Riyadh Zoo was set up by orders from King Saud bin Abdulaziz in 1957 as his private menagerie of exotic wild animals which he mostly received as gifts to the Saudi royal family.[6] Most of the zoo's animals were originally kept at the palace grounds of Royal Nasiriyah Palace in al-Nasiriyah district of Riyadh as the menagerie was unable to handle the surging crowd of people which gathered to watch the animals[7] whereas the menagerie in al-Malaz became the Riyadh Zoological Gardens.[8] The structure of Riyadh Zoological Gardens was completely razed down in 1981 for the construction of a new public zoo six years later in 1987.[8] The zoo was designed by London-based consultants Safari Parks International.[8] After signing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, by 1988, the zoo started receiving animals from countries like United States, Peru, Australia, Singapore, Kenya and Egypt.