It wasn’t just Kaja’s fault that more visitors came to the Opel Zoo in Taunus last year than ever before. But the birth of the first elephant calf in Hesse in 57 years contributed to the record. The Kronberg Zoo counted exactly 648,090 visitors at the end of the year, as zoo director Thomas Kauffels said on Wednesday. That was 9.5 percent more than in the also above-average year 2024. Compared to the more normal year 2023, the zoo even recorded an increase of 16.3 percent. “We have almost only positive news,” said Gregor von Opel, the chairman of the foundation that runs the Opel Zoo. Even before Kaja’s mother Kariba gave birth to the female elephant cub at the end of May, there were offspring in the giraffe house in March. The first reticulated giraffe in Kronberg since 1984 was born there. However, a number of Rothschild giraffes had also been born at the Opel Zoo in the decades before tiny Kianga was born. In order to breed reticulated giraffes, the zoo switched the herd from one giraffe subspecies to the other. In addition to the young animals, which also included white-nosed coatis, red pandas and Mesopotamian fallow deer over the course of the year, zoo director Kauffels cites the mostly good weather as the reason for the high number of visitors. Almost 478,000 of the guests bought a day ticket, a good 104,000 showed an annual ticket, a good 66,000 were children under the age of three. Free entry for all septuagenarians Anyone who visits the zoo next year and was born in 1956 can enter with free entry from the beginning of March to the end of October. Like the zoo itself, these visitors will be 70 years old this year. There are a few activities to mark the anniversary, especially a celebration on September 12th because the zoo’s opening is on September 10th. The new meerkat facility is scheduled to open during the Easter holidays. Shortly afterwards, a much larger construction project could begin on the site: the Opel Zoo wants to house Indian rhinos and other Asian species in its own facility in the future. The building application has been submitted and as soon as the approval is available, things can begin, said Kauffels. This was actually planned for last year. According to its own information, the zoo expects a construction period of one and a half to two years. The facility will be shared with the Indian rhinos, including black-backed tapirs and short-clawed otters. Maybe a Prince Alfred deer will move into Kronberg again. As Kauffels explains, the species is named after the brother of Empress Friedrich, who once made a home for herself in the city. The zoo has now given the last deer of the Asian species to another zoo because the animal was housed in an enclosure on the future construction site. More on the topic The number of species has remained the same compared to the previous year, there are still 221, although some species have changed. There are now new blue animals to marvel at: the dyer’s frog and the purple starling. Some guests visit the young elephant very regularly, as Gregor von Opel reports. At the last weigh-in, Kaja weighed 277 kilograms. Shortly after the birth on May 27th there were almost 100. Kaja’s father Tamo weighs 3900 kilos. When the weather improves, the bull will join the herd for the first time since Kaja’s birth. As Kauffels says, the cub still has a particularly close relationship with the matriarch Lilak. The cow, born in Africa in 1971, is the only wild-caught Kronberg elephant. Kaja also sucks on her breast, not just her mother’s.
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