Queens Zoo

The Queens Zoo is an 18acre zoo located in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens. The zoo is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).HistoryConstructed on the site of the 1964 New York World's Fair and opened in 1968, it is the first to be designed from the start as a cageless zoo. Robert Moses turned the first shovel full of earth for the new construction on August 20, 1966, and cut the ceremonial ribbon to the new 18acre "Flushing Meadows Zoo" a bit more than two years later on October 26, 1968.The zoo's aviary is a geodesic dome designed by Thomas C. Howard of Synergetics, Inc. and used during the 1964 Fair. The dome was originally designed as the fair's major indoor assembly hall, with no indoor supports blocking anyone's view, and repurposed for the 1965 season as a tribute to Winston Churchill after he died in 1964. The 175ft diameter dome was one of the largest single-layer structures of its time. It was dismantled and stored after the fair, and was later reassembled in its current location with a mesh netting covering instead of the solid tent of the original dome.