|
}} The Detroit Zoo is located about north of the Detroit city limits at the intersection of Woodward Avenue, 10 Mile Road, and Interstate 696 in Royal Oak and Huntington Woods, Michigan, United States. The Detroit Zoological Society (DZS), a non-profit organization, operates both the Detroit Zoo and the Belle Isle Nature Zoo, located in the city of Detroit. The Detroit Zoo is one of Michigan’s largest family attractions, hosting more than 1.1 million visitors annually.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Facts About the Detroit Zoo )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Detroit Zoo Annual Report 2007-2009 )〕 Situated on 125 acres of naturalistic exhibits, it provides a natural habitat for more than 2,500 animals representing 270 species.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Facts About the Detroit Zoo )〕 The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in the United States to use barless exhibits extensively. ==History== The first Detroit Zoo opened in 1883 on Michigan and Trumbull Avenues, across from the then site of Tiger Stadium. A circus had arrived in town, only to go broke financially. Luther Beecher, a leading Detroit citizen and capitalist, financed the purchase of the circus animals and erected a building for their display called the Detroit Zoological Garden. The zoo closed the following year and the building converted into a horse auction.〔Austin, William (1974). The First Fifty Years. ''Detroit Zoological Society.''〕 The Detroit Zoological Society was founded in 1911, but the zoo's official opening did not occur until August 1, 1928. At the opening ceremony, acting Mayor John C. Nagel was to speak to the gathered crowd. Arriving late, Nagel parked his car behind the bear dens and as he came rushing around the front, Morris, a polar bear, leaped from his moat and stood directly in front of Nagel. Unaware how precarious his situation was, Nagel stuck out his hand and walked toward the polar bear joking, "He's the reception committee." The keepers rushed the bear and forced him back into the moat, leaving the mayor uninjured.〔 〕 By 1930, the Bear Dens and Sheep Rock had been added, followed shortly by the Bird House. Next to be constructed were the Elk Exhibit, the Baboon Rock, and Primate and Reptile houses. The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in America with cage-less exhibits. The onset of the Great Depression brought to a halt additional major projects, but expansion resumed in the 1940s and has periodically continued since then. During the depression, one of the more popular attractions was Jo Mendi, a four-year-old chimpanzee purchased by the zoo director with his own funds. A veteran of Broadway and motion pictures, the chimp performed an act for the audience. As one press account stated, "he enjoys every minute of the act...He counts his fingers, dresses, laces his shoes, straps up his overalls; pours tea and drinks it; eats with a spoon, dances and waves farewell to his admirers." When the chimp fell ill in late 1932 after eating a penny, surgeons from area hospitals came to check him out. During his recovery, visitors brought toys, peanuts and more than $500 worth of flowers, along with several thousands cards and letters. Jo died in 1934 from hoof and mouth disease.〔 In 1939, sculptor Corrado Parducci created the Horace Rackham Memorial Fountain, popularly known as "the Bear Fountain." The memorial was one of four major donations made by Mary Rackham in the memory of her late husband Horace, the other three being college buildings named after him in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. From the 1950s through the early 1970s, local weatherman Sonny Eliot hosted a television program, ''At the Zoo'', that was shown on Saturdays on television station WDIV.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=WWJ Newsradio 950 Our Staff )〕 Until 1982, trained chimpanzees performed for visitors, but the act was discontinued at the insistence of animal rights activists. Also in 1982, the zoo began to charge an admission fee for the first time. The Arctic Ring of Life, North America's largest polar bear exhibit, opened to the public in 2001.〔PR NEWS WIRE (October 20, 2001). The World's Largest Polar Bear Exhibit Opens at the Detroit Zoo. ''United Business Media''.〕〔Detroit Zoological Society (2001).〕 The Arctic Ring of Life exhibit is centered around a 300,000 gallon aquarium. The exhibit allows visitors to view the polar bears and seals from a 70-foot (21 m)long underwater tunnel. The tunnel is wide by tall and is made of four-inch (10.1 cm) thick clear acrylic walls that provide a 360-degree view into the aquarium above. Other new buildings include the Ruth Roby Glancy Animal Health Complex (opened 2004) and the Ford Education Center (opened 2005) which offers school and youth group programs as well as having a theater and exhibit space. The zoo made additional news in 2005 when it became the first U.S. zoo to give up its elephants on ethical grounds,〔(sends its elephants packing ). ''Detroit Zoo.'' Retrieved on July 9, 2007.〕 claiming the Michigan winters were too harsh for the animals and that confining them to the elephant house during cold months was psychologically stressful. The elephants, named Wanda and Winky, were relocated to the Performing Animal Welfare Society's (PAWS) sanctuary in San Andreas, California.〔(Elephants (April 8, 2005) ).''Detroit Free Press.''〕 The zoo had housed elephants since its opening. Former Detroit Zoo elephant Winky was euthanized in April 2008 at the PAWS sanctuary.〔(Detroit Zoo Elephant Winky Dies ), Detroit Zoo, April 7, 2008.〕 The former elephant exhibit was renovated, and is now home to two white rhinoceros, Jasiri and Tamba.〔(Rhinos ). Detroit Zoological Society. Retrieved on July 9, 2007.〕 Australian Outback Adventure opened in spring 2006, allowing visitors to walk through a simulated Outback containing red kangaroos and red-necked wallabies. Nothing separates visitors from the marsupials, allowing the animals to hop freely onto the walking path.〔(Outback Adventure )''Detroit Zoological Society''. Retrieved on July 9, 2007.〕 On February 18, 2006, the Detroit City Council voted to shut down the zoo as part of budget cuts, being unable to reach an agreement with the Detroit Zoological Society to take over the park and a legislative grant having expired that day. An uproar ensued and the Council, on March 1, 2006, voted to transfer operations to the Detroit Zoological Society with a promised $4 million grant from the Michigan Legislature. The city retained ownership of the assets, including the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak and the Belle Isle Nature Zoo in Detroit. The Society is responsible for governance, management and operations, including creating a plan to raise the money needed to keep the facilities operating for generations to come. On August 5, 2008 voters in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties overwhelmingly passed a zoo tax that provides long-term sustainable funding to supplement earned revenue and philanthropic support. In 2011, the lions received a home makeover, which includes more than double the room to roam, new landscaping and a glass wall for a much closer encounter with visitors. The Detroit Zoo also has the Wild Adventure Ride (simulator), as well as a 3D and "4D" (3D with motion) theater, plus a miniature railroad and a carousel. In 2013 the zoo celebrated their single largest donation ever ($10M) by announcing plans for The Polk Family Penguin Conservation Center (PCC) which would open in 2015.〔Polk Family Penguin Conservation Center http://www.detroitzoo.org/press-releases-2013/10-million-to-support-detroit-zoo-penguin-conservation-center〕 The PCC would replace the Penguinarium (which itself was revolutionary when it was built in 1968) and become the largest facility on Earth dedicated to the study of penguins. The Penguinarium is planned to be converted into a Bat Conservation Center once the PCC is open.〔Bat Conservation Center reference http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/June-2013/A-Really-Cool-Plan/〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Detroit Zoo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|