Cheyenne Mountain Zoo earns top 5 rankings in North America

Abbey Soukup, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
·3 min read

Mar. 17—The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has done it again.

For the seventh consecutive year, the Colorado Springs zoo is being recognized as one of the top 10 zoos in North America by USA Today, this year earning fourth place.

Also being recognized this year is the acclaimed Rocky Mountain Wild exhibit, earning its spot as the second-best zoo exhibit in North America. This is the fifth year the exhibit has been put in the national spotlight.

Jenny Koch has been the marketing director at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for the past decade. She said that although the zoo was pleased to see it was nominated again this year, it didn't come as too much of a surprise.

"We've really started to get on people's radar, and we've been growing and improving year after year. More and more people have gotten to know us, and recognize what we do here," Koch said.

Being up close and personal with wild animals from all around the world is a true wonder for many to behold, and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has taken that wonder one step further as they prioritize creating environments and inspirational experiences that bring people closer to animals.

"You know, the mountainside is a really special place, and it's an unusual venue for a zoo," Koch said. "We really strive to allow people to get closer to the animals than you do in other places, and other people remark that they felt really close, and made close connections with our animals during their visit."

The exhibits at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo remove as many physical barriers as safely possible between zoo guests and their animals. Patrons can feel the soft fur coat of an Australian wallaby in their immersive Australian experience, waddle adjacent to the colony of African penguins, or even hand-feed the largest giraffe herd in North America, a collective of 17 giraffes.

"The giraffe feeding was really cool. Usually, you see animals from a distance at the zoo, it's amazing to get that up-close experience with them," said Meghan Cox, a California native who was visiting the zoo for the first time on the chilly Friday. "I think it's really cool that the zoo is built into the mountains, so you get to go on this little mountain adventure walking through all of the exhibits."

Her mother, Charlotte Cox, shared her daughter's enthusiasm when speaking about the Rocky Mountain Wild exhibit.

"The eagle, she was just so beautiful. The exhibit is just spectacular," Charlotte Cox said.

The Rocky Mountain Wild exhibit appropriately hugs the highest elevation on the mountainside of the zoo property.

The expansive exhibit is home to an array of local species including a pack of endangered Mexican wolves, a Canada lynx, an Alaskan moose, a bald eagle, two grizzly bears, three mountain lions and four river otters.

Relishing in the views of the river otters at play was the Cordia family, who were also visiting the zoo for the first time. Jessica Cordia praised the zoo's ability to create such an intimate experience for her children.

"I absolutely love it and we'll be back as soon as possible," Cordia said. "The proximity and design of the zoo seem very conducive to allowing the animals to be in their natural environment. It seems the design is really fluid and functional."