How a zoo’s sights, sounds and smells can benefit people with dementia

Christel Krueger stared in awe at a mother hippopotamus and its offspring sleeping on a sandbar through the thick glass and murky water of their enclosure at the Berlin Zoo.
Krueger, 86, and her daughter were on a specialised zoo tour in March for people with dementia that was organised by Malteser Berlin, part of the international Catholic aid organisation The Sovereign Order of Malta.
On the tour with Krueger, Ingrid Barkow watched from her wheelchair as the elephants roamed their habitat,...