Amsterdam Zoo, Natura Artis Magistra

History

Historical narrative

Amsterdam zoo, Artis, is one of the oldest in zoo history. It is an authentic city zoo. When it was founded the grounds consisted of a mix of footpaths between cottages, pubs and run-down small and large factories, on the East-side of the expanding city (source: Zoo was artis, zo is artis by J.G. Nieuwendijk). A few of the original buildings still exists. Though, used for another purpose, of course. For example, the old pub called 'Eik en Linde' first turned into the wolf-house, but nowadays visitors can observe African painted dogs here. A new pub 'Eik en Linde' has been established in 1967 at the Plantage Middenlaan, just across the zoo, about 100 meters from the entrance. (More historic details to be added)

A sad but well-known fact in the zoo's history is the death in 1883 of the last quagga in the world.

Artis Masterplan
A masterplan has been designed (2005) to expand and modernise the zoo. An important part of the blueprint is the building of an underground parking lot, where the original parking lot is above ground, still. This allows for additional enclosures to be used for big felines and others. When this final stage of the expansion has been realised, Artis will measure 14 ha.
Preparatory actions were started in 2008, and the works should be finalised in 2014. If no budgetary issues arise.

Some results of this Masterplan and new ideas about how to keep zoo animals and present them to the visitors of Amsterdam Zoo are recorded in a documentary entitled 'Het Nieuwe Artis' (The New Artis). This documentary of 2018 follows the birth of the first ever elephant calf born in Amsterdam and the new modern elephant enclosure. Moreover, it gives transparent insight of how the public relation department discusses the strategy of how to exploit the newborn calf most successfully, as it 'must' generate more paying visitors.

In the beginning of the documentary Haig Balian - Amsterdam Zoo director from 2003 until 2017 - wonders if it's still acceptable to keep animals in captivity nowadays. Although it is obvious that, being the Zoo director, Balian thinks it is acceptable under the right conditions, he is at the same time critical about the knowledge zoo visitors have about nature and animals in the wild. To bring across this knowledge better and the related conservation message it was decided in 2015 that Amsterdam Zoo would keep the names of their animals secret from the public. When animals are given names this triggers the innate human tendency to anthropomorphize the animals which is expected to hamper the Zoo's effort educating the visitors about nature, wild animals, biodiversity, ecosystems, the threats and the need of conservation to prevent potential extinctions.

A few exemplary scenes of the documentary concerning Amsterdam Zoo's mission can be seen below:

(Source: 2Doc - Het Nieuwe Artis, director Willemiek Kluijfhout)

The full documentary (in Dutch) can be seen here.

Historical footage

Visit(s)

26.08.2009

The monkey house, of which the first design dates from 1851 (by F. Markelbach), still gives you the feel of the architecture of that period. Steel joists and wide arches support and distribute the long rectangular room with cages on both sides. The monkeys are really at display, and have limited access to places where they can hide from all the “peeping Tom's”. All cages have a sufficient supply of accessories to climb and play. It is striking that only moderate use is made of natural materials like tree trunks and branches, just steel tubes are visible. Comparable with some outside enclosures in London Zoo which have cages with a complete web of steel pipes to the ceiling. In one large cage there are living together two meerkats, one white-eared marmoset and a squirrel monkey. A somewhat peculiar combination, but especially socially undesirable, in my opinion.

Another cage contained a very excited black crested macaque with a very large skin wound (loose skin flap) on its left thigh, probably the result of a recent fight. Animal keepers were busy isolating the individual animal, I suppose to treat the wound (suturing). The inside enclosures are attached to fairly large outdoor areas, which the animals avoided during my visit because of bad weather (rain). In the monkey house there are black spider monkeys and Mandrills to see as well. There is a mandrill breeding group consisting of one male and three females and young of October 2008. It also looks as if one female is pregnant.

As a building, the old predator gallery has more or less stand the test of time. This cannot be said of the way how predators should be kept in captivity. The cages are old-fashioned, and seperate cages have been merged to provide a more modern (larger!) animal shelter. Decisions have been made to reduce the number of species to keep and exhibit. As a result the zoo houses just the following big cats: two jaguars, one Amur leopard, and two servals. Nevertheless, there is generally a lack of hiding places for the animals. But I have to admit that the jaguars (1 black, 1 fur) do have a nicely furnished enclosure. A tree trunk hung up high provides the animals a place to observe the environment as most felines like to do, and there is a (very) small water pond. Next to the predator gallery African lions are kept in an area, which does not reflect ideas of modern zoo. Especially when you compare it to the Delhi zoo enclosure, which is a huge area with differences in level, you feel a bit sorry for the lions. A large moat filled with water borders a rather elongated but narrow and very barren outdoor space. The island of lemurs, just across the lions' den is a nice new asset. In good weather the lemurs go out freely, and a real "close encounter" is possible.

Western lowland gorillas form a major breeding group in Amsterdam (1 male, 3 females and 3 young). They have indoor and outdoor space at their disposal, but they have to share it with other monkeys and meerkats.

The two wolves that I could spot (I doubt if there are more) have a nice enclosure, pretty well shielded from the busybodies, the public. And there are some shelters provided. Considering the concept of wolf packs, most of us are familiar with, two wolves seems a small number of animals for a full development of social behavior. But new insights (L. David Mech, 1999) on the social life of the wolf, which is slowly gaining ground, a total number of two could meet their natural requirements.

The chimpanzees' inside enclosure is very old but is connected to a new outside enclosure by a kind of bridge. The group of eight animals, at least that was the number I could identify, have access to lots of toys and climbing facilities, and a kind of stork nests for “chilling”. The African wild dogs (two animals seen, m + f) have a very dull area around the 'wolve house' (which do not house wolves anymore, by the way). In the small mammals house many animals have been put together. This seems like a natural environment, but the animals do not have a lot of square meters at their disposal. Therefore, avoiding each other is not always possible, and stress inevitable?

The two oriental small claw otters do not have access to an outdoor enclosure, which seems a little too protective for these playful and robust animals. The maned wolf is a very shy animal, which needs places to hide. But unfortunately these are very limited in Artis. As a consequence you have a good chance to see the animals, in contrast to the situation in Rotterdam zoo, where you often look at an empty enclosure.

In general the the large ruminant enclosures are very small, measured to the need for big pastures of such large beasts while covering big distances. Of course, there are not a lot of zoos able to meet those requirements, especially in a city zoo of just 14 hectares, as is the case in Artis. A perfect example of the controversy between nature/biodiversity conservation and welfare.

The savannah, the new area which has been developed beyond the original boundaries of the zoo at the Doklaan, is a relief. A new philosophy has been executed perfectly. Wildebeests, meerkats, guinea fowl and other African species are housed together in a beautiful area with a pond surrounded by public trails above water. This must be great for the residents of the beautifully renovated warehouses on the other side of the watercourse, because they have nice views on the savannah.

The zoo is absolutely crowded with city herons, similar to the raptors in Delhi zoo. Probably caused by the easy way the birds get access to feed.

The breeding programme of the wisent is one of the oldest within the EEP system, and Artis is part of it from the beginning.