The Dort­mund Zoo is in the south of the city cen­ter next to the Romberg­park and has an unusu­al­ly large num­ber of species from South Amer­i­ca. The Zoo is engaged in breed­ing pro­grammes for South Amer­i­can ani­mals like giant anteaters, giant otters and taman­d­uas, a rel­a­tive of the anteater. There are more giant otters at Dort­mund Zoo than any oth­er zoo in the world, and a whole build­ing is devot­ed to them. Else­where, the three-storey Ama­zon build­ing has a humid envi­ron­ment allow­ing rain­for­est plants to flour­ish, while its enclo­sures and glass cas­es con­tain giant spi­ders, pri­mates, birds, rep­tiles and sloths.

Dort­mund Zoo is one of the most pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tions in Dort­mund and the region. About 1,600 ani­mals of 173 species live here. The park­land with its old trees and var­i­ous ani­mal hous­es makes a vis­it to the zoo an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence for the whole fam­i­ly, what­ev­er the weath­er.