Mendoza is the third largest city in Argentina, with a metropolitan population of about a 1 million persons. Mendoza is famous for its wines and has a dry desert climate. It is on the foothills of the andes and is a very pretty city. Mendoza zoo is located in the large San Martin park. It has about 100 acres and is very hilly. The was opened in 1941. Some enclousures are quite large and other are simply bad, including the cage for arturo the polar bear. When you enter the zoo you will find large pens for some hoofstock. Aoudad,mouflon, fallow deer, red deer and feral juan fernandez goats from island near Chile are here. Then some very large pens for guanaco,vicuna, mara and nañdu which i greatly enjoyed. Also here are some capybara and aviaries for patagonian conures, quaker parrots, blue fronted amazon parrots,doves,silver pheasant, peacocks and guinea fowl. Interesting elegant tinamou. I liked a pen with very active small hairy armadillos, about in broad daylight. Next a decent hippo exhibit.Then you begin to climb the wooded hill. More aviares for scarlet and blue and yellow macaws, toco toucans. A glassed in cage for squirrel monkeys. All over the zoo are a roaming band of free ranging brown capuchins. They are not native to the mendocino area, it is to dry for them. next a large hillside cage for hamadryas baboons. Then two very large cages for black howler monkeys which can be found in northern argentina. Continue climbinging the hill to find an exhibit for meerkats. Then some nice large aviares for raptors, chimango caracaras, variable hawk, chilean blue eagle, king vulture, and ornate crowned eagle. Various grottos for european brown bears, all confiscated from local circuses. A nice group of andean pumas in another grotto. some bengal tigers also confiscated from circuses in another grotto. Interesting argentine grey foxes in a large rocky cage which seemed adequate for them.At the top of the hill is a large aviary for andean condors which is quite nice. A great view of the city from here. Begin to descend to see a large moated area for lions. Then a very large pen for a pair of grey brockets, lovely. Then the worst part. An ugly cage for Arturo the polar bear. The worst exhibit for a polar bear i have seen anywhere. I was shocked. Arturo is told old to be moved to canada, as was once proposed. Compared to arturo´s ugly cage the polar bears in mexico ( guadalajara and morelia) live in mansions. i did not see arturo, it was hot and he stayed indoors. Various pens for domestic animals followed, cameroon goats,angora goats, somali sheep, water buffalo and ponies. There was a very nice lagoon for chilean flamingos, nutrias, mallards, geese and teals. Then a large group of bactrian camels, breeding groups of eland, burchells zebras and blackbuck. Nice exhibits for collared peccaries and south american tapirs. Barren moated pens for african elephant and asian elephant, kept separately and of course confiscated from local circuses. Then a herd of llamas, after which you return back to the beginning near the vicuña and nañdu. As you can see from the gallery, Mendoza zoo is good for native species, not so much for forieign fauna. NEXT MENDOZA AQUARIUM AND SERPENTARIUM.
Arturo the polar bear has died. https://www.facebook.com/actuzoo/ph...716141840318/1087019624709960/?type=3&theater
Sad that arturo has died, but his exhibit was really awful, as you can see on the gallery. The facebook note is misleading, greenpeace argentina does not have an antizoo agenda. If you see the website of greenpeace argentina the current programs are for stoping climate change, forests, control of pollution and protection of whales. This note is another attempt to misinform.
Sad to hear that. I visited in April and I gather there have been some modifications, so although the enclosure is small and one of the less suitable polar bear enclosures I've seen, it's actually one of the better exhibits in this poor quality zoo.
An Argentine court has ruled that chimp Cecilia is subject to "non-human rights" and should be transferred to a sanctuary. As far as I know, the similar ruling on Sandra the orangutan didn't lead anywhere. Argentine judge orders chimp to be freed from a zoo enclosure | Daily Mail Online
The courts nor the complainants simply have no clue as to its implications or any stroke of realism in captive animal care and management and husbandry issues.
