Singapore Zoo
Encyclopedia : S : SI : SIN : Singapore Zoo
Singapore Zoo, formerly known as Singapore Zoological Gardens, occupies 28 hectares (0.28 km²) of land on the margins of Upper Seletar Reservoir within Singapore's heavily forested central catchment area. The zoo was built at a cost of S$9m granted by the government of Singapore and opened on 27 June 1973.
Singapore Zoo is operated by Wildlife Reserves Singapore, along with Night Safari as well as Jurong BirdPark.
From the beginning, Singapore Zoo followed the modern trend of displaying animals in naturalistic, 'open' exhibits, i.e. with hidden barriers.
History
The conception of the Singapore Zoo dates from 1969. At the time, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) decided to use some of its land holdings around reservoirs for parks and open recreational facilities. The then Executive Chairman of PUB, Dr Ong Swee Law, set aside 88 hectares of land for the construction of a zoological garden.
In 1970, consultants and staff were hired, and in 1971, the construction of the basic 50 enclosures started. Animals were collected from dealers and donated by sponsors. The Director of the Colombo Zoo in Sri Lanka, Lyn de Alwis, was hired as a special consultant to work out problems inherent in tropical zoos.
On 27 June 1973, the Singapore Zoo opened its gates for the first time with a collection of 270 animals from over 72 species, and a staff of 130. By 1990, 1,600 animals from more than 160 species lived in social groups, housed in 65 landscaped exhibits with boundaries conceived to look as natural as possible.
The zoo has not expanded beyond the original 28 hectares. However, 40 hectares of secondary forest were later developed into the Night Safari. The remaining undeveloped land has been kept as wooded land. This and the waters of Upper Seletar Reservoir contribute to the Zoo, giving it a sense of natural, unrestricted space.
Among various attactions that the zoo offers, a highlight is the "Breakfast with an Orangutan" progamme which allow visitors to meet and interact closely with the orangutans in the zoo, including the famous primate Ah Meng who is an icon of the Singapore tourism industry.
Trivia
- In 2002, teams of The Amazing Race 3 also came to the Singapore Zoological Gardens as part of a detour.
- There are close to 300 types of animal species in the zoo, of which some 20% are considered threatened species.
- The zoo attracts about 1.3 million visitors a year.
See also
References
- Véronique Sanson (1992), Gardens and Parks of Singapore, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195885880
- Ilsa Sharp (1994), The First 21 Years: The Singapore Zoological Gardens Story, Singapore Zoological Gardens, ISBN 9810056745
External links
- [Singapore Zoo's official web site], [Map]
- [Singapore Night Safari web site], [Map]
- [Singapore Zoo Video]
- [Singapore Zoological Gardens Docents]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.