The Lisbon Zoo presents “Savana MEO”, a new compound located at the heart of the Park aims to honor the African bush elephant, a symbol of the wildest dwelling in Lisbon, thus also bringing other African species to the fore.



Since its inception, the new compound has been sponsored by MEO (a brand of Altice Portugal), a partner that not only supported the construction of this area, but has carried the Zoo's mission further over the last year through the integration of the Zoo’s educational content and experiences on a free TV App, where fun and didactic items for all ages can be found.

The “TV Jardim Zoológico” app is available on position 812 of the channel grid or the blue button on the MEO remote. Thus, the Zoo’s dwellers jump out of their compounds and into the homes of all Portuguese people for a fun family program, raising the viewers’ awareness of the need to conserve nature.

At the Zoo, Savana MEO intends to honor the largest land animal, representing strength and intelligence for many indigenous communities. Since 2008, the population of the African bush elephant has undergone a sharp decline, culminating last May in the change in conservation status which led to its transition from a “Vulnerable” to an “Endangered” species. This classification by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN, points to poaching for ivory and the fragmentation of their habitat as the greatest threats facing elephants.

Given that raising awareness is one of the best ways to contribute to conservation, when visiting this enclosure, visitors are transported to the wide and arid African savannas, where they can also watch giraffes, hippos and nyalas, in addition to the emblematic elephants, thus reinforcing the importance of protecting them.

As imposing as the animals it hosts, this new compound has nature as its inspiration, a characteristic evinced by the rock it is made of, as well as the dull shadows, water points, sparse vegetation and new substrates covering the ground. With an area nearly three times that of the previous one, the new compound enhances animal welfare by creating new opportunities for environmental enrichment. The placement of the elephant feed on elevated structures is an example of that enrichment, intended to make the animals exercise their trunk muscles, just as they would to reach the tree leaves in their natural habitat.

Visit the Lisbon Zoo and let yourself be awed by the new elephant compound, Savana MEO, always keeping in mind that by visiting the Zoo you are contributing to a worldwide project of endangered species.

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