[2][4] The zoo is divided into seven zoogeographic regions: Indo-Malaya, Africa, Americas, Tundra Trek, Australasia, Eurasia, and the Canadian Domain.

In 1963, a private citizen's brief to build a new zoo was introduced by Hugh Crothers to the Chairman of the Council of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, William Allen.

Over the years, the Zoo has presented other rare or unusual animals, including golden monkeys (1986), koalas (1988, 1996, 2002), Tasmanian devils (the late 1970s until 1998), and white lions (1995, 2012 onwards).

In 1987, the zoo rebranded the South American Waterfall area as the Maya Temple Ruin exhibits, featuring some architectural decor.

The Great Barrier Reef exhibit consists of a large 7-metre (23 ft) long community tank featuring brownbanded bamboo sharks, damselfish, and triggerfish.

On August 21, 2007, the polar bear, llama, Dall sheep and mara exhibits were closed for the construction of the new 10-acre (4.0 ha) Tundra Trek area.

The exhibit returned to the zoo on a regular basis but closed permanently on October 8, 2012, to make room for the Giant Panda Research Center.

During that weekend, the public got to learn about some of the zoo's oldest residents, including Marg the demoiselle crane and Monty the West African dwarf crocodile.

In 2011, the city started looking at the process of selling the zoo to a third party after Toronto Mayor Rob Ford claimed there were many interested buyers.

The pandas, named Er Shun and Da Mao, arrived at the Toronto Zoo on Monday, March 25, 2013, greeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

[18] Plans have been confirmed in November 2018 with the consortium (which includes Magna International and Lockheed Martin) paying for construction and the first 15 years of operation.

[21] In December 2019, the zoo opened an after-hours night walk experience called Terra Lumina, in partnership with Montréal-based company Moment Factory.

[25][26][27] The zoo closed to visitors once again starting November 23, 2020, due to the second lockdown of the Greater Toronto Area, and reopened June 12, 2021.

In late 2023, extensive renovations on the main entrance began, with plans set for it to become a "Conservation Campus" featuring a new exhibit for the zoo's North American river otters as well as updated guest services buildings and research facilities.

The African Savanna featured species include white lions, Grévy's zebras, olive baboons, greater kudus, a white-headed vulture, cheetahs, southern white rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, spotted hyenas, watusi cattle, warthogs, elands, African penguins and Masai giraffes.

Some of its most popular residents are the blue-and-yellow macaws, white-faced sakis, golden lion tamarins, two-toed sloths, American alligators, black-footed ferrets, and river otters.

The Mayan Temple Ruins subsection features capybaras, scarlet macaws, American flamingos, black-handed spider monkeys and jaguars.

Species previously held in the Americas section include beavers, giant Pacific octopuses, prehensile-tailed porcupines, llamas, dall sheep, and maras.

Featured species in this area include Western grey kangaroos, red-necked wallabies, short-beaked echidnas, southern hairy-nosed wombats, kookaburras, Victoria crowned pigeons, Fly River turtles, Lau banded iguanas and Komodo dragons.

[30] This pavilion once had an "Edge of Night" section to highlight crepuscular and nocturnal marsupials, but this was later converted into the Great Barrier Reef exhibit featuring pot-bellied seahorses, moon jellyfish, lionfish, clown triggerfish, and a 7-metre (23 ft) long community tank.

Species previously held in the Australasia section include koalas, Matschie's tree kangaroos, emus and Tasmanian devils.

The featured species in this section of the zoo are snow leopards, Amur tigers, West Caucasian tur, mouflon, red pandas, and Bactrian camels.

With the area's redesign to the Eurasia Wilds Steller's sea eagles were added; while several other species are now only viewable from the Zoomobile, including lion-tailed macaques, yak, and the herd of Przewalski's horses.

[31] Species previously held in the Eurasia section include scimitar oryxes, wisents, dholes, chamois, and Japanese macaques.

[34][35][36][37] The cubs were raised by Er Shun, with "twin swapping" occurring through the first four months of their lives until they were large and healthy enough that zoo staff were confident of their survival.

Waterside Theatre is an open-air enclosure where live demonstrations of a variety of animals are shown, including goats, grey crowned cranes, ravens, macaws, marabou storks and ground hornbills.

In 2010, it was awarded the distinction of being the top cell phone recycler out of the Eco-Cell's 175 participating wildlife organizations in North America.

Recycling cell phones helps to preserve the critical Lowland gorilla rainforest habitat in Africa by decreasing the demand for these minerals.

Some notable SSP species the zoo has successfully bred over the years include the western lowland gorilla, Sumatran orangutan, golden lion tamarin, Sumatran tiger, Amur tiger, snow leopard, cheetah, Przewalski's horse, Indian rhinoceros, Matschie's tree-kangaroo, African penguin, and Komodo dragon.

On February 17, 2016, 11-year-old Indian rhinoceros Ashakiran, on loan from the Los Angeles Zoo, gave birth to a male named Nandu.