Have the Tierpark received a Baird's tapir from Wuppertal, saw something on their website and my German aint up2 scratch, and if so will they or Wuppertal be importing anymore into Europe. Also i thought it was time one of the greatest zoos in the world had a thread of its own!
Yes it has. First it was in Berlin Zoo, but now its in Berlin Tierpark One of the greatest? I don´t know. Small Carnivore-Cages, no enrichment, etc... The animalcollection may be good, but 2/3 of the exhibits are less good...
it has a very impressive collection and alot of the new areas mainly the paddock species, monkey house and elephant house are very nice! no zoo is perfect!
The elephant house is awful. The elephants are kept in chains from the afternoon to the next morning, 12 months a year. The zoo claims there is not enough space to keep with without chains... The house is gigantic but most of the space is for the visitors to enjoy, not for the elephants and rhinos who spend all their life in the small stalls. The outdoor enclosures are not that small but very barren with very little shade. The new monkey house has the same problem, very barren cages and enclosures with little to no enrichment and and space wasted with the more then spacious visitor area. The numerous enclosures for the antilopes, deer, zebras ect. are usually very spacious but again very barren and not very attractive for visitors...
This huge wooded park is very good for animals - practically every species breeds. Although, yes, many enclosures look barren and architecture is ugly. German zoo lovers joke about identical green mesh used for every single enclosure. But it has great things. Zoo gets empty in late afternoon and animals are curious to you and playful. You can watch colony of noctule bats emerge from old trees above takins. And where else you can see 15+ strong herd of takin or over 20 Asian and African elephants with five calves, or 12 species of crane?
It is good for SOME species. Surely not for the big cats who live in small, outdated cages, often 2 cats sharing one outdoor cage with the result that one has to spend every second day inside. Not for the elephants who spend 16 hours each day in chains. Not for the back bears and the spectacled bears who can use the the ugly, small, concrete enclosure only in shifts. The 2 older hyena enclosures are neither spacious nor well adapted... All monkey enclosures are barren with very few opportinuties to hide or climb. Seeing the large herds of takins, kiangs, giraffes, antilopes, elephants ect. animals is amazing, though. It`s just a shame because the Tierpark could be so much better (for both animals and visitors alike) without spending too much money!
The main Problem is the director, who thinks enrichment is modern rubbish, too much stuff (like trees, rocks and so) in cages is bad, because you won´t have always a free view at the animals and so on. Many new exibits are poorly designt. Mountainanimals life on large grasland, with only a few rocks (after a few years the claws´ll look interesting), Monkeys life in a sorf of Bathroom, no tresse, just 2 or 3 ropes. The "Brehm-Haus" (Cats-House) is very old. The "big" exibits (without fences) are the room for 3 Groups lions and the other with 3 groups Tigers... Mostly every cage (Small indoor, tiny birthcage and small outdoor) are mostly for 2 breeding pairs (f.e. 1,1 China-Leopard + 1,1 Mountainlion)... Of course there are good exibits for Crocs or Buffalos, but many eyibits (sadly most of the new) are small and outaged. Sorry for my poor english
Don't tell me, I know. I heard that Berlin zoo and Tierpark competed ideologically for years. One was in capitalistic West Berlin, other in communist DDR, and each wanted to show which system is better. Curious case. Is it true?
Yes, Jurek7, part of it is true. It was a very odd situation: a divided city, in which a part of the residents (in the Eastern Sector) could no longer visit its zoo. The GDR decided to establish a zoo, the Tierpark Friedrichsfelde, in 1954. While the West Berlin Zoo that was known before WW2 as one of the major zoos worldwide with an immense collection of species (among them Mountain Nyala, Giant Armadillo, Emperor Penguins...) was crippled by the bombing and slowly rebuilt itself in a rather limited urban area, the East German government wanted the Tierpark to be right from the start somehow polar to it: features like a large, park-like scenario with herds of ungulates instead of singular specimen like in the Zoo, rare species from the Sowject Union and its allies the western zoos couldn't get (however, the Tierpark soon established good business connections with the San Diego and other American zoos) and huge animal buildings like the Alfred-Brehm-Haus for carnivores and especially the Pachyderm House, built in 1989(!), were supposed to illustrate the progressiveness, power and wealth of the GDR system in comparison to the unprogressive capitalistic Western system. The GDR also tried to embed the Tierpark into its political propangada, by forcing every resident of the GDR (even children and kids) to contribute to the founding costs of the Tierpark to make it a "zoo for the common people, by the common people"; You can still see a reminder of that at the old Bobcat exhibit. Some directors of the Berlin Zoo, like Heinz-Georg Klös, did indeed report that the GDR created some annoying & needless hindrances for the Zoo on its way back to its former glory (f.e. the transportation of animal food or new animals) while privileging the Tierpark; however, this was a rather common move of the GDR system when dealing with the "West", and the zoo directors of the Zoo and the Tierpark respectively usually, according to their own testimony, behaved more or less like a good colleague to each other. Zoo Director Heinrich Dathe "reigned" the Tierpark from 1954-1990 and thus hugely influenced the design and look of the Tierpark we can still see today; the current director of both Berlin zoos, Dr. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, introduced and introduces changes only gradually and often stubbornly insists on his ideas; some of the buildings built during his current period of service, like the mentioned monkey building, are criticised by both zoofans and zoo pro's due to several reasons, while other criticism, like on the Alfred-Brehm-Haus, emanates from old buildings as cost-intensive "Dathe-inheritances" that no longer fulfil modern zoo husbandry and representation standards (even though the situation isn't better in some zoos, but maybe better hidden and thus less obvious to the public). All in all the Tierpark is still worth a visit, even though the current situation in a reunited and pretty financially weak city makes it questionable whether Berlin can afford two zoos at the same time; however, the recent cash-flow due to cash cow (or rather "bear") "Knut" might change the situation for the better-at least for a while. What still remains is the often observed fact that Berlin residents from the former Eastern Sector still tend to prefer visiting the Tierpark, while the "West Berlin" folks consider "their" Zoo the one and only. There is a little "secret" or rather, a nice little hint in regard to the Tierpark if You're looking for a nice souvenir: go the children zoo and there to the carrousel and the kiosk; next to it is a little shop, which is usually opened on the weekends from April till October. The nice old ladies and gentlemen in it are members of a non-profit organisation supporting the Tierpark and sell a huge array of zoo-memorabilia (also from other zoos worldwide), may it be antique zoo guides, books or an interesting collection of beautifully painted zoo posters, among them motives of rarely depicted species like Takins, Muskox, Arabian Oryx or Lionfish for often laughable low prices. The nice old folks usually don't speak a lot of English, but are usually very friendly and helpful. Hope this info will benefit You in the case You visit the Tierpark.
I just visited the park, so here some Pics: Some exhibits at the Brehmhaus: Sibirian Tiger (1,1): Chinese Leopard (2,3):
Montana-Cougar (1,1): Dschelada-Baboon exhibit: African Elephants: Want more pics? Got a lot, just have to know what you want to see
Nothing big I think. The new projects are all for the Zoo. But also there just small things like the smallcats-cages.
When I was at the Tierpark 2 years ago there were plans (and signs ) for a new hyena exhibit - close to where the spotted hyenas were exhibited. Has that been completed yet? I was told the plan was to move the spotted hyenas into the new exhibit, and rearrange the brown and striped hyenas so they had more space. Must agree, it's quite a dilemma , I love seeing a great diversity of species, but often it's at the expense of quality, adequately sized enclosures with good usable space and amenties for the animals. So many zoos spend great amounts of time and money to build elaborate "National Geographic"esque exhibits that look natural to us, but then they put up hot wires to block the animals from the plants, glass, and rocks - so they are left with nothing more than an space that makes the average visitor feel better. Look at San Diego's Gorilla Tropics as a good example- I'd take Columbus or Jersey Zoo's big, wonderfully enriched spaces anytime. Tierpark animals, in general have more room than I've seen in many zoos, especially the Hillside Mountain animals area. Those are worth emulating. The old Alfred-Brehm house has an amazing collection, have to hope for renovation to be sooner than later.
