History of Zoo Basel

The Zoo Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland. Established in 1874, it is Switzerland's oldest and largest zoo (by number of animals) and a major tourist attraction with nearly 1.7 million visitors per year.

In 1870, the Ornithologiegesellschaft and the city of Basel started a project to establish a zoo where visitors could see Swiss and European animals. For this, the city provided land in the Birsig valley, which was, back then, outside the city walls South of Basel.

1874-1900
This time period was marked by the openening of Zoo Basel in 1874 and by the zoos struggle for survival during the first years. It also started the attachment of Basel's population to "its" zoo, which is evidenced by the local popularity of the Indian elephant Miss Kumbuk and several donations of animals and funds.

1901-1950
The zoo grew in size, popularity, and in number of animals.  During the two world wars the zoo suffered, but was not hit by any bombs. It quickly recovered after World War II and took advantage of the opportunity to import foreign animals again.

1951-2000

This time period was marked by the transformation of animal collecting cages to in- and outdoor exhibits.  Zoo Basel called it "creating an animal park".

2001-present

2008 / 2010: Rhino house and outdoor exhibit 
In 2008, the renovated and expanded Indian rhinoceros house opened and two years later the  new rhino outdoor exhibit opened, which also included muntjacs, and Oriental small-clawed otters.

2011 / 2012: Monkey house and exhibit 
Starting in April/May 2010 the monkey house and the surrounding area will undergo extensive    
construction.  This includes the tearing down of the small monkey house (home of the ring-tailed lemurs), the macaques 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  to .

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  for the orangutans  and  for the other apes.  The apes' outdoor area will grow from today's  to over .  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.

Former animals
A short list of previous animals kept at Zoo Basel can be found towards the bottom of List of animals at Zoo Basel.

References

External links

 Zoo Basel official website
 Zoo Switzerland official website

Category:Zoo Basel
Zoo Basel