The masterplan has been adopted, the new zoo restaurant has been planned, the connection to district heating is being prepared - 2025 was a year of setting the course for Frankfurt Zoo with its rich tradition. Highlights from the animal section included the arrival of the Sumatran tigers, the aardvarks and the yellow-backed duikers.

The development of the zoo is progressing, even if there is not yet much to see on the site. The plans for the new zoo restaurant have come a long way in recent months. Construction work is due to start in spring. In December 2025, the contracts between Mainova and the City of Frankfurt to connect the zoo to the district heating system were signed, paving the way for an important measure to ensure a reliable and climate-friendly heat supply for the zoo. The developments in the master plan for the redesign of more than half of the zoo grounds are particularly exciting and forward-looking.

In spring 2025, both the municipal council and the city council voted in favour of the future structural development of the zoo in line with the Zookunft2030 master plan+. The process for selecting the partners for the construction planning is currently underway. They will begin their work in spring and focus on the design of the first "Serengeti" remodelling phase. The development of the zoo is thus taking concrete shape so that it can continue to fulfil its tasks in education, research and, above all, nature and species conservation in the future and support the Frankfurt Zoological Society in its conservation work in the countries of origin of our zoo animals," says Dr Ina Hartwig, Head of the Department of Culture and Science.

"For our visitors, the animals are understandably the centre of interest - such as our young Sumatran tigers last year. This gave us the opportunity to draw particular attention to the situation of their wild counterparts in our educational formats. Preserving the habitat of wild animals is a huge task that can only be accomplished if many people help. That's why we supported our nature conservation partners last year with funds, including from the Nature Conservation Euro, and supported several research projects on zoo and wild animals," says Zoo Director Dr Christina Geiger.

Visitor development

751,252 visitors came to the zoo in 2025 - about the same number as in 2023. Compared to 2024, the total number of visitors last year fell slightly by 1.8 per cent. However, an exceptionally high number of people visited the zoo in April and December.

Developments in the animal population

As usual, an inventory was taken in all areas at the end of the year. The animal population as at 31 December is always taken into account. All mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians as well as several thousand invertebrates, i.e. insects, spiders, corals, sea anemones and many more, are recorded. As of 31 December 2025, there were around 6,000 vertebrates in 390 species and countless invertebrates in 90 species living at the zoo.

Mammals: 1,500 individuals in 86 species

There was some movement in the mammal population in 2025. The keeping of African wild dogs and ring-tailed lemurs was discontinued. Dwarf mongooses are back after a break. In spring, the almost 19-year-old Asiatic lion KUMAR had to be put down due to illness. At the end of the year, the young lion MANI came to Frankfurt from Cologne Zoo and now shares the enclosure with lioness ZARINA. There was a significant change in the great ape house: in agreement with the European breeding programme, five Sumatran orangutans moved from Frankfurt to Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium. In return, three female animals arrived from there, which now form a new group with the twelve-year-old male SAYANG, who was born in Frankfurt. There were particular breeding successes with the Madagascar white-tailed rats, which reared several litters, and with the rusty cats. Due to renovation work, the dwarf otter enclosure in the Grzimekhaus was unoccupied for some time. Last year, a young pair of these agile predators from South-East Asia moved back in.

Birds: 324 individuals of 63 species

Two bird species that characterised the zoo's image for many years left Frankfurt in 2025: the pink pelicans and the Manchurian cranes. The keeping of the spiny ibis has also ended. Montezuma quails and light-eyed ibises, an ibis species from Madagascar classified as "critically endangered" by the IUCN, are new to the Faust bird halls. 18 bird species have been successfully propagated, including the Vietnam pheasant, which is extinct in the wild, and the punt-billed ibis, which is relatively rare in zoos. In addition to the pheasants, avocets, blue grosbeaks and European bee-eaters also grew up in the bird bushes. The Falkland caracaras also raised three young birds. However, in order to provide the king vultures with more space and peace and quiet, the caracaras were no longer kept during the course of the year. In the Jewel Room of the bird halls, where colourful small birds are kept, the breeding of red-headed parrotlet, blue crowned kinglet and the highly endangered hooded siskin was successful with several broods.

Reptiles: approx. 340 individuals in 75 species, amphibians: approx. 270 individuals in 23 species
Fish: over 3,000 individuals in 143 species, invertebrates: Thousands of individuals in 90 species

The reptiles were bred in large numbers in 2025, with the blue bamboo day geckos and crowned basilisks each producing more than 20 young.

It is more difficult to record the invertebrates, which include corals and anemones as well as ants. However, these are so numerous that they are each recorded in the statistics as a colony or swarm. A special new addition to the invertebrates in the Exotarium last year was the king crab.

Among the amphibians, a small frog took centre stage last year: the green frog is highly endangered in its native Madagascar. Frankfurt Zoo is therefore endeavouring to breed it. With success: over 100 little frogs hatched and grew up in 2025 and are now being given to other institutions. Frankfurt Zoo also contributes to the conservation of native amphibian species, for example by breeding Central European fire salamanders as part of the Citizen Conservation initiative.

With regard to fish, the zoo was able to achieve breeding success with several endangered freshwater fish last year, for example with the bandula barb, which is only found in a small area of Sri Lanka, or the Ameca highland carp, which had already become extinct in its Mexican homeland. The viviparous peacock-eyed stingrays produced a pleasing total of 14 young. Among other things, the keeping of piranhas was discontinued.

Animal sponsorships

On 31 December, the zoo had 3,145 animal sponsors with a total of 3,704 sponsorships. One hundred per cent of donations from animal sponsorships go towards keeping the animals. The money is used, for example, to build new enclosures or remodel existing ones, or for measures to keep the animals occupied. "In 2025, money from animal sponsorships went towards two particularly attractive projects: The conversion of the large display enclosure in the entrance area of the zoo into a new indoor enclosure for our giant anteaters and the redesign of the old fennec enclosure in the giraffe house," says zoo director Dr Christina Geiger.

The most popular sponsored animal remains the meerkat with over 600 sponsors, followed by the dwarf goats. The most popular sponsored bird is the Humboldt penguin, while the day gecko is the favourite among reptiles. The strawberry frog is the most popular amphibian among godparents, the seahorse is the favourite among fish and the starfish tops the list of invertebrates.

Education and outreach

The Education and Outreach department uses a variety of programmes to explain the need to preserve biodiversity in a clear and methodical way. A particular concern is to raise environmental awareness and communicate the various aspects of biodiversity and its importance. The requirements for modern zoo animal husbandry are also a topic of the programmes. In 2025, around 9,400 participants were reached in a total of 628 programmes. There was a great deal of interest in guided tours of the zoo: 591 guided tours familiarised school classes and private individuals with various topics. Insights into the world of certain animal species as well as special topics such as the social behaviour of primates were again very popular.

Some classes also came to discuss the future of zoos and take a critical look at the topic - an important part of education for sustainable development for the zoo. The children's birthday tours, of which 127 took place, continue to be popular.

In 2020, the department added a new programme to its offering: Frankfurt day care and senior citizens' facilities are visited by a zoo employee who gives exciting and entertaining talks about the zoo and its work. 37 talks have taken place so far, and the programme will continue in 2026.And a few more figures from the zoo

Podast

The nature conservation podcast "Hinter dem Zoo geht's weiter" is a joint production of Frankfurt Zoo and the Frankfurt Zoological Society (ZGF). Published in 2025 14 episodes. 33,489 downloads were recorded, significantly more than in the previous year. The most listened to episode was entitled 'Eat and be eaten: How animal populations stay healthy'.

Nature conservation ambassadors from the zoo and ZGF

Thanks to the 40 volunteer conservation ambassadors, Frankfurt Zoo and the Frankfurt Zoological Society were able to provide information about their joint work in nature conservation at events and outreach activities both inside and outside the zoo. In 2025, the nature conservation ambassadors contributed more than 1,600 volunteer hours at their Infomobiles, among other things.

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