I recently went to Bristol Zoo which claims to be the fifth oldest zoo in the world. Which ones are older, I wonder?
Bristol zoo is currently celebrating its 175th anniversary, originally opening in 1836 - on Monday 11th July. http://www.bristolzoo.org.uk/.
A search on the worlds oldest zoo appears to be easy - London comes up, opening 27th April 1828, but not open to the public until 1847. http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/
However, Tiergarten Schönbrunn (Vienna Zoo) also claims to be the same, opening in 1752, http://www.zoovienna.at/en/zoo-and-visitors/welcome-worlds-oldest-zoo/
Equally, the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris claims to be the oldest, opening in 1635, with a menagerie added in 1793. http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/foffice/transverse/transverse/accueil.xsp?cl=en
So, that gives three Zoos that are older and claim to be the oldest, which leaves one other to come between? It would seem to be Dublin, which opened 1 September 1831 http://www.dublinzoo.ie/
So, that answers the question? Maybe not, as it would seem there are less well know zoos that could fit: Madrid zoo - open since 1770 http://www.zoomadrid.com/, and the more elusive Kazan Zoo in Russia, opened in 1806. http://www.kzn.ru/eng/page3736.htm
I'm not the first person to ask this question, and here are a few other takes:
http://int.rgo.ru/news/oldest-zoos-in-the-world/
http://www.zoochat.com/2/oldest-zoo-19898/
Of course, its possible to find references to older zoo's that are now closed, but I'll leave this list to zoos that are currently open. My take on the list, from the info I've found is:
Vienna - 1752
Madrid - 1770
Paris - 1793
Kazan - 1806
London - 1828
Dublin - 1831
Bristol - 1836
My conclusion is that Bristol is probably not the 5th oldest zoo in the world. I was going to claim that it is the oldest zoo outside of a capital city, until I found Kazan zoo....
Of course, I must acknowledge Wikipedia for much of my information (principally the first link, but I didn't find that initially):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiergarten_Sch%C3%B6nbrunn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo_Aquarium_de_Madrid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9nagerie_du_Jardin_des_Plantes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_zoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Zoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Zoo
Other avenues which failed summarised in Wikipedia (thinking of Empires and explorers):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore_Zoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alipore_Zoological_Gardens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Zoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Zoo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_Zoo
