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Burgers' Zoo opens Desert after extensive remodelling

Thursday, 9 July 2026

After months of work to renovate a large section of the Desert, Royal Burgers’ Zoo reopens the American rocky desert to the public on Thursday, July 9, 2026. The symbolic opening ceremony includes the release of a new animal species into a mixed reptile enclosure: the Gopher tortoise. The Arnhem zoo has created, among other things, several brand-new animal enclosures, a new route, and a main entrance to the Desert.

The largest indoor desert in the world

At Burgers' Desert, visitors discover the flora and fauna of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. This American rocky desert in Arnhem is the largest indoor rocky desert in the world. Relatively few North American animal species can be found in European zoos, and the typical desert plants from this region—such as agaves, yuccas, opuntias, and towering saguaros—also form a unique botanical collection.

New animal species introduced step by step

Over the coming weeks and months, zookeepers and biologists will gradually introduce the new animal species into their new habitat. Several animal species that will share an enclosure must also be given time to get used to each other. In the ‘open top’ enclosure, specifically, various species of reptiles will eventually live together, each of which must literally and figuratively find their way in the enclosure.we

An eco-display is never finished

Burgers’ Zoo is internationally known for its ‘eco-displays’: realistically recreated ecosystems in which many animal species live in great freedom amidst countless plant species. An eco-display is constantly evolving. As complexity continues to increase, new and interesting challenges arise. New animal and plant species are added during the various development stages of the eco-display.