Schönbrunn Zoo
| Schönbrunn Zoo | ||
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| Full name | Schönbrunner Tiergarten Ges. MbH | |
| motto |
To see animals. Protect species. Welcome to the Imperial Zoo |
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| particularities | Oldest existing zoo in the world; Part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Schönbrunn | |
| place | Maxingstrasse 13b 1130 Vienna |
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| surface | 17 hectares | |
| opening | July 31, 1752 | |
| Animal species | 722 animal species | |
| Individuals | 8409 animals | |
| Visitor numbers | 2.2 million (2017) (2.6 million 2008) | |
| organization | ||
| management | Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck (Director and Managing Director) | |
| Sponsorship | Republic of Austria , Schönbrunner Tiergarten Ges. MbH | |
| Member of | WAZA , EAZA , VdZ , OZO | |
 View over the zoo |
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| www.zoovienna.at | ||
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Coordinates: 48 ° 10 ′ 56 ″ N , 16 ° 18 ′ 9 ″ E
The Schönbrunn Zoo in the park of Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna's 13th district of Hietzing was founded by the Habsburgs in 1752 and is the world's oldest zoo still in existence . He experienced several renewals and extensions. The zoologist Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck has been the director of the zoo since 2020 . In Anthony Sheridan's zoo ranking, the zoo was named the best European zoo five times in a row (2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2018).
history
Franz Stephan von Lothringen , who was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire as Francis I in 1745, commissioned the Lorraine architect Jean Nicolas Jadot de Ville-Issey to design a menagerie in the park of the new Habsburg-Lorraine summer residence Schönbrunn .
In the summer of 1752, after about a year of construction, it was occupied with animals and presented to visitors.
The octagonal pavilion in the center of the complex, designed as a breakfast room and salon, was not completed until 1759. It is still the historical centerpiece of the zoo today. It has been used as a restaurant since 1949.
The Schönbrunn menagerie was essentially reserved for the imperial family until the end of Maria Theresa's reign (Maria Theresa died in 1780, Franz Stephan in 1765). Of course, school classes were soon among the invited guests.
In 1778 the menagerie, along with the palace and park, was opened to “ decently dressed people ” - initially only on Sundays.
After the first elephant came to Schönbrunn in 1770 and predators with wolves and bears for the first time in 1781, the significance of the menagerie continued to increase under the influence of the coalition wars and the associated political, societal and social changes.
Around 1800 the first polar bears , big cats , hyenas and kangaroos as well as another pair of Indian elephants came to Schönbrunn. The exotic animals were crowd pullers - they attracted visitors from Vienna and its surroundings, but also many foreign guests to the imperial menagerie.
At that time the zoo could already be visited daily and the first more detailed descriptions and "zoo guides" were written.
Under Franz II / I. , who ruled Austria from 1792 to 1835, Schönbrunn received a giraffe for the first time in 1828 as a gift from the Viceroy of Egypt . Their arrival in Vienna influenced fashion, handicrafts and social life and led to an unprecedented influx of visitors. Among other things, clothes, gloves and everyday objects with giraffe motifs, hairstyles and a perfume “à la girafe” were created.
In the late 19th century, the appearance of the menagerie changed significantly. Alois Kraus , who ran the zoo from 1879 to the beginning of 1919, achieved a more animal and visitor-friendly redesign of the historical grounds.
Modernization and new construction of animal houses and farm buildings as well as small expansions to the east and south ensured that Schönbrunn became a modern "zoological garden" at the beginning of the 20th century, with almost 3,500 animals in over 700 species, one of the most beautiful Zoos belonged to the world. Despite this, the complex remained private property of the imperial family until the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
The two world wars hit the zoo and its employees very hard. During the First World War and afterwards, supply bottlenecks and the associated hygienic problems caused the number of animals to decline by almost 85 percent to just under 400.
Under Otto Antonius , who was the first biologist to head the Schönbrunn Zoo from 1924 to 1945, the number of animals rose again to more than 3,000 individuals by 1930.
In Schönbrunn, Antonius introduced the idea of breeding animal species threatened with extinction, whereby he was particularly committed to the bison which is threatened with extinction . He was also involved in popular education, campaigned for nature conservation and intensified the increasingly important contact with the media.
From now on, the contacts to the universities and museums were cultivated much more intensively and a lively scientific exchange took place - numerous preparations in the various exhibition and teaching collections testify to this to this day.
On the occasion of the conference of the Association of Directors of Central European Zoological Gardens held in Vienna in 1926, the term “menagerie” was officially replaced by the term “zoo”.
After the re-establishment of the Zoo Directors Association (Basel, 1935), Zoo Director Otto Antonius became President of the now “International Association of Directors of Zoological Gardens” in 1938.
The media-friendly appearances of director Julius Brachetka (director 1945–1958), often accompanied by animals from Schönbrunn, were a mixture of zoological commitment and entertainment and corresponded to the new zeitgeist. The first posters were made and photo competitions were held.
With the construction of the former small pheasant garden - the enclosures that were built there before the Second World War had been destroyed by bombs in 1945 - the Schönbrunn zoo under Walter Fiedler (director 1967–1987) almost doubled its original area to twelve hectares. Other milestones of the era under the zoo director Fiedler were the opening of a children's zoo (1969) and the establishment of a zoo-pedagogical department (1976).
Despite these innovations and despite some outstanding breeding successes - the world's first breeding of European white-tailed eagles was achieved in 1961 - the zoo soon had to struggle with image problems. Animal husbandry was considered out of date and the number of visitors declined.
Discussions about the closure of the zoo or about relocation to another district of Vienna were ended in 1991 with the establishment of Schönbrunner Tiergarten-Gesellschaft mbH. The sole managing director was the Tyrolean veterinarian Helmut Pechlaner , who until then had been director of the Alpenzoo in Innsbruck .
With the help of the Republic of Austria, numerous sponsors and new, market-compliant entry prices, Pechlaner was able to renew and expand almost all enclosures. During this time, the rainforest house, the Tirolerhof, the modern big cat facility, an insectarium, a new facility for giant pandas and one of the largest Indian rhinoceros enclosures in Europe were built.
In 1996 the Schönbrunn Palace and Park ensemble, which also includes the zoo, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015, Schönbrunn was named the best zoo in Europe for the previous year .
A fatal incident occurred in 2002 when a jaguar attacked a zookeeper while they were feeding. The zoo director himself rushed to help, but was late and was badly injured in the hands by the predator. In February 2005 the young bull elephant Abu crushed his keeper. Due to the criticism that followed, Pechlaner offered the responsible federal minister his resignation.
From January 1, 2007 until the end of 2019, Dagmar Schratter was Pechlan's successor as sole managing director of the zoo. Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck , previously director of the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, was appointed her successor in autumn 2019 .
In the record year of 2008, the zoo had 2.6 million visitors. In 2018 more than 2 million visitors came, the number of day tickets sold rose to 1.1 million.
Species protection and research
Schönbrunn Zoo participates in international breeding programs for endangered species. As part of the European Conservation Breeding Program, he has been keeping the studbook for the African elephant since 1992 and for the southern and northern rockhopper penguin since 2014 .
In addition, the Siberian tigers in Schönbrunn regularly (most recently in 2008) give birth to young animals. Other notable successes have been with the Fijian iguanas , rhinoceros iguanas , anteaters , serau , orangutans and African elephants ( Abu , Mongu and Tuluba ). A baby elephant was born in 2013, and the mother was able to be fertilized for the first time with frozen semen from a wild bull in Africa. The elephant was named Iqhwa after an internet vote . In July 2019 a female elephant was born, which - also after an internet vote - was named "Kibali".
Polar bears have also been bred since 1960 . Numerous youngsters have already been passed on to other zoos - such as the Nuremberg Zoo or the Karlsruhe Zoological Garden . The twins Arktos and Nanuq were last born in December 2007 and moved to Hanover Zoo in 2010 .
The breeding program for the bald ibis, a European ibis species that is critically endangered, is also successful .
In May 2010, the Schönbrunn Zoo achieved the world's first offspring of the rare Batagur turtle .
Zoological, historical and veterinary research work is also carried out in the zoo - mainly in cooperation with the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the Department of Evolutionary Biology of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna . The Tiergarten-GesmbH employs the historian Gerhard Heindl, under whose responsibility several publications and books have already appeared, to process its own history and to ensure sustainable documentation.
Panda protection program
With the help of sponsors, the zoo has been a partner of China in the breeding program for giant pandas since 2003 . On August 23, 2007, an extraordinary success was achieved with the birth of a panda. Yang Yang (阳阳, "sunshine") gave birth to the first baby panda in Europe, which was conceived naturally and not through artificial insemination. The father is Long Hui ("Dragon Sign") who died in 2016 . The name of the young panda has been fixed since November 1, 2007: Fu Long (福 龙, "happy dragon") won the vote on the Internet against the three other proposals made by the People's Republic of China, Mei Yue (美 乐, "beautiful music") ), Zhu Wa (竹 娃, "bamboo boy") and Hua Shan (华山, name of one of the five sacred mountains). At the beginning of December 2007, the young panda was given the name Fu Long by Wu Ken, the Chinese ambassador to Austria, at a ceremony . His sponsors include the then Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik and the Swarovski company . From the end of January 2008, the zoo visitors were allowed to go inside the panda enclosure to observe Fu Long in person. From March 30th, the young panda was also out and about in the outdoor area. On November 18, 2009, he left Schönbrunn Zoo for China, where he is to look after offspring in the Bifengxia panda breeding and research station.
On August 23, 2010, exactly three years after Fu Long's birth, the second, also male, panda baby was born in Schönbrunn. It was named Fu Hu (福 虎, "happy tiger") on December 13, 2010 . His godfather is the former economics minister Reinhold Mitterlehner .
A third panda cub, again a male, was born on August 14, 2013. His name Fu Bao (福 豹) means "happy leopard".
On August 7, 2016, twins were finally born and given the names Fu Feng and Fu Ban.
watch TV
Thanks to the involvement of the former zoo director, Helmut Pechlaner, in the ORF series Treffpunkt Natur (1990–1995) and Universum , there were frequent reports on Schönbrunn on television. In addition, the zoo is often the setting for the ORF children's series Tom Turbo by Thomas Brezina . The talking bike Tom Turbo has his garage here and has been the godfather of a Siberian tiger since 2006 - in line with its inventor Thomas Brezina, of course. Helmut Pechlaner played in a few episodes.
After the birth of the baby panda Fu Long in August 2007, the ORF broadcast the Panda TV format, designed by Heinz Leger, on a weekly basis until April 2008, which tells of the development of the young panda and other events in the zoo, such as the work of the vets, told. Since 2010 , Patrick Budgen has been reporting on the varied life and goings-on in the zoo every spring on the ORF program Wien heute .
Company data
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Schönbrunn Zoo Act |
| Long title: | Federal law on the establishment of a Schönbrunn Zoo Society m. b. H. |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Republic of Austria |
| Reference: | BGBl. No. 420/1991 (Stf.) |
| Last change: | BGBl. I No. 46/2014 |
| Legal text: | ris.bka |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version ! | |
The sole managing director of the zoo has been the zoologist Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck since January 1, 2020 , the authorized signatories are Ana Haschka and Gerhard Kasbauer. On the supervisory board are Wolfgang Schüssel , Elke Koch, Monika Geppl, Alexander Palma, Alexander Keller and Thomas Sedlak. Schönbrunner Tiergarten-Gesellschaft mbH is wholly owned by Tiergarten Schönbrunn Gastronomie GmbH and limited partner by Dipl. Tzt. Thomas Voracek KG Veterinary Ordination Tiergarten Schönbrunn involved. Schönbrunner Tiergarten-Gesellschaft mbH has been registered in the commercial register under number 47954x since December 30, 1991, the capital contribution amounts to € 600,000.00 and is wholly owned by the Republic of Austria, represented by the Federal Ministry for Digitization and Business Location . Furthermore, the company operates the desert house in front of the zoo gates in the form of the "ARGE Sonnenuhrhaus" together with the Austrian Federal Gardens .
literature
- Fritz Böck : 240 years of Schönbrunn Zoo - a look back. Lecture given on December 9, 1992 . In: Writings of the Association for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge Vienna . tape 133_134 , 1995, pp. 211–266 ( PDF on ZOBODAT [accessed on May 26, 2015]).
- Mitchell G. Ash , Lothar Dittrich (ed.): Menagerie des Kaisers. Vienna Zoo. Pichler, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-85431-269-5 .
- Gerhard Heindl : Start into the modern age. The imperial menagerie under Alois Kraus. Braumüller, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7003-1540-6 .
- Gerhard Kunze : Schönbrunn Zoo. Happy animals zoo. Austria's magical place of power. Holzhausen, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-85493-102-6 .
- Gerhard Kunze: Schönbrunn Zoo: from the emperor's menagerie to Helmut Pechlan's zoo of happy animals. LW Werbe- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-9501179-0-3 .
- E. Minoggio: Seeing animals with children's eyes. A children's zoo guide through the Schönbrunn Zoo. Manz, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-7067-0014-X .
- Sigrid Laube , Maria Blazejovsky : Zoo stories. Jungbrunnen, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7026-5740-1 .
- Oliver E. Paget : Animally cheerful. A historical-cultural-animal tour. Stangl, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-934969-21-6 .
- Helmut Pechlaner , Gaby V. Schwammer : Zoo guide. Schönbrunner Tiergarten, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-902243-14-7 .
- Helmut Pechlaner, Dagmar Schratter , Gerhard Heindl (eds.): Schönbrunn Zoo. History. Braumüller, Vienna 2005, ISSN 1994-5116
- Helmut Pechlaner: My Schönbrunn animal stories. Holzhausen, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-900518-68-8 .
- Christa Riedl-Dorn : Tall animal. The story of the first giraffe in Schönbrunn. Braumüller, Vienna 2008, ISBN 3-7003-1633-X
- Dagmar Schratter (editor), Gerhard Heindl : Animals on the move. Historical and current information about animal acquisition and animal transport. Braumüller, Vienna 2007, ISBN 3-7003-1575-9 .
- Dagmar Schratter, Regina Pfistermüller, Petra Stefan: The Koala: Koalas in Schönbrunn - Austria helps Australia. Schönbrunner Tiergarten, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-902243-01-5 .
- Gaby Schwammer , Hanno Fürnwein : The message of the rainforests. Schönbrunner Tiergarten, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-902243-03-1 .
- Article about Schönbrunn Zoo. In: Die Zeit , No. 18/2007
Web links
- Official website of the Schönbrunn Zoo
- Entry on Schönbrunn Zoo in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Flickr group - photos from Schönbrunn Zoo
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Decline in visitors to Schönbrunn Zoo . , wien.ORF.at, January 21, 2010.
- ↑ Best European Zoo Award. Schönbrunn Zoo website, accessed on December 28, 2018.
- ^ Obituary in Zoodirektoren.de
- ↑ Schönbrunn named the best zoo in Europe. September 13, 2016, accessed September 13, 2016 .
- ↑ Hering-Hagenbeck new head of the zoo on ORF on October 30, 2019, accessed on October 30, 2019
- ↑ Schönbrunn Zoo: More visitors to Schönbrunn Zoo in 2018. Accessed on August 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Complete List of EEPs and ESBs on the EAZA website , accessed February 13, 2015.
- ↑ Schönbrunn Zoo now has breeding books for rockhopper penguins. Press release of the Association of Zoological Gardens from February 11, 2015.
- ↑ Birth of elephants: World premiere in Vienna on ORF Science on September 5, 2013, accessed on September 23, 2013.
- ↑ The baby elephant is called Iqhwa on ORF from September 23, 2013, accessed on September 23, 2013.
- ↑ Baby elephant born - Schönbrunn Zoo. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .
- ↑ The baby elephant is called Kibali - Schönbrunn Zoo. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .
- ↑ Twins polar bears born in Schönbrunn.
- ↑ Vienna polar bears offspring got names. June 9, 2008.
- ↑ Our polar bears discover Hanover. May 19, 2010.
- ↑ Zoo raised extremely rare turtles . orf.at, June 15, 2010.
- ↑ Schönbrunn Zoo: For Kelly, species protection is a bear thing , accessed December 7, 2011.
- ↑ Panda baby will be called "Fu Long" orf.at, November 1st, 2007.
- ↑ Oberösterreichs Neue from December 5, 2007 Ambassador to the Panda
- ↑ Baby panda is the new star.
- ↑ Panda cubs born in Schönbrunn. dated August 24, 2010, accessed August 24, 2010.
- ↑ Panda Fu Hu fails to be baptized. wien.orf.at, December 8, 2010.
- ↑ Panda cubs born in Schönbrunn on August 15, 2013, accessed on August 15, 2013.
- ↑ Panda offspring is a male from September 19, 2013, accessed on September 23, 2013.
- ↑ Pandabub is called Fu Bao from November 28, 2013, accessed on November 28, 2013.
- ↑ there-are-panda-twins from August 16, 2016, accessed on June 19, 2017.
- ↑ panda-twins-as-stamps from June 12, 2017, accessed on June 19, 2017.
- ↑ Excerpts from the commercial register for FN 47954x, FN 248013a and FN 182809m