Indianapolis Zoo

The Indianapolis Zoo is a zoo located in White River State Park, in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, housing more than 3,800 animals of more than 320 species and subspecies. The institution is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the American Alliance of Museums as a zoo, an aquarium, and as a botanical garden. The zoo is a private non-profit organization, receiving no tax support and is supported entirely by membership fees, admissions, donations, sales, grants, and an annual fundraiser.

History
In 1944, thoughts of the Indianapolis Zoo first came to mind by a newspaper columnist named Lowell B. Nussbaum. He began to write his opinions of wanting a zoo through his column "Inside Indianapolis." It was his writing that inspired the Indianapolis people and in October 1944 the "Articles of Incorporation for the Indianapolis zoological society, INC" emerged.  Soon the members of this group had outlined the future plans of their zoo, one thing that the group members were adamant about; "the zoo will rely on admissions, in-park sales, contributions and memberships to support the zoo. " It first opened to the public in 1964.

George Washington Park
The Indianapolis Zoo opened on April 18, 1964, at its original location in George Washington Park on East 30th Street. The official opening was two decades after the Indianapolis Zoological Society Inc. had been formed and planning for the zoo started. In its first year, the new attraction drew more than 270,000 visitors. The zoo originally featured an Asian elephant, penguins, kangaroos, foxes, raccoons, camels, bison, deer, lambs, tortoises, llamas, prairie dogs, pygmy goats, and buffalo exhibits. In 1965, the zoo became one of few in the country to employ a full-time education staff. By the 20th anniversary of the zoo, its animal collection had doubled in size and it was determined that the zoo needed a new location where it could continue to expand.

In 1982, international zoo, aquarium, and wildlife authorities gathered to set goals for establishing the new zoo. It was determined that a zoo should not only be a place to see animals, but also an institution of conservation and education. That same year, White River State Park was announced as the new site of the zoo. The groundbreaking at the new downtown location was held in September 1985. The old zoo closed in 1987.

White River State Park
The current zoo in White River State Park was opened in 1988 with a size of .

After the construction of the Waters building and the Dolphin Pavilion, the zoo earned AZA accreditation as an aquarium as well as a zoo. In 1996, the Indianapolis Zoo became the first institution to be triple accredited as a zoo, aquarium and botanical garden. White River Gardens was considered a separate facility from 1999 to 2006, but now is included as part of the zoo.

The zoo hosts more than a million visitors each year and plays a role in worldwide conservation and research, including accomplishing the world's first successful artificial insemination of an African elephant.

Biomes
The Indianapolis Zoo is organized around the concept of biomes. Biomes are areas of the planet with similar climate, plants, and animals. Animals at the Indianapolis Zoo are clustered in groups with similar habitats, which define the biomes. At the Indianapolis Zoo, one can visit the five biomes listed below.

Each of the biomes participates in conservation and breeding programs.

Oceans

Pinniped Shore
California sea lion
Gray seal

First Tanks
Cownose ray
Smooth dogfish shark
Tang fish
Unicorn fish
Butterfly fish
Coral
Sea anemones
Green moray eel
Angelfish
Red lionfish

Shark Touch Pool
Smooth dogfish shark

Tube Tanks
Pot-bellied seahorse
Clownfish

Small Tanks
Starfish
Cardinal fish

Penguin Hall
King Penguin
Gentoo Penguin
Rockhopper Penguin

Sharing One World: Long-Tailed Macaques
Long-tailed macaque

Walrus Complex
Pacific walrus

Dolphin Pavilion
Atlantic bottlenose dolphin

Forests

Commons
Ring-tailed lemur

China Display
Red panda

Tiger Forest
Amur tiger

Magnificent Macaws
Great green macaw
Green-winged macaw
Scarlet macaw
Hyacinth macaw
Blue and gold macaw
Military macaw

Other Exhibits
White-handed gibbon
Alaskan brown bear
Bald eagle

MISTery Park
Two-toed sloth

Deserts

Dome Exhibits
Rhinoceros iguana
Mali spiny-tailed lizard
Blue-tongued skink
Central bearded dragon
Grand cayman blue iguana
Desert tortoise
Radiated tortoise
Egyptian tortoise
Northern bobwhite quail
Meerkat
Great plated lizard
Chuckwalla
Colorado river toad

Size, Speed, and Venom: Extreme Snakes
Reticulated python
Copperhead
Timber rattlesnake
Cottonmouth
Black mamba
Green mamba
Burmese python
Gaboon viper

Other Reptile Exhibits
Gila monster
Massasauga rattlesnake
Santa catalina rattlesnake
Spotted python
Green tree python
Hognose snake
Madagascar tree boa
Eyelash viper

Rest of Dome
Australian snake-necked turtle

International Orangutan Center
Sumatran orangutan
Bornean orangutan

Flights of Fancy

Flamingo Pool
Caribbean flamingo
Chilean flamingo

Budgie Aviary
Budgerigar
Cockatiel

Lorikeet Aviary
Red lory
Rainbow lorikeet
Green-naped lorkeet
Cabot's tragopan
Crested wood partridge
Green woodhoopoe
Superb starling
Taveta golden weaver
White-cheeked turaco
Vulturine guineafowl

Other Animals
Rock hyrax
Southern ground hornbill

Plains
Grant's zebra
Greater kudu
White-bearded wildebeest
Ostrich
Marabou stork
Ruppell's griffon vulture
Addra gazelle
Reticulated giraffe
Southern white rhino
African lion
Guinea baboon
Cheetah
African crowned crane
Crested coua
Helmeted guineafowl
Yellow-billed hornbill
African bush elephant
Warthog
Cape porcupine

St. Vincent Dolphin Pavilion

The Indianapolis Zoo's highlight is a large dolphin pavilion, which features a combination of approaches to dolphin/human interaction and some new architecture, including:

Underwater Viewing Dome
The pavilion has a  diameter,  high, underwater dome placed squarely in the middle of the dolphin performance pool – a first for U.S. zoos. Opened on Memorial Day weekend 2005, zoo visitors can view dolphins from underneath the surface of the water.

St. Vincent Dolphin Theater

On top of the water, the interior of the St. Vincent Dolphin Theater features a million-gallon plus pool where dolphin presentations occurs daily.

Dolphin In-Water Adventure
The Indianapolis Zoo has the Midwest's only in-water dolphin program for the public, allowing guests to interact with the dolphins in their exhibit.

International Orangutan Center

In early September 2012, the Indianapolis Zoo broke ground on a new, $21.5 million project known as the International Orangutan Center which will serves not only as an exhibit for guests to enjoy, but also as a research hub to help orangutan conservation. The project is being partially funded by a $2 million donation from the family foundation of Dean and Barbara White.  The exhibit houses nine orangutans   and features a 90-foot-tall viewing atrium and an aerial cable ride to give visitors a one of a kind view of the animals. The exhibit includes a series of cable highways to allow the orangutans to travel throughout the zoo at their leisure. The exhibit opened Memorial Day weekend 2014.

MISTery Park 
MISTery Park is a landscaped path featuring flowers, tall grasses, and trees with a cooling fog created by misters.  It is also the home of the two-toed sloth exhibit. The exhibit opened in 2019.

Other Rides and Attractions

Flamingo Feed Experience
Feed a Budgie or Lorikeet
Feed a Giraffe 
Race-a-Cheetah
Kombo Family Coaster
White River Junction Train Ride
Endangered Species Carousel
Skyline
Playground
Tots Treehouse and Play Area

Conservation and research

The Indianapolis Zoo has a multifaceted approach in its conservation and research efforts. The Indianapolis Zoo is the presenter of the Indianapolis Prize, an award for animal conservation.  The Indianapolis Prize includes a US$250,000 cash award and the Lilly Medal, which is presented every two years to a conservationist who has made substantial contributions toward the sustainability of an animal species or group of species. The Indianapolis Zoo participates in the Species Survival Plans (SSPs) and conservation  programs of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), the national zoo membership organization of the United States. Under the auspices of the Polly H. Hix Institute for Conservation and Research, an initiative that supports the Society's current and future research and conservation programs, the zoo conducts research projects both in situ and ex situ on selected species. The Indianapolis Zoo also participates in three conservation and research foundations – the International Elephant Foundation (IEF), the International Iguana Foundation (IIF), and the International Rhinoceros|Rhino Foundation (IRF). The Hix Institute also supports the Tarangire Elephant Project in Tanzania to protect migration corridors from Tarangire National Park to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The zoo has a second partnership with the IUCN – The World Conservation Union, a conservation network. The Indianapolis Zoo, in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, is supporting the IUCN's project documenting the known impacts of climate change on species and habitat.

Notable Animals

Rocky 
Born September 25, 2004, Rocky is a rescued entertainment orangutan. He moved to the Indianapolis Zoo prior to opening of the International Orangutan Center in 2014. Rocky has been noted for his unique vocal demonstrations and ability to "speak". A video of Rocky went viral in 2017, picturing Rocky interacting with a zoo guest. The guest had recently suffered a burn, and had a large bandage covering a portion of her arm and shoulder. Rocky expressed interest in the bandage, gesturing at it and seemingly requesting she remove the bandage. The guest did so, and Rocky is seen inspecting her burn.

Incidents
On August 9, 2006, a truck with a shipment of 24 penguins, an octopus, and several exotic fish from the Indianapolis Zoo to Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas, flipped over due to driver error. Several fish died immediately as their bags popped. Three gentoo penguins were killed after being hit on the roadway. As the truck was turned back over, two rockhopper penguins were found, one dead and one alive. A king penguin had an injured wing and two other penguins were in shock. The surviving animals were taken to a zoo near Tyler, Texas for treatment. Texas law requires that drivers of such a vehicle hold a commercial driver's license to legally drive it, and neither of the women driving the truck held such a license. The surviving animals eventually arrived at their destination at Moody Gardens.

On November 11, 2007, a fire broke out in the Encounters area and killed several small animals.  Before 4:30 am, it started in the Critter Corner building, and fire fighters arrived within five minutes. The flames were put out within 35 minutes.  However, it killed three turtles, two birds, an armadillo, a snake, a colony of hissing cockroaches, several different birds (including an aracari) and other animals in that time, and more were treated at the zoo's hospital.  The Critter Corner temporarily closed and the cause of the fire was due to the armadillo pushing hay bedding high enough to touch a heat light.

On January 19, 2009, 15 bonnethead sharks died due to a maintenance error. When the filtration system was taken offline for cleaning, the ozone valve was turned off, to prevent the sharks from suffocating. The valve was turned back on by a staff member effectively killing them.

References

External links

Category:Zoos in Indiana
Category:Parks in Indianapolis
Category:White River State Park
Category:Protected areas of Marion County, Indiana
Category:Tourist attractions in Indianapolis
Category:Amusement parks in Indiana
Category:Zoos established in 1964
Category:1964 establishments in Indiana