“The back story of the park is conservation and connecting people with nature,” animal operations director John Lehnhart says of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The unique lay-out allows visitors to see animals up close and personal in spacious, realistic habitats, without bars separating them. The 1,500 exotic animals of the Kilimanjaro Safari have free reign around the 110-acre African savannah. In total, the park spans more than 500 acres. There are a number of innovative animal parks around the world that showcase a modern take on the traditional animal enclosures of yesteryear.

It should come as no surprise that America houses many of the world’s best animal habitats. In New York City, the 265-acre Bronx Zoo is home to over 6,000 animals, many of which are on the endangered species list. The Bronx has been operating its animal center since 1889 as the largest of the metropolitan animal parks and was the first place to house (and breed) rare snow leopards. Additionally, it’s the first park to house a predator-prey animal exhibit, where lions and gazelles are separated merely by dry moats, and it was also the first zoological center to host an educational program. Visitors love the Wild Asia tramway monorail, the indoor JungleWorld display and the 6.5-acre Congo Monkey Forest, which is the largest man-made rainforest in the world. Guests will also see a number of babies at this bustling breeding facility, including dwarf mongoose, lemur, okapi, sea lion, rhino, lion and pit viper species.

The Philadelphia Zoo is one of the modern animal parks to embrace natural habitat design. Its cage-less model offers rare views of giant Rodrigues fruit bats, naked mole rats, blue-eyed lemurs, tree kangaroos, black jaguars, amur tigers, red pandas, clouded leopards, warthogs, reticulated giraffes, giant anteaters and other rare animals. The Philadelphia facility offers a number of kids’ programs and also houses the nation’s best animal hospital facility. They are the only zoological park that breeds giant otters in North America. Their McNeil Bird House features two species that are extinct in the wild: the Guam rail and the Micronesian kingfisher.

There are also a number of European animal parks that make the list of the world’s best foreign zoos. The Basel Zoo in Switzerland hosts more than 6,000 animals and 600 species, including the dwarf hippopotami, scarab beetles and Nile crocodiles, as well as a number of baby animals born at their breeding program, such as cheetahs, Indian rhinoceros, pygmy hippos and Somali wild asses. Beauval Zoo in France began in 1980 as an aviary with 2,000 birds but later introduced over 4,000 exotic animals like red kangaroos, West Indian manatees, tarsiers, toucans, white lions, white leopards and gorillas.

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