The Saigon Zoological and Botanical Garden celebrated its 150-year operation in Ho Chi Minh City on December 23.

Pham Van Tan, deputy head of the garden, recalled that the park was initially built over 12 hectares and planned by Louis Adolphe Germain, a French military officer.

At present, the park is home to more than 1,000 animal individuals of over 120 species and a collection of 1,000 plant species.

The conservation site attracts millions of visitors each year, including thousands of local pupils and students on study tours.

The Saigon Zoological and Botanical Garden also boasts ties with international organisations such as the South East Asian Zoos Association and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Photo exhibition about 150 years of Sai Gon Zoo opens

A photo exhibition on the 150-year history of the Sai Gon Zoo has opened at the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden on Tuesday.

The event displays 90 black-and-white and colour photos, including works captured for several decades ago and stored by collectors.

The works depict four topics that review the 25ha zoo's history from beginning and development.

The zoo was home to only 60 species of mammals, reptiles and birds before 1975, but it is now home to more than 1,000 items from 123 species, and several thousand plants.

It has many kinds of rare animals, such as Indo-chinese tigers, white Bengal tigers, Indochinese leopards and African lions.

Its Museum of Vietnamese History displays 25,000 documents and photos of the southern region's history, culture and ethnography.

The zoo was built in 1865 and is ranked as the eighth oldest zoo in the world.

It has received support from local authorities to become one of the country's leading zoos, according to Pham Anh Dung, deputy director of the zoo.

"We have attracted several thousand people and children in the city and other provinces to visit every year. We also organise cultural programmes on holidays and traditional festivals," he said.

According to Dung, the city plans to build another zoo called Sai Gon Safari covering an area of 465 hectares in Cu Chi District.

The exhibition is at 2B Nguyen Binh Khiem Street. It closes in mid-January. 

The latest pictures taken at the zoo:

Construction of the zoo began in 1864, initiated by French official De La Grandière, on 12 hectares of land. In late 1865, it was expanded by 20 hectares.     JB.Loius Pierre, from the Calcutta Botanical Garden, India, was assigned the first director of the Saigon Zoo.         In 1926, the French government built a temple near the main gate of the zoo. After 1975, it has become the Hung Kings Temple.  Facing the Hung Kings Temple is the Saigon National Museum, which was inaugurated in 1929 in the name Blanchard de la Brosse, displaying nearly 3,000 antiques. The work is now the Vietnam-HCMC Museum of History.  These houses have been preserved for more than 100 years.     The black copper elephant statue - a gift from Thai King Paramindr Maha Pradjahipok to the zoo in 1930.       The monkey cage         Saigon Zoo is now one of the ten oldest zoos in the world.         There are many ancient trees in the zoo.         The zoo now has more than 120 species of animals, totaling more than 1,000 heads.         There are many rare species.

VNA/Zing/VNS