Taipei Zoo「臺北市立動物園」

Taipei Zoo also started with the Japanese, that had the control of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. It was founded in 1914, in Yuanshan Mountain (Maruyama i.e. round mountain in Japanese) on the north of Taipei. At the beginning it was not public, but the Mr Oe's private zoological garden. One year later, the Japanese government decided to buy the property and open it to the public.

Being in Taipei alone made me realize I had never seen a panda bear. Maybe it was the time? Indeed, the pandas in Taipei zoo are somewhat special as they carry heavy political meaning. The idea of sending some pandas started in 2005, but was rejected by Taiwan government at the time. Eventually, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan were sent from PRC to ROC in 2008. The combination of their names (Tuan Yuan) means reunion in Chinese... So you can guess where all this is going. And if you cannot, read the explanation to find out.

The zoo is quite nice to explore, features many African and Australian animals, on top of the usual suspects (reptiles, birds, farm animals) which are much easier to spot anywhere else. I am not a huge fan of animals in captivity, but hey it is kind of cool to see a baby giraffe eating :) I thought it was going to be super crowded, specially because I arrived at 13 - after brunch - but it was not at all the case. Blame the heat (49C thermal sensation) or the vacation, I did not have to queue.

The entrance fee to Taipei Zoo is shockingly CHEAP - only 30 TWD (0.9 EURO) - but the park is huge and enough to spend half a day exploring - perfect plan when you are alone in town. I shoot with a Fuji X100, even if not ideal for this kind of pictures, I think I managed to capture the atmosphere... You'll have to come and see by yourself!

Not quite sure which one was... But here it is... The panda!!

Happy Hippo

Can you spot the tiger among the bamboo?


Cute baby giraffe - her parents were there, looking much more grown up - kawaiiYO (^_^)




Tortoise also walking in a very funny way.

Desperate rhino

Orangutan with such human moves that at times you feel it is a person wearing a suit - do you remember the Japanese snow monkeys?

This lynx was covering his poo, just like any cat does. It's so amazing they do this instinctively!

Elephants in the very tropical background.

Taipei Zoo
Open all days a week 9-17 (last in 16:30)