Korkeasaari

Korkeasaari
Helsinki Zoo

A Snowy Owl in Korkeasaari
Date opened 1889
Location Helsinki, Finland
Coordinates 60°10′30″N 024°59′03″E / 60.17500°N 24.98417°ECoordinates: 60°10′30″N 024°59′03″E / 60.17500°N 24.98417°E
Land area 22 ha (54 acres)
Memberships EAZA[1]
Website www.korkeasaari.fi
Observation Tower, Helsinki Zoo

Korkeasaari (Swedish: Högholmen) is an island in Helsinki, Finland where the country's biggest zoo is situated. The English name of the zoo is Helsinki Zoo.

The zoo is located on a 22-hectare (54-acre) rocky island, connected to the mainland via a bridge to the Helsinki district of Mustikkamaa, where here there is access to the zoo all year round. A ferry and water buses take visitors to the island summertime from the Kauppatori and Hakaniemi.

Korkeasaari is one of the most popular places among visitors in Helsinki. The animals on display are divided geographically to Amazonia, Africasia and Borealia. Animal species number about two hundred, and plant species about a thousand.

History

Korkeasaari has been a recreational park for Helsinki people long before the zoo was founded, since 1569. It was first used as pasture and for fishing. In the 19th century, it was used for storing timber. During the Crimean war, the island was a military area. Helsinki city gained access to it again in 1864 and then the recreational use really started: steam boat traffic was established, and a restaurant together with facilities for dancing, bowling, and picnics were provided.

The zoo was started 1889.

Collection

The main collection comprises mammals and birds, but even reptiles, fish and invertebrates are on display. (The Amazonia building has an aquarium department.) No big mammals (elephants, giraffes, hippopotamus) are on display, as all warm climate animals must be indoors for wintertime. There is a large collection of big cats, and the snow leopards born in Korkeasaari are famous.

Two or three times a year the zoo organizes night walks, when visitors can see the big cats and other nocturnal animals in their natural waking hours.

Gallery

Animals of the Korkeasaari Zoo
An Onager, resembling a donkey but is larger, a native of the Middle East and India
Takin are a goat-antelope found in the Eastern Himalayas
Brown bear, this image resting on a rock, forelimbs hanging over the edge and looking at the camera
Brown Bear 
Three Hamadrayas Baboons, a male, female and jevnile
Hamadryas Baboons 
A pair of European Otter's grooming each other
European Otters 
The face of a Guanaco
Siberian, otherwise known as Amur, Altaic, Korean, North Chinese or Ussuri tiger
Siberian Tiger 
Amur Leopard 

Notes

  1. "EAZA Member Zoos & Aquariums". eaza.net. EAZA. Retrieved 12 August 2010.

External links