A chimpanzee named Maria - travel guide - tips and trips - Sacramento Zoo - Brief Article

Sunset, Jan, 2002 by Chiori Santiago

* In 1927 it was just "the little zoo in the park"--William Land Park Zoo, that is--housing raccoons, exotic birds, and assorted fauna rounded up from various parts of Sacramento. Today the Sacramento Zoo has 400 animals representing 32 species, many of them endangered. Gone are the 10-foot-square cement-floor cells of old; in their place are junglelike habitats for big cats, zebras, ostriches, and bongo; a reptile house; and the Claire Mower Red Panda Forest. The zoo also has its first baby chimpanzee, Maria.

You can celebrate Maria's first birthday and kick off the zoo's 75th year on January 5 with talks by chimp experts, projects for kids, and an exhibit of zoo history.