Hoofstock and... well mostly hoofstock While walking towards the Löwentor (Lion tower) exit, we walked past a few paddocks for ungulates again. Dromedary camels, but also vicuña, Indian rhinoceros, South American tapir and most notably, Baird’s tapir were walking peacefully on their nice paddocks. Again, the rhinos were kept quite small. The Rhino House itself is hardly spectacular and outdated, but nice to see. The Hippo House in contrast is a real highlight of the trip. Common and pygmy hippos were on display. The hippos themselves could definitely use some more land space, but they had enough room to swim and were actually visible under water! A feature I haven’t seen before, because keeping the water clean with hippos swimming in it seems to be a pain. It was really crowded in here so we didn’t stay very long. The middle part of the zoo is also filled with hoofstock, especially as the birds-of-prey section is under construction. Only one aviary was still both inhabited and visible, and it features two very pretty bird species: southern crested caracara and king vultures. Among hoofstock, I’ve a particular fondness for bovines, and thus I was happy to watch several great species for some length in the zoo. The paddocks were generally nicely themed and spacious enough. Although African forest buffalo, plains bison and European bison are certainly great species, the Javan banteng and especially the extremely impressive gaur were the true highlights of the bovine collection. Gaurs were a species I was really looking forward to see, and they were even more magnificent than I would have thought. The small deer section was nothing spectacular, but nice to walk around, especially as most visitors seem to skip this area. I saw the Finnish forest reindeer, the sika deer, the grey-crowned cranes and the southern pudu, but the other species kept in this part were either hiding or in their indoor enclosure. I was especially disappointed by the absence of Chinese water deer, as they would have been the first for me. The panda outdoor enclosures opposite to it looked great, the best outdoor panda enclosures I’ve ever seen (they were the 3rd and 4th I ever saw...). The pandas were in their indoor enclosure and as there was a long queue in front of it, we decided to skip the giant pandas. They are boring to look at anyway. The Schweinehaus (Swine house) was much more interesting of course! The Swine house looks like a relic form a time long gone, a time were zoos kept more species of pigs than only red river hogs. Naturally, they were present, but so were almost all other wild pigs that occur in European zoos. Peccaries were also present, and I was delighted to finally see another species than the overabundant collared one, because one of the enclosures was filled with more than thirty white-lipped peccary. Other highlights include North Sulawesi babirusa, Bornean bearded pigs and visayan warty pigs. All but the warty pigs were very active and pleasing to watch, especially as the bearded pig is definitely doomed in Europe and despite recent breeding successes, the babirusa too has an uncertain future. Both are amazing species to see and I would recommend every European ZooChatter to go and see both as soon as possible. The beautiful and active male bearded pig (the last one in Berlin) became one of the highlights of the day. I also remember seeming common warthog but I don’t recall were. Close to the Löwentor (Lion tower) entrance, there are two amazing mountainous exhibits. The rocky slopes provide excellent climbing opportunities for three species of mountain ungulates: the Siberian ibex, Sichuan takin and Himalayan tahr, although were unable to spot the latter. The takins are apparently rather old individuals and thus don’t use their enclosure the way they are supposed to do. The ibex on the other hand make great use of the huge rocks that make up their little mountain, and it was especially delightful to see (very) young ibexes climbing all the way up on their mountain. I would say the that the ibex enclosure might as well be the most spectacular single enclosure in Zoo Berlin. There was a small section that should have held (a) groundhog(s), but we couldn’t find any. Also noteworthy was a group of shoebill statues in front of the exhibit. A small building that was certainly worthy to see for a zoo history fan was the small Chicken and Dove House. It currently houses a couple of domestic chicken and dove breeds, as well as their wild ancestors: red jungle fowl and rock dove. It is neatly set up and it was a small but pleasing part of the zoo. Even greater for zoo history fans is the Antilopenhaus (Antelope House). It is truly impressive to see, beautifully decorated and it houses a couple of antelopes and giraffes as well. The entrance has huge arches and although the stables themselves look somewhat outdated, the ambiance inside was great. The outside enclosures look quite good, probably quite small for a breeding group of giraffes, but Berlin Zoo currently keeps two males, a reticulated giraffe and a baringo hybrid giraffe, and for them it was adequate. Defassa waterbuck were present too, as well as a true zoological rarity: a single male southern gerenuk. For those of you unknown with the sad recent history of gerenuk in Europe, the efforts to establish a thriving herd in Berlin seemingly failed in 2015, when several animals at the Tierpark died very shortly after each other. The species is currently all but doomed in Europe again, with less than a handfull left in 2016. A calf born this year offers some hope for the future, but with such a small founder population, the chances of establishing the species are slim. I was therefore glad to have seen the species. There was another species of antelope, I think they were lechwes but I’m not entirely sure. I blame the species overload and limited time. The last part for Zoo Berlin is already written and only needs some minor tweaking before it is ready to upload, so expect another update soon. Those of you who have already visited Berlin might see how chaotic our walking route was.
Monkeys and elephants At this time, it was almost 17.30, so we had to choose. We could either go to the pandas in their indoor enclosure (there was still a long queue) or go and see the small part of the zoo we hadn’t seen yet. The choice was very easy, and we went to the monkey house straight away, which was a lot busier that I expected it to be. To make a long story short: I didn’t really like the monkey house. Although I saw efforts are taken to enrich the indoor enclosures, I still feel they were rather bare and small enclosures, rows of it, each with one of a couple of monkeys inside (one had prevost’s squirrels, which was not too bad). Even the amazing species housed in it (including several great species I’ve never seen before, like Toque macaque, Hamlyn’s monkey, black-mantled tamarin and white-headed lemurs) didn’t make the house enjoyable for me. Other memorable species include black-headed spider monkeys, Javan langurs and mandrills. The outside enclosure were a little better luckily, and especially the toque macaques were making great use of it. They were still small and I can only hope the number of species goes down so the remaining ones can occupy more enclosures. It may have been the screaming children or unpleasant ambiance, but this part was one of the least enjoyable parts of the zoo for me, and the only thing I really liked were the toque macaques in their outdoor enclosure. The last part of the zoo wasn’t all this way luckily. I did appreciate the large pelican pond holding various species, I saw pink-backed pelicans, Australian pelicans and American white pelicans, as well as a huge number of wild herons. There was a nice aviary here too, holding white storks, abdim’s storks and an extremely noisy flock of white-faced whistling ducks. The aviary itself was a rather impressive steel construction. Hamadryas baboons had a classic rock enclosure, which can be seen from outside the zoo itself (lots of tourist were taking pictures of it from outside). Another rock like enclosure should hold cape porcupines and brush-tailed porcupine, but not a single one was visible. I’ve always liked porcupines, so that was a shame, but fortunately I have seen both species prior to the Berlin trip. I’m not going to detail too much about the ape enclosures. Just like the rock for baboons, they seemed alright but nothing truly spectacular. I did like the designs of the enclosures, especially the ones for chimpanzees and western lowland gorillas (the latter had a balcony, with was quite funny to see). Some chimps were clearly busy to systematically test the fence, probably in the hope of finding an opening. One managed to put his or her hand through a small opening and grabbed some leaves from outside the exhibit. The Sumatran orang-utans were doing the same (testing the fence), but in a more “sophisticated” and gentle way. The bonobos were lazy-ing around in the sun, instead of doing something interesting. It was clear again too me that this species was the most human-like of all the apes... Finally, there was the Elephant House, holding a herd of Asian elephants. While the outdoor enclosure was okay, the indoor stables were just extremely outdated and small. I did like the educational signs and a mosaic showing the phylogeny of elephants, but it was a simply sad for the elephants. I don’t know how much space they have behind the scenes, so maybe it is better than it seems. After viewing the elephants for a while, we decided we walk back. We stopped for a second view at the pelican pond, but as it was almost 19.00 we went to the Löwentor exit. After a second view at the ibex enclosure a quick look in the gift shop, we left the zoo. The gift shop was not too bad actually, with several books for sale, as well as posters and little models of exotic beetles which I liked. Tired and hungry from this exciting and amazing day, we choose a little sushi restaurant to have dinner on our way back, were we had a lot of great sushi for little money. After dinner, we were too tired to explore more of Berlin, so we headed back to the hotel instead. ------- Yes, I'm still trying to finish this! As we took two days to explore the Tierpark, that review will be quite different. I'll just cut the tierpark in sections and describe those, instead of writing a "walk-through".
Oh I did see the exhibit, I just didn't see any animals. A shame really, but not so much as (spoiler) me missing the marco polo sheep became they were in their barn for some reason! ----------------------------- I've decided to write the Tierpark parts in a slightly different way and with less detail. Firstly because I'm not @TeaLovingDave and secondly because (due to writer's block, exams and other excuses) it was written much later. I will however discuss the ABH is great detail because it simply deserves it. A zoo in a forest: Tierpark part 1 The entrance is naturally the first impression you get from a zoo. Honestly, while there’s little wrong with it, the Bärenshaufester entrance of the Berlin Tierpark doesn’t look like one you would see in a major European zoo. That is sheer contrast to the Berlin Zoo. Bärenshaufester iof course implies bears, and those bears are American black bears, for which I have a soft spot. Among the first enclosures are paddocks with herds of forest bison and European bison, which immediately give away the strong ungulate focus of the Tierpark. The pond in the buffalo enclosure had American white pelicans on it, which was nice. One of the newer enclosures of the Tierpark is for prairie dogs and North American porcupine. If the Tierpark would stop displaying species for which I have a soft spot (like the latter) I could finally focus on enclosures! The enclosure is actually very good, and it does give me some hope that future developments will have the same quality. This part of the zoo is just forest, including drumming woodpeckers and singing flycatchers. The set of bear enclosures further into the zoo has impressive rocky backdrops, but is not really special beyond that. The polar bears have a far too small land area, which may explain the stereotypical behaviour of the animals in there. Throughout the forest there are some enclosures dotted here and there for things like eagle owls or dwarf zebus. It is neat to see owls displayed in a forest environment. The forest stops quite suddenly and gives way to a spacious zoo setting. The first enclosures here are made in a typical “Tierpark Berlin”-style, with green wire mesh and rocky background. They are nonetheless pleasing to the eye. A larger one holds pig-tailed macaques in an enclosure that could be quite good if more enrichment is added. The other two again house species I have a soft spot for: common genets and Asian palm civets. Durrell was completely right when he described the movement of genets as more like a snake than like a mammal. A pond inhabited with North American waterfowl proceeds a truly excellent enclosure, and possibly one of the most unique. It is a huge dome-shaped aviary for a mixed colony of gulls, some oystercatchers and a nice range of “marine” ducks (eiders and buffleheads and the like). It does not only house a mouth-watering list of species of a bird lover like myself, the aviary itself is spectacular. The dome shape is specifically good for gulls given the way they fly (they need a lot of room to turn). All things considered a fantastic exhibit, with difficulties for photography as the main problem for me. A similar enclosure for African birds (notably storks like openbills and a guinea fowl belonging to an actual subspecies!) can be seen further, which is just as good. A set of paddocks contain what is probably the most compelling line-up of domestic breeds I’ve seen in a zoos. Although it lacks in presentation, a section like this, which I would call a waste of space in most zoos, showing such a range of odd and rare breed is perfect for the ungulate-oriented Tierpark. A couple of huge lion statues already tell you are about to see the Alfred Brehm House, one of the most beloved and hated zoo buildings of all time. Until very recently, most of the cages held at least one big cat, resulting in what was probably one of the most comprehensive collections of big cat that made into the recent time (probably only surpassed by specialist collections). Now, most cages are empty or broken down. The next time I’ll give an in-depth discussion on the building.
