The Ueno Zoo (恩賜上野動物園 Onshi Ueno Dōbutsuen) is a zoo, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and located in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is Japan's oldest and most famous zoo, opened on March 20, 1882. It is a five-minute walk from the Park Exit of Ueno Station, with convenient access from Tokyo's public-transportation network. The Ueno Zoo Monorail, the first monorail in the country, connects the eastern and western parts of the grounds.
The zoo is located within Ueno Park, a large urban park that is home to several museums, a small amusement park, and other attractions.
Ueno Zoo's saddest time came during World War II. Shortly after March 1945 bombings of Tokyo, the Japanese placed former U.S. Army Air Force pilot Ray "Hap" Halloran on display naked in a Ueno Zoo tiger cage so civilians could walk in front of the cage and view the B-29 prisoner. Japanese civilians, mostly women, looked upon him in sad silence.
The Japanese Army also ordered that all "wild and dangerous animals" at the zoo be killed, claiming that bombs could hit the zoo and escaping wild animals would wreak havoc in the streets of Tokyo. Requests by the staff at the zoo for a reprieve, or to evacuate the animals elsewhere, were refused. Ueno Zoo's three elephants at the time, John, Tonky, and Wanly (or Wang Lee) did not eat the poisoned food, and thus starved to death. The fate of Ueno's animals, particularly the elephants, has often been used in Japan as an example of the evils of war.
Within the limits in which it operates, the Ueno Zoo attempts to provide the animals an environment similar to the natural habitat. In recent years, the old-fashioned cages of the past have been replaced with modern habitats, such as the "Gorilla Woods".
As of March, 2003, the zoo has 422 species. The Sumatran tiger, and western lowland gorilla head the list of the zoo's population. Ueno has most variety of species on exhibition than any other zoo in Japan.
At some point, redistribution of the animals among Tokyo's other zoos (including Tama Zoo and Inokashira Nature Park) left Ueno without a lion. However, in response to public demand, Ueno borrowed a female from the Yokohama Municipal Zoo. []
As of 2008, recent animals at the Ueno Zoo included:
Other animals have included the Sumatran tiger the Asiatic lion, the Western lowland gorilla, the Polar bear, the Asian elephant, the Reticulated Giraffe. and the White rhinoceros
The zoo is also often home to zebras, Japanese macaques, red-crowned cranes, White-tailed eagles and King Penguins, along with goats, sheep, pigs, ostriches, and rabbits.