My visit to the Zoom zoo 🦍🐅🦒📷

Hey everyone,

I went to the zoo today and saw a lot of great animals. Of course, I also took a lot of photos, many of which turned out very well. So I thought I would share those with you guys.

I started at around 9 a.m. At this time I drove towards Gelsenkirchen, where the Zoom Zoo is located. The drive took about an hour so I reached the zoo at 10 a.m. and I could enter it right away because I had ordered the tickets online beforehand. The weather was cold and there were a lot of clouds in the sky, but luckily it didn't rain.

The zoo consists of three areas: Asia, Africa and Alaska. First it went to Asia. I could directly see a tiger in its cage. Of course, the tiger also has an outdoor area (which he is allowed to enter at certain times), but his enclosure is really tiny. In any case, I felt very sorry for him. I think it's generally very cruel when animals don't have enough space in zoos but more on that at the end of my post. Besides that it was very impressive to see such a beautiful,but also dangerous creature right behind the glass.

I have to admit that I was a bit scared when I saw the tiger. Fortunately, the glass offered enough protection, so the tiger had no chance to attack 😅

Afterwards I visited the monkeys. The zoo has different species and unfortunately I can't tell you which monkey belongs to which breed. Maybe someone who reads this post knows that and can tell me in the comments. One monkeys tribe had a very nice outdoor enclosure where they could run around. They definitely had a lot of fun there and I was able to watch them on their little island.

The monkeys were fighting quite a bit about the food, which is why some of them quickly brought their found fruits to safety.

The tropical house was right nearby. There were also other monkeys there, for example orangutans, which were larger and also a little slower than the other monkeys.

Then there was a species of monkey that probably found it particularly great to delouse each other. In any case, it looked very funny, because one monkey was always "examining" another.

At least they ensure mutual hygiene I guess 🙈

There were lots of birds in the hall as well and bats hung under the ceiling. Unfortunately you couldn't see them fly because they are nocturnal, but it was also pretty cool to see them hanging from the ceiling.

After I left the hall I went to the Africa world where I found some zebras that you could get relatively close to. I think zebras are very cool, especially because of their interesting fur and because they are very calm and level-headed animals. The zebras were grazing for a long time and I was able to watch them very well.

Next I was able to spot the giraffes. These have a relatively large enclosure and could move around easily there. Giraffes are really fascinating for me because of their long necks but also because they have fascinating fur. The patterns on it always look a little different and make the animals even more interesting. In total there were at least half a dozen of the giraffes and I could observe them from a vantage point.

Then I came across one of my all-time favorite animals: the meerkat. Because of the cold weather and the light rain that has now set in, they have hidden well under a rock to ensure that they wouldn't get wet.

Of course, one meerkat was always on guard, i.e. watching the sky for possible enemies to make sure the other conspecifics could be warned in the event of danger. In addition, this guy insisted on at least lying down and relaxing a little despite his "shift".

The penguins in their relatively new enclosure, which was nearby, were unfortunately not that active. Only a few of them were also swimming, so unfortunately I could hardly take pictures of them, even if I think penguins are super cool.

In the end I went to the Alaska part of the zoo, which I think is the largest.

The North American porcupine could be found there: a pretty funny animal that reminded me a bit of a beaver, although it has spikes on its body. The little guy was pretty cheerful and moving around all the time.

I could also see reindeer: Their antlers are impressive, some of them are very long and quite curved. When I saw the animals I was wondering how they are able to carry Santa and all the presents haha

The next enclosure was the one of the seals: Unfortunately I could only see one of them. On an earlier visit a few years ago, the whole tank was full with a lot of them and, especially during the feeding, you could get a very good view of the animals. But at least I could see at least one today.

At the very end I saw some brown bears. Since they were very far away (their enclosure was huge) I couldn't take any pictures of them. Afterwards, however, I walked by the territory of the polar bears and I could see some of them, especially a polar bear cub. That one was very cure, even if I was very sorry that it had to lie there without any ice or snow.

My experience and what I think of zoos

Even if I couldn't see all the animals (some were hidden or in a part of the enclosure that you couldn't see), the visit was worth it despite everything. I took a lot of cool pictures and I hope I could give you a little overview in this post.

But what I noticed (once again) is that many animals have enclosures that are simply too small! Sure, it is impossible to create as large a territory as the animals would have in nature and some animals also had a lot of space in their huge enclosures. Other animals, on the other hand, have hardly any space to move around properly without always running their laps in a circle.

Nevertheless, it makes no sense to just criticize zoos: After all, they also protect species by taking in animals threatened by extinction and sometimes releasing them back into the wild after a few years. The zoo keepers also do a great job for the most part and take great care of the animals. So I was happy to support the zoo with my visit even though, as I said, I felt sorry for some animals.

Probably not much can be done about the conditions in zoos (enclosures that are too small). Nevertheless you can and should try your best to support the animals. For example, there are many petitions trying to achieve better conditions for zoo animals, like this one which tries to prevent animal cruelty in Bahrain’s zoos (I know this is already 3 years old, further signatures can still help I think).

In order to do something for animal well-being myself, I decided to start an campaign similar to the one I did a couple of years ago. Here is one of my old posts which is similar to my current plan. The idea is that I create a post whose payout will be donated completely to the WWF. I still have to think about this and what the best way is to maximize the donation, but such a campaign will definitely start in the next few weeks. I would really appreciate it if you would help me with upvotes and/or reblogs on that post 😊

What do you think of zoos? A great fun for the whole family or is it more like animal torture? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading & see you next time.

Cheers ✌