Pinnawala Open Zoo (also called Pinnawala 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, ...

logical garden in

Pinnawala Pinnawala is a village in Kegalle District of Sri Lanka and is around 90 km from the capital, Colombo. It is well known for its elephant orphanage. Elephant Orphanage The Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage is situated northwest of the town of Ke ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, which is situated closer to the

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage (), is a captive breeding and conservation institute for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village, northeast of Kegalle town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Pinnawala has the largest herd of captive ...

. The zoo was opened for public on 17 April 2015. This is the first open-air zoo in Sri Lanka and second zoo in Sri Lanka after

Dehiwala zoo National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka (also called Dehiwala Zoo or Colombo Zoo) is a zoological garden in Dehiwala, Sri Lanka, founded in 1936. It is home to various birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians. The zoo not only exhibits anim ...

. The zoo was opened for the visitors free of charge from 17 – 30 of April 2015.

History

Sri Lanka has a rich diversity of animals across the country. Basically, the Dehiwala zoo provides all the facilities for many animals all over the world and due to high abundance of species, there was a difficulty of keeping endemic and native animals of Sri Lanka in those controlled condition. The commencement of Pinnawala Open Zoo first came through the period of former President

Chandrika Kumaratunga Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (; ; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initials CBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth President of Sri Lanka, President of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. ...

in 2000. But the constructions were stopped in 2002 due to some disputes among the government, where the construction officially started in 2008 within former President

Mahinda Rajapakse Mahinda Rajapaksa (; ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the ...

's period. The zoo was opened on 17 April 2015 by Tourism & Sports minister Mr. Navin Dissanayake and National Zoological Gardens Department Director General Anura de Silva. The expenditure for constructing the zoo is 862 million LKR.

Zoo

The Pinnawala zoo is home for the many endemic animals in Sri Lanka. The zoo is divided into 7 enclosures, where the monkey island, Bird aviary, Amphibian area, and Pet area 2 are still in construction. There are internal road network throughout the zoo. The 7 main enclosures are: * Pet area * Swan pond * Deer enclosure * Crocodile enclosure * Leopard enclosure * Bear enclosure * Butterfly garden

Animals

The zoo is divided into two sections: the Sri Lankan zone and the World zone. Currently, the zoo is home for many native animals such as

chital The chital or cheetal (''Axis axis''; ), also called spotted deer, chital deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent. It was first described by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. A moderate-sized deer, mal ...

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

, Sri Lanka Leopard, Purple-faced leaf monkey,

Wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

, Sambar,

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

, and different endemic bird species. The leopard watching area is the largest of them all.

Gallery

Flamingo section, Pinnawala Open Zoo.jpg, Flamingo section Leopard enclosure, Pinnawala Open Zoo.jpg, Leopard enclosure Leopard watching room, Pinnawala Open Zoo.jpg, Leopard watching room Sloth bear enclosure, Pinnawala Open Zoo.jpg, Sloth bear enclosure Butterfly garden, Pinnawala Open Zoo.jpg, Butterfly garden

References

External links

Youtube
{{authority control Zoos in Sri Lanka Tourist attractions in Sabaragamuwa Province Buildings and structures in Sabaragamuwa Province

History

Zoo

Animals

Gallery

See also

References

External links