Taipei Zoo

In 1914, during the Japanese Occupation Period, the Japanese Oe family opened a place for visitors to enjoy flowers, trees and animals on Yuanshan Mountain. In the following year, the Taipei Department of the Japanese government bought it and turned it into a government-run zoo. It was officially opened in 1916, which was the beginning of Taipei Zoo. At that time, the animals were mainly mammals, birds and reptiles, and the cages had a strong Japanese style, with at most 100 species (including 20 native animals) and no more than 600 animals, and a staff of about 20. At the beginning of the official opening in 1916, there were at least 70 species and 148 animals on display, and the number of visitors could reach 800 on Sundays, which was a very popular site in Taipei with a population of only 170,000 then. At that time, the most famous animal during the Japanese occupation was a giant ape (orangutan). It was born in Borneo in 1925 and sent to Taipei Zoo soon after, until the war took away its life. Then it became a specimen and remained in the herbarium, until it was sent to the Fudekeng in 1986 as it was dilapidated. At the end of World War II, the entire island of Taiwan was at war and subject to frequent air raids, and the zoo's beasts also suffered bad luck. The beasts had been executed since the end of 1943 for fear that they might escape from the destroyed fence house to harm people.

The Taipei Zoo is currently a public zoo in Taipei City (Taiwan), under the Department of Education, Taipei City Government. It was founded in 1914 in the Yuanshan area, and was formerly known as the Maruyama Zoo, adjacent to the Taipei Children's Recreation Center (the former site of Taipei Children's Amusement Park, the present site of Yuanshan). In 1986, because no expansion could be made on the original site of Yuanshan, the zoo was moved to Muzha District (present-day Wenshan District), and thus became the "Taipei Zoo" that people in Taiwan are now familiar with. After the relocation to Muzha, the total area of the zoo was 182 hectares. But some of the land was allocated after the opening of Taipei Zoo Station and National Highway No. 3, and now the zoo still has 165 hectares, of which nearly 100 hectares have been developed and used, making it the largest zoo in Taiwan. The zoo consists of 8 outdoor exhibition areas, 6 indoor exhibition halls and 2 places for environmental education and teaching. At the end of 2021, there were 354 species and 2,407 animals (not counting insects, some fish and animals from the Council of Agriculture's shelter program). The entire zoo is surrounded by natural secondary woodland and is a recreational area with ecological characteristics in combination with the natural landscape. The most important feature of the zoo is the "geo-ecological display method", which is used to arrange the animals in a new environment according to their original living environment, so that they can be free from the confines of cages and have free space to move around. And a living environment that is closest to their original habitat is created, so that the animals do not have to change their habits, and visitors can better understand the animals. It is a zoo with the functions of education, research, conservation and entertainment.