Polar bears at the Highland Park Zoo. The Zoological Gardens in Highland Park, as it was first known, opened to the public on June 14, 1898, and was made possible by a $125,000 donation by Christopher Lyman Magee. The Children's Zoo opened in 1949 with a grant from the Sarah Mellon Scaife Foundation to the Pittsburgh Zoo. Here children were able to walk on the soft, spongy tongue of a whale or visit a giant piece of cheese that was home to dozens of mice. Later, the original "Mother Goose" theme and accompanying exhibits were considered inappropriate for animal exhibition. The zoo began an interim program in 1986 to replace the nursery rhyme exhibits with buildings that would adequately house the animals until a new children's zoo could be built. A temporary display, the Children's Farm, opened in 1991 featuring domestic animals and animal care demonstrations. In May 1995, the new "Kids Kingdom" opened where even the playground equipment replicates animal motions. It is now regarded as one of the top three children's zoos in the United States.
