The Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden is a zoo that opened in 1928 in Evansville, Indiana, United States. It is located in Mesker Park on Evansville's northwest side and is run by the City of Evansville. The Mesker Park Zoo and Botanic Garden is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. History The zoo was founded in 1928 by Gilmore M. Haynie and other business leaders. Karl Kae Knecht, a local cartoonist for the Evansville Courier & Press, helped popularize the idea of a zoo. It initially opened with two lion cubs, some antelope, and an elephant. In 1933, a 1:3 scale replica of the Santa Maria was opened as a monkey exhibit. The "Monkey Ship" was originally home to rhesus macaques, and eventually housed capuchin monkeys, lemurs, and juvenile American alligators in the pool surrounding the ship. The exhibit was closed in 1991 as the animals were moved to naturalistic habitats, and the ship and pool were eventually restored as a bumper boat attraction for children. In 2008 the zoo finished a major expansion including the $15 million tropical rainforest exhibit and a new entry complex. The new exhibit was credited with drawing more than 38,000 visitors in its first month. One of two existing lakes in the zoo was filled in to make the exhibit, which added more than 150 animals to the zoo. In 2017, the zoo added Engelbrecht Carousel, with an adjacent bird aviary added in 2018. This is the zoo's second carousel; its historic original carousel was moved to Carowinds in 1979. The total cost for this project is $3 million. The Penguins of Patagonia exhibit, featuring over a dozen Humboldt Penguins native to parts of Chilé and Peru, opened to visitors in late October 2021. Additionally, the zoo plans to revamp the African Rift area when funding becomes available. Exhibits Mesker Park was one of the first zoos in the United States to use a moat system to display animals in naturalistic exhibits resembling the animals' native habitat. Over the years, the zoo has continued to make improvements in habitat design. Amazonia Amazonia is a Central/South American focused rainforest exhibit that opened in 2008. While there are large structures within the exhibit designed to look like vegetation, many of the plants seen within are in fact living plants, maintained by the zoo's grounds crew. As such, the exhibit grows and changes in