After a work visit to Prague I had a few days left before I had to go home and I decided to use that time to explore some of the zoos in extreme eastern Germany, a region relatively unexplored by zoochatters. I will post reviews in the respective zoo forum of each zoo visited, starting with the biggest one of them all: Zoo Dresden Often forgotten with the heavy-hitters in every direction, Leipzig in the west, Berlin to the north, Wroclaw east and Prague just 2 hours away to the south, lies Zoo Dresden. Even though it is one of the oldest zoos in the nation, the bombing in the second world war made sure that little of that history is now visible. It is a small miracle that this zoo survived at all, as less than 20 animals survived the bombings. The zoo did pull through and can now maybe best be described as a smaller version of Cologne. Dresden is a city zoo with a limited size of 13 hectares, but manages to have spacious and well-designed enclosures for the majority of its inhabitants. This does mean however that the collection is somewhat limited as Hippos, Rhinos, Tigers, Pinnipeds and Bears are notable absentees. With Elephants, Giraffes, Koala, Lion and Orang utan there are however plenty of crowd pleasers left. The zoo does not follow a clear geographic or systematic theme, or any theme at all, which many city zoos are want to do. The entrance area is nice enough with Coati visible before one enters the zoo and Elephant shrews and Naked mole rats right behind the entrance. The first house one enters is the African house, which was built in 1997 but was extensively improved in recent years. Apart from the entrance, it holds the indoor enclosures for the Mandrill and African elephant. The Mandrill enclosure is nothing special, but the African elephant indoor enclosure is one of the most spacious and best of its kind. Outdoors is relatively small, but well-structured for the three Elephant cows they have. One hopes that the current outdoor enclosure will be extended on the site of their temporary house, used when the African house was under renovation. Also in this area is a nice walkthrough with Ring-tailed- and Black lemurs as well as an old rock, now only used as viewpoint and backdrop for a large Zebra mongoose enclosure. The Lion enclosure which is located nearby shows that new developments are not always great, as it is somewhat small and not pretty. The Caracal enclosure here is well done though. Next is a small terrarium building with +- 20 reptile species on show, as well as Chinese giant salamander. I have no species list, but highlights include a False chameleon, Freshwater crocodile and Blue tree monitors. Adjacent to the terrarium is a standard Prairie dog enclosure, which used to hold European sousliks. The Sousliks have been released on the zoo grounds, but I don’t know whether they established themselves, I at least did not see any A new giraffe house was constructed in 2008 and where the outdoor enclosure, shared with Damara zebra, is relatively standard, the house is very pretty, with a design incorporating a lot of wood. Viewing is done both from the ground level as from the Giraffe eye level through glass. The house also contains Gundi and a few tanks with Cichlids. After a standard North American tree porcupine enclosure one comes to a large and green enclosure, surrounded by the typical green fence for a group of Asian wild dog. Around here are also several moderately to smallish sized enclosures for Goral, West-Caucasian ibex, Himalayan tahr, Golden takin (with 3 young), Red-crowned crane (formerly also Pere David's deer), Pygmy donkey and Red kangaroo. The highlight for connoisseurs would be the bird area, which houses mostly European birds. The aviaries for diving ducks, Snowy owls, Nutcrackers and Hawk owl are nicely planted but nothing too special. The adjacent Tundra walkthrough aviary is a real highlight though, even though Waxwing are no longer present, this nicely landscaped aviary still hosts Grey wagtail, Little stint, Ringed plover, Common sandpiper, Curlew, Little grebe, Harlequin duck and a few more species, Tundra is a theme not often seen, and it is even rarer to see it well executed. There remain only 6 aviaries in this complex, of which only the one for Scarlet ibis and Roseate spoonbill is not noteworthy. A large aviary holds large breeding groups of Yellow-billed storks, African spoonbills, Cattle egret, Southern bald ibis, as well as e.g. Hamerkop, Saddle-billed stork, Cape teal, African comb duck. A large domed aviary no longer has Gelada, but still holds Griffion vulture, Egyptian vulture and Verreaux’s eagle owl. Opposite of this dome are three smaller, but well-planted European aviaries, one with forest & grassland birds, one for Mediterranean birds and one for marsh birds. In total about 15 species are held, highlights include Ortolan bunting, Corn crake, European bee-eater, Pin-tailed sandgrouse, Black-eared wheatear and Little bittern. This area also holds enclosures for American flamingo and Asian small-clawed otter. Continuing one comes to the only enclosure that is really outdated: the Orangutan house. Indoors are four small cages, lacking any height, whereas the outdoor cage is not very small, but still lacking in height. Currently five Orang utans are kept, a breeding pair with offspring and two elderly females. Dresden is a very successful breeder of Sumatran orang utans, but one hopes a new house can soon be constructed, the space is already available. Opposite lies the largest enclosure of the zoo, which is a pretty paddock holding breeding groups of Hog deer and Nilgai, as well as some Bar-headed geese. It may look as a waste of space to some, but I wouldn’t like this beautiful paddock to go. Next to this paddock is the main drawing card of the zoo: the Professor Brandes-Haus. This house, opened in 2010 holds species from tropical zones all over the world and is mostly a primate house with some nice extras. On one side are three large islands for Lion-tailed macaque, Kikuyu guereza and Woolly monkey, as well as a cage for Crowned lemurs and an outdoor area for Two-toed sloth. The indoor enclosures for these species are also spacious and of a good height and I would consider them to be some of the best primate indoor enclosures in Europe. Here is also a all-indoor enclosure for Visayan tarictic hornbill, Prevost squirrel and Lesser mousedeer. The Two-toed sloth move above the visitors throughout most of the house and the centrepiece of the house is a large crocodilian enclosure. Since the death of Max, Dresdens huge Saltwater croc, it is now inhabited by De Gaulle, a large male Tomistoma and not the French stateman, who has been in TP Berlin and Leipzig before. The real highlight of the house are a pair of Koala, the first in Eastern Germany in a typical Koala enclosure. The side entrance of the house is flanked by large enclosures for Emperor bearded tamarin and White-faced saki + Tamandua. When exiting the house on the Koala side one comes to several E Asian cages. The smaller two hold Striped squirrel (formerly European flying squirrel) and Blue-crowned laughing thrush + bamboo partridge (formerly Siberian weasel). A larger cage, but lacking in height, is for a pair of Yellow-throated marten and the largest enclosure is for Snow leopards. It is a bit set away from the path, which makes viewing suboptimal, but both enclosures are quite large, well-constructed and give the Leopards height and hiding opportunities. This corner of the zoo further has several more standard enclosures which are mostly pretty but nothing special for Humboldt’s penguin, Cheetah, Banteng, Red forest buffalo, Parma wallaby, Ankole cattle, Red panda, Bactrian camel and Slender-tailed meerkat. An underground zoo was very special when it opened 20 years ago, but now feels cramped and many enclosures have now been connected and larger species faced out. It now mainly holds invertebrates, some amphibians, as well as Hamsters, Etruscan shrew and Black rats. The remaining part of the zoo consists of several paddocks and aviaries; large and pretty for Macaws and Grey-crowned cranes + Dikdik; small but nicely designed for Long-tailed shrike, hornbill + Hyrax and Patagonian rock parakeet. A large paddock holds a breeding group of Nyala, as well as White stork and with Pelican in the moat. The same house is also home to 3 Aldabran giant tortoises, called Hugo II, III and IV. A warm house for them is now planned. The zoo also used to hold a tortoise that was rumoured not to be from Aldabra, but from another of the Indian Ocean islands, but it seems this animal has just an abnormally formed shield. The final enclosure in the zoo is a large S-American paddock with Vicuna, Darwin’s rhea, Mara and Capybara, nothing special, but still aesthetically pleasing. As a city zoo in the shadow of some of Europe’s heavy hitters, Dresden has done a good job in maintaining an interesting collection in mostly good and pleasing enclosures in a nicely wooded park setting. It may lack a star attraction that makes it stand out, but I found Dresden to be a very enjoyable visit and it is certainly one of the better medium to large zoos in Germany. For a zoo nerd there is enough to see, particularly when it comes to European birds. Given the acreage the zoo has a limited collection, but as the even-toed ungulate species list shows, work is done to showcase interesting species nonetheless. Currently the zoo holds Kordofan giraffe, Vicuna, Chinese goral, Golden takin, West-Caucasian ibex, Himalayan tahr, Nyala, Nilgai, Kirk’s dikdik, Hog deer, Red forest buffalo and Banteng. Overall this zoo takes about 4 hours to see properly and can thus perfectly be combined with any of the other medium-sized zoos located in the area such as Görlitz, Cottbus, Chemnitz, Usti or Decin. I will upload a bunch of pictures when I get back home.
I really appreciate these kind of reviews as they are great reference points for the future. I do know that Dresden Zoo opens up really early (8:30 a.m.) and Erfurt Zoo stays open until at least 6:00 in the summer, and so I was wondering if 3.5 hours at Dresden Zoo, then a drive to Erfurt, then 3.5 hours at Erfurt Zoo is logical. I have met someone who did exactly that this summer. Otherwise, as you point out, there are some other choices to combine with Dresden. Thanks for the review and I hope to visit Dresden in 2022.
That similarity never really crossed my mind but now when you mention it, it certainly is a good description. I would describe it as very Czech-looking zoo, with the mix of old and new and the species collection as well. So that is the date that every European Zoochater should mark down?
Most interesting reading this review and recalling my visit last year. Have to agree that it does very well for its size and so accessible by tram from the city centre
It isn't exactly logical in your case as pretty much every zoo in this area is open to 6 (or later) and driving 3.5 hours is not necessary to find another zoo in Germany . There are plenty of options closer to Erfurt to combine it with such as Gotha or Gera. And the options mentioned above for Dresden are all within an hour drive . Interesting, I did not find it a very Czech zoo. In my opinion Czech zoos (at least the 5 I visited) seem to use a lot of irregular natural materials when constructing enclosures to give their enclosures a more "authentic" look. I don't think I saw that much in Dresden.
I suppose that if someone wants to visit a pair of substantial zoos then Dresden and Erfurt (only 2.5 hours between them) would work, but if someone wanted Dresden and then a smaller, closer zoo then that would make more sense. I'll probably do the Dresden/Erfurt pairing in 2022. On a side note, the new book Construction and Design Manual: Zoo Buildings has several examples from Dresden Zoo. There are 4 pages on the elephant house, 4 pages on the Lemur House, 4 pages on the Great Ape House and 4 pages on the Giraffe House. That includes blueprints, maps, photos and written descriptions.
Holy hell! That book looks amazing...that price though... But it's still cheaper than the gem of Australian Mammals: Biology and Captive Management is... Yeah the design of exhibits itself is rather different, I was talking more about general feel...it's possible though that this was partly influenced by Dresden being last zoo of our trip before heading home so a bit of "homesickness" may have tinted our glasses
I uploaded a bunch of enclosure pictures of Dresden: Zoo Dresden - ZooChat It still wouldn't make much sense as Halle - Erfurt would be a much easier and logical pairing, as both are substantial zoos. Also Cottbus, Chemnitz, Usti, Liberec are substantial zoos that would need about 3 hours at least and then there is Görlitz, which should not be missed, despite its smaller size....
Totally agree re Görlitz - a fantastic zoo. And the natural history museum in the city has a small but rather wonderful vivarium as well.
