Denver Zoo
Entrance pavilion
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| Date opened | 1896 |
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| Location | Denver, Colorado, United States |
| Coordinates | 39°45′N 104°57′W / 39.750°N 104.950°WCoordinates: 39°45′N 104°57′W / 39.750°N 104.950°W |
| Land area | 80 acres (32 ha) |
| No. of animals | 4,125 (2013) |
| No. of species | 613 (2013) |
| Annual visitors | 1.6 million (2001–2010 average) |
| Memberships | AZA,WAZA |
| Major exhibits | Predator Ridge, North Shores, Tropical Discovery, Toyota Elephant Passage, Primate Panorama, Bear Mountain |
| Website | www |
The Denver Zoo is an 80-acre (32 ha) facility located in City Park of Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1896, it is owned by the City and County of Denver and funded in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). It was the most popular paid attraction in the Denver metropolitan area in 2005.
The Denver Zoo was started with the donation of an orphaned American black bear. With the construction of Bear Mountain, it became the first zoo in the United States to use naturalistic zoo enclosures rather than cages with bars. It expanded on this concept with Primate Panorama, featuring huge mesh tents and open areas for apes and monkeys, and with Predator Ridge, which has three separate areas through which animals are rotated so that their overlapping scents provide environmental enrichment. Toyota Elephant Passage, which opened on June 1, 2012, is divided into five areas for rotating the various species.
The Denver Zoo is accredited by the (American) Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and is also a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). The zoo achieved ISO 14001 certification in 2009, was given the first AZA Green Award in 2011, and was named the "Greenest Zoo in the Country" at the World Renewable Energy Forum in 2012. In 2015, it was re-certified for ISO 14001 and achieved OHSAS 18001 certification, becoming only the fourth zoo in the world to get both certifications.
The Denver Zoo was founded in 1896 when an orphaned American black bear cub named Billy Bryan – short for William Jennings Bryan after the contemporary American politician – was given to Thomas S. McMurry (mayor of Denver from 1895–1899) as a gift. McMurry gave the hard-to-manage cub to the keeper of City Park, Alexander J. Graham, who started the zoo with this animal. Other animals at the young zoo included native waterfowl at Duck Lake, native prairie dogs, antelope which roamed the park, and a flock of Chinese pheasants, which later populated the eastern plains of the state.
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Wikipedia