The Philadelphia Zoo, also known as America’s First Zoo, is as much about history as it is about animals.

The charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia was signed on March 21, 1859. Due to the Civil War, however, it was another 15 years before the zoo was ready for visitors. When it did finally open on July 1, 1874, the Philadelphia Zoo became the first zoo established in the United States.

In its first year of operation, the zoo had 813 animals and received more than 228,000 visitors. Today, the zoo’s 42-acre Victorian garden is home to more than 1,300 animals, many of them rare and endangered. The Frank Furness Victorian gates and gatehouses, and the zoo’s location, are the same today as they were when it opened, but now cheetahs, hippos, giraffes, and much more make the zoo Philadelphia’s leading family attraction, boasting more than 1.2 million visitors annually.

And the zoo, fulfilling its mission of conservation, science, education, and recreation, supports and engages in conservation efforts to protect endangered species around the world.

Only four miles from the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the Philadelphia Zoo is located in Fairmount Park, the world’s largest landscaped city park. Public transportation is available using SEPTA, which runs bus and trolley routes to the zoo area.

When you visit, you won’t want to miss the zoo’s new MacNeil Avian Center, which opened in 2009 and won the 2010 Significant Achievement Award in Exhibit Design from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The center consists of a one-third-acre interior exhibit space that includes a restoration of the zoo’s historic 1916 Bird House. A new greenhouse addition was added, doubling the building’s size. There are four distinct habitats, a Migration Theatre, and an Adventure Zone with participatory exhibits, and visitors can discover more than 100 spectacular birds from around the world, many of them rare and endangered.

Another popular feature is the zoo’s Amazon Rainforest Carousel, an enchanting all-wooden, hand-carved, and hand-painted carousel, the first of its kind in the United States, featuring depictions of endangered species found within the Amazon rainforest. It includes 30 bird, reptile, mammal, and amphibian “seats,” as well as two spinning snake chariots. Riders of all ages will have fun gliding along on animals such as jaguars and anacondas right outside the zoo’s historic Treehouse building.

You can save time by purchasing and printing your zoo admission and parking tickets online before you visit, giving you express entry at the zoo’s main entrance.

Information about the zoo is posted at www.PhiladelphiaZoo.org.