Adelaide Zoo is Australia's second oldest zoo, and the only major metropolitan zoo in Australia to be owned and operated on a non-profit basis. It is located in the parklands just north of the city centre of Adelaide, South Australia. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA). The zoo also owns the Monarto open plains zoo near Murray Bridge.
The zoo houses about 300 native and exotic species, with over 1,800 animals on site. The zoo's most recent enclosures are in the second phase of the South-East Asia exhibit, known as Immersion, providing visitors with the experience of walking through the jungle, with Sumatran Tigers and Orangutans seemingly within reach.
Many features of the zoo are of architectural importance and are heritage listed by the National Trust of South Australia, including the front entrance on Frome Road and the former Elephant House. The zoo is also a botanical garden and the grounds contain significant exotic and native flora, including a Moreton Bay Fig planted in 1877.
The Giant Panda exhibit, which opened in December 2009, is home to two Giant Pandas, Wang Wang and Funi.
Read more about Adelaide Zoo: History, Current Focus, Incidents
Famous quotes containing the word zoo:
“The zoo cannot but disappoint. The public purpose of zoos is to offer visitors the opportunity of looking at animals. Yet nowhere in a zoo can a stranger encounter the look of an animal. At the most, the animal’s gaze flickers and passes on. They look sideways. They look blindly beyond.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)