Miller Park Zoo
Encyclopedia
Miller Park Zoo is a zoo
located in Miller Park; a public park in Bloomington
, Illinois
, USA. It is administered by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Bloomington.
The zoo was started when a circus lion cub ended up on a farmer's farm around 1900, and was eventually given to the city of Bloomington. The lion, later named "Big Jim" died on March 26, 1912. After Big Jim's death, funds were raised to construct the Koetthoefer Animal Building by Bloomington architect A. L. Pillsbury. Ground was broken in 1913, and the building was opened to the public in 1914.
The first real expansion of the zoo was in 1960 with the construction of the Woodland Wing, which at one time housed two sea lions. In the mid-1970s, the Woodland Wing became the Tropical Rainforest Exhibit, the Animal Building was updated, and the sea lion/otter pools were built.
The Entrance Building/Education Center was opened in 1992, the wolf exhibit in 1993, the Wallaby Walkabout in 1994, the Bald Eagle exhibit in 1995, the Animals of Asia exhibit in 1996, Zoolab in 1999, the Children's Zoo Complex in 2001, and the Tropical Rainforest Exhibit in 2004. These additions more than doubled the size of the zoo.
Over the years, the zoo has seen a very wide variety of animals. There have been chimps, lions, a polar bear, moose, mountain lions, black bears, penguins, an elephant, bison, gray wolves, alligators, squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, bats, foxes, North American porcupine, raccoons, and many other species.
, Troupial
, Saffron
, finches, brown basilisk
, two-toed sloth
, coati
mundi, callimico monkeys
, agouti
, boa and more
Tortoise exhibit - Galapagos Tortoise
, African Spurred Tortoise
Singing dogs - New Guinea Singing Dog
Birds of North America - Bald eagle
, red-tailed hawk
, burrowing owl
Wolf exhibit - Red Wolf
ZooLab - Tarantula
, Meerkat
, Parrot
, Degu
, Desert pupfish
, walking sticks, and giant cockroaches
Koetthoefer Animal Building - rainbow boa
, tamarin
, genet
, sumatran tiger
, sun bear
, and amur leopard
s (tiger, bear, and leopard feedings at 4:00 pm)
River Otters - River Otters (feedings at 10:30 am and 3:00 pm)
Currently the Junior Zookeeper Program provides junior and senior high school students an opportunity to learn about animals and the ways that zoos work. The program starts with classroom training, and students can eventually become volunteers at the zoo. For advanced Junior Zookeepers there are educational activities from October through April, and the students then volunteer over the summer. Students can start in the program once they enter fifth grade, and can continue in the program through the summer after they graduate from high school.
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
located in Miller Park; a public park in Bloomington
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, USA. It is administered by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Bloomington.
History
The first city money was spent for the care of animals in Miller Park in 1891. Although there was at least one deer, there is no definite list of the animals that the first payment supported.The zoo was started when a circus lion cub ended up on a farmer's farm around 1900, and was eventually given to the city of Bloomington. The lion, later named "Big Jim" died on March 26, 1912. After Big Jim's death, funds were raised to construct the Koetthoefer Animal Building by Bloomington architect A. L. Pillsbury. Ground was broken in 1913, and the building was opened to the public in 1914.
The first real expansion of the zoo was in 1960 with the construction of the Woodland Wing, which at one time housed two sea lions. In the mid-1970s, the Woodland Wing became the Tropical Rainforest Exhibit, the Animal Building was updated, and the sea lion/otter pools were built.
The Entrance Building/Education Center was opened in 1992, the wolf exhibit in 1993, the Wallaby Walkabout in 1994, the Bald Eagle exhibit in 1995, the Animals of Asia exhibit in 1996, Zoolab in 1999, the Children's Zoo Complex in 2001, and the Tropical Rainforest Exhibit in 2004. These additions more than doubled the size of the zoo.
Over the years, the zoo has seen a very wide variety of animals. There have been chimps, lions, a polar bear, moose, mountain lions, black bears, penguins, an elephant, bison, gray wolves, alligators, squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, bats, foxes, North American porcupine, raccoons, and many other species.
Exhibits
Tropical America Rainforest - Saki monkeys, Scarlet IbisScarlet Ibis
The Scarlet Ibis is a species of ibis that inhabits tropical South America and also Trinidad and Tobago. It is the national bird of Trinidad and is featured on the Trinidad and Tobago coat of arms along with Tobago's national bird, the Rufous-vented Chachalaca.-Taxonomy:This species is very...
, Troupial
Troupial
The Troupial , Icterus icterus is the national bird of Venezuela and one of about 25 or so species of "New World Orioles"...
, Saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
, finches, brown basilisk
Brown basilisk
The Brown Basilisk or Striped Basilisk is one species of basilisk lizard. They are native to Panama, Belize, northwestern Colombia and Costa Rica, but have been introduced into the U.S...
, two-toed sloth
Two-toed sloth
Choloepus is a genus of mammals of Central and South America, within the family Megalonychidae consisting of two-toed sloths. There are only two species of Choloepus : Linnaeus's Two-toed Sloth and Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth...
, coati
Coati
Coatis, genera Nasua and Nasuella, also known as the Brazilian aardvark, Mexican tejón, hog-nosed coon, pizotes, crackoons and snookum bears, are members of the raccoon family . They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, and south-western North America...
mundi, callimico monkeys
Goeldi's Marmoset
Goeldi's marmoset or Goeldi's monkey is a small, South American New World monkey that lives in the upper Amazon Basin region of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru...
, agouti
Common agouti
The popular term Agouti designates several rodent species of the genus Dasyprocta that inhabit areas of Middle America, the West Indies, and northern South America. They are related to guinea pigs and look quite similar but have longer legs. The species vary in color from tawny to dark brown with...
, boa and more
Tortoise exhibit - Galapagos Tortoise
Galápagos tortoise
The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise is the largest living species of tortoise, reaching weights of over and lengths of over . With life spans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates...
, African Spurred Tortoise
African Spurred Tortoise
The African spurred tortoise , also called the African spur thigh tortoise or the sulcata tortoise, is a species of tortoise which inhabits the southern edge of the Sahara desert, in northern Africa...
Singing dogs - New Guinea Singing Dog
New Guinea Singing Dog
The New Guinea Singing Dog is a wild dog once found throughout New Guinea. New Guinea Singing Dogs are named for their unique howl....
Birds of North America - Bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
, red-tailed hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West...
, burrowing owl
Burrowing Owl
The Burrowing Owl is a tiny but long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing Owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open dry area with low vegetation. They nest and roost in burrows, such as those excavated...
Wolf exhibit - Red Wolf
Red Wolf
The red wolf is a North American canid which once roamed throughout the Southeastern United States and is a glacial period survivor of the Late Pleistocene epoch...
ZooLab - Tarantula
Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of often hairy and often very large arachnids belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. Some members of the same Suborder may also be called "tarantulas" in the common parlance. This article will restrict itself to...
, Meerkat
Meerkat
The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...
, Parrot
Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
, Degu
Degu
The degu is a small caviomorph rodent that is endemic to central Chile.It is sometimes referred to as the brush-tailed rat, and is also called the common degu, to distinguish it from the other members of the genus Octodon. Other members are also called degus, but they are distinguished by...
, Desert pupfish
Cyprinodon
Cyprinodon is a genus of small killifish belonging to the family Cyprinodontidae of ray-finned fish.-Species:* Whitefin pupfish, Cyprinodon albivelis Minckley & Miller, 2002.* Potosi pupfish, Cyprinodon alvarezi Miller, 1976....
, walking sticks, and giant cockroaches
Giant burrowing cockroach
The giant burrowing cockroach is also known as the rhinoceros cockroach and litter bug . They are native to Australia and mostly found in tropical parts of Queensland...
Koetthoefer Animal Building - rainbow boa
Rainbow boa
Epicrates cenchria is a boa species found in Central and South America. Common names include the rainbow boa, and slender boa. A terrestrial species, it is known for its attractive iridescent sheen. Nine subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described...
, tamarin
Tamarin
The tamarins are squirrel-sized New World monkeys from the family Callitrichidae in the genus Saguinus. They are closely related to the lion tamarins in the genus Leontopithecus.- Range :...
, genet
Genet (animal)
Genets are Old World mammals from the order Carnivora, family Viverridae, related to civets and linsangs. All species are contained within the genus Genetta, although the Aquatic Genet is sometimes housed in its own genus Osbornictis....
, sumatran tiger
Sumatran Tiger
The Sumatran tiger is a tiger subspecies that inhabits the Indonesian island of Sumatra and has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN in 2008 as the population is projected at 176 to 271 mature individuals, with no subpopulation having an effective population size larger than 50...
, sun bear
Sun Bear
The sun bear , sometimes known as the honey bear, is a bear found primarily in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia; North-East India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Southern China, Peninsular Malaysia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.-Description:The sun bear...
, and amur leopard
Amur Leopard
The Amur leopard , also known as the Far Eastern leopard, Korean leopard, and Manchurian leopard is one of nine recognised subspecies of leopard. It is a wild feline predator native to the mountainous areas of the Russian Far East. It used to inhabit the forests of Korea and China, but it has...
s (tiger, bear, and leopard feedings at 4:00 pm)
River Otters - River Otters (feedings at 10:30 am and 3:00 pm)
Junior Zookeepers (JZK)
The Junior Zoo Keeper program began in 1972, and at first was open to students starting in the second grade.Currently the Junior Zookeeper Program provides junior and senior high school students an opportunity to learn about animals and the ways that zoos work. The program starts with classroom training, and students can eventually become volunteers at the zoo. For advanced Junior Zookeepers there are educational activities from October through April, and the students then volunteer over the summer. Students can start in the program once they enter fifth grade, and can continue in the program through the summer after they graduate from high school.