Opened back in 1836, Bristol Zoological Gardens is the world’s oldest provincial zoo in the world - and fifth oldest zoo in the world.
It was founded on July 22, 1835, by Henry Riley, a local physician, who led the formation of the Bristol, Clifton and West of England Zoological Society.
Almost a year later, the doors opened to the public for the first time on Monday, July 11 1836.
The most famous animal in the 1800s was Zebi the elephant. She was on-site between 1868 to 1909 and was renowned for removing and eating straw hats.
The start of the 1900s saw a new lion house built which welcomed a family of large cats.
Another major attraction was Raj the elephant who arrived at the zoo in 1913 and lived there for 13 years.
In 1935 the Zoo opened a Polar Bear enclosure which led to Sebastian, the polar bear cub being born in 1958. He proved to be a huge attraction for the zoo.
Over the years Bristol Zoo has made its mission to "[maintain and defend] biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider understanding of the natural world".
Many species have been successfully bred over the years in Bristol, the first being a Chimpanzee named Adam who was the first chimp conceived and born in Europe in 1934.
In the early 1960’s they became the first Zoo in the UK to home Okapi and in 1967 they became the first UK zoo to successfully breed Okapi.
Although they no longer have Okapi’s at Bristol Zoo, there are currently four Okapi at the Wild Place Project, where the Zoo will be moving too.
Since then the Zoo, based not far from the Clifton Suspension Bridge, has also breed white tigers successfully and now taken a focus on endangered species such as the Asiatic lions.
The zoo's popularity surged when BBC presenter Johnny Morris started filming his hit-TV show, Animal Magic inside the zoo. between 1962 to 1983, with the lovable zookeeper showing off lots of animals at the attraction.
Over time it expanded, and several large exhibits were opened including the Reptile House in 1981, Monkey House in 1983 and the re-designed Aquarium in 1986.
Two more exhibits were added in the early 2000s with the Zona Brazil and Living fruit bat enclosure before a huge £1m re-development of the gorilla house in 2013.
Currently, the zoo is home to around 300 mammals across 50 different species including Gorillas, Asiatic lions, pygmy, hippos and red pandas.
There are also fruit bats, aye-ayes, quolls, penguins, squirrel monkeys, tamarins and gibbons.
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The full list of exhibits currently on-site include Seal and Penguin Coasts, Forest of Birds, Gorilla Island, The Top Terrace, Twilight World, The Reptile House, The Aquarium, Bug World, Zona Brazil, Monkey Jungle and The Butterfly House.
