Located in a forest along the Spree river lies a medium-sized zoo which has gained quite a reputation when it comes to waterbirds and what Germans call birds-on-stilts. This zoo has a surprisingly large waterfowl collection and managed Europe’s first breeding of Lesser adjudants as well as the world’s first breeding of Saddle-billed stork a few years ago. Since then the Saddle-billed storks have bred yearly and also now there were five chicks visible on the nest in the spacious aviary. Storks are generally well represented with Oriental white stork, Woolly-necked stork and African marabou also present. Red-crowned & Sarus crane, Great white-, American and Australian pelican and a large group of American flamingo round of an excellent bird collection. The Flamingo have just moved into a very large aviary, which they share with Roseate spoonbill and a large variety, of mostly S-American, ducks. This new development allows Cottbus to comply more easily with new regulations on wing-clipping and the flamingos are left fully intact.
Mammalwise there is less diversity, but with Javan banteng, Wisent, Yak, Ankole cattle as well as both European and Asian water buffalo there is a surprising diversity in cattle. Barriers for several enclosures are quite minimal, in a walk-through enclosure with Yellow-spotted bush hyrax, Cape ground squirrel and Spurred tortoise that is the whole idea. But having only a very low fence to keep Coati and Capuchin monkeys confined to their excellent enclosures seems a bit risky. Especially the Capuchin monkeys had a minimal barrier. The mammal collection might be small, but is full of nice species such as Black-rumped agouti, Silver marmoset, Lowland paca, Bobcat and as highlight a pair of Baird’s tapir. The tapir have a wooded paddock with a deep large pond and it was an amazing sight to see both Tapir swimming and diving in the water. It makes you wonder why not more zoos have such a feature in their enclosure.
Enclosure-wise the zoo is mostly relatively simple, with wood and wire cages and sprawling paddocks with moats or the TP Berlin style green fence. For the most part this works and it is clear that this is a zoo that is not swimming in money. It is also very much a good-weather zoo with only a few houses that are accessible to the visitors. The main house is the carnivore house, which sports a factory-like tower. The Sumatran tiger have a relatively new spacious indoor + outdoor enclosure and the aforementioned Capuchin monkeys and Coati also have their enclosures here. A pair of North Chinese leopards, an Eastern German staple, has quite ok outdoor cages but very limited space indoors. Additionally there are Pere David rock squirrel, Lowland paca, Corn snake, Boa constrictor, Poison dart frog, Tarantula and some fish in the house. The house itself is a typical old school German carnivore house, but the Tiger extension is much newer and that shows.
A large number of enclosures is somewhat older, but it is only the Elephant house that is really completely outdated. The zoo keeps two older cows, separated on my visit, which have access to a medium-sized well wooded and structured paddock, which is fine for them. But indoors is far too small, with just two small boxes available. It is a pity nothing will happen soon here due to a lack of funds, but it would be an equally big blow for this zoo to lose its most iconic species. With Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden all just 1.5 hours away it would be a challenge for most zoos to make a decent living and Cottbus excels for bird lovers, but for the general public there are only Meerkats, Ring-tailed lemurs, Zebra, Penguin, Gibbon, Tigers & Leopard and the Elephants as main ABC animals. The zoo seems loved by the locals though and even on a Monday morning there were some families and small groups visiting. And it is indeed a lovely zoo, most enclosures are pretty good, if not always pretty, and the setting in open woodland is very pleasant indeed. It does lack some star attraction for me that would make me come back, but the zoo certainly has my sympathy.
Pictures of almost every single enclosure can now be found in the gallery:
Tierpark Cottbus - ZooChat
Mammalwise there is less diversity, but with Javan banteng, Wisent, Yak, Ankole cattle as well as both European and Asian water buffalo there is a surprising diversity in cattle. Barriers for several enclosures are quite minimal, in a walk-through enclosure with Yellow-spotted bush hyrax, Cape ground squirrel and Spurred tortoise that is the whole idea. But having only a very low fence to keep Coati and Capuchin monkeys confined to their excellent enclosures seems a bit risky. Especially the Capuchin monkeys had a minimal barrier. The mammal collection might be small, but is full of nice species such as Black-rumped agouti, Silver marmoset, Lowland paca, Bobcat and as highlight a pair of Baird’s tapir. The tapir have a wooded paddock with a deep large pond and it was an amazing sight to see both Tapir swimming and diving in the water. It makes you wonder why not more zoos have such a feature in their enclosure.
Enclosure-wise the zoo is mostly relatively simple, with wood and wire cages and sprawling paddocks with moats or the TP Berlin style green fence. For the most part this works and it is clear that this is a zoo that is not swimming in money. It is also very much a good-weather zoo with only a few houses that are accessible to the visitors. The main house is the carnivore house, which sports a factory-like tower. The Sumatran tiger have a relatively new spacious indoor + outdoor enclosure and the aforementioned Capuchin monkeys and Coati also have their enclosures here. A pair of North Chinese leopards, an Eastern German staple, has quite ok outdoor cages but very limited space indoors. Additionally there are Pere David rock squirrel, Lowland paca, Corn snake, Boa constrictor, Poison dart frog, Tarantula and some fish in the house. The house itself is a typical old school German carnivore house, but the Tiger extension is much newer and that shows.
A large number of enclosures is somewhat older, but it is only the Elephant house that is really completely outdated. The zoo keeps two older cows, separated on my visit, which have access to a medium-sized well wooded and structured paddock, which is fine for them. But indoors is far too small, with just two small boxes available. It is a pity nothing will happen soon here due to a lack of funds, but it would be an equally big blow for this zoo to lose its most iconic species. With Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden all just 1.5 hours away it would be a challenge for most zoos to make a decent living and Cottbus excels for bird lovers, but for the general public there are only Meerkats, Ring-tailed lemurs, Zebra, Penguin, Gibbon, Tigers & Leopard and the Elephants as main ABC animals. The zoo seems loved by the locals though and even on a Monday morning there were some families and small groups visiting. And it is indeed a lovely zoo, most enclosures are pretty good, if not always pretty, and the setting in open woodland is very pleasant indeed. It does lack some star attraction for me that would make me come back, but the zoo certainly has my sympathy.
Pictures of almost every single enclosure can now be found in the gallery:
Tierpark Cottbus - ZooChat
