Los Angeles Zoo

Los Angeles Zoo
A summer crowd at the LA Zoo
34°8′53.3256″N 118°17′1.968″W
Date opened	1966
Location	Los Angeles, California, USA
Land area	113 acres (0.5 km²)
No. of animals	1,100
No. of species	250+
Memberships	AZA, WAZA
Major exhibits	Campo Gorilla Reserve, Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, Red Ape Rainforest, Sea Life Cliffs, Peninsular Pronghorns
Website	http://www.lazoo.org/

The Los Angeles Zoo founded in 1966, is a large zoo located in Los Angeles, California, USA. The City of Los Angeles owns the entire Zoo, its land and facilities, and the animals. Animal care, grounds maintenance, construction, education, public information, and administrative staff are City employees.

The Zoo is open from 10am - 5pm every day of the year except December 25.

The Zoo, located in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, is home to 1,100 animals from around the world.

It has been successful in its breeding program of the rare California Condor, helping to grow the number of condors in the world from a low of 22 in the 1980s to 330 today.

Among the highlights of the public zoo grounds are naturalistic habitats for chimpanzees, orangutans, koalas and for the komodo dragon.

Major construction is currently underway. A new gorilla exhibit opened in November 2007, and there will be new monkey, elephant and rain forest exhibits in the next several years.

Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association

The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) was created in 1963 and is a nonprofit corporation created to support the Los Angeles Zoo in its mission to nurture wildlife and enrich the human experience. GLAZA's primary responsibility is to seek and provide financial support for the Zoo’s programs and capital projects. GLAZA also provides support through membership, organizing special events and travel programs, producing award-winning publications, coordinating one of the largest zoo volunteer programs in the country, administering the contract for visitor services concessions within the Zoo, and supporting community relations, and public relations.

Botanical Gardens

In 2002, the Zoo became a certified Botanical Gardens and the official name of the institution was changed to the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Spread throughout Zoo grounds, there are 15 different collections, highlighting over 800 different plant species, with a total of over 7,400 individual plants.

Gottlieb Animal Health and Conservation Center

Named after philanthropists Robert and Suzanne Gottlieb, the Gottlieb Animal Health and Conservation Center is a 33,589 square-foot facility situated in a restricted area in the upper reaches of the Zoo. Among other features, it includes a state-of-the-art intensive care unit, an on-site commissary, a surgical suite with observation area, and research facilities. In 2007 the number of medical cases presented was 853. The smallest patient treated was a spider tortoise (0.08kg) and the largest was an Asian elephant (4,826kg).

Shows and Activities

World of Birds Show: Birds of prey and other rare and exotic winged wonders perform. Show times: Weekdays 11:30am and 2pm (closed Tuesdays); and Weekends 11:30am, 2pm, and 3:30pm.

Animals & You Program: Featuring close-up creature encounters! These 15-minute long animal close-ups take place at stations in the Winnick Family Children’s Zoo on weekdays at 10:45 and 11:45am and on weekends at 10:45 and 11:45am, and 12:45pm (subject to availability).

Adventure Theatre: A dynamic program that integrates literacy, imagination and information through involving children in a 15-minute interactive story. Show times: 12pm and 3pm daily in the Winnick Family Children’s Zoo.

Winnick Family Children's Zoo: Located at the top of Winnick Family Children's Zoo, this petting zoo enables visitors to get up-close and touchable with goats and sheep in an animal contact area known as Muriel’s Ranch. They have brushes available at Muriel's Ranch for visitors to help groom the domestic animals. Open daily from 10am-1pm, and 2-4pm. (The contact yard is closed each day from 1-2 pm to give the animals a rest period.)

Riordan Kids Korner: Located in the Winnick Family Children’s Zoo, Riordan Kids Korner uses literature based activities to encourage body movement, listening skills and social and cognitive development. Families can stop by the Kids Korner to read a story, participate in a group storytelling, do a puzzle, or just explore. Open daily (except Tuesday and Thursday) 11am-12pm and 2-3 pm.

Neil Papiano Play Park: The Neil Papiano Play Park (located in the upper Zoo along the perimeter road) incorporates animal-themed climbing sculptures, large play structures, a toddler area, water misters, grassy landscaping, and a large picnic area. It was specially designed to be accessible to all children visiting the Zoo, including those with medical and physical challenges.

Trivia

• The Los Angeles Zoo is the zoo featured in the sixth, seventh, and eighth season opening sequences of the 1977 - 1984 John Ritter sitcom Three's Company.

• The first zoo opened in 1912 and was about two miles (3 km) north of its current site until about 1965. Remnants of the zoo remain and were used in the film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The site of the current zoo was formerly the location of Rodger Young Village, which was itself built on the land which had been used for the Griffith Park Aerodrome.

• It is one of the few zoos worldwide to contain Mountain Tapir.

• In the 1971 20th Century Fox film, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, the characters Zira and Cornelius are briefly quarantined at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Gallery

• 
  De Brazza's Monkey

• Western Lowland Gorillas
  Western Lowland Gorillas

External links

• http://www.lazoo.org/