Description of the attraction
Founded in 1883, the Adelaide Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in Australia. Today, on an area of 8 hectares, you can see almost 300 species of local and exotic animals (more than 1800 individuals in total), including rare ones - for example, the Sumatran tiger. Animals are united according to the principle of similarity of their living conditions and are kept in conditions close to natural conditions. Moreover, the management of the zoo is trying, whenever possible, to do without gratings - instead of them glass or natural fences are used. So, baboons live on a plateau surrounded by artificial rocks with large windows for spectators. And the tiger has a private pool with a waterfall, its own piece of the jungle and a cliff for an afternoon break. In addition, social groups natural for animals are supported here: paired animals live in twos, ungulates - in small herds, primates - in families, lions - in prides.
There are a lot of all kinds of birds here, but the flamingo exhibition, opened in 1885, is of particular interest. It originally contained 10 birds, but most of them died during the drought of 1915. Today in the exhibition you can see two flamingos, which are over 70 years old! But, perhaps, the favorites of the public are two giant pandas - Wang-Wang and Funi, which were transferred to the zoo for 9 years by the PRC government in 2009. And in the botanical garden of the zoo there is a large-leaved ficus planted back in 1877!
Connoisseurs of architecture, of course, will not disregard the buildings of the zoo, some of which are included in the list of National Treasure of Australia, for example, the former Elephat House. And one more interesting detail - the zoo operates on a non-profit basis.
