The Birmingham Zoo is a zoological park that opened in 1955 in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The Birmingham Zoo is an independent, not for profit, 501(c)(3) organization, and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), participating in AZA Species Survival Plans (SSP). It is the only AZA accredited zoo in the state of Alabama. Approximately 550 animals of 195 species call the Birmingham Zoo home, including sea lions, zebras, rhinos, elephants, and other endangered species from six continents. History Early history The Birmingham Zoo originated with a small menagerie of exotic animals kept in a Southside firehouse. As the collection grew, it was moved first to Magnolia Park (now Brother Bryan Park) and then to Avondale Park. At the time, the collection consisted mainly of non-exotic animals, except for "Miss Fancy," a lone elephant donated by the Birmingham Advertising Club which had purchased it as a promotional novelty from a struggling circus stranded in the city. As the collection grew in size and scope, city leaders contacted the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm, which had drawn up plans for a system of parks in Birmingham, for advice about housing a zoological collection. They were put in contact with the few municipal zoos existing in that period and plans began for providing a new permanent home for the growing attraction. Lane Park Birmingham, under mayor A. O. Lane, had purchased land on the south of Red Mountain between 1889 and 1896. The former Red Mountain Cemetery, a pauper's cemetery was part of the parcel that was dedicated as a city park in 1934. The Works Progress Administration built a fish hatchery and a number of pavilions from the Hartselle sandstone quarried out of the mountain within the park's borders. The hatchery was fed by a natural spring and provided stock for recreational lakes in the region until the zoo took over the park. The first source of post-World War II support for a new zoo came from the Birmingham Junior Chamber of Commerce. In 1946, Elton B. Stephens chaired a Jaycees committee to create a new zoo for the city of Birmingham. In 1949, then Birmingham mayor, James R. Morgan, a key supporter of the development, began an initiative to help in the planning and development of a city zoo. Jimmy Morgan Zoo A zoo commission was also established, and it decided to build the zoo on of