Leo yawned. "The sea is wet, the sun is warm, and the menagerie hates the mastiff." -AFFC, Prologue

In this post I thought it would be fun to list out the different menageries (zoos) that are known to exist in the ASOIAF world.

List of Menageries (and the species they have) in the ASOIAF World

Background

Numerous animals were kept in menageries (early zoos) ranging from Charlemagne, to animals kept for arenas like the Colisseum to even the Tower of London. Many peoples first time encountering exotic beasts were from these menageries.

Illyrio Mopatis

The first mention of a menagerie is in Daenerys' first chapter. Illyrio (who lives in Pentos) has a menagerie that contains at least one panther:

The slave girl had not been far wrong, she thought. Khal Drogo was a head taller than the tallest man in the room, yet somehow light on his feet, as graceful as the panther in Illyrio's menagerie. He was younger than she'd thought, no more than thirty. His skin was the color of polished copper, his thick mustachios bound with gold and bronze rings. -AGOT, Daenerys I

The Prince of Pentos

Also in Pentos, the current Prince has a menagerie that contains at least a pride of lions:

That seemed to amuse the lord of cheese no end. He slapped a meaty thigh and said, "You Westerosi are all the same. You sew some beast upon a scrap of silk, and suddenly you are all lions or dragons or eagles. I can take you to a real lion, my little friend. The prince keeps a pride in his menagerie. Would you like to share a cage with them?" -ADWD, Tyrion I

Sealord of Braavos

The Sealord's menagier keeps beasts/birds from all over the world:

Braavos is a city renowned for its architecture: the sprawling Sealord's Palace, with its magnificent menagerie of queer beasts and birds from all around the world; the imposing Palace of Justice; the huge Temple of the Moonsingers; the aqueduct that the Braavosi named the sweetwater river, carrying muchneeded freshwater from the mainland of Essos (for the water in the canals is brackish, muddy, and too foul to drink because of the refuse thrown into it by the city's inhabitants); the towers of the keyholders and noble families; and the House of Red Hands, a great hospice and center of healing. In and amongst these noble structures are countless shops, brothels, inns, alehouses, guildhalls, and merchants' exchanges. Along the streets and bridges stand statues of past Sealords, lawgivers, sailors, warriors, even poets, singers, and courtesans. -TWOIAF, The Free Cities: Braavos

and is "far famed"

We know now that Lady Elissa made her way to Braavos after Pentos, though not before taking on a new name. Having been driven from Fair Isle and disowned by her brother Lord Franklyn, she took on a bastard name of her own devising, calling herself Alys Westhill. Under that name, she secured an audience with the Sealord of Braavos. The Sealord’s menagerie was far famed, and he was glad to buy the dragon eggs. The gold she received in return she entrusted to the Iron Bank, and used it to finance the building of the Sun Chaser, the ship she had dreamed of for many a year. -Fire & Blood I: Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I

and contains giraffes, capybara/tapirs, manticores, tasmanian tiger/wolves, Jurassic Park style velociraptors:

"Hear me. The ships of Braavos sail as far as the winds blow, to lands strange and wonderful, and when they return their captains fetch queer animals to the Sealord's menagerie. Such animals as you have never seen, striped horses, great spotted things with necks as long as stilts, hairy mouse-pigs as big as cows, stinging manticores, tigers that carry their cubs in a pouch, terrible walking lizards with scythes for claws. Syrio Forel has seen these things. -AGOT, Arya IV

and at one point an elephant bound for the menagerie was captured by the Oakenfist:

Alyn Velaryon’s victory was complete. He lost three ships in the Stepstones (one, sadly, was the True Heart, captained by his cousin Daeron, who perished when she sank), whilst sinking more than thirty and capturing six galleys, eleven cogs, eighty-nine hostages, vast amounts of food, drink, arms, and coin, and an elephant meant for the Sealord’s menagerie. All this the Lord of the Tides brought back to Westeros, along with the name that he would carry for the rest of his long life: Oakenfist. When Lord Alyn sailed Queen Rhaenys up the Blackwater Rush and rode in through the River Gate on the back of the Sealord’s elephant, tens of thousands lined the city streets shouting his name and clamoring for a glimpse of their new hero. At the gates of the Red Keep, King Aegon III himself appeared to welcome him. -Fire & Blood, Under the Regents—War and Peace and Cattle Shows

which is likely how the size comparison was made for Balerion the Black Dread (assuming elephants/mammoths are the same general size in ASOIAF):

he brought the elephant back to King's Landing as outlined in your grand history of the Targaryen dynasty part 1 fire and blood available now thereafter the elephant is not discussed at all well if you've read the novels that began the series you know there there's a discussion of the dragon skulls that were at one point decorated the throne room these are in the novel's yes no I haven't read those are they good and and one dragon is described as being so big that he could swallow an elephant whole how do you think they arrived at that measurement -SSM, In Conversation GRRM and John Hodgman: 18 November 2018

There was an update to TLOIAF Maps:

Linda and I helped a fair bit with pulling together information for the Braavos map, and saw George's original. George's original map of Braavos, which he sent and which I have, was noted by him to be quite old and that in writing he had changed some details and hadn't updated the map. So he offered some written corrections, and then said it'd be best if we all combed through the text, tried to pinpoint the changes, have Roberts go through with a draft ... and then he'd offer some further notes.

That's the stage where George pointed out he wanted that isle wooded and hosting the Sealord's menagerie. His original map just points out the Sealord's palace, no reference to the menagerie. - Elio Garcia on Westeros.org: 21 October 2018

Casterly Rock

The Lannisters keep (as recently as at least 270's AC) Westerosi lions in the Rock:

Cersei paced her cell, restless as the caged lions that had lived in the bowels of Casterly Rock when she was a girl, a legacy of her grandfather's time. She and Jaime used to dare each other to climb into their cage, and once she worked up enough courage to slip her hand between two bars and touch one of the great tawny beasts. She was always bolder than her brother. The lion had turned his head to stare at her with huge golden eyes. Then he licked her fingers. His tongue was as rough as a rasp, but even so she would not pull her hand back, not until Jaime took her by the shoulders and yanked her away from the cage. -ADWD, Cersei II

If interested: The Bowels of Casterly Rock

Lannisport

In addition to Casterly Rock, Lannisport also has a menagerie that held an elephant:

The first time they passed an elephant, Tyrion could not help but stare. There had been an elephant in the menagerie at Lannisport when he had been a boy, but she had died when he was seven … and this great grey behemoth looked to be twice her size. -ADWD, Tyrion VII

Slaver's Bay

While likely primarily for fighting, there are numerous beasts kept in captivity in Slaver's Bay:

Sandoq the Shadow had come from Lys with Lady Larra, a gift from her father the Magister Lysandro. Black of skin and black of hair, he stood almost seven feet tall. His face, which he oft kept hidden behind a black silk veil, was a mass of thin white scars, and his lips and tongue had been removed, leaving him both mute and hideous to look upon. It was said of him that he had been the victor of a hundred fights in the death pits of Meereen, that he had once torn out the throat of a foe with his teeth after his sword had shattered, that he drank the blood of the men he killed, that in the pits he had slain lions, bears, wolves, and wyverns with no weapon but the stones he found upon the sands. -Fire & Blood I: The Lysene Spring and the End of Regency

If interested: Sandoq the Shadow

and:

More news soon came from Lord Rego’s agents across the water. One report spoke of a dragon being displayed in the fighting pits of Astapor on Slaver’s Bay, a savage beast with shorn wings the slavers set against bulls, cave bears, and packs of human slaves armed with spears and axes, whilst thousands roared and shouted. Septon Barth dismissed the account at once. “A wyvern, beyond a doubt,” he declared. “The wyverns of Sothoryos are oft taken for dragons by men who have never seen a dragon.” -Fire & Blood I, Jaehaerys and Alysanne—Their Triumphs and Tragedies

It should also be noted that there is a Yunkai nobleman who the Windblown call the Beastmaster.

If you enjoyed this post and are interested in how we could potentially any of the strange beasts we have yet to encounter, please check out: Fantastic Beasts & How We Could Encounter Them

TLDR: A list of the menageries in the world and the different species they contain