Minnesota Zoo

This year, the Minnesota Zoo is celebrating 35 years of connecting people, animals and the natural world.

Read the Zoo’s newsletter celebrating 35 years.

Making Wild Memories Contest
Share your favorite memories of the Minnesota Zoo on our Facebook Fan Page and help us celebrate 35 years of connecting people, animals and the natural world. By sharing your favorite past times at the Minnesota Zoo, you will be entered for your chance to create NEW memories through exclusive experiences all year long, including the chance to go behind-the-scenes of our summer Africa! exhibit or scuba diving in our Tropical Reef!

Making of the Zoo
Planning of the “new zoo” began over 45 years ago. In the 1960s, local conservationists began lobbying for an expansive zoo facility that would not only feature species native to Minnesota, but also animals in naturalistic settings and outdoor exhibits. When Dakota County donated the Apple Valley parcel to the state in 1970, organizers had the space they needed to build the large exhibits they envisioned. Compared with the layouts and exhibits of most North American zoos at the time, this was a radical concept.

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After years of dreaming, discussion, planning, and construction, the Minnesota Zoological Garden opened on May 22, 1978. Since it opened, the Zoo has welcomed more than 36 million guests, has become a leader in tiger conservation, has won numerous awards for its innovative and cutting-edge exhibits, and has become the largest environmental learning center in the state.

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35 Year Weekend Celebration - May 18 & 19
Join us for a weekend filled with animals, family entertainment and a whole lot of fun! There will be animal encounters, live music, a magician, puppet crafts, and more. Check out the special treats the animals will receive throughout the day. The first 1,000 kids each day will receive a surprise 35-Year commemorative gift (while supplies last).

Music – Café Melange
Matt Dunn’s Magic Show – Lakeside Terrace (Rain – Target^® Learning Center)
- Saturday – 11:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., & 2:30 p.m.
- Sunday – 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., & 2:30 p.m.
Keeper talks – 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m.
- Saturday – Tiger cubs, Tamandua, Black bear
- Sunday – Grizzly bears, Small-clawed otter, Beaver
Puppet craft – 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Tropics Plaza
Tiger face painting – 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Central Plaza (Rain – Penguin hallway)
35 –Year Celebration coloring banner - 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Tropics Plaza

Did you Know?

More than 4,300 animals now live at the Minnesota Zoo. In 1978, 1,200 animals were residents.
The Zoo has a statewide annual economic impact of more than $146 million.

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More than 1.3 million guests visit the Zoo annually. Since 2005, Zoo attendance has increased by 40 percent.
More than 1,100 individuals volunteered at the Zoo in 2012, contributing more than 122,000 hours.
The Zoo works locally, nationally, and internationally—with a variety of partners— on conservation issues, species recovery and reintroduction projects.
Zoomobile, the education, outreach program, has traveled more than 750,000 miles since1978.

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Through the Years

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