The Denver Zoo - Colorado

The Denver Zoo in City Park of Denver, Colorado, USA occupies an area of 80 acres, was established in 1896. This is managed by the City and County of Denver and is partly financed by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). In 2005, it earned the credit of most popular paid attraction of Denver metropolitan.

There’s very interesting story that led to the foundation of The Denver Zoo in 1896. The mayor of Denver Thomas S. McMurrry ( from 1895-1899) was gifted an American black bear named Billy Bryn-short for William Jennings Bryan, after the contemporary American politician. The mayor having realized it to be beyond him to manage the bear, handed over the cub to the keeper of the City Park, Alexander J. Graham who took the initiative of starting a zoo with this orphaned black bear. Soon some more animals were added to give company to bear and included native prairie dogs, native waterfowl at Duck Lake and antelopes that roamed the park with a flock of Chinese pheasants that ultimately occupied the eastern plains of the state.

With the coming up of Bear Mountain, it was the first zoo in the United States to use naturalistic zoo enclosures instead of cages with bars. It further stretched this concept with Primate Panorama that included huge mesh tents and open areas for providing shelter to apes and monkeys. It accommodates Predator Ridge split into three parts for rotating the animals so that their overlapping scents offer enriched environments. The under construction Asian Tropics exhibit will be split into five areas for rotating various species.

All thru day, the Denver Zoo educates visitors of animal behavior by way of the Seal Lion demonstration, Pachyderm demonstration, Wild Encounters, Wildlife show, Predator Ridge demonstration, Penguin Feeding, Bog Toss (feeding of birds), Red River Hog Feeding, Meet the Animal Stars, and other such programs. A few of these are seasonal, and others (like the Flamingo talk every day during the summer of 2009) showcase particular animals that were raised in the zoo.

Denver Zoo's conservatory efforts are helped by the Department of Conservation Biology. Because of its constant research and funding, the Department contributes conserving an assortment of species worldwide. Though the Zoo has been active in conservation and research ever since it was founded in 1896, the establishment of the Department of Conservation Biology aided by way of providing committed staff and funds to help hundreds of projects the world over.