Many rare trees (remnants of a botanical garden) and animals such as mallards, moorhens, coots, and even Egyptian geese and rose-ringed parakeets thrive in this urban environment.

In 1851, a portion was sold off in exchange for shares in the Zoological and Horticultural Society, and the area became what is today Leopold Park.

The City of Brussels bought the old zoological gardens and converted them into a public recreational park containing a variety of diversions, including the current Museum of Natural Sciences.

In 1884, Ernest Solvay and Paul Héger, professors at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), began a project to create an expanded university campus in the park.

[5] During the following years, a campus for the Solvay School of Commerce was established but construction of additional buildings was soon curtailed for fear of encroachment on the park and its fragile wildlife.