Pfaueninsel "Peacock Island"
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In the late 17th century the island was called Kaninchenwerder ("Rabbit Island") after a rabbit breeding station set up by Elector Frederick William I of Brandenburg of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
The island remained unused for about 100 years until, in 1793, the Prussian king Frederick William II, a descendant of Frederick William I, acquired the island and had the Pfaueninsel castle built for himself and his mistress Wilhelmine Enke in 1794-1797.
Frederick William's successor, Frederick William III, turned the island into a model farm. The king also laid out a menagerie modeled on the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris, in which exotic animals including alligators, buffalos, kangaroos, monkeys, chameleons, wolves, eagles, lions, lamas, bears, beavers and peacocks were housed. Frederick William III was very fond of his animals, often feeding many of them personally. In 1842, Frederick William IV transferred all the animals to the Berlin Zoo, which opened its gates in 1844 as the first of its kind in Germany.