Description of the attraction
The Kiev Zoo is the largest zoo in the CIS countries, and in Ukraine it is one of the oldest. The zoo was founded in 1908 by the Kiev Society of Animal Lovers (at the initiative of the university professors N. Obolonsky and A. Korotnev) on the basis of the botanical garden of the university (modern botanical garden named after academician Fomin), five years later the zoo moved to Shulyavka.
From the first days of its existence, the zoo was supported by the funds of patrons: the famous entrepreneur A. Tereshchenko, the architect V. Gorodetsky, the owner of Askania-Novaya F. Falz-Fein, Countess Brotskaya, the artist S. Svyatoslavsky and Tsar Nicholas II.
The territory of the zoological park is about 40 hectares, the exposition area is 21, 85 hectares. The complex relief of this site, once recognized as unsuitable for housing urban planning, during the existence of the zoo, was successfully refined and saturated with man-made aviaries, pavilions, ponds and islands. The ecosystem of the zoo is made up of more than seven thousand animals and plants of more than four hundred species.
Since 1996, the Kiev Zoo has been a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and, as its member, actively participates in international programs dealing with the reproduction of rare and endangered animals. On its basis, scientific activities are carried out on the acclimatization of animals that inhabit distant countries, on the preservation and reproduction of such rare animals as the Amur tiger, bison, Przewalski's horse, etc. The Kiev Zoo is an environmental institution leading cultural, educational and research activities, which is an artificially formed object of the national nature reserve fund and has the status of "Nationwide".
There is a pet shop and a cafe on the territory of the zoo.
