Kyoto City Zoo

Kyoto City Zoo, opened in 1903, is the second oldest zoo in Japan.  (Ueno Zoo in Tokyo is the oldest.)  Soon to enter its 112^th year, almost half of Kyoto City Zoo is currently under reconstruction.  In fact, for the last few years, the zoo has been progressively conducting renovations section by section.  By the end of 2015, perhaps about 80% to 90% of the zoo will have been renovated in the years since 2008.  When I previously visited this zoo in February 2010, I was impressed at how certain parts of the zoo had the look of a neatly managed Japanese garden.

I was much less impressed by some exhibits and enclosures that appeared to be too old and too small for its inhabitants.  On this second visit to Kyoto City Zoo, I was looking forward to seeing the renovated and rebuilt exhibits.  Some of the new modern exhibits did not disappoint me.  Some did.

Using large glass windows, water moats, and other strategically placed barriers, the new exhibits appear to be designed to bring visitors as close as physically possible to the resident animals.  Watching the reactions on the faces of zoo visitors, it was clear that being in close proximity to the animals made a big impression on many of them.  Unfortunately, some enclosures appeared to be very small, with not much space for the resident animal - not even enough space to retreat into a private area when there were crowds of noisy children staring at it, screaming a “konnichiwa” greeting, and sometimes even slapping the glass window to get its attention.

Cute Critters

The fact that Japanese people really like cute animals must be a matter of common sense to all zoo administrators in Japan.  It seems that every zoo has at least one type of small, cute animal meant to be the designated idol.  At Kyoto City Zoo, I found not one, but four: Red pandas, Fennec foxes, Meerkats, and the Bush dogs. 

Red panda (Ailurus fulgens)

Red panda outdoor exhibit area

The Red panda’s outside exhibit area is connected to its indoor exhibit area by a metal mesh tube that serves as a bridge over an area accessible to zoo visitors.  The Red panda is free to walk back and forth between the two exhibits, and when it does, visitors standing below the tube can get a good view of its furry belly.  It was hard to decide which was more entertaining, watching the cute Red panda, or watching the excited people watching the cute Red panda.

Fennec foxes (Vulpes zerda)

These guys are really, really cute, and if you didn’t know that they were a type of wild animal native to North Africa, you could easily mistake them for a breed of small dog.  To complicate matters, their enclosure somewhat resembles a dog kennel, and for some unexplained reason, there were weighing scales located within the exhibit.

The fox below was tugging at a plastic ball that was suspended overhead by a string.  The plastic ball was full of worms, and many of the worms were trying to escape through small holes drilled into the ball’s surface.  As each worm protruded from the ball, the fox picked it off and turned it into a tasty snack.

Even with those sharp looking teeth – very cute.

Meerkats (Suricata suricatta)

The Meerkat exhibit was fairly spacious relative to the small size of the animals.  It featured glass walls that allowed visitors to get extremely close-up views of the animals.  On the down side, shooting photographs through that additional layer of glass often resulted in a marked decrease in image clarity – especially in the spots where the glass was soiled with muddy paw prints.

Bush dogs (Speothos venaticus)

This exhibit allowed for relatively good photo opportunities.  The enclosure featured a water moat and a glass wall, and the distance between the animals and zoo visitors at the closest point was only about 1 or 2 meters.  Tall visitors could look over the glass wall fronting the exhibit and get an unobstructed camera angle.  Shorter photographers could go to either flank of the exhibit and stick their lens through restraining bars.

Primates

Kyoto City Zoo has a collaborative relationship with Kyoto University, an institute with a significant record in the area of primate research.  Not surprisingly, a considerable portion of this zoo is dedicated to its primate exhibits.  The chimpanzee enclosure which was completed in 2009 and the new Gorilla House which was opened in 2014 are among the better exhibits at Kyoto City Zoo.

The photo below shows the entrance of the “Great Ape House”, home of the chimpanzees.  It was also home for the gorillas until the “Gorilla House” was opened earlier this year.

Large windows of the chimpanzee exhibit

Window view of the chimpanzee exhibit: a fair amount of space and lots of vegetation. (It is hard to show the scale of this enclosure in this photograph.)

This young male Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is named Niini.  Born on February 12, 2013, he was apparently the first chimpanzee born at Kyoto City Zoo in fifty years.

View of the indoor area of the chimpanzee exhibit.  There were many explanatory materials posted on the walls.

Below is the exterior of the “Gorilla House” which was opened in 2014.

Interior of the Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) exhibit

The male gorilla,”Momotaro”.

Tropical Animals House

Opened in 2013, this building houses animals from the tropical zones: various turtles, snakes, other reptiles, sloths, and capybaras.

The Sloth was only a couple of meters from visitors.  Visitors appeared to be particularly impressed by being this close to the animal.

The below photo is of an exhibit that included the shells of an Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone elegans).

African Plains?

The “African plains” area included the enclosures for the giraffes, zebras, hippopotamus, meerkats, fennec foxes, flamingos, and other African birds.  The largest part of this area, the mixed exhibit for the giraffes and zebras looked like an elementary school playground.  The flat ground surface looked like a mix of gravel and small pebbles, and there was no visible grass or other plants. 

There were a few trees in this exhibit, but they were surrounded by fencing to prevent the giraffes from eating them.

Visitors could get a close look at the Giraffes (Giraffa carmelopardalis) either from the ground level…

… or from the upper deck.

Big cats, small cages

Kyoto City Zoo is a small zoo with a land area of about only 4 hectares.  With such a limited land area, perhaps it was unavoidable that some of the exhibits would be crammed into any possible space.  The new complex for the big cats might be such a case.  The zoo guidebook describes this complex as housing the exhibits for the lions, tigers, jaguars, and Tsushima cat.  At the time of my visit, the space intended for the jaguar was being used to house a bear. 

Exterior of big cat complex (view from the south looking north).

Exterior of Lion (Panthera leo) exhibit

Interior of lion exhibit: this exhibit was maybe 7 to 8 meters wide and perhaps about 10 to 15 meters long.

Close up view of double fence construction used for big cat enclosures: an inner mesh fence (larger squares) and an outer fence (smaller squares).  Trying to take clear photographs of the big cats through this double fence construction was quite impossible.

One of three spaces allocated to the Tigers (Panthera tigris).

Closer look of same exhibit.  It appeared to be about 12 meters wide by 12 meters long.  Note water pool at right-bottom of photo.  This pool was about the size of a large Jacuzzi.

The three spaces occupied by the tigers were connected by two overhead bridges.  At the time of my visit, the male tiger was napping in the overhead passageway.  Visitors walking under this passageway seemed to really enjoy seeing this.

Getting so physically close to large cats is not without risks.  This small warning sign explained that when the tigers jump into the pool, they might splash water on visitors.

This sign warned of tigers marking their territory.  Since there is so little territory, I imagine that instances of visitors getting sprayed is a fairly common event.

The indoor quarters for one of the tigers: it was probably about 4 meters by 7 meters.

Opportunities for Animal Encounters

As mentioned earlier, the new exhibits appear to have been designed to allow visitors to get very close to the animals.  At the “Otogi no kuni” area housing domesticated farm animals, visitors could touch and have their photographs taken with the animals.  

This sign explains the rules for this area: no food and drinks, don’t shout at the animals, be nice to the animals, don’t feed them paper or plastic wrappers, don’t chase them, etc.

Visitors are instructed to disinfect their hands before touching the animals.

The sheep were very popular…

… and soft.

Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) enclosure.

Visitors could get very close to the penguins.

Domestic rabbits

Enclosure for domesticated ducks

Ural owl (Strix uralensis)

The space for the Ural owl was probably about 1.5 meters wide, 1.5 meters long, 1.5 meters high.  To the right of this cage, there were was another cage of the same size housing another bird, and on the left, there was a slightly larger cage housing a cockatoo.  Perhaps it would have been better to reduce the number of species on display and build a single, larger enclosure.

Food and Souvenirs

Kyoto City Zoo has a café and a gift shop located at its new east entrance.  The below photo was taken from the inside of the zoo looking towards the entrance/exit.  The “café” is comprised of a service counter (the window with the green awning on the right side of the photo) and a number of tables and chairs (located just outside of the photo).  By the time I went to the café at about 3:30p.m. on this relatively crowded last day of a 3-day weekend, all but one of the food items listed on the menu were covered with “sold out” signs.  Since the only menu item still available was ice cream, I decided to skip lunch, and I forgot to take notes of what dishes are usually offered. 

On the west end of the zoo, a new entrance is currently being constructed and scheduled for completion in the summer of 2015.  According to publicized plans, it will feature an exhibition area, a library, a lecture hall, a restaurant, and a gift shop.

Getting There

The subway stations closest to Kyoto City Zoo are the “Keage” and “Higashiyama” stations on the Kyoto City Subway Tozai Line.  According to the zoo pamphlet, the zoo is about a 5 minute walk from the Keage station and about a 10 minute walk from the Higashiyama station.  Personally, I like approaching the zoo from the Higashiyama station because there are a number of interesting shops along the way that sell traditional Japanese goods, and you can take a detour to Heian Jingu Shrine before going on to the zoo.  If you emerge above ground from Exit 1 of Higashiyama station, turn left and walk towards the east direction.  Proceed until you reach the big intersection with the traffic lights and take another left turn.  As you walk straight North, you will see the giant orange “Torii” gates leading to Heian Jingu. 

If you decide to skip the visit to the shrine, turn right at this intersection and walk east one block past the Kyoto City Art Museum.  Turn left at the next block, cross the canal, and look for the signs pointing to the temporary west entrance.

If you approach the zoo from the “Keage” station, you will emerge from the underground in front of the Kyoto Westin Hotel.  Be sure to check the sign map at the station and walk downhill, looking for the Lake Biwa Canal on your right.  The Zoo’s east entrance is located on a side street next to the Lake Biwa Canal Museum.

Admission is 600 yen for adults and students from high school and up.  Children from 0 to 15 years of old get in free.

(Note: All photos taken in this post were taken during a visit on November 24, 2014.  The comments in this post are based on observations made on that day.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)