Berlin Tierpark Tierpark Berlin News 2024

- Was it already known that 2.0 black and rufous sengi (elephant shrews) were bred in 2023?
- Otherwise, there was a stillbirth among the Mongoose macaques, which nevertheless represented the first offspring of the species at the zoo and raises hopes for the upcoming years.
- A Black bearded macaque died.
- There are now 2 females among the crested macaques.
- There are now 4,1 red and white giant flying squirrels (+2,0 from Schmiding/Austria).
- The Tierpark population of European ground squirrels has also been expanded. The park wants to breed them and then release them into the wild.
- The Bavarian pine voles are breeding very successfully (first German zoo breeding) and they gave some offspring to Berlin zoo for additional breeding.
The zoo now has 1.2 Yellow-throated Marten and 1.2 masked palm civets (the latter had previously been surprisingly sexed to 0.2 after they had long thought to have a breeding pair).
- The last Chinese water deer died.
- There were 1.2 Bawean deer from Poznan and there were 1.0 births.
- Only 1 out of 2 wildebeest calves were reared and 1.2 out of 8 young Thomson's gazelles.
- Among the gerenuks, 2 females and the offspring of 2023 died... (it seems like this just isn't working out - but they want to try breeding again for the time being)
 
Birds: Although some 14(!) holdings have been phased out, some populations have also been massively increased. In addition, this time there are, in my opinion, quite plausible and well-founded explanations of the priorities made. Overall, it even makes a far better impression than in earlier editions. I also heard they have a new bird curator by now which may explain this progress in approach.

The same applies to section of reptiles and amphibians (marginal changes, good explanations).

In the fish section, it was reported why the large reef tank is empty: presumably an unrecognised disease has almost completely wiped out the population. A real pity. Now the technology is being modernised and the tank should be back in operation later this year (if it isn't already back - however, last time I only saw an empty tank).
 
The statistics on the different animal populations are becoming increasingly difficult to follow up on. The long tables with the complete lists of their species including the exact size and sex of their populations are no longer available at all, not even for mammals and birds! At least, the overall figures can still be found on one page (without comparative figures, but now with figures on "imports" and "exports" within Germany, in Europe and globally.

Here is the data:
- Animals/species: 7,797/632 (2023: 8,055/639) --> overall rather smaller shifts (greatest dynamics due to invertebrates, see below)

- Mammals: 1,025/168 (1,023/168) --> marginal
- Birds: 1,201/189 (1,088/203) --> again 14 fewer species, but over 100 additional individuals (including many additions for the flamingos)
- Reptiles: 210/50 (229/53) --> slight decline (e.g. abandonment of African spurred tortoises)
- Amphibians: 167/13 (189/13) --> rather marginal
- Fish: 3,685/61 (3,688/57) --> marginal, despite losses in the large reef tank
- Invertebrates: 1,509/151 (1,838/145) --> a drop in the number of individuals (probably due to the reef tank)
 
The section on the construction projects is quite exciting(!):
- Apparently, Dan Dearlman took over the elephant project. They finished a number of projects in Berlin like the Panda Garden in Berlin Zoo. Completion is now scheduled for mid-2026.
- The research breeding centre for northern white rhino is now official. It seems like the plans are quite elaborate and they appear to really push them:
Location and Size: They want to use an area of about 3 hectares between the monkey house and the main restaurant in the north-east of the park (the buffalo exhibits will need to make room for this, may be some other exhibits as well). They want the design the exhibit(s) sub-dividable, rather spacious and naturalistic and visitors will indeed be able to look into them from several places. This is, if they ever successfully breed them.
There are also plans for a documentation centre on the topic of ‘species crisis and species protection’.
There also will be co-operation with the prestiguous IZW and the BioRescue science consortium.
Apparently, they already develop the plans to implement this project, even if parts of the funding are still being finalised. It is to be made up of own funds(?), state funds and possibly lottery money.
- The old snow leopard facility will indeed be allocated to the Sumatran tigers.
- As already indicated, the spectacled bears will also be socialised with the bush dogs. Previously unknown: In addition to the upgrading of the show enclosure, a new rear enclosure is also being built. Funding: Own funds and donations.
- With regard to the okapi enclosure, it is reported somewhat ambiguously that the enclosure has been remodelled ‘for the temporary accommodation of an okapi’. They say this is because the ‘okapi is being transferred from Zoo Berlin to Tierpark Berlin as part of a breeding programme’. Well...
In addition to various plantings in the outdoor area and in the visitor area, the boxes in the stable building have been combined to form a larger indoor space.
For a temporary story, this seems a bit elaborate in my opinion.
Who knows whether the lion exhibit planned to cover this area, will come here at all not to speak of the recent future (although at least the new trees could stay of course).
Or whether there will be okapis in the Tierpark (here or elsewhere in the grounds) in the longer term or indeed only temporarily. I haven't quite understood their plans yet...
 
markmeier said:
The research breeding centre for northern white rhino is now official. It seems like the plans are quite elaborate and they appear to really push them:
Location and Size: They want to use an area of about 3 hectares between the monkey house and the main restaurant in the north-east of the park (the buffalo exhibits will need to make room for this, may be some other exhibits as well). They want the design the exhibit(s) sub-dividable, rather spacious and naturalistic and visitors will indeed be able to look into them from several places. This is, if they ever successfully breed them.
Click to expand...
I probably misunderstood since I don't know much about the topic, but will the centre include northern white rhinos which will breed using AI or southern whites to generate sperm? I am most most likely misunderstanding the situation entirely so apologies if so.
 
As you can probably imagine, I find the rhino project particularly thrilling.

In my opinion, this would be an enormous opportunity for Berlin Tierpark. Basically, you would then have the 5 biggest attractions of the park on a string of pearls at the back of the park: monkey house, rhino complex, savannah, elephant complex and rainforest house. Close to this line are also the Himalayas, Otter Island and Lemur Forest.

In contrast, the front area of the park is going to fall off quite significantly. On the other hand, this huge area can and probably will be developed in the future. There is quite some potential (e.g. polar bears and seals, bird aviaries, the domestic animal area, at some point possibly even the Amazon house or perhaps a facility for apes. However, I guess none of this will be developed in the near future. Somehow, the rhinoceros project has moved out of nowhere/never-heard-of into pole position. So it won't be boring in Berlin even after the elephant house finally gets completed.
 
Rohin said:
I probably misunderstood since I don't know much about the topic, but will the centre include northern white rhinos which will breed using AI or southern whites to generate sperm? I am most most likely misunderstanding the situation entirely so apologies if so.
Click to expand...

They indeed plan to artificially breed Northern White Rhinos! But of course, there will be female Southern White Rhinos to develop the embryos and to nurse the offspring. Quite an ambitious (and somewhat crazy) project, but Berlin Tierpark is not the only zoo involved in this.
 
markmeier said:
They indeed plan to artificially breed Northern White Rhinos! But of course, there will be female Southern White Rhinos to develop the embryos and to nurse the offspring. Quite an ambitious (and somewhat crazy) project, but Berlin Tierpark is not the only zoo involved in this.
Click to expand...
That's fantastic! Hopefully it becomes successful for the subspecies.
 
markmeier said:
They indeed plan to artificially breed Northern White Rhinos! But of course, there will be female Southern White Rhinos to develop the embryos and to nurse the offspring. Quite an ambitious (and somewhat crazy) project, but Berlin Tierpark is not the only zoo involved in this.
Click to expand...
That’s nice to know but I do wonder how the rhinoceroses will get managed if breeding is successful. Southern white rhinoceroses are already taking over holding space, making it already difficult for other rhinoceros species. So I don’t think it will be easy for Northern white rhinoceroses when they will need holding space, unless the offspring get directly sent to the wild to be released.
 
markmeier said:
Somehow, the rhinoceros project has moved out of nowhere/never-heard-of into pole position. So it won't be boring in Berlin even after the elephant house finally gets completed
Click to expand...
Without wanting to overthink the announcement of these plans, no matter how exciting they may be, perhaps this sudden decision to expedite the rhino plans is due to advancements made behind the scenes regarding the northern white project. There are many zoos around Europe that are partaking in research and housing female southern whites for potential IVF, but none have the facilities nor the space for said facilities to allow for the next steps - controlled breeding from southern whites. Perhaps I am overthinking it, but it is exciting nonetheless and as you mention will create a veritable wall of outstanding exhibits along the far side of the Tierpark.

As an aside - is there a timeline for the introduction of the bush dogs? And I'm assuming from the decision to go with rhinos first any plans for the redevelopment of the 'America' area, including pinnipeds, are currently on the backburner? And I guess a South America house complete with manatees has long been dropped.

Exciting times at the Tierpark, continuing on from an equally exciting past 5 years or so.
 
Some more recent updates on the rhino project: It seems like scientists have been working on this for a really long time and the cooperation with Berlin Tierpark also got developed quite far without much public resonance/awareness. If everything gets accomplished as planned, there will be Southern White Rhinos (cows) in the Tierpark as early as 2026 along with the African elephants (but probably no more buffalos or Mishmi takins).

Last night the park added a donation appeal on their website (actually rather hidden for now, though):
Nördliches Breitmaulnashorn – Tierpark Berlin (tierpark-berlin.de)

This is what it states translated into English (translated by deepl.com):
"RHINO RESCUE MISSION
A new rhino research centre is being built in the heart of Tierpark Berlin, where calves of the almost extinct rhino will be born to rhino cows of the closely related southern white rhino. This unique rescue operation is only possible thanks to the use of state-of-the-art reproduction technology. All hopes for the northern white rhino are therefore pinned on the embryos, which are currently still frozen at minus 196 degrees Celsius in biobanks in Berlin and Cremona in southern Italy. The first rhinos from other zoological institutions are expected to move to Tierpark Berlin from 2026.

It is hard to comprehend that we are about to lose such a large and fascinating creature as the northern white rhino. As we humans have brought this rhinoceros into this hopeless situation with our actions, it is now up to us to use all the means at our disposal to prevent this animal from disappearing from our planet.

Last chance for the rhino!
The northern white rhino can still be saved from extinction. Tierpark Berlin will work closely with the scientists from the BioRescue team to realise a crucial step in the project, which will hopefully produce one of the first rhino calves of this endangered species."

This is where people can donate:
spendenformular-artenschutz – Tierpark Berlin (tierpark-berlin.de)

They also show some pictures of the two remaining Northern White Rhinos as well as a fetus that successfully developed inside a rhino cow until the mother died by some (non-related?) infection. Without this unfortunate loss of the cow, the embryo would have had a 90 per cent chance of surviving at that stage. However, they tested (and for as far as I understand still test) all this with Southern White Rhinos for now so none of the extremely rare actual Northern White Rhino embryos got lost.

csm_Fatu_and_Najin_at_Ol_Pejeta_Conservancy_4_Jan_Zwilling_c0d4afaf03.jpg

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© BioRescue/Jon A. Juarez/Jan Zwilling

By the way, IZW (or Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research) started and still leads BioRescue but they are not the only Berlin based research organization involved in this project.
Complementary to the IZW work on embryos/fetuses which is supported by Italian colleagues, there is also a project by Max Delbrueck Center (MDC) of Molecular Medicine as well as partners in Japan to extract sperm and ova from stem cells that have been taken by then still living Northern White Rhinos as well as from the last two remaining cows which cannot actively participate in breeding (but apparently they want all future calves to meet the two to learn the appropriate social behaviour of the Northern White Rhino which differs in some aspects).

So it looks like there will be more genetic material in the future which then can generate more fetuses to be implanted into Southern White Rhino cows...

While IZW is part of the Leiniz Research Association, MDC is part of Helmholtz Research Association. So two out of the four largest German research associations are actively involved in this (and have been for at least a decade for as much as I found out). All large German research organisations are part of the Alliance of Research Organisations where they also decide on projects to collaborate in.

If you are interested in some deeper background on the approach of MDC and their progress or the alliance:
A big step toward producing rhino gametes | Max Delbrück Center (mdc-berlin.de)
Home - Allianz der Wissenschaftsorganisationen (allianz-der-wissenschaftsorganisationen.de)

But all we really need to understand here is that some of the most prestigious and well-funded German research facilities joined funds and work forces to work together on this which makes it highly likely there will actually be adequate funding for the project planned for the Tierpark.
 
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Sorry guys, for now I keep pushing this thread. It's not even my fault, though. They just keep publishing new information. ;)

Today they announced that construction is going to start this fall (so no later than September 2024, I just can't believe this). They will invest about 5 mio Euro (at least 3 mio funded by public institutions) and want to be finished by 2026 so they can already start receiving the first Southern White Rhino cows. Eventually, they can have up to 6 adult cows in the area. They will try to use and expand existing structures to save money and I guess also time. Everything is official now!

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Pictures: Berlin Tierpark

They even published a plan on the area which is going to be covered:

lageplan.png

Picture: Berlin Tierpark

And to give an early inspiration for the project they commissioned a rhino statue to an African artist which consists of recycled materials and got presented to the public today:

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Picture: Berlin Tierpark

I kind of feel like I am dreaming. The way they prepared all this and now just present ready made plans is just crazy!
 
PossumRoach said:
That’s nice to know but I do wonder how the rhinoceroses will get managed if breeding is successful. Southern white rhinoceroses are already taking over holding space, making it already difficult for other rhinoceros species. So I don’t think it will be easy for Northern white rhinoceroses when they will need holding space, unless the offspring get directly sent to the wild to be released.
Click to expand...

They indeed plan sending the offspring over to Africa where they are supposed to meet the two last living Northern White Rhinos and learn the specific social behaviour (e.g. they have different calls). So for Tierpark visitors it will mainly be an exhibit with Southern White Rhinos. If there should be any successful breeding, the visitors won't ever see the offspring fully grow up in the Tierpark (but I'm sure, there would be some form of medial connection to virtually follow them along).
 
markmeier said:
They indeed plan sending the offspring over to Africa where they are supposed to meet the two last living Northern White Rhinos and learn the specific social behaviour (e.g. they have different calls).
Click to expand...
Will the last two NW rhinoceroses still be alive by the time any of the calves from Berlin are old enough to be released to the wild? It would take a long time, from the construction of the enclosures to the gestation of the rhinoceroses, until the NW calves get sent to Kenya.
 
PossumRoach said:
Will the last two NW rhinoceroses still be alive by the time any of the calves from Berlin are old enough to be released to the wild? It would take a long time, from the construction of the enclosures to the gestation of the rhinoceroses, until the NW calves get sent to Kenya.
Click to expand...
I would highly doubt it purely based on the fact I'd imagine it will take a few generations until they begin to be released into the wild. However, the remaining pair have hopefully got a good few years yet and given they have already achieved a successful embryo* there will be time to mix the first offspring with them.

*This I cannot stop thinking about. It is utterly incredible that in a relatively short period of time genetics has reached that stage. All of this news makes the future of the northern white go from hopeful to bright.
 
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