It is much more exciting to discover new things in a playful way and to romp around in one of our numerous playgrounds. And playing is not only great fun for children. Because of that there is a variety of play options in the Görlitz Nature Conservation Zoo in which one can practically learn more about the animals' skills, the dangers in the life of animals and of course their habitats.
A total of over 100 nature show games provide plenty of entertainment and learning opportunities!
For example, you can playfully go on adventurous hikes, learn how antennas report treats and who fills their pockets with pollen. There is knocking, fishing and puzzling on the avenue of beeches. The woodpecker fishes the fattest delicacies from the burrows of beetles and ants with its super tongue. You can find out how hard it is with the woodpecker's tongue game.
It is a big high wire act not to touch the ropes on the stork meadow. The ropes represent high-voltage lines which are dangerous for the storks in real life. Feeding the storks is really fun. The best thing is to provide them with the food from their favourite restaurant which is the wet meadow. On days off, you can search the fields for food. But if you feed him what the roadside offers, then ... but not everything is revealed here!
On our climbing path at the beech lane you can climb like a real alpine ibex. Following the footsteps of several animal climbing experts you can overcome ten obstacles alltogether. Balance on a trunk like red pandas, jump from nest to nest like a cuckoo or pull yourself from one hollow trunk into the next, just like a raccoon does!
That doesn`t only help you understand the various requirements of different animals but it also encourages skill, motor function and focus.
The construction of this playground was funded by numerous donations, especially by GörlitzCrowd.
Children are fascinated by the gentle long-eared animals and many dream of riding a donkey. This dream is now coming true, because a riding playground with a whole herd of donkeys has been created in our Zoo. Visitors young and old can ride on life-size wooden copies of the donkeys “Tesina”, “Melinda”, “Herbert” and “Camilla” who live in the donkey world. Like their role models, the wooden donkeys show special breed characteristics such as long ears, mealy mouth, eel line and standing mane and, with different sizes, reflect the age structure of the herd. This means that children of all ages can experience the playground. You can “ride” on the wooden donkeys 365 days a year, while your living companions can watch in a relaxed manner.
The project was realized thanks to the support of the Max, Erika and Erna Ullrich Foundation.
First, take your shoes off and put them in the shoe rack, you need to be able to feel. It starts a little prickly with a mineral mix until your sensible feet get a short break on a soft meadow. The barefoot path then leads you through pepples, dirt, bamboo and grained logs. This playground brings new sensual experiences to people of all ages.
In the process, you can feel just like our zoo animals. The European otter feels comfortable in soil, a snake meanders through sand and our red pandas know exactly how bamboo feels under their paws. But who is gently tiptoeing through big and bright rocks?
Right next to the Red Pandas' enclosure there is the bamboo playground. Thanks to a donation from the Rotarier Club Görlitz and Lions Clubs a large plateau was built that now offers you a wonderful overview of its grounds and a dry schelter on rainy days.
Bamboo is their mainsource of food. Since it is very low in nutrients they have to eat large amounts of it - lucky for them it grows extremely quickly! For example, the giant bamboo can grow up to 70 cm a day.
Bamboo is a very strong material as well. You can test that yourself on this playground. It is even more tear-resistant than steel and is increasingly used as a building material and in the industry. It is used from toothbrushes to bicycle frames.
We have also discovered the bamboo for ourselves and work with sustainable bamboo cups in the food box .
Not only marmots live on the large festival meadow in the zoo. A lot of smaller animals also crawl around unnoticed. They do not live in an enclosure but they are still very interesting! The spider playground is dedicated to them.
You can try out in our spider web how strenuous it is to climb up and down. The family of golden orb-weaver spiders is of course well adapted to this but still does not want to be disturbed in their web. Among them are our native cross spiders. Some of them form colonies and even build spider webs together!
The hood web also points to a special group: cobweb spiders are a separate family within the golden orb-weaver spiders. They can be recognized by their round, spherical abdomen and the usually thin, long legs.
If you have climbed and played enough you can go searching on your own and find out who lives in the dense grass!
