Alipore Zoological Gardens
The New Main entrance
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| Date opened | 1 May 1876 |
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| Location | No. 2, Alipore Road, Alipore, Kolkata-27, West Bengal, India |
| Coordinates | 22°32′09″N 88°19′55″E / 22.535913°N 88.332053°ECoordinates: 22°32′09″N 88°19′55″E / 22.535913°N 88.332053°E |
| Land area | 18.81 ha (46.5 acres) |
| No. of animals | 1266 |
| No. of species | 108 |
| Annual visitors | 3 million |
| Memberships | CZA, West Bengal Zoo Authority |
| Website | www.kolkatazoo.in |
The Alipore Zoological Gardens (also informally called the Alipore Zoo or Calcutta Zoo) is India's oldest formally stated zoological park (as opposed to royal and British menageries) and a big tourist attraction in Kolkata, West Bengal. It has been open as a zoo since 1876, and covers 18.81 ha (46.5 acres). It is probably best known as the home of the now expired Aldabra giant tortoise Adwaita, which was reputed to have been over 250 years old when it died in 2006. It is also home to one of the few captive breeding projects involving the Manipur brow-antlered deer. One of the most popular tourist attractions in Kolkata, it draws huge crowds during the winter season, especially during December and January. The highest attendance till date was on December 25, 2016 with 81,000 visitors.
To those who can remember the dirty and rather dismal looking approach to Belvedere, the improved and satisfactory condition of the neighbourhood, at present, must afford a very striking contrast. Both east and west of the roadway leading from the Zeerut bridge were untidy, crowded unsavoury bustees. Today we shall find on the site of the old bustees the Calcutta 'Zoo.' A very large share of the credit for the establishment of this pleasant resort is due to Sir Richard Temple, who was Lieutenant Governor of Bengal from 1874 to 1877, but long before the scheme assumed any proper shape, Dr. Fayrer, C.S.I., in 1867 and again in 1873 Mr. L. Schwendler (known as the 'Father of the Zoo') had brought forward and strongly urged the necessity of a Zoological Garden…The visit to Calcutta of His Majesty King Edward the Seventh, then Prince of Wales, was seized upon as an auspicious occasion. On 1 January 1876, the gardens were inaugurated by His Royal Highness, and in May of the same year they were opened to the public.
The zoo had its roots in a private menagerie established by Governor General of India, Richard Wellesley, established around 1800 in his summer home at Barrackpore near Kolkata, as part of the Indian Natural History Project. The first superintendent of the menagerie was the famous Scottish physician zoologist Francis Buchanan-Hamilton. Buchanan-Hamilton returned to England with Wellesley in 1805 following the Governor-General's recall by the Court of Directors in London. The collection from this era are documented by watercolours by Charles D'Oyly, and a visit by the famous French botanist Victor Jacquemont.Sir Stamford Raffles visited the menagerie in 1810, encountering his first tapir there, and doubtless used some aspects of the menagerie as an inspiration for the London Zoo.
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Wikipedia