Watching animals at the 160-year-old Zoo in the heart of the city

Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden was built on March 23, 1864 with the first name of Botanical Garden, but Ho Chi Minh City residents still call it the zoo.

In 1956, Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens officially took its current name and is now one of the largest zoos in the country. This March, Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens turns 160 years old. Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens is also in the top 10 oldest zoos in the world.

Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden is one of the 8 oldest zoos in the world with a rich treasure of flora and fauna, including more than 2,000 animals of 135 species and over 2,500 trees of 360 species, including over 700 ancient trees.

Mr. Louis Pierre was the first director of Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden (the Botanical Garden in 1865), who made a great contribution to the precious flora and fauna treasure as it is today.

Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden was built on March 23, 1864. In 1865, the project was completed with many rare animals and plants imported from countries such as India, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia... and was expanded to 20 hectares.

Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden is a valuable historical and cultural heritage of Ho Chi Minh City.

The elephant herd at Saigon Zoo is always an animal cage that attracts the attention of the people. Saigon Zoo currently raises 4 elephants named: Chuong, Bo, Tom, Ny. Of which, Chuong is 65 years old this year - the oldest elephant, the youngest is about 32 years old, the heaviest weighs up to 4.5 tons. Every day, an elephant eats 100 - 120 kg of grass as its main dish and many side dishes such as: 5 - 10 kg of young tree branches with leaves, carrots, pumpkins, sugarcane, bread, sweet potatoes, oranges... to avoid getting bored. The grass and young tree branches are grown by the company in Cu Chi, the rest are supplied by other units.

During the recent Lunar New Year, visitors could also feed some animals or watch staff feed the animals at announced times.

Flamingo garden will feed at 9:30; gibbons and waterfowl feed at 9:00 daily

Tourists see the diving ability of cormorants and snake-necked birds...

There are also 3 free food portions for visitors to try their hand at catching the gibbons' food.

The butterfly garden with a total area of ​​nearly 450 m2 was just opened by Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens on the morning of February 6, 2024. This is one of the key projects to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the founding of Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens (March 23, 1864 - March 23, 2024). The garden was made use of from the bird performance project that had previously ceased operation. The butterfly garden is also a place to display and breed butterflies to serve the education and sightseeing of students and tourists.

The deer at the Zoo are quite shy with strangers but are friendly with the animal caretakers here.

On average, the Zoo welcomes more than 1 million visitors each year.

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