Visit the Zoo Day Date in the current year: December 27, 2024

The idea of keeping wild animals in enclosures for public exhibition is not new by any means. The predecessors to modern zoos, called menageries, existed as early as in ancient Egypt, although the term “menagerie” was coined in 17th-century France. At first, it referred to collections of exotic animals that belonged to royals or aristocrats; when traveling animal collections exhibiting animals at fairs began to emerge, they were also called menageries.

The first zoological garden in the modern sense of the word that still operates was Schönbrunn Zoo (Tiergarten Schönbrunn) in Vienna, Austria. It was established as a royal menagerie in 1752 and opened to the public in 1765. After that, zoos were founded in Madrid, Paris, and some other European cities. However, early zoos were still owned by royals and were meant to demonstrate their wealth and power.

The transition from royal menageries to public zoological gardens began in the early 19th century. For over a century and a half, the main goal of zoos was to entertain. In the 1970s, however, a number of zoos made animal conservation their primary role. One of them was Jersey Zoo founded by British naturalist and author Gerald Durrell.

Visit the Zoo Day is celebrated annually on December 27. The holiday is meant to encourage people to reconnect with nature and learn more about animals and their habitats, as well as to raise awareness about the importance of zoos for animal conservation.

Unfortunately, we don’t know who created Visit the Zoo Day and when it happened. On the other hand, does it really matter? What matters is that you have a great excuse to spend the day looking at animals from all over the world and learning something new about them. The holiday is celebrated a couple of days after Christmas, when nothing special is usually going on, so why not spend the day at the zoo?

If you go to the zoo relatively often, you can celebrate the holiday by making your trip to the zoo special. For example, you can focus on a specific animal or a group of animals and read as much as you can about them before going to the zoo. Zoos aren’t just for our entertainment; one of their main goals is to educate people about wildlife and highlight the importance of conservation efforts, on which some zoos focus.

Invite your friends and family to spend the day at the zoo with you and don’t forget to share photos from your trip on social media with the hashtag #VisitTheZooDay to spread the word about the holiday and encourage others to celebrate.

Another great way to celebrate is to find out whether your local zoo needs some help and provide it; since a lot of zoos are non-profits, they rely on sponsors and the general public to stay afloat. For example, you can make a donation (even a small donation can help!), join your local zoo’s membership program if it has one, symbolically adopt an animal, like and share the zoo’s posts on social media, etc.