Chilean National Zoo, Animal park in Providencia, Chile

The Chilean National Zoo covers 4.8 hectares on the slopes of San Cristóbal Hill within Santiago's Metropolitan Park. Its enclosures are arranged on terraces reached by stairs and paths, from the funicular access at the top down to the main entrance level. Exhibits include the large felines, an aviary built as a tropical jungle with a walkway bridge, a serpentarium and a Darwin's frog conservation center.

In 1925, President Arturo Alessandri Palma allocated 4.8 hectares on San Cristóbal Hill by Supreme Decree No. 4273, after Carlos Reed and Intendant Alberto Mackenna campaigned for the land. Animals arrived from Quinta Normal and, via the Transandine Railway, from the zoos of Mendoza and Buenos Aires. Vice President Luis Barros Borgoño opened it on 12 December 1925, with Carlos Reed as first director.

The zoo's name recalls the 1925 Jardín Zoológico Nacional, and its first director was entomologist Carlos Reed, who had earlier founded a native-animal zoo in Concepción. Today visitors pass the funicular access, the large-feline enclosures with Bengal and white tigers, and the aviary bridge through a simulated tropical jungle. A conservation centre keeps Darwin's frog, a Chilean species noted for its unusual reproduction.

The zoo occupies 4.8 hectares on the slopes of San Cristóbal Hill, reached by the funicular to its intermediate station; since 28 February 2026 a cable car station, Zoológico, links it directly to the summit of the Metropolitan Park. Paths climb between terraced enclosures, so allow time for the gradients.

The zoo displays both native Chilean animals like pudús and guanacos alongside creatures from other continents such as tigers and bears. This mix lets visitors experience South American wildlife directly beside more exotic species.