Singapore Zoo, The World’s Best Rainforest Zoo | Explore Singapore ??

The Singapore Zoo is one of Singapore’s top attractions and is located next to Upper Seletar Reservoir on the south side of Mandai area, thus it is also unofficially known as Mandai Zoo. The zoo has been in the same location since its opening in 1973. The idea for the zoo was first mooted in 1969. At that time, the Public Utilities Board held the land around the reservoirs. The chairman of the utilities board decided that the land around the reservoirs could be put to better use, so about 88 ha was set aside for the construction of a zoological garden. In 1971, work on the zoo enclosures began and animals were collected from dealers, as well as donations from sponsors. The director of the Colombo Zoo in Sri Lanka, was also consulted on the issues that are inherent in tropical zoos. The zoo opened to the public on 27th of June 1973, officially known as the Singapore Zoological Gardens. It started off with a collection of 270 animals from over 72 species. As of today, that has increased to 2400 animals from over 300 species. From the very beginning, the zoo’s approach to housing the animals is based on an “open-zoo” concept, where, as much as possible, the animals are contained in open enclosures, rather than keeping them in cages. The animals are separated from the visitors by hidden barriers, moats and glass. The zoo was immensely popular and welcomed its one-millionth visitor in Nov 1974, less than two years after its opening. On August 2000, the Singapore Zoological...