If we’ve learned anything from our beloved wild residents over the past 125 years, it’s that evolution isn’t always comfortable—but it is always essential. With this in mind, Denver Zoo welcomed growth in a multitude of ways in 2021, with milestones of celebrating 125 Years of Love, implementing our Strategic Plan and even reorganizing, as we restructured our Conservation and Education departments to better align with our mission.

We continued to enhance both animal welfare and guest experience with three significant new offerings, including an industry-leading animal hospital and authentic new habitats for our African penguins and Linne’s two-toed sloths. And, with the approval of the RISE Denver GO Bond, we began to chart a course for critical ADA improvements to our pathways and lighting.

All this while enchanting more than 1 million guests during a year of worldwide recovery, and while refocusing our energies on the central passion of everyone in this organization: a duty to protect wildlife and wild places. Here’s where our ongoing evolution took us in 2021.