The Zoo’s mission is to inspire and educate people to join with it in the active support and conservation of wild life and wild places. The Zoo is committed to serving its communities by engaging people with the wonder of the living world through personal encounters that foster lifelong harmonious relationships with nature.
The Baltimore Zoo was created by act of the Maryland state legislature on April 7, 1876. (Its name was changed to The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore in 2004.) It is the third oldest zoo in the country, behind Philadelphia (1873) and Cincinnati (1874). It actually had its beginnings as early as 1862, when the first of many citizens gave animals (the first being 4 swans) to Druid Hill Park for public display.
Today the 160-plus acre zoo property is owned by the City of Baltimore and leased to the State of Maryland. The Maryland Zoological Society, established in 1967, operates the Zoo under a lease agreement with the state. The Zoological Society assumed full management of the Zoo in 1984. Currently the Zoo’s animal collection encompasses more than 1,500 birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, representing nearly 200 species. Animals are displayed in natural settings replicating their native habitats.
EXHIBITS AT THE MARYLAND ZOO
Polar Bear Watch, the Zoo's new state-of-the-art exhibit about life on the edge of the Arctic, features an authentic Tundra Buggy® from which visitors can watch Alaska and Magnet cavort in and out of the water. At our camel ride exhibit, visitors get up close and personal with our favorite humped animals. Be sure to take a ride on the back of one of these incredible creatures. Visitors learn about animals in their own backyard, as well as those in more exotic locales, when they take a trek through the Maryland Wilderness , home to the award-winning Children's Zoo, or embark on an African Journey.
The Zoo is a natural environment and insect repellents are recommended.
Contact Information
Peter Martin
Email: peter.martin@marylandzoo.org
Phone:
(443) 552-5300
Fax:
(443) 320-9034
1876 Mansion House Dr.
Baltiimore, MD 21217