One of my favorite cities to visit every time we cross the nation is Chicago. This fantastic city is home to many award-winning attractions including the Lincoln Park Zoo. We were lucky enough to get a behind-the-scenes tour. Here’s a sneak-peak of what we saw…
The zoo is renowned for their excellence in captive breeding critically endangered Lowland Gorillas. The exhibit called the Regenstein Center for African Apes tops my list as one of the best Gorilla habitats in the country.
A venomous warning sign leads to an area of the zoo very few ever get to see…
Endangered Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes!!! The Lincoln Park Zoo along with local wildlife agencies collected what may be the very last pair of Massasauga Rattlesnakes in Illinois in an effort to captive breed them and re-introduce them out in the wild. The zoo’s conservation efforts have attracted national media attention including the Chicago Tribune. You can read the full article here http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/apr/30/news/chi-ap-il-rattlesnakeroundu
Out of all the zoos I’ve visited in my lifetime I have never seen lions so active! Lions sleep an average of 20 hours a day…My guess is they enjoyed the minimal crowds and comfortable temperatures.
This is a picture of a Dwarf Caiman who shares his exhibit with a species of primate. Like the majority of AZA accredited zoos, the Lincoln Park zoo has several mixed species exhibits.
On our way out of the zoo we made a special stop by the world-famous Harpo Studios home of the “Oprah Winfrey Show.”
We also got a glimpse of downtown Chicago where I got a picture of the Chicago Tribune building! After a quick lunch we headed out for our final destination: New York City.
***A special thanks goes out to Lincoln Park Zoo for providing us with an exciting behind-the-scenes tour.
