Zoo

A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are housed within enclosures, cared for, displayed to the public, and in some cases bred for conservation purposes. The predecessor of the zoological garden is the menagerie, which has a long history from the ancient world to modern times.

Jardín Zoológico

The oldest known zoological collection was revealed during excavations at Hierakonpolis, Egypt in 2009, of a ca. 3500 BCE menagerie. The exotic animals included hippopotami, hartebeest, elephants, baboons and wildcats. King Ashur-bel-kala of the Middle Assyrian Empire created zoological and botanical gardens in the 11th century BCE. In the 2nd century BCE, the Chinese Empress Tanki had a “house of deer” built, and King Wen of Zhou kept a 1,500-acre (6.1 km²) zoo called Ling-Yu, or the Garden of Intelligence. Other well-known collectors of animals included King Solomon of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, queen Semiramis and King Ashurbanipal of Assyria, and King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia. By the 4th century BCE, zoos existed in most of the Greek city states; Alexander the Great is known to have sent animals that he found on his military expeditions back to Greece. The Roman emperors kept private collections of animals for study or for use in the arena, the latter faring notoriously poorly.

Tiergarten

動物園

The oldest zoo in the world still in existence is the Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, Austria. It was constructed by Adrian van Stekhoven in 1752 at the order of Emperor Francis I, to serve as an imperial menagerie as part of Schönbrunn Palace. The menagerie was initially reserved for the viewing pleasure of the imperial family and the court, but was made accessible to the public in 1765. In 1775, a zoo was founded in Madrid, and in 1795, the zoo inside the Jardin des Plantes in Paris was founded by Jacques-Henri Bernardin, with animals from the royal menagerie at Versailles, primarily for scientific research and education. The planning about a space for the conservation and observation of animals was expressed in connection with the political construction of republican citizenship. The Kazan Zoo, the first zoo in Russia was founded in 1806 by the Professor of Kazan State University Karl Fuchs.

Зоопарк

Parc Zoologique

Until the early 19th century, the function of the zoo was often to symbolize royal power, like King Louis XIV’s menagerie at Versailles. Major cities in Europe set up zoos in the 19th century, usually using London and Paris as models. The transition was made from princely menageries designed to entertain high society with strange novelties into public zoological gardens. The modern zoo that emerged in the 19th century in the United Kingdom, was focused on providing scientific study and later educational exhibits to the public for entertainment and inspiration. A growing fascination for natural history and zoology, coupled with the tremendous expansion in the urbanization of London, led to a heightened demand for a greater variety of public forms of entertainment to be made available. The need for public entertainment, as well as the requirements of scholarly research, came together in the founding of the first modern zoos. Whipsnade Park Zoo in Bedfordshire, England, opened in 1931. It allowed visitors to drive through the enclosures and come into close proximity with the animals.

حديقة حيوان

Kebun Binatang

The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles and established the London Zoo in Regent’s Park two years later in 1828. At its founding, it was the world’s first scientific zoo. Originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study, it was opened to the public in 1847. What set the London zoo apart from its predecessors was its focus on society at large. The zoo was established in the middle of a city for the public, and its layout was designed to cater for the large London population. The London zoo was widely copied as the archetype of the public city zoo. In 1853, the Zoo opened the world’s first public aquarium.