I admit that one of the things I was most excited for this Europe trip is the Vienna Zoo (or Tiergarten). But for a good reason! The Vienna Zoo is the oldest zoo in history… that’s crazy! It was established in 1752 as the private royal menagerie, as this zoo is actually located inside the Schönbrunn Palace grounds!
on the way to the zoo entrance, you will pass by beautifully manicured gardens and the mother of all greenhouses!
The zoo has had a colorful history since its establishment. Before World War I, it was a lively zoo with 712 species and over 3500 individual animals. However, due to food shortages during WWI, the numbers quickly decreased to only 900. AND THEN, the zoo was also bombed during World War II, further reducing the animals to only 400. The zoo was restored and renovated, exotic animals procured, and now is once again thriving!
I don’t really have a cute little introduction today, or a thoughtful debate on the pros vs. cons of keeping wild animals in captivity, because the truth is: no matter what state this zoo is in… I WAS GOING!!
I was also excited because I finally have a “real” camera for the first time in my life, so I can take extra crisp, zoomed-in pictures of the animals. Well, too bad I don’t really know how to use my camera, so half the pictures are still blurry. But I still got some pretty decent shots!
So let’s just get straight to what everyone wants to see, which is the pictures! If you’re here for a review on whether the zoo is one of those zoos or not, you can jump down to the bottom wait for Part 2.
Now, get ready for a picture-heavy post of animal cuteness overload!
THE PANDAS
In my opinion, the red panda is the cuter of the two pandas in their adult form. It’s small, SUPER fluffy, and so playful like a cat. If I could ever have a wild animal as a pet, I’d pick a red panda! These two were pretty active when we stopped by, hopping from tree to tree, dropping down to the ground to forage, and even coming up right up to the glass.
I took about 100 shots trying to capture the cuteness, but these were the only ones that didn’t come out too blurry.
how can you possibly be this cute?!?!?
Next: the star of the zoo, THE GIANT PANDAS
The panda parents had a baby last summer (this is their 3rd baby born in the zoo, all by natural conception too, which is very rare due to the fact that the female is only fertile 3 days a year. So those two must be really horny happy pandas!). The baby is 1 years old this August and his name is Fu Bao, or Lucky Leopard.
this is only a portion of the panda habitat… let’s play “I spy” – can you spot Fu Bao in this picture?
yeah, took me a while too…. there he is! So happy to finally have a zoom camera!
We didn’t see the parents anywhere. That’s because they were both hiding out in the panda house, away from the heat, and munching on bamboo. Apparently, pandas spend 14-16 hours a day eating bamboo!
tip: make sure you go inside the panda house to see them if they’re not outside! We almost missed this!
Let’s move on to the AFRICAN ANIMALS!
Squeal! How sweet is this picture?! The cheetah enclosure is quite large and really densely packed with greenery, so I was so happy to see momma AND babies snuggling in the open area close to the glass. And I was also happy to see so many zoo babies at this time of the year too!
Later on, momma cheetah was sitting alone, seemingly to be posing for the camera.
The hippos…. such funny looking creatures. So huge and flabby and clumsy.
the two hippos were both enjoying a nap when we first walked up
But eventually, they both got up and walked around their pen. Look at that weird tail!
If any enclosure needs improvement, I’d say it’s the hippos’. It didn’t look that large for the two of them, and their little concrete pool looked sad. Oh well, who am I to say.
Now, the elephants! They had a whole herd of elephants at this zoo (including a couple of babies!), and the enclosure was very large. One thing I really liked about this zoo is that there are always multiple vantage points to view the animals. For example, you can see the elephants from up above, from the eye-level, and from inside their house!
Fun fact: apparently, this zoo saw the birth of the first elephant in captivity in 1906.
an elephant eats between 300-500 pounds of food a day!
a juvenile elephant!
The zoo also had a nice little group of giraffes. Did you know that a group of giraffes is called a tower? I didn’t either. From outside, they were pretty hard to get a picture of. But! You can walk through their indoor house and see them feeding!
from this close, it was amazing to see how tall they are!
Before moving on to the Arctic, let’s say hi to the bears! I don’t know if we were just super lucky or not, but all the animals were extra playful!
Okay, now let’s get to the ARCTIC ANIMALS
I was seriously impressed with the polar bears’ home. I think those two bears had the sweetest home out of any of the animals. It was HUGE with multiple dipping pools. Visitors can see them through the glass at pool level (we saw one polar bear happily doing flips in the water), or up above looking into the enclosure, where these pictures were taken, with extreme zoom.
These are Humboldt penguins (or Peruvian penguins), found in the rocky coastal Peru and Chile regions. They’re so cute!
And umm… a very authoritative looking sea lion!
OTHER ANIMALS
Here are a few more pictures of other random animals around the zoo:
even the farm animals have babies :D
these 2 giant anteaters were very playful and were wrestling with each other. I was literally on the other side of this glass. I’ve never observed anteaters so close!
Okay, I guess that’s it!
I’m going to have to apologize for an abrupt ending, but this is where I stop for today. I thought I was going to go through the entire zoo, but there’s already too many pictures in this post. And there’s still SO much to talk about, including the Rainforest, the Insect House, and the Woods. Trust me, those will be worth coming back for, because they were some of my favorites. This post has the best/cutest pictures, but the next post will talk about the most exciting parts of the zoo.
Stay tuned!
*Update – here is Part 2!
This post is linked up with Weekend Wanderlust with Justin Plus Lauren.
I’ve never seen or heard of red panda before. Cute! And I want to see what camera you are using :)
WHAT?!? You’ve never heard of them? You MUST youtube ‘red pandas playing” right now then! I’m glad to be able to introduce them to you. :)
I got the Cannon G1X MarkII. It’s a light DSL. I’ve been so meaning to do a review on it, but seeing how I don’t really know how to use it…. lol.
These pictures are all TOO CUTE! The greenhouse looks absolutely amazing!
Thanks Polly! Yeah that greenhouse is amazing!!! I don’t know if visitors could go in or not, but I’d love to see what’s inside!
The animals at the Vienna zoo look beautiful, except for the Penguins. They don’t look as good as they look otherwise.
Haha! I’ve never seen any of those Peruvian penguins in real life (as in, in the wild, I guess). I hope to someday!
Anna, Cute photos. I love red pandas, too.
Thanks Corinne! Aren’t they the cutest?! :)
I went here too! Giant Pandas are my fav ever and this was the first time I saw them. There was a baby when I visited and I took a BAZILLION pics!
It’s probably the same baby, hehe!! I wish he was doing more interesting things, but he was just hanging out in the trees.
Red pandas are adorable! In fact, so many of these animals are really cute. It must have been fun testing out your new camera! Thank you so much for joining us at #WeekendWanderlust! :)
I know, they’re so cute! D actually finally helped me adjust my camera settings yesterday. I wish we had done that for the zoo… I probably could have gotten better pics!
I love the red pandas and the cheetahs. My favorite animals at any zoo, though, are the wolves. Not many have them, but they’re just SO graceful and beautiful.
Have fun learning how to use your camera — you got some great shots! Thanks for linking up to #WeekendWanderlust!
There were wolves there too! But I couldn’t find them because their enclosure was literally a HUGE fenced off section of the natural woods. I love wolves too! :)
Giraffes and pandas are my favorite animals. It’s nice to be able to see them both in a zoo. I didn’t know that Vienna’s Zoo was the oldest zoo. I really enjoyed all your pictures of all the animals. Looking forward to seeing more. Thanks for linking up to our #WeekendWanderlust linkup.
Thanks Carmen :). I found it so interesting that it’s the oldest zoo that I HAD to go!
Love all the photos! I didn’t know this was the oldest zoo in the world. These animals are so adorable and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a red panda at a zoo before. Your pictures turned out great! My favorite photo has to be that hippo laying there so content. Looking forward to Part 2.
This is the first time I saw active red pandas too! I’ve been to zoos with them, but they’re always hiding. Part 2 is up now! :)