Information about Minnesota Zoo

Minnesota Zoo
Mexican Gray Wolf Mexican Gray Wolf
Date opened	May 22, 1978 [1]
Location	Apple Valley, Minnesota, USA
# of Animals	2,351 [2]
# of Species	447 [2]
Accreditations/ Memberships	AZA
Website

The Minnesota Zoo (formerly Minnesota Zoological Gardens), is an AZA accredited zoo in Apple Valley, Minnesota. When it opened on May 22, 1978 ^[1] it was fairly revolutionary in its exhibits. The zoo was built in a small urban area and thus had more area to house exhibits, and was one of the first to organize its animals by their living environment as opposed to organizing animals according to species. Exhibits are arrayed in five themed areas, including three themed walking trails ranging from one to two miles in length:

• Minnesota Trail, featuring animals native to Minnesota
• Northern Trail, featuring animals of the north (above the 45th parallel)
• Tropics Trail, an indoor walking trail featuring animals from the tropics
• Discovery Bay, an activity area themed around marine wildlife
• Wells Fargo Family Farm, a petting zoo themed around farm animals

The Minnesota Zoo is an agency of the State of Minnesota. This differs from other zoos in Minnesota, and most zoos in the United States, are run by municipalities or private organizations. The Minnesota Zoo charges admission and sells annual memberships.

It is also home to a high school, the School of Environmental Studies.

The Minnesota Trail

The Minnesota Trail features animals that are native to Minnesota. The trail, which has been nearly the same since it opened in 1978, has been renovated. It was closed until July 7, 2007, when its new "North Woods look" was unveiled, along with a few new animals. The new Minnesota Trail is a must see at the Minnesota Zoo.^[5]. Some of the animals include:

• Wolverine (Gulo gulo)
• American Beaver (Castor canadensis)
• Cougar (Puma concolor)
• Canadian Lynx ("lynx canadensis")
• River Otter ("Lontra canadensis")

The Northern Trail

The Northern Trail contains a 3/4-mile walk that allows visitors to see the animals found north of the 45th parallel. The Northern trail can also be seen from the zoo's monorail which is run year round. A few of the animals that can be seen along this trail:

• Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)
• Mexican Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi)
• Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus)
• Przewalski's Horse (equus ferus przewalskii or Equus caballus przewalskii)
• Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus)

The Tropics Trail

The Tropics Trail is an indoor trail that gives the impression of being in the Rain Forest. The Tropics Trail is contains a variety of animals, including:

• White Cheeked Gibbon (Nomascus concolor)
• Tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus ursinus)
• Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta)
• Binturong (Arctictis binturong)
• Komodo Dragon ('Varanus komodoensis')

Discovery Bay

The Discovery Bay is the marine center of the zoo. It contains several aquariums with over 1.1 million gallons of water. Guests have an opportunity to touch sharks, rays, starfish and even sea anemones in the Discovery Bay's interactive estuary and tidal pool. In addition to the aquarium, there are daily dolphin shows in the zoo's 800-seat Dolphin Stadium, with Semo, a 42 year old male, and his 5 year old daughter, Spree. At the entrance to the Tropics building, you can see the Wyland mural titled “Our Ocean Family,” dedicated September 8th, 1997.

Having had a fairly consistent dolphin population since their introduction, the Zoo was shaken when 3 of their dolphins, Ayla, who had scoliosis, Harley, and their mother, Rio, all died in the same year. Limited now to two dolphins, Spree and Semo, one of which is reaching past life expectancy, the Zoo is looking into getting 2 female dolphins from Baltimore, but is waiting as one of the Baltimore dolphins has been sick and may have infected the others.

• Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
• Horn Shark (Heterodontus francisci)
• Swellshark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum)
• Leopard shark ("Triakis semifasciata)
• Grey Nurse Shark ("Carcharias taurus")

Wells Fargo Family Farm

The Minnesota Zoo's Wells Fargo Family Farm is one of areas at the zoo where people can touch and interact with the animals. The farm contains a collection of goats, sheep, pigs, cows, chickens, and horses. Due to state cutbacks, the Farm has become a seasonal exhibit which opens in early spring for its annual "Spring Babies" event goes through Labor Day, and continues weekends through October before closing for the winter.

Russia's Grizzly Coast

The Zoo has begun building a new exhibit "Russia's Grizzly Coast", an exhibit that will give people a chance to see animals that live around Russia's Pacific coast, including sea otter, giant grizzly bear, secretive Amur tiger, critically endangered Amur leopard, and wild boar in dramatic environments reminiscent of their homes in the Russian Far East. This project is the Zoo's biggest undertaking since the building of Discovery Bay. Russia's Grizzly Coast is set to open June 2008.

In addition to the exhibits the zoo also has an IMAX theater and an amphitheater that is used for bird shows during zoo hours and occasional concerts after hours.

Gallery

An Amur Tiger at the Minnesota Zoo	A Grey nurse shark at the Minnesota Zoo	A Grey nurse shark at the Minnesota Zoo

See also

• List of animals at the Minnesota Zoo
• Como Zoo and Conservatory

References

External links

• http://www.mnzoo.org
• Article about Russia's Grizzly Coast groundbreaking.

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