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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/ July 18, 2026
The Minnesota Zoo opened on May 22, 1978, in Apple Valley, Minnesota, as one of only two state-supported zoos in the United States (the other being the North Carolina Zoo). Spread across 485 acres, it was among the first zoos in the country to organize
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/ July 17, 2026
The Milwaukee County Zoo is a 190-acre zoological park located at 10001 W. Bluemound Road in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its roots trace back to 1892, when a small menagerie opened in the city’s Washington Park, but the zoo moved to its current, much larger site in
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/ July 17, 2026
The Indianapolis Zoo sits in White River State Park about a mile from downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Opened at its current riverside location on June 11, 1988, the zoo traces its roots back to an original site at Washington Park that first opened on April 18,
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/ July 17, 2026
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden opened to the public in 1875, making it the second-oldest zoo in the United States behind only the Philadelphia Zoo. Located at 3400 Vine Street in the Avondale neighborhood, the zoo has grown from its 19th-century roots into one
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/ July 16, 2026
Planning a trip to the Memphis Zoo? Here’s the full picture: current hours, ticket prices, parking, the must-see exhibits like Zambezi River Hippo Camp and Teton Trek, and the complete story behind the zoo’s famous former panda exhibit. Tucked inside Overton Park in Midtown Memphis,
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/ July 16, 2026
Zoo Atlanta traces its roots to 1889, when local businessman George V. Gress purchased the animals from a bankrupt traveling circus and donated them to the city of Atlanta, laying the foundation for what would become one of the Southeast’s premier animal parks. Set within
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/ July 16, 2026
The Philadelphia Zoo holds the distinction of being America’s first zoo, chartered by the Zoological Society of Philadelphia in 1859 and finally opening its gates on July 1, 1874, after the Civil War delayed construction. More than 3,000 visitors turned out on opening day to
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/ July 16, 2026
Woodland Park Zoo sits in Seattle’s Phinney Ridge neighborhood, occupying 92 acres that once formed part of a private estate belonging to lumber mill owner Guy C. Phinney. After Phinney’s death, his widow sold the 188-acre Woodland Park to the City of Seattle in 1899,
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/ July 15, 2026
The Oregon Zoo sits in Portland’s Washington Park, just two miles southwest of downtown, and holds the distinction of being the oldest zoo west of the Mississippi River, tracing its roots back to 1888. Owned and operated by the regional government Metro since 1976, the
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/ July 15, 2026
Denver Zoo has been a City Park fixture since a single donated black bear cub arrived in 1896 — and in 2026 the zoo is marking its 130th anniversary. Today it’s an 80-acre campus, home to more than 2,500 animals across roughly 450 species, and
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/ July 15, 2026
The Dallas Zoo is Texas’s oldest and largest zoological park, sitting on 106 acres in Marsalis Park just three miles south of downtown Dallas. Founded in 1888, the zoo has grown from a small municipal menagerie into a major AZA-accredited institution that draws more than
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/ July 14, 2026
The Fort Worth Zoo opened in 1909 with a lion, some bear cubs, an alligator, a coyote, a peacock, and a few rabbits housed at Trinity Park. More than a century later, it has grown into one of the most acclaimed zoological facilities in the
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/ July 14, 2026
The Houston Zoo sits inside Hermann Park near downtown Houston, Texas, and has welcomed visitors since it first opened in 1922 with a single deer pen donated to the city. Over the following century it grew into one of the most visited zoos in the
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/ July 14, 2026
Brookfield Zoo opened on July 1, 1934, in Brookfield, Illinois, just outside Chicago, and quickly became known for reshaping how American zoos presented animals. Rather than lining up cages, the zoo used moats, ditches, and naturalistic barriers to separate visitors from wildlife, an approach that
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/ July 14, 2026
Lincoln Park Zoo sits along Chicago’s lakefront in the neighborhood that shares its name, and it has welcomed visitors free of charge since it opened in 1868. That makes it one of the oldest zoos in the United States, predating most of the country’s major
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/ July 14, 2026
The Saint Louis Zoo sits inside historic Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri, and has been a fixture of the city since its founding in 1910, growing out of a flight cage built for the 1904 World’s Fair. Spanning roughly 90 acres, the zoo has
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/ July 13, 2026
Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute has anchored Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. since it was established by an act of Congress in 1889, opening to the public that May. As part of the Smithsonian Institution, the zoo has always been free to
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/ July 7, 2026
Zoombezi Bay is a 22.7-acre water park owned and operated by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Powell, Ohio, just north of Columbus. It opened to the public on May 26, 2008, on the site of the former Wyandot Lake Adventure Park, which the zoo
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/ June 28, 2026
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is a 335-acre Africa-themed park in Tampa, Florida, that doubles as one of the region’s premier accredited zoos. Opened on March 31, 1959, as a hospitality attraction for the Anheuser-Busch brewery, it evolved over decades into a full-scale theme park featuring
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/ June 26, 2026
Tucked into the historic FirstEnergy Powerhouse in Cleveland’s Flats, the Greater Cleveland Aquarium is Ohio’s only freestanding aquarium — a compact but captivating walk through the waters of the world. Worlds beneath the surface Journey from local Ohio rivers and the Great Lakes to tropical
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