Zoo Basel logo |
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| Date opened | July 3, 1874 |
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| Location | Basel, Switzerland |
| Land area | 32.12 acres (13.00 ha) |
| Number of animals | 6,894 (2008 / about 5,000 in the aquarium) |
| Number of species | 645 (2008) |
| Website | http://www.zoobasel.ch |
The Zoo Basel is constantly upgrading its infrastructure, but can hardly grow in area, as it is surrounded by the city of Basel, Switzerland, and, in the south, by Binningen. While most projects are upgrading older infrastructure and constructing multiple-animal exhibits, the zoo has plans to expand in area as well.
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Starting in April/May 2010 the monkey house and the surrounding area will undergo extensive construction. This includes the tearing down of the small monkey house (home of the Ring-tailed Lemurs), the Macaques rock, the children's play ground, the old bear exhibits, and several paths.
On June 30, 2011 the enlarged monkey house opened. While visitors have the same amount of space available, the apes' space more than double from 340 square metres (3,700 sq ft) to 700 square metres (7,500 sq ft)[1]. The old outer walls were torn down and the living quarters were extended in depth and height. Eventually, there will be additional compartments with no public access, a service tunnel, worker quarters, and restrooms added.
In summer 2012 five large outdoor "cages", the remodeled monkey house roof, a new ape playground, and several new paths will open. The outdoor cages will have a double net layer; one for safety reasons and the other, outer layer, for plants to grow on. The cages' heights will be 16 metres (52 ft) for the Orangutans and 11 metres (36 ft) for the other apes. The apes' outdoor area will grow from today's 70 square metres (750 sq ft) to over 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft). The children's playground is planned to go along with the jungle theme - similar to the one in the Etosha exhibit. The paths on the monkey roof, around the new cages, by the main entrance, and the former bear exhibits will be adjusted and/or newly constructed.
According to the Basler Zeitung online on March 10, 2010,[2] the orangutans left Basel. The gorillas and 150 other smaller monkey found a temporary home on an unidentified Novartis site in Basel. On April 14, 2010, Basler Zeitung reported that all apes left the zoo[3]. All monkey returned before the monkey house opening on June 30, 2011 - except the Orangutans and the Woolly monkeys [1].
Following is an estimated time table of the constructions in and around the monkey house (Italics has been reached):
The current elephant house (constructed in 1953) is due to be renovated and expanded. Planned are boxes for the females, a larger outdoor male area, and overall expansion of the area towards the old kangaroo exhibit[4].
On May 11, 2010, Zoo Basel announced the reception of an estimated 24-million-Swiss-Franc donation for the monkey expansion project. This donation (the largest ever to a Swiss Zoo) will allow Zoo Basel to shift funds away from the monkey exhibit project and allow it to finance the construction of a new elephant house and outdoor exhibit[5]. On May 18th 2011, Zoo Basel announced that construction will begin in 2014[6].
On March 17, 2009, Zoo Basel announced its intent to build Switzerlands first large scale ocean aquarium. Mainly through private donors a 70-million-Swiss-Franc building[7] is planned to be built on the Heuwaage square and will extend into the downtown nightlife strip of Steinen.
The building will host sharks, coral reefs, large octopuses, and penguins.
The building will have four floors: One underground, on ground level, and two above ground. It will have a themed restaurant and shops that will be opened beyond the regular zoo hours.
Zoo Basel's proposal would be the only large scale aquarium in Switzerland in middle Europe. According to Zoo Basel, similar ocean aqauriums are over 500 kilometres (310 mi) away. Among them in Arnhem (Netherlands), Genoa (Italy), Lisbon (Portugal), and Barcelona (Spain). All of them are popular visitor destinations with hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Because of these examples Zoo Basel anticipates that its Ozeanium would be self-sustaining and boost the zoos annual visitors to over 2 millions.
In the long run, the Zoo Basel would like to acquire rare Giant Pandas and have them in the Sautergarten area as part of the Asian theme area. According to the zoos web page, zoo officials hope that Giant Pandas would "excite visitors to learn about the Chinese plant and animal life, as well as environment protection" [8].
Since 1961, the zoo has not grown in area[9].
There is a possibility to expand East across the Birsig river. This would allow additional space for the Giant Pandas and other exhibits in the Sauter Garden.
In various Basler Zeitung publications, a possible expansion to the North (Nachtigallen Wäldchen) was mentioned. A possible scenario would have torn down the parking and moved it to another place, possible was/is a parking house underneath the street just East of the current parking area: underneath the Erdbeerestreet.
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