The Toledo Zoo is a zoo located in Toledo, Ohio. The zoo began in 1900 as the Toledo Zoological Gardens and operated by the City of Toledo's Parks Board. In 1982 ownership was transferred from the city to the 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.

The 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 the only 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.

History

When a woodchuck was donated to the City of Toledo in 1900, the idea of a zoo began.

Until 1982, it was run by the city. The Toledo Zoological Society got a hold of the zoo that year, and that is when the zoo took off. It added many new exhibits, including the African Savanna, home of the hippoquarium.

In 1998, the zoo renovated the Aviary, which was originally built around 1930.

In 1999, the 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.

Exhibits

Africa!

Africa! opened on May 1, 2004 and is large. The main exhibit, the African plains, is . 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 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.

African Savanna

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, 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. It also includes several hippopotamuses in the hippoquarium.

Hippoquarium

The Toledo Zoo Hippoquarium is an underwater viewing exhibit for hippopotami, the first of this kind in the world. 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.

Aquarium

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 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 large and features the two-toed sloth.

Arctic Encounter

The Arctic Encounter includes 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. There is also a gray wolf exhibit that it part of the Arctic Encounter.

The seals have a or land and of salt water. The polar bear exhibit includes of land and 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. Visitors watch through a log cabin in the wolf exhibit, which includes 4 gray wolf siblings born at the Wildlife Science Center in 2001.

Aviary

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 the 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.

Bald Eagles

The bald eagle exhibit is right past the pedestrian bridge ramp.

Cheetah Valley

Cheetah Valley can be viewed from an observation deck or from the fence. One female from Namibia has had several litters of cubs.

Children's Zoo

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.

Kingdom of the Apes

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 . The chimpanzee and orangutan exhibits have pools in the outdoor space and climbing structures.

Museum of Science

The exhibit includes two sub-exhibits, The Crawlspace and Amazing Amphibians. The Crawlspace: A World of Bugs contains hundreds of bugs. There are over 20 species in the section, such as beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, orb-weaver spiders, scorpions, tarantulas, and stick insects.

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.

Primate Forest

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.

Reptile House

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 the Toledo Zoo the Conservation Award from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association´s twice: 1995 and 1998. The zoo also houses that Kihansi Spray Toad and is the only place in the world where the public can view them, since it is extinct in the wild. The Toledo Zoo holds half of the entire population of this species.

Snow Leopards

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 the Toledo Zoo.

Tiger Terrace

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.

Ziems Conservatory

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.

Natures Neighborhood

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.

Events

Lights Before Christmas

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 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. All this is done using nearly of extension cords.

Frozentoesen

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.

Conservation efforts

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.

References

External links

• Official website