A herd of majestic elephants amble across the savannah-like landscape, gathering around an idyllic waterhole. While some of the elephants begin to drink, others splash and play. Close by, zebras and antelopes are grazing, and giraffes cast their long shadows across the dry grass. Picturesque scenes like this are usually only found in African national parks, but soon they will be a reality at Tierpark Berlin.
After the reopening of the Alfred Brehm building in spring 2020, the Tierpark’s next big project is already lined up. At the heart of the future African landscape will be the park’s Pachyderm House, which first opened in 1989, in a complete redesign. Instead of housing a variety of pachyderms, the new-and-improved building will be the exclusive home of African elephants – and plenty of them! Covering nearly 3,000 m², the building will offer its inhabitants almost ten times the amount of space they currently have, as at the present time roughly two thirds of the floor area is reserved for visitors.
“For a long time, the Pachyderm House has not fulfilled modern requirements for species-appropriate habitats,” says Zoo and Tierpark Director Dr Andreas Knieriem. “So we’re very happy to have secured the regional GRW funding needed for us to redesign the building in a way that will properly meet the particular needs of African elephants. The new Elephant House will not only be an important milestone for Tierpark Berlin, but for elephant keeping in Europe in general.”
To allow reconstruction work to take place, all elephants at Tierpark Berlin will be temporarily relocated to other zoos during the first half of 2020. The timing of the transfers and where the elephants will go is being decided in close cooperation with the European Endangered Species Programme.
Attached to the new Elephant House will be an expansive savannah-like habitat for giraffes, zebras and antelopes. This new African landscape will cost €41.1 million, €35.4 million of which is earmarked for the renovation of the Pachyderm House. The reconstruction work is expected to take around two years.
