Woodland Park Zoo is a wildlife conservation organization and zoological garden located in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the recipient of over 65 awards across multiple categories and has served approximately 1.4 million domestic and international visitors in 2019.
History
Occupying the western half of Woodland Park, the zoo began as a small menagerie on the estate of Guy C. Phinney, a Canadian-born lumber mill owner, and real estate developer. Six years after Phinney’s death, on December 28, 1899, Phinney’s wife sold the 188-acre (76 ha), Woodland Park, to the city for $5,000 in cash and the assumption of a $95,000 mortgage. The sum was so large that then-mayor W. D. Wood vetoed the acquisition, which was later overruled by the city council. In 1902, the Olmsted Brothers firm of Boston was hired to design the city’s parks, including Woodland Park, and the following year, the private Leschi Park menagerie collection was moved to Phinney Ridge.
In 1975, David Hancocks, the then-director of the Woodland Park zoo in Washington, redesigned the zoo’s gorilla exhibit to form what became referred to as landscape immersion exhibits, in which animals would become immersed in landscapes that represented their natural habitats as closely as possible, while visitors would also be immersed in the same replicated habitat.[3] The habitat was designed with wild plants and rockwork, with particular consideration being put towards the acoustic treatment of the exhibit to make the environment soft and quiet. Initially, the idea was heavily criticized, with many experts being concerned about the maintenance of vegetation and lack of visibility, as well as the temperate environment of Washington negatively affecting the soil. The idea eventually became the standard for naturalistic exhibits, inspiring many imitators and replicas worldwide. Bed Bug Exterminator Seattle
Exhibits
Woodland Park Zoo is a recipient of several Best National Exhibit awards from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and ranks second after the Bronx Zoo in New York City for the number received. Woodland Park Zoo created what is generally considered the world’s first immersion exhibit, a gorilla habitat, which opened in the late 1970s under the direction of zoo architect David Hancocks. Other exhibits include:
- Tropical Asia is the zoo’s most extensive section, focusing on South and Southeast Asia, and is split into three areas. The first is Assam Rhino Reserve, composed of a comprehensive exhibit containing the zoo’s Indian rhinoceroses. The second area is Bayan Wilds and is home to Malayan tigers, sloth bears, Asian small-clawed otters, and a small aviary. The third section is The Trail of Vines, which houses orangutans, siamangs, pythons, and Malayan tapir. The Rhino Reserve was previously the Elephant Forest but was rethemed after phasing out of the zoo’s elephant program in April 2015.
- The African Savanna section houses animals native to the grasslands of Africa. The largest exhibit is an area for herbivores, home to giraffes, zebras, and ostrich. There are also enclosures for hippo, African lion, warthog, Patas monkey, and a small aviary for savanna birds. The area also contains a recreation of an East African village. The African Savanna won the AZA exhibit award in 1981. Australasia is home to the zoo’s Australian species. An outdoor exhibit is shared by emu, common wallaroo, and red-necked wallaby. Next to it is Willawong Station, housing several species of Australian parrot, which visitors may feed with a seed stick for a small fee. There is a snow leopard enclosure next door to here.
Address: 5500 Phinney Ave N, Seattle, WA
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