Germany: Zoo Leipzig Celebrates 140th Anniversary – New South America Facility Now Open
Ein Wasserschwein unterwegs im Pantanal in der neuen Südamerika-Anlage
140 years ago, gastronomer Ernst Pinkert opened his Pfaffendorfer Hof restaurant with a connected game reserve, where visitors could marvel at exotic animals such as parrots, antelopes, kangaroos and lions. Since then, Zoo Leipzig (today’s name) has been evolving into one of Europe’s most modern animal parks, counting around 850 different animal species. In order to celebrate its 140th anniversary together with visitors (in 2017 the park welcomed a total of 1.65 million guests, cf. our park report in EAP, 2/18), the zoo will hold a special “birthday weekend” from June 8th-10th, including a festive framework program and additional offerings for visitors.
On this occasion, zoo guests can take the opportunity to explore the new “South America” theme world, which was opened in mid-May (cf. EAP, 2/18): Close-to-nature landscapes resembling South America’s Pantanal, Pampa and Patagonia regions, are now home to animal species such as Patagonian maras, guanacos, peccaries & Co. A visitor boardwalk more than a hundred meter long winds its way through the new area. The “El Dorado” adventure playground completes the new South America theme world, which was developed at an investment volume of 4.7 million Euros.
Prof. Jörg Junhold, Director of Zoo Leipzig, sums up, “I’m delighted that our vision of a contemporary zoo is more and more becoming a reality and that we could realize another step towards our ‘zoo of the future’. With the numerous new animal species we again offer an insight into a new habitat,” he commented. Besides South America, Zoo Leipzig currently features tropical “Gondwanaland”, an Asia-themed experience world, the “Pongoland” great ape house and an African world. (eap)
