The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium is one of only six major zoo and aquarium combinations in the United States. Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania‘s Highland Park, the zoo sits on 77 acres (31 ha) of parkland, where it exhibits more than 4,000 animals representing 475 species, including 20 threatened or endangered species. The zoo’s accredited membership in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) was dropped in 2015.
History
The Pittsburgh Zoo opened on June 14, 1898, as Highland Park Zoo, after Christopher Lyman Magee donated $125,000 (about four million dollars when adjusted for inflation) to construct a zoological garden in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park. Like most other zoos of the time, the Pittsburgh Zoo more closely resembled a menagerie than an actual zoo. However, as time progressed, the animal exhibits eventually became more naturalistic, and the zoo’s goal became more focused on conservation.
In 1937, the bear exhibits were built under the Works Progress Administration. These exhibits were the zoo’s first attempt at constructing more naturalistic exhibits instead of simply displaying animals in cages. In 1949, the Children’s Zoo opened with a grant from the Sarah Mellon Scaife Foundation. The Children’s Zoo contained interactive exhibits and played areas for children, including a simulated large chunk of cheese that was inhabited by dozens of live mice. In 1967, the AquaZoo, a large aquarium, opened to the public. At the time of its completion, the AquaZoo was the only aquarium in Pennsylvania and the second largest aquarium in the United States.
Exhibits
Kid’s Kingdom
Kid’s Kingdom opened in 1949 when it was then called Children’s Zoo. In 1994 a naming contest was implemented for a new name for the newly expanded area; the name was from winner Adam Mellinger from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. This section of the zoo is an interactive children’s area and contains a petting zoo stocked with domesticated animals, a reptile house; a playground; and several exhibits featuring wildlife from Pennsylvania, including white-tailed deer beavers, and river otters, a sea lion exhibit. Bed Bug Exterminator Pittsburgh
Tropical Forest
The Tropical Forest opened in 1991 and is a 0.5-acre indoor rainforest. This building focuses mainly on primates, containing 16 species in total. Ring-tailed lemurs, black-and-white ruffed lemurs, red ruffed lemurs, tufted capuchins, white-faced sakis, black howler monkeys, white-cheeked gibbons, Angola colobuses, blue monkeys, and great apes, including gorillas and orangutans all live in this building. Other rainforest animals, such as Hoffman’s two-toed sloths and Solomon Island leaf frogs, are also displayed here.
Address: 7370 Baker St, Pittsburgh, PA
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