Perth Zoo was founded in 1898 on an area of 17 hectares. The idea for its establishment had originated a few years earlier with the Western Australian Acclimatisation Committee, which intended to introduce European animals to the new continent. Already in 1987, bear caves were built, a monkey house, enclosures for a variety of mammals and guinea pens for guinea pigs. And the first animals were an orangutan, two monkeys, four South American ostriches, a pair of lions and a tiger. In its first year, 53,000 people visited the zoo, and in its history the zoo has never closed in over a hundred years! Today, the zoo houses more than 1,000 animals. There is also an extensive botanical collection. Among the of the zoo's first floral displays were roses, lupines, tropical plants and palm trees. Incidentally, those palm trees, planted over a century ago, are still growing in the zoo - they are about 60 species, including rare palms of the Canary Islands. Interestingly, they also grow crops for animal feed - lettuce, alfalfa, carrots, onions.
The zoo is divided into three main zones: Australia Walk, Asian Rainforest and African Savannah, with small additional displays (such as Birds of South America or Small Primates). All zones recreate the natural natural habitats.
The Australian Zone includes exhibits, introducing the country's wetland and bushland inhabitants, reptiles and nocturnal animals. Here you can see black swans, black-necked swans, storks, Australian buzzards and storks, Australian brolga cranes, mottled cormorants, mottled ducks and other interesting birds, as well as freshwater crocodiles, turtles and frogs. In the same area is a 50,000-litre pool, which is home to penguins and brown-winged terns. The inhabitants of the Australian bushveld are represented by emu ostriches, koalas, quokka, red kangaroos, echidnas, wombats, wallabies and Tasmanian devils. A separate exhibit is dedicated to the endangered Australian endangered Australian marsupial anteater.
In the African savannah zone, lions can be seen in enclosed enclosures. African savannahs, lions, cheetahs, Grant's zebras, baboons, Rothschild's giraffes, radiated tortoises, meerkats, hyenas and rhinos. Visitors observe the animals by walking along a path designed as a dried-up river bed.
The Asian Rainforest Forest is home to endangered Asian animals. It is home to are home to Asian elephants, Nepalese red pandas, eastern tailless otters, Sumatran orangutans, tigers, gubache bears and gibbons. Perth Zoo is investing funds to protect many of these species in the wild. For example, its programme to Sumatran orangutan breeding programme is considered the most successful in the world - since 1970, 27 orangutans have been reared here. In 2006, one of the orangutans, born at the zoo was released into the wild in Sumatra as part of an international programme to restore the population of these animals. Sumatra as part of an international programme to restore the population of these animals.
Among the zoo's other conservation programmes there are breeding programmes for Rothschild's giraffes, white rhinos and Sumatran tigers. Australian species involved in the programmes, are also usually released into the wild.
Interestingly, every visitor to the zoo can get a huge amount of digital information about the animals for free.
