Zoo

zoo, also called zoological garden or zoological park, place where wild animals and, in some instances, domesticated animals are exhibited in captivity. In such an establishment, animals can generally be given more intensive care than is possible in nature reserves or sanctuaries. Most long-established zoos exhibit general collections of animals, but some formed more recently specialize in particular groups—e.g., primates, big cats, tropical birds, or waterfowl. Marine invertebrates, fishes, and marine mammals are often kept in separate establishments known as aquariums. The word zoo was first used in the late 19th century as a popular abbreviation for the zoological gardens in London.

For information on particular zoos, see articles at their specific names—e.g., Basel Zoological Garden, Lincoln Park Zoo, Prague Zoological Gardens, and so on.

It is not known when the earliest zoos were established, but it is possible that they were associated with the first attempts at animal domestication. Pigeons were kept in captivity as early as 4500 bce in what is now Iraq, and 2,000 years later elephants were semidomesticated in India. Antelopes, including the addax, ibex, oryx, and gazelle, are depicted wearing collars on Egyptian tomb pictures at Ṣaqqārah, dating from 2500 bce. In China the empress Tanki, who probably lived about 1150 bce, built a great marble “house of deer,” and Wen Wang, who apparently reigned just before 1000 bce, established a zoo of 1,500 acres in extent, which he named the Ling-Yu, or Garden of Intelligence.

The biblical king Solomon, who also reigned about 1000 bce, was a farmer-zoologist, and he was followed, for at least the next 600 years, by other royal zookeepers, including Semiramis and Ashurbanipal of Assyria and King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylonia.

Collections of captive animals were in existence in Greece by the 7th century bce, and by the 4th century bce it is probable that such collections existed in most, if not all, of the Greek city-states. Aristotle (384–322 bce) was obviously well acquainted with zoos; his most famous pupil, Alexander the Great, sent back to Greece many animals that were caught on his military expeditions.

The earlier Egyptian and Asian zoos were kept mainly as public spectacles and only secondarily for study, but the Greeks of Aristotle’s time were more concerned with study and experiment. The Romans had two types of animal collections: those destined for the arena and those kept as private zoos and aviaries.

With the end of the Roman Empire, zoos went into a decline, but animal collections were maintained by the emperor Charlemagne in the 8th century ce and by Henry I in the 12th century. In Europe Philip VI had a menagerie in the Louvre, Paris, in 1333, and many members of the house of Bourbon kept collections of animals at Versailles.

In the New World, Hernán Cortés discovered a magnificent zoo in Mexico in 1519. The collection, which included birds of prey, mammals, and reptiles, was so large that it needed a staff of 300 keepers.

Modern zookeeping may be said to have started in 1752 with the founding of the Imperial Menagerie at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. This menagerie, which still flourishes, was opened to the general public in 1779. In 1775 a zoo was founded in a Royal Park in Madrid, and 18 years later the zoological collection of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, was begun. The Zoological Society of London established its collection in Regent’s Park in 1828, two years after the society itself was founded.

By the mid-19th century, zoos were being opened all over the world; among those existing today, more than 40, most of which are in Europe, are more than 100 years old. Since the end of World War II there has been a rapid and worldwide proliferation of zoos, many of which have as their aim not the study of animals but public entertainment and commercial gain. The total number of animal collections open to the public in the world today is not accurately known but exceeds 1,000.