Lincoln Park Zoo, also known as Lincoln Park Zoological Gardens, is a zoo in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868 and is one of the oldest zoos in the United States. It is also one of a small number of zoos to offer free admission. The zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). In 2019, it also became an accredited arboretum.
Lincoln Park Zoo is home to a wide variety of animals. The zoo's exhibits include big cats, bears, penguins, apes, reptiles, monkeys, and other species totaling about 1,100 animals from some 200 species.
The Lincoln Park Zoo was long home to a burr oak tree which was estimated to more than 250 years old. The tree was cut down on May 2, 2023, due to poor health. Thirty-six scions of the tree were grafted onto root stock and are growing at the Morton Arboretum.
History
The zoo was founded in 1868, when the Lincoln Park Commissioners were given a gift of two pairsChicago Tribune "Swans in Lincoln Park" August 27, 1868 of swans by Central Park's Board of Commissioners in New York City. Other animals were soon donated to the park, including, a puma, two elk, three wolves, four eagles, and eight peacock. In 1874, a bear cub from the Philadelphia Zoo was the first animal purchased by the zoo, for US$10. The bear became quite adept at escaping from its home and could frequently be found roaming Lincoln Park at night. In 1884, an American bison was born at the zoo, reportedly the first of its species to be born in captivity. At this time, the species had been hunted almost to extinction in the wild—in 1896, the United States government purchased one bull and seven cows from the Zoo's bison herd to send to Yellowstone National Park to assist in the species' revival.
From 1888 to 1919 the director of the Lincoln Park Zoo was the flamboyant Cy DeVry, who organized the collection, built many new structures, and obtained the zoo's first elephant and monkeys. A new Lion House opened in 1912. It was later renovated and reopened in 1990. The Primate House opened in 1927, and it was known for housing a popular gorilla named Bushman (1931–1951), one of the only gorillas in a U. S. zoo at the time. From 1920 until a Zoo expansion in 1994, the 1893 World's Fair Viking ship was located at the zoo. The zoo's great apes were moved to the Lester E. Fisher Great Ape House in 1976, named for the zoo's outgoing director, and the original Primate House was later renovated and reopened in 1992 as the Helen Brach Primate House, featuring more naturalistic settings.
Marlin Perkins, who gained fame as the host of the television program Zoo Parade, and later Wild Kingdom, was director of the zoo from 1944 until 1962. He created and recruited a citizens group, the Lincoln Park Zoological Society, to support the Zoo's mission. The facility underwent a dramatic transformation in the 1970s and 1980s, with the additions of many new, naturalistic exhibits. In 1995, the Zoological Society assumed management of the zoo from the Chicago Park District, which is the land owner and became lessee of the Zoo in charge of administration and improvements. Zoo administration is currently housed in the nearby building previously used by the Chicago Academy of Sciences, which moved to a new facility in 1999. The Kovler Sea Lion Pool opened the same year after an extensive renovation, and it is now home to the zoo's harbor seals.
Regenstein African Journey, a renovation of the zoo's former Large Mammal House, opened in 2003, turning the zoo's largest building from concrete showcases for a few large mammals into a series of naturalistic settings that tell the story of the wildlife of the African continent, welcoming the return of the zoo's African elephants and giraffes as well as new additions such as the aardvark, ostrich, and African wild dog. Two years later, the zoo renovated its Great Ape House, opening the Regenstein Center for African Apes, which focused on the zoo's troops of common chimpanzees and western lowland gorillas, putting a special emphasis on researching the behaviors of both species and creating new, naturalistic habitats.
In 2003, the book The Ark in the Park: The Story of Lincoln Park Zoo was also published by the University of Illinois Press. The book was written by Mark Rosenthal, Carol Tauber, and Edward Uhlir.
In 2010, Lincoln Park Zoo transformed the adjacent South Pond to create the Nature Boardwalk, an ecological habitat designed by Studio Gang Architects that features native wetlands plants and wildlife.
In December 2011, the Kovler Penguin-Seabird House, which had previously been home to rockhopper, king penguins, common murres and puffins closed down after thirty years at the zoo due to worries about the deteriorating condition of the building, prompting outcry from some Chicago residents. It was soon announced it would be replaced with a newly renovated West Gate, featuring a children's train and an all-new exhibit, Regenstein Macaque Forest, featuring Japanese macaques, or "snow monkeys", in a state-of-the-art exhibit with a hot spring, set to open in fall 2014.
It was announced in March 2014 that the zoo's Robert R. McCormick Bear Habitat, or "Bear Line", would be torn down and rebuilt with a large and significantly improved habitat for the zoo's lone polar bear, with much more land area for the bears and a behind-the-scenes den for breeding. The new exhibit would also feature a new African penguin habitat, a new species for the zoo from the tropical coasts of Africa, enabling them to stand the zoo's harsh summers as well as its cold winters. This exhibit would also be fully outdoors and equipped for over a dozen penguins with a behind-the-scenes breeding area. Construction began after the opening of Regenstein Macaque Forest in fall 2014, with Robert and Mayari Pritzker Penguin Cove opening in late 2016.
In 2016, the Zoo announced the Pride of Chicago fundraising campaign, which sought $125 million in funding, and led to the construction of Regenstein Macaque Forest, Robert and Mayari Pritzker Penguin Cove and Walter Family Arctic Tundra, would conclude with a long-awaited $30 million renovation of the aging Kovler Lion House as part of the Pride of Chicago fundraising campaign, acknowledging the public perception problems with the exhibit, which had been constrained by its Historic Landmark status during previous renovations, most recently in 1992. The new exhibit opened in late 2021 and focuses squarely on lions as opposed to other big cat species it had previously held, such as tigers .
Programming
The zoo together with technological help from the Adler Planetarium is aiming to expand its survey of Chicago area wildlife with public assistance at an interactive website, Zooniverse. The zoo has positioned motion sensing cameras in the Chicago area to catch images of wildlife, and the public is asked to help identify the animals.
The Zoo operates a number of youth-focused programs including a number of year-round camps, facilitated school program field trips, and a number of community engagement initiatives that prioritize the Little Village and North Lawndale communities. Both the Little Village and North Lawndale outreach programs include community gardening programs that focus on creating green spaces in Chicago and on promoting healthy eating habits.
Like many other zoos and aquariums nationally, Lincoln Park Zoo adapted many of its programs to a digital format during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included creating modified versions of its local program offerings, such as running their Artecito program, which connects Little Village families with nature through the arts, in conjunction with the OPEN Center for the Arts through free biweekly programs.
Exhibits The zoo's collection totals nearly 1,100 animals.
Walter Family Arctic Tundra Redeveloped from the former Robert R. McCormick Bear Habitat in the zoo's northeast corner, Walter Family Arctic Tundra is a new exhibit for the zoo's grizzly and polar bears, larger than the previous habitat with more land for the bears to roam on; instead of strict rockwork, there is natural grass, a new underwater viewing area, a maternity den, and enough space to support a small breeding family of bears.
Grizzly bear Polar bear
Robert and Mayari Pritzker Penguin Cove Linked to the nearby Regenstein African Journey, Penguin Cove is a new outdoor African penguin exhibit, where visitors can watch as these tropical penguins dive into the water, with a behind-the-scenes area for hatching chicks and breeding the species. The zoo also offers indoor Penguin Encounters. The exhibit opened to the public in October 2016.
African penguin
Regenstein Macaque Forest Opened in 2014, Macaque Forest is an exhibit allowing guests to connect with a troop of 10–15 Japanese macaques in a camouflaged forest scene with views from both above and eye-level with the animals. The exhibit features a "hot spring", a trademark favorite of the species, which allows them to warm up in the winter and amuse guests. It also functions as a dedicated research station for the macaques. It is the zoo's third exhibit to house primates.
Japanese macaque
Regenstein African Journey
The Regenstein African Journey exhibit is a 60,000-square-foot indoor-and-outdoor exhibit which opened in May 2003 on the site of the zoo's former Regenstein Large Mammal House. It simulates four distinct habitats from the African continent. Large skylights permit natural light into the indoor area, and guests are greeted quickly by monkeys in a rainforest setting as they enter Africa. The second section focuses on African rivers, with massive glass panels for hybrid land/water exhibits for West African dwarf crocodiles, pygmy hippos, and a Lake Malawi cichlid tank with an 11,000-lb., 7-in.-thick glass panel. The third section, focused on the African savanna, featured habitats for a large group of meerkats, a space for the zoo's aardvarks, and an indoor habitat for the giraffes. The fourth and final section simulates African kopje habitats, with klipspringer antelopes hopping along the way.
The main outdoor exhibit is a large, expansive African savanna setting just outside the indoor exhibit exit that primarily houses the zoo's giraffes. There is also a large yard for a family of African painted dogs, a hog yard that has been used by both common warthogs and currently red river hogs, and multiple yards for the zoo's black rhinos. While many of these animals cannot be viewed indoors, they have access to indoor habitats year-round.
When the exhibit opened, it was also home to three African bush elephants acquired from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in April 2003, but all three died within two years, the last one dying while in transit to the Hogle Zoo in 2005, sparking concerns about the exhibit. It later briefly held Bactrian camels, but it is currently an additional home for the zoo's rhinos.
One noted resident of the exhibit was R1 (or Reptile One) the dwarf crocodile, who was seventy years old when he died in 2010, having lived within the zoo's Reptile House (now Park Place Café), the Regenstein Small Mammal-Reptile House, and finally, Regenstein African Journey throughout his life.
Mammals Aardvark African wild dog Diana monkey Eastern black rhinoceros Grant's zebra Klipspringer Meerkat Pygmy hippopotamus Red river hog Reticulated giraffe
Reptiles Dwarf crocodile
Birds African spoonbill Abdim's stork Blue-bellied roller Blue-billed teal Crested guineafowl Hadada ibis Northern red-billed hornbill
Invertebrates Golden silk spider Madagascar hissing cockroach
Fish Lake Malawi cichlid
Regenstein Center for African Apes