Zoos in Iowa

Iowa has four listed zoos, and the split between them is clear. Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines is AZA-accredited, a 49-acre park on the city's south side that grew out of a children's zoo funded by a 1963 donation. Also in Des Moines, the Ape Cognition and Conservation Initiative is a great ape sanctuary and research facility on 230 acres, home to a family of six bonobos, and it is organized around science rather than public exhibition. Two smaller children's zoos round out the list: Storybook Hill Children's Zoo in Dubuque, in the northeast, and Sunrise Children's Zoo in Waterloo. Together they offer a mix of a modern zoo, a research sanctuary and small family-scale animal parks.