Kolmården Wildlife Park () is a zoo that opened in 1965 overlooking Bråviken bay in

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 the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It is the largest zoo in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, includes the first

dolphinarium A dolphinarium is an aquarium for dolphins. The dolphins are usually kept in a pool, though occasionally they may be kept in pens in the open sea, either for research or public performances. Some dolphinariums (sometimes called dolphinaria in plu ...

in Scandinavia, which opened in 1969 and has daily shows, and the world's first cable car safari. The wildlife park also has a birds of prey display and a seal show. In the Marine World area is a roller coaster called "The Dolphin Express". Another, larger, roller coaster in the park is

Wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

History

The zoo was conceived in 1962 by Ulf Svensson as a means of reviving the Kolmården Municipality, and was opened in 1965 with 210 animals in residence. The

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

facility opened in 1968 with six polar bears—one of the largest polar facilities in the world. The

opened in 1969, and in 1972 the zoo became home to

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

s. 1972 also saw the opening of the drive-through

safari park A safari park, sometimes known as a wildlife park, is a zoo-like commercial drive-in tourist attraction where visitors can drive their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming animals. A safari par ...

, as well as the Tropicarium, which exhibited snakes and crocodiles, located outside the entry of the zoo. In 1993, the zoo opened Dolphin Lagoon. In 1997, the zoo was turned over from municipal ownership to private ownership. ''Bamses värld'', devoted to the cartoon character Bamse, was opened in the following year. Parks and Resorts Scandinavia took over operation of the zoo in 2001 and has since been making many changes. Tiger World, where visitors can get "scary close" to

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

s, was completed in 2007, and in 2008, the dolphinarium was extended into a new Marine World. In 2009, a family friendly roller-coaster called "The dolphin express" (''Delfinexpressen'') opened in Marine World. In 2006, a baby gorilla was born at Kolmården for the first time in history, making its birth the first of its kind in Sweden. The gorilla, called Enzo, was not accepted by his mother during the first period of his life and the zookeepers had to nurse him. Enzo was later reintroduced to his family, and in 2009, Enzo got a brother, called Echo. The safari park that originally opened in 1972 was closed to drive-through visitors in 2010, but was replaced by a low-going cableway in 2011, called "Safari". The attraction consists of five areas with different themes and animals: * The highland:

llama The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with ...

s and

ibex An ibex ( : ibex, ibexes or ibices) is any of several species of wild goat (genus ''Capra''), distinguished by the male's large recurved horns, which are transversely ridged in front. Ibex are found in Eurasia, North Africa and East Africa. T ...

* Forest of the bears: Eurasian brown bears * The Savannah:

blackbuck The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is a medium-sized antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources. It stands up to high at the sh ...

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 ...

common eland The common eland (''Taurotragus oryx''), also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a large savannah and plains antelope found in East Africa, East and Southern Africa. An adult male is around tall at the shoulder and can weigh up ...

, gemsbok, wildebeest,

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

es, Ankole-Watusi,

Grévy's zebra Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi)'', also known commonly as the imperial zebra, is the largest living species of wild equid and the most threatened of the three species of zebras, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Name ...

s, lechwe, chital * The Scandinavian forest:

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

fallow deer Fallow deer is the common name for species of deer in the genus ''Dama'' of subfamily Cervinae. There are two living species, the European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), native to Europe and Anatolia, and the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamic ...

European bison The European bison (: bison) (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bi ...

* The Valley of Lions:

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

s On 17June, 2012, the park's grey wolves attacked and killed a zookeeper working alone in their enclosure. In March 2014, Kolmården announced a new theme park area for younger children, the popular cartoon figure ''Bamse'' would get a whole new themed area with several attractions, including a smaller roller coaster due to open in 2015. On 8April, 2014, the park announced their first major coaster investment,

, a Rocky Mountain Construction topper-track wooden coaster which opened in 2016.

Animals

The zoo houses two

Indian elephant The Indian elephant (''Elephas maximus indicus'') is one of three extant recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, native to mainland Asia. The species is smaller than the African elephant species with a convex back and the highest body po ...

s given to the

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is centred on the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the #IOG, Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. by law a constitutional monarchy, constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parl ...

by Thailand. Kolmården Wildlife Park has the only

gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

s, bottle-nosed dolphins, bush dogs, addax antelopes, oryx antelopes,

s, takin,

s and

in Sweden. The park has 11 dolphins: Nephele (F), Ariel (F), Lyra (F), Luna (F), David (M), Fenah (F), Pärma (F), Peach (F), Finn (M), Alana (F) and Neptun (M).

Incidents

During the years when public cars were allowed to drive through the Safari, visitors would occasionally step out from their vehicles in order to get better pictures. In July 1982 a man exited his car in the lion enclosure and was killed by the lions. In 1991, elephant keeper Robert Nilsson was leading four elephants from their enclosure to their stable, when he was crushed to death. As Nilsson was walking in between the elephants and a wall, the lead elephant "Donkey" suddenly turned around and attacked "Putschie", another elephant. Putschie was in turn pushed into Nilsson, pinning him against the wall. The event is thought to be an accident. Between 1991 and 2012 the park held the project "Närkontakt Varg" (Close contact with wolves) for paying visitor groups. The project was proven to be a success, with up to 8000 visitors annually. However, the project was terminated after a group of wolves killed the biologist and zoo guide Karolina Bördin. The zoological director at the time, Mats Höggren, was found guilty of severe neglect in his duty, and was given a

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

as well as a fine. Kolmården Wildlife Park also had to pay the family of the victim a fine of 3,5 million SEK.

References

External links

*
Statistics
on the Delfinexpressen roller coaster at Coasterpedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Kolmarden Wildlife Park Animal theme parks Zoos in Sweden Buildings and structures in Östergötland County Tourist attractions in Östergötland County 1965 establishments in Sweden Zoos established in 1965 Norrköping Municipality 20th-century establishments in Östergötland County

History

Animals

Incidents

See also

References

External links