Old photos of Beijing Zoo

Recently, I have collected many old photos of Beijing Zoo from 1950 to 1990, and I hope to share them here.

 

South China tiger (about 1980s), the last South China tiger in Beijing Zoo was transferred to Baoding in 1994.

 

The lion presented by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie in 1973, it died of intestinal obstruction on June 3, 1982.

 

Indian rhino "Xiang Ka", The Kingdom of Nepal presented the rhinoceros to Beijing in July 1959.

In October 1971, Xiang Ka escaped from its enclosure and fought with a male black rhinoceros for half an hour, finally tearing its abdomen and causing the black rhinoceros to die.

In November 1978, Xiang Ka suffered from stomach disease all the year round and died of anorexia.

 

Indian rhino "Bang Ti", a beautiful female rhinoceros with one horn, is the longest kept Indian rhinoceros in Beijing Zoo.

In September 1980, Bang Ti came to Beijing from the Kingdom of Nepal and lived here for nearly 30 years.

In October 25, 2009, Bang Ti died of necrosis of the femoral head due to streptococcus infection, which made it difficult to stand for a long time, leading to weight compression of organs, leading to organ failure.

 

Lesser kudu, Beijing Zoo acquired this animal from the Soviet Union in the 1960s, and the time of raising is unknown.

 

The golden cat cub, Beijing Zoo had bred the golden cat twice in the 1950s. The parents were piebald and red respectively. After the 1960s, Beijing Zoo was unable to supply live feed stably, which led to insufficient nutrition of the golden cat and failed to breed again.

 

Golden cat (piebald). Beijing Zoo has obtained three golden cats of this color from Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hunan.

 

Agile gibbon, raised in the 1960s.

 

African elephant "Bahati". Beijing Zoo captured a pair of African elephants from Tanzania in the 1970s and officially exhibited them in October 1977. Bahati is the female of the pair

In 2003, Bahati accidentally fell into the isolation ditch in the exhibition area. Although it was rescued at that time, its internal organs were damaged and died shortly afterwards. Its skeleton is still on display in Beijing Zoo

 

Asian Elephant De'ang.

It came from Yangon Zoo in Myanmar in 1964. This is the largest elephant ever reared in Beijing Zoo. Its shoulder height is about 3.4 meters and its weight is about 5 tons. At the age of 13, it reached the size of an average Asian elephant at the age of 20.

De'ang was irritable and active. it was able to mate with the female elephant at the age of 11. it had seriously injured the female elephant "Asa" who it was mated with, causing Asa to die of tetanus.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, De'ang and a female Asian elephant "Mamaji" bred three young elephants. Its son, "Jisheng", now live in Chengdu Zoo and is also very large.

In 1999, De'ang was moved from the old elephant house to the new elephant hall. Unfortunately, the heating of the new hall was not perfect, which led to De'ang's death in the winter of early 2000 due to cold. Its skeleton is currently on display in the elephant hall.

 

Map of Beijing Zoo in the late 1960s and early 1980s.

 

I will keep updating this post. If you have any animals you want to see in the history of Beijing Zoo, you can reply here. I can try my best to help you find them.

 

All very interesting, do you have any photographs of birds? Especially pheasants

 

Aha, there are many photos of pheasants. I will sort and upload them one by one

 

Thanks, YuanChang

Have you got pictures of Chinese mountain cats and snub-nosed monkeys?

 

What species of deer have been kept in the past i.e Black Muntjac Muntiacus crinifrons and the various Sika subspecies would be nice to see?

 

Thank you for sharing! Do you have any information or photos of the zebra? The map makes it look like they were kept together with the camels.

 

Thank you