits. Being located right near the border near the region of Twente is not a bad location to be. Twente has over 600.000 inhabitants and lacks a zoo of any kind. The nearest major zoos are Burgers' Zoo and Wildlands, which are both about 1 hour away. While 1 hour is nothing for an American, a Dutch person would consider it a long drive. Not so strange if you live in such a compact country. This means Nordhorn is the nearest zoo for a large number of people and it knows how to cater for them. For a big zoo, people would still travel, but for a short visit or a fun afternoon out with the kids, you don't want to spend a long time in the car. Then Nordhorn is a perfect alternative to all the big hitters that do have giraffes, elephants and the like.
Get cosy with the locals
Being a small zoo without any megafauna (the biggest ABC are zebra, leopard and wolf and the zoo's only primates are squirrel monkeys) you are unlikely to attract many visitors from far away. That means you need a good reputation on your home turf so that the locals will keep on visiting. Nordhorn does make a big thing of working locally. A large part of the zoo is taken up by the "Vechtehof" which is a traditional farm area housing a large variety of local (and often endangered) domestic breeds. Additionally most in situ conservation projects it supports are locally. It owns several small nature reserves and manages grazing herds of (local) domestic breeds in other local reserves (for non-Europeans: grazing by domestic breeds is a crucial management component in many European nature reserves). Nordhorn really pays a lot of attention on being a local zoo and has several partnerships with local (conservation) organizations, including the local beekeeper association. For some reason many zoos still don't seem to understand that honeybees are domestics and are in fact a threat to indigenous wild bee populations (which is a diverse group of close to 400 species in the Netherlands alone). Nordhorn is far from the only zoo to promote beekeeping as a conservation measure, but if it has the opposite effect, that is rather sad.
Think about amenities and looks
What struck me during my visit is how well-maintained the non-enclosure areas of the zoo were. Clean proper pathways and attractive planting at most points make for a pleasant visit, at least for me. This is also applied in most enclosures. Most enclosures have relatively low-key barriers that are smartly designed to look unobtrusive and offer close up views of the inhabitants. Chain links with wooden poles, the standard in many smaller zoos, is present but far less prevalent and always in combination with better viewing options. In the bigger enclosures it is also clear that sightlines were considered, crossviewing is mostly limited, even while larger exhibits have multiple viewing options. Sightlines are important in a zoo and that Nordhorn cares is immediately visible after entering. The first view after the entrance is of a panorama with from front to back: sliders, prairie dogs and wood bison.
Looks are not all, having good visitor amenities also helps. With 2 restaurants in the zoo, multiple playgrounds, multiple food stands and even a butcher shop selling meat from Nordhorn managed cows and pigs, there is plenty of good options to choose from (and for the zoo plenty to make money from). This is something many other German zoos fail to grasp: to have good zoo restaurants (preferably not leased out) is a cash cow. Looking at successful commercial zoos like Pairi Daiza and Beauval, the number of places to buy food or toys is nearly uncountable, but it seems to work. I am still surprised so many smaller places haven't invested in it and even many big European zoos still have a lot to learn. Sometimes the Americans do get stuff right
.Get close to the animals
It sounds obvious, but people go to the zoo to see animals, preferably without too much hassle and close views. Petting zoos are maybe despised by many zoochatters, but are a great way for (young) people to interact with animals, and for most zoos a perfect addition. Walkthroughs can be similarly effective, as a barrier-free view can make all the difference. Nordhorn has no shortage of barrier free enclosures with walkthroughs for prairie dogs, Vietnamese sika deer, three walkthrough aviaries and a walk-in vulture + ibex aviary. In addition special zoo food can be bought to feed a selection of the animals. While I am personally no fan of that, it is a success for most visitors. This really is a zoo focused on families with (small) kids and kids really need to see an animal up-close to appreciate it and are not great at searching. The enclosures which cannot be entered still offer close-up views as visual barriers are kept to a minimum and wide moats are lacking completely. Moats would be a waste of space in such a small zoo anyway. Glass viewing panels are the standard in most places here. It was surprising to see how popular even porcupines can be if displayed well. Nordhorn has them in a spacious exhibit, with quite a minimal barrier and has a larger group, which can be fed. Even visitors that were not feeding them paused here, as there was always a flurry of activity and the den could also be seen up-close. Is this optimal husbandry for the animals, I don't know, but for the visitors it was an exhibit that clearly worked.
And what about us zoochatters?
While Nordhorn is clearly not a zoo designed for zoo nerds with an appetite for wild, as opposed to domestic, animals, preferably with some rarities and no meerkats, there is still something on offer. Enclosure quality is certainly above average and only the leopards and seals have a real reason to complain. After the chimps have left the zoo, the leopards are in for an upgrade soon and the zoo has also plans for a new seal enclosure, which is good news. Most other species have fine to surprisingly good enclosures. The meerkat - yellow mongoose enclosure in particular looks very good. It is spacious and not overcrowded, so it still has a large variety of plants and is designed around a small hill to limit crossviewing:
Most well-known is the Siberian ibex, griffon vulture and waldrapp aviary, at 1200 square metres it is not particularly large for the ibexes, but for a small group it suffices. After 20 years this exhibit holds up surprisingly well and is still relatively unique.
With such a small zoo, collection choices are inevitable and choosing what to display and what not has big consequences. It is no surprise that meerkats, prairie dogs, coati (white-nosed for us), greater mara and red-necked wallaby are present, being easy to display and popular small species. In recent years there has however been a small refocusing on additionally displaying more (locally) endangered species. In recent years Kafue flats lechwe, ochre-marked parakeet (brilliant birds!), Vietnamese sika deer and garden dormouse were added to the collection, specifically to keep more endangered species. The sika deer are kept in a (formerly S-American) walkthrough and show how easy endangered cervids can be kept without much extra investment and while still being attractive. The garden dormouse are in the farm area and have a large nocturnal exhibit with loads of dormice.
While the dormice are nice, it would be nice to see more wild species in the farm area of the zoo. There are plenty of opportunities for species like barn owl, beech marten, small passerines and other animals that live in close association with humans. For now the half of the zoo that is devoted to farm animals only has two wild species: the dormouse and European pond turtles. That seems like a huge missed opportunity. It would make the zoo more attractive to a different demographic of visitors and is a great tool for storytelling about human - animal relationships.
The zoo also seems to have a good working educational program for kids and apart from local conservation actions Nordhorn also supports drill conservation in Africa, so it really seems to take the roles of a modern zoo seriously. I was also glad to see that the zoo is very open that it slaughters its own domestic animals (including endangered breeds) to feed zoo animals (and visitors). It even has a sign on how this is in cases a necessary conservation measure, calling it saving breeds by eating them.
Our friend Anthony Sheridan even invented a new category of zoos to give Tierpark Nordhorn a prize as best zoo of something. While I have a dislike of such rankings, I do agree with Sheridan that Nordhorn is excellent at what it wants to be. It is clear that this zoo has a clear vision of what it aims to be and how to get there. A real vision is the basis for any success anywhere and even if you dislike Nordhorn, you cannot deny it is successful in what it does.
So should every zoochatter now rush to western Germany and do a zoo day of Rheine + Nordhorn? I personally think that would be a day well spent, but is probably not something that will happen
. After seeing close to 200 European zoos I have lost the necessity to rush to certain zoos for rarities and most of the standard stuff design-wise I have seen by now. I still have a wishlist of about 40 zoos in Europe that I would really like to see and Nordhorn was never on that list. Still I had a surprisingly good visit, as Nordhorn was a zoo that got me thinking about how it could be that such a low-key (and from afar uninteresting) zoo, could be such a pleasant visit. Taking this step back and just musing about zoos is becoming just as interesting as visiting such new zoos and I can only advice you to do the same . So next time in a zoo, take a step back and think about the why when looking at species, enclosures and general zoo design .
