Germany: New Outback Aviary Opens at Duisburg Zoo

Germany’s Duisburg Zoo recently opened its new themed enclosure dedicated to Australia‘s Outback habitat. In the 800-square-meter “Outback Aviary“ – 600 square meters of which are outdoors and 200 square meters indoors, including stables and feeding kitchen – and which is over eight meters high, visitors can observe agile wallabys and various Australian bird species such as pigeons, maned ducks, grass whistling ducks and straw-necked ibis. Guests enter the aviary‘s interior via a visitor gate, where they can watch at the animals from a 40-square-meter terrace. “The Outback Aviary impresses with its detailed design and diverse animal population. It takes our zoo guests on a journey to the Australian bushland and enables them to encounter animals at eye level,“ says Astrid Stewin, Zoo Director of Duisburg Zoo.

“It is important to us to use characteristic elements of the Outback and also make them usable for the animals,“ explains Oliver Mojecki, zoological director in Duisburg. To create high resting spaces for the birds, replicas of telegraph poles, a windmill and a water barrel were integrated into the decoration, which is mainly characterized by red rocks and low-growing plants, but also features a stream. (eap)