Rome Zoo, Bioparco di Roma

History

The history of the Zoological Garden of Rome Zoo is illustrious. It was founded in 1908 by a group of financiers with the objective of creating an attraction and entertainment, through its exotic wildlife collection. At that time, the concept of a zoo was quite different from today. The primary purpose was the amusement of the public. The zoo, on a 12 hectare grounds north of Villa Borghese, was inaugurated with great success on 5 January 1911. The Zoo was built entirely by Carl Hagenbeck, a passionate animal dealer, Lehmann and Eggenschwyler who had recently made the famous Zoo of Stellingen (in Hamburg). The lay-out was, therefore, quite modern for its time. The zoo in fact, was built according Hagenbeck's revolutionary concept in which animals and public were not separated by bars and cages but by moats. For this reason, it became quickly one of Europe's most beautiful zoos, even surpassing those of Paris and Berlin, which were built according to the old ideas.

Unfortunately, the zoo has not been able to keep this top level ranking. Mainly due to the fact that they were not able to acquire enough exotic animals to replace the animals that died. As during those days husbandry systems were not that well developed as nowadays. Furthermore housing of additional animals to entertain people was impossible due to lack of space. In 1933 the architect Raffaele De Vico designed a 5 acres extension which was officially opened in 1935, with buildings and their environment in harmony with each other. The two flagships of the new area were the large aviary and the reptile house. But after De Vico architecture was abandoned, so it seems.

The financial situation of the zoo became very weak after WWII, and its decay became increasingly evident. This eventually led for instance to the closure of the reptile house in 1970. They managed to raise enough money for a new enclosure, but the completion of the redevelopment project lasted nine years, after which the new structure was inaugurated in 1983.

However, new ideas to modernise the zoo were explored for the first time in 1998. But it was well accepted that zoo design today means something different than a century ago. A lot of constraints have to be taken into account, especially when space is limited, to develop a new and modern exhibit. Constraints like square meters available, the landscape it has to fit in to, and the zoo's purpose. The final outcome should be the perfect symbiosis between the space created, animal welfare and the public's perception.

(Source: website Rome zoo)

My visit in September 2008 convinced me that they are on the right track, but still have a long way to go.

Visit(s)

28.09.2008

The chimpanzee enclosure is really marvellous. It creates an environment for our evolutionary relatives that, seen through my eyes, seems like a natural situation. There is some resemblance with the gorilla enclosure in Rotterdam zoo, but they have used more natural overgrowth, like shrubs and reed. To me, it is remarkable that the chimps do not eat or demolish the vegetation. Probably they have enough distractions of another kind, but during my visit they are just lazy. Although eye-contact is possible it sure is not stimulated, with just a few windows in the fence around the enclosure. It is possible to view this chimps paradise from above when you walk around the enclosure to the 'backside'. After an (not a steep) ascent you arrive at a viewing platform just behind an artificial small waterfall. The sound of this fall drowns other sounds of the zoo, which give you the feel of being faraway of home.

Being a city zoo, space is limited of course. Nevertheless they try hard to provide the animals with more space, according the modern way of zoo-husbandry. But unfortunately it still shows a lot of cages that do not meet the modern zoo requirements and generally accepted practice. Enclosures that stand out negatively in that sense: some of the big cats enclosures that still are just a row of pathetic cages, and some primate enclosures that lack almost any enrichment. So, the zoo is behind on improvement schemes which has been adopted in many reputable zoos worldwide already quite some years ago.Nevertheless the new Asian lion enclosure with its fake rocks and large meadow and just a few viewing windows in the non-see-through fence, and the large Mandrill enclosure enriched with lots of playthings, should be mentioned as good improvements to meet new standards.

Some remarkable observations:

In the group of capuchin monkeys there is a physically disabled monkey which is able to sustain itself. One monkey shows severe stereotype behaviour, as does one leopard in one of the ancient cages (mentioned before);
A lot of attention is raised for bears as endangered species by providing an overview of all species and their IUCN status. While there is only one bear housed in the zoo. This seems a good decision reading other reviews of the zoo, which were not very positive on the bear enclosures.