Belgrade Zoo
Belgrade Zoo | |
---|---|
44°49′33″N 20°27′12″E / 44.82583°N 20.45333°E | |
Date opened | 12 July 1936 |
Location | Kalemegdan Park, Belgrade, Serbia |
Land area | 7 hectares (17 acres) |
No. of animals | +800 |
No. of species | 210 (2021) |
Annual visitors | 380,000 (2021)[1] |
Director | Srboljub Aleksić |
Website | www |
Beo zoo vrt (Serbian Cyrillic: 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. Established on July 12, 1936, it is considered to be one of the oldest public zoos in southeastern Europe.[2] The zoo covers 7 hectares (17 acres) and houses a collection of 210 animal species, with approximately 800 individuals, making it the largest zoological garden in Serbia.[3] With around 400,000 annual visitors it is also recognized as one of the most popular tourist attractions in Belgrade.[4]
Belgrade zoo officially applied for EAZA membership in 2017.
History
During the
The Belgrade's first
The present Belgrade Zoological Garden was officially opened on 12 July 1936 by the mayor of Belgrade,
During the
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 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 Arabian camels.[9] The government, under the pressure of real estate groups also unsuccessfully tried to appropriate the space to build luxurious hotels, casinos and nightclubs.[3] Belgrade zoo was preserved thanks 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 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.[10] There were also ideas to relocate the zoo to the Great War Island, or to the western city outskirts, in Surčin.[11]
In 2022, new city administration headed by mayor Aleksandar Šapić again included relocation of the zoo in the city's urban plan. In February 2023, Šapić announced relocation to the Ada Safari section of Ada Ciganlija island. In turn, this would include relocation of 273 families who live in the area, in the Partizan settlement. The relocation will last for several years. City manager, Miroslav Čučković, explained the relocation: "Since the foundation of the new city administration...we made decisions which are connected to our dedication to spaces to which Belgraders were coming close to in all of these previous years. Those are spaces for which we think should have some new type of content and possibility to directly invest into them".[12] Šapić added that the "political decision was made to handle this", and, if everything goes by the plan, the relocation might be finished in three years.[13]
The new zoo should double its size, from 7 ha (17 acres) to 14 ha (35 acres). In order to ease the access to the zoo on an island, city will push the construction of the pedestrian bridge and revitalize the project of gondola lift from New Belgrade to Košutnjak, via Ada.[13] Public and expert's backlash against the project was massive, especially regarding hastiness, arbitration, irrelevance, legality and selected location. Public speculated that the residents of the newly built affluent K-Distrikt residential complex across the zoo are bothered by the smell, or that some more lucrative structures might be built instead of the zoo on such exceptional location. Also, relocation to Ada is not legally founded in any of the city plans or documents.[14][15]
Šapić then back-pedaled a bit, stating that this is just a "political idea" which is not hastily made, that only now analyses and surveys will be done to check the viability, that nothing will be built instead of the zoo but the fortress will be conserved, and that there is no set time frame for the project.[16][17] However, residents from Partizan said that they were approached regarding their resettlement already in July 2022 but without any mentioning of the zoo to them, which they consider a proof that the relocation was an ad hoc idea.[18]
Animals and exhibits
Belgrade zoo displays a collection of 210
Throughout its history, the zoo has had several residents, well known for their scientific importance or for receiving substantial media coverage.
Next to exotic animals Belgrade zoo also houses domestic ones, such as
Another prominent exhibit at the zoo is the penguin enclosure, which was constructed in May 2019.[4] It initially displayed seventeen Humboldt penguins which arrived from Vienna and the Emirates.[4] In May 2021, the zoo welcomed its first penguin hatchling.[24]
Selected animal species
- Mammals
- Red kangaroo
- Parma wallaby
- Asian elephant
- Southern three-banded armadillo
- Ring-tailed lemur
- Silvery marmoset
- Barbary macaque
- De Brazza's monkey
- Bornean orangutan
- Common chimpanzee
- Indian crested porcupine
- Capybara
- Patagonian mara
- African lion
- Bengal tiger
- Cheetah
- Eurasian lynx
- Jaguar
- Jungle cat
- Persian leopard
- Serval
- Binturong
- Meerkat
- Spotted hyena
- Arctic wolf
- Coyote
- Fennec fox
- Asiatic black bear
- Cape fur seal
- Harbor seal
- Honey badger
- Oriental small-clawed otter
- Pine marten
- Raccoon
- White-nosed coati
- Grant's zebra
- Brazilian tapir
- Hippopotamus
- Alpaca
- Bactrian camel
- Llama
- Fallow deer
- Red deer
- Reindeer
- Reticulated giraffe
- American bison
- Barbary sheep
- Common eland
- Dorcas gazelle
- Himalayan thar
- Muflon
- Siberian ibex
- Yak
- Birds
- Ostrich
- Rhea
- Southern cassowary
- Emu
- Blue eared pheasant
- Elliot's pheasant
- Golden pheasant
- Himalayan monal
- Silver pheasant
- Temminck's tragopan
- Indian peafowl
- Bruce's green pigeon
- Crested pigeon
- Victoria crowned pigeon
- Vulturine guineafowl
- Southern screamer
- Muscovy duck
- Magellan goose
- Ruddy shelduck
- Greater flamingo
- Black crowned crane
- Humboldt penguin
- Marabou stork
- Scarlet ibis
- White spoonbill
- Silvery-cheeked hornbill
- Southern ground hornbill
- Trumpeter hornbill
- Laughing kookaburra
- Black-necked aracari
- White-throated toucan
- Andean condor
- Bearded vulture
- Griffon vulture
- Egyptian vulture
- Steller's sea eagle
- White-tailed eagle
- Blue-and-yellow macaw
- Burrowing parrot
- Eclectus parrot
- Grey parrot
- Lord Derby's parakeet
- Red-and-green macaw
- Rosy-faced lovebird
- Sulphur-crested cockatoo
- Yellow-crowned amazon
- Pied crow
- Reptiles
-
Hippopotamus mother with a calf
See also
References
- Blic(in Serbian). 24 December 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
- ^ "Zoološki vrt". City of Belgrade. www.belgrade.rs. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d "History". Belgrade Zoo. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
- ^ a b c "Vesić: Pingvinarijum je veliki događaj za Beo zoo vrt i svu našu decu". beograd.rs (in Serbian). 15 March 2019.
- ^ Milica Dimitrijević (18 April 2019). "Izgradnja baroknog Beograda" [Construction of Baroque Belgrade]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 12.
- ^ Branka Vasiljević (17 August 2020). "Kompjuter otkriva tajne Virtembergove palate" [Computer unveils secrets of Württemberg Palace]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 15.
- ^ Daliborka Mučibabić (10 February 2021). У Топчидеру ботаничка башта, на Великом ратном острву спортски центар [Botanical garden in Topčider, sports center on Great War Island]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 14.
- ^ a b Miloš Lazić (12 July 2020). Нилски коњ као рођендански поклон [Hippopotamus as birthday gift]. Politika-Magazin, No. 1189 (in Serbian). pp. 26–27.
- ^ "Vrt kojim se Beograđani ponose" (in Serbian).
- ^ Daliborka Mučibabić (13 April 2014), "Od vrha Sahat kule do dna Rimskog bunara", Politika (in Serbian)
- ^ Miloš Lazić (7 October 2022). "Od "beogradskog Menhetna" do kalemegdanske gondole" [From "Belgrade's Manhattan" to Kalmegdan's gondola]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 16.
- ^ Politika; Nova.Rs; Beta (2 February 2023). "Evo gde beogradske vlasti nameravaju da presele Zoo vrt" [Location where Belgrade authorities plan to relocate the zoo] (in Serbian). N1.
- ^ a b Branka Vasiljević (4 February 2023). "Zoo vrt se seli na Adu Ciganliju" [Zoo moves to Ada Ciganlija]. Politika (in Serbian). pp. 01 & 13.
- ^ Mašina (6 February 2023). "Stručne organizacije protiv ishitrenog izmeštanja Beo Zoo vrta na Adu Ciganliju" [Expert organizations against hasty relocation of Beo Zoo to Ada Ciganlija] (in Serbian). Mašina.
- ^ N1 Beograd (5 February 2023). "Ada Ciganlija nije dobra lokacija za Zoo vrt, neophodno usvojiti GUP" [Ada Ciganlija is not a good location for the zoo, it is necessary to adopt the General Urban Plan] (in Serbian). N1.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Branka Vasiljević (7 February 2023). "Одлука о премештању Зоо-врта није донета "преко колена"" [Desicion on relocation of the zoo was not made hastily]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 16.
- ^ Tanjug (6 February 2023). "Šapić: Odluka o Zoo vrtu nije doneta "preko kolena"" [Šapić: Decision on the zoo was not made hastily] (in Serbian). Euronews.rs.
- ^ Branka Vasiljević (11 February 2023). "Pregovori o preseljenju traju od jula" [Relocation negotiations last since July]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 17.
- ^ Blic(in Serbian). 30 May 2018.
- ^ "N1 u Beo zoo vrtu: Bizon Dušanka atrakcija, stižu i pingvini". N1 (in Serbian). 4 June 2018. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- Blic(in Serbian). 24 July 2018.
- ^ a b "Muja je najstariji aligator na svetu i prestanite da ga mučite". noizz.rs (in Serbian). 2 November 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
- ^ "Radojčić: Beograd dobio dečji zoo vrt na hiljadu kvadrata". Danas (in Serbian). 15 March 2019.
- ^ Georgievski, J. (12 July 2021). "Životinje i Beograd: Ko su najmlađi stanovnovnici zoološkog vrta - "Ovo je kao Nojeva barka". BBC News (in Serbian).
External links
- Official website (in Serbian)