The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is a 165-acre (67 ha) zoo in Cleveland, Ohio. The zoo is divided into several areas: the RainForest, the African Savanna, Northern Trek, the Australian Adventure, and the Primates, Cats, and Aquatics House. The Metroparks Zoo has one of the largest collections of primates in North America. It features Monkey Island, a concrete island where a large population of Colobus Monkeys are kept in free-range conditions (no cages or walls). The zoo is a part of the Cleveland Metroparks system.
The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo was founded in 1882, which makes it the seventh oldest zoo in the United States. It is the most popular year round attraction in Northeast Ohio (by attendance the Cleveland Indians were the most popular attraction in Northeast Ohio in 2007 with a total attendance of 2,275,911). The Zoo announced that 1,227,593 people visited in 2007. This represented a 2% rise in attendance from 2006. The Zoo credits its increased popularity to special programs and events such as "Boo at the Zoo," "DINOSAURS!,' and "TOUCH! amazing rays and sharks."
Famous quotes containing the words cleveland and/or zoo:
“It is a condition that confronts us—not a theory.”
—Grover Cleveland (1837–1908)
“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)