Discover the best zoos and aquariums across the country. ThrillZing covers admission, must-see exhibits, animal encounters, and reciprocal membership tips for every major zoo and aquarium — plus the latest news from the world of wildlife attractions.
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/ August 26, 2026
Henry Vilas Zoo sits on 28 acres in Madison, Wisconsin, part of a larger parkland tract that former U.S. Senator William Freeman Vilas and his wife Anna donated to the city in 1904. They named the park after their son Henry, who had died in
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/ August 26, 2026
Como Park Zoo has been a fixture of Saint Paul, Minnesota since 1897, when it began with a gift of three deer to the city. What started as a small municipal animal collection inside Como Park has grown into one of the last free zoos
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/ August 26, 2026
John Ball Zoo sits on 140 acres on the west side of Grand Rapids, Michigan, tracing its roots back to 1884 when pioneer and former mayor John Ball donated 40 acres of parkland to the city. Animals first appeared on the grounds in the early
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/ August 25, 2026
The Akron Zoo, officially the Akron Zoological Park, sits just west of downtown Akron, Ohio, on 77 acres of land, with 35 acres developed into animal habitats and guest amenities. Its roots trace back to the early 1900s, when Perkins Woods Park was gifted to
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/ August 25, 2026
Elmwood Park Zoo has been a fixture of Norristown, Pennsylvania since July 4, 1924, when a local farmer transferred 16 acres of land and a small menagerie of animals to the Borough of Norristown. What began as a modest community collection has grown into an
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/ August 25, 2026
Turtle Back Zoo sits on 20 acres inside South Mountain Reservation in West Orange, New Jersey, part of the Essex County Park System, the oldest county park system in the United States. What began in 1963 as a modest storybook-themed animal park with just 140
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/ August 24, 2026
Zoo Knoxville sits just east of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, tracing its roots back to a small municipal zoo that opened in 1951 before being reorganized and expanded into the modern nonprofit zoo in 1971. Today the AZA-accredited facility covers 53 acres and is home to
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/ August 24, 2026
Riverbanks Zoo and Garden opened on April 25, 1974, along the banks of the Saluda River in Columbia and West Columbia, South Carolina. What began as a state-supported project in the early 1960s took years to plan, partly because archaeologists had to survey four historic
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/ August 24, 2026
Sedgwick County Zoo opened on August 25, 1971, in Wichita, Kansas, and has grown into one of the largest zoos in the country by both size and collection. Spread across 247 acres, with 115 acres currently developed for exhibits, the AZA-accredited zoo is regularly cited
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/ August 23, 2026
Newport Aquarium sits inside the Newport on the Levee entertainment complex in Newport, Kentucky, directly across the Ohio River from downtown Cincinnati. Opened on May 1, 1999, the aquarium quickly became one of the region’s top family attractions, drawing visitors through five acrylic tunnels that
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/ August 23, 2026
The Toledo Zoo & Aquarium began in 1900 with a single donated woodchuck housed at Walbridge Park in Toledo, Ohio. From that modest start, it grew into one of the country’s most respected zoos, known for its Depression-era architecture and long history of animal care
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/ August 23, 2026
Aquarium of the Bay sits at Pier 39 on San Francisco’s Embarcadero, offering visitors a walk-through look at the marine life that actually lives beneath the city’s own waterfront. Rather than showcasing exotic species from distant oceans, the aquarium focuses on the San Francisco Bay
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/ August 23, 2026
The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium sits on the riverfront in Dubuque, Iowa, where it tells the story of America’s rivers through live animals, historic vessels, and hands-on exhibits. Operated by the Dubuque County Historical Society, the museum grew out of the smaller Fred
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/ August 22, 2026
The Alaska SeaLife Center opened on May 20, 1998, on the shores of Resurrection Bay in Seward, Alaska, built to study and protect the northern marine environment after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill devastated the region’s coastline. Of the project’s roughly $55 million cost,
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/ August 22, 2026
The Dallas World Aquarium opened in October 1992 inside a gutted 1924 warehouse in the city’s West End Historic District, transforming an old industrial shell into a multi-level journey through rainforest canopies, coral reefs, and Mesoamerican ruins. Unlike a traditional single-building aquarium, the attraction has
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/ August 22, 2026
North Carolina Aquariums is a state-run system of three public aquariums strung along the coast at Fort Fisher (Kure Beach), Pine Knoll Shores, and Roanoke Island. The system traces back to September 10, 1976, when the state opened three Marine Resources Centers built primarily for
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/ August 22, 2026
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium sits inside Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington, where it has grown from a small city menagerie founded in 1905 into a full-scale AZA-accredited zoo and aquarium. Operated by Metro Parks Tacoma, it is recognized as the only combined zoo
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/ August 22, 2026
The Loveland Living Planet Aquarium sits in Draper, Utah, as one of the largest aquariums in the country, tracing its roots back to founder Brent Andersen’s 1997 vision of bringing marine life education to landlocked Utah. What began as a traveling “Aquavan” program for schools
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/ August 21, 2026
The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center opened on June 14, 1986, as the Virginia Marine Science Museum, growing from a modest 100,000-gallon facility into one of the mid-Atlantic’s premier aquariums. Sitting on a 235-acre property just south of Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach, Virginia,
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/ August 21, 2026
The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk sits in the historic SoNo (South Norwalk) district of Norwalk, Connecticut, inside a converted 1860s iron works building. It opened on July 16, 1988 as the “Maritime Center” before being rebranded the Maritime Aquarium in 1996 to spotlight its growing
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