| Rostov-on-Don Zoo | |
| Native Name: | Ростовский зоопарк |
| Location: | Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, Russia |
| Area: | 98.2 hectares |
| Num Animals: | 5.000 |
| Num Species: | 400 |
| Annual Visitors: | ↘184 370 (2014), ↗185 555 (2015) |
| Exhibits: | 1 |
| Director: | Alexander Zhadobin (since Dec 2016)[1] |
| Date Established: | 1927 |
Rostov-on-Don Zoo is a zoos in Russia located in Rostov-on-Don. The zoo is a member of 38 programs involved in the conservation of endangered animals.
It features such animals as tigers, lions, pygmy hippopotamus, Asian elephants, Dagestan and Bezoar goats, Siamese crocodiles, and flamingos.[2] Rostov-on-Don Zoo is a member of then International Species Information System. A large park is a main feature of the zoo, making it a popular place among local citizens.
The zoo was founded in June 1927 to serve as a pet enclosure for a nearby school named after Marshal S. M. Budyonny (now known as School No. 43 on Budennovsky Street, 64). The school's collection of animals was moved to the outskirts of the town in the autumn of 1929.
On 5 September 2009, Rostov-on-Don Zoo received three elephants, which had previously been held at the Berlin Zoo Friedrichsfelde. The zoo, which hadn't had elephants in over twenty years, now hosts them in exchange for a polar bear.[3] In December 2010, a female baby elephant was born in the zoo.[4]
The zoo is home to about 5,000 animals belonging to 400 species. There is also a section of the aquarium which presents inhabitants of the underwater world — from the fish of the Don region to freshwater stingrays and crabs from South America. There are a crocodiles from Southeast Asia, turtles, snakes from Central Asia, Africa, America, as well as other reptiles kept in terrarium.