Berlin Tierpark Tierpark Berlin News 2019

[markmeier]

@Tim May: Fortunately, none of your favourite sculptures has been removed.

In my opinion, most notable losses at Tierpark are said mosaic and the fairy tale style climbing frame at the main playground.

Copyright (for both pictures): Lotse/ Wiki Commons

Having said that, the climbing frame apparently didn't meet security regulations for playgrounds (shoelaces or other cords could get stuck in the small gaps between the actual frame and the various little sculptures). And the mosaic of course wouldn't go so well with the new style of the main entrance. I hope that all artworks are stored appropriately and may find a new place where they fit better. For example, the climbing frame could well serve to decorate the future fairy tale themed Europe area of the park. Instead of children some roses (a possible reference to "Dornröschen"/ sleeping beauty) or other not too bushy plants could climb the structure there...

In general, I do like the way many areas of the Tierpark have developed, however, even though I appreciate some of the criticism.

 

[13700]

Excusme , why both Berlin zoo and tierpark have house alfred ? Details please , when costruction news exhibit of the masterplan 2030 of tierpark Berlin ?

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Excusme , why both Berlin zoo and tierpark have house alfred ?

They don't - only Tierpark contains an Alfred-Brehm Haus.

Details please , when costruction news exhibit of the masterplan 2030 of tierpark Berlin ?

This is probably a question best left to @markmeier to answer - I've seen information on the future masterplans on the German zoo forum "Zoofreunde" but he would be much more capable of tracking it down for you.

 

[markmeier]

It is hardly possible to give a satisfactory answer about exact schedules etc. Things constantly change. Particularly with the big projects, there is a lot of delay for numerous reasons. At the same time, however, there is a whole lot of minor projects which are developing and taking shape along the way. Many of these actually already have been completed, including various animal exhibits.

It is perhaps easiest to look at the separate continents/ areas. But I will deal with them one at a time.

North America:
Right at the main entrance, there have been some visible changes.

-The former aviary for Golden Eagles has been extended and transformed into an enclosure for New World Porcupines and Prairie Dogs.
Picture from July 2016:

Copyright Tierpark Berlin

-European and American bisons swapped enclosures, so now American Wood Bisons greet visitors together with American White Pelicans. The surrounding area has been remodelled in the process.
Video from October 2018:

-The area around the Polar Bear enclosure has also been remodelled. The exhibit itself is to be expanded by a second area with natural ground, but there is no details as to how or when. In fact, Tierpark Berlin plans to collect funds for this beginning in 2020.

-Last but not least, the old open air arena has been repaired and redesigned to resemble a North American trapper village of gold rush times. This is where Tierpark now hosts a flight show with various owls and birds of prey (not exlusively from North America).
Video from November 2016:

Of course, there are further plans (e.g. for the two exhibits now occupied by Spectacled Bears as well as the exhibit of the European Bisons). As of today, I don't know too many details about this, though. Not to mention, actual schedules.

 

[markmeier]

South America:
This part of the future Tierpark has only seen minor developments, while ambitious plans wait in the drawer.

-The former enclosures for Peccaries and Wild Boars have been combined into a newly designed exhibit for Chacoan Peccary. So now there is space for two breeding groups. This complex is complemented by a small aviary for Chaco Owls.

-The exhibits for Vicuñas and Guanacos have received additional animals from South America (Darwin Nandus and Patagonian Maras).

-The adjacent main restaurant of the park has been remodelled as well in an effort to both emphasis the historic origin of the listed building and incorporate the spirit of a South American market place. Some of the fish tanks in the building also pick up this South America theme, particularly two new cylindrical fish tanks dominated by Discus Fish and Tetras respectively.
Picture from July 2016:

Copyright Tierpark Berlin

As far as I know, this complex is to receive further additions in the future. There even are plans for a large Amazon building (e.g. for Manatee, Jaguar etc) and the huge bird aviary also is to present various birds from South America. Unfortunately, again there isn't any details nor schedules at hand.

 

[markmeier]

Australia:
This is a rather quick one. There havn't been any major changes (only tiny details at the walk-through-exhibit and the adjacent second kangaroo enclosure. And again, I don't know of any details or schedules for future developments. I only remember that Koalas have been mentioned in this context.

 

[13700]

Ok thank you

 

[markmeier]

Africa:
This is one of the most exciting areas at the moment, if not THE most exciting one of all. Some exhibits have already been remodelled and there is a lot more in the pipeline...

-The Hyena exhibits received a fresh design and look more naturalistic now.

-The same goes for the walk-through-exhibit for Ruffed Lemures.

-The Giraffe building received a new exterior design.

-Right now plans are finalized to improve/ remodel the enclosures for Penguins, Cheetahs and Vultures/ Birds of Prey (the huge aviary right next to the Brehm building. These things should still be implemented this year or at least no later than 2020.

-Still more spectacular though are plans for a huge(!) savannah enclosure and a heavily restructured Elephant building with a glass roof. Apparently a "giraffe walk" is to connect both projects. Unfortunately, there could be some delay again. According to the original plans, work should begin this year. Some elephants will leave Tierpark by August to make space. But I still think, major work won't begin before 2020 (if not even later).

-The new lion enclosure was supposed to be realized quite soon. But I think it will be postponed, as other projects gained higher priority.

 

[markmeier]

Asia:
This is quite a complex one.

-There habe been minor achievements such as the remodelled Gibbon islands.

-Obviously, Brehm building is the biggest ongoing project. Unfortunately, there always is delay with this building. Just recently, a visitor asked Mr. Knieriem, when the building or parts of it will be presented. The answer: "The Sun Bear enclosure should definitely open this year." So let's hope, all will be ready by next year. The known details have already been mentioned earlier in this thread.

-The creation of the Himalayas area should also start soon. So far, however, nothing has happened and I don't know anything about the new schedule.

-There will be still more Asian areas, but again there aren't too many details about that (lists with potential species often prove little more than a rough orientation). I remember that Orang Utans are to complement the collection in the not so near future.

 

[markmeier]

Europe:
As with Australia, there is hardly any recent development or information. This section (or at least a part of it) is to receive a fairy tale theme, so I would imagine some native forest animals such as deer, wolves etc could find a place here.

Overarching Projects:
Of course, there have been and will be also some projects which don't fall into any of the large continents/ regions or which combine several of them.

-Kindertierzoo: Historically, this part of the Tierpark presented a small tour through the continents on its own with animals attractive for children (e.g. Red Pandas from Asia, Porcupines from Africa, Racoons from North America, Guinea Pigs and other small rodents from South America, Dingos and Budgies as well as other birds from Australia and so on). As all these are going to find a new place across the park, this area is going to present domesticated animals from all over the globe ("Farmen der Welt"). Again, I don't know, when this will happen. As of today, a lot of fences disappeared behind wood elements and a pig enclosure turned into a walk-through-exhibit for rabbits. Besides that, the Petting Zoo received a resting area for the animals (sheep and goats) and some equipment for brushing and cleaning up.

Picture from 2017:

Copyright Tierpark Berlin

-Just as important for many children and families, the main playground was remodelled and expanded by a water section particularly for hot weather, whereas a second new playground was constructed near the main restaurant.

Pictures from August 2016:

Copyright Tierpark Berlin

-The second large restaurant "Terrassencafé" received a new name "Café Kakadu" and a corresponding bird theme as well as refurbished inside and outside areas and remodelled bird aviaries.

Copyright Tierpark Berlin

-The Tierpark also purchased a new electric train, carrying the visitors closer to some of the attractions free of charge (although the train needs charging and unfortunately doesn't go the large round up the mountain area as did the old Diesel train).

Copyright Tierpark Berlin

-The main administration building is currently being refurbished and should be back in use some time this year. Then the present office rooms inside the historic castle can be used for other purposes (perhaps they will be accessible by the public as are various parts of the castle).

-Besides that, the Tierpark is to implement new educational elements throughout the park, while infrastructure such as toilets is to be modernized or replaced.

 

[markmeier]

Conclusion:
As stated before, there is little specific information for the time being. With most of the projects, there is few details and hardly any reliable schedules. As you can tell particularly with regards to the previous post, a strong focus lies on service for visitor and families in particular. As the park is huge and the large projects tend to take several years, the Master Plan will take decades to be implemented and a lot will be adjusted or possibly dropped along the process. Still, there is quite a lot to look forward to even in the not so distant future. In fact, I am quite happy about what has been achieved so far. Some years ago, securing funding for ambitious projects seemed virtually impossible. This only started to change under the old administration, but really picked up with Dr. Knieriem.

 

[vogelcommando]

Some birth-news : 2 Northern yellow-throated martens ( Martes flavigula aterrima ) born .

 

[vogelcommando]

European first-breeding for Tierpark Berlin : on June 29 an Arabic striped hyena was born .

 

[KevinB]

European first-breeding for Tierpark Berlin : on June 29 an Arabic striped hyena was born .

Unfortunately the pup has died. If I understand things well it was killed then eaten when a conflict occurred between the parents.

The article also states that the social interactions of striped hyenas aren't well known, so why did they even let the parents stay together once the pup was born?

I do believe that Tierpark Berlin made a mistake here that could and should have been prevented and one that the zoo ought to be investigated and given a stern warning for.

Baby-Hyäne von ihren Eltern aufgefressen

 

[Elephantelephant]

Unfortunately the pup has died. If I understand things well it was killed then eaten when a conflict occurred between the parents.

The article also states that the social interactions of striped hyenas aren't well known, so why did they even let the parents stay together once the pup was born?

I do believe that Tierpark Berlin made a mistake here that could and should have been prevented and one that the zoo ought to be investigated and given a stern warning for.

Baby-Hyäne von ihren Eltern aufgefressen

Right, the zoo made a mistake. But we can learn from mistakes. So maybe next time it will go well.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

The article also states that the social interactions of striped hyenas aren't well known, so why did they even let the parents stay together once the pup was born?

I do believe that Tierpark Berlin made a mistake here that could and should have been prevented and one that the zoo ought to be investigated and given a stern warning for.

It's too complex a situation for such a harsh and simplistic judgement of the situation; firstly, things like this happen in the wild too, especially with first-time breedings; secondly, when the exact dynamics of a situation are unclear, inaction can be the best option... if they had split the pair and the resulting stress had led to the mother killing the infant you'd be making the same judgements now; thirdly, demanding collections face punishment whenever an infant animal dies is something that only feeds into the anti-zoo lobby IMO.

 

[AthleticBinturong]

Infanticide is a natural thing amongst animals which happens for a multitude of reasons. Particularly with species like striped hyena who’s social behavior is not well studied, how can zoos be expected to rule out all possible cases of it?

 

[KevinB]

Right, the zoo made a mistake. But we can learn from mistakes. So maybe next time it will go well.

It's too complex a situation for such a harsh and simplistic judgement of the situation; firstly, things like this happen in the wild too, especially with first-time breedings; secondly, when the exact dynamics of a situation are unclear, inaction can be the best option... if they had split the pair and the resulting stress had led to the mother killing the infant you'd be making the same judgements now; thirdly, demanding collections face punishment whenever an infant animal dies is something that only feeds into the anti-zoo lobby IMO.

Infanticide is a natural thing amongst animals which happens for a multitude of reasons. Particularly with species like striped hyena who’s social behavior is not well studied, how can zoos be expected to rule out all possible cases of it?

I guess I was too fast and a little too harsh in my judgement of the situation and I do apologize for that mistake. Unfortunately I have a tendency to do that and I didn't think things through very well this time, and just went along with an angry reaction I read on Facebook.

What happened was very unfortunate but I think it's safe to assume the zoo never wanted or intended for this to happen. My intention certainly was not to call for undue action or feed into anti-zoo sentiments (which unfortunately I assume will be fed by this anyway).

How I really feel about this sad situation, and what I really should have said, is that I hope this incident is investigated so that all parties involved can learn from the mistakes made and hopefully prevent future events if the hyena pair breeds again.

Once more, my apologies for being too quick harsh in my statement and I hope this will do.

 

[Elephantelephant]

I wish them the next baby to be bred. Hyenas are fairly aggressive animals with complex hierarchy. They can even crush the bones !!! But any such case also means lessons to be learned.

 

[markmeier]

A well informed member of the German Schuelinforum wrote that apparently both hyena heavily competed for carrying the offspring in their mouth and neither one seemed to be willing to share this duty. So it could well be that the little one got killed accidentally in the heat of the moment. Of course, this also is just an observation/ interpretation. For as far as I unterstand the killing itself probably wasn't fully witnessed by the public and the dead pup was eaten before it could be examined.