Kathy Johnson, 9, of Superior, Wis., for her question:
WHERE WAS THE WORLD'S FIRST ZOO?
Almost every large city today has its own zoo, and even many smaller towns have them. The two largest in the world are operated by the Zoological Society of San Diego in California. The largest collection is at the San Diego Zoo where there are 5,100 animals of 1,600 species and subspecies. Largest zoo in area is the San Diego Wild
Animal Park which covers 1,800 acres.
Man has been putting wild animals on display since ancient times. In his zoos zoo is a short form of zoological garden he exhibits all kinds of mammals, reptiles and birds.
Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt is given credit for establishing the world's first zoo. She put animals on display in about 1500 B.C. Then about 500 years later, Emperor Wen Wang in China started the Garden of Intelligence, a mammoth zoo which covered 9,500 acres.
Between 7000 B.C. and 400 B.C. many small zoos were started by kings and rulers in India and northern Africa. The wealth and power of the ruler were actually reflected in the display of his animals.
Public zoos as places to study plant and animal life were established a bit later by the ancient Greeks. Students in Greece regularly visited zoos as part of their schooling.
The ancient Romans had both private and public zoos. Their most famous collections of wild animals, however, were those which they maintained for the gruesome Colosseum fights.
During the Middle Ages, between about 400 and 1500 A.D., zoos were unknown in Europe and found only in China. By the 1500s, however, global exploration was under way and explorers found many strange creatures which they brought back to Europe. Zoos were soon being built in many countries. Lots of them were very small and were made up of only a few bears, lions and tigers in small cages or pits. These limited collections were called menageries.
As the years passed, the menageries turned into larger zoos, and the animals were given better care. The animal parks became centers for research and study as well as locations for displaying animals from all parts of the world.
The oldest zoo still in existence is the Schonbrunn Zoo which opened in Vienna, Austria, in 1752. The Madrid Zoo was started in 1775 and zoos opened in Paris and Berlin in 1793 and 1844.
One of the greatest advances in zoo displays came in 1907 when a German animal handler named Karl Hagenbeck developed the moat technique. With this method, it became unnecessary for most animals to be kept in cages. More natural enclosures allowed the animals a chance to live almost as they did in their native homes.