History

Shokei-en Park in the 1930s

The Seoul Zoo was created on November 1, 1909, by the Japanese, in the former royal palace of Changgyeonggung, which was under the changed name of Changgyeongwon (창경원; 昌慶苑) or Changgyeong Park, the "gung" standing for the Korean word 'palace', and the "won" standing for the Korean word 'park'.^[1] The zoo opened in November 1909 with Siberian tigers, kangaroos, ostriches, camels, orangutans, and other animals.^[6] The Japanese also built a botanical garden, and museum on the site.^[7]

Towards the end of World War II the Japanese gave orders to kill the animals in the zoo, poisoning 150 animals.^[8] Animals that survived this had to also survive the end of the war, when all the remaining zookeepers fled the zoo.^[6]

After independence in 1945 and the turmoil and destruction of the 1950–53 Korean War, the zoo was restocked through donations of wealthy Koreans as well as gifts from foreign zoos.^[9] The zoo was maintained by the South Korean government at Changgyeongwon until 1984 when it was relocated to its current site in Makgyedong, Gwacheon.^[2]

On July 27, 1987, due to the heavy rain that occurred at the time, a landslide occurred around 5:00 am in the area of the Carnivore Enclosure section where 21 animals of 7 species were housed. This complete destruction, the tiger cage's isolation fence was destroyed in half, and two coyotes escaped, captured and reaccommodated. Assuming that the jaguars housed in the zoo died after being buried in the soil, the Seoul Zoo find the corpse, but it was not found. A 10-year-old female jaguar escaped. It was confirmed that she had run away, and the search started at 12:00 on the same day, and at around 18:30 on July 28, 37 hours after the incident occurred, at 245m above sea level in Mt. Cheonggyesan, it ended with being killed.^[10][11]

On the morning of December 6, 2010, while the Seoul Zoo moved Kkoma (꼬마; lit. kid)^[12] who is a male Malayan sun bear to the quarantine area and cleaned the release area, he opened the door with his front paws^[13] and escaped to Mt. Cheonggyesan. Since the Malayan sun bear is small enough to be captured, the zoo was planned to capture Kkoma alive rather than kill.^[14] The tracking continued for about 9 days, but it was difficult to directly capture Kkoma, and a trap operation was conducted to catch him by decoy rather than tracking to reduce the stress caused by excessive tracking. On December 13, 2010, Kkoma ate snacks, cup noodles, Yōkan, etc. and drank juices and a Makgeolli at the food stalls on the mountain.^[15] Then, two days later, on December 15, the 9th day^[16] of the escape, Kkoma was caught in the trap^[17] that had been set up, after that, he was shot with a tranquilizer gun to calm down and move inside the trap, and returned safely to the zoo.^[18]

On August 5, 2012, a male white rhinoceros, Kodol, escaped from the inner room and went into the zookeeper's kitchen and tool storage room, but was injured by bumping into the body in a small space. Water guns were fired to send them away, but Kodol died of heart attack.^[19]

In Pacific Land Aquarium, Jungmun Tourist Complex, Seogwipo-si city, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins caught in fishing nets were originally supposed to be released, but they were illegally purchased from fishermen and mobilized for dolphin shows.^[20] Meanwhile, Seoul Grand Park brought in illegally caught dolphins in 1999, 2002, and 2009 by purchasing or exchanging Geumdeung, Daepo, and Jedol (제돌) (or Jedoli (제돌이)), respectively. On March 2, 2013, after the illegal capture became known, environmental groups called for the dolphins to be released. On March 12, 2013, the city of Seoul decided to release Jedol, who was young and had just been bred, after hearing the opinions of experts. The decision to confiscate the dolphins was made through the criminal trial against Pacific Land Aquarium, and this judgment was upheld in the first and second trials and confirmed by the Supreme Court on March 28, 2013. On April 8, dolphins was confiscated. The confiscated dolphins were four: Chunsam, D-38, Taesan, and Boksun. On May 11, Jedol was moved to Jeju Island. Afterwards, they received wild adaptation training at the fish farm in Seongsan Port. On the afternoon of July 18, Jedol was released. Taesan and Boksun were moved to Jeju Island on May 14, 2015, and released into nature on July 6 of the same year.^[21] Goodbye, Thank You for the Fish (잘있어, 생선은 고마웠어; Jarisseo, saengseoneun gomawosseo) which is a non-fiction about the process of releasing Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins including Jedol into the wild, was published on May 15, 2017.^[22] In Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Jedol, Sampal, Chunsam, Boksun mentioned by Woo Young-woo who is a main protagonist obsessed with whales and dolphins.^[23][24]

On November 24, 2013, an accident occurred in which a zookeeper was bitten and killed by Rostov, a Siberian tiger.^[25]

On August 19, 2018, at 9:40 am, the dismembered cadaver of a murder victim was found in a hiking trail^[26] of the Mt. Cheonggyesan near the parking lot of the Seoul Grand Park.^[27]

In the process of euthanizing all animals at the outdoor range due to bovine tuberculosis that occurred at the South American Pavilion from 2021 to 2022, this fact was covered up, saying that it would prevent excessive fear for a year.^[28]

Flamingo Pavilion

The Flamingo Pavilion is the first exhibit visible by visitors, after entering through the main gate. It hosts 4 species of flamingoes; the Greater flamingo, Lesser flamingo, Chilean flamingo, and the Caribbean Flamingo.

1st Africa Pavilion

The 1st Africa Pavilion is dedicated to the many herbivores of Africa. It is formed of a giant enclosure in the center with several smaller enclosures surrounding it, with an indoor exhibit detailing the zoo's history. The giraffe enclosure in the center and the other great herbivores of Africa are positioned to imitate the wide savannas of Africa. Animals that call this area home include giraffes, Grant's zebras, ostriches, gemsbok, with fennec foxes and black-tailed prairie dogs in the outer rim.^[30]

The Africa Pavilion also formerly hosted one waterbuck, the only specimen of its species in South Korea. It died of old age on October 3, 2019, when it was 18 years old.^[31]

2nd Africa Pavilion

The 2nd Africa Pavilion hosts many of Africa's rare and extraordinary animals. It consists of a large pool, divided into sections, with other exhibits stretching away from it, accompanied with an indoor exhibit. This sector hosts hippopotamuses, Barbary sheep, Dall sheep, and meerkats. It is also home to the highly endangered pygmy hippopotamus and scimitar oryx.^[32]

The zoo formerly hosted 2 pygmy hippos, a male and a female. When the female died, the old, blind male, named Ha-mong(Korean: 하몽) was left alone. With efforts from Korean citizens, Seoul Zoo and the Colchester Zoo of Britain agreed on a deal to transfer Colchester's female pygmy hippo, named Julie, to Seoul Zoo. Julie entered Korea in October 2015. She is now renamed Na-mong(Korean: 나몽).^[33] Unfortunately, Ha-mong died in 2015.

3rd Africa Pavilion

African predators are the theme of the 3rd Africa Pavilion. It has an African plain motif and the habitats are littered with rocks and tall grass to best imitate the natural habitats of African mammals, with observatories dotted around. Animals in display include lions, cheetahs, spotted hyenas, sable antelopes, and common elands.^[32]

Ape Pavilion

The Ape Pavilion is dedicated to the many species of primates. It hosts many primates, including western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, Bornean orangutans, Olive baboons, Hamadryas baboons, mandrills, De Brazza's monkeys, and grivets. In April 2011, the Ape Pavilion's chimpanzee enclosure unveiled a tall climbing tower, about 24 meters tall, designed to stimulate and enrich the climing nature and behavior of chimpanzees, in part with the zoo's behavior enrichment program.^[32][34]

As of October 30, 2023, the Ape Pavilion is being renovated, with reopening scheduled in December 2023.

Large Animal Pavilion

The Large Animal Pavilion holds one of the most impressive animals in the zoo. Animals on display include Ankole cattle, African buffalo, water buffalo, white rhinoceros, American bison, and Asian elephants.

The zoo's four Asian elephants, all of them female, have a long history with the zoo. Sakura, 58 years old as of 2023, the oldest elephant in Korea, was formerly exhibited in a private zoo in Japan, when she was only 7 months old. When the zoo closed in 2003, she was brought to Seoul Zoo, but her long time in solidarity made it hard for her to integrate. Not until 2018 was Sakura able to fully stand as a member of the Seoul elephant herd. Kima, 31 years old as of 2023, is the matriarch of the Seoul elephant herd and largest among the 4 elephants. Kima was one of the first elephants in the zoo when it opened at its current location in 1984. Sugela, 19 years old as of 2023, arrived from Sri Lanka as a donation from then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had liaisons with Korean humanitarian aid, in 2010, alongside a male named Gajava. Sugela gave birth to a baby elephant, named Hee-mang(희망, "hope" in Korean) in 2016. Gajava died from a particularly deadly heat stroke in 2018.

Australia Pavilion

The Australia Pavil