3400 West Girard Avenue Philadelphia, PA philadelphiazoo.org

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1 P r o t e c t E x c i t e I n s p i r e E d u c a t e E m p o w e r C o n s e r v e D e l i g h t C o n n e c t

2 The Philadelphia Zoo, home to America s first children s zoo, is opening the new KidZooU, Hamilton Family Children s Zoo & Faris Family Education Center in spring The addition will provide a joyful, engaging experience for children from toddlers to teenagers and their families, with experiences that create appreciation for amazing wildlife close to home, surprise at how our everyday choices can help animals on the other side of the world, and inspiration to make the lives of animals better. The project, which incorporates animal travel and rotation elements as part of the Zoo s transformational master plan, also focuses on rare breed domestic livestock and shares the importance of conserving these breeds. KidZooU will be located on the site of the former Pachyderm House and is being designed as a L.E.E.D.-certified building and sustainable site. It will be a year-round destination with extensive indoor and outdoor activities. Universal design will make it accessible to special needs communities. Rare breeds of goats, sheep, ducks and chickens, miniature horses, pigeons, tropical butterflies, Australian parakeets, colorful coral reef fish, domestic rats, and ants and other amazing insects will join domestic livestock that are moving from the current Children s Zoo. Currently, the Children s Zoo attracts 80 percent of Philadelphia Zoo visitors, even at its tucked-away location, highlighting the importance of this experience to Zoo visitors. With the relocation to the Zoo s main path and in the heart of the Zoo, the new KidZooU will be a favorite destination for all visitors. Funds for the project are being raised from government sources and individual, foundation and corporate donors. Exhibit highlights include a barnyard and stables where kids can pet and brush sheep and other livestock, a bridge and climbing towers for goats, play structures for kids, and conservation stations where visitors can practice ways to help animals that live nearby and across the globe. In addition, unique workshops will be the home for formal and informal programs, enhancing the learning experience for the Zoo s student visitors, while back-of-house areas will serve as home to the Zoo s teaching and outreach animal collection.

3 HIGHLIGHTS KidZooU will provide a joyful, engaging experience for children and families while promoting a lifetime of conservation action through dynamic displays and hands-on, age-appropriate learning experiences. Rare breeds of goats, sheep, ducks and chickens, miniature horses, pigeons, tropical butterflies, Australian parakeets, colorful coral reef fish, domestic rats, and ants and other amazing insects will join domestic livestock that are moving from the current Children s Zoo. The Children s Zoo now becomes a year-round destination, with both indoor and outdoor features, events and activities that make it less weather-dependent. The Education Center building (a reuse of the former Pachyderm House) is being designed as a L.E.E.D.-certified building. The Education Center will utilize geothermal wells for heating and cooling, daylighting, and roof rainwater collection for use as gray water to flush the public toilets. Rain gardens will reduce water runoff into storm drains. Some new construction, including stables for domestic livestock, will feature green roofs and include recovered wood. KidZooU has been designed with special needs communities in mind, and with the input of experts from The Children s Hospital of Philadelphia s Center for Autism Research, the Overbrook School for the Blind and others. Exhibits will feature universal design elements, signage in Braille, sign language and a picture exchange system for children on the autism spectrum and very young children, as well as audio and tactile elements. Most of the site is wheelchair accessible and buildings feature power doors. Amenities include adolescent-size changing tables in family restrooms. ANIMAL INTERACTIONS Experiences at KidZooU will create amazement and appreciation for wildlife close to home, surprise at how our everyday choices can help animals on the other side of the world and inspiration to make the lives of animals better, at home and in the wild. OuTSIde Goat Bridge and Goat and Sheep Raceway KidZooU is part of the Philadelphia Zoo s transformational master plan that will provide more enriching environments for the animals through an extensive animal travel and rotation system. The Goat Bridge that will be located at the entrance KidZooU, and the Goat and Sheep Raceway that will run along the main Zoo path, are part of this animal rotation plan, connecting the various enclosures and play areas for goats and sheep and allowing the animals to travel among them. The Philadelphia Zoo is the first to implement an animal rotation plan on a campus-wide basis. Through overhead

4 and ground-level trails, animals will be able to move throughout the Zoo, creating a constantly changing experience for the animals and guests. Goat and Kid Tower Goats are excellent climbers, and KidZooU includes a multi-level climbing structure for them to play on. Side-by-side, another climbing structure is designed for human kids, creating an empathy-building parallel play opportunity for children to see goats up close and practice climbing just like they do. Much of the climber is wheelchair accessible. Kids will also watch goats haul buckets of feed up on a pulley system, and practice hauling buckets up themselves. Rare Breeds Porch Many of the domestic livestock at the KidZooU will include rare breeds highlighting the importance of maintaining unique genetic diversity as a reservoir for future adaptability in the face of climate, disease or other environmental changes. In addition, these rare breeds provide visual interest. The Zoo will also be participating in breeding programs for some of the most endangered of the goats, sheep and chickens. Barnyard and Stable KidZooU will continue the irreplaceable tradition of direct animal interaction for visitors, featuring goats and sheep, along with minihorses and mini-donkeys. Children will be able to brush a goat, or pat a sheep or a mini-horse. Duck Pond Children can feed ducks in this popular experience retained from the original Children s Zoo. Rare breeds will be featured here as well. Pigeon Loft and Squirrel Obstacle Course In these two exhibits children will be amazed by the abilities of animals that may already be familiar to them. They can watch daily flights of homing pigeons, identify different types of fancy breed pigeons, and observe parents caring for their young. By recruiting local wildlife, the Zoo will also help guests discover the problem-solving skills of squirrels, as they navigate a sculptural obstacle course to a peanut. Chicken Coop Rare breed chickens will roam here, and also participate in the Chicken Challenge agility course, a popular demonstration developed at the original Children s Zoo in INSIde North Gallery Conservation Stations Three conservation stations, featuring tropical butterflies, Australian parakeets and coral reef fish, will engage children in how they can help these animals even though they live far away. Families will learn how recycling and reducing water and energy use impact animals all across the world, through slowing climate change, and kids can practice wildlife-friendly behaviors they can take home. Butterflies A lushly planted exhibit will feature colorful butterflies. A water action station here will show guests how saving water saves energy and how saving energy saves the tropical forests these butterflies depend on. A meter will give instant feedback to children who choose water-saving actions and provide a virtual visual reward when they make butterfly-friendly choices. Budgies An Australian outback exhibit will house a flock of budgerigars, commonly known as budgies, that can fly from this exhibit to a playground space in another part of the building. A recycling action station shaped like a truck connects recycling with rain patterns in the budgie s wild habitat. Marine Fish A living room and kitchen display encourages kids to find the electricity wasters and see how saving electricity benefits coral reefs and the beautiful fish that live there. South Gallery A showcase of the beautiful and talented but perhaps underappreciated animals will be featured indoors in the South Gallery and will especially appeal to younger children. Guests will be amazed by the constant activity, resourcefulness and entertaining nature of domestic rats in a playground-style exhibit.

5 After observing ants move through a naturalistic tunnel system, forage for food and carry food back to underground chambers, children can engage in parallel play by crawling through and carrying large-scale food items and fake ant pupae to giant nest chambers. Children will discover surprising creatures such as giant walking sticks, exotic flower mantids, jewel beetles, water striders and other invertebrates from all over the planet, including local species they may or may not have noticed in their own backyards and parks. Hatchery Chicks emerging from their eggs and already-hatched fluffy chicks will be highlights for young visitors. The hatchlings will represent targeted rare breeds. Tiny Tot Barn A farm-themed area designated for children up to age three will provide the Zoo s youngest visitors and their caregivers with a soft and safe area to explore. EduCATION In addition to the animal exhibits, KidZooU will feature learning spaces for the Philadelphia Zoo s education programming. The North Gallery includes a conservation workshop geared toward older children. Here school groups and casual visitors can explore conservation issues in greater depth. The workshop is equipped to leverage citizen science and other hands-on learning opportunities. A smartboard, Internet access and numerous scopes and biofacts for exploration will aid teachers in enhancing the learning experience for the Zoo s 130,000 annual student visitors. The learning space will include hatch doors for surprise visits from animals in the teaching collection, an amphibian area that mirrors the Zoo s off-exhibit breeding program for endangered Haitian frogs, a budgie playground, and resident lizards that will be on exhibit and available for program uses in the space. The South Gallery includes a workshop space geared toward younger children, a hands-on environment where children will have an opportunity to engage in activities that help connect them with animals in their own backyards. A magnetic wall creates a storytelling zone for children using magnets with visual images and words. A jobs wheel helps kids select which conservation action they will take on at home. The space interfaces with the chick hatchery and the ant exhibit. A makeand-take activity station will allow them to build animal habitats for home, such as butterfly boxes, toad abodes, and bird strike prevention ornaments. KidZooU will be home to the Zoo s entire teaching and outreach animal collection, which is currently dispersed in several locations. KidZooU will be home base for the Philadelphia Zoo Champions for Restoring Endangered Wildlife, or Zoo CREW, a three-year program that inspires and guides teens in conservation actions that directly help endangered species.