Toledo Zoo and Aquarium

The Toledo Zoo runs to roughly 5,000 animals across 720 species on a 51-acre site in south Toledo, and is consistently ranked among the better US zoos. The Hippoquarium — built in 1986, the first underwater hippo-viewing facility in the world — remains the signature exhibit: glass walls let visitors see the hippos swim, eat and (occasionally) give birth underwater.

The Aquarium adds a 178,000-gallon Pacific reef tank and the Stingray Bay touch pool. The Pheasant Aviary, the Tembo Trail elephant habitat, and the Africa! complex with its lions, giraffes and meerkats are the other highlights. Admission runs around 25 USD; allow most of a day. The zoo's WPA-era stone buildings, built by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, are themselves historically interesting.

things to do sight zoo
A story
The Toledo Zoo's most famous resident was a Sumatran orangutan called Fu Manchu who, in the 1960s, repeatedly escaped his enclosure to be found relaxing in nearby trees. Keepers eventually discovered he had been picking the lock with a piece of wire kept hidden inside his lip. He was made an honorary member of the American Association of Locksmiths.