I visited Osnabruck last week on a blisteringly hot day, but an enjoyable visit nevertheless. The zoo is building new stuff atan impressively high pace, although not every new development deserves praise (i.e. orangutans). Still, this means that there's something new and inviting to see on just about every visit, even if you visit the zoo quite often, like me. Some updates from this visit: - Lion Amina has been put to sleep at 14 years of age because of her rapidly detoriating health - The new camel exhibit is... well... kind of finished. The inhabitants are already there but there's still a lot of construction going on at the site. Partly, this is because they are also building a new exhibit for red panda's next to the camel exhibit. The camel exhibit itself is generously sized but it looks pretty sterile and boring because of the plentiful use of grey gravel as surface (the same kind of gravel is also used in the zebra exhibit in the Takamanda zone). This is probably functional for the zookeepers but not exactly pleasing to the eye. - I think the new 'Wasserwelten' area is rather good. The sea lion and seal exhibits are immense improvements over the old situation and they are both quite large. The exhibits look quite nice with fine (but perhaps not brilliant) theming and the underwater viewing is quite impressive too. I like the fact that you look out over these exhibits from the restaurant terrace as well. The penguin exhibit is a walkthrough with a generously sized land part. The pool is only alright and I would have liked it to be deeper and larger, but it is still a big improvement over the old small and shallow pool. I also did not like the fact that some of the smaller land parts in the exhibits were completely surrounded by paths. The pelican exhibit is probably okay for the animals but it feels a bit weird because it is not really an aviary but instead consists of high fences with a 'ceiling' consisting of a maze of hanging ropes that could not really be considered a net. The exhibit is also very featureless and almost completely devoid of planting. I really think this is a big missed opportunity, as with a bit of landscaping and added species (and perhaps using some of the space around it as well as it could have been much larger) this could have been a nice water bird aviary. Overall though, not a bad addition but it is typical for Osnabruck that it could have been much better with a bit more thought and attention to detail.
@Tiktaalik: your description and evaluation is pretty much perfect. Osnabrück's biggest strength is to act quickly and build a lot. The quality sometimes suffers under it though. Sometimes they unfortunately rather build for the human eye than for the inhabitants The camel exhibit... well camels absolutely do not fit into the concept of the zoo and neither does the enclosure the way it is built. I think the main reason for having them is because they are cheap - you don't need any indoor facility, nothing needs to be heated, plus they regularly deliver offspring (well, not yet because the three are all just 1 year old). I would call the camel exhibit a bad idea badly done. The "Wasserwelten" area: you say it, for all species but the pelicans it is a huge improvement. The sea lion enclosure is just a tiny bit above the minimum requirements though, but the reason rather is that the set minimum is pretty high for this species. The pelican enclosure... well, they had a huge area before without roof, so the feathers had to be cut - something you should make sure to avoid when building new. For this reason I do not understand the ropes idea. And worse is as you already said: it would have been a big chance to make an attractive mixed species exhibit, but this opportunity is missed without a roof. @snowleopard: there were only two male bush hyraxes left and the few birds did not fill the enclosure, so they put the bush hyraxes to the two remaining rock hyraxes. Their former area was rebuilt for Kirk's dikdiks. Unfortunately it is not a good exhibit for the animals - it's long but narrow, the animals never have a bigger distance to the visitors and not a lot opportunities to hide, which is something they of course don't like. Let's say you will not find relaxed animals in there...
At the start of this month 5 Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) were born. Here are some other recent births, arrivals and deaths. Recent births: A male Vicuna (Vicugna vicugna) and a Kirk's dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii). Recent transfers: 3-year old male Diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana) Khal and a female American wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) from Tierpark Nordhorn. Male North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) Bruce was send to Tiergarten Kleve. Recent deaths: Male Chapman's zebra (Equus quagga chapmani) Melvin (*2022), Male Domestic Reindeer Sven and female Colombian black spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps rufiventris) Smiley-Hope. Sources: Instagram of Zoo Osnabrück (15/09/2022) Instagram of Zoo Osnabrück (23/09/2022)
Asian elephant bull Luka was euthanized at age 49 due to his health and strength declining for several weeks. Zoo Osnabrück Facebook post
The zoo got two new female harbour seals (Vigga/Selena). THey are two and 3 years old and come from Denmark (Hirtshals). source and seen today
The zoo got a new male sloth (Mario) for the south america house from Budapest. The zoo also got two additions to the zebra group (2-year old Maja / 1-year old Taya), which now consists of 5 animals. source
Female Southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) Amalie is pregnant and expected to give birth at the start of next year, hopefully this birth goes succesfully as her first birth (at the start of this year) was stillborn. Lia the other female white rhino at the zoo had cysts removed from her reproductive organs, so hopefully she can now also become pregnant. Source: Instagram of Zoo Osnabrück (02/12/2022)
At the start of this week a Western common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) was born to female Vakanga. Source: Instagram of Zoo Osnabrück (23/12/2022)
There is a concept art and a new video for the upcoming elephant park. It looks like the sand cat house will be demolished and the rhino will move to Takamanda. The bull area will likely still be as small as before. Source
The Zoo added five Anderson's Salamander (Ambystoma andersoni) to it's collection. Source: Webside / Instagram
The zoo has taken the annual inventory and has 289 species of 2,649 individuals (2021: 285 / 2.728). The zoo gave away it's last Bongo (haven't been on display for quite a while) and the herd of Gute sheep (Kajanaland). Also, the last minipig died, so these species are no longer on display. Source: webside
At the end of January the zoo got a new Reindeer buck as the old male died last year and his son was transferred to another zoo. In addition, a Kirk's dik-dik (female) was born at the end of January. The zoo has also added Strasser pigeons (10) to its collection. A new South African Ostrich is living in the african savannah since december. source: webside
In Febrary (19.02.2023) a Rhino calf was born in Osnabrück. It appears to be female and named "Lisbeth". It is the first calf after 44 years of keeping Rhinos. I will most likely visit the zoo today and will try to get a picture. Source
Here are the pictures: Newborn Rhino by RonBurrgundy posted 3 Mar 2023 at 9:20 PM Newborn Rhino with mother by RonBurrgundy posted 3 Mar 2023 at 9:20 PM Newborn Rhino by RonBurrgundy posted 3 Mar 2023 at 9:20 PM Newborn Rhino by RonBurrgundy posted 3 Mar 2023 at 9:20 PM Newborn Rhino with keeper by RonBurrgundy posted 3 Mar 2023 at 9:20 PM
The young is a male, making it the four male offspring in the last 4 years. On the 7th of April a male Domestic Reindeer was born. Source: Instagram of Zoo Osnabrück (13/04/2023)
It*s even the fifth in five years (Matthias, Ben, Floyd, Bruce, Bob) Another Kirk's dikdik was born, and three black-tailed prairie dogs.
On the 23rd of April a male Northern warthog (Phacochoerus africanus africanus) was born, the female that was born at the zoo last year will soon move to a different zoo. On the 25th of April 3 Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) were born. Sources: Instagram of Zoo Osnabrück (30/04/2023) Instagram of Zoo Osnabrück (01/05/2023)
In May, a new male sea lion (Alvis) arrived in Osnabrück from Zoo Krefeld. After 5 years without a male the group now counts 4 animals (Bella, Sana, Donna and Alvis). Source: Website Zoo Osnabrück
