Zoo's: Looking Back in Time

Located on the grounds of the famous Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, is Tiergarten Schönbrunn (German for Schönbrunn Zoo) the oldest zoo in the world. It was founded as an imperial menagerie in 1752 and when first opened to the public in 1779, there were no entrance fees. It was the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II, who first organized expeditions to Africa and the Americas to capture specimens for the zoo and the first giraffe arrived in 1828. On July 14, 1906, the zoo shocked the world w...

One of the oldest zoos in the United States, Lincoln Park Zoo is also one of the most modern. Lincoln Park Zoo began with the gift of two swans in 1868, and nearly 150 years later, visitors can still see these stately birds paddling across the water. But while swans have been a constant throughout the zoo’s long history, the institution that houses them has been utterly transformed. Today’s Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the most modern zoos in the country. Chimpanzees climb in lush ...

In 2009, the oldest Zoological garden of the former Czechoslovakia celebrated its ninetieth anniversary. Located at the foothills of the Jizera Mountains in the Northern most part of the Czech Republic, the ZOO accommodates approximately 170 animal species accounting in total over 1000 individuals. The Liberec ZOO is the only place in Europe, where you can see a white form of the Bengal Tiger (Panthera Tigris) or the huge Golden Takin (Budorcas Taxicolor Bedfordi). Also extremely unique is on...

The concept of Natura Artis Magistra, or ‘nature instructs the arts and sciences’, is still vigorously embodied by the Amsterdam Artis Royal Zoo. About fifty statues, created during the past two centuries, are on display in the zoological gardens. Furthermore, the Artis Library and the University of Amsterdam now jointly manage the extremely valuable collection of books and reproductions amassed by the Society since its foundation. Artis Royal Zoo was founded in 1838, near the cen...