Dortmund Zoo

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Dortmund Zoo
Dortmund Zoo
motto The park among the zoos
place Mergelteichstrasse 80
44225 Dortmund
surface 28 hectares
(11 hectares of expansion area)
opening May 24, 1953
Animal species 190 animal species (Jan. 1, 2018)
Individuals 1425 animals (Jan. 1, 2018)
Species focus South American animals
Visitor numbers 445,694 (2017)
organization
management Frank Brandstätter
Sponsorship City of Dortmund
Funding organizations Zoofreunde Dortmund e. V.
Friends of Children and Zoo Dortmund e. V.
Member of WAZA , EAZA , VdZ , Foundation for Species Protection
www.dortmund.de
Dortmund Zoo (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Dortmund Zoo

Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 28 "  N , 7 ° 28 ′ 15"  E

The Zoo Dortmund was on 24 May 1953 by the then Zoo Society Dortmund e. V. opened above the pit of the former Glückaufsegen colliery south of Rombergpark in the Brünninghausen district as Dortmund Zoo .

Overview

Today there are around 1240 animals of 223 species on a total area of ​​28  hectares . The Dortmund Zoo focuses on the keeping and breeding of South American animal species and is a leader in breeding the giant anteater , the tamandua and the South American giant otter . The attractions include the rainforest house "Rumah Hutan", the Amazon house, the Tamanduahaus, the giraffe house , the otter house and the rhino house, which opened in 2006 .

As part of the " World Zoo Nature Conservation Strategy ", the following work focuses:

  • Keeping and breeding rare animal species
  • Creation of natural history and species protection awareness among the population
  • Recreational and educational offer for visitors
  • Reintroduction programs

administration

  • Zoo director: Frank Brandstätter
  • Deputy Director and Curator: Ilona Schappert
  • Veterinarian: Christine Osmann

History of the zoo

The first founding efforts go back to the "Zooverein Dortmund" founded in 1932 under the chairmanship of the dentist Heinrich Seeger, which received two lions from the Sarrasani circus after a guest performance in the then Westfalenhalle, but was unable to secure the financing of the project. The establishment of a sustainable financing plan was not achieved until the "Zoo Society" founded in 1950 under the chairmanship of Ferdinand Marx, which asked the city of Dortmund for a plot of land at the lowest possible rent.

Konrad Glocker (1900–1977), horticultural architect and, after an apprenticeship in the royal Bavarian court gardens in Nymphenburg and studying, assistant to building officer Hans Strobel during the work on the main cemetery in Dortmund , took over the management of the Dortmund garden and cemetery office in 1948 and thus the reconstruction of the Green areas of the city after the bomb damage of the Second World War. From 1952 he organized flower shows in the Westfalenhallen and in 1959 the first federal horticultural show in Dortmund, for which the Westfalenpark redesigned and u. a. the telecommunications tower "Florian" was built. At the same time, he began planning a zoological garden on the former colliery on the slope of the Schweinberg (111.9 m above sea level), adjacent to the Rombergpark, where the von Romberg noble family had already maintained a wildlife park. The construction was started at the end of 1951. The designation “zoo” should reflect a uniform urban green space concept.

On May 24, 1953, the zoo was handed over to its destination. On eleven hectares, 90 animals were shown, mostly European species, but also exotic species such as llamas and cockatoos. As early as July, the zoo welcomed the one hundred thousandth visitor and, after two years, the one millionth visitor. The zoo was taken over by the city. The association, now renamed "Friends of the Zoo" and today "Zoofreunde Dortmund", has always remained important for the largest zoological garden in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Since the 1980s, the idea of ​​species protection has moved more into focus. In the course of time, the animals were given larger and more species-appropriate enclosures, groups were reduced in size, and "residential communities" of different animal species were created. Animation programs have been designed for intelligent animals such as monkeys and sea lions. This also took the interests of the visitors into account. Instead of concrete-reinforced small enclosures, the zoo now presents its animals predominantly in spacious open-air enclosures or in typical houses. At the turn of the millennium, the zoo was renamed the “Dortmund Zoo”, which is easier to understand internationally.

In 2000, Dortmund Zoo took 5th place in the stern zoo test out of 39 zoos tested. In the zoo test from 2008, the Dortmund zoo, together with the Duisburg zoo , came 13th out of 50 German zoos with an average grade of 2.06. It was assessed according to school grades. Compared with the other eight zoos in North Rhine-Westphalia, the zoos in Dortmund and Duisburg were ranked 5th.

In 2002, the documentary series A Doc for All Furs at Dortmund Zoo was created; its success made it a pioneer of TV zoo series such as Elefant, Tiger & Co. , Panda, Gorilla & Co. etc.

In 2005, 1,840 animals of 265 different species lived on an area of ​​28 hectares. In the meantime, some species have been given up and the number of animals reduced in order to ensure more species-appropriate keeping conditions. At the end of 2011, an enlarged enclosure was opened for the Amur leopards , which are threatened with extinction .

The Dortmund zoo directors

  • 1953–1959: Horticultural Director Konrad Glocker
  • 1959–1974: Walter Simanowski
  • 1974–2000: Wolf Bartmann
  • 2000–2001: Ilona Schappert (acting head)
  • 2001 – today: Frank Brandstätter

Species protection and breeding success

Dortmund Zoo successfully breeds animal species that are classified as endangered by the IUCN , such as giant anteaters and giant otters . There is a European Conservation Breeding Program (EEP) for these two species . The studbook for the giant anteater is kept by Dortmund Zoo, and by 2015 also that for the giant otter, which has been coordinated by Schwerin Zoo since then . The International Stud Book (ISB) for the giant otter remained at Dortmund Zoo.

There are other internationally recognized breeding successes with the Angola giraffes , tapirs , annual birds and many other South American species. However, after several deaths among the giraffes and for reasons of inbreeding, the remaining five Angola giraffes are to be given to other zoos and replaced by another species of giraffe.

  • The Dortmund Zoo is the only European zoo besides the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg and the Leipzig Zoo successfully breeding the critically endangered South American giant otters and is home to the oldest living specimen of this species in a zoo.
  • In recent years, Dortmund Zoo has become the only zoo in Europe to have successfully brought oncillas .
  • The 63rd baby anteater was born in the zoo on October 9, 2014. This makes Dortmund Zoo a world leader in breeding this endangered species.
  • In June 2013 the 32nd tamandua baby was born in Dortmund Zoo. This means that Dortmund Zoo is also the world leader in these sideline animals.
  • On April 21, 2014, baby white rhinoceros Abebi was born.
  • Two jaguar babies were born in February 2015 . Dortmund Zoo participates in the European Stud Book (ESB) for jaguars, which is run by the Chester Zoo - Great Britain's largest zoo.

Incidents

On May 21, 2015, the three-year-old male lion Lolek killed his mother Moreni . After Moreni's months of isolation in the infirmary, the two animals should be brought together again. However, Lolek immediately attacked his mother as soon as she entered the enclosure, did not accept her submissive attitude either and killed her with a throat bite. The zookeepers present could not separate the two animals. Lolek is now the only lion in Dortmund Zoo.

On the night of August 10, 2015, strangers broke into the Amazon house and stole three pygmy marmosets . The perpetrators also took two dwarf agutis with them. Two of the stolen animals are the breeding pair of the little monkey species. With her loss, breeding in Dortmund is over. The fact that the parent animals were deliberately taken indicates a carefully planned act.

The 21-year-old sea lion "Holly" was found dead on November 5, 2015. The zoo veterinarian autopsied the animal on November 9th. During this examination, she found that the skull had been subjected to violence. Holly was also missing three teeth. The veterinarian concluded that stress-related death from possible abuse cannot be ruled out.

On December 1, 2015, a Humboldt penguin was found dead with injuries outside his enclosure at the flamingo pond 200 m away. Two more penguins are missing.

Parts of the park

The Dortmund Zoo is partly organized geographically. So there are the unofficial parts of the park: Africa , Asia , Australia and South America . There are also many enclosures that are not arranged geographically , as in the initial area between the entrance and the sea lions.

  • The playground is located on a relatively large area in the middle of the zoo .

particularities

  • There are in the Dortmund Zoo some unique in Europe collections of animal enclosures: In the Rain Forest House "Rumah hutan" live Sumatran orangutans and tapirs together. The tamanduahaus houses great anteaters , tamanduas , two-toed sloths , brown-haired or bristle armadillos, six-banded armadillos and wrapped bears .
  • The Dortmund Zoo keeps and breeds some species of small cats that are only shown very rarely, such as B. Jaguarundi , Oncilla , or Serval .
  • There is a walkable barn owl and little owl aviary.
  • With so-called “zookeeper consultation hours”, zoo visitors are given special insights into everyday working life. Spread throughout the day, keepers report on the animals' way of life at various meeting points.
  • The only albino fur seal Rubio lived in the Dortmund zoo . He died on April 13, 2013, possibly poisoned by eating two common toads.
  • Weddings can currently take place in seven different animal houses in the zoo.
  • On May 19, 2018, the "Plumploris eV" was founded in Dortmund Zoo. He will bring the endangerment of the slow loris and their causes into the focus of the public and together with the Indonesian Species Conservation Program (ISCP) set up a slow loris rehabilitation station in North Sumatra. Here, slow loris confiscated from illegal keeping are prepared for a new life in the wild.

The zoo as an educational facility

  • The Dortmund Zoo offers themed tours especially for school classes (also in cooperation with the School Biology Center of the City of Dortmund).
  • Guided tours on all kinds of topics and children's birthday tours can be booked all year round.
  • During the Easter, summer and autumn holidays, educationally designed children's holiday programs are offered for children between 6 and 12 years of age.
  • There is a zoo guide for the blind and visually impaired.
  • A children's zoo guide was published for the first time in September 2014. 45 children between nine and twelve years of age developed the children's zoo guide during the 2013 summer vacation program under the supervision of zoo guides Marcel Stawinoga and Marlon Stawinoga. The edition is 1000 copies.

gastronomy

There is the forest tavern (restaurant with service), the forest kiosk , many mobile ice cream and drinks stands and the kiosk at the entrance.

statistics

The following statistics refer to January 1, 2015.

Animals in the zoo:

The average number of visitors per year from 2011 to 2014 was around 440,000.

gallery

See also

Web links

Commons : Zoo Dortmund  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e VdZ - Dortmund Zoo. In: Website VdZ. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  2. EEP and ESB. In: EAZA website. 2015, archived from the original on December 11, 2010 ; accessed on May 21, 2015 .
  3. The Great Zoo Test. In: Stern website. June 25, 2008, accessed May 21, 2015 .
  4. Complete List of EEPs and ESBs ( Memento of the original dated November 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the EAZA website, accessed May 19, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / eaza.portal.isis.org
  5. Giant Otter. Information about the stud books on the homepage of the Association of Zoological Gardens, accessed on May 19, 2016.
  6. Dortmund Zoo dissolves herd of giraffes and mourns the loss of lions. In: WAZ website. January 2, 2014, accessed May 21, 2015 .
  7. ^ Offspring among the jaguars in the zoo. In: Website Dortmund.de news. March 23, 2015, accessed May 21, 2015 .
  8. Three-year-old lion kills his lion mother in Dortmund Zoo. In: Website Zoogast Animal News. May 21, 2015, accessed May 21, 2015 .
  9. ^ Theft in the Dortmund Zoo. In: WDR aktuell. August 13, 2015, archived from the original on December 8, 2015 ; accessed on August 15, 2015 .
  10. ↑ The death of the sea lion "Holly" in Dortmund is still a mystery. In: WDR Studio Dortmund. November 24, 2015, archived from the original on January 12, 2016 ; accessed on November 30, 2015 .
  11. Dead penguin in the Dortmund Zoo outside its enclosure. In: WDR NRW compact short messages. December 1, 2015, archived from the original on December 2, 2015 ; accessed on December 1, 2015 .
  12. ↑ A visit to the sloth and coati. The new children's zoo guide has appeared / originated in the summer holiday program. Ruhr Nachrichten of September 4, 2014.
  13. ↑ A lot of animal work at the Dortmund Zoo. In: WAZ website. May 8, 2012, accessed May 21, 2015 .