Basel Zoological Garden - Basel, Switzerland
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The Zoo Basel is located in the city of Basel, Switzerland. Established in 1874, it is Switzerlands oldest and largest zoo (by number of animals) and a major tourist attraction with nearly 1.7 million visitors per year.
Waymark Code: WM8KDW
Location: Basel Stadt, Switzerland
Date Posted: 04/14/2010
Views: 11
While Basel's population loves "their" zoo and call it Zolli, its official name is Zoologischer Garten Basel — or in English: Basel Zoological Garden.
The Zoo Basel is one of the leading zoos in the world. Among many comparisons, Anthony Sheridan's (Zoological Society of London) study in 2009 of 60 leading zoos, ranked the Zoo Basel as 7th best zoo in Europe.
The Basel Zoo is surrounded by the city of Basel. Similar to the Central Park in New York City, the Zoo Basel is a green oasis within the city for Basel's population. In the zoo, exhibits are designed not to reveal everything at first glance and invite visitors to stop and make their personal observations. Although there are many more attractions, below is only a list of the most popular ones.
The Zolli is continually upgrading its infrastructure, but is also trying to have a limited amount of contraction zones at the same time period.
Aquarium
The aquarium (called Vivarium in Basel) was opened in 1972 and had throughout the years several notable breeding successes. There are about 5,000 individual animals in the Zoo Basel Vivarium including reptiles, amphibians, Gentoo Penguins, and King Penguins.
Africa exhibit
Hippos, ostriches, and zebras (Grant's Zebra) live together in the Africa Exhibit.
The Africa exhibit was the first exhibit on which the Zoo Basel put three different kind of species together into the same exhibit. The experiences collected here helped shape the Etosha concept and the rhinoceros outdoor exhibit.
Australis
The theme area Australis was opened in 2006. In the outdoor exhibition, Western Grey Kangaroos and Australian Brush-turkeys live together. Inside the Australis house several vivaria host animal from the curious Australian animal wildlife including geckos, Redback spiders, Cane toads, Phasmatodeas (or stick insects), and green tree pythons.
Also part of the Australis exhibit is a small educational exhibition that gives visitors glimpses into the unique Australian marsupial reproduction.
Bird house
The Bird House opened in 1927 and is the second oldest building in the Zoo Basel. While in the early days this house used to host reptiles and monkeys, it now only includes birds.
The jungle in the center of the bird house is home of a wide variety of free flying birds. There, the thick vegetation makes is hard to see all birds. Some birds like the Knysna Turaco can be heard, but are only visible in flight between two trees.
The zoo hosted since 1948 different birds belonging to the Zosteropidae bird family. The small Montane White-eye bird, that belongs to this family, came in 2008 again to Basel, after 20 years of absence.
Etosha
The opening of the Etosha exhibit in 2001, marked a new era of animal keeping at the Zoo Basel. On one hand, the zoo re-defined what a predator is. In the past predators were mainly defined as lions or tigers. From 2001 on, the Zoo Basel started to include insect-eating birds, snakes, and spiders to this category. On the other hand, Etosha also marked the beginning of environment-exhibits in Basel - instead of the old-fashioned animal show cages.
The Etosha exhibit consists of the Etosha house, outdoor exhibits for the cheetahs, wild dogs, and the lions, as well as the Gamgoas house. All of them together build a theme-area around the circle of life.
The Etosha exhibit was named after the Etosha National Park in Namibia, Africa. It is the largest national park in Namibia and in the South West of Africa and about half the size of Switzerland.
Gamgoas
It is part of the Etosha theme area, but is referenced mainly to the lion and crocodile house. Gamgoas literal meaning in the local language of the Etosha people is "the place where the lions are".
In the Gamgoa house are two colonies of termites, Veiled chameleons, the Nile crocodile enclosure, a semi-large information exhibition, and several lion observation windows.
Sauter Garden
Rhino exhibit
This is the newest part of the zoo at the South end towards Binningen. The land was acquired with money from the local gold worksman Mr. Ulrich Sauter and opened to the public in 1939.
Today the Sauter Garden's focus is Asia. While African species (like the pygmy hippopotamus and the Humboldt penguin) are also in the Sauter Garden, its main attractions are Asian: the Indian rhinoceros and snow leopard exhibits.
In the rhinoceros exhibit Indian rhinoceroses, Muntjacs, and Oriental Small-clawed Otters are sharing the same outdoor area. The rhino exhibit originally opened in 1959, was extensively renovated, and openened again in Mai 2008. Since then the three different Asian animal species live successfully together. The 2.5-ton-rhinoceroses are sharing their food with the 30-kilogram-Muntjacs or take a swimm with the Asian mini-otters. Measured on visitors spending time at an exhibit, the rhino exhibit is the most popular attraction at the Zoo Basel.
The snow leopard exhibit houses a couple of snow leopards: Mayhan and Pator. Both are new in Basel and arrived in the winter of 2008/2009. Mayhan and Pator are still young, but zoo officials hope that they will soon have offspring. So far, 27 snow leopards were born in Basel.
Breeding programs
The Zoo Basel is a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP). The forerunner of the WAZA (the International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens (IUDZG) was founded in Basel in 1935.
Among the breeding programs for endangered species that the Zoo Basel participates in are the Pygmy Hippopotamus, Indian Rhinoceros, okapi, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Squirrel monkeys, and the European otter programs. Most notable are the following:
Indian rhinoceros
The Zoo Basel holds the European studbook for the Indian Rhinoceros, which ensures that the captive rhinoceros population stays as genetically healthy as possible. From about 80 rhinoceros births in zoos around the world, 31 were born in Basel. Therefore most Indian rhinoceros populations in zoos are somehow related to the one in Basel.
Pygmy hippopotamus
The Zoo Basel holds the international studbook for the Pygmy Hippopotamus and has had great breeding success over the years.
Somali wild ass
This wild donkey (Equus africanus somalicus) is a subspecies of the African Wild Ass and extremely endangered as there are likely less than 3000 animals in the wild. There are about 85 individuals in zoos around the globle.
History
In 1870 the Ornithologiegesellschaft together with the city of Basel started a project of establishing a zoo where visitors could see Swiss and European animals. For this the city provided land in the Birsig valley at the South end of the city in those days.
On July 3, 1874 the Basel Zoo opened its doors.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
The "Official Tourism" URL link to the attraction: [Web Link]
The attraction’s own URL: [Web Link]
Hours of Operation:
daily 8-17.30 (18.30 in Summer)
Admission Prices:
Adults CHF 18.-
16 - 25 years CHF 12.-
6 - 16 years CHF 7.-
retired persons CHF 16.-
Approximate amount of time needed to fully experience the attraction: Full day
Transportation options to the attraction: Personal Vehicle or Public Transportation
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