It opened in 2009 on the site of Brockholes Farm, a former riding school and petting zoo, and features 500 animals of 100 species.

The site was renovated over the 2008–2009 winter, and officially opened by Justin Fletcher, MBE (also known as Mr Tumble from CBeebies)[6] on 4 April 2009.

[7] In 2011, the zoo opened Land of the Tigers, which contains two pools and a waterfall and was created next to a wetland reserve.

On 15 April 2015, Yorkshire Wildlife Park announced that one of its Amur tigers had given birth to three cubs on 29 March 2015.

Guest facilities include a larger car park, retail, dining, coffee shops and ticket centre.

Species in the enclosure include a bachelor group of giraffes, Kafue lechwe, Grévy's zebra and common eland.

The giraffe group have a separate paddock for the winter months, with regular access to the much larger savannah themed exhibit.

Vladamir, a former tiger, who died in 2021, previously bred in 2016 with Tschuna, to have 3 cubs – Harley, Hector and Hope.

The two-part exhibit houses female Polar Bear Flocke and one of her three cubs, Tala.

The family arrived from Antibes and bring the number of Polar Bears at the park to eight – making YWP the largest holder of the species outside of Canada.

In 2021, Drake's breeding partner, Freya, moved on to Tayto Park in Ireland, having previously parented a litter of cubs in June 2015.

[23] In May 2021, the park opened the new Point Lobos expansion featuring a family of six California sea lions.

Themed around the titular stretch of Californian coastline, Point Lobos is a two-acre, two-lake reserve with stony beach areas and several small islands.

[25] However, all four were elderly and in poor health upon their arrival and the last died eighteen months after coming to the park.

Other notable animals in the park's collection include Bennett's wallabies and swamp wallabies,[28] African wild dogs, Visayan warty pigs, Bactrian camels, okapi, roloway monkeys, kirk's dik-dik, the various species of reptiles and invertebrates featured in handling and educational displays and the newest arrival the Cheetah.