Wild kingdom in the windy city

Lincoln Park Zoo began humbly in 1868 with a pair of swans from New York's Central Park, making it the country's oldest zoo. In four years, the swans had been joined by buffalo, peacocks, prairie dogs, foxes, deer, elk, wolves and more -- and finally Duchess the elephant, a pair of tigers, a lion and a camel in 1889, the zoo's first non-North American animals.

The 35-acre (14-hectare) Lincoln Park Zoo is now one of the country's few remaining zoos that does not charge admission. The zoo is well-known for its lowland gorilla exhibits -- Lincoln Park has seen 46 gorilla births -- and was once the home of Chicago celebrity Bushman, an over 6-foot (1.8-meter), 550-pound (248-kilogram) gorilla. Upon his death, Bushman was stuffed and is now on exhibit at the Field Museum of Natural History.

Park Place Cafe, the zoo's newest restaurant, overlooks Swan Pond and Waterfowl Lagoon from its Sundial Terrace. Inside the zoo, the new small mammal reptile house is a domed ecosystem that re-creates the climates and conditions of four continents.

The lakefront Lincoln Park Zoo sits in one of Chicago's finest neighborhoods, near a host of restaurants, bars, galleries and museums. Just south of the zoo in Lincoln Park, South Pond offers paddleboat rentals, and the Lincoln Park Conservatory borders the zoo, hosting both indoor and outdoor plant exhibits.

Lincoln Park Zoo

2200 North Cannon Dr., Chicago, at Lake Shore Drive and Fullerton Parkway; (312) 742-2000 Web site: http://www.lpzoo.com/ FAST FACT: Marlin Perkins served as director of the Lincoln Park Zoo from 1944 to 1961. Perkins put television and natural sciences together, first with his series "Zoo Parade" -- filmed live at Lincoln Park each week -- and later with "Wild Kingdom."

Photos courtesy the Lincoln Park Zoo