The Detroit Zoo is a zoo located in the cities of Huntington Woods and Royal Oak in the U.S. state of Michigan. Spanning , it houses more than 2,000 animals and more than 245 different species. It was the first U.S. zoo to feature bar-less habitats, and is regarded to be an international leader in animal welfare, conservation and sustainability by the Detroit Zoological Society. History The original Detroit Zoo opened in 1883 on Michigan and Trumbull Avenues, across from Tiger Stadium. William Cameron Coup's circus had arrived in town, but it succumbed due to financial difficulties. Luther Beecher, a local businessman, financed the purchase of the circus animals and erected a building for their display called the Detroit Zoological Garden. The Zoo closed the following year and the building was converted into a horse auction site (the Michigan Avenue Horse Exchange). The Detroit Zoological Society was founded in 1911, but the Zoo's official opening did not occur until August 1, 1928. During the opening ceremony, acting Mayor John C. Nagel was to speak. He arrived late, and parked his car behind the bear dens, where a polar bear leaped from its moat toward him. Nagel stuck out his hand and walked toward the polar bear joking, "He's the reception committee." The keepers rushed the bear and forced him back into the moat, leaving the mayor uninjured. By 1930, the zoo included, Bear Dens and Sheep Rocks, Bird House, the Elk Exhibit, the Baboon Rock, and Primate and Reptile houses. The Great Depression brought a halt to additional expansion until the 1940s, and expansion has continued since then. During the Depression, one of the more popular attractions was Jo Mendi, a four-year-old chimpanzee purchased by the zoo director with his own funds. A veteran of Broadway and motion pictures, the chimp performed for the audience. One press account stated, "he enjoys every minute of the act...He counts his fingers, dresses, laces his shoes, straps up his overalls; pours tea and drinks it; eats with a spoon, dances and waves farewell to his admirers." When the chimpanzee fell ill in late 1932 after eating a penny, surgeons from area hospitals came to check him out. During his recovery, visitors brought toys, peanuts and more than $500 worth of flowers, along with several thousand cards and letters. Jo died in 1934 from hoof and mouth disease. In 1939, funded by a donation