Denver Zoo
2900 E 23rd Ave
Denver, CO 80205 (303) 376-4800
- Good for Kids: Yes
32 Reviews for Denver Zoo
This is one of the top Zoos in the country. I love the Denver Zoo. Clean, rarely crowded. It seems they must have a good breeding program, because they always have a lot of babys. Nothing cuter then a baby hippo. Not that hard on your wallet. There is always something for everyone. Obviously a great place for kids, but all should find it enjoyable.
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The Denver Zoo is one of my favorite escapes in the City. I love walking through the zoo just to observe the seasons change and the animals' activity changing with the season. And I wait each year for winter to see the Arctic Fox become active. I have seen the ring tail lemurs doing the lotus pose at sunset, giraffes mating (that one was unbelievable), Klondike and Snow in incubators, hyena puppies setting hierarchy positions, the wolves howling during a members nighttime walk, and many more natural wonders. It is a wonderful place to observe nature. I also like the Denver Zoo's participation in the extinct animal breeding program. However, a 5 star zoo would have a lot more space.
Vanity Tip: When your skin is totally dried out from the winter's cold, take a walk through Tropical Discovery to plump up all those cells.
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We opted to go to the Denver Zoo with Little Q mid-day on a Monday. It had snowed in Denver the morning of, and though the snow had all melted, it was still mostly overcast and chilly.
Turns out this is the perfect time to visit the Denver Zoo! Never have we seen so many of the predators so active. There was a flock of geese making their way across the grounds, honking loudly and drawing the attention of every predator in the joint. The leopards were pacing, climbing, pacing, climbing; and we were only about six feet away from the low growls the male was emitting. It was awesome, in every sense of the word.
The Siberian Tiger was high atop a stump, trying to get the best view she could. She gave us the once over, and it was...unnerving, to be quite honest.
There were lots of indoor areas for viewing as well, for those animals that simply don't like the cold. The primate pavilion was cool, and the two silverback gorilla brothers were partying down in their big play area. Most of the animals were feisty, in fact. The elephant trumpeted, which may very well have been the first time any of us heard that in person before.
And shrews: who knew? I figured they were birds. I was wrong.
The brown bears were doing laps around their compound. The black bears had thick, lustrous coats, and were partying down. A docent confirmed that in colder weather the animals are all more active. Cool beans.
Denver gets minus a star for the size of some of the enclosures. Cats as active as that should have more space. Easy for me to say, I know, we're not paying the lions share of their annual budget. In fact, we paid a discounted rate because we are members of the SF Zoo. Reciprocity, boys and girls: learn it, know it, live it.
And check out the zoo when in Denver. Especially if it is cooooold.
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It has been over ten years since I have been to the zoo. It was not as exciting as I had hoped it to be, but it was a great form of birth control as every time I turned a round a child was crying.
I took my nephews and nieces. Since they have a Family Pass they go often and being that they are all under age 8 three hours was enough time to walk around. I would have enjoyed being able to read more about the animals. It seemed like a lot of exhibits didn't have many animals, but there were an over abundance of birds and chipmunks. It was nice to go out and enjoy the weather, but nothing made me want to come back for more.
Your run-of-the-mill zoo?
Hardly.
Among the entertaining orangutans going about their monkey business, kaleidoscopic snakes slithering through the grass and hippos having a hey day, this marvelous habitat for all creatures great and small peddles an old-fashioned carousel bobbing with endangered species coupled with narrated train ride tours and environmentally-sound exhibits like the panoramic Predator Ridge, a goliath, naturally-landscaped oasis parading birds, reptiles and mammals, all of which are African species.
In 2009, the zoo plans to unveil Asian Tropics, a new, 10-acre territory for Asian elephants, one-horned rhinos, and black leopards.
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I always have mixed feeling about the zoo. Some animals are fun to watch (monkeys), some make me feel sad (apes) and others make me feel claustrophobic (elephants & Rhino's). The zoo has a wide variety of animals and is a fabulous place to walk around. I recommend going on a weekday where you can really enjoy watching and learning about the exhibits. Weekends are so busy with kids chasing and yelling at confined animals while their parents encourage or ignore them.
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I love the Denver Zoo. In fact, so much so that I'll say it again, loudly: I LOVE THE DENVER ZOO. I bought a membership earlier this year and have used it more times than I can count; it has easily paid for itself three times over. I love taking walks there - the paths are nice and clean and there is so much to see. During the summer, I'd frequently go after work just to get a walk in because the place clears out during that last hour before the zoo closes, and nothing is nicer than a quiet animal refuge.
I'd definitely recommend checking out the Tropical Discovery and the Giraffe Meadows (Meadows? Seriously? According to the website, this is the title). The Bear Mountain can be a pretty cool spot, too.
Even though I was dive-bombed by a random exotic plumed something-or-other in Bird World and managed to spot a (very enthusiastic) masturbating mangabey in the Primate Panorama, I still intend to return to this zoo again and again.
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We're big zoo fans. Got a membership and love to have somewhere fun to go on nice afternoon. Great for making plans with other people, great for taking out of town guests. And the membership is great with kids - that way if you get there and they're cranky, etc. you don't mind having to cut it short if you paid to get in.
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We visited the Zoo this week for Zoo Lights. They do a fantastic job of lighting up the park. There are tons of lights and the kids will love spotting all the light displays that show animals. They even have holiday music with animal sounds as instruments playing.
As for the real animals, well, they are mostly sleeping. The do have the Pachyderm (2 elephants, 2 hippos and 1 rhino), tropical forest (lizards, snakes, fish) and giraffe houses open so you can see them all up and eating. The Dahl Sheep were sitting on their rocks watching the people. The snow leopard, hyena and wolf were all prowling around their enclosures. So there are some animals to see but not the full spectrum as you would see in the day. Make sure when you go to look up into the trees near the Giraffe house and the Seal area. The Peacocks sleep in the trees and you can see them up there.
There are plenty of places to get hot chocolate and other warm stuff as you walk around. The night we went Santa was there and some other festivities such as fire juggling and ice sculpture were going on near him.
In past years it has been extremely crowded on some nights, especially when the weather is warm.
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One of the best dates I've ever been on took place at this zoo. There are so many great things about this place and it is definitely one of the better zoos I've been to. Since Denver can be so great during the spring, it was the perfect for taking our time and strolling through all the exhibits. I'm an Anthropology nerd, so the primate exhibit was my favorite. The food was surprisingly not overpriced, we found plenty of nice people who were willing to take our picture, and clean benches for a quick kiss or two. I really enjoyed the entire place and you can't complain about an educational trip that is so much fun.
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Only one star for the Denver Zoo after the death of Hazina, the 3000-pound hippo that died upon arrival at the Calgary Zoo in October '07. I would actually give the Denver zoo 1/2 star if I could. I wish the Denver Zoo would own up to the death instead of making excuses. The official statement was ""I don't know what we would do differently," said Dr. Lynn Kramer, vice president for biological programs at the Denver Zoo. Morons. I want to put the staff that made this fatal decision in a crate and ship them to Calgary. THUMBS DOWN...................to the DENVER ZOO.
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The other reviewers laid it out pretty well so I won't be redundant. But I do have to mention the giraffe exhibit. It's great. I live in San Diego so we only have a large outdoor giraffe exhibit where they're kind of far away. But in Denver, you can walk through an indoor exhibit and see them really up close. It's amazing how huge they are. But at the same time, I'm a really tall guy so I can appreciate food and water dishes 15 feet in the air. I hate bending down too!
The lion and tiger exhibits are pretty impressive too. It seems that the animals are stimulated by changing surroundings instead of getting bored and pacing like a lot of zoo animals do. :(
You could see the whole zoo in under 2 hours. It's fairly small but it packs in a lot.
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My friend told me she was studying animal husbandry and I told her to be careful because she could go to jail and really that stuff only happens on the internet. She punched me in the kidneys repeatedly and then took me to the zoo.
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Zootastic! All of the natural wonders of Denver can be found here. From the giraffes to the rhinos to the aligators, the zoo really covers the local.. What? Oh...
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It's definitely a good place to take the out-of-towners, but I gotta say I'm a little jaded on the zoo.
Maybe cause I've lived here all my life and been to the Denver Zoo more times than I can possibly remember..
Regardless, for a Zoo, or at least for all the zoos I've been to.. Denver's is pretty impressive. Good variety, and I really like the upgrades they've made to some of the exhibits recently.
Can't say I enjoy any zoo all THAT much, but I won't go into the whole oh-life-is-so-unfair-that-wild-animals-have-to-be- in-zoos-rather-than-the-wild rant. We're focusing on the Denver Zoo in particular, not the tragedies of the world. But I have to admit I really do love seeing all the fuzzies.. and non-fuzzies..
Oh, and if you haven't heart about Klondike and Snow (the polar bear cubs born here in the 90s who were rejected by their mother and raised by the zoo staff and then when they grew too big for Denver's enclosures got tranferred out of state to go live in Florida at Sea World and everyone in Denver cried!), then you must have been living in a cave.. or.. something. Go rent the PBS special and be impressed.
Anyhoo, if you like seeing exotic animals and are too broke (or too lazy) to go see them in the wild, here's a great way to do it!
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Denver is lucky to have such a great Zoo. It is large with a huge variety of animals. No matter where you go there is always something to see. It is one of the best Zoo's I have been to and well worth the price of admission. The habitats are well prepared and they have lots of space. It is sad sure but if children can learn how precious these animals are by seeing them first had it is worth it.
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awesome zoo. the animals don't look depressing or neglected. I like bringing my out of town guests here.
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I once spent the night at the zoo with a Boy Scout troop.
Don't look at me like that, I was 11 and my best friend's brother was a boy scout and they had a couple extra spaces for the overnight! Sheesh, you people and your dirty minds. Tsk, tsk.
Anyway, I remember that night very fondly, long ago though it was- we slept in the big cat house, and the tiger came and roared at us out of the darkness, and even from the other side of the reinforced plexi glass viewing window, everyone screamed! Then everyone laughed at how the big tough troop leader screamed.
Since then, many improvements have been made to the zoo. I hope one day wildlife will be valued and preserved in its natural habitat enough that children can visit park preserves instead of zoos, but for now, they are necessary for the conservation of rare species. My favorite part of the zoo is still the big cat house- the lion brothers are so funny, just lying there watching visitors like we are paraded past for THEIR entertainment. I love the part of the nursery where you can peek in and see the babies, too- I'm such a girl that way. Big sucker for fuzzy fur and big eyes.
The Denver Zoo is one of the best out there- not up to the standards of the San Diego Zoo, but definitely excellent.
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Awesome on a late afternoon when all the kids have gone home.
Some great stuff, but some really sad old school exhibits will bum you out.
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Hey, what a great place to mingle with depressing cage-ed animals with your boyfriend or loved ones while snacking on cotten candy!
I never have been a great fan of zoos in general because I feel so bad for those guys : ( I know they are well taken care of and even loved, but you know, my heart just goes out to them : ( BUT the Denver Zoo is one of the best. j I fondly remember many a school trip to this joint, okay in fact, not fondly but I do remember it and the Zoo is....large, complete, featuring many animals in semblances of their natural environments...
I think the polar bears are still crying.
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as far as zoos go it's one of the nicest, I do have a problem with the whole concept of zoos and am disgusted at how many animals die being transported to different zoos.
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i like zoos because zoos are like nature...behind bars. which is where nature belongs. everytime i go to the denver zoo, i think: thank goodness for the physical barrier between me and the tiger.
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this place is a good place to take a girl on a date. if she acts up, just throw her to the lions.
i'm kidding.
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Not a fan of keeping animals in captivity, but this zoo is really really awesome.
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how can visiting the zoo be bad times? unless you're mega-peta and you can't stand animals all locked up.
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My fondest memory, watching a child cry after a roar scared him.
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This large zoo is one of the best in the country. Peacocks roam the grounds flashing their tail feather fans at visitors and Peahens. I really liked their large polar bear exhibit, the giraffes, the California sea lions, the camels, and the wild dogs from Africa. I was impressed by the size of this zoo, the number of exhibits, and the quality and layout of each environment. We spent a lovely day here strolling around and enjoyed this zoo very much!
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Who's never been to the Denver Zoo? One of the best zoos I've been to, with a good variety of animals and a high level of upkeep on the environments so you don't feel too bad for the animals.
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The zoo at Christmas is not to be missed... Christmas lights, a festive air, and of course, the polar bears.
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Tickets to the park cost $11 when I went. If that's too steep for you, like it was for me, just go during the week when there's sure to be school groups going. Get there in the morning and simply walk in with a group of kids! You don't need a ticket if you look like a chaperone. The zoo is actually very good so maybe it's worth the 11 bucks. They have some bald eagles which I didn't expect and were very impressive. They had some apes, which is extremely creepy if you've never been face to face with one before. They have people eyes. They had a polar bear swimming around, and he didn't look all thin and weak like the poor guy at the Bronx zoo. There's also a bird island which is completely covered in dung! The tree branches are heavy with it. So, on second thought, pay the good people their ticket price and have a good time.
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I love bringing out of town visitors here during the holidays.
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i like zoos because it's the closest i'll ever get to africa.
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