Berlin Zoo!
Welcome back to Brooke In The Air!
I’m having quite the time in Berlin! I visited the Brandenburg Gate last night as well as the holocaust memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe), the KaDeWe mall, and eaten at several local shops!
Here are some pictures of the zoo at present! Enjoy!
Elephantor (Elephant Gate) entrance on to Budaperstrasse - my hotel is right across the street on Europa Center
Copyright: Von Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France - L'entrée du Zoo de Berlin, CC by 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24668582
Here’s some background on this amazing zoo:
The Berlin Zoological Garden is the oldest zoo still in existence in Germany and the zoo with the most species in the world. It is located in the Tiergarten district of Berlin on the border with Charlottenburg, across from the Europa Center mall.
In the Zoological Garden, around 20,000 animals from around 1,000 species can be seen on an area of a massive 33 hectares. With its attached aquarium (priced admission is extra), the zoo is one of the most visited attractions in Berlin.
My official Zoo ticket - 25 Euros.
With around three million visitors a year, the facility is also the most visited zoo in Europe.
The Berlin Zoological Garden is located in the Tiergarten district (Mitte district) and covers an area of 33 hectares. The other of the capital city’s two zoos, the Tierpark Berlin , is located in the Friedrichsfelde district.
The Berlin Zoological Garden, with its aquarium, has the greatest biodiversity of any zoo in the world.
The zoo layout is grouped by species or homogeneity.
Steinbock rock
A breeding group of Siberian ibexes lives on the Steinbockfelsen (Steinbock Rock), which was built in 1899 under the planning of Moritz Lehmann . Rarities such as Sichuan Takins and Himalayan Hare live in the vicinity. The rodents among the mountain animals are presented with Alpine marmots and wood marmots.
Adlerschlucht (Adlerfelsen) (Eagle Rock)
Since a renovation, which, among other things, combined 65 outdoor aviaries into 25, a total of 37 birds of 15 different species lived at the Eagle Rock in 2018, including ten species of birds of prey , three species of owls , common vultures and southern hornbills . An owl and a vulture aviary are accessible to all guests and Andean condors live near the Penguin House.
Camel Territory
Dromedaries and vicuñas lived in the camel enclosure, built in 1961 . It was demolished in 2020 to make room for the new rhinoceros house, which opened in 2023. A facility at the Lichtenstein Bridge, which leads over the Landwehr Canal to the expansion site, was a habitat for llamas until 2015. The sizable breeding group of alpacas lives near the pheasantry.
Bärenfelsen (bear rock)
Large bears and wolves live on the Bear Rock, built in 1937. Indian sloth bears inhabit the Tropical Bear Rock, and until 2019 Asiatic black bears were also kept. Polar bears inhabited a large rock enclosure; Knut was born here in 2006. In December 2021, Katjuscha, the last polar bear in the group, died. Polars have not been reintroduced. Since October 2023, after being vacant for several years, brown bears have again been using a large enclosure with plenty of water and trees; a few months earlier, European wolves moved into the neighboring enclosure. In the past, the Berlin Zoological Garden also kept polar wolves , which could get from their enclosure to that of the brown bears via a connecting tunnel. Red coatis and the critically endangered African wild dogs live near the Bear Rock.
Cattle Area
Indian Gaur
In the cattle area, the stables for the different types of cattle are built in the architectural style of the animals' countries of origin. An example of this is the largest Thai building in Europe, the stable for Javan banteng and Indian gaur . In addition, red buffalo, lowland anoas, southern European water buffalo, North American plains bison and bison can be found in the cattle area . The former yak facility has been inhabited by Watusi cattle since 2016.
Robbenfelsen
A breeding group of California sea lions and East Atlantic harbor seals live on Seal Rock. South African fur-seals were also kept only until 2019.
Ungulates
Persian Solipeds & Even-Toed Ungulates
— In the historical Persian equine area from 1909 to 1910 there live not only the equine animals Böhm's plains zebra and Grevy's Zebra , but also even-toed ungulates such as eland , South African oryx and sable antelope .
Grevy's zebra(s)
The even-toed ungulate territory is occupied by giant anteaters , the rare eastern bongos , okapis together with red duikers as well as the South African sable antelopes together with Kirk's dik-diks.
deer hunting ground (DHG)
The deer reserve, which was created in 1869–1872, is home to the largest collection of deer in Central Europe. Prince Alfred's deer, southern pudus, David's deer, Japanese sika deer, axis deer, white-tailed deer and dwarf muntjacs live here. The Nordic deer are represented by the Mesopotamian fallow deer and the European forest reindeer. The zoo also has the only barasinghas (Rucervus) and the only Chinese water deer in all of Germany.
petting zoo Hans im Glück (animal children's zoo)
In addition to wild animals, the zoo also houses domestic animal breeds. Some of them can be petted and fed in the animal children's zoo. In addition to Hinterwälder cattle , Shetland ponies , Vietnamese potbellied pigs and Cameroon sheep , the petting zoo is home to six other domestic animal breeds from all over the world, some of which are endangered.
pheasantry
Andean flamingos
The pheasantry is home to all sizes of gallinaceous birds, such as Vieillot's fireback pheasant , Napoleon peacock pheasant , Greater prelate pheasant , Malayan argus pheasant , Indochina peacock pheasant , collared francolin , Elliot's pheasant , yellow-billed crocodile , tuberculate crocodile , dwarf quail and many more. The lodgers are small kanchiles , small mammals belonging to the deer family. A pair of helmeted cassowaries live near the pheasantry. There is also a shorebird aviary and aviaries for lesser flamingos, James's flamingos and Andean flamingos nearby.
expansion site
The 3.4 hectare extension site, located in the old diplomatic quarter, is the only part of the zoo beyond the Landwehr Canal . -
-It opened on 23 May 1987. Here there is the African enclosure with South African blue-necked ostriches, African springboks, greater kudus and blesboks, as well as the South American enclosure with guanacos, rheas, capybaras and greater maras. Emus , Parma wallabies , red kangaroos and Przewalski's Horses also live in the extension site.
Elephant House:
The elephant house right next to the entrance at Hardenbergplatz (the Löwentor - Main Gate) houses a breeding group of Indian elephants. The following animals live in the Berlin Zoo:
Pang Pha, one of the Indian bull elephants
Viktor (1993 in Ramat Gan / Israel , since 2000 in the Zoological Garden)
Carla (1974 in India , since 1977 in the Zoological Garden)
Drumbo (1970, since 1987 in the Zoological Garden)
Pang Pha (1987 in Thailand , since 1987 in the zoo)
Anchali (012 in the Berlin Zoological Garden)
Rhino House
Black Rhino
The six enclosures of the rhinoceros house, built between 1962 and 1964, housed East African black rhinoceroses , through whose breeding the zoo became famous, as well as Indian rhinoceroses . The black rhinoceroses also live in a spacious facility near the Lichtenstein Bridge . Subtenants in the rhinoceros house were the lowland tapirs and a Central American tapir. The building was demolished in 2021.
Hippo House
Its roof consists of a glass double dome, which reflects the light on the water surface in the evening. Here hippos live in a pool, surrounded by lush savannah-like vegetation and, next door, western tiny pygmy hippos . Guests can watch the animals on their underwater walks through panoramic glass panes. The hippos share the outdoor area with nyalas , antelopes from Africa.
Pig House
In the historic pig house from 1910, exceptional pigs such as Sulawesi babirusa , Negros warty pigs , brush-eared pigs , collared peccaries , southern white-bearded peccaries and West African warthogs are presented. In February 2024, the Borneo bearded pig Neo died here , the last animal of its kind in European keeping.
Realm of the Hunters (Predator House)
The building opened in April 1974. Some parts of the facility were built earlier; for example, the 600 m² facility for Siberian tigers in 1971 and the 2000 m² facility for Transvaal lions in 1960. The predator house was extensively rebuilt and redesigned between 2018 and February 2022. The renovation, which cost around 14 million euros, was reopened to zoo visitors on February 25, 2022 under the name Kingdom of the Hunters.
As part of the renovation, the enclosures were designed to be close to nature, enlarged, and bars and tiles were replaced with glass panes and artificial rocks.
Since the renovation, North Persian leopards, jaguars, ocelots, Arabian sand cats, Sri Lankan rusty cats, eastern ring-tailed mongooses, northern narrow-striped mongooses, southern ocelots, Yucatan long-tailed cats, Central American long-tailed cats, western red pandas, tayras and southern dwarf mongooses have lived here. The lion enclosure is inhabited by three littermates from Leipzig Zoo, who came to Berlin in January 2021. Sumatran tigers have lived in the tiger enclosure since October 2023: twin sisters from the Tierpark Berlin zoo.
Nocturnal Animal House
The nocturnal animal house built in the mid-1970s, is located under the predator house. Here the day/night rhythm is reversed. This allows visitors to also experience nocturnal animals . There are, among others, aardvarks , Senegalese galagos , Bengal slow lorises , kinkajous , common vampire bats , six-banded armadillos , green pygmy agoutis , desert foxes , Bolivian night monkeys , spotted quolls and aye-ayes as well as eleven other nocturnal species.
Monkey House
In the monkey house, which was opened in four sections from April 1959 to 1965, there are not only great apes (Sumatran orangutans , western lowland gorillas , bonobos and West African chimpanzees) but also over 22 species of monkeys, some of them rare, including Ceylon toque monkeys, owl-headed monkeys, red titi monkeys, siamange monkeys, brown capuchin monkeys, hulmans, mandrills, black crested langurs, Rio Napo tamarins, Colombian spider monkeys, black howler monkeys, red-faced macaques and black marmosets. On the neighboring monkey rock live large breeding groups of hamadryas baboons and bearded macaques. The gibbon island in the grotto pond is inhabited by capped gibbons.
AQUARIUM
The aquarium, which opened in 1913, is considered the largest publicly accessible show aquarium in Europe. The aquariums and terrariums are home to around 16,000 animals from over 750 species.
The shark tank alone, which was redesigned in 2015, holds 130,000 litres of water. Four different species of shark are shown here.
Other habitats are being constantly added, removed, or renovated.
