What is a “Zoo” and what is an “Aquarium”?
Most people would say, “places where you can look at animals and/or fish”.
Essentially that is true, but the modern zoo or aquarium has to be something more. The days have gone, if they ever existed, when wild animals could be caught and caged just for amusement. Animals should be properly fed and cared for. We live in a fragile environment and the importance of all animal species to this ecosystem is being increasingly recognized. Some animal species have almost been wiped out in the wild and many are under dire threat of extinction. In our lifetime, zoos may be the only places to see some animals, like the great apes, the rhinoceroses and the big cats.
In 1993 the world zoo association (now called WAZA) published ideas about the responsibilities of zoos and aquariums and the role they should play in the future. This document, the World Zoo Conservation Strategy, identified areas where zoos and aquariums should concentrate their efforts under the mantle of conservation: Education, Species & Habitat Conservation and Research. Today, all zoos must be judged on how successfully they are tackling these objectives.
The navigation bar above leads to alphabetically and state ordered listings. The state view enables you to select your zoos geographically. For those who don’t know what they want, there is a very sophisticated search facility available. We would appreciate your comments and suggestions about the site and you can contact us using the link or via email.
Every American zoo and aquarium has a quick information sheet with details about the institution containing addresses, telephone & fax numbers, staff, animal holdings, size (in hectares), number of visitors, entrance fees, emails and web sites. The main email addresses and the web sites are hyperlinked for you to use. Every fact sheet has a date when it was last checked by us.
Although every effort has been made to supply accurate and up-to-date facts, not every institution is enthusiastic about publishing details and we are also not infallible. Because of modern internet legal aspects we have to say that all the information on this site is given “to the best of our knowledge and belief” and neither we nor the institutions are responsible for incorrect statements or inaccuracies. We disclaim all responsibilty for the content of any of the sites we link to.