Watching animals in their natural habitat or in the zoo has always been an interesting and adventurous activity for people. The pleasure of watching a graceful peacock or being eye to eye with a tiger or lion can be a distinctive experience that you can try in Tehran Zoological Garden. This zoological garden was constructed during the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar in a part of Farrokh Abad Palace. A series of local species were kept in the zoo, though some of them don’t exist anymore in Iran, even in the zoos. At that time, public were allowed to visit the zoo except for the days when Shah was there. Later on, the zoo was expanded and now with an area of more than 72 hectares is the largest zoo in the country. Tehran Zoological Garden, also known as Eram Zoo, is now home to more than 800 animals in 111 different species. The animals are protected in small and large cages. Various species of mammals, reptiles, aquatic animals and birds are kept in this zoo that 60% of which are local and the rest have brought from different parts of the globe, especially Africa.
