Singapore Zoo-Singapore!

Singapore Zoo is a ecological adventure (yeh I know I sound geeky but I seriously couldn't care less!). It has over 3,000 animals inhabiting real, lush tropical rainforest!! It takes up roughly 28 hectares of rainforest and was built at a cost of 9 million Singapore $ (granted by the Government of Singapore). It was opened on 27 June 1973 and is operated by Wildlife Reserves Singapore.

There are about 315 species of animal in the zoo, of which some 16% are considered threatened species. The zoo attracts about 1.6 million visitors each year.

From the beginning, Singapore Zoo followed the modern trend of displaying animals in naturalistic, 'open' exhibits with moats instead of glass between the animals and visitors.Animals are kept in spacious, landscaped enclosures separated from the visitors by either dry or wet moats. The moats are concealed with vegetation or dropped below the line of vision.

The Wildlife Healthcare & Research Center was opened in March 2006 as part of the zoo's efforts in wildlife conservation. The center further underscores Singapore Zoo's commitment to conservation research, providing the infrastructure for the parks and overseas zoological partners to better execute their research programmes. For example Singapore Zoo is the first zoo in the world to breed a polar bear in the tropics. Inuka was conceived on 26 December 1990.

The zoo also embarked on various rescue and conservation efforts to protect wildlife. Steve Irwin admired the Singapore Zoo greatly, adopting it as the 'sister zoo' to the Australia Zoo. He was at the Singapore Zoo in 2006 to officiate the opening of the Australian Outback exhibit. Anyway that's enough background information!

TREETOPS TRAIL

So basically you walk over suspended bridges and can see lots of birds.....at first I think well I like birds as much as the next person but I had more interesting animals in mind! Then I looked down and I saw these Monsters!

FOREST LODGE

So as I walked through Forest Lodge the first animal I saw was the Tapir. I couldn't believe how big the enclosure was for one animal and how healthy he looked! So much better than Beijing Zoo so far!

Next I came to the Pygmy Hippo enclosure. This was really cool. A tank filled with fish....I could even see the Hippo but as I was walking away I saw all the fish dart to one side and watched as one of the Hippo's walked along the bottom of the water...pretty cool!!

 

Next the White Tiger! The enclosure was amazing! It had a natural river.....rocks and lots of trees for the tigers to shade in! The tigers are separated by a moat below eye level full of vegetation and I'm assuming some other pro cautions but it feels like your hardly separated at all! It was amazing to be that close to them and see how massive they really are.What was even better was that the animals didn't look caged! 

AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK

I walked through an exhibition on the bone structure of a kangaroo through some wooden doors and along a dirt track which turned a corner to come face to face with this(no zoom on camera used people):

I won't like I jumped a little! I had no idea how big Kangaroo's were....they pretty awesome animals! And having them jump all around you is a pretty surreal experience. But yet again Singapore Zoo has shown that you don't have to keep animals locked up behind glass in small enclosures...as long as you left them alone the Kangaroos were more than happy to hop around you!

PRIMATE KINGDOM

Singapore Zoo holds the world's first free ranging monkey habitat!!Well I was majorly impressed!And on a number of occasions I was being followed around by some nosey monkeys! 

ELEPHANTS OF ASIA

Again the Elephants have huge enclosures with lots of access to water and vegetation. They looked in really good condition too!I stayed to watch the 'Elephant Bath Time' which was amazing and even though your about 20meters away you still end up getting soaked.

RAINFOREST FIGHTS BACK SHOW

You are introduced to a spectrum of animals, close to 15 species comprising both mammals and birds, as they ‘fight’ back to restore their rainforest home to its full splendour when its serenity is disturbed by a man dressed in a hard hat holding a chain saw.The rainforest comes alive right from the moment you set foot in the newly renovated 1600-seat Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre, which overlooks the scenic Upper Seletar Reservoir and includes a cascading waterfall. Monkeys climb above your head collecting fruit, birds fly around you and otters dive in and out of the water! It's really cool!

 

 The photos don't explain it well so here's a you tube clip from someone else!

 

CAT COUNTRY

Next I went to see the Lion enclosure with my fingers crossed that it was as good as the Tiger enclosure.If anything it was better...they had a bit more space but the set up was the same.You are separated by a moat and some vegetation below eye level! I even saw them being fed,Watching them jump up with those massive claws to catch the meat and then let out a massive raw when they are finished was immense. The Meerkat's next door looked a bit scared though lol!

WILD AFRICA

This is the area where I was running around...on my own looking most like a loon! Everywhere you looked was animals!Giraffe's, Rhino's, Zebra's, Warthogs, Hunting Dogs and Eland's. It was really cool. The Giraffe's come over really close to you and are really interested in trying to eat your camera.Also you could spot the hunting dogs attempting to creep up on the Warthog's....shame there is a massive moat in between hey guys!Lol! Again the enclosures were open, vast and full of vegetation! So impressive!

The most amazing Zoo!! I can't imagine another ever beating it! I would highly, highly recommend people to visit it...the more money it gets the better because it is clear that profits get used in a positive way  here!