Basel Zoo

Basel, Switzerland

Basel Zoo is situated in 12 hectares, roughly 24 acres, of magnificent parkland in the heart of the city. You are more likely to see our animals by chance than by design. This guide will help you find your way round and gives you a range of information on various aspects of zoo life. It is designed to stimulate your imagination, make your stay in our zoo enjoyable and provide lasting memories of your visit. Additional information can be found on notice boards situated by each enclosure throughout the zoo.

Basel Zoo is an enjoyable experience whatever the weather and whatever the season. Watch nature awakening in spring and see all the baby animals, or let your children get close up to the animals in our children’s zoo. Whether standing under cool trees watching elephants during the heat of summer, studying our nearest relatives in the Monkey house, immersing yourself among coral reefs or in the Amazon in the warm vivarium in winter, or enjoying the interactive exhibition in the Gamgoas house, Basel zoo offers you an exciting experience at any time of the year.

Baby Animals

Please read the information boards at the entrances. These will tell you which baby animals can be seen on the day of your visit. Our internet Newsletter provides regular updates (you can subscribe to the Newsletter at www.zoobasel.ch).

Restaurants

Our large self-service buffet restaurant, offering a wide selection of dishes, is situated right in the middle of the zoo. There is ample seating both inside and also outside under the plane trees, with a view of the elephant enclosure. Our restaurant with full service is on the first floor. From its terrace you can enjoy a wonderful panoramic view over the zoo.
The cafeteria at the main entrance completes our selection of refreshments and meals with a range of ice-creams, sandwiches, and hot and cold drinks. There is covered and open-air seating for picnics in front of the zoo restaurant.

Animals Resting – are they being lazy?

Animals spend much of their time resting. In nature films we are given a false impression of the pace of an animal’s day. Documentary films show us one action-packed scene after another; wild animals’ lives are shown in highlights so that we can see as many aspects of their behaviour and way of life as possible. A visit to the zoo is quite the opposite. Here you will discover that resting is an important occupation for wild animals and is not a sign of boredom. Resting fulfills many purposes, such as conserving energy, chewing the cud, or relaxing after an activity. Some important activities often look like lazing around, for example when pelicans preen their feathers, elephants take a mud bath or crocodiles lie in the sun. Take a closer look at “bored” animals!

Feeding Time – visitors must not feed the animals

Feeding our animals is forbidden throughout the entire zoo.
Giving each animal species – we have over 600! – an appropriate diet demands specialist knowledge. Visitors who feed the animals interfere with this controlled diet, and put the animals’ health at risk.
Feeding times at particular enclosures are indicated in the text. Some species – especially the large carnivores – are deliberately fed at varying times of day so that they do not become accustomed to a routine.

All about building sites, finances and running a zoo

Basel Zoological Garden adheres to a world-wide zoo and aquarium nature conservation strategy. This means that it has to keep its zoo animals in ideal conditions, and also educate and provide information for the public.
In the Zolli (from zoological garden), as our zoo is affectionately known by the people of Basel, you may sometimes find a building site getting in your way as you stroll round these beautiful zoological gardens. However, these building sites are part and parcel of keeping a zoo up-to-date. Knowledge of wild animals’ lifestyle, social communities and zoo biology is increasing rapidly. For this reason Basel zoo constantly monitors the conditions under which the animals are kept and adapts them to the animals’ and visitors’ needs as follows:
Keeping up with scientific advances in zoo biology: new knowledge on keeping particular species and on their lifestyle may mean having to modify the enclosures from time to time.
Running the zoo: facilities in zoos get older, like us all. Structural or mechanical defects in animal houses may mean that enclosures are no longer adequate and have to be repaired or taken down and completely rebuilt.
Visitor needs: visitors should see the animals in up-to-date enclosures and be given interesting information on animals and ecosystems. Zoo animals are like ambassadors for their species, pleading for the protection of their habitats.
Affordability: the animal enclosures are highly specialised unique structures and need adequate funding. Basel zoo cannot provide this funding from its own income and depends on gifts and donations. New enclosures can be built only when the necessary funds are available.
The domino effect: Basel zoo is situated right in the heart of the city. There is no room for it to expand. If an enclosure is altered, moved or enlarged this has a knock-on effect on other enclosures and their occupants. This sometimes means that animals not directly affected by the actual project have to be given to other zoos or moved.

The Vivarium – a world tour exploring the variety of life

The vivarium in Basel zoo is a place of marvel and discovery – and houses a rich variety of species. You will encounter strange and astonishing forms of marine, desert and rainforest life. Plain or strangely-coloured creatures, unspectacular at first glance, reveal fascinating behaviour on closer inspection. The aim of the vivarium is to display selected species from the widest possible range of habitats and animal families in order to demonstrate the diversity of life. They are representatives of – and ambassadors for – the countless millions of natural life forms and lifestyles which we must protect and conserve today.
Nearly 400 different species live in the 70 tanks and terrariums of the vivarium. Once you have found and marveled at them all, you will have covered 380 metres in distance, walked past a quarter of a million litres of water, been round in a circle twice and have completed a world tour. The visitor area in the vivarium is a trip round the world – above and below water. The journey begins in central Europe, leads across the Mediterranean Sea and the lakes of Africa to the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific Ocean. You descend into coral reefs, go on trips to Asia and the Amazon and then after crossing mangrove swamps and intertidal zones you come back onto dry land at the Antarctic home of king and gentoo penguins. You step into the tropical heat of deserts, steppes and rainforests with their exotic reptiles and amphibians.

A colourful water world

In the vivarium you will encounter plants and animals that you may never have seen before. The variety is enormous. Children are particularly fascinated by the starfish, snails and shrimps. They also love watching the patterned leopard sharks, transparent jelly fish and colourful corals, the penguins – so agile in water – and the lazily blinking crocodiles.
Apart from mammals, representatives of almost all the important groups of animals live here, the majority being cold-blooded. There are no deep-sea fish or large sharks, since animals of this kind are not used to walls or barriers in their natural state and for the most part cannot adapt to other surroundings. Oceans have no boundaries and are the best place for them to live.

Behind the scenes in the vivarium – what happens there?

The section of the vivarium seen by visitors constitutes only a quarter of the entire house. 75 percent of the area is out of sight. Behind the scenes at the vivarium it is all hustle and bustle. This is where the most suitable surroundings and an appropriate climate are created for hundreds of animal and plant species. This is where all the important infrastructure equipment and facilities are housed: heating and cooling systems, climate control systems, filters, water- treatment and saltwater-production systems, workshops, food stores and spare-part stores. Countless numbers of fish and reptile species are bred in separate breeding and quarantine rooms, where sea horses give birth to their young, baby tortoises and turtles hatch and coral reefs and marine plants grow.

History

The vivarium was opened in 1972 after several years of construction. This fulfilled a long-cherished dream held by Basel zoo and many local people of having a large public aquarium. A small aquarium had been set up in the old ticket office way back in 1942, but this was inadequate to satisfy ambitions for a large aquarium. The present vivarium is a widely-admired milestone in the history of Basel zoo. Many of the ideas developed during the planning stages were new to aquariums at the time. For example, a water-world tour, guiding or accompanying the visitor in a particular order through biological or geographical themes, was unknown at the time. Nowadays themed tours are a standard feature of any good public aquarium.

Aquarium-style feeding

As we know very little about the natural feeding habits and diet of many of the creatures in the vivarium, any newcomers have gradually to become accustomed to eating other types of food. There is a wide selection of different types of food for the fish in the vivarium. This consists mainly of deep-frozen marine creatures, but occasionally commercially available ready-made foods are used, or even live food. In order to breed sea fish successfully, “sea plankton” is laboriously grown to be fed as a first food to their tiny larvae. Feeding takes place three times a week in the vivarium, but some species have to be given their own special food daily or several times a week.

Feeding sessions are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m.

Other information

Basel Zoo is open to visitors 365 days a year
January- February 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
March – April 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
May, June, July, August 8:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m,
September – October 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
November – December 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Adopting an animal

Do you have a favourite animal? We would be delighted if you decide to adopt one. If you do so, your donation will go towards covering the cost of food and providing activities to keep the animals occupied, and you will thereby make an important contribution to our work. A big thank you in advance on behalf of all our animals.

Guided tours

Would you like to find out more about the animals, about the work that goes on behind the scenes, or about the technical aspects of our zoo? Call us to arrange a guided tour.

Children’s birthdays

Would you like to give your child a special birthday present? We offer children’s birthday parties with special guided tours and afternoon tea for groups; up to 10 children between the ages of 6 and 11 in one group.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Subscriptions are a good idea if you are planning to make several visits a year to the zoo. More information at the service counters.

Regular donations

Basel Zoo is a non-profit-making public limited company. It relies on contributions, donations and legacies. Your visit and use of our services support Basel Zoo. You can also support us by booking a guided tour, a banquet in the zoo restaurant or by adopting an animal.

Phone for more information on: 061 295 35 35,

Website: www.zoobasel.ch

Friends of the Zoo – join today

The Association of Friends of Basel Zoological Garden was founded in 1919. It supports the zoo by providing donations, for example for the construction and improvement of enclosures, for educational purposes, or by bringing out special publications. Members also take part in a variety of activities, for example as volunteer staff on the “Infomobile”, by mailing brochures, or acting as stewards on Sundays and public holidays.
Members are sent the interesting and informative “BASEL ZOO MAGAZINE” twice a year. They take part in special guided tours and visits to other zoos. Membership also offers an opportunity to make contact with like-minded people who support practical nature conservation worldwide. Join the Friends if you would like to actively support Basel Zoo.
More information at www.zoobasel.ch/freunde, or ask for the Association of Friends brochure.