Zoo Atlanta

The zoo occupies the southern half of Grant Park. Habitats are spacious and naturalistic, with plenty of trees, bushes, watering holes and cozy dens. That makes animals who naturally live in trees, bushes and cozy dens hard to see sometimes, but patience usually pays off. The Kenyan habitat has giraffes, zebras, ostriches, antelope, rhinos, lions and tigers. On a smaller scale, birds, freaky reptiles, insects and snakes also all make their home in the zoo. Don't miss the Atlanta specials: Ivan the gorilla, Starlet O'Hara the elephant, Kudzoo the gorilla and the curiously named Allen the orangutan. One of Atlanta's favorite elder statesmen, Willie B. the gorilla, passed away in 2000 after almost 30 years in Atlanta. His successors as rulers of the urban jungle are Yang Yang and Lun Lun, two rare giant pandas who arrived with much buzz in the summer of 2000.