Rio de Janeiro: The Zoo and the National Museum

In Rio de Janeiro I was living in an apartment in the North District neighbourhood of Sao Cristovao. This neighbourhood is an older one that is in the process of being gentrified. Some say it is not so safe or very beautiful, but I thought it was a fantastic area in which to live. Living there, I was close to the downtown core (Centro), a lot of important infrastructure such as a hospital and public transportation, and I was right across the street from a large city park (Parque de Quinta da Boa Vista) that houses Rio's National Museum and the Rio de Janeiro Zoo.



I took advantage of my proximity to these less frequented tourist spots to have a visit. The National Museum is housed in the former Imperial Palace of the Portuguese Emperors. It is a beautiful French neoclassic building and its former gardens filled with artificial lakes, vistas and even caves, are now the public park. In the 1800s the mansion was converted into a museum, however one of science and history instead of one about the life and lifestyles of its former residents. The building has signs of having once had exquisite decor, design and life within its walls, that I think is now lost by the exhibits of dinosaurs, Egyptian mummies and Antarctic exploration.

The pieces the National Museum houses were cool, but I was put off by the juxtaposition of so much history from so many different times with the beauty of the buildling. My curiosity to know how the Emperors lived, how they entertained in one of their colonies, and how many people would have been needed to make the Imperial Palace funtion, prevented me from thoroughly enjoying the exhibts. I hope that the building is one day restored and the museum contents are moved to a building designed to house them.


Next I visited the Rio Zoo. The zoo was founded in 1888, which means that part of its interest, besides the animals, is to see foundations of animal captivity from a different time when man's relationship with animals was very different. The only other 'old' zoo I have visited is the Berlin zoo which was started in 1844 and officially opened in 1913 when I was there in 2007 so my Mum could visit the polar bear pup Knut.)


A zoo is an entity about which I believe most people have difficulty resolving their emotions. A zoo is a place of joy, laughter, learning and curiosity, but it is also a place of sadness and disgust. I really enjoy seeing animals I have never seen before, being able to interact with them and observe their curious behaviours. Sometimes seeing the very large animals such as hippos, giraffes and elephants is aweing. However, seeing these animals in captivity, living in small quarters and in cages is often heart breaking. You wish the animals could be free and not caged up in a zoo for the pure purpose of being studied and observed, unable to live a full life.


It was interesting though to visit the Rio Zoo, because so many of the animals are actually from Brazil! It is rare to go to a zoo in the Northern hemisphere and have the majority of the featured species from the nations in which these zoos are situation. I was most interested by the birds. I believe there are over 2000 native bird species in the Rio Zoo including the green parrot (Loro), many types of tucans and macaws. I am hopeful and eager to have the chance to see some parrots in the wild on my trip and hope that I am fortunate enough for this to happen.


Going to a zoo is also a puzzle - you need to stare into a captivity area long and hard to locate the animals that are there. For example can you see the crocodile above? It took me a long time to find him in his camouflaged state. And one final note of interest, the green growth covering the pond above isn't pollution, but instead is important to the Brazilian ecosystem because it prevents dengue carrying mosquitoes from reproducing.