Our history

Bristol Zoo Gardens was founded in 1835 by a group of eminent local citizens and opened to the public in 1836. It is the fifth oldest Zoo in the world, and the oldest one that is not in a capital city. There were 220 shareholders who subscribed the capital to enable the land to be bought and the Zoo to be built. Some of the descendants of these original shareholders are still connected with the Zoo to this day, but their only benefit is free admission.

In Victorian times the Zoo Gardens became a focus for social and recreational occasions for the citizens of Bristol, as well as a place of serious natural history study. There were flower shows, bands played, there were boat trips on the lake as well as tennis, croquet and archery. Zebi, the Zoo's famous elephant, was here from 1868 to 1909. She was quite a character, renowned for removing and eating straw hats! Rajah, who gave rides to children for many years, replaced her.

The Zoo entered a difficult period during and after the First World War. However an extensive building programme in the 1920s and 1930s saw a great improvement.Some of these buildings still survive - the Aquarium and the Pavilion buildings being examples.

During the Second World War some of the flowerbeds were turned over to vegetable growing and many of the animals had to be evacuated to safer areas. After the bombing of Filton, the Bristol Aeroplane Company took over the Pavilion for their staff.

The 1950s and 1960s were some of the most successful years in the Zoo's history. People had more money in their pockets and there was little competition in terms of visitor attractions and attendance soared. In 1953 the World's first nocturnal house was opened here. Sebastian, the polar bear cub was born in 1958 and he proved to be a huge attraction, as were the white tigers that arrived in 1963. Rosie the elephant died in 1961. She had given 80,000 rides a year to children but she was quickly replaced with Wendy, an Asian elephant. In 1967, the Severn Bridge opened and attendance was the biggest ever (1,134,488 visitors).

A programme of redevelopment in the early 1980s saw the opening of the Reptile House in 1981, the Monkey House in 1983 and the re-designed Aquarium in 1986. In 1987 the Zoo was honoured to host a conference of the Directors of all the World's major Zoos, the guest of honour being the Princess Royal, HRH Princess Anne.

Past and present

In more recent years the Zoo has developed its educational and scientific roles. Full-time education and science officers are employed and great emphasis is placed on activities, which help both to educate the public and conserve wildlife.

Many species have been successfully bred at Bristol Zoo Gardens over the years; the first chimpanzee to be conceived and born in captivity in Europe was Adam at Bristol Zoo in 1934. Other notable past successes include western lowland gorillas, polar bears, okapis and pancake tortoises. Today breeding is coordinated using the international studbook system and European breeding programmes.We have played a part in breeding numerous endangered species including Asiatic lions, and in 1999 Livingstone's fruit bats bred here (the first successful breeding in mainland UK). We have also successfully bred and reintroduced two native species - the Barberry carpet moth and the water vole.

Recent developments

Developments at the Zoo

1996 - Twilight World, Bug World, Main Entrance
1997 - Elephant House, Children's play area
1998 - Gorilla Island, Flamingo Pool, Activity Centre, Wallace Aviary
1999 - Conservation Education Centre, Seal & Penguin Coasts
2002 - Zona Brazil
2003 - Terrace Theatre
2006 - Monkey Jungle and Lemur walkthrough
2008 - Butterfly Forest
2009 - Explorers' Creek and ZooRopia
2010 - AmphiPod
2011 - New meerkat enclosure