Receiving an average of 200,000 visitors every year, the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park is one of the most popular and extraordinary tourist attractions in Malaysia.
The park’s main feature that distinguishes it from other bird parks is that the birds in certain zones are able to roam – or fly – freely within in the aviary which closely resembles their natural habitat.
With this free-flight concept, birds are also able to breed naturally in this zoological park, which is fiercely committed to becoming a successful avian breeding centre through its on-going captive breeding programmes.
Entering the door of the bird park, visitors can witness at close proximity how approximately 800 birds of 60 local and foreign species can live together in a perfectly balanced community in a semi-natural, man-made environment closely resembling their natural habitats. In total the park is home to more than 2,000 birds of approximately 200 species. The KL Bird Park was set up in 1991 and was officially opened by The DYMM Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tuanku Bainun. It is found in the scenic Kuala Lumpur Lake Gardens some 10 minutes drive from the city centre. Sprawling across 20.9 acres, the park is divided into four zones: zone one and two make up the free-flight zone; zone three is the hornbill park and zone four is where the birds are placed in separate cages and mini aviaries.
Proof that these birds have adapted well to this environment is evident in the fact that they are nesting, breeding and producing offspring relatively unaided until maturity. Breeding programmes here began in 2002. Successful breeding has been achieve with the emu, a native of Australia, and so far 37 emus were produced from the initial six parent birds. From one pair of African Grey parrots14 youngsters have joined the collection.
The yellow-billed stork, silver pheasant, sun conure, milky stork, red lory, Indian blue peafowl, straw-headed bulbul, Malay peacock pheasant have also all been bred successfully.