World Zoos With a Featured Animal Quiz

Singapore Zoo is located within an actual jungle. Its sixty-nine acres utilize a very "open" concept where animals roam free in very large enclosures. They boast over 300 species of animals with almost 3,000 individual creatures. This zoo has the world's first free-ranging orangutan habitat, with no visible cages or barriers between visitors and animals. They also have a comprehensive "Conservation Included" initiative, which uses visitor ticket revenue to fund over 50 conservation projects globally.

One of their "star attractions" is the exhibit featuring the orangutans. These are great apes native to Borneo and Sumatra. They are known for the distinctive red fur and long arms which help them climb through the trees. They are highly intelligent animals and live on a diet of fruits, leaves, tree bark, flowers and insects. Sadly, they are critically endangered, primarily due to habitat loss.

Beijing Zoo is the oldest public zoo in China, established in 1906 during the late Qing Dynasty. It covers over 200 acres which includes former imperial gardens and buildings. It has more than 5,000 animals and many rare species. There is a large Panda House with three public exhibition rooms where people can see the isolation room, treatment room, feed room, green bamboo storage room, and delivery room for their panda population.

The giant panda is officially classified in the bear family, Ursidae. Unlike its relatives, however, the panda is an herbivore and eats mainly bamboo. It has a distinctive black and white coat and lives in temperate forests high in the mountains of southwest China. The panda remains a threatened species due to habitat loss for both them and their main sustenance of bamboo.

The Vienna Zoo in Austria was established in 1752 on the grounds of a palace and is the world's oldest continuously operating zoo. Its 42 acres houses 8,500 animals encompassing 750 species. Besides showcasing these animals in historic grounds, the zoo also operates "behind the scenes" as a research and conservation organization. One of the animals they focus on is their Arctic Ambassador, the polar bear. These bears are exhibited in the "Franz Josef Land" which opened in 2014.

Polar bears are the largest bears in the world and are the Arctic's top predator. They have a thick layer of body fat and a water-repellent coat which helps them in the weather and in the water, as they are excellent swimmers. Their diet consists heavily of seals which gives them the fat they need for their bodies. Climate change and habitat loss is pushing these predators to a vulnerable status, however.

Covering around 265 acres, the Bronx Zoo in New York is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States and one of the largest zoos in the country. There are more than 11,000 animals and 600 species housed in groundbreaking naturalistic exhibits that replaced bars with moats and hidden barriers. The zoo is the headquarters of the Wildlife Conservation Society and is known for its conservation efforts, having successfully bred a variety of endangered animals. The Congo Gorilla Forest area of the zoo focuses on a breeding program to protect the genetic diversity of these animals.

Gorillas are the largest of the great apes and have strong powerful chests and shoulders. They have black hair and skin and their faces have small ears, small eyes, with large nostrils. They live in tropical forests of Africa and maintain a diet of mostly plants. Gorillas are known to be highly intelligent animals and have shown to have advanced cognitive abilities. They are, however, critically endangered due to habitat loss, poaching, and disease.

Chester Zoo, in Upton-by-Chester, England, is one of the largest zoos in the UK. The zoo's 130-acre site is home to more than 30,000 animals and more than 500 species. Visitors stroll on raised walkways or ride on boats around islands of animals. It is a conservation-based zoo which strives to protect some of the world's most rare animals from extinction. These include Malayan tapirs, okapis, eastern bongos, and the endangered onager.

Onagers are an endangered species of wild ass that live in arid, temperate, and cold regions of Asian countries. They are adaptable to weather changes. In times of extreme cold, they can grow a curly, dense coat for the winter and their coat changes color with the season. Commonly misidentified with donkeys, onagers are much larger than donkeys. They are herbivores that primarily eat grasses, herbs, bushes, and other low-lying vegetation and get much of their moisture from their food. These equids are endangered due to human activities, primarily poaching for meat and hides, and habitat destruction.

The Berlin Zoo in Germany is the oldest and most visited zoo in the country. It covers 87 acres in the Tiergarten State Park and houses over 20,000 animals across almost 1,400 species. The zoo's entrance features two prominent elephant figures, symbolizing the zoo's connection to exotic animals and its long history. It also boasts an aquarium and several animal breeding programs, like the one that has been instrumental for the European bison.

European bison are the largest native herbivores in Europe. They live in mixed forest and clearings in Europe, with a large population in Poland. Their appearance is very similar to North American bison although they are smaller in stature and have a longer mane on the forehead and beneath the neck. The bison are herbivores, consisting mainly on grasses, bushes, and leaves. Although the species is making a comeback, they are still endangered due historical overhunting and widespread habitat loss caused by human expansion.

The Taronga Zoo is in Sydney, Australia with a view of the harbor. It is home to over 5,000 animals across 350 species including many native Australian creatures. The zoo offers visitors great access to viewing the environments while strolling in its scenic maze-like paths. It also houses several threatened and endangered animals which it utilizes in its conservation efforts. One of these is the koala, which is part of the zoo's Koala Conservation and Biodiversity Alliance actions.

Often called the koala "bear," these tree-climbing animals are actually marsupials-a mammal with a pouch for the development of their prematurely developed baby. Koalas live in the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia. The leaves of this tree are the primary source of their diet. They have grey fur with a cream-coloured chest, and strong, clawed feet. These animals are endangered due to habitat loss from deforestation and urban development, climate change which increases bushfire frequency, and widespread diseases.

Located in Balboa Park, just outside of San Diego, California, this zoo covers 100 acres and has over 12,000 animals that covers 680 species. It is also an accredited botanical garden. The zoo is laid out by geographical regions and habitats, such as the Northern Frontier (Arctic animals), Africa Rocks (African animals), the Outback (koalas), and the Asian Passage (Asian animals). Visitors can walk around it, take a bus ride through it, or ride an aerial tram from one end to the other. The San Diego Zoo supports a broad range of conservation efforts, including one of the ambassador animals: the clouded leopard.

Clouded leopards live in the forests of Southeast Asia. Despite their name, they are not actually leopards but a distinct genus of cats. These felines typically live in the trees there where they use their large paws with retractable claws, specialized anklebones for climbing, and a long, thick tail for balance. They are carnivores that prey on a number of animals that call the forest home. They are considered endangered due to deforestation of their homes and illegal poaching.

This zoo, located in South Africa, is the largest zoo in the country. Sprawling over 200 acres, the park contains over 3,100 species of various animals. It also boasts an aquarium and hundreds of exotic trees. The Apies River runs through the park and divides it into "hilly" terrain and "flat" land for the various animals. The zoo offers walkways and a cable car for visitors to view the creatures and their habitats. This South African zoo also performs research, scientific studies, and conservation efforts for various animals including their native cheetah.

The cheetah is the fastest land animal and Africa's most endangered big cat. Cheetahs can accelerate from 0 to 97 km/h (60 mph) in less than three seconds. These felines live in eastern and southern regions of Africa, inhabiting open grasslands and savannahs. They have a golden-tan coat with solid black spots, long legs and a slender, streamlined body and prominent black "tear marks" that run from the inner corners of the eyes to the mouth. Cheetahs are endangered due to habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict as farmers kill them to protect livestock, and the illegal wildlife trade of cubs for exotic pets.

Located in Basel, Switzerland, this zoo (nicknamed "Zolli") covers 32 acres in the heart of the city. It has over 11,000 animals covering 600 diverse species. It is designed naturally to give as much freedom to the animals as possible and contains indigenous flora and fauna. The zoo is also dedicated to conservation and animal breeding. As an example, they play a significant role in Indian rhino conservation by managing the international studbook and coordinating the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP).

The Indian rhinoceros, also known as the greater one-horned rhino, is the largest rhino species on Earth. They have a distinct feature of a single horn and thick, gray-brown skin, which is deeply folded to give it an armored, plated appearance. They live in the tall-grass floodplains and wetlands of northern India and southern Nepal where they use their semi-prehensile lips to grasp plants and eat large grasses. These rhinos are vulnerable due to a history of poaching for the horn, extensive habitat loss, and reduced genetic diversity.