This much-loved, much-visited zoo can whisk you a whole world away, to where the chimps and gorillas play.
Lying at the heart of the Lincoln Park is a window into the global animal village, where you can literally peer across continents – Lincoln Park Zoo. Although Chicago has a bigger zoo across town (Brookfield Zoo on the western outskirts), this is a zoo closer to the hearts of Chicagoans. It has been here, amazingly close to the city centre, since 1868 – and is in fact, the oldest public zoo in the US. And while the city is just a crossing or two away, once you step through its gates you step into another world. Or more accurately, several different worlds, lovingly created to be 'home-from-homes' for its 1,250 animals.
And this is a Zoo that really 'has it all' on the animal front – and lions, tigers and bears are just the start of it. The Regenstein African Journey exhibit has giraffe, crocodiles and rhinos, among many others, while the Helen Brach Primate House has a colourful (and noisy) collection of monkeys from Africa and South America. Even more vividly colourful, and more pleasantly noisy, are the 40 species of birds of the tropics, forests, seashores, and wetlands, found roosting in the McCormick Bird House.
One of the more popular exhibits is the McCormick Bear Habitat, whose three bear species cover the full spectrum of ursine antics. The Malayan Sun Bear, from south-east Asia, is the smallest bear in the world (possibly the cutest) and pretty nimble at climbing trees. The Andean 'spectacled' Bear, with their gold circles around their eyes, are comedy gold. Not so the powerful, fierce polar bears of the Polar Bear Plunge. A pool has been specially built for these Arctic hunters, where you can get an amazing view of their diving and swimming.
Lincoln Park Zoo also has plenty of scaly-skinned denizens, with two large Reptile and Amphibian houses. But probably the jewel in its crown is the Regenstein Center for African Apes. At around 2694 square metres, this wide open space is home to chimps and gorillas, with habitats carefully matched to those found in their African homes. This Ape centre also concentrates on conserving man's closest relatives, and makes for an uplifting end to an eye-opening global stroll – all in a corner of Chicago parkland.
