Brookfield Zoo Chicago

Brookfield Zoo Chicago, zoo located in Brookfield, Illinois, U.S., a western suburb of Chicago. Brookfield Zoo Chicago opened in 1934. It is operated by the Chicago Zoological Society on land that is owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Brookfield Zoo Chicago receives some 2 million visitors annually.

The 235-acre (95-hectare) zoo features Italian provincial buildings and formal malls. It has more than 3,500 specimens comprising some 500 different species—including some of Earth’s most endangered. Special attractions include the dolphin shows in the Dolphin Bay exhibit (Brookfield was the first inland zoo to build a dolphinarium), a children’s zoo, and the Bramsen Tropical Forests, a three-acre (1.2-hectare) primate habitat.

Other major exhibits are the Living Coast, an aquarium that features species including axolotls, leopard sharks, and Humboldt penguins; and Habitat Africa!, a three-part exhibit covering life in the rainforest, on the savanna, and atop rock formations called kopjes. From 1937 to 1953 the zoo was home to three giant pandas: Su-lin (1937–38), Mei-mei (1938–42), and Mei-lan (1939–53). Brookfield has had exceptional success in breeding the sitatunga (a type of antelope); it also bred the world’s first captive-born black rhinoceros (1941) and gray-headed kingfisher (1980), the first okapi born in the United States (1959), and the first wombat born outside Australia (1975). It has collections of hoofed stock, kangaroos, and primates, as well as endangered species such as pangolins and amur leopards.