 As a child, Grzimek enjoyed the exotic animals of the Berlin Zoo, which is also where he met Hugo Lederer, a professor at Berlin's Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts), who inspired Grzimek to take up sculpting.During his adolescent years he produced sculptures of an American Bison, an African rhinoceros, busts of his parents heads, and a pet Skye Terrier.After high school, Grzimek worked as an apprentice stonemason for the construction company Philipp Holzmann AG and also studied sculpture under Wilhelm Gerstel.