The Prospect Park Zoo is part of an effort to save wildlife that began 120 years ago with the creation of the New York Zoological Society, an organization founded on science and hope which has since grown to become the Wildlife Conservation Society.
If you have visited us, or are a fan of Animal Planet’s The Zoo, you might be familiar with some of the ways in which our parks have helped to protect species in the wild. The Prospect Park Zoo was the first AZA accredited institution to successfully propagate the endangered Chinese big-headed turtle. The geographic distribution of big-headed turtles includes China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. In 2008, members of the PPZ animal care team spearheaded an effort to unravel the life history and ecology of the Chinese big-headed turtle, and, after several years of work, celebrated the first successful hatching in 2013.
WCS’s story stretches far beyond the boundaries our New York parks.
Our conservationists work in forests, deserts, mountains, plains, and oceans across the globe. We have boots on the ground in some of the planet’s most threatened habitats, focused on species facing the greatest dangers, including great apes, big cats, elephants, sharks and rays, marine mammals, turtles, and many others.
OUR TEAM, MORE THAN 4,000 STRONG, WORKS EVERY DAY IN NEARLY 60 COUNTRIES AND ALL THE WORLD’S OCEANS TO SAVE WILDLIFE AND WILD PLACES.
When you visit the Prospect Park Zoo, we hope that you will be amazed by the wildlife you encounter, and inspired to help protect our earth for future generations of humans and wildlife.
