Hellabrunn Zoo (or Tierpark Hellabrunn in German) is a 40 hectare (99 acre)

zoological garden A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...

in the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n capital of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. The zoo is situated on the right bank of the river Isar, in the southern part of Munich near the quarter of Thalkirchen. A high ratio of enclosures are cageless, relying upon moat features to keep the animals in place. The zoo was the first zoo in the world not organized by species, but also by geographical aspects. For example, the

wood bison The wood bison (''Bison bison athabascae'') or mountain bison (often called the wood buffalo or mountain buffalo), is a distinct northern subspecies or ecotype of the American bison. Its original range included much of the boreal forest regions ...

share their enclosure with prairie dogs. In 2013, the zoo was ranked the fourth best zoo in Europe (up from 12th). It focuses on conservation and captive breeding rare species such as the rare drill and

silvery gibbon The silvery gibbon (''Hylobates moloch''), also known as the Javan gibbon, is a primate in the gibbon family Hylobatidae. It is endemic to the Indonesian island of Java, where it inhabits undisturbed rainforests up to an altitude of . It is liste ...

s. Also

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

s, giraffes,

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

s, elk and

Arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in ...

es were successfully bred in the zoo, which houses many species. It is one of the very few zoos that allows visitors to bring dogs. Tierpark Hellabrunn is a member of the

European Association of Zoos and Aquaria The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), is an organisation for the European zoo and aquarium community that links over 340 member organisations in 41 countries. EAZA membership is open to all zoos and aquaria across Europe that compl ...

(EAZA) and the

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is the "umbrella" organization for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its mission is to provide leadership and support for zoos, aquariums, and partner organizations of the world in animal ca ...

(WAZA) and participates in the

European Endangered Species Programme The EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP) is a population management and conservation programme by European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) for wild animals living in European zoos. The programme was formerly known as the European Endangered Species ...

(EEP).

History

On 25 February 1905 the ''Verein Zoologischer Garten München e.V.'' (Engl. ''Society of the Zoological Garden of Munich'') was founded and the Hellabrunn area was chosen as the location for the zoo. The zoo was designed by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Emanuel von Seidl, and opened to the public on 1 August 1911. In 1922, the zoo was closed due to the

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

in Germany. It was re-opened on May 23, 1928. It became the first Geo-Zoo in the world (animals were shown and kept with other animals of the same geographic region). It also engaged in controversial back-breeding to "recreate"

extinct animals This page features lists of extinct species, organisms that have become extinct, either in the wild or completely disappeared from Earth. In actual theoretical practice, a species not definitely located in the wild in the last fifty years of cur ...

Heck cattle Heck cattle are a hardy breed of domestic cattle. These cattle are the result of an attempt by Heinz and Lutz Heck to breed back the extinct aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') from modern aurochs-derived cattle in the 1920s and 1930s. Controver ...

(to mimic the Aurochs) and the

Tarpan The term tarpan (''Equus ferus ferus'') refers to free-ranging horses of the Russian steppe from the 18th to the 20th century. It is generally unknown whether those horses represented genuine wild horses, feral domestic horses or hybrids. The las ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the zoo sustained extensive damage due to Allied air raids, but it was able to reopen in May 1945. In 1970, a badly needed plan for the renovation of the zoo was drawn up.

Hellabrunn today

In 2014 it was home to 18,943 animals representing 767 species. The Tierpark Hellabrunn is very active in breeding, reintroduction and conservation projects. Over 2.2 million people visited Hellabrunn in 2014. As the

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

level here is rather high and the water is of very good quality, the zoo can cover its needs for freshwater by using its own

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

Attractions

*The

house: Constructed in 1914, renovated 2011-2016 *The new

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

house which houses

s, chimpanzees, Diana monkeys and

American alligator The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the gen ...

s *Rare but very acrobatic

spider monkey Spider monkeys are New World monkeys belonging to the genus ''Ateles'', part of the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil. The ...

s and rare drills *The new savannah house where visitors are separated only by a glass wall from the giraffes *The aquarium with the

piranha A piranha or piraña (, , or ; or , ) is one of a number of freshwater fish in the family Serrasalmidae, or the subfamily Serrasalminae within the tetra family, Characidae in order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, fl ...

feeding *"Dracula's villa" - bats fly around visitors *Many other buildings like the "Polarium" * Guided tours - especially when it's dark and there is no one else in the zoo * Children's birthday parties

Notes

External links

* *
Hellabrunn Zoo
o
zooinstitutes.com
{{authority control Zoos in Germany Tourist attractions in Munich Buildings and structures in Munich