Growth to be seen at Chemnitz Zoo
Offspring of the puffer armadillo and access to the bear macaques
There has been a new addition to the Southern Spherical Armadillos in the marmoset house: to everyone's happy surprise, female spherical armadillo "Piepe" gave birth to a male cub on 29 August. In memory of his father "Flitz", who died in June and was best known as an oracle at major sporting events, the little one was given the name "Fritz" by his keepers. Initially, the armadillo offspring stayed hidden, but for a few days now he has been exploring his enclosure on his own and, with a bit of luck, is also visible to visitors.
The best chance to catch a glimpse of the offspring and its mother is on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. when the armadillos are weighed every week in the marmoset house.
The group of bear macaques at Chemnitz Zoo has grown. In addition to the four males that were already living in Chemnitz, six animals have arrived from Berlin Zoo, two males and four females. Chemnitz Zoo now probably has one of the largest groups of this species of monkey, which is very rarely kept in Central Europe.
Bear macaques are very sociable primates. However, the two groups first had to get to know each other. For the most part, this happened behind the scenes and initially always with a gatekeeper in between. After several days of controlled familiarisation, during which there were no aggressive situations between the two groups, the animals were allowed to enter the spacious outdoor enclosure together.
As bear macaques live in relatively large groups, the social relationships within the group are often complex. You can observe all kinds of communication and other interesting behaviour: screeching, grunting, chattering, showing teeth, shaking branches, showing their rumps to other members of the same species and grooming each other.
Opening hours in October
Animal park: 9 am to 5 pm, last admission 4 pm
Game enclosure: 8 am to 4 pm