Media - The Basics

ACCREDITATION:
The Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum is fully accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, which sets the professional standards for zoos.  The Zoo is also designated as an affiliate garden through the Oklahoma Botanical Garden and Arboretum Association.

COLLECTIONS:  

• Animal: The Tulsa Zoo currently manages nearly 2,800 animals of approximately 500 different species, many of which are rare or endangered and subsequently managed by a Species Survival Plans (SSP).  The Tulsa Zoo is heavily involved in the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's SSP program for the long-term survival of many different animal species.
  
• Botanical: The Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum is situated on 84 beautifully landscaped acres.  The botanical collection is presented in traditional landscape and ornamental planting and in the creation of habitats for animal enrichment and exhibit enhancement. The botanical collection is supported and maintained with three greenhouses, totaling nearly 4,000 square feet. 
  
• Museum:  The Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum was the first accredited museum in Tulsa and has an extensive non-living, or museum, collection.  The Zoo's diverse collections are from areas all over the world, including a large collection of Maasai ethnographical material, as well as materials from Southeast and Southwest Asia.  However, primary focus is on materials from the Americas.  These collections are comprised of archeological, ethnographical, mineral, and paleontological materials accumulated for research and exhibit, and zoological specimens such as shells, skins, and fossils.

ABOUT THE TULSA ZOO:
The idea of a zoo for Tulsa was introduced to the Tulsa Park Board in May of 1927.  The Zoo opened in 1928 with 35 animals. Since then the Tulsa Zoo has grown to its current size of 84 acres and nearly 2,800 animals.

Tulsa Zoo's Living Museum Philosophy
The Tulsa Zoo strives to demonstrate the connections and interdependence between all components of nature.  A holistic approach is used for the selection process of both the living and inanimate collections at the Zoo.  Part of the decision to exhibit a particular animal or object is its potential for interpreting the natural world to visitors, as well as aiding in its conservation and preservation.  The exhibits illustrate nature by exploring relationships such as those between soils and plant life, frogs and snails, trees and elephants, adaptation and extinction, and mankind and its cultures.