| Date opened | 1900[1] |
|---|---|
| Location | Toledo, Ohio, USA |
| Land area | 51 acres (210,000 m2) on south side |
| Number of animals | 4,800[2] |
| Number of species | 700[2] |
| Memberships | Association of Zoos and Aquariums,[3] Butterfly Conservation Initiative |
| Major exhibits | Africa!, African Savanna, Aquarium, Arctic Encounter, Aviary, Bald Eagles, Cheetah Valley, Fisher-Price Children's Zoo, Frogtown, Kingdom of the Apes, Museum of Science, Primate Forest, Reptile House, Snow Leopards, Tiger Terrace, Ziems Conservatory |
| Website | www.toledozoo.org |
Toledo Zoo is a zoo located in Toledo, Ohio. The zoo began in 1900 as Toledo Zoological Gardens and operated by the City of Toledo's Parks Board. In 1982 ownership was transferred from the city to Toledo Zoological Society, a private non-profit organization, and professionalized the zoo's management. Many of the zoo's original buildings were built by the Works Progress Administration, and are still in use today.
Toledo Zoo participates in over 30 Species Survival Plans. It is also a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Butterfly Conservation Initiative. The zoo has also been home to many firsts in the world of zoos; such as the first hippoquarium (and subsequently the first video of a hippo birth), as well as being the one place in the world where the Kihansi Spray Toad is on display. It also is only the second zoo in the world to have saddle-billed storks as a part of its collection.
Toledo Zoo began in 1900, when a woodchuck, that was thought to be a bear, was donated to the City of Toledo. In 1918, plans were made to move the Toledo Zoo from Walbridge Park to Ottawa Park, where it would "represent the finest and the third largest zoo in the United States." [4] These plans were never carried out.
Until 1982, the zoo was run by the city. Toledo Zoological Society got ahold of the zoo that year, and the facility took off. It has since then added many new exhibits. In June 1986 the Hippoquarium, Phase 1 of the African Savanna, opened; Phase 2 opened the following year, in June 1987.
Because of the great success of the Hippoquarium exhibit, the Toledo Zoo gained a very unique and rare opportunity to exhibit two Giant Pandas on loan from China for the summer of 1988. This was the first year that the zoo had over a million people attend the zoo in one year. The exhibit became controversial when the World Wildlife Foundation sued the Toledo Zoo over exhibiting pandas on a short term loan. The zoo was also charging people to see the pandas as a separate exhibit and because of the lawsuit the zoo was ordered to get rid of the fee because it was a part of the regular zoo. All in all the lawsuit was settled out of court and the pandas were exhibited like planned throughout the summer. But, because of all the nation-wide media attention the zoo gained during the lawsuit it is assumed many more people came to the zoo from all over the country to see the pandas on exhibit.
In 1998 the zoo renovated its Aviary which was originally built around 1930. In 1999 Toledo Zoo received the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Exhibit Award for Excellence.
In recent years, the zoo built a pedestrian bridge over the Anthony Wayne Trail. Before the bridge was built, people could get into the zoo through an underground tunnel.[1]
Africa! opened on May 1, 2004 and is 12 acres (49,000 m2) large. The main exhibit, the African plains, is 5 acres (20,000 m2). It has artificial termite mounds for the free-roaming African animals, such as the East African Crowned Cranes, Grant's Zebra, Greater Kudu, Helmeted Guineafowl, impala, Masai giraffe, Nile lechwe, ostrich, and wildebeest. There is also a 0.6-acre (2,400 m2) section for African wild dog. This is all viewed by visitors on an observation deck or the Safari Railway, which circles Africa! Children can ride the only African Animal Carousel in existence. Africa! was built on the site of the original gravel parking lot that existed before the bridge was built. In March 2010, a male baby giraffe named Enzi was born whose father is another famous giraffe at the zoo, whose name was Mowgli.
This location is "naturally landscaped" and is aimed to feel like an African safari. This exhibit includes the white lions formally belonging to Siegfried and Roy, Cape clawless otters, Kori Bustards, Debrazza's monkeys, African bush elephants, meerkats, and white rhinos. An African elephant named Louie was born at the zoo on April 26, 2003, and there are plans underway to expand the elephant habitat to accommodate him. The Zoo's giraffes formerly lived at this exhibit before they were relocated to Africa!. In May 2010, the zoo took a new elephant named Twiggy, from a circus that was not taking good care of her. On June 3rd 2011, the Zoo welcomed another baby male elephant, Lucas, born to mother, Rene. This exhibit also includes several hippopotamuses in the hippoquarium.
Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium is an underwater viewing exhibit for hippopotami, the first of this kind in the world.[1] It has made such a great impact on the zoo that they actually made a new logo that features the hippos. The Hippoquarium was rated by USA Today as one of the nation's ten best animal exhibits, and was featured in National Geographic.[5]
Hippoquarium is located in the African Savannah exhibit, which is accessed via an archway made from two giant hippo head sculptures created by Toledo artist Patricia Wagenman. After passing beneath these great open mouths, visitors go underground by a descending ramp and enter a room with glass panels on one side. Opposite the glass is a 360,000-gallon pool,[6] giving visitors an opportunity to watch hippos underwater. The filtering system cleans 8000 gallons of water every 90 minutes.[7] In 1987 this allowed visitors and researchers to view the underwater birth of a hippo, which had never before been seen in the wild or in captivity. There have been two subsequent births.[7] One of these births was caught on video and can be viewed at the Hippoquarium.[8]
The Aquarium includes 253 different species of animals, with 2800 actual animals in the exhibit. It has one of the most diverse collections of any zoo-aquarium in the United States. Included in this exhibit are African cichlids, arapaima, discus, flashlight fish, Japanese spider crabs, moon jellies, Giant Pacific Octopus, piranhas, and lake sturgeons. The Aquarium has a “Living Reef” exhibit, with many types of corals, and a rainforest exhibit, as well, which is 2,500 square feet (230 m2) large and features the two-toed sloth.[9]
The Arctic Encounter includes Wolves, seals, both gray and harbor, polar bears, both of which can be viewed both above and under water. Two waterfalls and 7 saltwater streams are featured in this exhibit.[10] There is also a gray wolf exhibit that it part of the Arctic Encounter.
The seals have a 4,000 square feet (370 m2) or land and 3,000 square feet (280 m2) of salt water. The polar bear exhibit includes 6,000 square feet (560 m2) of land and 1,600 square feet (150 m2) of water. There is a freshwater stream filled with fish during regular times. A "kids' cave" shows children and adults what it is like to be a polar bear.[10] Visitors watch through a log cabin in the wolf exhibit, which includes 4 gray wolf siblings born at the Wildlife Science Center in 2001.[11]
The aviary is one of the zoo's oldest buildings, built in 1937. After being renovated in 1998, it received the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Exhibit Award for Excellence. The renovated aviary includes walk-through sections with hundreds of birds. The exhibit hatched saddle-billed storks, making Toledo Zoo one of the five zoos in the world to hatch the animal, and one of three zoos to have them live over a month. Other birds featured are burrowing owls, Cuban Amazons, Cuban Grassquits, Green Broadbills, Rhinoceros Hornbills, Sunbitterns, and Victoria Crowned Pigeons.[12]
The bald eagle exhibit is near the pedestrian bridge ramp and initially featured eagle rescue. The first inhabitants had an injured wing and a blind eye respectively.[13]
Cheetah Valley can be viewed from an observation deck or from the fence. One female from Namibia has had several litters of cubs.[14]
The Fisher-Price Children's Zoo is a petting zoo. The children's zoo reopened in 2006, with an “Animals A to Zoo” alphabet theme. There is a Barnyard of the Zoo section, where children can touch and learn about alpacas, chickens, a dog, goats, guinea pigs, owls, and pigs. However, this no longer exists due to the opening of Nature's Neighborhood, which is very similar.[15]
In 1993, The Kingdom of the Apes first opened. Now, it holds chimpanzees, orangutans, and western lowland gorillas. The gorillas have a Gorilla Meadow, which has an area of 0.3 acres (1,200 m2). The chimpanzee and orangutan exhibits have pools in the outdoor space and climbing structures.[16]
The exhibit includes two sub-exhibits, The Crawlspace and Amazing Amphibians. The Crawlspace: A World of Bugs contains over 20 species such as beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, orb-weaver spiders, scorpions, tarantulas, and stick insects.[9]
The Amazing Amphibians exhibit features over two dozen species of frogs, salamanders and caecilians, including the Kihansi Spray Toad, the Wyoming toad and the Japanese giant salamander. Completed in 2008, the exhibit features a nocturnal area at its entrance and biosecure rooms that enable breeding of certain species.
The Primate Forest was first built in 1998 and features Allen’s swamp monkeys, Colobus monkeys, Diana monkeys, Francois' Langurs, and white-cheeked gibbons. There is an indoor and an outdoor exhibit, depending on the weather.[17]
The Reptile House, which holds many turtles, lizards, and snakes, was built in 1934 and is one of seven "reptile houses" in the world. The exhibit works to conserve the Aruba Island rattlesnake and Virgin Islands boa, which got Toledo Zoo the Conservation Award from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association´s twice: 1995 and 1998. For some time, Toledo Zoo in Ohio was the only place in the world where the Kihansi Spray Toad was on display to the public. But the Bronx Zoo in New York City also has several hundred Kihansi Spray Toads, and it opened a small exhibit in February 2010.
Visitors can view the snow leopards through mesh netting. There are only 1000 snow leopards alive and 300 of those are in captivity. Five of that 300 were produced at Toledo Zoo.[18]
The Tiger Terrace has African penguins, Amur tigers, Asian sloth bears, and White-naped Cranes. The zoo holds a female tiger, along with her two cubs.[19]
Built in 1904, the conservatory has many tropical plants, such as the banana, bromeliad, fern, and palm. There is a 200 flower rose garden with the climber, floribunda, hybrid tea, and grandiflora. This section also features a butterfly garden.[20]
The new, improved version of the Children's Zoo. It features cats, dogs, a greater number of guinea pigs then were in the old Children's Zoo, and a variety of birds. It has an outdoor playground and a goat encounter area. It was opened on June 19, 2009.
The Lights Before Christmas is an annual event held by The Toledo Zoo from November 16 to December 31. Most summer attractions and exhibits are closed, but all the buildings and trees are decorated with Christmas lights. It features over one million Christmas lights, 200 animal images, ice carvings, food, carolers, model trains from the Swanton Area Railroad, and Santa Claus. An 85-foot (26 m) Norway Spruce tree contains over 32,000 lights every year, which is more than the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. The main show, Dancing Lights, is near Cheetah Valley. It is repeated several times every night. It uses LED wide-angle mini lights that flash along with Christmas music.[21] All this is done using nearly 10 miles (16 km) of extension cords.[22]
Frozentoesen is an annual winter-themed event lasting from January through February. It features professional ice carving demonstrations, "Cabin Fever Feeds", musical and theatrical performances in an indoor theater, and other special activities. Many of the outdoor animal exhibits are closed during these months, but all of the indoor exhibits remain open to the public. Zoo admission is also half-price during this event.[23]
The Toledo Zoo is a member of the Butterfly Conservation Initiative, the American Association of Zoo Keepers, the Seafood Watch program, and Coins for Conservation. The zoo also has a Green Team and recycles.[24]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Toledo_Zoo Toledo Zoo] at Wikimedia Commons
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