What is the oldest zoo in the world?

A zoo on a weekend is always lively. We marvel at the size of the elephants, gaze at the giraffes’ long necks, and laugh at the monkeys’ antics. A place where you can see creatures from faraway lands up close has always drawn people in.

So where was the world’s first zoo? The answer depends on what you mean by “zoo.” A zoo that is still open today, or any place where people collected and kept unusual animals? Let’s take them in turn.

An animal collection more than 5,500 years old

A startlingly old candidate lies at Hierakonpolis, an archaeological site in southern Egypt. Around the graves of the powerful figures who ruled the area in about 3700 to 3500 BCE, archaeologists found the bones of many animals.

These burials weren’t limited to domestic animals such as dogs, cattle, and goats. There were also an African elephant, a young hippopotamus, a crocodile, an aurochs (a wild ancestor of cattle), and baboons. It reads like a zoo’s lineup.

The baboon bones caught researchers’ attention most of all. Baboons aren’t native to the Nile Valley, and these had broken hands, feet, and jaws that had later healed. For injuries like that to heal, an animal must survive for at least several weeks in a protected setting. The baboons are thought to have been kept by people.

Whether these animals were a ruler’s pets or a “zoo” meant to show off his power remains unclear. Still, they are among the very oldest evidence of people collecting and keeping exotic animals.

A royal luxury

For a long time afterward, collecting rare animals remained a privilege of kings and the powerful. In ancient China, King Wen of Zhou is said to have created an animal park called the Lingyou, and in ninth-century BCE Assyria, there are records of a king keeping elephants and lions.

In Europe, such animal collections were known as menageries. Most, however, existed for the enjoyment of royalty and nobility, not as places anyone could visit freely.

The oldest zoo still open

The oldest zoo still operating today is Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria. It was built on the orders of Francis I, husband of Empress Maria Theresa, and was unveiled in the summer of 1752.

At its center stood an elegant octagonal pavilion, with the animal enclosures arranged around it. The pavilion served the imperial family as a place for breakfast and socializing, and it remains the zoo’s historic centerpiece. Today it is a restaurant.

What began as a menagerie for the court gradually opened its doors to the public. In 1828 it received its first giraffe as a gift, and Vienna was swept up in giraffe fever. More than 270 years on, about 500 species live on its grounds of roughly 17 hectares, and more than 2 million people visit every year.

Japan’s first: Ueno Zoo

Japan’s first zoo is Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. It opened on March 20, 1882, as a facility attached to the museum of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. In 1924, to mark the wedding of the Crown Prince (later Emperor Shōwa), it was granted to the City of Tokyo as an imperial gift, and from then on it has been known officially as Onshi Ueno Dōbutsuen, “the Imperial Gift Ueno Zoo.”

In the 140-plus years since, Ueno Zoo has grown up alongside the history of zoos in Japan. In 1907 it welcomed Japan’s first giraffes, Fanji and Gray, and in 1972 the giant pandas Kang Kang and Lan Lan arrived to enormous popularity.