Dresden Zoo or Zoo Dresden, is a

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

situated in the city of

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was opened in 1861, making it Germany's fourth oldest zoo. It was originally designed by

Peter Joseph Lenné Peter Joseph Lenné (the Younger) (29 September 1789 – 23 January 1866) was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect. As director general of the Royal Prussian palaces and parks in Potsdam and Berlin, his work shaped the development of 19 ...

. The zoo is located on the southern edge of the

Großer Garten The Großer Garten (English: Great Garden) is a Baroque style park in central Dresden. It is rectangular in shape and covers about 1.8 km². Originally established in 1676 on the orders of John George III, Elector of Saxony, it has been a p ...

(Great Garden), a large city centre park. The zoo houses about 3000 animals of almost 400 species, especially Asian animals. It is a member of the

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is the "umbrella" organization for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its mission is to provide leadership and support for zoos, aquariums, and partner organizations of the world in animal ca ...

(WAZA) and the

European Association of Zoos and Aquaria The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), is an organisation for the European zoo and aquarium community that links over 340 member organisations in 41 countries. EAZA membership is open to all zoos and aquaria across Europe that compl ...

(EAZA). The zoo is served on its southern side by

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

lines 9 and 13 of the

Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG (DVB) is the municipal transport company of the city of Dresden in Germany. It is a member of the Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe transport association that manages a common public transport structure for Dresden and its su ...

, the local municipal transport company. On its northern side is the Zoo station of the Dresdner Parkeisenbahn, a

minimum gauge railway Minimum-gauge railways have a gauge of most commonly , , , , , or . The notion of minimum-gauge railways was originally developed by estate railways and the French company of Decauville for light railways, trench railways, mining, and farming ...

through the Großer Garten that is largely operated by children.

In Literature

At the end of the short story "Tobermory" (1909) by

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), better known by the pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and cultu ...

, the visiting Englishman Cornelius Appin is killed by an elephant at the Dresden Zoological Garden. In the novel "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" (2005) by Jonathan Safran Foer, the character Thomas Schell is told to shoot all of the carnivores that had escaped from their cages during Dresden's bombing of World War II. He didn't know which were carnivorous and which weren't, so he was told to kill them all. The animals he killed included an elephant, an ape, two lions, a bear cub, a camel, a rhinoceros, a zebra, a giraffe, and a sea lion.

References

External links

Official web site of Dresden Zoo (in German)Web site of the Friends of Dresden Zoo (in German)
Tourist attractions in Dresden Zoos in Germany Buildings and structures in Dresden Zoos established in 1861 1861 establishments in Saxony {{Saxony-struct-stub