The Elephant Gate: one of two zoo entrances |
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| Date opened | 1844[1] |
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| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Land area | 34 hectares (84 acres)[1] |
| Number of animals | 17,134 (Dec 2010)[2] |
| Number of species | 1,554 (Dec 2010)[2] |
| Annual visitors | ~2.9 million (2010)[2] |
| Memberships | EAZA,[3] WAZA[4] |
| Website | http://www.zoo-berlin.de/ |
The Berlin Zoological Garden (German: Zoologischer Garten Berlin) is the oldest and best known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844 it covers 34 hectares (84 acres) and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten. With more than 1,500 different species and around 17,000 animals the zoo presents the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.[2]
The zoo and its aquarium had almost 3 million visitors in 2010.[2] It is considered to be the most visited zoo in Europe and one of the most popular worldwide. Regular animal feedings are among its most famous attractions. Globally known animals like Knut, the polar bear, and Bao Bao, the Giant Panda have contributed to the zoo's public image.
The zoo collaborates with many universities, research institutes, and other zoos around the world. It maintains and promotes European breeding programmes, helps safeguard several endangered species, and participates in several species reintroduction programs.
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Opened on August 1, 1844 the Zoologischer Garten Berlin was the first zoo in present-day Germany. The aquarium opened in 1913. The early animals were donated by Frederick William IV, King of Prussia, from the menagerie and pheasantry of the Tiergarten.
During the Second World War, the zoo area was completely destroyed and only 91 of 3,715 animals survived, including two lions, two hyenas, an Asian bull elephant, a hippo bull, ten hamadryas baboons, a chimpanzee, and a black stork, among a few others. By the end of the war the zoo was fortified with Flak towers and a center of Nazi resistance against the Red Army and allied air forces with bunkers and anti-aircraft weapons. Following the zoo's destruction, it and the associated Aquarium have been reconstructed on the most modern principles so as to display the animals in their natural environment. The success achieved in breeding animals, including some rare species, demonstrates the efficiency of these new methods.
| Group | Species[2] | Animals[2] |
|---|---|---|
| Mammals | 174 | 1,028 |
| Birds | 329 | 2,310 |
| Reptiles | 73 | 435 |
| Amphibians | 52 | 500 |
| Fish | 586 | 6.006 |
| Invertebrates | 340 | 6,855 |
| Total (2010) | 1,554 | 17,133 |
The Berlin Zoo is the most visited zoo in Europe with approximately 3.0 million annual visitors from all over the world. It is open all year long and can easily be reached by public transportation. The Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station (also simply known as Zoo) is one of Berlin's most important stations. Several modes of transport such as U-Bahn, S-Bahn and buses are interlinked here. Visitors can either enter the zoo through the exotically designed Elephant Gate beside the aquarium on Budapester Straße or through the Lion Gate on Hardenbergplatz.
A breeding function of the zoo is its program maintaining the studbooks for black and Indian rhinoceroses and gaurs. The populations of rare deer and pigs are part of several captive breeding projects. Berlin Zoo supports conservationists e.g. in Madagascar and as a partner of the Stiftung Artenschutz.
Almost all of the animals are housed in enclosures that are specially designed to recreate their natural habitat.
The carnivore house displays all big cats and many rare small predators, such as ring-tailed mongooses and narrow-striped mongooses from Madagascar. In the basement, visitors are invited to a view into the world of nocturnal animals.
The bird house presents a walk-through aviary and offers a broad variety of forms, including several regularly breeding species of hornbills and many parrots. Numerous big aviaries show waders, herons and many other species. The Berlin zoo is one of the few zoos to exhibit Tuatara and Luzon Tarictic Hornbills.
The Aquarium, which was built in 1913 as part of the Zoologischer Garten complex.[5]
The polar bear Knut was born in captivity at the Zoo on 5 December 2006. Rejected by his mother at birth, he was subsequently raised by zookeepers and became the center of a mass media phenomenon that spanned the globe, quickly spawning numerous toys, media specials, DVDs, and books. Because of this, the cub was largely responsible for a significant increase in revenue, estimated at about five million euros, at the Berlin Zoo in 2007. Zoo attendance figures for the year increased by an estimated 30 percent making it the most profitable year in its 165-year history.[6] Knut died on 19 March 2011 after collapsing in his exhibit.
Bao Bao (born 1978) is the only Giant Panda in a German zoo and the eldest known Giant Panda in a zoo worldwide. Like many of his kind, he is on a permanent loan from China for breeding purposes. In spite of several artificial insemination experiments with a female named Yan Yan, there have been no offspring yet.
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