The Sacramento Zoo is a zoo located in

William Land Park William Land Park, frequently referred to as simply "Land Park" is a major city park in Sacramento, California. The park is located between Interstate 5 and State Route 160. William Land was a pioneer who built the Western Hotel at the NE corn ...

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. It opened on June 2, 1927, with 40 animals. At that time, it occupied , which remained the case until the early 1960s when the zoo expanded to its current . , the zoo had just over 500 animals on site.

History

The zoo opened as the "William Land Park Zoo" on June 2, 1927, with 40 animals brought together from various local parks, including

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s, and

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

. In 1948, the '' Sacramento Union'' newspaper sponsored a drive to raise money to buy the zoo an elephant. In the fall of 1949, SUE (the "Sacramento Union Elephant"), so named by local teenage sisters Jacklyn and Carolyn Bolton via a contest sponsored by the Union, arrived at the zoo, much to the delight of area visitors. In 1955, the zoo bought "Winky", Sue's companion. The Sacramento Zoological Society formed in 1958 to support and raise funds for the zoo as city funding began to dwindle. The year 1958 also brought along the start of the zoo's educational programming, at that time, one of only nine zoos in the United States to have such a program. In 1997, the society took over day-to-day operation of the zoo. The zoo was expanded to in the early 1960s, with new habitats built in most areas of the zoo. In 1965, the zoo received its first

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

and two

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genus ...

s, and began charging 25 cents for admission. The current name was adopted in 1970, along with the completion of the reptile house and the creation of a docent program. On April 6, 2007, an exhibit featuring six

penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

s opened to the public. The day prior, Mayor Heather Fargo and other guests were dressed in black and white to greet the new arrivals, who were on loan for the "one year bash".''It's a Penguin Party''
last accessed April 7, 2007. In 2009, the zoo started construction on a new barn and yard for their

giraffe The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on ...

s. The old wooden barn was demolished and replaced with a much more spacious, heated barn. The new barn includes a breeding facility with many large stalls for current giraffes and their calves. The Tall Wonders giraffe habitat has a pavilion for visitors to get an eye to eye view of the giraffes. The new facility opened on February 12, 2010. In 2011, brought along the grand opening of a new river otter exhibit, complete with glass that enabled visitors to walk up to visitors and interact with the very sociable North American river otters in their naturalistic habitat. In September 2014, the zoo opened Small Wonders of Africa with

aardvark Aardvarks ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') are medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammals native to Africa. Aardvarks are the only living species of the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata. They have a long proboscis, similar to a pi ...

s, Wolf's guenon,

red-billed hornbill The red-billed hornbills are a group of hornbills found in the savannas and woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. They are now usually Lumpers_and_splitters#Biology, split into five species, the northern red-billed hornbill (''Tockus erythrorhynchus ...

, and other creatures. The zoo is working on replacing its current Reptile House with a Biodiversity Center. In November 2018, zoo officials have explored the possibility of moving the zoo to the former

ARCO Arena ARCO Arena (known as Power Balance Pavilion from 2011 to 2012 and Sleep Train Arena from 2012 until 2022) was an indoor arena located in Sacramento, California, United States. Opened in 1988, it was the home of the Sacramento Kings of the Nation ...

site in Natomas, citing the need for more space and the constraints of their current location; however, the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

controls the arena site and have conflicting plans to build a mixed-use development on the site. of the former ARCO Arena site were donated to California Northstate University to build its new medical center. In June 2020, a

red panda The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzz ...

named Amaya gave birth to her second cub at the Sacramento zoo. In 2024, it was announced that the Zoo would leave the Land Park area and relocate to the suburban community of Elk Grove, about fifteen miles south of the current location, where it would be able to occupy a much larger space with improved facilities. However, as of April 30, 2025, the relocation project was officially announced to not be moving forward due to growing financial concerns.

References

Photo gallery

Image:SacramentoZooAnteater.jpg

External links

* {{authority control Zoos in California

Zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

Tourist attractions in Sacramento, California Educational organizations established in 1927 Zoos established in the 1920s