![]() Stapleton funded the zoo very little, and it was in poorly maintained condition when Mayor Quigg Newton was elected in 1947. Monkey Island was built in 1937 using funds from the Works Progress Administration. Īlthough other zoos in the region made extensive use of New Deal funds to upgrade their facilities, only one notable addition was made to Denver Zoo between 19. Bear Mountain established Denver as one of the foremost among American zoos, and the Saint Louis Zoo hired Borcherdt after seeing the exhibit. Velox died at the zoo in 1961 and a memorial stone for her is displayed at the zoo. Between 19 it housed a female polar bear named Velox, who became the mascot of the 31st U.S. Originally it housed monkeys, but due to escape problems California sea lions were housed there instead. The south tip of the exhibit was designed to resemble Mesa Verde National Park. The two main exhibits originally housed polar bears and grizzly bears. Hidden moats replaced cage bars, and native plants and an artificial stream enhanced the natural look. It was built of dyed and textured concrete forms cast from Dinosaur Mountain just outside Morrison, Colorado. ![]() Cross-section view of a proposed bear pit, showing bear living space with trees and rocks, pedestrian areas, and automobile parking, about 1917.īorcherdt designed the Bear Mountain exhibit, which opened in 1918. DeBoer, to draw up the plans for his renovation and appointed Victor H. Speer declared that the zoo's "rison bars can be done away with" in favor of "concrete rocks, waterfalls, trees, etc." Speer hired the city's landscape architect, Saco R. The zoo was a motley menagerie until 1906, when Mayor Robert W. The south tip of Bear Mountain was originally intended for monkeys but now houses North American porcupine. Instead, as many squirrels as could be caught were sent to the Denver Mountain Parks. A plan to shoot the squirrels was scrapped when citizens protested. In 1905, a population of red squirrels was added to the zoo's collection this population grew rapidly and decimated the bird population at Duck Lake. Īs this collection grew, the newly-formed park board continued to focus almost exclusively on acquiring native animals (with a notable pheasant collection and rhesus macaques as the exceptions) and some of the most popular animals at the park were large herds of bison and elk. Other animals at the young zoo included native waterfowl at Duck Lake, native prairie dogs, antelope which roamed the park, and a flock of Chinese pheasants, which later populated the eastern plains of the state. Graham, who started the zoo with this animal. McMurry gave the hard-to-manage cub to the keeper of City Park, Alexander J. McMurry (mayor of Denver from 1895–1899) as a gift. ĭenver Zoo was founded in 1896 when an orphaned American black bear cub named Billy Bryan – short for William Jennings Bryan after the contemporary American politician – was given to Thomas S. In 2015, it was re-certified for ISO 14001 and achieved OHSAS 18001 certification, becoming only the fourth zoo in the world to get both certifications. The zoo achieved ISO 14001 certification in 2009, was given the first AZA Green Award in 2011, and was named the "Greenest Zoo in the Country" at the World Renewable Energy Forum in 2012. ![]() Toyota Elephant Passage, which opened on June 1, 2012, is divided into five areas for rotating the various species.ĭenver Zoo is accredited by the (American) Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and American Humane and is also a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). It expanded on this concept with Primate Panorama, featuring huge mesh tents and open areas for apes and monkeys, and with Predator Ridge, which has three separate areas through which animals are rotated so that their overlapping scents provide environmental enrichment. ![]() With the construction of Bear Mountain, it became the first zoo in the United States to use naturalistic zoo enclosures rather than cages with bars. ĭenver Zoo was started with the donation of an orphaned American black bear. It is the most visited paid attraction in Colorado. Founded in 1896, it is operated by the Denver Zoological Foundation and funded in part by the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) in addition to ticket sales and private donations. Predator Ridge, Northern Shores, Tropical Discovery, Toyota Elephant Passage, Primate Panorama, Bear Mountainĭenver Zoo is an 80-acre (32 ha) nonprofit zoological garden located in City Park of Denver, Colorado, United States.
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