Calgary Zoo | Canada's Most Visited Zoo | One of the Top Zoos in the World | Summer Walk | 4K

Calgary Zoo on St. George's Island
Date opened: 9 January 1929
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Coordinates: 51°02′45″N 114°02′00″W
Land area: 0.3 km2 (0.12 sq mi)
No. of animals: Over 1,000
No. of species: 272
Memberships: WAZA, AZA, CAZA
Major exhibits: Panda Passage (currently no pandas), Penguin Plunge, Land of Lemurs, Canadian Wilds, Prehistoric Park, Destination Africa, African Rainforest, Eurasia.
Website https://www.calgaryzoo.com/

The Calgary Zoo is located in Bridgeland, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, just east of the city's downtown and adjacent to the Inglewood and East Village neighborhoods. It is accessible via Calgary's C-Train light rail system, by car via Memorial Drive, and by bicycle and footpath via the Bow River pathway. A large portion of the zoo is located on St. George's Island in the Bow River.

The zoo is operated by the Calgary Zoological Society, an independent not-for-profit organization that is Alberta's oldest registered charity. The AZA, WAZA, and CAZA accredited zoo was among the first in Canada to be accredited by all three associations. It is home to over 1,000 animals, excluding individual fish and insects, and 272 different species. The 120-acre zoo is organized by into seven distinct zones: Destination Africa, Canadian Wilds, Penguin Plunge, Dorothy Harvie Botanical Gardens and ENMAX Conservatory, TransAlta Rainforest, Eurasia, and Prehistoric Park. The zoo is open every day except for Christmas Day.

As Canada's most visited zoo, Calgary Zoo was in 2015 recognized by TripAdvisor with its Travellers' Choice Award. The zoo has also received international recognition as one of the top zoos in the world for conservation research. In 2013, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums said "the Calgary Zoo sets itself apart as one of the top zoos in the world." In 2015 the zoo was named one of the top three most respected organizations in Alberta and one of Alberta's 10 most beloved brands.

Conservation

One third of the zoo's 130 species are cared for within Species Survival Plans, a global initiative to protect at-risk genetic diversity. Twenty-nine species at the zoo are in danger of extinction. Other species are considered "ambassadors" for endangered species. The Calgary Zoo uses a team of educators including animal keepers, interpreters, teachers, and volunteers to increase awareness among visitors about the beauty of nature and threats to wildlife. Each year the zoo's formal programs connect directly with more than 575,000 adults and children.

The Calgary Zoo is home to a team of biologists who have earned international recognition as North America's leaders in the science of species recovery and reintroduction. The science journal Nature rates the Calgary Zoo as one of the top five zoos in the world for conservation research, alongside New York, San Diego, Frankfurt, and London. In June 2012, the head of the Calgary Zoo's Centre for Conservation Research, Dr. Axel Möhrenschlager, was awarded the Canadian Wildlife Federation's Roland Michener Conservation Award which recognizes individuals who have shown a commitment to "promote, enhance, and further the conservation of Canada's natural resources". Dr. Moehrenschlager is chair of the Reintroduction Specialist Group within the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the world's largest conservation network. He is the first North American to hold this position.

The zoo focused on saving eight highly endangered Western Canada species: whooping crane, Vancouver Island marmot, swift fox, black-footed ferret, black-tailed prairie dog, burrowing owl, northern leopard frog and greater sage grouse. It also works on conservation projects around the world, including:

Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary, Ghana
Snow leopards in Central Asia, and
Gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo
In 2008, the zoo's Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary project, a collaboration involving 17 Ghana villages, was awarded the United Nations Equator Prize as one of the world's top 25 conservation initiatives. It has become a model for community-based conservation throughout Africa.

Other/Former Animals

The Pandas are not there anymore. The zoo contained a flock of Chilean flamingos next to the enclosure containing both a herd of alpacas and greater rheas. Prior to the 2013 flooding, the zoo also had an area section dedicated to South American animals such as giant anteaters, red-bellied piranhas and various New World monkeys, as well as a number of birds including several species of macaw and two Andean condors.

There also used to be an Australian animal portion, notorious for the Creatures of the Night exhibit, mostly consisting of various nocturnal animals such as bats. Also present were a number of kangaroos, emus, monitor lizards, and for a brief temporary time, koalas.

Indian peafowl are allowed to venture around openly and freely across the zoo grounds, and are taken to an off-site facility for the winter months.