“Home to over 2000 animals”
At the Oregon Zoo, you can see the world in an afternoon—it’s home to more than 2,000 animals from around the world. Renowned for its conservation work and elephant breeding program, the zoo houses 21 endangered species and more than 30 threatened species. Award-winning exhibits, summer concerts, special events and a scenic train route help draw 1.6 million visitors to the zoo each year. The Oregon Zoo, formerly the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo in Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located 2 mi southwest of Downtown Portland, the zoo is inside Portland's Washington Park, and includes a narrow-gauge railway that connects to the International Rose Test Garden inside the park. The zoo has five major exhibit areas: Great Northwest, Fragile Forests, Asia, Pacific Shores and Africa. Within these large areas are 23 specialized exhibits. The wildest place in Oregon. The 64-acre Oregon Zoo is located in Portland, a city and surrounding metropolitan area of 2.26 million people. Attendance in 2011 exceeded 1.6 million. Animals of the Oregon Zoo 2,200 individual animals represent 260 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates 21 endangered species and 33 threatened species live at the zoo. The zoo is active in 21 Species Survival Plans.
Portland Zoo is a beautiful large zoo that is broken up by regions and has definitely been one of our favorite zoo's to date. The zoo sits in amongst a handful of museums and is a great spot to take the kids.
The animals are clearly well cared for and you can get close and engage with lots of the Northwests native animals - beavers, bears, otters etc. There is also a great selection of animals, birds and reptiles from other regions of the world, the star attraction being the elephant display which has been recently expanded after the birth of Lily. Lots of the exhibits have plexiglass carve-outs that let the kids (and adventurous adults) get up close to the animals, and is particularly cool under the Lion exhibit where the cubs often come right up to the kids and jumping up on the glass and wrestle within arms reach. Definitely a must go for zoo lovers.
As far as attractions go, there is a train ride you can take around the zoo which also looks out over the city and the Rose test and Japanese gardens and every year ends with Zoo Lights - an incredible display of hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights.
Needless to say we are huge fans!
I don't normally enjoy zoos, but this one is much better than most. The animals actually have a lot of room to move around and seem much happier than animals I have seen in other zoos. So as far as zoos go, this one is better than most.
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Oregon Zoo
Hours
- Sun - Sat: 9:30 am - 4:00 pm
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Wheelchair Accessible
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Credit Cards Accepted
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Outdoor Seating
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