Jerusalem Biblical Zoo officially has another name - Zoo Tisch family by the name of American philanthropists. However, in everyday citizens continue to call it the Biblical Zoo is accustomed to since 1940, when the Ukrainian immigrant, professor of zoology at the Hebrew University, Aaron opened Shulov nature corner in the center of Jerusalem.

Shulov strives to provide its students with the opportunity to study mammals, reptiles and birds, mentioned in the Bible. In addition, he wanted to break down the invisible wall between university intellectuals and the common people. Commoners neighborhood was unhappy with the living area because of the smell, the noise and the fear that there will escape any dangerous animal. Since then, the zoo grow and moved several times.

He is now 25 hectares in the valley in the southwest of Jerusalem. Two-level space you can drive around on the tour train, but you can get around on foot, studying not only the fauna and flora - in the park grow native trees and shrubs, many of which are also mentioned in the Bible. Here there are olive trees, fig trees, carob trees, pomegranates, date palms, pistachios, oaks, pines. Artificial lake at the main entrance is fed pools and waterfalls that flow into each other.

At the mention of biblical animals first thing usually comes to mind Noah's ark. In the form of Noah's Ark and built an information center of the zoo. Here show films, give lectures and exhibitions, a gift shop and cafe on the "deck", which offers tranquil views of the Jerusalem hills.

Noah's Ark is regarded as a symbol of nature protection. This is a very important topic for the zoo, which is carried out intensive work on endangered species, and not only those that are mentioned in the Bible. Some species, extinct in the region, have been so successfully displayed in the Biblical Zoo, their descendants now inhabit the area around Israel. Among them - a Syrian brown bear, an African Addax antelope, Persian fallow deer (when in 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution, the Israelis leaving the country, took five containers of Persian fallow deer, and now in Israel, the world's largest population of deer). The zoo rescued very different animals - from the neck to the blind shrimp.

It features over 300 species of animals (more than 2 million individuals) - lions, rhinos, monkeys, zebras, kangaroos, penguins, parrots, snakes, chameleons, flamingos ... They live in their natural habitat - from the African savannah to tropical forests. Effective Veterinary Center with operating, laboratory and quarantine unit. The "petting zoo" can stroke and feed pygmy goats, sheep, rabbits, and in a special pool - koi. Fruits, vegetables and meat needed to feed the animals, free supply Israeli companies as a tithe.

The zoo contains almost all of the biblical animals - almost, because all is impossible to collect all the same: for example, the leviathan and a unicorn can not be found.