Developments at Zoo Basel
Encyclopedia
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.
construction. This includes the tearing down of the small monkey house (home of the Ring-tailed Lemur
s), the Macaque
s 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 (3,659.7 sq ft) to 700 square metres (7,534.7 sq ft). 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 (52.5 ft) for the Orangutan
s and 11 metres (36.1 ft) for the other apes. The apes' outdoor area will grow from today's 70 square metres (753.5 sq ft) to over 2000 square metres (21,527.8 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.
online on March 10, 2010, the orangutan
s left Basel. The gorilla
s 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. All monkey returned before the monkey house opening on June 30, 2011 - except the Orangutan
s and the Woolly monkey
s .
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.
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. On May 18th 2011, Zoo Basel announced that construction will begin in 2014.
(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.
s 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"
.
Zoo Basel
Zoo Basel is a non-profit zoo located within the city of Basel, Switzerland. Its official name is Zoologischer Garten Basel — or in English: Basel Zoological Garden. Basel residents, however, call their zoo affectionately Zolli...
is constantly upgrading its infrastructure, but can hardly grow in area, as it is
surrounded by the city of Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, 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.
2011 / 2012: Monkey house and exhibit
Starting in April/May 2010 the monkey house and the surrounding area will undergo extensiveconstruction. This includes the tearing down of the small monkey house (home of the Ring-tailed Lemur
Ring-tailed Lemur
The ring-tailed lemur is a large strepsirrhine primate and the most recognized lemur due to its long, black and white ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of five lemur families. It is the only member of the Lemur genus. Like all lemurs it is endemic to the island of Madagascar...
s), the Macaque
Crab-eating Macaque
The Crab-eating macaque is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. It is also called the "long-tailed macaque", and is referred to as the "cynomolgus monkey" in laboratories.-Etymology:...
s 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 (3,659.7 sq ft) to 700 square metres (7,534.7 sq ft). 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 (52.5 ft) for the Orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
s and 11 metres (36.1 ft) for the other apes. The apes' outdoor area will grow from today's 70 square metres (753.5 sq ft) to over 2000 square metres (21,527.8 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.
Temporary housing
According to the Basler ZeitungBasler Zeitung
Basler Zeitung is a regional newspaper, published in Basel, Switzerland. The German-language daily was created through the merger of National-Zeitung and Basler Nachrichten in 1977. It is owned by the Basler Zeitung Medien who also publishes the free daily newspaper Baslerstab.-External links:*...
online on March 10, 2010, the orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
s left Basel. The gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
s and 150 other smaller monkey found a temporary home on an unidentified Novartis
Novartis
Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...
site in Basel. On April 14, 2010, Basler Zeitung
Basler Zeitung
Basler Zeitung is a regional newspaper, published in Basel, Switzerland. The German-language daily was created through the merger of National-Zeitung and Basler Nachrichten in 1977. It is owned by the Basler Zeitung Medien who also publishes the free daily newspaper Baslerstab.-External links:*...
reported that all apes left the zoo. All monkey returned before the monkey house opening on June 30, 2011 - except the Orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...
s and the Woolly monkey
Woolly monkey
The woolly monkeys are the genus Lagothrix of New World monkeys, usually placed in the family Atelidae.There are four species of woolly monkey. All originate from the rainforests of South America...
s .
Time table
Following is an estimated time table of the constructions in and around the monkey house (Italics has been reached):- February 2010: First trees were uprooted around the monkey house
- early April 2010: Construction on the monkey house began
- end May 2010: The Kattas moved into the Gamgoas exhibit monkey island
- mid May 2010: The snow leopards returned from Zurich
- June 2010: The MacaqueCrab-eating MacaqueThe Crab-eating macaque is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. It is also called the "long-tailed macaque", and is referred to as the "cynomolgus monkey" in laboratories.-Etymology:...
s moved into the Sauter Garden - Summer 2011: Opening of the new monkey house
- Summer 2012: Opening of the outdoor monkey exhibits(Erlebniswelt für Menschenaffen)
2014 Elephant house
The current elephantElephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
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
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
exhibit.
On May 11, 2010, Zoo Basel
Zoo Basel
Zoo Basel is a non-profit zoo located within the city of Basel, Switzerland. Its official name is Zoologischer Garten Basel — or in English: Basel Zoological Garden. Basel residents, however, call their zoo affectionately Zolli...
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. On May 18th 2011, Zoo Basel announced that construction will begin in 2014.
Ozeanium (additional aquarium)
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 is planned to be built on the Heuwaage square and will extend into the downtown nightlife strip of Steinen.House description
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.Aquarium in Middle Europe
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 (310.7 mi) away. Among them in ArnhemBurgers' Zoo
Burgers' Zoo is a zoo in Arnhem, the Netherlands, and is one of the biggest zoos in the country. Arnhem is a city that lies within the Veluwe, a nature park in the east of the Netherlands...
(Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
), Genoa
Aquarium of Genoa
The Aquarium of Genoa is the largest aquarium in Italy and the second largest in Europe. Located in the old harbor area of Genoa, Italy, the aquarium is a member organization of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria , and welcomes more than 1.2 million visitors each year.-History:The...
(Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
), Lisbon
Lisbon Oceanarium
The Oceanarium is an oceanarium in Lisbon, Portugal. It is located in the Parque das Nações, which was the exhibition grounds for the Expo '98.- Architecture :...
(Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
), and Barcelona
Aquarium Barcelona
-External links:...
(Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
). 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.
Panda Exhibit
In the long run, the Zoo Basel would like to acquire rare Giant PandaGiant Panda
The giant panda, or panda is a bear native to central-western and south western China. It is easily recognized by its large, distinctive black patches around the eyes, over the ears, and across its round body. Though it belongs to the order Carnivora, the panda's diet is 99% bamboo...
s 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"
.
Asia theme area
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.Parking space
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.Past projects
- Polaris: a penguin themed project in the Markthalle, just across the French train station. That project has been rejected in favor of a small shopping mall with a 47 apartment high-rise next to it.