Zoo di Napoli, Wildlife park in Fuorigrotta, Naples, Italy.
Zoo di Napoli occupies about 100,000 square metres in the Fuorigrotta district, inside the Mostra d'Oltremare area. Its layout groups animals into named zones: the Regno delle Tigri, a 3,500-square-metre enclosure opened in December 2015; a savanna where giraffe and other herbivore paddocks were merged; the elephant house, enlarged in autumn 2015; and a farm area of about 7,000 square metres with some 13 enclosures and turtle ponds, opened in 2014.
Franco Cuneo and Angelo Lombardi created the zoo in 1940 within the Mostra d'Oltremare area, but the Second World War kept it closed until its inauguration on 25 October 1949. Luigi Piccinato contributed to the layout. For over twenty-five years it hosted rare animals and a botanical collection, and it recorded the world's first births of hyrax and king vulture, the first gerenuk born in Europe and the first black rhinoceros born in Italy.
The zoo's name is tied to the Mostra d'Oltremare area of Fuorigrotta where it was built. Its educational farm, opened in 2014, covers about 7,000 square metres with some 13 enclosures for farm breeds and ponds with turtles. The Capanna del Sapere serves as the didactic area, and the zoo joined a programme to save the Neapolitan goat.
The zoo is clearly divided into themed sections that make navigation straightforward and allow you to explore different habitats systematically. Comfortable shoes are recommended since the grounds require quite a bit of walking to see all the exhibits.
The zoo's firsts include the world's earliest captive births of the hyrax and the king vulture, the first gerenuk born in Europe and the first black rhinoceros born in Italy. In October 2021 it took in a pair of jaguars, one melanistic, and on 27 July 2023 the black jaguar cub Victor was born here.
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