The Kaliningrad Zoo was founded in 1896 as the Königsberg Tiergarten in the then German town of Königsberg, which in 1945 became part of Russia and was renamed Kaliningrad. Thus, the zoo is one of the oldest zoological gardens in Russia, and one of the largest. Its collection, which extends over 16.5 ha, comprises 315 species with a total of 2264 individual animals (as of 2005).
The Kaliningrad zoo is also an arboretum. Sights include not only animals, but also rare plants like a relict ginkgo tree which was coeval with the dinosaurs.
The zoo also has animal sculptures, including a bronze statue of an elk and a stone statue of an orangutan. The entrance is decorated by a sculpture of many animals. The grounds include pre-war buildings and a fountain.
Read more about Kaliningrad Zoo: Collection, Photographs
Famous quotes containing the word zoo:
“The zoo cannot but disappoint. The public purpose of zoos is to offer visitors the opportunity of looking at animals. Yet nowhere in a zoo can a stranger encounter the look of an animal. At the most, the animal’s gaze flickers and passes on. They look sideways. They look blindly beyond.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)