On 27 June 1973, The Government of Singapore opened the Singapore Zoo at at cost of around nine million dollars. Today it is operated by the Wildlife Reserves Singapore who also manges the Night Safari and the Jurong Bird Park. the Formerly known as the Singapore Zoological Gardens, the current Singapore Zoo is commonly known locally as the Mandai Zoo. It occupies 28 hectares of land near to the Upper Seletar Reservoir which is within Singapore’s heavily forested central catchment area. The Zoo was built at a cost of S$9m granted by the government of Singapore and opened on 27 June 1973. There are about 315 species of animal in the zoo, of which some 16% of them are considered as threatened species. Annually the Zoo received about 1.7 million visitors.
The Singapore Zoo adopted the trend of displaying the animals in their natural open exhibits with hidden barriers, moats and even preventive glass barriers between the animals and visitors. Incidentally, the Singapore Zoo houses the largest colony of orang utans in the world. As a matter of fact, in its earlier days, the Zoo had Ah Meng, the famed orang utan, as a chief mascot for the Zoo. An event called “Breakfast with an Orang Utan” allows the visitors to meet and interact closely with the orang utans in the Zoo.
The “Rainforest Fights Back” show is housed in the Shaw Amphitheatre which is also the main amphitheatre within the Zoo. The actors and performers act alongside the animals. The show has an interesting script where it cast a baddie in the form of a poacher who will attempt to mow down a section of tropical rainforest for land development. Expectedly the native people and the animals of the rain forest such as the orang utans, otters, deers, peacocks, lemurs, will rise together and chase the poacher away.
The “Elephants at Work and Play” show will demonstrate how the elephants are used as beasts of burden in the south-east Asian countries. The animal caretakers are referred to as mahouts, and the show simulates how a mahout would instruct an elephant to transport logs or kneel down so that they can be mounted.
The “Splash Safari” show highlight the Zoo’s aquatic mammals and birds. The seals and sea lions perform tricks and the pelicans will demonstrate how they catch fish with their beaks, while the manatees swim elegantly in the pond below.
The “Animal Friends” show, housed in the Kidzworld amphitheater in the zoo’s children’s section, will feature mostly domesticated animals such as dogs and parrots performing tricks.（■Singapore360°）
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