esl topics zoo

25 zoo conversation questions

Zoo conversation questions.

This is an interesting discussion activity all about zoos. The difficult words to revise before discussing the questions are -cruel, feed, fed, cage, aquarium, nocturnal, enclosure, benefit, ridden, bathe, and perform.

The zoo conversation questions are –

Do you like visiting zoos? What animals do you like to look at most?

Is there a zoo near you? What is it like? What animals does it keep?

Do you think it is cruel to put animals in zoos? Why or why not?

Have you ever fed an animal at a zoo? What animal did you feed?

What do you think is the best thing to feed a giraffe? How about a crocodile?

How is a safari park different from a zoo? Have you ever been to one?

How would you go about cleaning a lion’s cage?

What water animals are kept in zoos?

Have you ever been to an aquarium? What was the biggest animal you saw?

Which zoo animals are mostly nocturnal and sleep during the day?

How often do you think elephants need a bath? Would you like to bathe one?

How big do you think a tiger enclosure should be? What should be in it?

In what ways can zoos benefit an animal species?

Have you ever ridden or petted an animal at a zoo? What animal was it?

Which countries do you think have the best zoos? How about the worst zoos?

Do you think any animals are happy in zoos? Which animals?

If you were a zookeeper and a gorilla stopped eating, what would you do?

What kinds of things are sold in zoo gift shops?

Are there any zoo animals you don’t like to see?

What do you think happens in zoos during the night?

What reasons would a zookeeper have to kill an animal?

What things would you want if you had to live the rest of your life in a zoo?

What do you think of animals performing in zoos and aquariums?

How do you think an animal ends up in a zoo?

a hippo in a zoo enclosure

Zoo and related idioms

If we call a place a zoo we are saying that it is very crowded or even chaotic in nature. We may use this expression to describe a busy place in a city such as a supermarket or anywhere else where large numbers of people gather together.

If you rattle someone’s cage you irritate and make them angry.

A person who lives in a gilded cage has lots of money, lives a life of luxury but is unhappy usually because they don’t have freedom or love.

children feeding giraffes at a zoo

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 English Discussion on  Zoos

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THE DISCUSSION ON ZOOS

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esl topics zoo

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Zoo Animals Lesson Plan

Lesson plans for esl kids teachers, this lesson plan is free.

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  • Time: 40 mins - 1 hour
  • Objectives: Saying zoo animals and animal noises
  • Structures: “Let’s go to ...”, “What will we see at ...?”
  • Target Vocab: zoo, lion, elephant, monkey, tiger, snake, birds

Lesson Materials:

  • Flashcards: lion, elephant, monkey, tiger, snake, birds
  • Printables:
  • - Animals 3 worksheet
  • - At the Zoo worksheet
  • - Reader worksheet
  • - Let’s Go to the Zoo Song Poster
  • - Warm Up & Wrap Up lesson sheet
  • Readers: Sammy Snake's Birthday Party
  • Songs: Let’s Go to the Zoo song
  • Additional Materials:
  • - Zoo animals vocab crossword
  • - Zoo animals vocab word search
  • - colored crayons / pencils
  • - plastic zoo animal toys
  • - CD / Tape player / Computer or something to play the song on

Other Lesson Plans

  • Intro Lesson (Ages 3-7)
  • Intro Lesson (Ages 8-12)
  • Actions, Verbs & Tenses:
  • Can - for Ability
  • Morning Routines
  • Daily Routines & Times of the Day
  • Actions - Present Continuous
  • Future Plans using "going to"
  • Past Tense Activities - Regular Verbs
  • Past Tense Activities - Irregular Verbs: Part 1
  • Past Tense Activities - Irregular Verbs: Part 2
  • Adjectives:
  • Describing People
  • Describing Things
  • Comparing Things (Comparative Adjectives)
  • Comparing Things (Superlative Adjectives)
  • Adverbs of frequency
  • Farm Animals
  • Pets & Possessions
  • Zoo Animals
  • Parts of the Body
  • Measuring Parts of the Body
  • Classroom Objects
  • Classroom Stationery
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  • Directions: left / right / forward / back
  • Feelings & Emotions:
  • Feelings & Emotions
  • Health & Sickness:
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  • Shopping & money
  • Time, Days, Months, Seasons:
  • Telling the Time
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  • Wheels on the Bus

This lesson helps to build up animal vocabulary (especially if done after the Farm Animals lesson ) and introduces the phrase "Let's go to ...".

Lesson Procedure:

Warm up and maintenance:.

See our " Warm Up & Wrap Up " page.

New Learning and Practice:

1. Teach the zoo animals vocab If you have plastic toys for the animals you can use them or you can use zoo animal flashcards . Before the class put the toys or flashcards in a bag. Bring out the bag and peer in – make surprised noises to get the full attention of your students. Slowly, inch by inch, pull out the animals – elicit /teach/chorus the animal name "e.g. What's this? It's a (lion). (Lion), (Lion), (Lion)". Then teach/chorus the animal noise (E.g. "What noise does a lion make?" "Roar!").

If you have completed the Farm Animals lesson previously, you can include the farm animal flashcards in this game.

4. Sing the " Let's Go to the Zoo " song Before the song, run through the actions in the correct order of the song. It will help to have the flashcards in order on the board or use our song sheet. Play the song and have everyone doing the actions as they sing along.

Chorus: Zoo, zoo, Let's go to the zoo, What will we see at the zoo?

Zoo, zoo, Let's go to the zoo, What will we see at the zoo?

Verse 1: Lion, we will see a lion, Elephant, we will see an elephant, Monkey, we will see a monkey, Let's go to the zoo!

Verse 2: Tiger, we will see a tiger, Snake, we will see a snake, Birds, we will see some birds, Let's go to the zoo!

( download MP3 here )

Gestures for the "Let's Go to the Zoo" song

The gestures are fun and mimic the animals being sung about:

1. For the "Zoo, zoo, Let's go to the zoo", have everyone walking on the spot as they walk to the zoo.

2. For the next line "What will we see at the zoo?", have everyone put their hand above their eyes as they search for animals.

3. For the animal parts do the following:

  • lion: look fierce and roar
  • elephant: make a trunk with your arm and make the trumpet noise
  • monkey: do the money scratching head and armpit gesture whilst saying "ooh-ooh"
  • tiger: look fierce and roar
  • snake: make a snake shape with your hands and hiss like a snake
  • birds: flap your arms like wings and say "tweet-tweet"

We also have a video that you can stream in class to sing along with (Internet connection required):

Let's Go to the Zoo

5. Play "Animals Walk" game Have everybody stand at one end of the classroom. First model: hold up a flashcard of a lion. Shout "Run like a lion!" – then get down and crawl across the room like a lion all the time roaring. Then have everyone do it. Then do for all the other animals (e.g. "Stomp like an elephant!", etc.).

7. Read classroom reader " Sammy Snake's Birthday Party " This classroom reader ties in perfectly with the lesson vocab. Before class, download and print off the reader "Sammy Snake's Birthday Party" . As you go through each page, point to the animals and elicit the vocabulary and the noises each animal makes:

There are some new animals in the story which haven't been introduced in the lesson yet (zebra, bear, panda) - this is fine: elicit and teach the animal vocabulary and noises they make. Your students will pick these words up quickly as the story progresses (and when you read the story again in later lessons).

Try to get the students really involved in the story by asking lots of questions - e.g. by eliciting the food items, colors and even asking students to speculate what food Sammy the Snake will want at his party).

After reading the story, give out a reader worksheet to each student and have everyone match the animals to the food they gave to Sammy Snake. Then go through the answers as a class.

Alternatively, watch our video version of the reader (Internet connection required):

8. Do " Zoo Animals " worksheet Use the "Animals 3" worksheet. First hold the worksheet up for all to see. Take a crayon and elicit its color (e.g. "What color is this?"). Then color one of the animals whilst eliciting its name. Do the same for the other animals. Give out the worksheets and have the students color the animals, all the time praising, helping, encouraging and asking target questions (e.g. "What is it?"). Finally, go to each S in turn, look at his/her worksheet, ask some questions and then give back with lots of praise.

1. Assign Homework: " At the Zoo " 2. Wrap up the lesson with some ideas from our " Warm Up & Wrap Up " page.

Print Outs / Worksheets:

Lesson Plan

British English version

Reader worksheet

Song poster

Flashcards:

tag

Songs & Readers:

Let's Go to the Zoo (click to download)

Let's Go to the Zoo

Sammy Snake's Birthday Party

Additional materials:

Zoo animals vocab crossword

Zoo animals vocab word search

Additional worksheet - Read and color the zoo animals

Warning

  • To view and print a flashcard or worksheet click on the thumbnail image.
  • For detailed printing instructions, click here .

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esl topics zoo

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esl topics zoo

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ESL Conversation Questions

“zoo animals” esl discussion questions.

I. Types of Zoo Animals 1. What are some common animals you might see at a zoo? 2. Can you name three mammals found in zoos? 3. What types of birds have you seen at zoos? 4. Are there any reptiles that you find interesting at zoos? 5. Which zoo animals do you think are the most unusual?

II. Animal Behavior 6. What do lions do most of the day in a zoo? 7. How do monkeys interact with each other in their enclosures? 8. Can you describe how elephants use their trunks? 9. Why do you think some animals pace back and forth in their cages? 10. What kind of tricks can sea lions perform in zoo shows?

III. Feeding Zoo Animals 11. What do you think zookeepers feed the giraffes? 12. How often do you think zoo animals are fed each day? 13. Why is it important not to feed animals at the zoo? 14. What kind of food do you think a zoo provides for its carnivores? 15. Do you think zoo animals like their food? Why or why not?

IV. Zoo Habitats 16. How do zoos try to make animal habitats like their natural environment? 17. Why do you think it’s important for polar bears to have cold habitats in zoos? 18. What do you think are some challenges of creating a good habitat for zoo animals? 19. How do you think zoos take care of animals that need to swim? 20. Can you think of any ways zoos can improve their habitats?

V. Conservation and Education 21. How do zoos help protect endangered species? 22. What can you learn from visiting a zoo? 23. Why is it important for zoos to educate the public about animals? 24. Can you name a conservation project that a zoo might be involved in? 25. How do you think zoos can encourage people to care about wildlife?

VI. Ethical Considerations 26. Do you think it’s right to keep animals in zoos? Why or why not? 27. What are some arguments for and against zoos? 28. How do you feel about animals performing in shows at zoos? 29. What could be done to make sure zoo animals are happy? 30. Do you think animals in zoos live as long as they would in the wild?

VII. Personal Experiences 31. Have you ever visited a zoo? What was your experience like? 32. What’s your favorite animal to see at the zoo and why? 33. Can you share a memorable moment you had at a zoo? 34. Would you like to work at a zoo? Why or why not? 35. How do you feel when you see large animals like elephants in zoos?

VIII. Zoo Activities 36. What are some activities that children can do at a zoo? 37. Have you ever attended a zoo camp or a night-time zoo event? 38. How do you think a zoo prepares for a new animal arrival? 39. What would be an interesting zoo exhibit you would like to see? 40. Do you think zoos should have interactive exhibits?

IX. Animal Health and Care 41. How do zoos take care of sick animals? 42. What do you think happens during a zoo animal check-up? 43. How can zookeepers tell if an animal is not feeling well? 44. Why do you think it’s important for zoo animals to get exercise? 45. What role do veterinarians play in a zoo?

X. Zoo Design and Layout 46. How do you think a zoo decides where to put different animal exhibits? 47. What do you think makes a good zoo map? 48. Why do you think some animals are kept indoors while others are outdoors? 49. How do you think zoos ensure the safety of both animals and visitors? 50. What are some features of a zoo that make it enjoyable for visitors?

XI. Zoo Experiences Around the World 51. How do you think zoos are different in various parts of the world? 52. Can you name any famous zoos outside of your country? 53. What unique animals have you heard about in zoos in other countries? 54. Do you think climate affects the types of animals a zoo can have? 55. Would you like to visit a zoo in another country? Why?

XII. Future of Zoos 56. How do you think zoos will change in the future? 57. Do you think there will be more virtual zoo experiences? 58. How can technology improve the lives of zoo animals? 59. What do you think are the biggest challenges zoos will face in the future? 60. Can you imagine a world without zoos? What would that be like?

How about these other ESL discussion topics?

“chemistry” esl discussion questions, “genetically modified food (gm food)” esl discussion questions, “graphic design” esl discussion questions, “table tennis” esl discussion questions, “homework” esl discussion questions, “trains” esl discussion questions, “nuclear war” esl discussion questions, “philosophy” esl discussion questions.

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ESL Conversation Topics

  • Intermediate

Zoos and Children

woman in blue shirt standing beside brown deer during daytime

  • 1.0 Overview
  • 2.0 Reading Text
  • 3.0 Conversation Questions

Zoos are an excellent conversation topic for English learners with a beginner level because they offer a fun and engaging way to learn about animals and the natural world. This conversation focuses specifically around the benefits of children visiting zoos.

Why Zoos are a Great Place for Children to Learn About Animals

Zoos are a good place for children to learn about animals. Zoos are a fun place to visit and they can help children learn about animals in an exciting way. Here are some reasons why.

One reason is that zoos let children see animals up close. Although books and videos can teach children about animals, nothing is as good as seeing them in person. By watching the animals, children can learn about their behavior and habits.

Another reason is that zoos often have educational programs that teach children about animals. These programs can be interactive and hands-on, which means that children can touch and feel the animals. They can learn about different animals, what they eat, how they live, and how they are cared for.

Finally, zoos can inspire children to care about animals and want to protect them. By seeing the animals and learning about them, children can develop a connection to them. They may feel a sense of responsibility to take care of them and make sure they are safe.

Answer The Questions Below To Check Your Understanding

  • What does the article say about educational programs at zoos?
  • According to the article, what are some of the things children can learn about animals by observing them at the zoo?

Conversation Questions

My Image

  • Have you ever visited a zoo? What did you like about it?
  • What do you think are the benefits of seeing animals up close at a zoo?
  • Do you think visiting a zoo can inspire children to care about animals?
  • What wild animals do you like the most? Have you ever seen them in real life?
  • Do you think zoos can be beneficial for very young children?
  • Apart from zoos, how do you think children can learn about animals?
  • Do you think zoos are important for animal protection and conservation? Why or why not?
  • How can we ensure that animals in zoos are treated well and have a good quality of life?
  • What do you think adults can learn from visiting zoos?
  • Do you think it is right to keep large animals like elephants or gorillas in captivity?

Keep The Conversation Going!

Gregory

Gregory is a qualified TEFL teacher who has been teaching English as a Foreign Language (ESL) for over a decade. He has taught in-person classes in Spain and to English learners around the world online.

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Are zoos a good thing.

Hands reaching out to touch an elephant's trunk

How do you feel about keeping animals in zoos? Read both sides of the argument to help you decide.

Instructions

Do the preparation exercise first. Then read the text and do the other exercises.

Preparation

Zoos are hugely popular attractions for adults and children alike. But are they actually a good thing?

Critics of zoos would argue that animals often suffer physically and mentally by being enclosed. Even the best artificial environments can't come close to matching the space, diversity, and freedom that animals have in their natural habitats. This deprivation causes many zoo animals to become stressed or mentally ill. Capturing animals in the wild also causes much suffering by splitting up families. Some zoos make animals behave unnaturally: for example, marine parks often force dolphins and whales to perform tricks. These mammals may die decades earlier than their wild relatives, and some even try to commit suicide.

On the other hand, by bringing people and animals together, zoos have the potential to educate the public about conservation issues and inspire people to protect animals and their habitats. Some zoos provide a safe environment for animals which have been mistreated in circuses, or pets which have been abandoned. Zoos also carry out important research into subjects like animal behaviour and how to treat illnesses.

One of the most important modern functions of zoos is supporting international breeding programmes, particularly for endangered species. In the wild, some of the rarest species have difficulty in finding mates and breeding, and they might also be threatened by poachers, loss of their habitat and predators. A good zoo will enable these species to live and breed in a secure environment. In addition, as numbers of some wild species drop, there is an increased danger of populations becoming too genetically similar. Breeding programmes provide a safeguard: zoo-bred animals can be released into the wild to increase genetic diversity.

However, opponents of zoos say that the vast majority of captive breeding programmes do not release animals back into the wild. Surplus animals are sold not only to other zoos but also to circuses or hunting ranches in the US or South Africa, where some people are willing to pay a lot of money for the chance to kill an animal in a fenced enclosure. Often, these animals are familiar with humans and have very little chance of escaping.

So, are zoos good for animals or not? Perhaps it all depends on how well individual zoos are managed, and the benefits of zoos can surely outweigh their harmful effects. However, it is understandable that many people believe imprisoning animals for any reason is simply wrong.

Check your understanding: true or false

Check your vocabulary: gap fill, worksheets and downloads.

What do you think about zoos? Are they a good thing, or is it cruel to keep animals in captivity?

esl topics zoo

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GoogooEnglish

FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS

An exciting Going to the Zoo EFL ESL lesson plan

Going to the Zoo EFL ESL lesson plan

Little kids love learning about animals. It’s also really fun to teach about different animals and their sounds and actions. This is a Going to the Zoo EFL ESL lesson plan for preschool children. We’re going to learn all about different animals that you can see on a visit to the zoo. What can you see? What can the elephant do? The lesson will last about one hour and we’ll end with a fun and easy craft activity to make an animal. Get ready! We’re going to the zoo!

For this Going to the Zoo EFL ESL Lesson plan, you will need:

  • Animal flashcards: make your own or use something like this
  • Coloring pens, paper, scissors and glue
  • Cardboard toilet rolls or card

Going to the Zoo songs and videos:

  • Who’s in the Zoo? by The Kiboomers
  • Let’s Go to the Zoo by Super Simple Songs

Introduction

Start the lesson with your usual Hello routine or use one of my favorite Hello songs . Then start drawing some animals on the board and ask the children what they are and if they know where you will be going today. If they don’t guess, tell them you are going to the zoo. Then sing the Who’s in the Zoo song together. What other animals can they think of that you might see at the zoo?

Meet the zoo animals

Using a mystery bag or box , pull out your flashcards and learn the names of the different animals. Don’t forget to use lots of actions and TPR to help the children remember the names of the animals. Then play a What’s Missing game: take one card away and put the others on the board or the table and let the class guess which animal is missing.

Let’s go to the zoo!

It’s time to go to the zoo and see what the animals are doing. Sing the song together and do the actions for each animal. Then ask the class, “What can you see?” and do the actions for one animal. Let them reply, “I can see a …..”. Once they’ve got the hang of this, choose one of them to do the actions and let the class ask another child what they can see. Let everyone have a turn.

What can you see?

Put the kids in pairs in a line or in a circle and give everyone an animal flashcard. Practice asking the question and replying so you are sure everyone is clear. Then let them work in their pairs asking each other the question, “What can you see?” “I can see an elephant / a bear/ a tiger etc.” Then change partners.

Zoo animal craft activity

We are going to make very simple cardboard roll zoo animals . Get everybody sitting down and give everyone a cardboard toilet roll and some paper and scissors. Tell the children that they can choose an animal. Show them how to draw, color and cut out the face, paws and tail of their animal. Then help them stick it on to the cardboard roll. While you’re doing this, ask them to tell you what animal it is and show you its actions.

If you’ve still got some time, play the question game again but using your animal models instead of the flashcards. Sing one of the zoo songs again to finish the lesson or choose one of my favorite Goodbye songs . Then send the kids home with their animal models

If you teach this lesson with your class, I’d love to hear how it went so please leave a comment. If you’ve enjoyed this lesson plan and would like to see more, you can see all my lesson plans here . To stay up to date with news and new posts from GoogooEnglish, you can follow our Facebook page or sign up for email updates below.

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Conversation Questions Animals & Pets

Selected questions, more questions.

ESL Speaking

Games + Activities to Try Out Today!

in Activities for Kids

ESL Animal Activities, Games, Worksheets and Lesson Plans

Are you looking for some fun and engaging ESL animal activities, along with worksheets and lesson plans? Then you’re most certainly in the right place for everything ESL animals lesson plans! Keep on reading for all the details you need to know about doing the animal unit in style.

esl-animal-activities

ESL Animals activities and games, plus worksheets and lesson plans.

Let’s get into the best ideas, games, lesson plans and activities for teaching animals to English learners.

ESL Animals Activities and Games

Are you ready to get into the teaching animals for ESL activities? Then keep on reading for the best animal games and activities for English learners.

#1: 20 Questions

One of my favourite games to play when I teach the animal unit is 20 questions. Because the secret thing is limited to an animal, I usually make it into a “10 questions” game or it’s too easy. The way it works is that students have to answer yes/no questions to uncover which animal you’re secretly thinking of.

You can find out more about how to play this game with English learners here: 20 Questions for ESL .

#2: Animal Charades

If you want to have some serious fun teaching your students about animals, then you’ll want to consider playing animals charades. The way it works is that a student has to act out an animal and then their teammates need to guess what they’re doing.

Try it out with your students today! Charades for ESL/EFL .

#3: Animal Videos

It’s easier than ever these days for English teachers because there is a video for just about vocabulary set, topic or grammatical point on YouTube or English Central. But, you can get way more out of them if you don’t just put the video on and hit play.

There are a ton of pre and post watching activities you can do with your students. Check out some of them right here: Using Videos in the ESL Classroom .

#4: Flashcard Sentences

In my opinion, flashcards are one of the most under utilized ESL teaching tools. They are super versatile and you can do a ton of things with them. One way that they work really well is with animals. For a ton of ideas about how to use them in your classes, you’ll want to check this out:

ESL Flashcard Activities and Games.

#5: The Memory Circle Game

This circle game is one of my favourite memory games for TEFL and it’s the ultimate word category game . The way it works is that students have to stand up in a circle. The first students says an animal and then the next students repeats the first one and adds their own. And so on it goes until a student can’t remember and they have to sit down.

Find out more about this fun game for kids here: ESL Memory Circle Game .

39 Awesome 1-1 ESL Activities: For English Teachers of Kids (7-13) Who Want to Have Better Private...

  • Amazon Kindle Edition
  • Bolen, Jackie (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 50 Pages - 01/21/2016 (Publication Date)

#6: The Hot Potato Game

If you want to create some pure fun and excitement in your classes, then you’ll want to consider trying out the hot potato game. The way it works is that students pass an object of some kind around the classroom. When the timer or music stops, the person holding the object has to do something.

In this case, you may want to hold up a flashcard with an animal on it. Beginners may have to say the name of the animal, while more advanced students could say three facts about it. For example (horse):

  • It has three legs
  • You can find it in the wild or on farms
  • Horses are many different colors

You can learn more about how to use this activity in your classes right here: ESL Hot Potato Game .

#7: Can/Can’t Game

Animals and the grammatical constructions of can and can’t are often combined in many ESL textbooks. For example:

  • A horse can run fast.
  • A horse can’t fly.

If you want a fun game that uses can and can’t, you’ll want to check this out. And of course, you can easily gear it towards animals.

ESL Can/Can’t Activity .

animals-esl

Teaching animals

#8: Flip-Chart Vocabulary Review

If you want to review key vocabulary terms like new animals, then you’ll definitely want to consider flip-chart. The way it works is that you write a bunch of the target vocabulary in a notebook. Then, the first team sends up a captain to the front of the class. His or her teammates describe the word to that person who has to guess what it is. The team with the most number of points at the end of the time is the winner.

Sounds like it’ll work well for your students? You can check it out here: ESL Vocabulary Review Game .

#9: Animal Trivia

I love to bring trivia into my classroom because it’s a challenging, fun activity that students seem to love. Check out some of my favourite animal themed questions right here:

ESL Animal Trivia .

animals-games-kids

ESL animal activity for kids

#10: Would you Rather?

This is a versatile ESL speaking activity that lends itself very well to many different kinds of topic and units, including animals. In this case, students could choose between two animals and then explain why they chose the one that they did. For example,

Would you rather be a bird or a dolphin?

Do you want to find out more about this activity? You can check out the details for yourself about this activity that’s ideal for an ESL animals lesson plan right here: Would you Rather for ESL.

#11: I’m an Alien 

If you want to elicit a bunch of information about various kinds of animals, then consider using this simple activity: I’m an Alien .

#12: Animal ESL Bingo

Bingo is a fun game that most students like to play. However, simply saying the words often doesn’t have much educational value. Instead, I make it into a serious listening challenge by describing the animals by giving hints instead of just saying the word. For example:

  • It has 4 legs and lives on a farm.
  • You maybe had it for breakfast—bacon!

Do you want to try out this version of Bingo? Learn more here: ESL Speaking Bingo .

101 ESL Activities: For Teachers of Kids (6-13) Who Want to Have Fun, Engaging and Interactive...

  • Smith, Jennifer Booker (Author)
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#13: What Am I?

Try out this simple ESL icebreaker with animals! The way it works is that each student has a post-it note with an animal on it that they can’t see but the other students can. Then, they have to circulate around the class asking yes/no questions to find out their animal.

Sounds like your students will like it? Learn more here: What Am I ESL Game .

#14: Task-Based Language Activities

For the animal unit, you could certainly consider doing some task-based activities. They’re ideal because they allow the students to learn what they want to learn in terms of grammar and vocabulary.

In this case, you might consider having students do a research project about an animal of their choosing and then making a brochure or doing a presentation to the class.

Do you want to know more about this style of teaching? You can learn more here: Task Based Learning and Teaching .

39 Task-Based Language Teaching and Learning Activities: A Very Practical Guide to Using TBL in the...

  • 81 Pages - 06/22/2021 (Publication Date)

#15: A-Z Alphabet Game

If you know that students already know a fair amount of animal vocabulary, then you may want to consider using this game as a warmer. The way it works is that students have to try to think of one animal per letter of the alphabet in a certain amount of time. Most students won’t complete the activity but the group with the most animals is the winner.

Try it out here: A-Z ESL Game .

#16: Picture Prompt

This is an easy warmer activity to introduce your students to animals. Chances are, they already know a good deal of this vocabulary and this activity can help them activate their prior knowledge.

Depending on the level of your students, you could ask them various questions:

  • What animals do you see?
  • What’s going on in the picture?
  • What’s going to happen next?

More details here: ESL Picture Warm-Up .

#17: Animal Songs

You can find an animal song or chant for all ages and levels on YouTube! Just have a look and you’ll be able to easily find what you’re looking for.

#18: Animal Chain Spelling

A quick, easy way to review spelling of key animal vocabulary words is to play this game. The way it works is that students have to spelling out words, letter by letter until only one person remains. Find out how to play this activity that’s perfect for an ESL animals lesson plan right here:

Chain Spelling ESL Game .

#19: Flip Chart Animal Vocab Review Game

#20: ESL Animal Board Game

In real life, I love to play board games. So it makes sense that I’d use them a lot in my classes too, right? The good news is that it’s super easy to make your own for just about any topic, vocabulary set or grammar point. For animals, you could either ask some questions like the following:

  • What’s your favourite animal? Why?
  • Do you have any pets?
  • If you could choose any pet, what would it be?

Or, give hints:

  • It has 4 legs and lives on a farm
  • Name 3 animals that people eat
  • What’s the biggest animal?

Find out all the details you need to know here:

ESL Board Games .

49 ESL Writing Activities & Games: For Teachers of Kids and Teenagers Who Want to Have Better...

  • 82 Pages - 06/10/2020 (Publication Date)

#21: Running Dictation Game for Teaching Animals 

Just ask my students and they’ll tell you that running dictation is one of my favourite activities. It’s student-centred, covers a range of skills and is ideal for the animal unit with more advanced level students. Beginners may find it too challenging.

The way it works is that you have to find, or write a conversation about animals. Then, students have to work in pairs to dictate it. After that, they have to put the conversation in the correct order. Try it out with your students:

Running Dictation. 

#22: Kindergarten Games and Activities

Little kids love learning about animals. It’s one of their favourite topics and I like to include it into my young learner English classes as much as I can. For some of the best ideas for teaching kids, you’ll want to check this out:

ESL Kindergarten Activities and Games .

#23: Flyswatter Vocabulary Game

#24: Comparative and Superlative Games and Activities

Words like the tallest, biggest, and most dangerous are a natural fit for describing animals. That’s why you’ll often find animals along with comparative/superlative adjectives together in ESL textbooks.

If this is the case, consider using some of these engaging and interactive activities:

ESL Comparative/Superlative Activities .

#25: Guessing Game

This is a simple warm-up activity that’s ideal for getting students talking about animals. Prepare a handout of PowerPoint slide with various animals on it.

In pairs, students have to take turns describing one of them to their partner who has to guess what it is. This also works well for things like jobs, food or drink , or famous people. Find out more about it:

ESL Guessing Game .

#26: Dictation

#27: Dictogloss

If you teach more advanced-level students, then you may want to consider using this challenging listening activity. Find or write a passage that contains lots of the target vocabulary. In this case, animals or words related to their abilities.

Then, put students into pairs and read out the passage at a faster-than-normal pace. Have students take notes and then work together to attempt to recreate what they heard. Repeat the process again and in the end, each pair can compare what they have with the original version.

Sounds fun? It is! Learn more about it:

ESL Dictogloss Activity .

#28: ESL Vocabulary Auction 

#29: Sea Creatures

If your students want to learn the most common sea creatures, have a look at this article. You can find a list of ocean animals, along with pictures and a fun guessing game:

Sea Animal Name List .

#30: Examples of Herbivores

Have a look at this list, along with pictures of plant-eating animals. It’s a nice way for students to learn some new vocabulary in a fun way. Then, try out the online guessing game.

Examples of Herbivores

#31: Zoo Animals

Teach your students about the various kinds of animals they can find in a zoo:

Zoo Animals List

Zoo Animal Guessing Game Video on YouTube

Animals ESL Worksheets

If you want some animal ESL worksheets that you can just print and go, here are a few of our favourite resources:

ISL Collective

English Worksheets

ESL Kids World

ESL Animals Lesson Plan

Does the idea of a lesson plan about animals that you can just print and go seem like exactly what you might need? All your dreams can come true! Here are some of our top recommendations:

Lingua House

TEFL Handbook

Did you Like these ESL Animal Activities? 

Yes? Thought so! Then you’re going to love this book over on Amazon: 101 ESL Activities for Kids . The key to better English classes for kids is a variety of interesting and engaging ESL games and activities and this book will help you with just that. The dozens of top-notch activities will help you make it through the entire semester in style.

You can get the book in both digital and print formats. The digital copy can be read on any device by downloading the free Kindle reading app. Take it with you to your favourite coffee shop for a serious dose of lesson planning on the go. Or, keep the physical book on the bookshelf in your office to use as a nice reference guide.

Yes, it really is that easy to have better English classes. Check out the book for yourself over on Amazon but only if you want a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome in your life:

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Have your say about these Animals ESL Activities and Games

What did you think about these animal ESL games? Did you try out some from the list, or do you have another recommendation that you’d like to share with us? Leave a comment below and let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy English teachers, like yourself find this useful resource.

Last update on 2024-02-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

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About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 100 books for English teachers and English learners, including 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults and 1001 English Expressions and Phrases . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: YouTube Facebook TikTok Pinterest Instagram

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I’m just working on the animal unit with my kindy kids right now and found your ideas for activities so useful. Thank you!

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ESL Questions About At The City Zoo

  • Posted by by ESL Questions About
  • 2 weeks ago

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Hey there, ESL teachers and fellow adventurers! Are you ready to embark on a wild and educational journey? We are thrilled to introduce you to our latest blog post on “At the City Zoo”. As dedicated educators, we understand the importance of engaging our students in interactive and immersive learning experiences. What better way to sharpen their English skills than by taking them on a virtual visit to the exciting world of the zoo? Get ready to explore the exotic creatures, hear incredible stories, and discover fascinating facts about the animal kingdom. So, grab your safari hat and let’s dive right into this thrilling escapade together!

ESL Speaking Questions About At The City Zoo

Beginner esl questions about at the city zoo.

  • Have you ever been to a city zoo?
  • What animals did you see at the zoo?
  • Which animal at the zoo is your favorite?
  • Why do you like that animal?
  • What sounds do animals make at the zoo?
  • What do you think it’s like to work at a zoo?
  • Do you know any zookeepers?
  • Do you like watching animal shows at the zoo?
  • What is the biggest animal you’ve seen at the zoo?
  • Can you name some animals that can fly?
  • Do you know any animals that live in the water?
  • Which animal at the zoo would you like to have as a pet?
  • What do you think the animals eat at the zoo?
  • Do you know any facts about zoo animals?
  • Have you ever fed an animal at the zoo?
  • Can you imitate the sound of any animals at the zoo?
  • Would you like to work as a zookeeper in the future?
  • What do you think the animals do at night when the zoo is closed?
  • Why do you think zoos are important?
  • What would you say to encourage your friends to visit the city zoo with you?

Intermediate ESL Questions about At the City Zoo

  • What kind of animals do you usually see at a city zoo?
  • Which animal at the zoo is your favorite? Why?
  • Do you think it’s important for children to visit the zoo? Why or why not?
  • What are some ways zoos help with conservation of endangered animals?
  • Would you rather see a show with trained animals or observe animals in their natural habitat? Why?
  • Do you think zoos should be responsible for breeding endangered animals? Why or why not?
  • How do you feel about zoos keeping animals in captivity for public display?
  • Have you ever had a close encounter with an animal at a zoo? Tell us about it.
  • What do you think are the benefits of having a city zoo in your community?
  • Do you think zoos can effectively educate visitors about animals and conservation? Why or why not?
  • Do you know any cities that are famous for their zoos? Which one would you like to visit and why?
  • If you were in charge of a city zoo, what kind of changes or additions would you make?
  • What would be a good way for a city zoo to attract more visitors?
  • What kind of activities or events do you think a city zoo could organize to engage the public?
  • Do you think it’s important for animals in zoos to have a comfortable and natural habitat?
  • Would you like to work at a city zoo in the future? Why or why not?
  • What measures do you think zoos should take to ensure the well-being of their animals?
  • Do you think zoos should have stricter regulations on animal welfare? Why or why not?
  • Have you ever volunteered or participated in any activities at a city zoo? If not, would you consider doing so in the future?

Advanced ESL Questions about At the City Zoo:

  • What is your favorite animal to see at the city zoo?
  • Have you ever visited a city zoo before? If so, which one?
  • Why do you think city zoos are important?
  • What are some benefits of having a zoo in the city?
  • Do you think zoos play a role in conservation efforts? Why or why not?
  • Would you prefer to see animals in their natural habitats or at the zoo? Why?
  • What are some challenges that zoos face in terms of animal welfare?
  • Do you think it is ethical to keep animals in captivity for the purpose of entertainment? Why or why not?
  • How do you feel about zoos that are focused on breeding endangered species?
  • Do you think animals in zoos should be trained or perform tricks for visitors? Why or why not?
  • What measures can zoos take to ensure the well-being of the animals in their care?
  • Would you consider working at a city zoo? Why or why not?
  • What are some ways that city zoos can educate visitors about animals and conservation?
  • Do you believe there should be stricter regulations on city zoos? Why or why not?
  • Have you ever participated in any zoo’s educational programs or workshops?
  • What can zoos do to promote awareness about endangered animals?
  • Do you think zoos should prioritize entertainment or education? Why?
  • How can zoos incorporate more interactive experiences for visitors?
  • What role can zoos play in promoting environmental awareness?
  • Would you like to see more wild animals in city parks instead of confined in zoos? Why or why not?

ESL Reading Activities About At The City Zoo

Beginner esl activities about at the city zoo.

At the city zoo, you can see many different animals. There are tall giraffes, smart monkeys, and big elephants. The zookeeper takes care of all the animals, making sure they have enough food and water. You can watch the zookeeper feed the animals during the day.

There is a lion at the zoo named Leo. Leo is very strong and has a loud roar. He likes to lay in the sun and take naps. He is a favorite among visitors at the zoo. People often take pictures in front of Leo’s enclosure.

There is also a small pond at the zoo where ducks swim. Ducks like to float on the water and catch fish to eat. They make a funny quacking sound. It’s fun to watch them swim around.

Next to the pond, there is a cage with colorful parrots. Parrots can talk and imitate sounds. Some parrots can even say hello! They have beautiful feathers and are very friendly.

Don’t forget to visit the reptile house. Inside, you can see snakes, turtles, and lizards. One snake is very long and green. It slithers around its enclosure. The turtles are slow and like to hide in their shells. The lizards are tiny and like to climb on rocks.

If you feel hungry, there is a café near the entrance where you can get food and drinks. You can sit at a table and enjoy your meal while watching the animals from a distance. It’s a great place to relax.

Intermediate ESL Activities About At the City Zoo

Visiting the city zoo is a wonderful experience for both children and adults. At the city zoo, you can see a variety of interesting and exotic animals from all around the world. The zoo is a great place to learn about different species and their habitats. As you walk around, you can observe animals such as lions, tigers, and elephants, which are known as the “big five” in the animal kingdom. These magnificent creatures are often the main attractions at the zoo. You can also learn about more unusual creatures, such as the komodo dragon, which is the largest lizard in the world. Observing these animals up close allows visitors to appreciate their beauty and uniqueness.

The zoo provides interactive activities to engage visitors. For example, there are feeding sessions where you can watch the zookeepers giving the animals their daily meals. This allows you to see how the animals eat and learn about their dietary needs. Another exciting activity is the opportunity to take a ride on a train that goes around the zoo. From the train, you can see the animals from a different perspective and get a closer look at their enclosures. The zoo also offers informative talks and presentations by experts, where you can learn fascinating facts about the animals.

One of the best features of the city zoo is the children’s area. Here, kids can interact with domestic animals, such as rabbits and guinea pigs, which they can feed and touch. This helps them develop a sense of responsibility and empathy towards animals. There is also a playground with animal-themed structures for the children to enjoy.

When visiting the zoo, it is important to be respectful to the animals and follow the rules. Make sure not to tap on the glass enclosures or throw anything into the animal habitats. Remember that these are their homes, and we are just guests. Finally, don’t forget to grab a souvenir from the zoo gift shop to remember your fun day!

Vocabulary Words

Advanced esl activities about at the city zoo.

Visiting the city zoo can be an exciting and educational experience. The zoo is home to a wide variety of animals from all over the world, giving visitors the opportunity to see creatures they may never encounter in their daily lives. The zoo is a popular attraction for both children and adults because it provides a chance to observe and learn about different species up close.

As you walk through the zoo, you will come across various exhibits that showcase different habitats. One of the most remarkable exhibits is the African Savannah, where you can observe majestic lions, graceful giraffes, and mighty elephants. It is truly awe-inspiring to see these wild animals in their natural-like environment.

Another fascinating area is the Reptile House, which houses a collection of snakes, lizards, and turtles. This is a chance to learn about these unique creatures, their behavior, and their adaptations. As you read the signs near each exhibit, you will discover interesting facts about each animal’s diet, habitat, and physical characteristics.

Some of the zoo’s highlights include the daily animal shows and demonstrations. Watching the dolphins perform their acrobatic stunts is always a crowd favorite. The zookeepers also organize feeding sessions for certain animals, providing visitors with the opportunity to witness these creatures in action, right before their eyes.

If you are interested in learning even more about animals, the zoo offers interactive educational workshops. These workshops provide hands-on experiences, allowing visitors to touch and handle different species under the guidance of trained staff. It’s an excellent opportunity to ask questions, expand your knowledge, and deepen your understanding of the animal kingdom.

ESL Writing Activities About At The City Zoo

Beginner esl writing questions about at the city zoo.

1. Describe your favorite animal that you saw at the city zoo. What does it look like? What is its name? 2. What are three words you would use to describe the city zoo? Why? 3. Write a short paragraph about what you did during your visit to the city zoo. 4. Pick one animal you saw at the city zoo. Write three sentences about what it eats, where it lives, and one interesting fact about it. 5. Imagine you are a zookeeper at the city zoo. Write a letter to a friend about your day taking care of the animals.

Intermediate ESL Writing Questions about At the City Zoo

1. Write a compare and contrast essay about the city zoo and a zoo in your country. What are the similarities and differences between the two? 2. Choose three animals at the city zoo and research their habitats. Write a paragraph about each animal’s natural habitat and explain why it is important for their survival. 3. Write a persuasive essay trying to convince your friends to visit the city zoo. Include at least three reasons why they should go and provide examples to support your points. 4. Imagine you are a tour guide at the city zoo. Write a script for a guided tour, including interesting facts and descriptions of the animals. 5. Write a short story about a zookeeper who discovers a new species of animal at the city zoo. Describe the animal and its behavior, and explain how the zookeeper reacts to this discovery.

Advanced ESL Writing Questions about At the City Zoo

1. Write a research paper about the ethical issues surrounding zoos. Discuss both the positive and negative aspects of keeping animals in captivity. 2. The city zoo has recently opened a new exhibit featuring endangered animals. Write an article for a local newspaper promoting the exhibit and raising awareness about the importance of conservation. 3. Reflect on your visit to the city zoo and write a personal essay examining the role of zoos in educating the public about wildlife conservation. 4. Write a proposal for a new educational program at the city zoo. What subjects would be covered? How would the program benefit students and the community? 5. In your opinion, do you believe that zoos should prioritize animal welfare over entertainment value? Write an argumentative essay supporting your stance and providing evidence to support your claims.

ESL Roleplay Activities about At the City Zoo

1. Visiting the Zoo – In this roleplay activity, students can pretend to be visitors at the city zoo. They can take turns playing the roles of tourists, ticket sellers, and zoo staff. Students can practice asking for tickets, giving directions, and describing the different animals they see in the zoo.

2. Animal Encounters – This roleplay activity focuses on interactions between zookeepers and visitors. Students can roleplay as zookeepers taking care of different animals in the zoo, while other students can act as curious visitors asking questions about the animals. This activity will allow students to practice vocabulary related to animals, their habitats, and their behaviors.

3. Zoo Research – In this roleplay activity, students can play the roles of researchers or journalists visiting the zoo to gather information for an article or a report. Students can divide into groups, each focusing on a specific animal or exhibit at the zoo. They can then interview zoo staff, take notes, and present their findings to the rest of the class.

4. Animal Shows – Students can roleplay as zoo performers showcasing various animal shows, such as a dolphin show, a bird show, or a lion-taming show. They can practice narrating the shows, describing the animals’ abilities and tricks, and interacting with the audience. This activity allows students to work on their speaking skills while incorporating creativity and imagination.

5. Animal Adoption Center – In this roleplay activity, students can take on the roles of animal adoption center staff and potential adopters. Students will practice asking and answering questions about the animals, discussing their suitability as pets, and completing adoption forms. This activity encourages students to use their language skills in a more practical context, while also raising awareness about animal welfare.

Note: Remember to provide clear instructions and guidance to students before engaging in any roleplay activities. Encourage students to use English as much as possible during the roleplays, and provide feedback and support to enhance their language learning experience.

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Select a Zoo

Reviews — zoos in europe, his­tory description, his­tory documentary.

Dur­ing the sec­ond half of the nine­teenth cen­tury the first menageries in Moscow were estab­lished as enter­tain­ment facil­i­ties. The first was founded in 1855 by two French­men (names unknown), while the Kreuzberg fam­ily owned a pri­vate menagerie that opened its door to the pub­lic in 1862 . Together these ani­mal col­lec­tions formed the heart of the Moscow Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den founded by the Soci­ety for Acclima­ti­za­tion of Plants and Ani­mals, which was estab­lished by pro­fes­sors of the Moscow State Uni­ver­sity. The ini­tial idea for such a zoo­log­i­cal gar­den came in 1857 , but it took the Soci­ety, includ­ing one of its found­ing fathers pro­fes­sor Ana­toly P. Bog­danov, until 1863 to be able to buy prop­erty for the future zoo. The Zoo was opened to vis­i­tors on 13 Feb­ru­ary 1864 at the loca­tion where it still exists until this very day. On open­ing day 287 ani­mals were on dis­play, of which 134 were domes­tic ani­mals, while the oth­ers were exotic spec­i­mens such as tigers, lions, jaguar, leop­ard and rhino.

In those days it was an unique exper­i­ment to cre­ate “a liv­ing museum out­doors,” as pro­fes­sor Bog­danov said, in such severe cli­matic con­di­tions of cen­tral Rus­sia. The pri­mary pur­pose of the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den accord­ing to the mem­bers of the Soci­ety was:

to col­lect alive spec­i­mens of higher ver­te­brates ( firstly — the ani­mals of Russ­ian fauna) for sci­en­tific observations;

to estab­lish a col­lec­tion of typ­i­cal ani­mals that could serve edu­ca­tional pur­poses, i.e. dis­tri­b­u­tion of zoo­log­i­cal knowl­edge among the wide pub­lic communities;

to carry out sci­en­tific exper­i­ments and obser­va­tions of impor­tant ani­mals, espe­cially domes­tic ani­mals of Russ­ian breeds.

The Zoo was financed by the entrance fees and pri­vate dona­tions, includ­ing con­tri­bu­tions by mem­bers of the impe­r­ial fam­ily. In the first years the annual num­ber of vis­i­tors grew up to ten thou­sands. Nev­er­the­less, the incomes did not cover the expenses and the Moscow City Coun­cil refused to give finan­cial sup­port. So, the Zoo went into pri­vate hands of the Ryabinins’ fam­ily in 1874 . They trans­formed the Zoo into an amuse­ment park and in three years time ruined the place. In 1878 the Zoo was run by the Soci­ety for Acclima­ti­za­tion of Plants and Ani­mals again, includ­ing fund rais­ing activ­i­ties. This time the Soci­ety was able to man­age the Zoo suc­cess­fully, and even to buy a num­ber of ani­mals. But in the tur­moil of the Rev­o­lu­tion of 1905 the Zoo was severely dam­aged: the build­ings were ruined, the library was set on fire, many ani­mals per­ished. So, for the sec­ond time the Soci­ety was forced to turn over the Zoo to pri­vate owners.

Then in 1914 World War I broke out. For the Zoo this meant that in the autumn of 1914 the only build­ing that remain to this day was trans­formed from the director’s premises to a hos­pi­tal for wounded WWI sol­diers. The WWI impact com­pounded Russia’s suf­fer­ing from a num­ber of eco­nomic and social prob­lems, which resulted first in the 1917 Feb­ru­ary rev­o­lu­tion fol­lowed by the Octo­ber rev­o­lu­tion. In the after­math of the Great Octo­ber Social­ist Rev­o­lu­tion of 1917 and the fall of the Russ­ian Empire, the Soci­ety ceased to exist, and in 1919 the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den was declared national prop­erty and trans­ferred under the respon­si­bil­ity of the min­istry of Cul­ture of the com­mu­nist Moscow par­lia­ment, the Mossovet. In 1922 it was trans­ferred to the author­ity of Moscow City Coun­cil and since then it has been sup­ported by the City Author­i­ties. Con­struc­tion work began on the Zoo grounds. The Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den premises almost dou­bled in size with the estab­lish­ment of the ‘New’ ter­ri­tory on the oppo­site side of Bol­shaya Gruzin­skaya street. New exhibits, which fol­lowed the prin­ci­ple of Carl Hagenbeck’s bar-​less enclo­sure design were estab­lished. One of the most inter­est­ing exhibits of the Zoo called ‘Ani­mal Island’ still exists. It was a high stony rock sur­rounded by a deep water ditch that sep­a­rated the vis­i­tors from bears, tigers, lions and other large preda­tors on the ‘Island’. The total size at the time was nearly 18 hectares.

In 1926 the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den was renamed ‘Zoo­log­i­cal Park’. At that time the range of activ­i­ties extended, the ani­mal col­lec­tion increased con­sid­er­ably with expe­di­tions col­lect­ing wildlife in Cen­tral Asia, the Far East and the Cau­ca­sus. New depart­ments were estab­lished, focussed on for instance sci­en­tific research, edu­ca­tion, vet­eri­nary sci­ence and nutri­tion. In those same years Moscow Zoo was the first zoo in the world where edu­ca­tional activ­i­ties were the main priority.

In 1924 the Zoo had estab­lished the Young Biol­o­gists Club that gath­ered like-​minded young peo­ple that joined in real sci­en­tific research. Many of them became a Zoo employee. The Club was founded by Petr Man­teifel, who also was the pio­neer father of the sci­ence called ‘zoo biol­ogy’. Man­teifel and his young biol­o­gists dis­cov­ered a way of arti­fi­cial breed­ing sables (Martes zibel­lina), which were on the verge of extinc­tion due to man’s insa­tiable pur­suit for its expen­sive fur. In the 1930 s dur­ing Stalin’s great purge many mem­bers of the Young Biol­o­gists Club were arrested accused of spread­ing anti-​soviet pro­pa­ganda and liberal-​minded ideas and hav­ing con­tact with Ger­man col­leagues at Berlin zoo, some were even exe­cuted as for­eign spies. The Club was con­sid­ered a non-​governmental organ­i­sa­tion beyond the direct con­trol of the author­i­ties, which in fact was partly true because the Club was a real democ­racy, with mem­ber­ship avail­able to all.

Although many ani­mals were evac­u­ated and many of the zoo staff were called to arms at the begin­ning of World War II the Zoo was kept open. Of the 750 employ­ees at autumn 1941 only 220 remained on the staff, most of them women. Get­ting enough food for the ani­mals was a con­stant chal­lenge, for instance car­casses of killed horse at the bat­tle­field around Moscow were brought to the zoo. More than six mil­lion peo­ple vis­ited the Zoo from 1941 to 1945 to enjoy the sights of ani­mals that had remained.

At wartime the sci­en­tific work pro­ceeded, per­haps even more intense than before or after the war. The sci­en­tific staff worked espe­cially on devel­op­ment of antibi­otics. But the most impor­tant mis­sion of the Zoo dur­ing the war was to give peo­ple hope. It pro­duced the illu­sion of a peace­ful life until peo­ple sur­vived through the des­per­a­tion of the war with the Red Army sol­diers as the most fre­quent vis­i­tors of the Zoo. Which were given the plea­sure of watch­ing new­born off­spring even dur­ing the war.

Dur­ing the soviet union period ( 1922 − 1991 ) not many highly ranked peo­ple cared about the zoo — no soviet leader had any inter­est in it. The city encroached on the zoo premises, while the zoo needed addi­tional space for the ever expand­ing zoo pop­u­la­tion of ani­mals. Because the breed­ing results were still excellent.

The Zoo lived up to the goal it had set for itself and made edu­ca­tional activ­i­ties the main pri­or­ity. Zoo staff dis­trib­uted knowl­edge in the field of nat­ural his­tory and tried to raise the pub­lic aware­ness and con­cern about the neces­sity for wildlife con­ser­va­tion. The zoo assisted school­child­ren and stu­dents with study­ing biol­ogy, actively par­tic­i­pated in sci­en­tific research, and actively con­tributed to sci­en­tific pub­li­ca­tions. So, the Zoo became one of the larger sci­en­tific insti­tu­tions in Moscow. And of course it still was the favourite recre­ational place for Moscow cit­i­zens and those who vis­ited the city.

As off 1974 when Igos Sos­novsky retired as direc­tor and his suc­ces­sor Vladimir Spit­syn took over Moscow Zoo became part of the inter­na­tional zoo com­mu­nity again. Sos­novsky as a WWII vet­eran hadn’t been able to brush aside the fear of repres­sion and avoided all inter­na­tional con­tacts for some rea­son. Spit­syn restored all inter­na­tional activ­i­ties from before the war and the Zoo became mem­ber of many Euro­pean and Inter­na­tional Breed­ing Pro­grammes in which it exchanged its rare and endan­gered ani­mals, shared expe­ri­ence and information.

Although already in the 1970 s improve­ment of all zoo facil­i­ties was needed and ideas of a new zoo in another region of Moscow were launched, noth­ing hap­pened due to local eco­nom­i­cal and social prob­lems. By the end of the 1980 s the Zoo’s con­di­tion became alarm­ing. Facil­i­ties were dete­ri­o­rat­ing, enclo­sures were dilap­i­dated and tech­ni­cal equip­ment needed to be replaced as well. And while a few improve­ments had been achieved — such as a par­tial ren­o­va­tion of the main entrance, the mon­key house and lion house — urgent mea­sures were still needed.

Then, in 1992 the new Moscow gov­ern­ment made a deci­sion to start the most ambi­tious recon­struc­tion project in Moscow Zoo’s his­tory with the first stage of the project to be com­pleted by 1997 , when the 850 th anniver­sary of the City would be cel­e­brated. Ana­toly A. Andreev who had been involved in the Zoo’s design and archi­tec­ture since the 1970 s headed the team of archi­tects. The project’s ren­o­va­tion objec­tives were focussed at (a) preser­va­tion or par­tial ren­o­va­tion of the his­tor­i­cally valu­able build­ings and exist­ing pools, (b) reduc­tion of the noise from the sur­round­ing streets, © con­nec­tion of the Old and the New ter­ri­tory via a foot­bridge, and (d) expan­sion of the Old ter­ri­tory by incor­po­rat­ing adja­cent areas and buildings.

Besides the preser­va­tion and ren­o­va­tion of almost all impor­tant zoo con­struc­tions, includ­ing the ones that actu­ally were dilap­i­dated, many new enclo­sures and facil­i­ties were built. Already in 1993 the foot­bridge that con­nected the Old and New ter­ri­tory was com­pleted. It allowed vis­i­tors to avoid cross­ing the busy B. Gruzin­skaya street with its heavy traf­fic. In 1993 other con­struc­tions were com­pleted as well, such as an enclo­sure for large birds of prey and a com­plex of enclo­sures for feline species, includ­ing leop­ards, Pal­las’ cats and lynx. Next, the Hagenbeck-​style ‘Ani­mal Island’, one of the most remark­able exhibits in the New ter­ri­tory, was ren­o­vated. The his­toric appear­ance with enclo­sures that resem­bled the nat­ural habi­tats of Amur tiger, striped hyena, African wild dog and Asian black bear was pre­served. Later they intro­duced Asian lions in one of the enclo­sures around the large rock in the cen­tre of the ‘island’. Dur­ing the ren­o­va­tion they cre­ated the Exo­tar­ium, which held sev­eral aquar­i­ums, inside the rock on the sec­ond floor.

The fol­low­ing years many more enclo­sures were ren­o­vated, besides the new research and vet­eri­nar­ian facil­i­ties that were put into oper­a­tion in 1994 . In 1996 , the main entrance itself (fea­tur­ing a small arti­fi­cial water­fall) was recon­structed. The same year the old, dilap­i­dated ele­phant com­plex was demol­ished and a new ele­phant house was erected at the same spot, while the inhab­i­tants (four African ele­phants and four Asian ele­phants) were tem­porar­ily moved to a a for­mer tram depot that was com­pletely ren­o­vated and spe­cially equipped. A new children’s zoo was opened in the New ter­ri­tory, includ­ing a children’s the­atre that organ­ises shows with edu­ca­tional ele­ments. And besides sev­eral aviaries, a pavil­ion for water birds was built on the shore of the large pond in the New territory.

Although in those days 4 addi­tional hectares of space was added to the for­mer exist­ing 18 hectares, the Zoo still lacked space to cre­ate favourable con­di­tions for their species to breed. And its loca­tion in the cen­tre of Moscow didn’t con­tribute to the favourable breed­ing con­di­tions they wanted of course. There­fore, the 200 hectares area near the city of Voloko­lamsk (about 100 km from Moscow) that was given to the Zoo in 1996 for the estab­lish­ment of a breed­ing sta­tion was very much wel­comed (see also Breed­ing Cen­tre ).

The first major stage of the gen­eral recon­struc­tion of the Moscow zoo rep­re­sents a unique event. Not only over 50 facil­i­ties have been ren­o­vated ( 90 % of all exist­ing facil­i­ties) and newly built, but it was achieved in such a short period of time. But main­te­nance and small and larger refur­bish­ment is ongo­ing busi­ness in a zoo. So, i n 2002 , the Moscow City Gov­ern­ment and the City Coun­cil allo­cated the nec­es­sary funds to start con­struc­tion of a new pavil­ion for the Asian ele­phants. In 2003 the three ele­phants could move house already, and in spring 2009 , the first new­born ele­phant calf was welcomed.

The Moscow Zoo­log­i­cal Park has come a long way from the small zoo­log­i­cal gar­den it was to the large insti­tu­tion of sci­en­tific research, edu­ca­tion, con­ser­va­tion and recre­ation it is today. And due to the dynam­ics of the stan­dards used in the zoo com­mu­nity regard­ing ani­mal health and wel­fare, Moscow Zoo is con­stantly improv­ing its facil­i­ties, also dur­ing 2014 cel­e­brat­ing its 150 th anniversary.

(Source: Moscow Zoo web­site; Zoo with a Human Face, to the 150 th anniver­sary of the Moscow Zoo — a doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky, 2014 ; Zoo and Aquar­ium His­tory by Ver­non N. Kisling, Jr., 2001 ; Wikipedia)

An account of 150 years of his­tory of the Moscow Zoo

(A doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky)

The his­tory of Moscow Zoo shown through the per­spec­tive of the lives of the peo­ple who have been impor­tant to the Zoo’s devel­op­ment and con­tin­u­ous progress over those many years since 1864 . Thou­sands of pho­tographs, hun­dreds of chron­i­cles, accounts and rec­ol­lec­tions that have pre­served the story that began so long ago, against all odds, and lasts unin­ter­rupted to this day. A doc­u­men­tary about those who have devoted their lives to serv­ing a noble and reward­ing cause, those who have started from scratch, those who main­tained that work and about those who revive the Zoo as off today.

(Source: sdpavlovskiy YouTube channel)

20 . 06 . 2014

Finally, Moscow Zoo is paid a visit. I have been look­ing for­ward to this for quite some time. It has been on my to-​do list since I learnt about the large col­lec­tion of feline species on dis­play at the Zoo. So, I am here on this sunny day in June to sat­isfy my curios­ity, in the year they cel­e­brate the Zoo’s 150 th anniversary.

I am enter­ing as one of the 1 , 5 mil­lion pay­ing atten­dance yearly. Which is not even half of the total num­ber of vis­i­tors a year. This is about 4 mil­lion, because there are spe­cific cat­e­gories (e.g. dis­abled, pen­sion­ers, chil­dren, stu­dents, etc.) for whom the admis­sion is free.

OLD TER­RI­TORY

I turn left after the main entrance to visit the large preda­tor sec­tion of the Old ter­ri­tory. Not that only here you will find preda­tors, but the great­est part of their preda­tor col­lec­tion is grouped in this sec­tion. I will come back to the group­ing of Moscow Zoo’s ani­mal col­lec­tion later. After hav­ing walked along a fence that blocks most of the views on the work in progress at the lake I arrive at what they call here the ‘trop­i­cal cats’ sec­tion: Ben­gal tiger (unfor­tu­nately the genet­i­cally aber­rant ver­sion — a white tiger), jaguar and chee­tah. Both the tiger and the jaguar have their indoor enclo­sures in the same house built at the perime­ter of the premises. The chee­tahs have their shel­ter for the night and bad weather in their out­door pad­dock, so that can­not be vis­ited. The tiger and the jaguar how­ever have inter­est­ing hous­ing that serves the needs for both the cats and the vis­i­tors. The lat­ter are pleased with Asian and South Amer­i­can (Inca) orna­ments to make sure they under­stand the geo­graph­i­cal ori­gin of the species. While the walls have murals rep­re­sent­ing the species’ orig­i­nal habi­tat … Machu Pichu for the jaguar. The ani­mals them­selves have var­i­ous enrich­ment fea­tures at their dis­posal, includ­ing high level obser­va­tion posts, in rather small exhibits. The out­door facil­i­ties for these two species are acces­si­ble from the indoors. It has nat­ural veg­e­ta­tion, but not a lot. Like­wise there are not a lot of options to shel­ter from extreme weather or loud crowds. Although the cats have access to sev­eral rest­ing posts at dif­fer­ent lev­els, these enclo­sures can do with some improve­ments — at least more veg­e­ta­tion — to make them bet­ter fit for pur­pose, in my opin­ion. The enor­mous expo­sure of the cats is also due to the fact that they use win­dows to sep­a­rate ani­mal from man along almost the total length of the enclosures.

When I walk the few steps to the entrance of the Bear House, which is like the jaguar and tiger indoor enclo­sure built at the edge of the Zoo grounds, I pass in between the Pal­las’ cat exhibit and a sec­ond jaguar exhibit. The Pal­las’ cat has a flat grassy area with three large trees, some shrubs and a poten­tial pond (when filled with water) avail­able in its out­door enclo­sure. Win­dows all around and a wire mesh roof pre­vent the cat from flee­ing this scenery that doesn’t resem­ble the cat’s orig­i­nal Himalyan habi­tat. Across the foot­path there’s a jaguar enclo­sure that’s more inter­est­ing than the one directly neigh­bour­ing the tiger. This one has a small stream and loads of veg­e­ta­tion and a mul­ti­level rest­ing plat­form. Still the ani­mal is quite exposed.

The Bear House pro­vides a nice and secluded area where three adja­cent bear enclo­sures houses sloth bear and spec­ta­cled bear. As a vis­i­tor you walk via a roofed cor­ri­dor more or less in the dark along the enclo­sures hav­ing good views on the exhibit via man-​sized win­dows. The enclo­sures have a dry shal­low moat at the visitor’s side, but I don’t think this with­hold the bears from com­ing close to the win­dows. The enclo­sures are small but almost com­pletely filled with enrich­ment fea­tures includ­ing var­i­ous plat­forms, a tree trunk struc­ture, rub­ber ham­mocks and nat­ural veg­e­ta­tion. Con­sid­er­ing the design I think these enclo­sures offer peace and quiet for the bears, unless peo­ple start bang­ing the win­dows of course.

In slightly larger enclo­sures they keep Amur leop­ard, snow leop­ard and cougar ( Puma con­color ). At all of these felid species enclo­sures the dis­tance between the pub­lic bar­rier and the fence does allow con­tact when peo­ple lean far forward.

Fur­ther along the foot­path around the cor­ner the arc­tic fox and the dhole are housed in enclo­sures that have a sim­i­lar inte­rior design as those for the felids. Despite the fact that these species live under dif­fer­ent nat­ural cir­cum­stances in the wild (for­est and tun­dra habi­tat respectively).

When I walk back to have a look at the large birds of prey aviary I can­not pre­vent myself to have a brief look at the giraffe enclo­sure as well. It’s obvi­ously a relic of the past that is not fit for pur­pose any­more. Still they have one retic­u­lated giraffe on dis­play at a sad­den­ing small area. It loves to be fed by the pub­lic that doesn’t care about the warn­ing not to feed the ani­mals. On the other side of the build­ing a sim­i­lar piti­ful sit­u­a­tion for the sin­gle white-​tailed gnu can be seen.

One of the most extra­or­di­nary group of species brought together on dis­play can be found right after the row of preda­tor enclo­sures. The maned wolf from South Amer­ica has the red-​necked wal­laby and emu from Aus­tralia as neigh­bour. But also in the same area the African wild dog is on dis­play as well as white-​tailed gnu (Africa) and kiang (Asia) in the row of sta­bles along the rim of the premises.

The rac­coon exhibit is worth men­tion­ing con­sid­er­ing the afore­men­tioned acci­dent risks. It has a very typ­i­cal enclo­sure design with elec­tri­cal wire on top of win­dows sur­round­ing the entire exhibit. The elec­tri­cal wire is within reach of the pub­lic. So, there are numer­ous warn­ing signs! But why they installed elec­tri­cal wire on top of win­dows that are unclimbable for rac­coons? To keep out the pub­lic perhaps?

In the bird house, in the far end cor­ner from the main entrance, birds from all geo­graph­i­cal regions are grouped together, includ­ing Hum­boldt pen­guin and African pen­guin. The house con­sists of two part with one part half empty, and has also very com­mon species on dis­play, such as wild turkey, com­mon pheas­ant and Euro­pean hedge­hog. Out­side this build­ing sev­eral aviaries com­prise a large array of par­rot species (South Amer­ica and Australia).

Pro­ceed­ing with my tour around the Old ter­ri­tory I have a look at the Asian ele­phant house and its sur­round­ing grounds. The fancy steel with blue details of the ele­phant house doesn’t appeal to me, but that is just a mat­ter of taste. It is def­i­nitely the most mod­ern exhibit in the Zoo I’ve seen yet, in style and in size, with a nice pool at the visitor’s side.

I skip the rep­tile house to save some time, and money too, because an addi­tional fee com­plies. So I walk straight to another mod­ern enclo­sure — the bar-​less and moated wolf exhibit. Although it has a Hagenbeck-​style design, the space avail­able for the wolves is ridicu­lously small. The wolves will never be able to cross the water-​filled moat and climb the wall and thus break out, still there is impres­sive elec­tri­cal wiring in place on top of the wall. Again, prob­a­bly to keep out the public.

Mak­ing my way to the foot­bridge that con­nects the Old and New ter­ri­tory I pass along a very old-​fashioned row of enclo­sures built in a semi­cir­cle in front of the 16 metres high sculp­ture by Zurab Tsereteli called ‘Tree of Fairy Tales’, 1996 . The enclo­sures house sev­eral species of mustel­idae (sable, Euro­pean pole­cat, stone marten), as well as African wild cats. Then fol­lowed by sev­eral aviaries again. At this point I am really lost regard­ing the way they group the Zoo’s ani­mal collection.

NEW TER­RI­TORY

Pro­ceed­ing clock­wise I find the doors of the Trop­i­cal House closed for ren­o­va­tion. So, no but­ter­flies for me this time. But in one of the two spa­cious aviaries around this house I dis­cover sev­eral ducks, such as the man­darin duck and the black-​bellied whistling duck, together with the com­mon kestrel ( Falco tin­nun­cu­lus ), though nei­ther rare nor endangered.

Then a rather spe­cial exhibit appears, the Ani­mal Island, which was devel­oped in the 1920 s as one of the first Hagenbeck-​style enclo­sures in the New ter­ri­tory. Although it took some ren­o­va­tion activ­i­ties it still exists to this very day. In the cen­tre of this moated area they have erected a fake ruined fortress, which serves as the back­ground for the species in the sur­round­ing exhibits. These bar-​less exhibits have a more mod­ern appear­ance but it isn’t nec­es­sar­ily an improve­ment for the ani­mals. For instance the Asian black bear has a bare envi­ron­ment with minor enrich­ment avail­able and no veg­e­ta­tion, but the brown bear is even worse off in a sim­i­lar enclo­sure but next to noth­ing of enrich­ment fea­tures. The tun­dra wolf ( Canis lupus alba ) and the striped hyena have a lit­tle bet­ter place at their dis­posal, but the Asian lions have by far the best enclo­sure. They have sev­eral rest­ing plat­forms, trees and a stream that ends in the moat. Again to save time I skip an exhibit. This time the Exo­tar­ium with its aquar­i­ums that has been cre­ated inside the ruined fortress and by the way requires an addi­tional fee to get in.

One of the rare areas in Moscow Zoo where you find mixed-​species exhibits is called ‘Fauna of the Savan­nah’. It has a South Amer­i­can sec­tion with capy­bara vicuna and gua­naco, and — very impor­tantly — a large pool at the dis­posal of the largest rodent on earth. Though absolutely not endan­gered, these water-​loving capy­baras should have access to water at all times, in my opin­ion. The real savan­nah area with African species has sev­eral enclo­sures. A mixed species exhibit with sable ante­lope and dikdik. And Grevy’s zebra together with ostrich and giraffe. Also this time there’s only one giraffe in the pad­dock. The loca­tion of the meerkat enclo­sure is well cho­sen, because when they sit on top of one of their hills they can watch the other ani­mals. Although it is the largest and prob­a­bly the most mod­ern facil­ity at the Moscow Zoo I still think it is dis­ap­point­ingly mediocre com­pared to other zoos I have seen in Europe and North America.

Before I go to the pri­mate sec­tion I buy myself an ice cream and walk along the horse sta­bles on the east­ern edge of the New ter­ri­tory premises. Look­ing for an answer to the ques­tion “why are there horse sta­bles at this place?” The ques­tion still waits for an answer.

At Moscow Zoo they keep both Suma­tran as Bornean orang­utans, which is quite unusual. The out­doors for the five indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing 2 young, of the Suma­tran species looks impres­sive due to the enor­mously high rock face at the rear. The wall looks extra impres­sive because it is rather close to the view­ing win­dows. Unfor­tu­nately, the exhibit lacks trees and veg­e­ta­tion other than grass while the enrich­ment is scant and I don’t see puz­zle feed­ers. The Bornean orang­utans have a sim­i­lar out­door enclo­sure, but it is sug­gested that olive baboons ( Papio anu­bis ) are on dis­play here as well. It could be that they alter­nate in the same out­door enclo­sure, but this is not very clear.

The west­ern low­land goril­las also have a sim­i­lar out­door enclo­sure design due to which the ani­mals are enor­mously exposed to the inquis­i­tive pub­lic. Con­sid­er­ing the num­ber of young­sters Moscow Zoo appears to be hav­ing good results breed­ing orang­utans and gorillas.

Indoors, all the great ape exhibits have much enrich­ment and jungle-​like murals, but the agile gib­bon has even more enrich­ment inside. I haven’t seen a spe­cific out­door enclo­sure for the agile gib­bon but it could be pos­si­ble that it alter­nates with the Suma­tran orang­utans. Only this enclo­sure lacks high trees or other options for the gib­bon to brachi­ate, which is its nat­ural behav­iour in the canopy of the gibbon’s native habi­tat, the rain­forests of south­east Asia.

The ter­rar­ium build­ing, located behind the Pri­mate House, is beau­ti­fully dec­o­rated with lit­tle mosaic tiles. They have the usual row of exhibits, but in this case espe­cially the larger rep­tiles and tor­toises (python, croc­o­diles, alli­ga­tor, tor­toise) are kept. And out­side they have two giant tor­toise species, the Aldabra and the Gala­pa­gos tortoise.

On my return to the exit I pass the exhibits of a few of the many preda­tor species they have on dis­play at Moscow Zoo. The polar bear is pro­vided with a big heap of arti­fi­cial ice, but that’s about it when it comes to enrich­ment, though there are some plas­tic drums to play with. The enclo­sure as such is the pro­to­type of polar bear enclo­sures world­wide, rear wall of cement and large bricks, con­crete floor, large and deep water-​filled moat. Unfor­tu­nately, again here the annoy­ing reflect­ing win­dows. The yellow-​throated marten I do not see, and the same counts for the Eurasian otter in its large elon­gated out­door exhibit with a shal­low pool along the whole length. It must be great to see the sub­merged otters swim in this pool.

Con­clu­sion There are sev­eral ways to group a col­lec­tion of ani­mals which can sup­port a zoo’s edu­ca­tional efforts. Of course, some peo­ple just come to the zoo to be enter­tained, but when an indi­vid­ual is ready to learn some things the worst thing you can do is con­fuse him or her. And to be fairly hon­est, con­fus­ing it is. Some­times they group the col­lec­tion accord­ing their tax­o­nomic tree, which is the case with the felids, the bird species and the pri­mates. Then again they have decided to present the col­lec­tion by geo­graph­i­cal ori­gin, like in the ‘Fauna of the Savan­nah’, or accord­ing orig­i­nal habi­tat like the mountain-​dwelling tur and mark­hor. And at some point they just make a mess of the group­ing, for instance in the area with the maned wolf, the red-​necked wal­laby and oth­ers. In the end it seems the Zoo just want to have on dis­play as many species as pos­si­ble, because all species that live in herds they keep them in small num­bers. I do under­stand that it is not easy, requires tough deci­sions and cer­tainly is not cheap to rearrange your entire col­lec­tion, espe­cially when it is that huge as it is here at Moscow Zoo. Any­way, fur­ther ren­o­va­tion is fore­seen and prob­a­bly some rethink­ing as well.

I hope that they get rid of all these win­dows they have at so many exhibits. For some sit­u­a­tions it is inevitable I under­stand, but I sin­cerely hope they will return to the orig­i­nal Hagen­beck idea of bar-​less enclo­sures, tak­ing into account mod­ern hus­bandry stan­dards of course. As the posi­tion of the sun makes it some­times hard to get even the slight­est glimpse of the ani­mals due to the reflec­tions in the win­dows. And last but not least they have the ten­dency to have win­dows all around or at more than 50 per­cent of the perime­ter of an enclo­sure. Most of the time lead­ing to more expo­sure of the ani­mals to the pub­lic and pos­si­ble unrest.

Suma­tran orang­utan young­sters at Moscow Zoo

Just another day at the zoo for these orang­utans ( Pongo abelii ) — noth­ing much excit­ing going on in this safe and secure envi­ron­ment. But wouldn’t it be nice to see them swing­ing and romp­ing in the forests of Sumatra.….

Rac­coons at Moscow Zoo

Rac­coons are known for their habit to clean their food in the water before eat­ing it. It seems they also want to have a clean ball before play­ing with it.

Breed­ing Centre

Infor­ma­tion and education, zoo details, breed­ing farm.

The Moscow Zoo has always been try­ing to cre­ate the most favourable con­di­tions for their ani­mals to ful­fil their basic needs. Not only for ani­mal health and wel­fare pur­poses but also to breed the ani­mals suc­cess­fully. These spe­cific breed­ing con­di­tions could not be achieved due to its loca­tion in the City cen­tre and the lack of space. In 1996 the Zoo came into pos­ses­sion of an area of 200 hectares near the city of Voloko­lamsk (about 100 km from Moscow). In this pic­turesque hilly area of the for­mer quar­ries of the Sychovo min­ing fac­tory, with streams, springs and arti­fi­cial ponds bet­ter oppor­tu­ni­ties were avail­able for breed­ing var­i­ous — pre­dom­i­nantly rare — species of animals.

The main goals of the Breed­ing Cen­tre, besides main­tain­ing rare and endan­gered species of ani­mals, are estab­lish­ing breed­ing pairs and groups and devel­op­ing new hus­bandry meth­ods. Since exces­sive dis­tur­bance is likely to have adverse effect on the breed­ing efforts, the actual Breed­ing Cen­tre is not open to the public.

The con­struc­tion of the Breed­ing Cen­tre started in March 1996 . The first inhab­i­tants of the Cen­tre were birds of prey and water­fowl and they have been suc­cess­fully breed­ing birds ever since. The col­lec­tion of water­fowl has grown notably since the begin­ning. Apart from the numer­ous mal­lards and ruddy shel­ducks, the inhab­i­tants of the ponds include pin­tails, pochards, tufted ducks and black geese of the genus Branta. Bewick’s swans are thriv­ing, rais­ing their chicks every year. Japan­ese, white-​naped and Siber­ian cranes are also breed­ing suc­cess­fully and many other species, includ­ing par­rots. The breed­ing cen­tre for birds of prey is con­tin­u­ously expand­ing, with Himalayan grif­fon vul­tures, golden eagles, impe­r­ial eagles, Steller’s sea eagles, and black vul­tures among its most promi­nent inhab­i­tants. Reg­u­lar breed­ing has also been achieved in saker fal­cons ( Falco cher­rug ).

They keep car­niv­o­rous mam­mals as well at the Breed­ing Cen­tre. These include endan­gered species such as Amur leop­ard, Pal­las’ cat, chee­tah, Amur tiger, dhole, wolver­ine, and yellow-​throated marten. Of these species the Amur leop­ard is listed Crit­i­cally Endan­gered accord­ing the IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species™ , with about 45 indi­vid­u­als left in the wild. The Zoo’s track record says they have pro­duced off­spring from Pal­las’ cat, dhole, yellow-​throated marten, and Amur tiger.

For the ungu­lates that are kept at the Cen­tre the envi­ron­ment is almost ideal. There are bac­trian camels as well as kiangs, Saiga antelopes, blue sheep and vicu­nas. Hoofed ani­mals orig­i­nat­ing from moun­tain­ous areas have large pad­docks at their dis­posal that are sit­u­ated on the slopes of the sur­round­ing hills, more or less sim­i­lar to their nat­ural habitat.

Besides the more rare and endan­gered species the Cen­tre also has an inter­est­ing col­lec­tion of domes­tic hens, a horse sta­ble and a dog-​breeding cen­tre, mainly for the breed­ing of Cen­tral Asian sheep dogs. Fur­ther­more, there is a small quail farm and a poul­try farm with layer hens.

More­over a sub­sidiary farm in Loto­shino houses some cat­tle, smaller live­stock, and the main herd of bac­trian camels and yaks. The area of the sub­sidiary farm is about 51 hectares and it com­prises hay­fields, pas­tures, a sheep­fold and an api­ary. Most impor­tantly it pro­vides the Moscow Zoo with eco­log­i­cal feed for its animals.

The Breed­ing Centre’s col­lec­tion com­prises 10 species of car­ni­vores, 6 species of ungu­lates, 74 species of birds and a great num­ber of domes­tic ani­mals, but the col­lec­tion is expand­ing con­stantly. Although it is still closed to vis­i­tors, the Zoo’s goal is to open part of the farm (as they call the Breed­ing Cen­tre them­selves) to out­side vis­i­tors soon. They plan to cre­ate an addi­tional safari park at the loca­tion of the Breed­ing Centre.

(Source: Moscow Zoo web­site; Zoo with a Human Face, to the 150 th anniver­sary of the Moscow Zoo — a doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky, 2014 )

Infor­ma­tion pan­els and Edu­ca­tion at the Zoo

First thing to be noticed of course is that the infor­ma­tion on the pan­els around Moscow Zoo is given in the Russ­ian lan­guage. And no other lan­guage. This is not unex­pected as most of the infor­ma­tion pro­vided in Moscow is only in Russ­ian. For­tu­nately, the name of the species on dis­play is given in Eng­lish as well, together with its sci­en­tific name. As far as I can tell and under­stand no infor­ma­tion is pro­vided on the species con­ser­va­tion sta­tus (or IUCN Red List sta­tus). On the new revamped web­site this infor­ma­tion is avail­able but only in Russ­ian and no icons or logos are used, so you have to rely on machine trans­la­tion ser­vices. The pan­els show geo­graphic maps of the species dis­tri­b­u­tion and some­times the IUCN sta­tus and if the species is part of EEP /​ESB, as well. But this is not done con­sis­tently, and I am not sure how reli­able the infor­ma­tion is. Nev­er­the­less I have been able to find on the inter­net a list of species that rep­re­sent the Moscow Zoo con­tri­bu­tion to the Euro­pean Endan­gered species Pro­grammes (EEPs).

There is also a zoo school that is pri­mar­ily focussed on chil­dren, and I assume that the Young Biol­o­gists Club still exist. Fore­most because it has been very suc­cess­fully deliv­er­ing a range of impor­tant staff mem­bers over the years.

  • Direc­tions

direc­tions to Moscow Zoo

Address : B. Gruzin­skaya 1 123242 Moscow Rus­sia

pub­lic transport

The metro sys­tem can be quite intim­i­dat­ing for for­eign­ers because of the lan­guage issue, but I can assure you it is the best way of nav­i­gat­ing the city. The metro sta­tions are the most beau­ti­ful I’ve ever seen and buy­ing tick­ets can be done using sign lan­guage (see the tri­pad­vi­sor web­site how it is done). When you are not able to deci­pher the Cyril­lic alpha­bet on the fly it is best to pre­pare your metro trip before­hand and make sure that you know how many stops you have to travel from the depar­ture sta­tion to your des­ti­na­tion, includ­ing trans­fer sta­tions. Another way of travel sup­port is the Art-​Lebedev metro map , which has the names of the sta­tions both in Russ­ian and Eng­lish men­tioned. The most fancy way how­ever is by using the Russ­ian metro app on your smart­phone. The Yandex.Metro app — pro­vides a bilin­gual metro map which can even build con­nec­tion routes for you and esti­mate travel times.

Moscow Zoo’s main entrance is con­ve­niently located right across from the Krasno­pres­nen­skaya metro sta­tion on the Brown Cir­cu­lar line (no. 5 ). Also the Bar­rikad­naya metro sta­tion is rather close to the main entrance, Pur­ple line (no. 7 ).

by bicy­cle

As men­tioned already Moscow is a very large city. So, it really depends on how close you already are to the Zoo if cycling could be an option. The obvi­ous chal­lenge is the traf­fic which has grown dra­mat­i­cally in recent years — the cen­tre of Moscow is a non-​stop traf­fic jam. Fur­ther­more the poor dri­ving habits of Moscow motorists are noto­ri­ous, from road rage to rear-​ending. In addi­tion, knee-​deep snow and the grimy slush that inevitably fol­lows dur­ing the long and fear­some win­ters doesn’t make cycling in Moscow a very attrac­tive mode of trans­port. Nev­er­the­less the City Coun­cil tries to make the city more bike-​friendly with a bike rental scheme like in many major cities around the world. I decided to use the metro.

There is no ded­i­cated park­ing avail­able at the Zoo, but if you really want to drive your­self you can get direc­tions below by pro­vid­ing your point of departure.

From : --  Choose source      -- Moscow Zoo or

Down­load the zoo map here .

Goal: 7000 tigers in the wild

“ Tiger map” ( CC BY 2 . 5 ) by Sander­son et al., 2006 .

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Pandas to return to San Diego Zoo, China to send animals in move of panda diplomacy

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The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is taking the first step to bring pandas back after zoos across America had to return them to China, according to a press release.

SDZWA signed a cooperative agreement with China Wildlife Conservation Association and filed a permit application with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to bring the giant bamboo-loving creatures to the zoo.

The SDZWA told USA TODAY that it is still too soon to know how many pandas the zoo is going to welcome or when the pandas will arrive.

"We are humbled by the potential opportunity of continuing our collaborative conservation efforts to secure the future for giant pandas," said Dr. Megan Owen , SDZWA's Vice President of Conservation Science, in a statement. "As such, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is taking important steps to ensure we are prepared for a potential return. This includes sharing our detailed conservation plans with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure alignment for the greater benefit of giant pandas.”

An add zoo story: Coins in the belly: Alligator undergoes surgery at Nebraska zoo

History of pandas at San Diego Zoo

For nearly 30 years, the zoo has had a partnership with research collaborators in China that focused on protecting and recovering giant pandas, the press release states.

"San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is uniquely positioned to collaborate toward a shared goal of creating a sustainable future for giant pandas," said Owen

The zoo helped its Chinese research partners learn more about panda's reproductive behavior and physiology, nutritional requirements and habitat needs.

It helped develop a giant panda milk formula and other neonatal techniques that increased survival rates of cubs raised in captivity from 5% to 95%, states the release.

Their research also helped China bring the giant animal back from the brink of extinction and contributed the first successful artificial insemination of a giant panda outside of China and it assisted efforts led by Chinese scientists track wild giant pandas with GPS technology at the Foping National Nature Reserve .

"Pandas in our care and in the care of Chinese colleagues at conservation facilities play an important role as assurance against extinction and loss of genetic diversity in their native habitats, as well as a source population for reintroductions,” said Owen. “Our partnership over the decades has served as a powerful example of how—when we work together—we can achieve what was once thought to be impossible ."

Why did pandas get removed from zoos in the US?

Zoos across the country returned their pandas because of the rocky relationship between the U.S. and China.

However, the news of pandas return to the West Coast comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping, who called pandas "envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples," met with President Joe Biden in November.

"I was told that many American people, especially children, were really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas and went to the zoo to see them off," Xi said.

Three beloved pandas, Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and Xiao QI Ji, were sent back to China from the Smithsonian National Zoo in November after attempts to renew its three-year agreement with China Wildlife Conservation Association failed.

In 1972, China gifted the first panda to US after President Nixon formalized normal relations with China. The practice was dubbed "panda diplomacy."

China loaned pandas to other foreign zoos in hopes that it will build ties with those countries.

Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. She has covered various topics, from local businesses and government in her hometown, Miami, to tech and pop culture.

You can follow her on  X, formerly known as Twitter ,  Instagram  and  TikTok : @juliamariegz.

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Flaco the owl dies after apparent collision with building on Upper West Side

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UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan -- Flaco, the owl who escaped his enclosure from the Central Park Zoo , has died after an apparent collision with a building on the Upper West Side.

The Central Park Zoo released a statement Friday saying,

We are saddened to report that Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl discovered missing from the Central Park Zoo after his exhibit was vandalized just over a year ago, is dead after an apparent collision with a building on West 89th Street in Manhattan.

Flaco was set free last February after his exhibit was vandalized and the stainless steel mesh was cut.

Initially there were efforts to recapture him, but he surprised many with his ability to hunt for food, and it was decided to let him remain free.

The zoo says it is still hoping for an arrest on the vandalism to his cage.

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Many splendored? Sometimes, but it’s always intriguing

Taylor swift, the wordsworth of our time.

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Harvard English Professor Stephanie Burt teaches “Taylor Swift and Her World.”

Photos by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Eileen O’Grady

Harvard Staff Writer

New English course studies pop star’s lyrics alongside classic literature

It turns out Taylor Swift could keep company with the Romantic-era poets

On a recent Monday afternoon, Professor Stephanie Burt asked some 200 students — packed into Lowell Lecture Hall for the popular new English course “Taylor Swift and Her World” — to consider their role as listeners to “Fifteen,” the second track off the superstar’s second album, “Fearless.” 

In the song, Swift presents herself as a teenage girl who’s both relatable and aspirational with lyrics that reflect upon high school, friendship, and dating. Burt compared the song’s reflective qualities to William Wordsworth’s 1798  poem  “Tintern Abbey.” 

“She’s establishing herself as a kind of ally for us, what the poet and literary theorist  Allen Grossman  calls a ‘hermeneutic friend,’” said  Burt , the Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor in the Department of English. Or in other words, “the literary or musical text that you’re getting into is going to help you out, it simultaneously knows more than you do, and knows what’s going on with you.”

The course resonates with the many students who have been fans since childhood. Seated in tiered rows on the main floor and in the balcony, they nodded along intently with the lecture, occasionally laughing when Burt threw out an insider Swiftie reference. 

It’s the largest class Burt has ever taught — and the largest taught in the arts and humanities this spring. The professor, who has long wanted to create a course centering the works of a songwriter, knew “all too well” that it was time to examine Swift’s writing through an academic lens.

“She’s one of the great songwriters of our time,” Burt said. “If she weren’t, she wouldn’t be this popular. And I love the idea that we’re going to spend this much time with her music.”

In the doorway looking into the classroom full of students.

Burt’s class is the largest taught in the arts and humanities this spring.

Guest Matthew Jordan standing in front of a piano lecturing.

Teaching fellow Matthew Jordan helps unpack songs on the piano during class.

Two students looking towards the front of the classroom with excitement.

Xinran (Olivia) Ma ’26 and other students engage with the lecture.

The syllabus is organized around the “eras” of Swift’s career, starting with her 2006 debut album and progressing to her most recent. Students examine themes of fan and celebrity culture, whiteness, adolescence, and adulthood alongside songs by Dolly Parton, Carole King, Beyoncé, and Selena, and writing by Willa Cather, Alexander Pope, Sylvia Plath, and James Weldon Johnson. 

“The best way to get someone into something is to connect it to something they already love,” Burt said, in an interview before class. “I do think there’s going to be a lot more Harvard students reading Alexander Pope because he’s in the Taylor Swift course than if he only showed up in courses that were entirely dead people.”

Burt explained that she is teaching Swift as a songwriter rather than a poet because writing for music is its own literary form, one that requires different skills than writing for the page. Burt and teaching fellow Matthew Jordan regularly unpack songs on the piano during class. During a recent class, the whole room broke out into spontaneous song as Jordan performed “Love Story.”

“Usually, poetry means works of art that use nothing but words that are created to be read on a page that do not have to be read aloud by the author,” Burt said. “Songwriters are writing for a melody; they are writing for singing interpreters. You are not getting all that you can out of a song if you are reading it on a page.”

‘Tortured poets’ department?

A painting of William Wordsworth.

What common themes do you see in these excerpts from William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” and Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen”? Listen to the professor’s take below.

Transcript:

STEPHANIE BURT:  She [Taylor Swift] is far from the first or the only writer who has written looking back at her younger self and addressing someone else — a friend, a specified reader, an audience — as a younger version of themselves. “I’m going to tell you what I wish someone had told me when I was that age, because I look at you — listener, reader, sister named Dorothy — and I see myself when I was that age, and by the way, I’m really close to that age. I’ve only grown up a little. I’m going to show you how that works.” That is a central trope of the literary movement which generates “tortured poets,” which we call Romanticism.”

Cormac Savage ’25, a concentrator in Romance languages and literatures and government, has been a Swift fan since age 6, when he received a platinum edition copy of “Fearless” for Christmas. So when he saw the course listing, he knew immediately that it was the one. 

“I think I’ll come out of this English class with a greater knowledge of music as a byproduct of studying literature, which is a really unique point of this class,” said Savage, who is looking forward to reading Wordsworth and comparing his poetry to Swift’s album “Folklore.”

Jada Pisani Lee ’26, who is studying computer science, has also been a fan since elementary school. The sophomore said she enrolled in the class to learn more about Swift’s impact on culture, from music to style to copyright law.

While some critics may not consider Swift classically worthy of English class analysis, Burt politely disagrees.

“Half the English-language authors we now think of as ‘classic’ and ‘high culture’ and ‘serious’ were disparaged because they were popular and doing the ‘pop thing’ in their time,” Burt said. “Often the ones who were disparaged because they were doing the ‘pop thing’ were authors who were writing for women when serious prestige classics were the domain of expensively educated white men.”

“Half the English-language authors we now think of as ‘classic’ and ‘high culture’ and ‘serious’ were disparaged because they were popular and doing the ‘pop thing’ in their time.” Stephanie Burt

The professor hopes students will gain not only a deeper appreciation for Swift but a new set of tools for literary and cultural analysis and a greater engagement with authors beyond the pop star.

“If I were not able to connect Taylor’s catalog to various other, older works of literature, I wouldn’t be teaching this class,” Burt said. “But I also wouldn’t be teaching this class if I didn’t really love her songs and find her worthy of sustained, critical attention. She really is that good.”

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Blind seal gives birth and nurtures the pup at an Illinois zoo

The Associated Press

February 23, 2024, 3:51 PM

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BROOKFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A grey seal found stranded and blind more than a decade ago on an island in Maine has given birth at a Chicago-area zoo and is now “a very attentive mother” to her newborn, zoo officials said Friday.

The 11-year-old seal named “Georgie” gave birth on Feb. 17 to a nearly 35-pound (15.9-kilogram) male pup at the Brookfield Zoo. He’s gained 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) in his first week on his mother’s extremely rich milk, and has been practicing his swimming skills in a pool, zoo officials said.

After Georgie was found stranded on an island in Georgetown, Maine, near the Atlantic Ocean in 2013, it was determined she was blind in her left eye and functionally blind in her right eye.

Due to her impaired vision, authorities with the National Marine Fisheries Service decided she could not be released back into the wild. She arrived in 2020 at the Brookfield Zoo, west of downtown Chicago.

But Georgie’s vision loss hasn’t affected her ability to care for her newborn — she’s nurturing the pup and has proven to be “a very attentive mother,” said Mark Gonka, the zoo’s associate director of marine mammal care and conservation.

“Grey seals have a keen sense of smell as well as a repertoire of vocalizations. Georgie is able to locate her pup by his distinct smell and call,” Gonka said in a statement.

Like Georgie, the pup’s father, a 23-year-old grey seal named Kiinaq, was also stranded in the wild and deemed unreleasable when he was only a few months old.

The Brookfield Zoo said the newborn pup’s birth from two parents of wild descent is helping to increase the genetic diversity of the grey seal population in accredited North American zoos and aquariums.

Grey seals face threats that include entanglement in fishing gear, illegal hunting, chemical contaminants and climate change, the zoo said.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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  5. Virtual Learning at the Zoo

  6. Learn Zoo Animals with Ms Rachel & Sarron126 _Mini fan & Students

COMMENTS

  1. 25 zoo conversation questions

    ESL Conversation Questions Download pdf Zoo conversation questions This is an interesting discussion activity all about zoos. The difficult words to revise before discussing the questions are -cruel, feed, fed, cage, aquarium, nocturnal, enclosure, benefit, ridden, bathe, and perform. The zoo conversation questions are - Do you like visiting zoos?

  2. ESL Discussions: Conversation Questions: Speaking Lesson: ZOOS

    (1) Do you like zoos? (2) What was the last news story you heard about a zoo? (3) What would happen if all the zoo animals escaped into the town? (4) Do you feel sorry for the animals in zoos? (5) Have you ever felt like you were in a zoo? (6) Which is better - a zoo or an aquarium?

  3. Zoo Animals Lesson Plan

    1. Teach the zoo animals vocab If you have plastic toys for the animals you can use them or you can use zoo animal flashcards. Before the class put the toys or flashcards in a bag. Bring out the bag and peer in - make surprised noises to get the full attention of your students.

  4. "Zoos" ESL Discussion Questions

    1. Why do we have zoos? 2. How did zoos start? 3. What do you think the purpose of zoos is? 4. Can you name some of the oldest zoos in the world? II. Zoo Experiences and Preferences 5. How often do you visit a zoo? 6. Do you like to visit zoos? 7. What is your favorite zoo? 8. What is a typical day at the zoo like? 9.

  5. "Zoo Animals" ESL Discussion Questions

    1. What are some common animals you might see at a zoo? 2. Can you name three mammals found in zoos? 3. What types of birds have you seen at zoos? 4. Are there any reptiles that you find interesting at zoos? 5. Which zoo animals do you think are the most unusual? II. Animal Behavior 6. What do lions do most of the day in a zoo? 7.

  6. 182 Zoo English ESL worksheets pdf & doc

    181 Zoo English ESL worksheets pdf & doc SORT BY Most popular TIME PERIOD All-time indira Zoo Animals Simple worksheet about zoo animals for kindergarten or elementary school. Teacher can also use this worksheet to teach about the use of 'can'. 13024 uses mayaism Zoo Animals

  7. Kids at the Zoo: Fun ESL Discussion Questions

    Zoos are an excellent conversation topic for English learners with a beginner level because they offer a fun and engaging way to learn about animals and the natural world. This conversation focuses specifically around the benefits of children visiting zoos. Instructions:

  8. Are zoos a good thing?

    Zoos are hugely popular attractions for adults and children alike. But are they actually a good thing? Critics of zoos would argue that animals often suffer physically and mentally by being enclosed. Even the best artificial environments can't come close to matching the space, diversity, and freedom that animals have in their natural habitats.

  9. 408 Zoo English ESL video lessons

    408 Zoo English ESL video lessons SORT BY Most popular TIME PERIOD All-time teacher_dani Zoo Animals Do you know the zoo animals? So, let's review (lion, zebra, monkeys, hippo, giraffe, etc.) 669 uses Katon Zoo Phonics Listen the sound of letter and answer the in different questions such as matching and reorder. 82 uses joytanliyen Singapore Zoo

  10. An exciting Going to the Zoo EFL ESL lesson plan

    This is a Going to the Zoo EFL ESL lesson plan for preschool children. We're going to learn all about different animals that you can see on a visit to the zoo. What can you see? What can the elephant do? The lesson will last about one hour and we'll end with a fun and easy craft activity to make an animal. Get ready! We're going to the zoo!

  11. ESL Conversation Questions

    A Part of Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom . Related: Dogs and Cats Selected Questions Do you have a pet? How old is it? Where did you get it from? Who takes care of it? What does it look like (color, breed, etc.)? What do you feed it? Do you play with it? What is it's name? How did you choose this name?

  12. English Speaking Conversation

    STEVE: "That must've been boring." GREG: "It was boring. The kids wanted to go home early." STEVE: "The animals should be more visible since the weather is going to be sunny this weekend." GREG: "Yeah. I think we will go to the zoo. Hopefully, this time it'll be more fun." STEVE: "Actually, I have four tickets to the zoo. You can have them.

  13. 102 Zoos English ESL video lessons

    A selection of English ESL zoos video quizzes. zoos. Worksheets. Powerpoints. Video Lessons. Search. Filters. 102 Zoos English ESL video lessons. SORT BY. Most popular. TIME PERIOD. All-time. teacher_dani. Zoo Animals. ... joytanliyen. Singapore Zoo. Identify the animals. 76 uses. PetraKrcilova. The London Zoo - Wor. Answer the questions. 1133 ...

  14. Zoo

    15 Essential Words About Zoos Word Bank - Writing Activity ZOO Write an opinion essay to answer this question: "It is cruel to keep wild animals in zoos. Do you agree or disagree?" Use at least 6 of the 15 words on the left; 2 pages of lined writing paper.

  15. Zoo and me • English Conversation Questions

    English Conversation Questions on What is your favorite animal to see at the zoo, and why? Do you think zoos are ethical and necessary, or do they contribute to the mistreatment of animals? What role do you think zoos play in conservation efforts? Have you ever had a close encounter with an animal at the

  16. Animals ESL Games & Activities

    in Activities for Kids ESL Animal Activities, Games, Worksheets and Lesson Plans Are you looking for some fun and engaging ESL animal activities, along with worksheets and lesson plans? Then you're most certainly in the right place for everything ESL animals lesson plans!

  17. ESL Questions About At The City Zoo

    Pick one animal you saw at the city zoo. Write three sentences about what it eats, where it lives, and one interesting fact about it. 5. Imagine you are a zookeeper at the city zoo. Write a letter to a friend about your day taking care of the animals.

  18. Zoos • English Conversation Questions

    English Conversation Topics on Zoos. Zoos and me. Animal conservation. Zookeeping practices. Zoo vs safari. Educational value of zoos.

  19. Zoo

    zoo, place where wild animals and, in some instances, domesticated animals are exhibited in captivity. In such an establishment, animals can generally be given more intensive care than is possible in nature reserves or sanctuaries.Most long-established zoos exhibit general collections of animals, but some formed more recently specialize in particular groups—e.g., primates, big cats, tropical ...

  20. Moscow Zoo

    The zoo assisted school­child­ren and stu­dents with study­ing biol­ogy, actively par­tic­i­pated in sci­en­tific research, and actively con­tributed to sci­en­tific pub­li­ca­tions. So, the Zoo became one of the larger sci­en­tific insti­tu­tions in Moscow. And of course it still was the favourite recre­ational place for ...

  21. Moscowzoo Web Site

    Moscow Zoo is one of the oldest and largest zoos in Europe, home to over 6000 animals of 1000 species. Visit the website to learn more about the animals, the park, the tours and the educational programs. Moscow Zoo is open daily from 7:30 am to 10 pm, and you can buy tickets online or enter through mos.ru.

  22. 70 coins pulled from alligator at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska

    A Nebraska zoo is telling visitors not to throw coins into animal exhibits after veterinarians pulled $7 in coins out of an alligator's belly. Workers at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha performed ...

  23. Moscow Zoo

    Moscow Zoo, Moscow: See 1,464 reviews, articles, and 2,632 photos of Moscow Zoo, ranked No.354 on Tripadvisor among 4,898 attractions in Moscow. ... English. Detailed Reviews. Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order. ... Frequently Asked Questions about Moscow Zoo. When is Moscow Zoo open? Moscow Zoo is open ...

  24. Pandas from China will make comeback at San Diego Zoo after hiatus

    The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is taking the first step to bring pandas back after zoos across America had to return them to China, according to a press release.. SDZWA signed a cooperative ...

  25. Flaco the owl dies after apparent collision with building on Upper West

    Flaco, the owl who escaped his enclosure from the Central Park Zoo, has died after an apparent collision with a building on the Upper West Side, the Central Park Zoo said in a statement.

  26. Jury Orders Ex-NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre to Pay More Than $4 Million

    A Manhattan jury on Friday ordered the National Rifle Association's former longtime leader Wayne LaPierre to pay more than $4.3 million back to the gun-rights group for misspending its ...

  27. Trump, Republican Lawmakers Forced to Defend IVF as Abortion Woes Mount

    Trump, Republican Lawmakers Forced to Defend IVF as GOP Abortion Woes Mount

  28. Inside Harvard's Taylor Swift class

    It turns out Taylor Swift could keep company with the Romantic-era poets. On a recent Monday afternoon, Professor Stephanie Burt asked some 200 students — packed into Lowell Lecture Hall for the popular new English course "Taylor Swift and Her World" — to consider their role as listeners to "Fifteen," the second track off the superstar's second album, "Fearless."

  29. Blind seal gives birth and nurtures the pup at an Illinois zoo

    BROOKFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A grey seal found stranded and blind more than a decade ago on an island in Maine has given birth at a Chicago-area zoo and is now "a very attentive mother" to her ...