Night animal house

The Noctarium in the Muséum on the Citadel of Besançon shows small nocturnal animals native to Central Europe

A nocturnal animal house is a zoological facility in which one can observe nocturnal animals.

This is possible either by exchanging day and night in terms of lighting, or by always having an artificial night there, like in a natural cave.

In Germany, at the beginning of March 2006, a so-called noctarium for the observation of bats opened in the Noctalis in Bad Segeberg . In the citadel of Besançon (France) there is a noctarium in which different species of nocturnal rodents can be seen.

The largest of its kind is the Grzimek House in Frankfurt am Main. The first nocturnal animal department in Europe was opened in 1962 in Wilhelma and closed in 2014.

Night animal houses in zoos

• Berlin Zoological Garden : nocturnal animal house
• Leipzig Zoo : nocturnal animal department in Gondwanaland
• Frankfurt Zoo : Grzimek House
• Saarbrücken Zoo : nocturnal animal house
• Noctalis - World of Bats: Noctarium
• Hellabrunn Zoo, Munich: Villa Dracula
• Papiliorama : Nocturama

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le Noctarium. Citadelle de Besançon website, accessed October 2, 2017.