Avilon Zoo is a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

located in Barrio San Isidro,

Rodriguez, Rizal Rodriguez, officially the Municipality of Rodriguez () and still commonly known by its former name Montalban, is a municipality in the province of Rizal, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 443,954 people making it ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is operated by the Avilon Wildlife Conservation Foundation, which also operated the Ark Avilon Zoo in

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig (), is a highly-urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the eastern border of Metro Mani ...

Zoo

Avilon Zoo is currently the largest zoological institution in the Philippines in terms of land area and collection of animals. The facility located in Rodriguez, Rizal houses more than 3,000 specimens of exotic wildlife representing more than 600 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, freshwater fishes and invertebrates. The zoo has a diverse collection of Philippine native

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

, most of which have been bred successfully in captivity through Avilon's ''ex situ'' conservation programs. Avilon Zoo is also home to a diverse collection of plants of which more than half are endemic to Philippines. Avilon Zoo aims to be one of Southeast Asia's premiere wildlife facilities. At Avilon Zoo guided tours and educational field trips offer guests the opportunity to learn about wildlife. Conservation efforts being done to preserve threatened species and to protect the environment. Aside from the animals and exhibits, guests are encouraged to experience feeding animals like

arapaima The arapaima, pirarucu, or paiche is any large species of bonytongue in the genus ''Arapaima'' native to the Amazon Basin, Amazon and Essequibo River, Essequibo basins of South America. ''Arapaima'' is the type genus of the subfamily Arapaiminae ...

s, exotic

water fowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating o ...

giant tortoise Giant tortoises are any of several species of various large land tortoises, which include a number of extinct species, as well as two extant species with multiple subspecies formerly common on the islands of the western Indian Ocean and on the ...

wild horse The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus Equus (genus), ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domestication of the horse, domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the Endangered species, endangered ...

s and

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and also interact with the zoo's bunch of talented and friendly creatures.

Ark Avilon Zoo

An affiliate indoor zoo known as the Ark Avilon operated in

from 2008 to 2019.

Avilon Wildlife Conservation Foundation

Avilon Wildlife Conservation Foundation is a non-profit organization that is committed to significantly contribute to Philippine wildlife conservation efforts through education and ''ex situ'' species preservation programs. The foundation currently runs Avilon Zoo in

and Ark Avilon Zoo in

. Avilon Wildlife Conservation Foundation is a member of the Southeast Asian Zoos Association (SEAZA).

Notable conservation achievement

Avilon has successfully bred the Gray's monitor lizard (''Varanus olivaceus'') or "butaan" ''

ex situ Svalbard Global Seed Bank, an ' conservation ''Ex situ'' conservation () is the process of protecting an endangered species, variety, or breed of plant or animal outside its natural habitat. For example, by removing part of the population from ...

'' (in captivity). The first documented ''V. olivaceus'' successfully hatched and reared in captivity was a female named Grasya. The successful hatching was featured in

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

's "BUTAAN: The Lost Dragon".

References

External links

* * {{authority control Zoos in the Philippines Zoos established in 2005 Buildings and structures in Rodriguez, Rizal Tourist attractions in Rizal (province)