Furuvik Zoo () is an

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

and

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, ...

Furuvik Furuvik is a locality situated in Gävle Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to ...

, Sweden.

Location

The zoo is located in

, near

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

, Sweden.

History

Furuviksparken was founded in 1900 by Oscar Jakobsson and officially opened by count Olle Cronstedt. In 1938 the zoo was bought by Gösta Nygren, who managed the zoo for 45 years. Nygren established a youth circus, ''Furuviksbarnen'' (the children of Furuvik), which became the main attraction not only in the park but also on travelling tours. Nyhren also introduced live concerts with famous artists, like

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

Jussi Björling Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling ( , ; 5 February 19119 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequentl ...

and Sammy Davis.

Gävle Municipality Gävle Municipality () is a municipality in east central Sweden. The municipal seat is located in the Stad (city) of Gävle. Geographically the municipality is situated north of the mouth of the river Dalälven and is the southernmost municipal ...

took over the park 1983, again sold to Tom Widorson in 2004, and in 2010 sold to the present owner, Parks & Resorts Scandinavia AB.

Chimpanzees

The zoo attracted a degree of international attention when it was reported in March 2009 that a chimpanzee residing there had planned attacks on visitors.

Santino Santino is an Italian masculine given name or nickname, meaning “little saint” in Italian language, Italian. It is a diminutive version of the given name Santo (given name), Santo, meaning “saint” or “holy”. Notable people with the name ...

planned attacks by taking stones from the protective moat and placing them only on the side facing the visitors on the island where he lived. Later, when the visitors arrived, he would throw the stones across the moat at them. This shows that the cognitive ability for forward planning is not uniquely human. After five chimpanzees' escape from the zoo in December 2022, three were shot dead - the 3-year-old Torsten, Linda and

-, one was wounded, and one returned to the zoo. Later, a fourth was shot dead.

External links

References

{{authority control Zoos in Sweden Tourist attractions in Gävleborg County Amusement parks in Sweden Gävle Municipality 1900 establishments in Sweden 20th-century establishments in Gävleborg County