Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Zoo

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. The first records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in 1237 and Berlin, across the river Spree in 1244. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. His successors established Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled in Berlin until 1918, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors. The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. The city lost half of its population. Frederick William, known as the "Grosse Kurfürst" initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance from 1640 on. In 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots. By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French Huguenots. Other immigrants came from Bohemia and Poland. The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became the capital of the newly founded German Empire. In 1933 the Nazi Party came to power. After the "Kristallnacht" pogrom in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Starting in 1943, many were shipped to death camps, such as Auschwitz. During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed by Allied air raids and the 1945 Battle of Berlin. Around 125,000 civilians were killed. After the end of WWII , by Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin. The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided the city from 1961 to 1989, when it fell. In October 1990, the German reunification process was formally finished. - The Zoo (aka "Zoologischer Garten Berlin"), founded with the support of Alexander von Humboldt, opened in 1844. It is the oldest zoo in Germany. During WWII, the zoo area was hit by bombs. Most damage was done by the bombardments on 22. November 1943, when in just a couple of minutes about 30% of the zoo's population was killed. The next day the aquarium buildings got completely destroyed. During the Battle of Berlin end of April 1945, the zoo was under artillery fire of the Red Army. A count on May 31, 1945, revealed only 91 of 3,715 animals had survived. Today the zoo is with more than 3 million visitors the most-visited in Europe. The "Elefantentor", built 1983/84, got its name from two life-size lying sandstone elephants that have a pagoda roof. This is a reconstruction, based on the original building of the same name from 1899, which was destroyed during WWII.

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany - and one of the oldest. A Germanic tribe, the Ubii, had a settlement here, this was named by the Romans "Oppidum Ubiorum". In 50 AD, the Romans founded "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", the city then became the provincial capital of "Germania Inferior". An "Actiengesellschaft Zoologischer Garten zu Cöln" was founded in 1858 and the zoo was started in 1860, after a large area north of the center was acquired. The zoo flourished end of the 19th century, but suffered severely under the two worldwars. At the end of WWII the zoo was almost completely destroyed. Only 23 animals had survived. The zoo was reopened in 1947 and new animals could be purchased. One of them was in 1950 the chimpanzee "Petermann". The chimpanzee grew up without other chimpanzees. The monkey was finally trained to perform tricks and imitate human behavior and developed into a mascot for the Cologne zoo. At the age of 10 Petermann got more and more aggressive. The "human" socialization to the exclusion of other monkeys led to serious behavioral problems. On October 10 1985, the cage door had not been properly locked and Petermann broke out of his cage. He attacked the zoo director Gunther Nogge, bit him into his head and face. Nogge was badly injured before workers were able to separate Petermann from the victim. Petermann continued his escape and was shot dead on the zoo grounds. Seen here are Persian onagers. An endangered species of wild asses.