page_title: Taronga Zoo Sydney
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Taronga Zoo Sydney / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) in the Taronga Zoo, Sydney, Australia.
context_page_description: Taronga Zoo Sydney is Australia's largest zoo, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in the suburb of Mosman, on the shores of Sydney Harbour.
  It was officially opened on 7 October 1916. Taronga Zoo Sydney is managed by the Zoological Parks Board of New South Wales, under the trading name Taronga Conservation Society, along with its sister zoo, the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo.
  Divided into eight zoogeographic regions, the 28-hectare Taronga Zoo Sydney is home to over 4,000 animals of 350 species. It has a zoo shop, a cafe, and information centre.
context_section_description: The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales opened the first public zoo in New South Wales in 1884 at Billy Goat Swamp in Moore Park, on a site now occupied by Sydney Boys High School and Sydney Girls High School. Inspired by a 1908 visit to the Hamburg Zoo, the secretary of the zoo, Albert Sherbourne Le Souef, envisioned a new zoo based on the bar-less concept. After realising that the Moore Park site was too small, the NSW Government granted 43 acres (17 ha) of land north of Sydney Harbour. A further 9 acres (3.6 ha) were later granted in 1916.
  Taronga is an Aboriginal word meaning beautiful view.
caption: Giraffes in front of Sydney's skyline
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