Like many of Beijing's parks, the zoo's grounds resemble classical Chinese gardens, with flower beds amidst natural scenery, including dense groves of trees, stretches of meadows, small streams and rivers, lotus pools, and hills dotted with pavilions and historical buildings.

Other endangered or threatened species housed there include a Siberian tiger, yak, Przewalski's horse, snow leopard, Tibetan gazelle, and kiang.

The zoo also has a broad collection of megafauna such as addax, Asian black bears, Asian and African elephants, bats, beluga whales, chimpanzees, clouded leopards, flamingos, gorillas, hippopotamuses, jaguars, kangaroos, lemurs, lions, muntjac, otters, penguins, polar bears, rhinoceroses, sea turtles, tapirs, giraffes and zebras, as well as 13 of the world's 15 species of cranes.

In 1906, the Imperial Ministry for Agricultural, Industry and Commerce established an experimental farm outside of Xizhimen on land that encompassed two gardens, the Leshan and Ji, and two temples, the Guangshan and Huining.

Among the historical buildings at the zoo is Changguanlou, a Baroque-style country-palace of Empress Dowager Cixi, designed by a French architect and built in 1908.

[6] In 1943, the Imperial Japanese Army poisoned the zoo's six lions and two leopards, purportedly to remove potential interference with air defenses.

[4][7] By the end of the war, only ten monkeys, rabbits, geese, two pigeons, flamingo, emu, peacock, eagle, and three parrots remained.

Guo Moruo, the renowned writer and president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences wrote the calligraphy for the zoo's entrance sign.

Leading Chinese universities also established a research presence in the zoo to study animal behavior and to breed endangered species.

The Beijing Zoo maintains an active breeding program that produced 1,104 surviving offspring of 92 species in 2013 including the critically endangered Northern white-cheeked gibbon and Guizhou snub-nosed monkey.

The Beijing Zoo is located at 137 Xizhimen Wai Dajie in Xicheng District, just west of the northwest corner of the 2nd Ring Road.

According to a 2010 article in The Guardian, a restaurant located in the Beijing Zoo, named "Bin Feng Tan," offers various dishes of exotic animals on its menu.

Ge Rui of the International Fund for Animal Welfare describes the restaurant's menu and practices as "utterly inappropriate for a zoo" and "socially irresponsible."

[11] A significant portion of James Rollins' Sigma Force novel, The Bone Labyrinth (2015), takes place in, near, and below the Beijing Zoo.

In the "Author's Note to Readers: Truth or Fiction", Rollins writes: "I did visit the Beijing Zoo and found the state of that zoological park to be appalling.