Belgrade Zoo: Difference between revisions

|image_caption = White lion, the zoo's big attraction

|num_species= 210 (2021)

|website= {{urlURL|www.beozoovrt.rs/}}

'''Beo zoo vrt''' ({{lang-sr-cyrlCyrl|Бео зоо врт}}), also known as '''Vrt dobre nade''' (The Garden of good hope), is a publicly owned [[zoo]] located in [[Kalemegdan Park]], downtown of [[Belgrade]], [[Serbia]]. FoundedEstablished on July 12, 1936, it is considered to be one of the oldest public zoos in southeastern Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beograd.rs/cms/view.php?id=1339|title=Zoološki vrt|work=City of Belgrade|publisher=www.belgrade.rs|access-date=16 July 2012}}</ref> The zoo covers {{convert|7|ha|acre}} and it houses a collection of approximately 210 [[animal]] [[species]], with approximately 800 individuals, making it the largest collectionzoological garden in Serbia.<ref name="history">{{cite web|url=http://www.beozoovrt.izlog.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721041958/http://www.beozoovrt.izlog.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 July 2012|title=History|publisher=Belgrade Zoo|access-date=25 April 2010}}</ref> It'sWith around 400,000 annual visitors it is also recognized as one of the most visitedpopular tourist attractions in Belgrade.<ref name="Penguins">{{cite web|url=http://www.beograd.rs/lat/beoinfo/1761152-vesic-pingvinarijum-je-veliki-dogadjaj-za-beo-zoo-vrt-i-svu-nasu-decu/|title=Vesić: Pingvinarijum je veliki događaj za Beo zoo vrt i svu našu decu|date=15 March 2019|website=beograd.rs|language=Serbian}}</ref>

Belgrade zoo officially applied for [[European Association of Zoos and Aquaria|EAZA]] membership in 2017.

During the [[Habsburg Monarchymonarchy|Austrian]] [[Kingdom of Serbia (1718–39)|occupation of northern Serbia from 1717 to 1739]], they conducted extensive project of rebuilding Belgrade, turning the city into Westernized European, [[baroque]]-style town. This period is today referred to as the Baroque Belgrade.<ref name=barok>{{cite news | author = Milica Dimitrijević | title = Izgradnja baroknog Beograda | trans-title = Construction of Baroque Belgrade | newspaper = Politika | page = 12 | language = Serbian | date = 18 April 2019 | url = http://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/427736/Izgradnja-baroknog-Beograda}}</ref> The governor in this period, [[Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg]], ordered the construction of [[Republic Square (Belgrade)#Württemberg Palace|Württemberg Palace]], a massive building used as his seat, which was located at the modern [[Republic Square (Belgrade)|Republic Square]] area. There, he formed something of the first zoo in Belgrade. He ordered his soldiers to capture and bring to him "wild beasts from the forests and mountains of Serbia", which hewere then kept in cages. The Austrians withdrew in 1739 and the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] demolished the building in 1743.<ref>{{cite news | author = Branka Vasiljević | title = Kompjuter otkriva tajne Virtembergove palate | trans-title = Computer unveils secrets of Württemberg Palace | newspaper = Politika | page = 15 | language = Serbian | date = 17 August 2020 | url = http://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/460535/Kompjuter-otkriva-tajne-Virtembergove-palate}}</ref>

The present Belgrade Zoological Garden was officially opened on 12 July 1936 by the mayor of Belgrade, [[Vlada Ilić]]. The zoo was initially no larger than {{convert|3.5|ha|acre}}, but was eventually expanded to about 14 hectares. It quickly became one of the most popular places with the locals and even with the members of the [[Karađorđević dynasty]], who were regulars at the zoo.<ref name="history"/> In the beginning, animals were acquired through personal donations. First group of animals was purchased by mayor Ilić himself while the first manager, Aleksandar Krstić, purchased the first hippopotamus in 1937 to celebrate the birth iofof his son.<ref name=nilski>{{cite news | author = Miloš Lazić | script-title=sr: Нилски коњ као рођендански поклон | trans-title = Hippopotamus as birthday gift | newspaper = Politika-Magazin, No. 1189 | pages = 26–27 | language = Serbian | date = 12 July 2020}}</ref>

The zoo recovered over time but again faced tough times in the eighties. Animals were neglected and living in bad conditions. In 1984 the zoo received a pair of [[South-central black rhinoceros|black rhinoceroses]] as a gift from the Prime Minister [[Robert Mugabe]] and the country of [[Zimbabwe]]. Unfortunately, they lived for just a couple of months due to bad care and lack of knowledge about this species. In 1989 [[Muammar Gaddafi]] also gave six of his [[Dromedary|Arabian camel]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blic.rs/vesti/beograd/vrt-kojim-se-beogradani-ponose/mlg85x7|title=Vrt kojim se Beograđani ponose|language=Serbian}}</ref> The government, under the pressure of real estate groups also unsuccessfully tried to appropriate the space to build luxurious hotels, casinos and nightclubs.<ref name="history"/> Belgrade zoo was preserved thankthanks to efforts from sculptor Vuk Bojović, who served as the zoo's director between May 1, 1986 and his death on September 17, 2014. He received substantial recognition for his work throughout the region. Bojović made various improvements to the living conditions of animals, brought numerous new species to the animal collection - most notably great apes, white tigers, and lions - changed the zoo's bad management, and made it a profitable business.

During the tenure of [[Mayor of Belgrade|mayor]] [[Dragan Đilas]] (2008–13), the idea of expanding the zoo to Donji Grad, which it occupied prior to the World War II, resurfaced, but the experts and Bojović himself were against it. The urban plan for the fortress from 1965 already projected the complete relocation of the zoo outside of the fortress, on some of the suburban locations, which in later plans included [[Veliko Blato]], [[Stepin Lug]] or [[Jelezovac]]. The expansion of the zoo would block the pedestrian pathways between the Danube's and Sava's parts of the fortress, which had been blocked in 1949 but then restored in 2009 with the reconstruction and opening of the Sava Gate. Also, it would prevent the exploration of Donji Grad, which is still largely unexplored and leave the Gate of Charles VI, a masterpiece of [[Balthasar Neumann]], within the zoo itself. By 2017, the zoo had not relocated and the idea of expansion was dropped.<ref>{{Citation | author = Daliborka Mučibabić | title = Od vrha Sahat kule do dna Rimskog bunara | newspaper = Politika | language = Serbian | date = 13 April 2014 | url = http://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/289880/Od-vrha-Sahat-kule-do-dna-Rimskog-bunara}}</ref> There were also ideas to relocate the zoo to the [[Great War Island]], or to the western city outskirts, in [[Surčin]].<ref>{{cite news | author = Miloš Lazić | title = Od "beogradskog Menhetna" do kalemegdanske gondole | trans-title = From "Belgrade's Manhattan" to Kalmegdan's gondola | newspaper = Politika | page = 16 | language = sr | date = 7 October 2022 | url = https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/521313/Od-beogradskog-Menhetna-do-kalemegdanske-gondole)}}</ref>

Belgrade zoo displays a collection of 210 [[species]] of [[animal]]s, with 800 individuals. One of the zoo's biggest attractions are [[white lion]]s, which are also the zoo's symbol as the name of Belgrade means "white city". The first pair was received in 2005 from the [[Kruger National Park]], making Belgrade zoo at the time the only one in [[Europe]] to exhibit these animals.<ref name="white animals">{{cite web|url=https://www.blic.rs/vesti/beograd/zasto-se-bas-u-beogradskom-zooloskom-vrtu-radaju-veoma-retke-bele-zivotinje/bjt41em|title=Zašto se baš u beogradskom zoološkom vrt radjaju veoma retke bele životinje|work=[[Blic (newspaper)|Blic]]|date=May 30, 2018|language=Serbian}}</ref> Since welcoming its first cub in 2008, the zoo has had significant success in breeding these bigwhite catslions.<ref name="white animals"/> Furthermore, Belgrade zoo obtained a [[white buffalo]] from [[Texas]] in 2007, and saw its first white calf in 2018.<ref name="white animals"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://rs.n1info.com/Lifestyle/a393655/N1-u-Beo-zoo-vrtu.html|title=N1 u Beo zoo vrtu: Bizon Dušanka atrakcija, stižu i pingvini|work=[[N1 (TV channel)|N1]]|date=4 June 2018|language=Serbian|access-date=31 May 2019|archive-date=10 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910221041/http://rs.n1info.com/Lifestyle/a393655/N1-u-Beo-zoo-vrtu.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The zoo also holds a pair of [[white tiger]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blic.rs/vesti/beograd/zoo-vrt-upoznajte-belog-bengalskog-tigra-tomeka-foto/h16sxek|title=Upoznajte belog bengalskog tigra Tomeka|date=July 24, 2018|work=[[Blic (newspaper)|Blic]]|language=Serbian}}</ref> Belgrade zoo is active in conservation and species-preservation efforts of the endangered local fauna such as [[griffon vulture]], [[bearded vulture]] and [[Balkan lynx]]. In September 2018, the zoo reintroduced its first griffon vulture to the wild.

Throughout its history, the zoo has had several residents, well known for their scientific importance or for receiving substantial media coverage. [[Sami (chimpanzee)|Sami]] the [[Common chimpanzee|chimpanzee]] was the first [[great ape]] to be displayed at the zoo. he received widespread public attention when he escaped from his cage just a month following his arrival in 1988. After an hour of wandering through Belgrade's downtown streets, Sami was calmed down by the zoo's manager, Vuk Bojović, who then placed him in his personal vehicle and drove him back to his cage. The ape managed to escape again, just two days later, but was this time caught by using a [[tranquilizer gun]]. [[Gabi (dog)|Gabi]] was a [[German shepherd]] that saved her partner, a night guard, from an escaped [[jaguar]] in 1987. Though she had been seriously wounded during the fight with the feline, she eventually recovered and continued her night guard duty. Like Sami, Gabi also has a statue at the zoo dedicated to her. [[American alligator]] [[Muja (alligator)|Muja]] is considered to be the world's oldest specimen of his kind.<ref name="Muja">{{cite web|url=https://noizz.rs/noizz-news/muja-najstariji-aligator-na-svetu/smmff6y|title=Muja je najstariji aligator na svetu i prestanite da ga mučite|website=noizz.rs|date=2 November 2018|accessdate=29 December 2021|language=sr}}</ref> He was transferred to Belgrade in 1937 as an adult from an undocumented zoo in [[Germany]].<ref name="Muja"/> Despite the fact that his real age is unknown, certain documentdocuments suggest that he was two years old at the time of his arrival.{{CnCitation needed|date=November 2021}}

Next to exotic animals Belgrade zoo also houses domestic ones, such as [[alpaca]]s, [[rabbit]]s and [[pygmy goats]], at the [[petting zoo]], which was reopened in April 2019. The walk-through outdoor exhibit extending over 1000 m² also features a coffee shop and a children's playground.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.danas.rs/beograd/radojicic-beograd-dobio-decji-zoo-vrt-na-hiljadu-kvadrata/|title=Radojčić: Beograd dobio dečji zoo vrt na hiljadu kvadrata|date=15 March 2019|work=[[Danas (newspaper)|Danas]]|language=Serbian}}</ref>

Another prominent exhibit at the zoo is the penguin enclosure, which was constructed in May 2019.<ref name="Penguins" /> It initially displayed seventeen [[Humboldt penguin]]s which arrived from [[Vienna]] and the [[United Arab Emirates|Emirates]].<ref name="Penguins" /> In May 2021, the zoo welcomed its first penguin hatchling.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/svet-57802396|title=Životinje i Beograd: Ko su najmlađi stanovnovnici zoološkog vrta - ,,"Ovo je kao Nojeva barka"|date=12 July 2021|work=[[BBC News]]|author=Georgievski, J.|language=Serbian}}</ref>

;Mammals:

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*[[AsianGiant elephantanteater]]

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;Reptiles:

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[[Category:ZoosEducational organizations established in 1936]]