The Sequoia Park Zoo is a small 7 acres (2.8 ha) zoo

Zoo

A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....

 located in Eureka, California

Eureka, California

Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and is operated by the City of Eureka. With over 250 animals representing 75 different species the zoo is one of the main tourist draws in Eureka. The Zoo is part of a larger park complex including more than 50 acres (200,000 m2) of mature second-growth redwood

Redwood

-Trees:Conifers* Family Cupressaceae *** Sequoia sempervirens - coast redwood**** Albino redwood*** Sequoiadendron giganteum - giant sequoia*** Metasequoia glyptostroboides - dawn redwood* Family Pinaceae...

 forest, Eureka's largest public playground and a duck pond in addition to meticulously kept gardens and examples of the area's many varieties of rhododendron

Rhododendron

Rhododendron is a genus of over 1 000 species of woody plants in the heath family, most with showy flowers...

 bushes. The zoo's mission is "to inspire wonder, understanding and respect for the natural world by providing fun, rewarding, educational experiences that encourage meaningful connections between animals, humans, and our environment". The zoo is open to the public from 10am-5pm daily. During the winter the zoo closes on Mondays.

History

Sequoia Park Zoo was founded in 1907 and is the oldest zoo in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Over the course of the 19th century the zoo has housed an array of animals including baboons, African lions, camel

Camel

A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...

s, chimpanzee

Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...

s, tiger

Tiger

The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...

s, polar bear

Polar Bear

The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...

s, bison

Bison

Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...

 and other large hoofstock, exotic birds, and small mammals. The zoo achieved accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums

Association of Zoos and Aquariums

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums was founded in 1924 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation.The AZA headquarters is located in Silver...

 (AZA) in 1995. Since accreditation the zoo has prioritized conservation, including Species Survival Plan

Species Survival Plan

The American Species Survival Plan or SSP program was developed in 1981 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure the survival of selected species in zoos and aquariums, most of which are threatened or endangered in the wild....

 breeding programs and education programs. After 100 years of free entry, the zoo started charging admission in the summer of 2008.

Primates

The zoo exhibits cotton-top tamarins

Cottontop Tamarin

The cotton-top tamarin , also known as the Pinché tamarin, is a small New World monkey weighing less than 1 lb...

, brown-headed spider monkeys

Brown-headed Spider Monkey

The Brown-headed spider monkey , is a subspecies of the Black-headed spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, found in Ecuador. Its type locality is at 1500 m in the Hacienda Chinipamba, Imbabura Province in North-West Ecuador...

, and white handed gibbons. The zoo used to exhibit Champanzeess. The most famous of which was Bill. He was "rescued" from the circus in the 1950s as a result of a penny fundraising campaign on the part of local school children. A fifty year resident of the Zoo, Bill died on June 26, 2007 at the age of 62. He was the oldest male chimpanzee ever recorded.

Barnyard

The zoo has an educational exhibit about were food comes from called the Barn

Barn

A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store farming vehicles and equipment...

yard. In the Barnyard children can interact with goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

s, sheep, chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

s, rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

s, llama

Llama

The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....

s, alpaca

Alpaca

An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of to above sea level, throughout the year...

s, donkey

Donkey

The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...

s, and a cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

. Also in the Barnyard are exhibits featuring mice

Mouse

A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...

, opossum a beehive

Beehive

A beehive is a structure in which bees live and raise their young.Beehive may also refer to:Buildings and locations:* Bee Hive, Alabama, a neighborhood in Alabama* Beehive , a wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings...

 and spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

s. There is a spider web climbing play structure for children.

Aviary

The zoo has a walk in free flight aviary with a pond and waterfall. Birds in the aviary include the sacred ibis

Sacred Ibis

The African Sacred Ibis is a species of ibis.-Description:An adult individual is 68 cm long with all-white body plumage apart from dark plumes on the rump. The bald head and neck, thick curved bill and legs are black. The white wings show a black rear border in flight...

, scarlet ibis

Scarlet Ibis

The Scarlet Ibis is a species of ibis that inhabits tropical South America and also Trinidad and Tobago. It is the national bird of Trinidad and is featured on the Trinidad and Tobago coat of arms along with Tobago's national bird, the Rufous-vented Chachalaca.-Taxonomy:This species is very...

, red-crested turaco

Red-crested Turaco

The Red-crested Turaco, Tauraco erythrolophus, is a turaco, a group of African near-passerines. It is a fruit-eating bird endemic to western Angola...

, European roller

European Roller

The European Roller, Coracias garrulus, is the only member of the roller family of birds to breed in Europe. Its overall range extends into the Middle East and Central Asia and Morocco....

, green heron

Green Heron

The Green Heron is a small heron of North and Central America. It was long considered conspecific with its sister species the Striated Heron , and together they were called "Green-backed Heron"...

, Guira cuckoo, blue-gray tanager

Blue-gray Tanager

The Blue-grey Tanager, Thraupis episcopus, is a medium-sized South American songbird of the Tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. It has been introduced to Lima...

, cedar waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

The Cedar Waxwing is a member of the family Bombycillidae or waxwing family of passerine birds. It breeds in open wooded areas in North America, principally southern Canada and the northern United States.-Description:...

, California quail

California Quail

The California Quail, Callipepla californica, also known as the California Valley Quail or Valley Quail, is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family...

, and golden pheasant

Golden Pheasant

The Golden Pheasant or "Chinese Pheasant", is a gamebird of the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae...

.

Secrets of the Forest

The zoo offers education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

al programs for school

School

A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

-age children. There is an educational building located in the front of the zoo called "Secrets of the Forest", which educates children about the animals and organisms in the redwood forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

. There are a number of insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s, reptile

Reptile

Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

s and amphibian

Amphibian

Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...

s species exhibited in the Secrets of the Forest building.

Other Animal Residents

Residents of the main zoo include: red panda

Red Panda

The red panda , is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is the only species of the genus Ailurus. Slightly larger than a domestic cat, it has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs...

s, a black bear

American black bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

, Patagonian cavies, chacoan peccary

Chacoan peccary

The Chacoan peccary or Tagua is a species of peccary found in the Gran Chaco of Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina. About 3000 exist in the world...

s, rhea

Rhea (bird)

The rheas are ratites in the genus Rhea, native to South America. There are two existing species: the Greater or American Rhea and the Lesser or Darwin's Rhea. The genus name was given in 1752 by Paul Möhring and adopted as the English common name. Möhring's reason for choosing this name, from the...

s, crested screamers

Crested Screamer

The Southern Screamer , also known as the Crested Screamer, belongs to the order Anseriformes. It is found in southeastern Peru, northern Bolivia, Paraguay, southern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina. Its diet consists of plants stems, seeds, leaves, and, rarely, small animals.-Description:The...

 and flamingo

Flamingo

Flamingos or flamingoes are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus , the only genus in the family Phoenicopteridae...

s.

Sequoia Park Zoo Foundation

The Sequoia Park Zoo Foundation is a non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 that supports the zoo's mission through fundraising and public outreach programs. The Foundation operates a gift shop

Gift shop

A gift shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections and other souvenirs....

, cafe

Café

A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...

and zoo facility for rentals.