Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

July 06, 2011 - Jacksonville, Fl -

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ DinoAlive! exhibit, open March 1, 2011 through July 5, is credited for the Zoo’s record-breaking attendance of 356,804 during the past four months.  The Zoo achieved a 13 percent attendance increase over this same time period for 2010 and also broke the all-time attendance record of 327,565 visitors by over nine percent: a record that was set in 2008 when Stingray Bay was first opened.  The chart below shows a comparison of the Zoo’s March through June record-breaking attendance achievements from 2004 to 2011:

“We knew dinosaurs would be popular, but I don’t think anyone expected a response like this,” said Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ Executive Director Tony Vecchio.  “Visitors have come from every state in the U.S. – and from foreign countries as well.  Many of our members visited us weekly to see the life-like creatures.  With all the improvements made and the award-winning exhibits opened at our Zoo over the past few years, it says a lot about the popularity of dinosaurs that the last four months have been the busiest in our history!”

For more than 96 years, the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has been dedicated to inspiring discovery and appreciation of wildlife through innovative experience in a caring environment.  Since its beginning in 1914, with an animal collection that consisted of only one red deer fawn, the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens has become one of the top zoos in the nation.  It now features more than 1,800 rare and exotic animals and over 1,000 unique plant species. Preservation of sustainable biodiversity is a key mission of the Zoo.  The Zoo is a non-profit organization and an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.  It is open year-round, seven-days-a-week, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and is located on Jacksonville’s north side at 370 Zoo Parkway, one-half mile east from I-95.  For more information, go to jacksonvillezoo.org.