Belgrade zoo marks 85th anniversary

Beo zoo vrt

Belgrade’s Zoo marked its 85th anniversary on Monday with Mayor Zoran Radojicic telling the ceremony that the city authorities are helping it develop to improve the conditions for the animals and upgrade educational content.

“We recall the rich tradition of the past 85 years when then Mayor Vlada Ilic gave the zoological gardens to Belgrade,” the Beoinfo portal reported him as saying and adding that the zoo, which is part of the Kalemegdan fortress, had more than 450,000 visitors a year prior to the coronavirus pandemic seeing more than 250 species.

Belgrade zoo, also know as the Garden of Good Hope, CEO Srboljub Aleksic said that the zoo management is trying to offer something new to its visitors every year. “We are inviting all animal lovers to visit it because we really have a lot to show,” he said.

The oldest inhabitant of the zoo is Muja the alligator who was brought to Belgrade as an adult animal in 1937 from a zoo in Germany. Muja is thought to be the oldest American alligator in captivity and was recorded as being at least 80 years old by the Guinness book of records in 2018.

The zoo is also home to white tigers born in captivity in Belgrade and other albino species.