Heidelberg Zoo

Heidelberg Zoo
Heidelberg Zoo
	Heidelberg Zoo entrance
	49°24′55″N 8°39′39″E / 49.41528°N 8.66083°E
Date opened	20 November 1934
Location	Tiergartenstraße 3, ; 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Land area	10.2 ha (0.102 km2)
No. of animals	1443 (2012)
No. of species	174 (2012)
Annual visitors	610 000
Owner	Tiergarten Heidelberg gGmbH
Website	www.zoo-heidelberg.de

Heidelberg Zoo is a zoo in Germany which was founded in 1933 and opened for the public on 20 November 1934. Since 1998, the zoo director has been Klaus Wünnemann.

History

Memorial stone from the foundation of *Kurpfälzischen Tiergartens*

The zoo was created as a foundation, initiated by the ornithologist, Otto Fehringer.

Fehringer was supported by Carl Bosch, the German chemist, engineer, and Nobel laureate in chemistry.

During the first years, Heidelberg Zoo was suffering from money shortage, which even worsened after 1940 and World War II.

In March 1945, the zoo was totally destroyed during bombings.

In 1972, a new director was appointed, and a reformation began.

Several new enclosures were added, like a new enclosure for sea lions 1973, Africa enclosure 1977, carnivores 1978, brown bears 1981, bird enclosure 1985, primates 1988, followed by a new tiger enclosure and other buildings.

A new elephant house was opened in 2010, where only young elephant bulls are kept, as part of the EEP breeding programme for Asian elephants.^[2]

Till 2019 the lion paddock was expanded. The neighboring porcupine and meerkat paddocks were redesigned in the same year and an exhibition dealing with the zoo's history was opened to the public.

A new petting zoo was opened in 2021. A larger gorilla paddock is planned for the future.^[3]