The truth is historians don’t know who built the first zoo, or when it was built. But we can be confident it happened a very long time ago.
Human fascination with animals goes back as far as humans do. In the oldest cave paintings discovered, some of which are up to 40,000 years old, there are more images of animals than people.
At some point, humans began to capture and hold animals so they could look at them up close whenever they wanted.
Zoos for the lucky few to enjoy
The first known collections of exotic animals were held by royalty – and were not open to the public.
Archaeological digs in the ancient Egyptian city of Nekhen have found buildings from around 3500 B.C. containing the remains of captive hippos, baboons and elephants – animals not native to Egypt. But life wasn’t easy for these animals. They probably had short lives, and their remains show evidence of severe injuries.
