| Brookfield Zoo Chicago | |
|---|---|
 Brookfield Zoo Chicago, North Gate | |
 | |
| 41°49′58″N 87°50′00″W / 41.832671°N 87.833462°W | |
| Date opened | July 1, 1934 |
| Location | Brookfield, Illinois, United States |
| Land area | 235 acres (95 ha) |
| No. of animals | 2300 |
| No. of species | 450 |
| Annual visitors | 2.2 million |
| Memberships | AZA[1] |
| Public transit access |  Pace BNSF Hollywood |
| Website | www |
Brookfield Zoo Chicago, also known as the Chicago Zoological Park,[2][3] is a zoo located in the Chicago suburb of Brookfield, Illinois. It houses around 450 species of animals in an area of 216 acres (87 ha). It opened on July 1, 1934, and quickly gained international recognition for using moats and ditches instead of cages to separate animals from visitors and from other animals. The zoo was also the first in America to exhibit giant pandas, one of which (Su Lin[4]) has been taxidermied and put on display in Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. In 1960, Brookfield Zoo Chicago built the nation's first fully indoor dolphin exhibit,[5] and in the 1980s, the zoo introduced Tropic World, the first fully indoor rainforest simulation and the then-largest indoor zoo exhibit in the world.
Brookfield Zoo Chicago is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and managed by the Chicago Zoological Society. The society sponsors numerous research and conservation efforts globally.
- ^ "Currently Accredited Zoos and Aquariums". aza.org. AZA. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
- ^ "Brookfield Zoo (Chicago Zoological Park)". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society.
- ^ "Brookfield Zoo". Encyclopædia Britannica. 5 January 2024.
- ^ "Pandas Galore". Time. 1938-04-11. Archived from the original on August 26, 2010.
- ^ Poirier, Sarah (25 July 2019). "The 17 Largest Zoos In The US Are A Must See For Animal Lovers". The Travel.