Tombi the elephant spent the 1980s at Potter Park Zoo. Visitors loved her. It was hard to see her leave, but it was the right thing for Tombi and an important step in Potter Park’s journey to become a modern zoo. Bingo the elephant was very popular in her time at the zoo – and […]
You may have seen one in your own backyard! What is a cervid? While you might not recognize the term, you have probably seen one or more in a back yard or nearby corn field. Cervids are deer! The term cervid comes from the family name of Cervidae. This includes deer, elk, moose, and more. […]
The Friends of the Zoo Society was created in 1969 to help the zoo make much needed improvements. Its ability to raise funds as well as obtain donations of labor and materials from staff and the community served the zoo well. The group took on big projects, including the acquisition of an Asian […]
The 1960s were not a good time for the zoo, but long-time Lansing State Journal columnist Jim Hough and a Mexican burro named Herman helped turn things around. Jim Hough was a beloved columnist for the Lansing State Journal, writing 9,000 daily columns in his 30 years from 1958-1988. He wrote “The Onlooker” column for […]
There’s something special about seeing babies at the zoo – the activity, the interactions, and in the case of primates, the comparisons to human families that come to mind. That was the mandrill exhibit for almost a decade, from 2007 to 2016. Here’s the story. Loko the big male mandrill arrived at Potter Park Zoo […]
The Great Depression had a huge impact on life in the 1930s. Even so, Potter Park Zoo was able to add significantly to the core of the zoo at a much-reduced cost, thanks to the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was created by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 to help lift the country out […]