Singapore Zoological Gardens
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Singapore Zoological Gardens operates two zoological parks in Singapore - Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. The two parks occupy 1 km² of land on the margins of a reservoir within Singapore's heavily forested central catchment area. The zoo was built at a cost of S$9m and opened on 27 June 1973.
From the beginning, Singapore Zoo followed the modern trend of displaying animals in naturalistic, 'open' exhibits (i.e. with hidden barriers).
The Night Safari opened in 1994 and occupies 0.4 km². This is the world's first nocturnal zoo. Unlike traditional nocturnal houses, which reverse the day-night cycle of animals so they will be active by day, the Night Safari is an entire open-air zoo set in a humid-tropical forest that is only open at night.
The animals of the Night Safari, ranging from Indian rhino to tarsiers, are made visible by lighting that resembles moonlight (filmic blue). Although it is brighter than full moonlight by a few orders of maginitude, it is dim enough not to disturb nocturnal and crepuscular animals' behaviour.
In 2002, teams of The Amazing Race also came to the Singapore Zoological Gardens as part of a detour.
External links
- Singapore Zoo's official web site (http://www.zoo.com.sg)
- Night Safari web site (http://nightsafari.com.sg)
- Singapore Zoological Gardens Docents (http://www.szgdocent.org/)