Animals at the Shanghai Zoo are being freed from their cages and moving to new homes that are more like their natural habitats.

Cages and small enclosures, where lions, snakes, penguins and chimpanzees lived, have been pulled down, as the zoo has spent more than 60 million yuan (US$7.41 million) to build new habitats for them.

The park hopes that the reconstruction project will provide a better platform for biological education for children, and protect the animals' rights.

In the hall of amphibians, the new home for snakes is decorated with green plants, tree stumps, and even a creek, to create a space like the Amazon River Valley. With dozens of types of nonpoisonous snakes placed together, visitors can observe how different species live in a natural habitat.

"We hope that the reconstruction can send a signal to the visitors - treat the animals kindly," said Xiong Chengpei, the zoo's director. "The other purpose is to build the zoo into a base for students' biological education eventually."

According to Xiong, the park invited zoologists, architects and school teachers to discuss the plan together.

"As the city is becoming more urbanized, local children have fewer chances to know about animals, and therefore we abandoned the previous belief that the park should only focus on importing precious animals for exhibition," Xiong said.

"I didn't know that toads like to stay together, while frogs prefer acting alone, before I saw the situation here," said visitor Zhang Qing, as she looked on at a new pond for amphibians.

The zoo also plans to build a 3,000-square-meter bird garden.

(Shanghai Daily September 28, 2005)