Ménagerie du jardin des plantes

The Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes is a public zoological park of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, located in Paris in the 5th arrondissement. Founded in 1794 on the initiative of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, this zoo is one of the oldest in the world still open to the public. Since 1993, all buildings, including horticultural and zoological shelters, have been classified as historical monuments.

The menagerie covers approximately 5.5 hectares in the north-eastern quarter of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, bordered by Rue Cuvier to the North-West and Quai Saint-Bernard to the North-East. It presents to the public approximately 600 mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, in addition to invertebrates, for a total of 189 species. It is one of the few French zoos to feature tree kangaroos, orangutans, and Tasmanian devils.

Like the Parc zoologique de Paris (known as the “Vincennes Zoo”) and the Réserve zoologique de la Haute-Touche, the menagerie was long managed by the Museum's ethology chair; during the Museum's reorganisation in 2001, it was attached to the “department of botanical and zoological gardens” and since 2017 to the “Adaptations du vivant” department, which manages approximately 3,500 live animals. Since April 2023, Aude Bourgeois has been the director of the menagerie.

It is a permanent member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria and is committed to ex situ conservation by participating in European programmes for endangered species (EEP and ESB), five of which it coordinates. It is also a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).