Description of the attraction
Chilean National Zoo is the largest zoo in the country. It is located on the slopes of San Cristobal in the Metropolitano de Santiago Park. The main area of work of the National Zoological Garden is the preservation and research of the species that are in it, as well as the entertainment and recreation of visitors.
In 1875, a temporary exhibition of exotic animals was made in the city park known as Quinta Normal. At the same time, the first ideas for the construction of a zoo arose. In 1882, Professor Julio Bernard opened the first zoo in the same Quinta Normal. Twenty years later, in Concepción (Santiago area), professor and entomologist Charles Reid founded a zoo, which was used to house representatives of the local fauna.
In 1921, Santiago Mayor Alberto Makenna, along with Professor Charles Reed, launched a fundraising campaign to find land for the National Zoological Gardens. As a result of these efforts, in 1925, Chilean President Arturo Alessandri Palma signed a decree that allocated 4.8 hectares of land in the San Cristobal hills for the construction of a zoo.
Three months later, several species of local fauna were transferred to the new zoo from Quinta Normal, and another 70 animals were transported via the Trans-Andine railway from the zoos of Mendoza and Buenos Aires (Argentina). The National Zoo was officially opened by Vice President Luis Barros Borgono on December 12, 1925. The first director of the zoo was Charles Reed. The Vice President took the funicular to the intermediate station, and from there took a walk through the objects that were built with the assistance of the architect Teodoro Panuzzis in two months.
Now the National Zoo of Chile covers an area of 4.8 hectares and has more than 1000 animals of 158 species, among them 24% of mammals and 37% of birds are representatives of the local fauna.
