The Thiruvananthapuram Zoo is located in the city of

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

, the capital of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It occupies of woodland, lakes, and lawns.

History

Thiruvananthapuram Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in India. Similarly the Museum and Botanical Gardens are also one of the oldest of their kind in the country.

Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma Sri Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma III (16 April 1813 – 26 December 1846) was the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Travancore. He was a great musician and composer who has to his credit over 400 classical compositions in both Carnatic and Hindustani st ...

(1816–1846), the ruler of Travancore during 1830–1846, was the visionary behind the establishment of the Thiruvananthapuram Museum and Zoo. He had a broad variety of animals, including elephants in his horse breeding centre. In the Trivandrum, stables he incorporated a menagerie and kept tigers, panthers cheetahs, deer, bears and a lioness there. It was however left to his brother

Uthram Thirunal Uthram Thirunal Marthanda Varma (26 September 1814 – 18 August 1860) was the Maharajah of Travancore state in southern India, succeeding his elder brother Maharajah Swathi Thirunal in 1846 till his demise in 1860. Known for his progress ...

Marthanda Varma and the then British Resident General Cullen which resulted in the establishment of

Napier Museum The Napier Museum is an art and natural history museum situated in Thiruvananthapuram, India. The Museum is grounds to the Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, one of the oldest zoological gardens in India. The zoo was established in 1857 over of land. ...

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, ...

in Thiruvananthapuram. A committee was formed in 1855 with the Maharaja of Travancore as Patron, General Cullen as president, The Elaya Raja as vice president and Mr. Allen Brown as Secretary of the Committee and the Director of Museum. The Museum was thrown open to the Public in September 1857. But the Museum by itself could not attract the people much, and therefore a Zoo and a park were started in 1859. The zoo was originally built with the typical iron-barred cages prevalent at the time, and was designed for recreational purposes, but with increased loss of forest and wildlife due to human development, the goal of the Zoo has changed from recreation to conservation. Asiatic lion in Thiruvananthapuram Zoo

A modernization project started in 1995, aims to gradually replace the old enclosures with spacious naturalistic enclosures. The state government of Kerala is undertaking this renovation with financial and technical help from the

Central Zoo Authority The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) is the body of the Government of India responsible for oversight of zoos. It is an affiliate member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). The CZA was formed to bring Indian zoos up to internatio ...

Mammals

The Thiruvananthapuram Zoo is home to 82 species from around the world. Indigenous species at the zoo include

lion-tailed macaque The lion-tailed macaque (''Macaca silenus''), also known as the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. Characteristics Lion-tailed macaques are covered in black fur, and have a striking gray or silver ...

Nilgiri langur The Nilgiri langur (''Semnopithecus johnii'') is an Asian langur of the Old World monkey. It has glossy, black fur and an orangey-golden brown, hair-like mane on its head. Females have a white patch of fur on the inner thigh. It typically lives ...

Indian rhinoceros The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also known as the greater one-horned rhinoceros, great Indian rhinoceros or Indian rhino, is a species of rhinoceros found in the Indian subcontinent. It is the second largest living rhinocer ...

Asiatic lion The Asiatic lion is a lion population of the subspecies ''Panthera leo leo''. Until the 19th century, it occurred in Saudi Arabia, eastern Turkey, Iran, Mesopotamia, and from east of the Indus River in Pakistan to the Bengal region and the Narm ...

royal Bengal tiger The Bengal tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the largest wild cats alive today. It is estimated to have been present in the Indian subcontinent since the Late ...

white tiger The white tiger (ashy tiger) is a leucistic morph of the tiger, typically the Bengal tiger. It is occasionally reported in the Indian wilderness. It has the typical black stripes of a tiger, but its coat is otherwise white or near-white, and ...

and

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

, as well as nine

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 ...

s (as of 31 March 2009). Soon in 2020, animals from Africa include

giraffe The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on ...

hippos A hippo or hippopotamus is either of two species of large African mammal which live mainly in and near water: * Hippopotamus * Pygmy hippopotamus Hippo or Hippos may also refer to: Toponymy * The ancient city of Hippo Regius (modern Annaba, Alg ...

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), the plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. ...

s, and

Cape buffalo The African buffalo (''Syncerus caffer)'' is a large sub-Saharan African bovine. The adult African buffalo's horns are its characteristic feature: they have fused bases, forming a continuous bone shield across the top of the head, referred to ...

s. The zoo also includes a snake farm called 'The Reptile House', which exhibits both poisonous and non-poisonous snakes. It also houses 7 Anacondas too. Deers in TVM zoo

Birds

* Ostrich * Scarlet macaw * Green-winged macaw * Indian peafowl * White spoonbill * Greater flamingo * Cassowary * Sulfur-crested cockatoo * Common crane * White-necked crane * Black-necked crane *Grey heron * White ibis * Blossom headed parakeet * Rose-ringed parakeet * Alexandrine parakeet * Mustached parakeet * Gray pelican * Rosy pelican * Silver pheasant * Ring-necked pheasant * Rock dove * Adjutant stork * Painted stork * White stork * White necked stork * Black-necked stork * Cinereous vulture * King vulture * White-backed vulture * Turkey vulture * Pariah kite * Brahminy kite * Emu

Reptiles

* Anaconda * Reticulated Python * Gharial * Mugger crocodile * Spectacled caiman * Monitor lizard * Bamboo pit viper * Indian cobra * Indian rock python * Rat snake * Russell's viper * Checkered keelback * King cobra * Red sandboa * Green tree snake * Indian flapshell turtle * Indian black turtle * Crowned river turtle * Travancore tortoise

Gallery

File:Trivandrum Zoo 33.jpg, Thiruvananthapuram Zoo Campus File:Napier Museum Thiruvananthapuran DSW New.jpg,

File:Zeebra in Trivandrum Zoo.JPG,

Zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), the plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. ...

in the zoo File:Hippopotamus in Thiruvananthapuram Zoo.JPG, alt=Hippopotamus in Thiruvananthapuram Zoo, Hippopotamus in the zoo File:Rhinoceros at Trivandrum Zoo DSW.jpg,

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

at Thiruvananthapuram Zoo File:Barking Deer at Trivandrum Zoo DSW.JPG,

Barking deer Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...

at Thiruvananthapuram Zoo File:Leopard inside cage at Trivandrum Zoo DSW.jpg,

Leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

inside cage at Thiruvananthapuram Zoo File:Brahminy Kite In Zoo.jpg, Brahminy Kite found in the zoo File:Indian Bison in Zoo, TVM.jpg, Indian Bison in Thiruvananthapuram zoo File:Deers in Zoo, TVM.jpg, Deer in the zoo File:Hippos in Zoo, TVM.jpg, Hippopotamus in the zoo File:Herd of Indian Bisons.jpg, Herd of Indian Bisons in the zoo File:Herd of Deer and Sambar.jpg, Herd of Deer including sambar in the zoo File:Feeding deers in zoo.jpg, Feeding the deer File:Walking Tiger in Zoo.webm, Waking Tiger in the zoo

References

External links

Official Web Site

Thiruvananthapuram Zoo Photographs, 2011

Salman the fat

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

{{Tourism in Kerala, state=collapsed Zoos in Kerala Tourist attractions in Thiruvananthapuram 1857 establishments in India Educational organizations established in 1857 Zoos established in the 19th century