Miami MetroZoo

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Miami MetroZoo is the largest zoological garden in South Florida. It is located in southern unincorporated Miami-Dade County southwest of the city of Miami and west of the village of Palmetto Bay.It houses over 900 wild animals and is the only subtropical zoo in the continental United States.^[1]The zoo is on 740 acres, 300 of which are developed. It is 3 miles around if walked on the path, and has over 80 exhibits.^[2]

1 History
2 Future
3 Other
4 Gallery
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The history of the zoo can be traced back to the year 1948, when 3 monkeys, a goat and 2 black bears were purchased for $270 from a small road show stranded near Miami. These 6 animals were the beginning of the Crandon Park Zoo on the island of Key Biscayne, just southeast off the coast from downtown Miami. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy devastated the zoo and caused the death of 250 animals. After the hurricane, Dade County officials applied for 600 acres of land in the Richmond Naval Air Station property on December 11, 1970. Construction began in 1975, and the grand opening of Asia, the first major exhibit, opened on December 12, 1981. A total of 38 exhibits, covering 200 acres, were available to the public. By 1987 the zoo had grown to over 1,200 animals, and was considered one of the top 25 zoos in the country.^[3]

[edit] Future

A new exhibit, Amazon and Beyond, will open late 2007. This new exhibit will be 27 acres dedicated to the flora and fauna of tropical America. Some of the Animals to be featured in this exhibit are the anaconda, giant river otters and harpy eagles.^[4]

On November 7, 2006 voters approved for an expansion of MetroZoo. This expansion is set to include a family oriented hotel and water park adjacent to the current zoo in order to attract more visitors, since attendance has been lacking in the years after Hurricane Andrew, ^[5] ^[6] which ravaged the zoo, as well as destroyed the aviary.