The Toronto Zoo is located on 361A Old Finch Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest zoo in Canada with a land area of 287 hectares (710 acres). The zoo opened to the public on August 15, 1974; at that time the zoo was known as the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo; the name was shortened to Toronto Zoo in the late 90s. The zoo is owned by the municipal government of Toronto. The zoo’s enclosures were designed to enhance the comfort of the animals on exhibit. The animals are on exhibit based on the natural geographic region they are found in, such as; African Rainforest Pavilion, Americas Pavilion, Australasia Pavilion, Canadian Domain, Eurasia Wilds, Indo-Malaya Pavilion, Tundra Trek, and there is even a kids zoo. The Toronto Zoo’s mission is to connect people, animals and conservation science to fight extinction.
The Toronto Zoo is working in the field of conservation with their conservation breeding and reintroduction programs. These programs include the Black-footed Ferret Conservation Recovery Program which was started in 1992 and has produced hundreds of baby Black-Footed Ferrets. The program has also reintroduced Black-Footed Ferrets to prairie habitat in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Other programs include the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike Captive Breeding Program, Trumpeter Swan Reintroduction program, and the Vancouver Island Marmot Captive Breeding Program. There is also a cell phone recycling program; Tantalum is a component used in manufacturing the capacitors that are found in cell phones. To produce tantalum you need a metallic ore known and coltan. Coltan is mined in the rainforests of the former Republic of the Congo, which also serve as a habitat for the endangered Lowland Gorilla. Thanks to the Zoo’s cell phone recycling program tantalum can be reused, reducing the demand for mining pure coltan and this helps preserve this fragile ecosystem that is found in the Congo
The Toronto Zoo offers resources for teachers who want to plan field trips for their students. The zoo also offers virtual experiences for educators who are unable to bring their students to the zoo. The zoo has about 460 species on exhibit. The Toronto Zoo is a member of WAZA(World Association of Zoos and Aquariums), AZA(Association Of Zoos And Aquariums), and CAZA(Canada’s Accredited Zoos And Aquariums).
The official website of the the Toronto Zoo:
Vancouver Island Marmot Captive Breeding Program:
