Brookfield Zoo - Animals

Animals

Ziggy

Ziggy was a 6.5 ton bull elephant that was kept in an indoor enclosure for nearly thirty years after it attacked its trainer in 1941. Ziggy was originally bought by theater empresario Florenz Ziegfeld as a birthday present for his daughter Patricia, but was given to the zoo when he outgrew his pen on the grounds of the Ziegfelds' manor in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. During the 1960s and 1970s, Ziggy attained a cult following in the Chicago area, and the elephant was finally released in 1970 amid much fanfare. Unfortunately, the elephant fell into his exhibit's moat in March 1975 and died seven months later.

Olga

Olga was an Atlantic walrus and a favorite of thousands of visitors between 1962 and 1988, entertaining them with her antics. She is remembered by a large bronze statue in the current sea mammal exhibit.

Binti Jua

Binti Jua was a female Western lowland gorilla. On August 16, 1996, a young boy fell into the gorilla exhibit of Tropic World, and Binti Jua carefully cradled the boy and brought him to her trainers. The incident received international attention, starting a debate as to whether Binti Jua's actions were the result of the training she received from her keepers (who had taught her to bring her own baby, Koola, to zoo curators for inspection) or some instinctive sense of animal altruism.

Cookie

Cookie, a Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, has been part of the zoo's collection since the opening in 1934. He was given to Brookfield Zoo when he was one year old. He is now permanently off-exhibit. A much younger current resident is Esmerelda, the only black spider monkey in North America.

List of animals

Australia House

• Crested Pigeon
• Emerald Tree Boa
• Double-wattled Cassowary
• Emu
• Princess Parrot
• Rodrigues Flying Fox
• Short-beaked Echidna
• Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat
• Western Grey Kangaroo
• Parma Wallaby
• Prehensile-tailed Skink
• Argus Monitor
• Tawny Frogmouth
• Kookaburra

Children's Zoo

• Harris Hawk
• Great Horned Owl
• American Kestrel
• Turkey Vulture
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Raccoon
• Raven
• Chicken
• Goat
• Groundhog
• Holstein cattle
• Reindeer
• Domestic Sheep and more...

Feathers and Scales

• Andean Condor
• Blue Poison Dart Frog
• Double-striped Thick-knee
• Gambel's Quail
• Greater Roadrunner
• Green Aracari
• Rainbow Boa Constrictor
• Sungazer

Perching Bird House

• African Pygmy-falcon
• Argus monitor
• Bali Starling
• Bay-headed Tanager
• Crested Wood Partridge
• Green-winged Macaw
• Micronesian Kingfisher
• Paradise Tanager
• Tawny Frogmouth
• Turquoise Tanager

Fragile Desert

• African Crested Porcupine
• Amur Leopard
• Bat-eared fox
• Black-footed Cat
• Caracal
• Meerkat
• Rock Hyrax
• Sand Cat

Fragile Hunters

• African Lion
• Amur Tiger
• Sloth bear
• Snow leopard

Fragile Rain Forest

• Asian Small-clawed Otter
• Binturong
• Burmese Python
• Clouded leopard
• Fishing Cat
• Giant African Millipede
• Naked mole rat
• Northern Treeshrew

Great Bear Wilderness

• American bison
• Bald Eagle
• Brown bear
• Polar bear

Habitat Africa! The Forest

• African Forest Buffalo
• Giant African Millipede
• Okapi
• Red-flanked Duiker
• Red River Hog
• Reunion chameleon

Habitat Africa! The Savannah

• Aardvark
• African Wild Dog
• Common Ostrich
• Klipspringer
• Reticulated Giraffe
• Warthog

Hamill Family Play Zoo

• African Hedgehog
• Barred Tiger Salamander
• Mongoose lemur
• Ring-tailed lemur
• Blanding's Turtle
• Musk Turtle
• Boa Constrictor
• African Cichlids

Hoofed Animals

• Addax
• Bactrian Camel
• Grant's Zebra
• Grévy's Zebra

The Living Coast

• Humboldt Penguins
• Inca Tern
• Grey Gull
• Moray Eel

Pachyderm House

• Eastern Black Rhinoceros
• Hippopotamus
• South American Tapir

Pinniped Point

• California Sea Lion
• Harbor seal

Regenstein Wolf Woods

• Mexican Wolf

Salt Creek Wilderness

• Trumpeter Swan

Seven Seas

• Bottlenose Dolphin

The Swamp

• American alligator
• Alligator snapping turtle
• Eastern Screech Owl
• Little Blue Heron
• North American River Otter
• Snowy Egret

Tropic World

• Asian Small-clawed Otter
• Bornean orangutan
• Collared mangabey
• Cottontop tamarin
• Eastern black-and-white colobus
• Giant Anteater
• Geoffroy's spider monkey
• Golden lion tamarin
• Mandrill
• Northern white-cheeked gibbon
• Pygmy hippopotamus
• Sooty mangabey
• Western lowland gorilla