Sri Lanka has a history of collecting and keeping wild animals as pets by both Sri Lankan kings as well as by European colonisers. What is known today as the National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka was founded by John Hagenbeck in the late 1920s. During John Hagenbeck's ownership of the zoos the facility was used as a collection centre by his colleague Heinz Randow who collected numerous native and exotic species from across Asia, for Hagenbeck's zoo; Tierpark Hagenbeck. Randow collected numerous native species like; Tufted grey langur, Purple-faced langur, Toque macaque, Sloth bear, Sri Lankan leopard, Asian water monitor, Axis deer and Sambar deer and other Asian species like; Asiatic ...