The Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium is a zoo founded in 1909 and is located in Swope Park at 6800 Zoo Drive, Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. The zoo has a Friends of the Zoo program to help promote the work of the zoo which sees over one million visitors a year. The zoo is home to nearly 1,700 animals and the aquarium has around 8,000 animals. The zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
History Planning for the zoo started in 1907, and its gates opened on December 13, 1909. The zoo evolved slowly during its first 40 years, while it added exhibits such as the Bear Grotto in 1912. It gained more momentum when it added a monkey island and a children's zoo in the 1940s. In the 1950s, the sea lion pool, African Veldt, giraffe house and flamingoes were all added; and the zoo added an otter pool, elephant house, and the Great Ape House in the 1960s. The early 1970s brought a dairy barn, the Great Catwalk and gibbon islands. Approximately twenty years later (in 1991), after voting and finances from a grant, the zoo expanded to the current size of , adding Australia in 1993, International Festival in 1994, and Africa in 1995. The opening of the Africa section drew in approximately 40,000 visitors in first 2 days.
The zoo would also build a new building to feature the first IMAX in a zoo, the Sprint IMAX Theater. The improvements resulted in record attendance of 700,000 zoo guests and 400,000 IMAX visitors in 1998. The zoo has grown from a small building and to a large, zoo with over 1,300 animals. The Orangutan Primadome opened in 2002 as a part of new management when the zoo changed from a city-operated organization to a public-private partnership with Friends of the Zoo (FOTZ for short).
A 20-year plan plots the zoo's future, including new improvements. The Discovery Barn opened in 2006 along with a short-cut path to Africa. In 2006, the Kansas City Zoo was selected to become a breeding facility for African elephants and baboons. In 2007, an endangered species carousel was added to KidZone. The Zoo closed the Sprint IMAX Theater on September 4, 2007.Kansas City Zoo Press Release, "Kansas City Zoo Sprint IMAX© Theatre Closes September 4," August 28, 2007 New admission gates to the zoo were opened in May 2008 featuring new parking and animals.
Extensive renovations of the zoo began in late 2005.Kansas City Zoo Press Release, "Zoo Launches Most Aggressive Renovation in 10 Years," August 10, 2007 The Discovery Barn opened in 2006, formerly the Red Barn. It contains many exhibits and slides for children. Outside, there is a Peek-a-Boo Tree, that is fun for children to play in and get a sky-high view at the top of the tree, and like the Discovery Barn, it also contains a slide. The Promenade was also added in 2006, which is a wide path straight to the African elephants exhibit, which allows guests to reach Africa much faster. The new entrance admission gates opened in May 2008, with an educational center and a North American river otter and trumpeter swan exhibits. In early 2009, the Tropics House opened behind the Sea Lion pavilion in the 1909 Building and the polar bear exhibit opened in August 2010, located near the entrance, in the location formerly occupied by stroller rental.Kansas City Star, June 10, 2008 In October 2013, the Helzberg Penguin Plaza opened, funded by an ongoing series of fundraising events as well as a 1/8th cent sales tax collected from the 2 county Zoological District.Kansas City Zoo Marketing Department In 2023 the $77 million Sobela Ocean Aquarium, which involved over 10 years of planning, opened to the public.
Exhibits The zoo is and is home to more than 1,300 animals. It is located in Swope Park, the 29th largest municipal park in the United States. The zoo is divided into five areas of the following themes: Africa, Australia, Tiger Trail, KidZone and The Valley.
Front entry plaza The admission gates and facilities (such as restrooms, gift shop, and food) are located in the entrance to the Kansas City Zoo. In 2010, polar bears were re-introduced to the zoo near the existing North American river otter and trumpeter swan pool just inside the World Gate. The entry plaza also features an educational center and stops for both the zebra tram and train.
Polar Bear Passage
This exhibit opened on August 8, 2010, with the introduction of a polar bear named Nikita,Kansas City Zoo Press Release, "A Big Celebrity Is Coming to Town," March 9, 2010 who was given to the Kansas City Zoo by the Toledo Zoo. The $11 million exhibit features a pool serviced by a massive waterfall, multiple indoor and outdoor viewing angles with glass windows, and space for up to two additional polar bears. In early-2013, a second polar bear was added to the exhibit, a female named Berlin, who was loaned to the zoo from Duluth, Minnesota's Lake Superior Zoo in hopes that the two bears would breed.nncnow, "Berlin the Polar Bear on Exhibit in Kansas City Zoo" , 2013 January 17 In late-2015, Nikita was transferred from the zoo to the North Carolina Zoo for breeding purposes. In late-2020, the zoo welcomed a new male polar bear named Nuniq, previously born at Ohio's Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in 2016 and living at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin before transferal.
Africa The Africa section is broken up into five subsections: Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, the Congolese Rainforest, and Uganda. Several snack bars are located throughout Africa, as well as the Rafiki Restaurant and Equator gift shop in the Nanyuki Market (Kenya). Nanyuki Market also has a small aviary for masked lovebirds and a white-cheeked turaco. A zebra tram station and boat house are located in the Nanyuki Market. Tanzania features a pier for the boat ride on the other side of Africa.
Botswana Botswana contains nine African bush elephants (eight female, one male) in an exhibit of stretching with a water pool at one end. The elephants do paintings and demos during weekends. The elephant walk features a flamingo pool, home to Chilean flamingos, black-necked swans and a Pink-backed Pelican. The Promenade leads guests into Botswana and a large bridge then connects Botswana to the rest of Africa.
A male African elephant, Tamani from Birmingham Zoo, (born at Lowry Park Zoo in 2005,) joined the zoo's then six older female elephants in October 2015 for socializing purposes, in hopes of pairing him with a younger female in the future. Hogle Zoo's monther-daughter African elephant duo Christie (b. 1986) and Zuri (b. 2009) permanently moved into this habitat in October 2023.
All 9 elephants at the zoo, and their origins, are as follows:
Christi (b. 1986, wild-born in Africa), arrived from Hogle Zoo in October 2023.
Lady (b. 1968, wild-born in Africa), arrived from Kings Island in July 1994.
Lea (b. 1978, wild-born in Zimbabwe), arrived from the wild in September 1982.
Lois (b. 1978, wild-born in Zimbabwe), arrived from the wild in September 1982.
Megan (b. 1978, wild-born in Kruger National Park, South Africa), arrived from Kings Island in July 1994.
Tamani (b. 2005, at Lowry Park Zoo), arrived from Birmingham Zoo in October 2015
Tattoo (b. 1978, wild-born in Africa), arrived from Riverbanks Zoo in May 1995.
Zoe (b. 1984, wild-born in Africa), arrived from Cameron Park Zoo in October 2007.
Zuri (b. 2009, at Hogle Zoo), arrived from Hogle Zoo in October 2023.
Kenya Kenya has cheetahs (with an observation building), warthog, and a deck with a view of some springbok, lesser kudu, common eland, scimitar-horned oryx, and gray crowned cranes that roam across an African plain. Saddle-billed storks and Southern ground hornbills make up the wetland-themed exhibits on the opposite side of the walkway. At the boma area, replica huts simulate a Kenyan village which has lappet-faced vultures housed with white-necked ravens, Aldabra tortoises, bateleur eagles, red-flanked duikers, and blue duikers are worked into small exhibits. The walk-through Scrubland Aviary is home to several species of birds, including a white-cheeked turaco, white-faced whistling ducks, cattle egrets, a bare-faced go-away-bird, marbled ducks, lilac-breasted roller, taveta weavers, superb starlings, and a white-headed buffalo weaver, as well as side exhibits for red ruffed lemurs and silvery-cheeked hornbills.
Tanzania
Tanzania features an African lion exhibit with 9 lions visible from a climate controlled observation building as well as a covered deck. Small exhibits that appear carved or surrounded by rock simulate a natural kopje; these include serval, bushbaby, caracal, black-footed cat, rock hyrax, masked and Fischer's lovebird, bat-eared fox, and black-throated monitor. A log-themed bridge crosses to the eastern black rhinoceros exhibit and a top-notch enclosure housing chimpanzees. The chimpanzee observation building allows guests to view a very large area for a troop of 12 chimps to play and explore, and allows visitors to become educated on chimpanzees with a connected classroom. This side of the African plains features Masai giraffes, Grant's zebras, gray crowned cranes, and ostriches. Nearby are some ground birds, kori bustard and secretary bird, leopard tortoises, a small house with West African dwarf crocodiles, and a hippo pool.
Uganda Uganda section has a small outdoor theater stage (Ruwenzori Theatre), and is home to spacious enclosures with African wild dogs and a troop of Guinea baboons, which sit adjacent to one another. A reservation-only campsite is located off into the woods from Uganda.
The Congolese Rainforest The Congolese Rainforest is located across a historic swinging bridge from Kenya. Animals on exhibit include red-capped mangabey and black mangabey exhibits. Amur leopards are featured in an exhibit with an overhead area which visitors walk under. A raised pathway crosses through exhibits containing bongo, gray crowned crane, red river hog, and yellow-backed duiker exhibits nestled in the dense forest. A single bachelor western lowland gorilla and a separate breeding group of one male and three female western lowland gorillas can be viewed from a lookout building and from a renovated shelter with opportunities for up-close through-glass viewing.
Australia
Australia lies in the northernmost part of the zoo; there you can find a large field that is home to free-roaming red kangaroos. It features a walk-through Woodland Aviary, which includes black swans, tawny frogmouth, straw-necked ibis, pied imperial pigeon, silver gull, smew, magpie goose, cockatiel, eclectus parrot, plumed whistling duck, long-billed corella, chestnut teal, wompoo fruit dove, Australian shelduck, white cockatoo, and sulphur-crested cockatoo. Beside the exit to the aviary is an emu exhibit. Also featured are parma wallaby, Bennett's wallaby, dingo, and Matschie's tree kangaroo. A replica of an Australian sheep farm features a farmer's home, a building with various animal hides and preserves, spotted python, green tree python, a pair of laughing kookaburras, and a hands-on sheep pen. An exhibit with dromedary camels is just past the sheep farm. Overlooking the kangaroo field is a train station and snack bar, and the final exhibit on the loop is an indoor exhibit for snakes of Australia.
It was announced in 2015 that the zoo would welcome a pair of koalas as a featured attraction in the summer of 2016.
Tiger Trail