Zoological garden of Calcutta, or whatever it is called zoo Alipor, located in West Bengal, is the oldest official zoo of India – its discovery occurred in 1876. Beginning the garden was laid Bengal by the Governor General Arthur, Wellesly, who in 1800, he established a private menagerie on their own land, not far from Calcutta. But soon after, Wellesley left India, and the Manager of the zoo became famous Scottish zoologist Francis Buchanan-Hamilton. Later, at the insistence of the public and the assistance of Lieutenant-Governor sir Richard temple, the government officially allocated land for the zoo. Place for it was chosen in a wealthy suburb of Calcutta – Alipore.

Initially animals for the Zoological gardens from your own menagerie gave Carl Louis Swindler, German electrician, who at the time was engaged in railroad construction in the state.

Currently, the zoo has a truly unique collection of variety of animals from around the world – the Indian elephant, Royal Bengal tigers, African lions, ostriches, EMUs, tigers, Indian rhinos and others. Also Zoological gardens until recently was known giant tortoise Adwaita, which consisted of 250 years, but, unfortunately, in 2006, she died.

Since the second half of the twentieth century, towards the management of the zoo sounds like a lot of criticism due to the lack of adequate breeding programs of rare animals and breeding programs of different kinds. Also demonstrations are directed against the conservative policy of the Zoological garden and for the improvement of living conditions for animals living there. But despite this, the zoo remains one of the most loved and visited places in Kolkata.