Singapore Zoo

In Singapore, Singapore Zoo is one of the well known tourist attractions as each year, there are about 1.3 million visitors visiting the zoo. The Singapore Zoo actually occupies roughly 28 hectares of land where this land is also the margins of a reservoir within Singapore's heavily forested central catchment area. The Singapore Zoo, alongside with other famous award winning attractions which are the Singapore Night Safari and as well as the Jurong Bird Park are actually being managed by the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS).

The history for the Singapore Zoo can be traced back to the year 1969 after the independence of Singapore. At that time, the Public Utilities Board decided to utilize some reserved lands for recreational purpose. From there, 88 hectares of land were set aside by the Executive Chairman at that time, Dr. Ong Swee Law so that a zoological garden can be constructed. However despite having a huge land area to work on, only 28 hectares of the land area were developed and as for the rest of the land area, they were left unexplored so that the whole atmosphere of the zoological garden can remain tranquil and natural. Following the development of the zoological garden, consultants and staff were hired in the year 1970 and during the year 1971, 50 basic enclosures were constructed and various animals were collected from dealers or donated by generous sponsors. After two years on June 27th, 1973 the Singapore Zoo was officially opened to the public and at that time, there were round 130 staff and a total of 270 animals from 72 different species. Today, the Singapore Zoo has roughly 290 different animal species in which 21% of them are identified to be endangered species.

Aside from housing various animals in a tranquil and natural environment, one of the biggest secrets to the success and popularity of the Singapore Zoo is that the Singapore Zoo is constructed based on the model of “open zoo” concept. Under the open zoo concept, various less hostile animals will be kept in a spacious and landscaped area where these animals are separated from the visitors using dry or wet moats. These moats or “barriers” are well concealed out of sight or with vegetation so that a more natural feeling can be created for the visitors. For dangerous animals such as jaguars, glass fronted enclosures are used instead of moat barriers so that a feeling of more openness can be created throughout the zoo. The Singapore Zoo pride itself with the fact that no sight of oppressive cages can be found within the zoo.

Until today, the Singapore Zoo has won countless awards including the recent Best Leisure Attraction Experience of the Year 2005 which was awarded under the STB Tourism Awards 2005. Aside from these awards, the Singapore Zoo has also received numerous praise from various visitors, including from the team of the Amazing Race 3 when they made a detour to the Singapore Zoo.

Singapore Zoo Official Website

http://www.zoo.com.sg/

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