[5] The zoo's original permanent buildings, known as Astor Court, were designed as a series of Beaux-Arts pavilions grouped around the large circular sea lion pool.

[13] Heins & LaFarge designed the original permanent buildings, known as Astor Court, as a series of Beaux-Arts pavilions grouped around the large circular sea lion pool.

According to Clivus Multrum, which built the composting toilets chosen by the zoo, these facilities can serve 500,000 people and save 1,000,000 U.S. gal (3,800,000 L) of water a year.

Initially, the largest issues were the lack of support from Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Hall, and Chinese officials insisting that no more pandas be brought to the United States.

In 2014, a senior official from the WCS said Maloney's campaign had reached "a new level of absurdity" when it was announced she intended to bring a Chinese delegation to the Central Park Zoo.

[50] Until 2015, two female grizzly bears named Betty and Veronica also lived in this exhibit, but moved to the Central Park Zoo where they died in 2020 and 2021.

The building features both diurnal and nocturnal areas and a row of outdoor cages which, during the summer months, are home to a variety of small primates, many of which are former monkey house inhabitants.

The aviary is home to about 100 birds, most being Inca terns, but also a small colony of Magellanic penguins, grey gulls, and brown pelicans.

The most prominent residents of the exhibit include the maleos,[76] a pair of knobbed hornbills, Andean cock-of-the-rocks, Nicobar pigeons, southern bald ibises, ocellated turkeys, Cuban amazons, and white-throated bee-eaters.

In the building, the zoo breeds and exhibits a wide range of species, including Chinese alligators, blue iguanas, Cuban crocodiles, false gharials, dyeing poison dart frogs, eyelash vipers, Fly River turtles, giant musk turtles, green anacondas, hellbenders, Milos viper, king cobras and Philippine sailfin lizards.

[92] Unlike premium attractions and exhibits, Budgie Landing requires all visitors pay a small entrance fee ($5 for regular guests and $3 for members).

It closed for renovations in 2013;[97] it reopened on May 30, 2015, with new exhibits featuring giant anteaters, pudús, Linne's two-toed sloth, squirrel monkeys, Asian small-clawed otters, prairie dogs, fennec foxes, Nubian goats, zebus, alpacas, sheep, donkeys, chickens, ducks, pigs, geese and domestic turkeys.

Angolan colobus, Wolf's guenons, pygmy marmosets, mandrills, okapis, red river hogs, an ornate monitor, and an African rock python also call this area home.

[102][103] This exhibit is an indoor tropical jungle and home to nearly 800 species[104] including Asian small-clawed otters, Javan lutungs, silvery lutungs, northern white-cheeked gibbons, Matschie's tree-kangaroos, gharials, northern Luzon giant cloud rats, greater mouse deer, Malayan tapirs, and lesser adjutants living in mangroves and on the beaches.

The ride's Dilophosaurus spit water at visitors as a nod to the species' acid-spitting abilities in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park film and Michael Crichton's novel, even though there is no reason to believe the living animal did so.

[118] World of Darkness opened in 1969 and was the world's first major exhibit designed specifically to introduce the public to nocturnal animals such as the Chinese leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis chinensis), naked mole-rats, bay duiker, Pallas's long-tongued bat, spiny mouse, lesser mouse lemur, small spotted genet, lesser spear-nosed bats, spotted skunk, fat-tailed lemurs Jamaican fruit bat, Mohol bushbaby, cloud rat, Hoffman's two-toed sloth, rock cavy, pygmy slow loris, short-tailed bats, striped skunk, grey-legged night monkey, sand cat, Rodriguez flying fox, brush-tailed porcupine, broad-snouted caiman, sand boa, and marine toad.

[121] This was later confirmed on December 4 when the zoo announced that the exhibit would return in summer 2025 featuring caiman, fruit bats, Hoffmann's two-toed sloth, and aye-aye.

The event offers free prizes for donors, based on donation size, ranging from a Run for the Wild T-shirt to a special animal experience at the zoo.

[137] The event takes participants through the zoo before opening hours, starting at the Bronx River Parkway Entrance, through the Asian Plaza and African Plains, and ending by the Rockefeller Fountain near Astor Court.

[142][143] According to a study published in 2012, virtually all wild and captive bison in the United States are hybrids with cattle genes, with the exception of the two distinct breeding populations within Yellowstone National Park and their descendants.

Since there are no captive breeding programs or rehabilitation centers for snow leopards in Pakistan, the authorities decided to send the cub to the Bronx Zoo.

In June 2007 a group of otters grabbed a langur that was sitting at the water's edge and proceeded to overpower, then drown it in full view of visitors.

[167] In the early 1970s, seven Indian elephants, named after the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White, were captured as calves in Thailand and dispersed among multiple U.S. zoos and circuses.

[177] In June 2022, the Court of Appeals also ruled in favor of the zoo, saying in a 5–2 decision that the writ of habeas corpus did not apply to nonhuman animals.

[178][179] In 1906, Ota Benga, a man from the Mbuti pygmy ethnic group, was brought to the zoo by the American businessman and explorer Samuel Phillips Verner, and displayed there as an exhibit, though he was allowed to roam the grounds freely.

He became fond of an orangutan named Dohong, "the presiding genius of the Monkey House", who had been taught to perform tricks and imitate human behavior.

Benga spent some of his time in the Monkey House exhibit, where the zoo encouraged him to hang his hammock and to shoot his bow and arrow at a target.

[182] Hornaday considered the exhibit a valuable spectacle for visitors; he was supported by Madison Grant, secretary of the New York Zoological Society, who lobbied to put Benga on-display alongside apes at the zoo.

As the unwelcome press attention continued, in January 1910, Gordon arranged for Benga's relocation to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he lived with the family of Gregory W.

[190] During the 1980s, some well known celebrities including British naturalist David Attenborough, Superman actor Christopher Reeve, and Muppets creator Jim Henson visited the Bronx Zoo for special programs, mostly dedicated to helping teenagers and children alike learn about animals.