Presented by Marlin Perkins, the show was broadcast on Sunday afternoons on NBC.

[2] Shot primarily at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, the zoo's director, Marlin Perkins, was a presenter throughout the series; he was assisted by announcer Jim Hurlbut[a] for several seasons.

A board game entitled Marlin Perkins' Zoo Parade was issued in 1955 by maker Cadaco-Ellis of Chicago, which involved two to four players answering questions about animals of North America, South America, Asia, and Africa.

"[18] Marcel LaFollette has written, "Production approaches that are now standard practice on NOVA and the Discovery Channel derive, in fact, from experimentation by television pioneers like Lynn Poole and Don Herbert and such programs as Adventure, Zoo Parade, Science in Action, and the Bell Telephone System’s science specials.

These early efforts were also influenced by television’s love of the dramatic, refined during its first decade and continuing to shape news and public affairs programming, as well as fiction and fantasy, today.