Floor 2
On the 2nd floor, you can expect impressive Mediterranean animals, cheeky monkeys, well-camouflaged insects and nibbling fish.
Let’s start with the piranhas: These fish have a bad reputation, which is completely unjustified. They are ecologically very important, as they mainly eat wounded and sick animals. This way, they prevent epidemics from breaking out and are jointly responsible for keeping an entire ecosystem healthy.
We continue our tour at the new Mediterranean area: The Haus des Meeres started its zoo operations around 65 years ago with a Mediterranean section, and the area was renovated and modernised in 2018 – the habitats of the animals are shown true to nature! In this department you will find representatives of almost all marine animal groups. Get to know different marine biotopes: seagrass meadow, sea cave, tide pool and mud bottom show sea breams, mullets and colorful wrasses, as well as seabed animals such as sea anemones, oysters, tube worms, spider crabs, brittle stars and sea urchins. In this area you can discover dogfish and poisonous fish, octopuses, captive seahorses and colourful Mediterranean coral animals. And the largest jellyfish aquarium in Central Europe: a gyroscopic current tank that houses a swarm of cannonball jellyfish and simulates the habitat of the wide, bottomless sea.
Our tour now takes us to the Krokipark: so named for the crocodiles that have called this exhibit home. Our Sunda gharial recently moved to another zoo as part of a breeding program for the species. Soon, another crocodile species will move in. You can still observe a few feathered friends and the cheeky, curious cotton-top tamarins. It is worth spending some time there. The birds of the Croc Park are African species, including glossy starlings, barbets and turacos. The crocodile pool has a glass bottom, allowing you to take a look from the ground floor at what's swimming around.
Another highlight on level 2 are the travertine terraces: a freshwater aquarium with fish that can only be found around the Aegean and the Middle East. More specifically, the terraces are replicas of the world-famous Pamukkale terraces in southwest Turkey. In addition to Greek minnows, the aquarium houses reddish sucker barbs, also known as “nibble fish” or “kangal barbs”.
Right across you can find an array of aquariums featuring tropical freshwater fish such as glass catfish, thorn eye, Congo tetra and many more.
Access to the tropical area is also on the 2nd floor. Originally built in 2000 as the first “outdoor area”, the jungle facility housed various turtle, bird and fish species as well as free-roaming monkeys until 2022 and has developed into a real magnet for visitors.
From the 2nd floor you can also access the Tropical House. Originally built in the year 2000 as our first "outdoor area," this exhibit underwent extensive renovations, which were completed in February 2023, and now houses over 100 animals in a 200m² space with a ceiling height of 15m! The animals here primarily reflect the wildlife of South America. Lively monkeys such as Goeldi's marmosets, brown-mantled tamarins, and silvery marmosets, as well as our white-faced saki pair Gaby and Karl with their offspring Quentin – now the undisputed stars of our furry animal community – clamber around the exhibit. The Egyptian fruit bats are the only geographical outliers still living in the Tropical House. Following the renovations, South American bird species can be still found here, while our feathered friends from Africa and Asia are in the Crocodile Park. The beloved enclosure for tropical tortoises has also been preserved but has been transformed into an adventure playground for our tortoises with richer planting and variable terrain. Two large aquariums featuring fish and turtles from the Amazon and fish from the Orinoco complete the new bright and welcoming Tropical House.
