The Dubai Safari Park has started to receive the first of the animals that will be the foundation stock for the collection, it was announced on Tuesday.
The project, located at Al Warqa district, will cover a total area of 119 hectares and work is ongoing to build a collection that will take the safari park to 2020 and beyond, news agency WAM reported.
The first animals arrived on Monday from Seoul Grand Park in Korea although no further details were disclosed. Previous reports suggest the project will open in mid-2016.
The new zoo will be home to almost 10,500 animals from around the world, and out of those, there will be more than 350 species of rare and endangered animals, it added.
