Foundation time

The zoo was opened on 22 May 1938, as a youth education place at the Grotenburgpark, where the area designed for the zoo was half of the total park area, where some hundred species were kept in 40 enclosures. The first director Heinrich Janßen was previously director for the natural history museum.

Development in the 20th century

During the Second World War there were air raids on Krefeld from 1940 to 1945, during which parts of the zoo were also hit. Two badgers and a deer were killed, the remaining animals were able to escape through the damaged fences. The wolves had to be killed because of this. In the 1950s, the Grotenburgschlösschen in the park was converted into a café and restaurant for visitors to the zoo. In 1959 Walter Encke took over the management of the zoo. Encke's concern was to take special care of animals of which little was known and to prevent the extinction of South American species by breeding them. Starting in 1963, outdoor enclosures for baboons, penguins and seals as well as a house for lions were built. In 1971 the "Tierpark" was renamed "Zoo". During this time the first elephants, rhinos and orangutans were kept there.

Since the conversion into a gGmbH

On 1 July 2005, Krefeld Zoo was converted into a non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH). The City of Krefeld holds 74.9% of the company shares, the Förderverein Zoofreunde Krefeld e. V. the remaining 25.1%. The zoo had 65 employees and in addition 21 volunteers did work in the volunteer team as of 2019.^[2]

2012 new enclosure for gorillas opened, and in 2014 another for penguins. Since 2014 the zoo also has its own veterinary clinic.^[3]

During the night of 31 December 2019 - 1 Jan 2020, a fire engulfed the Monkey House; more than 30 animals were killed, including orangutans, chimpanzees and marmosets.^[4] Police suspected the fire to be caused by sky lanterns, which are banned in Germany due to being a fire hazard; investigators found used lanterns near the burnt down enclosure.^[5]

2020 fire

During the night of New Year 2020, the monkey tropical house burned down completely. More than 30 animals were killed, including five Bornean orangutans, one chimpanzee and two lowland gorillas; only two chimpanzees survived.^[6] The fire was reported shortly after midnight and took several hours to be extinguished by the fire brigade. On New Year's Day, the Zoo management announced at a press conference that the fire was probably caused by sky lanterns, which are forbidden in Germany due to the high risk of them starting fires.^[7] A 60-year-old woman and her two adult daughters, who had purchased sky lanterns online and released them prior to the fire, subsequently surrendered themselves to police. They showed deep remorse and stated that they were unaware that sky lanterns are banned in Germany.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Monkey Tropic House

The Krefeld Affentropenhaus (Monkey Tropic House) was opened in 1975. The floor space of the greenhouse style building is 2000 square meters. The first primatarium was financed by the Walter Gehlen Foundation and the Friends of Krefeld Zoo. Until the fire, the monkey tropical house was home to orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, marmosets, megabats and birds. A temperature of 20 to 26 °C ensured a tropical, humid and warm climate. Each of the different groups of monkeys lived behind a dry trench.

Gorilla Garden

Two groups of lowland gorillas have been living in Krefeld Zoo since 2014, but they do not meet each other. In the gorilla garden opened in 2012, the great apes can be observed in action in an outdoor enclosure. The enclosure has an outdoor area of around 1,200 m² with an adjoining 360 m² gorilla house. So far, the following young males have been born there: Tambo (* 2 June 2013, Kidogo x Muna), Pepe (* 6 May 2005, Kidogo x Miliki) and Bobóto (* 31 December 2018, Kidogo x Miliki).

The then new silverback Kidogo brought the zoo into the headlines worldwide in 2012, as it balanced between two trees on a rope tied in the gorilla garden.^[14] The gorilla repeated this "rope dance" several times afterwards.

Rainforest House

The Krefeld Rainforest House with a roof construction of plexiglass and wood was opened in 1998 as the third tropical house of the Krefeld Zoo. Its construction was financed from the estate of the Krefeld entrepreneur Walter Gehlen. It is home to leaf-cutter ants, flower bats, tamandua, iguanas and frontal lobe basilisks, as well as turtles and various species of fish.

White-headed sakis and two-fingered sloths move freely through the 1,100 m² large hall. More dangerous animals such as the wedge-headed smooth-fronted caimans, tarantulas, poison dart frogs and a green anaconda, on the other hand, are safely housed.

South America House

Three representatives of the large South American herbivores live in the South America house, which is built like a farmhouse: lowland tapirs, capybaras and guanacos. They share the compound with the largest bird on the continent, the nandu.

Penguin pool

The 800 square metre enclosure for Humboldt penguins, Inca terns, cinnamon ducks and red-shouldered ducks, which was opened in 2014, is located in the direct vicinity of the Rainforest House and houses a penguin colony of ten breeding pairs. The terrain for the penguins is divided into two thirds land area and one third water area. The natural habitat of the penguins was the model for the design of the new enclosure, especially the artificial rock face: the coastal regions of northern Chile and Peru on the cold Humboldt Current. The entire enclosure was covered with a net construction, so that in addition to Humboldt penguins, Inca terns, cinnamon and red-shouldered ducks can also be kept. Humboldt penguins have two layers of plumage, but for particularly frosty winters, a small warm house is available for the residents of the complex. Visitors can observe the animals directly in the walk-in enclosure even under water [13].

African Savannah

The African savannah at Krefeld Zoo is 1 hectare in size and represents a section of a savannah landscape. Large kudus, impalas and ostriches live in the open landscape. The way to the Africa meadow led over several construction stages. At the beginning of 2014 a stable for the antelopes and ostriches was completed. At present a pelican lagoon is being built on the former zebra enclosure.

Large animal house

The large animal house was built in 1977, it houses a double Asian elephant, a family of black rhinos and a pygmy hippopotamus . Krefeld Zoo is one of five zoos in Germany that are able to achieve success in breeding this African species.

In 2010 the elephant keeping was rebuilt and the elephant keeping was changed from chain keeping to box keeping. This was based on new findings on the social behaviour of the animals and changes in husbandry regulations. Since then the two elephant cows Rhena and Mumptas Mahal can spend the night hours without being chained.

Rhinoceros facility

In April 2015, construction work began on the new rhino enclosure, which directly borders the large African meadow. The construction work was completed in spring 2016.

Butterfly Jungle

In 2010 the butterfly jungle at Krefeld Zoo was opened. Up to 200 butterflies live there in tropical vegetation. These include the Blue Morphof butterfly or the "poisoner" passion flower butterfly. The hatching of the butterflies can be followed on the caterpillar boxes of the butterfly jungle. There, the entire life cycle of a butterfly can be observed from egg to caterpillar and pupa to adult butterfly.

Birdhouse

Birds from three continents live in the Krefeld bird house in a tropical and humid climate. The themes of the aviary are "South-East Asia", "South America", "Madagascar", and "Africa". In the Bird Tropics Hall you can also find free-living birds.

Meerkat Lodge

The meerkat lodge was opened in 2017. Following typical African mud huts, two interconnected circular buildings were built, which house the meerkat facility and a viewing terrace with drinks. Breeder Toni disappeared without trace on 2 June 2018; the 3-year-old male Kimya from Münster Zoo succeeded him. At the end of November 2018, Amari, who was born in Krefeld in March 2018, gave birth to two kittens. In 2019 a total of 12 animals were living in the enclosure.

Conservation breeding

By keeping stud books, in which the pedigree of an animal species is listed, and with the help of special breeding programs, ideal breeding pairs are put together at Krefeld Zoo. In this way, the Zoo helps to maintain and breed a healthy population of endangered animal species (ex-situ conservation).

Krefeld Zoo currently participates in 49 breeding programmes. These are divided into eight international conservation breeding programmes (IPM), including Sumatran Tiger, Black Rhino and Cheetah, 24 European conservation breeding programmes (EEP), including Snow Leopard and chimpanzee, and 17 European stud books (ESB), including Spoonbill and Blue Duiker. For all conservation breeding programmes, Krefeld Zoo follows the recommendations of the respective zoo bookkeepers. Krefeld Zoo keeps the stud book for European otters, Goodfellow's kangaroos and tamanduas (small anteaters).

In 1998 Krefeld Zoo succeeded in breeding crocodile keepers from Africa for the first time in the world - a breeding specialist: In nature, the birds lay their eggs in sunlit sandy areas where they are incubated without parental involvement. Inspired by the results of field studies, Dr. Wolfgang Dreßen had underfloor heating as well as heat and light radiators installed - with corresponding success.

In 2002, the cheetah female "Catherine", released by burglars, killed ten grey giant kangaroos following her hunting instinct and thus destroyed the corresponding breeding group of the zoo. The kangaroo baby with the name "Lismore", which survived the attack in the pouch of its mother who was killed in the process, became famous. It was then looked after and cared for around the clock by a nurse from the zoo.

In 2006, Davu became the first black rhino to be born in a zoo in North Rhine-Westphalia. Four more young animals followed in 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2016.