Photo : Tchouk-tchouk nougat / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Bioparc de Doué la Fontaine
The Doué-la-Fontaine Bioparc is a zoological park in Anjou, near Saumur, set in old faluns quarries, a sedimentary rock formed by the sea more than ten million years ago. The site extends over about seventeen hectares, and its cliffs and underground galleries offer a particular setting, presented by the park as unique.
The zoo was created in 1961 by Louis Gay, then transformed into a Bioparc in the early 2000s. It houses, according to sources, nearly two thousand animals of more than a hundred species, of which about a third are threatened with extinction. You meet notably Humboldt penguins, macaws, pelicans, flamingos and giraffes, as well as a large South American aviary.
The shows use no training and highlight the animals' natural behaviours. The park supports conservation programmes, notably in Niger, Peru and Indonesia.
